act one season one
esqueleto.
JASMINE MIRAN was many things; a hypocrite, a petty bitch, but she was not a liar.
She was fond of attention, her heart growing tender when she knew that someone's sight only landed on her, and her alone.
She found herself so deeply ingrained in karate because she knew the cheers erupting upon the queues of the stadium were on the call of her name. She loved ice skating, where she was completely mindful of the way the cold hit the arcs of her face, painting a picture of mesmerised glances along her way.
But she liked the positive attention. That, she can admit.
Not the one where she felt the constant need to shrug herself into oblivion in the harsh, plastic seats of the cafeteria.
Jenny raised an eyebrow, shoving the fork onto her plate with an annoyed sigh. "Okay, it's your first day back and you're already being weird, what is it?"
Mila and Isabella momentarily paused their chewing, Aisha having put a concerned hand on Jasmine's shoulder. "Has anyone bothered you?"
"What? no!" She said, rubbing her temple in a circular motion before tilting her head to the side, "that guy and some of his friends haven't stopped gawking like some animals the minute we stepped onto here."
Jasmine recognized one, Eli. A quiet boy who was assigned as her partner in an earlier class through the day, but it seems that's where her familiarity lasts.
The rest of the girls found their trail of sight landing on a suspiciously reserved table. Jenny's aggravated scorn faded, a smile adorning her once rough expression. "That's Eliot. Sweet, gentle, nerdy Eliot."
Jasmine's brows raised, "Oh! The Eli? The one you constantly keep me up at night to talk about?" Mila snorts, nodding while moving her body to glare directly at the aforementioned table, "the emo-looking chick is Gia Lawrence. A total skank and will probably end up a big waste of space, much like her father. And that one," she points accusingly, "the annoying, freaky-looking one, is Demetri."
No one seemed to add a comment on the rise of insults against the Lawrence teenager. Jasmine, fortunately, caught onto gossip beforehand from Aisha — and she could only ever stay silent as resentment bubbled up so intensely inside of her at the words she'd heard.
She can only ever assume it must be hard to tramp down a large amount of popularity because your father was caught for public indecency. She can recall mere reminisces of her encounters with her before she had to move away, none that she ever liked. The only thing she was grateful for was the bite of chips that stopped her from laughing tantalizingly along her way.
Isabella narrowed her eyes, side eyeing the table where Demetri sat, "Okay, that's mean. He's actually very sweet," she halted her words, biting the inside of her cheeks at the scoff she received from Mila. "Sure, when he's not wallowing in his self-made misery."
Though Jasmine could not find her gaze to rest on any of the boys except for one, whose eyes no longer studied her, his fingers fiddling atop his tray nervously. Mila took notice with a tug of her lips. "That's Miguel, he joined my debate team yesterday. He stutters like crazy, a bit socially clueless, but harmless really."
She kept her stare subtle (as subtle as an infatuated teenage girl really could), her lips pursed with a slant of her head, as if memorizing each insignificant detail imprinted on the hills of his face with a bite of pizza she swallowed down.
Miguel's lips were parted, and he could hear nothing but the clatter of plastic utensils around him. He seemed fixated on the way Jasmine's curls bobbed with each bite of food she took. Gia, who was sitting uncomfortably close to him, elbowed him roughly, "stay away from the hot ones, she'll make your life miserable.
Eli shook his head, clearing his throat gently with a follow up, "she's actually really nice. Her name is Jasmine, she used to go here, actually. She is my lab partner in physics." The table seemed to still around him, and he got an accusing slap on the shoulder from the pale, lanky boy sitting next to him, "you talked to a girl?! A pretty girl talked to you?!"
He ignored the painful suggestion of his words, before looking at the tan boy in front of him with an encouraging smile, "she's really kind Miguel."
Miguel's breath shuddered, eyes wandering around until they seemingly landed on her once more. She caught his gaze, and a sickeningly sweet, honey-dripping grin etched on her features, waving slightly at him. She frowned when he dipped his head low and can only describe his attempted smile as a grimace.
Gia stifled a laugh, "you're definitely not impressing her with those painful looking braces, Diaz."
He didn't have a chance to respond, not that he would have anyway, before Counseller Blatt's screechy voice was audited loudly through the cafeteria: "Cyberbullying is no laughing matter. Sending a cruel message to someone online can be just as hurtful as saying it to their face. I'm not gonna name names, but the other day a mother called me up because her son was crying after some kids online made fun of his facial deformity."
Jenny's chuckle was humourless, crossing her arms as her gaze found itself scrutinizing the mixture of students — and immature counselor around her, "she is such a fucking bitch. Might as well say his name while she's at it."
Her friends, in a poor attempt, sent a pitiful gaze towards the boy, while Jasmine shook her head in frustration, "I would be a bitch too if the universe decided to make me a school counselor, for like, what? a decade now?"
This was medieval torture, Jasmine could swear on it, as Blatt's mucus infested voice echoed along the chatter, "oh and one last thing! While we're looking forward to the Halloween dance, let's make sure our costumes are culturally sensitive. For example, instead of sexy nurse, maybe try gender-neutral hospital employee!"
"I'm going to smack her," Mila groaned, loudly at that.
The Miran's girl lipped curled in thought, "wait, are we all getting ready together?"
Isabella nodded enthusiastically, her hands clamped together while she coughed lowly, "'course we are! Aisha and I are going as Velma and Daphne! Do you want to be Scooby-Doo?"
If she didn't know any better Jasmine would think it was an evidently lame attempt at insulting her, but she only chuckled, "no thank you. I'm thinking Jennifer, from Jennifer's body?"
Her sentence was rewarded with smiles, but she can barely feel her own returning. Jasmine could only sink down to her seat as she turned around to give Sam a sharp look. She was not an idiot, not as clueless as her friends tried to demean her. The distance the Larusso girl left between them was as evident as the parting of the red sea, proving her right when Aisha didn't mention the pathetic science costume they go as every year. She would never admit that though, not now at least.
. . .
The door knob twisted, Jasmine stepping into the debate room cautiously.
After constant begging from Mila, Jasmine gave in and decided to sign her name onto the board. She didn't have the time, nor the energy to deny her. In silent admittance, she was also in hopes of spotting the boy who had left her beyond puzzled since lunch.
Her brows furrowed when the boy, Miguel, was scribbling harshly on a piece of paper. "What are you doing here?"
Miguel's face flushed, still, avoiding the interest within her stare, "Uh..."
"No one is supposed to be here."
"Yes-No!" His breath shuddered, and in a moment of slipping confidence his gaze finally anchored on her figure, and he didn't know if it were even possible to lose more intake of breath so quickly.
Despite the defensive question, her smile was small, and the apples of her cheeks were glittered with rosiness. She was too pretty. It made him sick.
"Yes? No?" Jasmine released a soft breath, walking over to the table he sat at, and leaning over as she took a peak at his words, "Oh wow? You guys already started a debate topic?"
Her perfume was a distinct smell of coconut and lemon, and he was unaware if the tangy watermelon smell came from the nape of her neck or the lip balm that shimmered under the light of the room.
He didn't move, simply focusing on the jumbled words of his paper. "No. The debate leader asked me to write down examples because I, fumble my words, too much."
The words were hurried, but if he could pat himself on the back he could. He considered his lack of stammering an accomplishment.
Jasmine bit her lip, taking the pencil away from his hands. "Miguel...Mila was messing around, she isn't serious."
Miguel.
She knew his name. The small touch of her fingers along his own didn't even register on the entanglements of his mind yet.
He didn't have time to process the heat radiating off the flesh of his face, or how the table seemed to shake with each tremble of his legs, because the door of the room opened once more.
Mila stepped in, "Minnie, what's taking you so- Miguel? What the hell are you doing here?"
The boy's eyes were wide, comical to say the least, "you-you said that I should-"
"Dude, I was kidding. Are you mentally challenged? Because there's a whole other club for that."
"Mila!" Jasmine grumbled. The silence emitted afterwards was awkward, Miguel abruptly standing up with a loud screech of his chair. The two girls looked at him, one more so concerned than the other.
He wasn't a pussy. His sensei taught him better, and if Johnny knew the humiliation he was experiencing around a girl who made his heart race uncontrollably, he'd laugh. "I just did what you ask-"
"and you listened? You should be at home. Getting ready for the Halloween party and trying to pick up chicks, not, whatever this is. Dork." She huffed, taking a glance at what he wrote. "But this is actually impressive, nice job braces."
Jasmine stood next to Miguel, and placed a hesitant, yet sympathetic hand on his shoulder, "you'll get used to her," she turned to scowl at the girl, "soon. I promise. But she's right, you should probably go and get ready, costume prep takes a while."
He cleared his throat, his legs planted on the ground, and he could feel the touch of her fingers burn through the fabric of his jacket. He maintained his eye contact with Mila, shyly shrugging Jasmine's hands off with a roll of his shoulders.
"Thank you," he acknowledged. A small proud smile on his lips, to which he quickly hid as he felt his braces surfacing. "I'll go now."
The girls watched as he left, Jasmine gripping her own hand tightly. Redness was plastered on the base of her face. She bit the inside of her cheeks, "his smile is so cute."
"Why are all my friends into losers?"
"Mila, will you shut up."
. . .
The sound of crumpling beneath the soles of her feet caught Jasmine's attention. She did not enjoy the bus rides crammed with hormonal sweaty teenagers, and her mother was not one to have time to pick her up every day, so she'd settled for walking back to Izzy's place to get ready. Which right now, only ever seemed like fate.
COBRA KAI!
She recognized the name as her fingers cleared the paper, how could she not? Not when Mr. Larusso would slip it into his stories through her karate lessons as a child. Her lips pursed, and she looked around, eyes squinting as they landed on a defeated man, shoulder's slumped and hands gripping the flyers so tightly Jasmine swore they turned white.
This will bite her in the ass. But she needed an extracurricular, one that did not involve burning her muscles to exhaustion on an ice rink every evening. "Hey! is this your dojo?"
Johnny turned around, and the tug of a smile that neared his lips slipped immediately at the sight of her, forming an O.
His forehead crinkled in thought, lips now tight while he raised a single brow along her way. "You thinking of joining?"
"Maybe, I need some variety in my free time."
He nodded; his curiosity twinkled through the blues of his eyes. Johnny might have not been as informed on the internet as he would like to be, but he would not forget a face that had won All Valley's before. A face that once competed under Danielle Larusso. "Great, come to the dojo tonight. 30 bucks per hour, no refunds."
She scoffed, tilting her head, "don't dojo's usually offer a free class first? I wouldn't be able to make it tonight anyway, It's my high school's Halloween party."
The texture of the paper seemed more evident than ever as she took in her own words. Would she be utterly betraying the trust of a man who filled in the role of her father? Yes. Could she very easily cry her way out of it and blame it on the distance that has grown between her and Sam, making her uncomfortable to be present in the Larusso's home? Also, yes. Which was not very far from the truth.
The blond man let out a grunt, shrugging despite his stiff posture not hiding the growing nerves residing within him. "Whatever, tomorrow then. Early, or you will be charged."
"Dude, you've got to lose the attitude if you want more students," the paper was folded beneath her arms, and she gave a sarcastic grin as she pushed past him. Her heartbeat could be heard loudly through the outline of her ears, betraying the confidence homed between her shoulders. The Larusso's no longer a passing thought in her mind, but the familiarity of the features within the man haunted her just so slightly.
But no matter how hard she strained her mind, she was left unaware of who he actually was: even momentarily forgetting to ask what his name was; he was stupid enough to not leave it within the flyer.
didi speaks !
i hate this chapter at the moment. It's only highlighting certain important aspects i wanted to get over with. the actual plot starts next chapter. i did not want to add the actual halloween dance this chapter because i felt like it was too long and idk if people read the long paragraphs, so i'd really like some input 😞
i cant wait for you guys to see the friendship between the girls 🥹 they're everything to me.
also!! i post on tt about them so let's be mutuals!! same user (girlogys.wp)