❝ my lips are sealed. ❞

―

"FIGHTING POSITIONS!"

Juliana put her fists up in front of her as she spread her feet apart, planting them firmly on the mat. She smiled to herself, thinking there was no way he'd be able to find a flaw in her stance.

She glanced over at Hawk who stood next to her as Sensei Lawrence began to walk between the lines of students. She turned her head and stared straight ahead when he approached her. He stopped, examining Juliana's stance before pushing down on one of her shoulders.

"Don't tense your shoulders," he told her. 

Juliana nodded her head, relaxing her shoulders. "Yes, Sensei."

She turned her head to the side as Sensei Lawrence kicked one of Hawk's feet. "Stabilize your base, Hawk Keep your balance. Full rotation when you strike."

"Yes, Sensei!" Hawk punched the air. "Hai!"

Juliana stared forward, looking in the mirror as Sensei Lawrence continued walking around. She followed his path with her eyes, never moving her head. He stepped in front of a boy with blonde hair, watching as he flinched when Sensei Lawrence got close to him.

"Did you just flinch, Virgin?" he asked.

Sensei Lawrence stepped in front of another boy and raised his fist as if he were preparing to punch him. "Holy shit. We got a room full of flinchers."

"Yes, Sensei!"

"That was not a question!" Sensei Lawrence shouted. "Raise your hand if you've never been punched in the face."

Juliana gulped and slowly raised her hand in the air. She had punched people in the face, but she had never been punched herself. Juliana glanced around the dojo, noticing that Miguel and Aisha were the only ones who didn't raise their hands.

"Put your hands down," Sensei Lawrence said as he walked back to the front. "All your lives, you've been avoiding fights, so you don't break your nose or lose a tooth. This concussion nonsense."

Hawk turned to look at her, giving her a confused expression. Juliana shrugged before she raised her hand. "Excuse me, Sensei, I've had a concussion and it's actu—"

"No one asked, Morales," he cut her off. "Put your hand down."

Juliana sighed as she lowered her hand.

"Now, for those of you that haven't been punched in the face, there's only one solution, and that is before you leave this dojo, each and every one of you is gonna take a punch very hard, to the face," Sensei Lawrence told them before turning to Aisha. "Ms. Robinson, line them up. Unflinch this group."

"Yes, Sensei," Aisha replied, turning to Miguel with a worried look on her face.

Juliana watched as Sensei Lawrence walked away and went into his office. She turned her head, flinching when she saw Aisha punch the blonde boy from earlier.

Aisha sighed as he fell to the mat before asking them to line up. Juliana got in line, feeling nervous when it started to get closer and close to her turn. She found herself biting her fingernails nervously, not stopping until she stood in front of Aisha.

"I'm so sorry, Juliana," Aisha told her before hitting her in the face.

Juliana groaned in pain, her head flying backwards. She felt a small trickle of blood coming from her nose. Once she had time to breathe after the hit, Juliana touched her nose with her fingertips, seeing only a small amount of blood.

She turned to Hawk, gasping when he fell down to the ground from Aisha's punch.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" Juliana asked him as she held her hand out in front of him.

"He's okay!" Aisha shouted.

"I'm okay," Hawk groaned as he grabbed Juliana's hand. "It's just a tooth."

"Juli, your nose..." Hawk pointed to her nose.

Juliana shrugged. "It's just a little bit of blood. Nothing a tissue up my nose for a couple minutes can't fix."

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Juliana's dad picked her and Hawk up from practice. When Juliana got in the car, she had a wadded up piece of toilet paper hanging out of her nose. Her dad's eyes went wide instantly.

"Ay! Juliana, what happened to your nose?" he asked her.

"Oh, don't worry," Juliana responded. "I'm fine. It was just a punch to the face."

Nicolás sighed as he pulled out of the parking lot, glancing in the review mirror every so often to look at Juliana and Hawk. They were too lost in their own conversation to notice that he was looking at them.

When they arrived at the Morales house, Juliana and Hawk were in the living room for all of two minutes before they ran next door to Demetri's. Juliana knocked on the door, using the special knock the three of them had created.

The front door opened, revealing Demetri standing on the other side.

"I forget you dyed your hair blonde..." Demetri opened the door wider to let them in before shutting the door and looking at Hawk. "I still can't believe you let her do that."

Juliana rolled her eyes. "For the thousandth time, he didn't let me do anything. It was my idea. I wanted to reinvent myself."

"There are better ways you can do that than damaging your hair," Demetri responded as he took a seat on the couch.

Juliana sighed and sat down in the middle seat. Hawk followed, sitting down next to her on the opposite side of Demetri.

"Are we going to talk about my hair or are we going to play Trivial Pursuit?" Juliana asked as she opened the box on the table. "I'm still undefeated."

"Today might just be the day that you get dethroned, m'lady," Demetri replied, picking up the orange game piece.

Juliana chuckled as she placed the game board on the coffee table. "We'll see about that."

Hawk grabbed the blue game piece, placing it on the board as Juliana reached for the pink one.

"All right," Juliana clapped her hands. "Let's see who gets to go first."

They each took turns rolling the number die to see who would go first. Demetri rolled a three while Hawk rolled a two. Juliana won by rolling a five.

Demetri motioned to the board. "Ladies first..."

Juliana didn't hesitate to grab the dice and roll. She instantly scored a six and landed on a headquarter space which meant that she would get a pie wedge if she answered correctly.

Juliana moved to her game piece. "Sports and leisure!"

Demetri grabbed a card from the pile and read the question. "What bizarre item do Detroit Red Wings fans throw on the ice for good luck?"

"Easy. The answer's octopuses," Juliana answered quickly.

Demetri nodded his head. Juliana clapped her hands and picked up an orange pie wedge, placing it in her game piece. She rolled the die again since she got the question right. She moved her game piece across the board, stopping on a pink space.

Demetri pulled another card, looking down at the entertainment question. "Which episode of the TV series Doctor Who reunited the present and past Doctors on-screen"

"Day of the Doctor," Juliana answered.

Demetri sighed as he nodded. "Correct."

Juliana got to roll again but she got the question wrong, passing the die to Demetri. She read out his question, and he gave the right answer. He got two more questions right before getting one wrong. When it was Hawk's turn, he got his first question right, but the second wrong.

It was Juliana's turn again, and she had managed to land on another headquarter space. This time, it was the geography category. Juliana answered the second he had finished asking the question.

As the game continued, Demetri had managed to get four out of the six wedges. Hawk had gotten three, while Juliana had a completely full game piece and made it to the center of the board. All she had to do to win was answer one more question. It was up to Demetri and Hawk to pick a question they didn't think she would know the answer to.

"I think I have one!" Hawk called out, standing up and holding the card out in front of Demetri as he pointed to a question. "Do you think she'll know?"

Demetri sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "It's worth a shot. I mean, I didn't know the answer. Did you?"

Hawk shook his head.

"Okay then," Demetri grabbed the card and glanced at Juliana. "Are you ready for your final question?"

Juliana nodded her head. "Lay it on me."

"Lateral Epicondylitis is a condition more commonly known by what name?"

Juliana repeated the question in her head, racking her brain as she tried to think of the answer. Demetri and Hawk watched her closely, waiting to see if she would get it right.

"Is it..." Juliana trailed off. "Is it...tennis elbow?"

Demetri let out a large groan as he threw the card on the floor and slumped off the couch.

"I'll take that as a sign that I won," Juliana said as she stood up.

She started to dance around, a large smile on her face. "I won! I won! I'm still undefeated!"

Demetri sat back down on the couch, crossing his arms as she turned to Hawk. " You'd think I would have learned from the last six times we've played."

Hawk nodded. "I don't think we'll ever learn."

Demetri shook his head. "Me either."

Juliana took her phone out of her pocket and turned on music. She grabbed Demetri by the hands and pulled him off the couch.

"What are you doing?" Demetri questioned.

"What's it look like?" Juliana asked, swinging Demetri's arm along with her own. "We're dancing, silly."

She let go of one of his hands and reached for Hawk's hand. She held onto both of their hands, moving them up and down and to the side to the music.

"Come on, now! Loosen up and have some fun!" Juliana told them.

Demetri and Hawk shared a glance with each other before turning back to Juliana. She had the biggest grin on her face and the two boys couldn't help but smile with her.

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Juliana sat on the mat in Cobra Kai, stretching next to Hawk Miguel, and Aisha. The four of them formed a circle as Miguel talked about the upcoming date that he had with Sam.

"I need somewhere romantic, but not too romantic," Miguel told them.

"You could take her to get tattoos," Hawk suggested.

Aisha and Juliana shared a laugh.

"What?" Miguel asked.

Hawk stood up, undoing his belt and turning around before he lowered the top of his gi. "I know a guy, just hooked me up with this bad boy."

Juliana's eyes went wide when she caught sight of the large hawk tattoo sporting a matching hairstyle as his own. She couldn't seem to bring herself to look away.

"Oh shit," Miguel said.

"Oh!" Aisha exclaimed. "That is badass!"

Juliana wasn't sure what to think. She had no idea that he had gotten the tattoo. "It's...it's wow."

"Right?" Hawk responded. "Fourteen hours in the chair."

Juliana kept staring at Hawk started to flex in the mirror, making the tattoo look like it was flying. Juliana was quite literally speechless.

"Wait," Aisha said. "Are your parents okay with it?"

Hawk's smile faded and he retied his gi. "Oh, they have no idea. Definitely going to have to wear a T-shirt until college. Probably longer."

Juliana's eyes practically bulged out of her head. "They don't know?"

Hawk shook his head. "Please don't tell them."

"Don't worry, I won't," Juliana promised him, moving her fingers along her mouth like and key and then tossing it.

"Uh...any other suggestions?" Miguel asked.

"Yeah...Sam doesn't exactly seem like the tattoo date type," Juliana said as she shook her head.

Aisha shook her head. "Don't look at me. Sam and I used to be friends. We're not anymore."

"Okay, but I need your help," Miguel replied.

"Fine. Um..." Aisha sighed. "I know that she likes chocolates and astronomy."

Miguel nodded. "I could work with that."

"You could take her stargazing," Juliana suggested.

"Yeah, yeah that's a great idea," Miguel said with a nod.

"Banned? What are you talking about?" Sensei Lawrence shouted.

Miguel ran towards the office.

"No, you don't ban me! I'll ban you!" the shouting continued.

Juliana shared a confused look with Hawk and Aisha. She shrugged her shoulders and focused her attention on Hawk.

"Hey, we still on for our Harry Potter movie marathon tonight?" Juliana asked him.

Hawk nodded. "Absolutely. Remember, Demetri's in charge of bringing the movies. You're in charge of snacks and I'm in charge of supplying the awesomest basement ever to watch them all."

Juliana smiled and nodded her head. "It's going to be so much fun. Don't forget that the first one to sleep gets their face drawn on."

Hawk shook his head at the floor and chuckled.

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Juliana sat on the couch in Hawk's basement, her eyes following Demetri's movement as he placed The Sorcerer's Stone into the DVD player. On the table in front of them as a bowl of popcorn and bowls of various candies. Juliana reached for a handful of M&M's and tilted her head back, dropping them in her mouth.

Demetri sat down on the couch next to her and pressed play on the DVD remote. Juliana leaned back on the couch, clutching a pillow in her arms. Her eyes were glued to the screen as she watched the opening sequence in excitement. Even though she had seen all of the movies multiple times, it felt like a brands new experience every time she watched them.

The three friends were mostly silent as they watched the movie, throwing in an occasional comment here and there. When they were four movies in, Juliana's eyes were starting to feel heavy. She could feel her eyelids beginning to droop.

Juliana turned her head, looking at Demetri to see that he was still wide awake. She turned to the other side, letting out a small chuckle when she saw that Hawk was sleeping. His mouth was slightly agape, and the tiniest bit of drool was escaping from the side of his mouth.

Juliana nudged Demetri in the arm. When he looked at her, she nodded her head in Hawk's direction. They both shared a laugh before Juliana reached for the marker on the table. She leaned over and started drawing on his face.

She let out a small snort and Demetri covered his mouth as they tried to hold in their laughter.

Juliana passed the marker to Demetri. He grabbed it and started doodling. Juliana bit down on her lip, trying to stop herself from laughing.

"Annnnnd finished," Demetri whispered. "What do you think?"

Juliana smiled. "Definitely artist worthy. Very Picasso and Van Gogh of us."

Demetri and Juliana shared a smile with each other before they sat back down on the couch. They continued to watch the movie. Juliana felt her eyes get heavy once again.

Juliana yawned and rested her head on Demetri's shoulder. Juliana didn't see, but Demetri's eyes widened. He couldn't believe that her head was on his shoulder.

Demetri looked down at Juliana as her eyes slowly started to close. It wasn't long before Juliana had drifted off to sleep. Demetri wasn't far behind her.

The sound of end credits of The Goblet of Fire played in the background.

— EMILIA'S NOTES

the juliana, demetri, eli/hawk friendship is so cute. i love them so much.

out of curiosity, who are we liking juliana with more? i already have it all planned out, but i wanna know.

juliana morales, you have my entire heart.

also the octopus question was 100% a reference to sam and miguel's date. thought i'd throw something in there just because.