Miguel, Demetri, Jake and Aisha all squished together on a park bench while Hawk and Bert sparred behind them. Lilith was running late, saying she got stuck in a "thing" with her mom; Miguel just saw it as another excuse to not see him.

Demetri, who was trying to explain Magic the gathering to Jake, turned to Miguel, hoping the boy would help him out, but he frowned when he saw Miguel just looking down at the same sandwich he'd been holding for thirty minutes now, refusing to take a bite.

"Come on, eat something. I'll make you feel better." Demetri sighed out, catching everyone's attention.

Miguel huffed, pushing his sandwich back into his ziplock. "Told you I'm not hungry, man." He muttered and Jake sighed. He tried to hold back rolling his eyes, but he couldn't control it. He told Miguel a handful of times now that Lilith wasn't embarrassed of him, but Miguel wouldn't listen to him.

"I still think you're overreacting." Jake grumbled, getting annoyed over the fact that he kept having to defend Lilith. Why couldn't Miguel just trust him and her?

"I'm not overreacting, dude." Miguel said almost immediately, shaking his head.

Jake pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to not snap at Miguel. "All right, so she cancelled the dinner. There'll always be another." He said and Miguel finally turned to look at him, shrugging his shoulders defensively.

"But why did she cancel this one?" He asked and Jake couldn't tell if he sounded sad or angry.

Jake shrugged. It wasn't his place to tell Miguel what happened between Lilith and her mom. "She told you something came up. Do you not believe her?" Jake asked, his annoyance making it through his words.

Miguel quickly shook his head at Jake's raised eyebrows. He knew Jake was closer to Lilith than him and he'd have to watch his words more carefully. "I do just why I haven't met her parents! That's suspicious, right?" He asked.

Jake leaned further back on the bench and licked his lips. He looked off ahead of him before he turned back to Miguel.

"Look, like I told you before, Lilith's relationship with her parents is rocky already. They sent her to another country for years. That messes with a family's dynamic. I'm sure she's just waiting for the perfect moment for you to meet them." Jake said and when he noticed Miguel start to open his mouth to speak, Jake beat him to it.

"And it's not because she's embarrassed by you. It's her own shit with her parents." Jake added and Miguel clamped his mouth shut. "The fact is, Lilith's given you no reason not to trust her." Jake finished.

After a couple seconds, Miguel sighed in defeat, nodding his head in agreement. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He muttered.

"Jake!"

Everyone's heads, even Hawk and Bert's, turned at the sound of Lilith's voice.

They watched the girl stomp towards them, her face red in anger and her hand holding her phone so tight, her knuckles were turning white.

When she got up to the group, she made a beeline towards Jake and handed him the phone. "I need you to take away my phone before I rip Yasmine's hair right out of her fucking head." Lilith spat.

"What?" Miguel asked, nervously looking back and forth between Aisha and Lilith while Jake looked up at Lilith with squinted eyes. "Why?"

"Oh, that little bitch!" Aisha suddenly screamed, the boys pulled their eyes away from Lilith and to Aisha, who was looking down at her phone with the same angry expression.

Miguel looked back and forth between the two girls as Jake finally took the phone out of Lilith's hands. "What?" He asked as Jake looked at Lilith's phone to see what upset her and Aisha so much. His eyes widened and he gasped at Yasmine's comment on Aisha's post.

"Oh my God." He muttered, making everyone turn to him now.

Demetri frowned, shaking his head. "Okay, now I'm feeling very left out." He complained, throwing his hands in the air.

"You know that video I posted of me breaking that board?" Aisha asked Miguel and Demetri, leaning forward so she could see Demetri from the other side of the bench.

"Yeah..." Miguel said as Bert and Hawk started to walk towards the bench, leaning on the back of it to join in on the conversation.

"Look what Yasmine commented." Aisha said, handing Miguel her phone. Hawk and Bert read the comment over Miguel's shoulder while Jake leaned closer to Demetri, letting him read the comment off of Lilith's phone.

"Impressive... can't believe the belt made it around your waist."

Lilith's jaw clenched watching everyone react. She crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head.

"I gotta do something." Aisha said and Lilith turned to her almost immediately. "I already said I'm ready to rip her hair out." Lilith said.

Hawk smirked at Lilith's idea, nodding his head. "How about we do that, and then we kidnap her and have my boy Rico tattoo bitch on her face?" He asked and Lilith nodded, not even hesitating. "Perfect."

"No, not perfect." Jake said, whacking Lilith's arm to try and knock some sense into her.

Demetri nodded in agreement but instead of trying to knock some sense into Lilith, her turned around to face Hawk. "Yeah. Calm down, Hawk."

Hawk turned to Demetri, a small glare on his face. "All right, I hear how you're saying it, and I don't like it." Hawk muttered.

Suddenly, Jake straightened up in his seat, his eyes wide as he looked down at the ground. "Wait, wait, wait. I've got a better idea." Jake said, moving to look around at his friends.

Once everyone was looking at him, Jake motioned between himself and Lilith. "Lilith and I weren't invited anymore since... you know Lilith called her a bitch and I took her side," Jake said and Lilith interrupted, nodding her head proudly. "Rightfully so."

Jake nodded, not minding what Lilith did on the first day of school and continued. "But Moon told me about Yasmine's birthday party she's having the canyon tonight. She asked us to go to make amends as a birthday gift to Yasmine." Jake said na sLilith rolled her eyes.

"What if my gift to her is just stretching the invite list? She does love big parties." Jake said, his voice getting higher and his shoulders raising the longer he spoke.

Lilith smiled down at her best friend, having to hold back practically jumping in excitement. "Jake Greene, I am running off on you!" She cheered.

...

The scene walked into the liquor store in the same strip mall as Cobra Kai and immediately, they made a beeline to the snack aisle. Aisha and Jake started stacking snacks upon snacks into Bert's arms as Lilith hummed, looking at what they had.

"All right, be sure to stock up good. Like Lilith said, we're inviting everyone. VIP only my ass." Aisha said, piling the snacks so high up, Bert could no longer see.

Demetri noticed Bert struggling and sighed. He grabbed about half of the snacks and passed some of them to Jake. Jake looked back and forth between the snacks in his hands and Demetri with furrowed brows. "Wha.." He muttered but was quickly cut off by Demetri.

"I still don't understand how we're gonna buy alcohol." He said and Hawk chuckled. He walked towards the freezer section, opened the door, and grabbed a pack of beers. He turned back to Demetri and smirked.

"Oh, please, never underestimate the power of the Hawk." He muttered coolly. As he started to walk towards the register, Lilith's eyes widened. She quickly caught up to him, pulling her wallet out of her purse in the process.

"Hey, wait!" She whispered and when Hawk stopped and turned back to her, Lilith handed him her credit card. "Get a bottle of vodka or something too. Use my card. This is gonna be expensive."

Hawk looked back and forth between Lilith and her card before taking it, giving the girl a genuine smile. "Thanks." He said, walking up to the cashier.

The other six dispersed, not wanting to look too suspicious. Demetri and Jake stood in the chip section, Jake's finger to his lip, trying to decide which bag of chips to buy.

When he reached for the plain potato chips, Demetri frowned. "Really? Plain?" He asked as if it was the most disgusting thing Jake could do.

Jake rolled his eyes, putting the family sized chips under his arm. He raised his free hand defensively, holding back a laugh. "Hey, I'm more of a salt and vinegar guy myself, but not everyone likes the same things. Gotta keep it fair for everyone."

Demetri pursed his lips, hoping it would hold back his smile, and it did. He nodded his head at the family sized salt and vinegar bag beside him. "I, for one, wouldn't mind salt and vinegar." He said.

Jake smirked, grabbing the salt and vinegar bag of chips from the shelf without looking away from Demetri. "Then, we'll get those too." He said, his voice lower than it just was.

Demetri felt his stomach flip. Why did his stomach flip? Jake was his friend! That's it!

"Do you really think I'm underage? That's my freaking kid right there." Jake heard Hawk say and he tried his hardest to casually turned to the register. Demetri shoulders slumped when Jake looked away from him, turning to look at Hawk at the register.

Jake winced at the unamused look on the cashiers face and turned back to Demetri before he could see the man could respond and hid his face in the boys shoulder. "I can't watch." He muttered.

From across the store, Miguel looked in the soda section with Lilith, the girl actually looking at drinks to buy while listening in on Hawks conversation at the register every now and then.

"Wait, we're getting sodas too?" Miguel asked, shocked at how expensive this revenge was going to end up. Lilith smiled, grabbing a liter of coke as she nodded to Miguel. "Well, we need mixers. Plus, Demetri doesn't drink and I'm sure he's not the only one. We have to make sure we accommodate everyone."

Miguel chuckled at her words, her accent peaking out a little stronger than normal when she said "accommodate."

"And how about eight bottles of that vodka right there?" Lilith heard Hawk say and Lilith spun around so fast, Miguel was shocked she didn't get a headache.

Lilith cursed under her breath as she watched the cashier grab eight bottles of vodka for Hawk. Lilith clenched her jaw and shook her head, walking towards the cashier to buy the soda and snack while Hawk and Bert walked out with the alcohol.

"Shouldn't have given him my card." She grumbled.

...

By the time they got to the canyon, the rest of Cobra Kai and dozens of other kids were already there. Lilith was titled "the bartender" for her friends and by the time she finished making her own drink, Yasmine had finally arrived with Moon, Kyler, and Brucks.

Lilith hadn't noticed yet, laughing with Jake about Miguels face he made when he took his first sip of alcohol.

Miguel held back gagging at the taste, his face scrunched as if he ate a lemon. "How are you guys drinking that without flinching?" Miguel groaned, his voice hoarse from the alcohol.

Lilith took a stop of her vodka coke, not wanting to answer the question while Jake bluntly answered. "Well, you know... Lilith and I are cool. So we've been to parties before." Jake said, not noticing the glare from Miguel as he took his own sip of his drink.

"Lilith! Jake!"

The two turned their heads at the sound of someone calling their names and their faces immediately brightened when they saw Moon walking down the hill.

Lilith practically squealed in excitement, meeting the girl halfway. "Moon! Come on!" Lilith screamed like a hyper little kid.

She grabbed Moon's hand as soon as she could and her eyes moved past her friend and to Yasmine at the top of the hill. A fake smile made its way onto Lilith's face as she raised her hand. The screech that came out of the blonde when Lilith tauntingly waved at her made the Beaumont laugh.

Lilith turned back to Moon and gave her a genuine smile, no longer caring about Yasmine. "I have to introduce you to my friends!" Lilith cheered, her voice a little loud from the alcohol starting to set in her system.

...

A couple hours into the party, Lilith was pretty tipsy, not wanting to let herself get drunk. She spent the past hour dancing with Aisha when she noticed Miguel standing alone, a glum look on his face as he drank his beer.

Lilith's drunken happiness deflated and she muttered a quick goodbye to Aisha before she walked towards Miguel.

"Hey... you okay?" Lilith asked softly, raising her hand to rub Miguel's shoulder.

As soon as her fingers grazed him, Miguel yanked himself away from Lilith, making the girl flinch. "I'm fine." He muttered, but his voice came out venomous.

Lilith frowned, her eyebrows creasing together. She could smell the alcohol in his breath from where she stood and shook her head. "How many of those have you had?" Lilith asked and Miguel's jaw clenched.

"Not many." He muttered through gritted teeth.

Lilith tilted her head and took a small step towards Miguel. "Okay, well maybe you're a lightweight." She suggested.

Miguel responded by taking a long sip of his beer.

Lilith's frown deepened and she reached for Miguel's bottle. "Hey, Mig. Let's sto—" Lilith's words were cut off by Miguel walking away, his body shoving her hand away as he muttered an angry, "Leave me alone, Lilith."

Lilith watched Miguel go with a fallen mouth. She wanted to call after him, to follow him and see what's wrong but after that interaction, Lilith didn't really want to go after him.

She licked her lips and as she turned to walk away, Lilith saw Jake about ten feet away from her, a frown on his face as well. Lilith sighed, taking another sip of her drink before walking towards Jake.

"What's got you so blue?" She asked.

Jake was looking at something ahead of them. His mouth opened and closed to speak before he huffed. Jake finally turned to Lilith and shook his head. "It's nothing." He muttered, but his voice said it was something.

Lilith looked in direction that Jake was just staring off at. When her eyes landed on Demetri trying to flirt with Yasmine, Lilith bit her lip.

She turned back to Jake once Yasmine walked away from Demetri. There was a small wince on Lilith's face, hoping to make the boy feel better. "At least it looked like he got rejected?" She suggested, but Jake shook his head.

His eyes moved to the drink in his cup and he swirled it around to make a whirlpool. "But that means he's not interested in me." He muttered

Lilith opened her mouth to speak, hoping to convince Jake that maybe Demetri just wasn't ready, wasn't out, or something but her words were cut off by Yasmine's screams; now on the other end of the canyon.

"Hey! You think it's funny crashing my party?" Yasmine yelled, stomping towards Aisha.

Lilith's eyes widened, whatever amount of her was tipsy immediately sobered up as she and Jake ran towards the two girls, Hawk and Moon doing the same.

Quickly, Lilith moved to stand in between the two girls, crossing her arms as she glared at Yasmine.

"Actually I did." Lilith said and Aisha, although she appreciated Lilith trying to protect her, stepped forward to stand side by side with her. "Plus, it's not really your party 'cause we were here first." Aisha added, holding the same glare as Lilith.

Yasmine looked back and forth between the two girls: her old friend, and a girl she bullies. She looked absolutely disgusted at the sight of them, but neither girls cared.

"Yeah, well, I know you and your little karate gang think you're cool. But we all remember who you two really are." Yasmine taunted. She took a step forward, licking her lips as if she were fueling up an insult.

Her eyes went to Lilith first. "You are a psycho with anger issues." She spat, getting right in Lilith's face and before the brunette could react, Yasmine's eyes moved to Aisha. "And you're just a fugly bitch, and your friends are all freaks."

Lilith felt a burning in her chest. Her hands tingled and the outer-edges of her vision blurred. She could hardly think before her fist swung back and she slugged Yasmine right in the face.

Gasps echoed around the canyon and across the way, Miguel immediately sobered up and started coming over.

Yasmine held her face in shock, trying to hide how much pain she was in, she pointed at Lilith accusingly. "See what I said? Psycho!" She yelled, looking around the canyon, hoping someone near them would agree.

Lilith took a step closer to Yasmine, their noses practically touching. Yasmine tried her hardest to hide her fear but because of their closeness, Lilith could see the blonde shaking and feel her rigid breath.

"You wanna keep going or do want to keep your teeth in your fucking mouth?" Lilith asked, her voice quiet, low and filled with anger. No one around her had ever heard her voice like that, and Lilith hadn't heard it like that in almost five years.

Yasmine knew not to push Lilith further. She knew about Lilith's anger and didn't want to make it any worse. Yasmine clenched her jaw, ignoring how bad it hurt, and took a step away from Lilith.

Her eyes moved to Moon, who was holding onto Hawk, behind Lilith and she nodded her head to the exit. "Come on, Moon. Let's go." Yasmine said, turning to walk away.

"No, I'm staying." Moon said, making Yasmine stop in her tracks. Moon looked to Aisha, Jake and Lilith before she turned back to Yasmine. And when she did, Moon glared. "I apologized to Aisha for what we did, and you should too. Plus, I've missed Jake and Lilith."

Yasmine looked at Moon with absolute disgust. She shook her head and scoffed. "Whatever. You deserve them, Moon." Yasmine spat, turning and walking away again.

Aisha watched the blonde go with anger in her eyes. She was practically shaking when she pushed her cup into Jake's chest and she marched after her.

"Hey, Yasmine!" She yelled, her voice echoing across the canyon.

Yasmine turned around to face Aisha, not scared of her like she was with Lilith. "Huh? What?" She asked, getting right in Aisha's face.

"Let me help you to your car." Aisha said, her voice quieter but just as forceful.

Then, Aisha shoved her hand into the front of Yasmine's pants, grabbed a handful of Yasmine's underwear, and yanked up, giving the girl a front wedgie.

Lilith gasped at the sight, covering her eyes as Jake winced, his whole body flinching even though it didn't happen to him.

"No mercy, bitch!" Aisha screamed as Yasmine stumbled to get up. Watching Yasmine hold back crying made something shift in Lilith. What once was anger was now guilt and worry. Lilith punched Yasmine. She had been so good at controlling her anger and now she physically hurt someone else.

Lilith felt her chest tighten and her head get dizzy. It was suddenly hard for her to breathe and her eyes felt fuzzy and blurry.

She turned to Jake, who she could hardly process standing beside her and started to walk away. "I'm gonna go cool off." She muttered, not giving him a chance to respond.

Her steps stumbled. People could've assumed she was drunk. Miguel saw Lilith coming towards him and now, completely sobered, he was walked towards her.

"Woah, woah, woah. Lilith, are you okay?" He asked but Lilith hardly paid any attention to him, brushing past him and towards the edge of the party. "I'm fine." She muttered, her shoulder accidentally bashing into his, only making her steps stumble more.

"I need to—"  Lilith was struggling to speak for how tight her chest had gotten. She felt constricted.

She finally made it to the edge of the party and she collapsed to the ground. Miguel, still following after her and thinking she fell, gasped and attempted to catch her.

Lilith's tailbone hurt, but she didn't care. She pulled her knees into her chest to relieve some of the pressure she felt around her lungs and took a deep breath. "I need to calm down." She finally got out, her words out of breath.

Instead of sitting next to her, Miguel crouched down in front of Lilith and put his hands on her knees. "Hey, you're okay. You're okay." He whispered, trying to reassure her.

Miguels words seemed to only panic Lilith more. What if she wasn't going to be okay? If Yasmine tells her parents about what happened, Lilith would get sent away.

She started to shake her head rapidly, her breathing getting faster by the second. "I can't go back there. I can't." She said and Miguel was shocked he understood her from how fast and out of breath she was speaking.

Miguel shook his head, trying to make eye contact with Lilith, but she couldn't meet his eyes. "You're not going back." Miguel tried to say but Lilith didn't hear him.

He noticed her eyes start to flutter closed and her head starting to loll and his eyes widened. Quickly, Miguel cupped Lilith's face in his hands and moved her to look into his eyes. "Hey." He said and when Lilith's eyes finally met his, he noticed her breathing calm just a tad.

Miguel shook his head, his own breathing speeding up from how panicked Lilith was. "Do you hear me, Lili? You're not going anywhere." Miguel whispered, keeping his voice as steady as possible so Lilith would believe him. "I'm not gonna let you go anywhere."

Lilith scoffed, pulling herself out of Miguel's hold. "Like you care?" She grumbled, pulling her legs into her chest tighter as if it would build a wall between them.

Miguels entire demeanor fell, his eyes softening as his eyebrows creased. "What?" He asked quietly and his voice breaking, he was confused and hurt by Lilith's words. How could she think that?

Lilith breathing wheezed, angry but still trying to keep herself grounded. "You've been acting distant for the past couple weeks! Every time I come walk over to you while you're talking to our friends, they all get tense and you give me this... fake smile like you guys are talking about me!" Lilith yelled and Miguel looked away guiltily.

"And you still haven't asked me to be your girlfriend yet!" Lilith yelled. Sure, she hadn't asked Miguel to be her boyfriend yet, but why hadn't he asked yet?!

Lilith started thinking about what just happened. She hurt somebody. Miguel knew about Lilith's anger and her past. What if Miguel was scared she'd hurt him.

Her heart rate started to pick up again and she noticed her vision blur but that time, it was because of tears. She looked into Miguel's eyes and shook her head as she started to cry. "If you're... scared of me—" Her voice broke and immediately, Miguel moved to sit beside Lilith, shaking his head rapidly.

"Oh my God. Lilith, no. I'm not scared of you." He said, his voice soft and genuine.

Lilith's heart tugged and her throat started to burn. "You're not?" She whimpered out. Miguel shook his head almost instantly. "Not at all."

After a couple seconds, Miguel sighed, his eyes moving away from Lilith and to his feet in embarrassment. "For the past couple weeks, I've been nervous that you were embarrassed of me." He admitted.

Lilith sniffled, her eyebrows furrowing as she started to calm down. "What? Why?"

Miguel shrugged, still not meeting Lilith's eyes as he leaned forward to fiddle with his shoelace. "I still haven't met your parents. I thought you didn't want me to meet them because you're embarrassed of me." Miguel muttered, worried to hear Lilith's response if he spoke any louder.

Lilith frowned, she felt guilty that she didn't just try and explain the situation with her parents more. She scooted closer to Miguel, their entire sides pressed together and she shook her head.

"I'm not embarrassed of you Miguel. I promise." Lilith said, but Miguel's eyes didn't move from his shoes.

Lilith sighed, shimmying her arm through Miguel's so they could loop, and resting her head on his shoulder. "How about... after the All Valley, you, your mom, and your yaya come over for dinner. So my folks can meet my boyfriend and his family?" Lilith asked, taking a deep breath after she spoke.

Miguel's eyes widened and they practically sparkled when he turned to look at her. "What?" He asked, slowly breaking out into a smile.

Lilith blushed, suddenly finding it hard to keep eye contact with Miguel as she shrugged bashfully. "Well, I mean... I don't technically have to wait for you to ask me so, Miguel Diaz, will you be my boyfriend?"

Miguel opened and closed his mouth. Even though he knew the answer to his question, Miguel was at a complete loss for words.

After a couple seconds, he started to nod vigorously and his smile doubled in size. "I would love to."

Lilith giggled, the two of them leaning in and meeting in the middle for a kiss. Lilith practically melted into it, her hand resting on Miguel's jaw as the boy smiled into the kiss.

When they pulled away, Lilith curled into Miguel's side more, resting her head on his shoulder as she looked off at the scenery ahead of them.

"You wanna go back out there?" Miguel asked, wrapping his arm around Lilith's shoulders to pull her even closer.

Lilith immediately shook her head, squeezing Miguel's arm that she was holding onto. "No." She muttered, smiling. "I want to stay here."

emily speaks...
look at me finally updating😋😋
sorry about that school has been KILLING me i've hardly updated anything but hopefully i'll be back soon!! i'm so sorry for the long wait🫶