❝ you want to solve the mystery? ❞

―

JULIANA GIGGLED NEXT TO HAWK.

She was standing in between Hawk and Aisha, with Bert to her left. They were in the middle of trying to come up with nicknames for the two of the new recruits who had held the door open for them from the day before.

Hawk stared at them, his hand over his mouth as he was deep in thought. "What do you think? Shithead One and Shithead Two?"

"I was thinking more Mary-Kate and Asshat," Aisha added.

Juliana chuckled, shaking her head at the floor. She looked up, her eyes darting between the two boys in front of her.

"Well, I'm Chris—"

"Did I say you could speak?" Hawk interrupted him.

Miguel approached them, stopping next to the boy who introduced himself as Chris. "Guys, look, they're just messing with you."

"Thanks, man," Chris responded.

"Besides..." Miguel added, "Everyone knows your names are Assface and Douchebag."

They all laughed except for Chris and his friend, whom Juliana had yet to learn the name of. She furrowed her eyebrows when she heard him say, "Dibs on assface."

"Anyway, I'm Juliana, by the way." Juliana introduced herself, holding her hand out in front of them.

Chris shook her hand. "Chris. But you already know that because I already said my name."

Juliana nodded her head as Chris let go of her hand. She turned to look at the other boy, holding her hand out in front of him. He stared down at her hand, his eyes wide. He turned to look at Chris, who raised his eyebrows at him and motioned his head toward Juliana's hand.

He looked down at her hand again, slowly grabbing it with his own. "Mitch."

Juliana gave his hand a firm shake. "Nice to meet you both, and I wouldn't take the nicknames too personally. Sensei Lawrence has nicknames for everyone, so if Assface and Douchebag don't stick, then he's bound to call you something else."

The bell above the door jingled. An older man stepped into the dojo, glancing around at all of the students. He carried a duffle bag in his hand.

"Who's that?" Hawk questioned.

Miguel shook his head. "I don't know."

Hawk continued messing with Chris and Mitch. Juliana followed the man with her eyes as he walked around the mat towards the office. Miguel stepped in front of him. Juliana walked up to them, standing next to Miguel.

"Uh, can I help you, sir?" Miguel asked.

The man looked at the two teens in front of him. "No. But maybe I can help you."

"Hey," Johnny said as he walked out of his office, gathering their attention.

Miguel pointed to the man in front of them with his thumb. "Uh, Sensei..."

The man glanced at Juliana as he walked past her and Miguel, going to talk to Johnny. Juliana exchanged a look with Miguel. They both shrugged their shoulders, listening to Sensei Lawrence when he instructed them to fall in.

"Class, we have a visitor," Johnny told them. "This is Mr. Kreese."

Juliana shifted her gaze to look at him. She had no idea who this man was or how he knew Sensei Lawrence. She racked her brain, trying to think of the possibilities. An idea popped into her head, but she couldn't be sure until she had actual evidence.

"He's just an observer," Johnny continued. "Pretend like he's not even here. Mr. Diaz, warm them up."

Miguel stepped up to the front and turned to face his classmates. He bowed, and they all bowed back.

"Fighting positions!"

Juliana got into fighting position, listening to Miguel as he gave the class instructions.

"Front kick! Yuh!"

"Forward strike! Yuh!"

"Side jab! Yuh!"

They all dabbed instead of doing a side jab and laughed. Juliana turned to look at Sensei Lawrence. He didn't look pleased at all.

"What the hell was that?" Sensei Lawrence asked.

"We were just messing around," Miguel told him. "We have eleven and a half months until the next All Valley."

"Yeah, besides, we already know how to kick ass," Hawk chipped in.

"Oh, yeah, really, huh?" Johnny asked, stepping closer to Hawk. "So, you know everything. There's nothing left to learn, huh?"

Aisha leaned in closer to Juliana's ear, whispering a funny joke and then doing a quick motion with her arm. Juliana bit down on her lip, trying to keep herself from laughing. Now was not the time.

Sensei Lawrence walked over to the two girls. "What's so funny, Ms. Robinson and Ms. Morales?"

Juliana did not see, too focused on her sensei in front of her, but the older man visiting the dojo's attention piqued. Morales was a last name he had not heard in quite some time, and he found himself wondering if there was any connection.

"I'm sorry, Sensei," Aisha shook her head. "You just wouldn't understand."

"Try me," he replied.

"It's a snake-do," Aisha chuckled.

Juliana giggled along with the rest of the class. She shook her head at the floor, knowing exactly what their sensei was about to ask.

"What's a snake-do?"

The entire class began to hiss like snakes, moving their arms to resemble slithering. The class erupted into a fit of laughter, much to the disappointment of Johnny.

"Quiet!"

The hissing and laughter stopped immediately. Juliana stared at him, wide-eyed.

"5:00 am tomorrow morning," Sensei Lawrence said. "Corner of Fulton and Raymer. You don't show, and you're off the team. Class dismissed."

Juliana shared a look with Hawk.

────────────

Bright and early the next morning, Juliana stood next to Hawk and Miguel, mixing cement as the hot sun shone down on her. On her face were her signature pink heart-shaped sunglasses. But they did not seem to be doing a very good job of blocking out the sunlight.

Hawk added the cement mixture to the wheelbarrow in front of them, Juliana sprayed water from a hose, and Miguel mixed them together.

"Don't add too much water," Johnny told them. "You wanna make it nice and thick."

"Sensei, why are we mixing cement?" Miguel asked.

"No questions. Keep stirring!"

Juliana groaned, wiping sweat from her forehead. "This actually sucks. All because we decided to mess around a little?"

Hawk opened his mouth to respond but was quickly cut off by the sound of a horn honking. Juliana looked up from the wheelbarrow, her eyebrows furrowing when she saw a cement truck pulling up behind Sensei Lawrence and Mr. Kreese.

"Everyone, fall in!"

Juliana was confused but dropped the hose and took off her gloves anyway. She walked with Hawk and Miguel, the three of them stopping in front of Johnny and Kreese. The rest of the students followed, each of them lining up.

"You think winning the All Valley gives you the right to goof off?" Johnny asked his students. "Well, I got news for you. Winning one championship don't mean squat. A true champion never stops training. You gotta keep moving forward, or else you could get stuck exactly where you are. It's like the cement in this truck."

Johnny pointed at the truck behind him. "If that drum doesn't start turning, the cement inside will harden and get stuck. Is that what you want to happen to you?"

"No, Sensei!"

"Good," Johnny nodded. "Then climb up, get inside, and make it spin."

Confused murmuring spread. Juliana tuned to look at Hawk; mirroring expressions of concern and confusion were written all over their faces.

"Sensei, we're sorry for messing around," Aisha spoke up.

"We learned our lesson," Hawk added.

"Get in!" Johnny shouted as he pulled the ladder down.

Juliana faced forward, racing her hand. "Excuse me, Sensei?"

Johnny sighed, turning to her. "Is there a problem, Ms. Morales?"

"Don't you think that it's dangerous for us to get inside of a cement truck? We could end up getting stuck, and the fumes alone could—"

"Quiet!" Kreese shouted, interrupting her.

Juliana jumped at the sudden outburst, her eyes going wide as Kreese started to step closer.

"This man led you to the mountaintop, and you question him?" Mr. Kreese scolded them. "Look at you. Look at all of you. I can't believe this pathetic pack of pussies competed in the All Valley, and let alone won. It's an absolute miracle. And who's responsible for that miracle? Johnny Lawrence. The best student in the history of Cobra Kai. My student."

"You were Sensei's sensei?" Hawk asked him.

Juliana crossed her arms, unimpressed. She already knew that from her research last night. She had a bunch, and she was right. She saw the photos from the eighties that had been posted on a website online. The man in front of her was John Kreese, a war veteran and former sensei of Cobra Kai. Her father's former sensei—the one that he had said was a madman with a holier than thou mentality.

"You best believe it, kid," Kreese told Hawk. "And I tell you, I've never trained a tougher student in my whole life. So, if you know what's good for you, you better listen to every goddamn word he says."

"I'll do it, Sensei," Miguel volunteered, stepping up to the truck and climbing inside the truck.

Hawk stepped up, following Miguel inside the truck. Kreese turned his head, his eyes stopping on Juliana. She stared back at him, folding her arms against her chest. There was a strange look in his eyes—one that Juliana was easily able to pinpoint. He had heard Johnny say her last name not once, but twice now, and he kept looking at her as if he knew exactly who she was.

Juliana continued glaring at the man as she stepped up to the ladder. She was Juliana Morales, the daughter of Nicolás Morales, and the thing about Moraleses is that they never ever back down from a challenge.

Juliana climbed the ladder at the back of the cement truck. She pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head as she looked inside the drum, inhaling sharply. It was dark, and she could barely make out anything except for cement covering the floors and the drum. She exhaled, stepping one foot after the other into the truck.

"Ugh," Juliana cringed as cement seeped into her shoes.

She walked through the truck, standing in between Hawk and Miguel.

"We have officially lost our minds," Juliana told them.

Both boys nodded in agreement as Chris and Mitch stepped into the truck.

"Uh-uh, this is weird," Chris said, his feet sloshing around in the cement.

"Most definitely," Juliana agreed.

"Don't just stand there! You wanna get stuck?" Sensei Lawrence spoke, his voice echoing through the drum. "Move!"

Juliana walked as best as she could to the side of the drum. Her feet sank back into the cement with every step she took. She placed her hands on the drum, the wet cement transferring to her hands. The four boys placed their hands on the drum. and together, they began to push the drum as hard as they could.

"Come on. Let's get pushing," Miguel told them.

"Let's go, guys!" Johnny shouted at them. "Move it!"

Juliana planted her feet into the bottom of the truck as best as she could, pushing the side of the drum. Her hands slipped, but she kept trying.

"Come on, don't just stand there!" Hawk said.

"Come on! Come on, we've got this!" Juliana encouraged them. "Just keep pushing!"

Slowly, the drum started to move. The five of them were struggling to say upright but managed to keep pushing the drum. It began to spin faster. Juliana smiled and cheered excitedly.

"That's it, you guys!" Juliana exclaimed.

Hawk beamed with excitement. "We're doing it! We're doing it!"

"A little bit faster!" Johnny's voice called out.

They continued to push harder, making the drum spin even faster.

"There you go! Keep pushing!" Johnny shouted. "All together!"

The drum spun faster and faster. Chris started slipping but then caught his balance. Juliana fell to her knees, but then placed her hand back on the drum and began pushing. They could hear the others cheering for them outside of the truck.

Johnny told them that they could stop. They wished for the drum to stop spinning before they climbed out. The rest of the students took their turns. Once everyone had gone, they all stood in front of Sensei Lawrence as he sprayed them with a water house.

"You should all be proud of yourselves," he told them. "I know I'm proud. Your parents would be proud, too, if you told them what we did here today, which we won't. You pushed forward like champions. Never stopping. Never being satisfied. Never giving up. And if you keep pushing and keep moving forward, you're gonna go to places you've never even dreamed of."

Juliana was still slightly covered in cement when she went home that afternoon. She opened the front door to her house and closed the door behind her.

Immediately, she furrowed her eyebrows together as she stared at her parents sitting on the couch with Hawk and Demetri's parents. They had been in the middle of a conversation, but it stopped the second she stepped into the living room. Their heads turned to look at her, none of them saying a word.

Juliana glanced between them. "What's going on? Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine, Mija," Silvia told her daughter. "What is that you are covered in?"

Juliana glanced down at her clothes that still had center on them. She shook her head. "It's nothing. I'm going to go shower."

Juliana climbed up the stairs; her mind lingered on the encounter with her parents the entire time she was in the shower. She knew that their parents were somewhat friends, but they never really hung out as a group. There was most definitely something going on. She just had no idea what it was.

When she got out of the shower and changed clothes, she sent a text message to Hawk to ask if they were still on for their date. He responded almost instantly, saying that he would pick her up.

Juliana went into the bathroom to blow dry her hair. She laid in her bed and scrolled through her phone as she waited for him to arrive.

Hawk and Demetri's parents were gone by the time that Hawk knocked on the front door. Juliana practically ran down the stairs to answer before her parents had the chance to. When the door opened, she was met with Hawk's smiling face. Juliana smiled back at him before saying she would be right back after telling her mom she was leaving.

She found her in the kitchen. Juliana quickly popped her head in and told her she was going out with Hawk. She skipped back out to the living room and slipped on her shoes before she stepped onto the front porch. She walked with Hawk to his car.

Juliana stared out the window as they drove to Golf 'N Stuff, where they were having their date. Juliana was distracted the entire time they were there, and Hawk had taken notice. As they sat down at a table to eat, Hawk decided to finally ask.

"Are you okay, Juli?" Hawk questioned. "Are you not having fun? Did something happen?"

Juliana shook her head. "No, no, no. I am having fun. So much fun. It's just..."

"Just what?" Hawk asked.

Juliana sighed. "When I came home after practice, my parents were sitting in the living room with your parents and Demetri's parents. They stopped talking the second I walked in the house and just stared at me."

Hawk's eyebrows scrunched in confusion. "What were they talking about?"

Juliana shrugged. "I have no idea. But it was really weird. Not only because they stopped talking when they saw me, but because our parents don't hang out."

"Yeah," Hawk agreed, nodding his head. "Do you think they've been having like, secret meetings or something while we've been at practice?"

Juliana raised an eyebrow. "Wait. You think?"

"It's just a theory," Hawk said with a shrug. "Do you think Demetri knows?"

"I don't know," Juliana responded. "We can ask him later, but first, let's get back to our date. Fancy a game of Dance Dance Revolution?"

Hawk smiled. "You're so on."

The two teens stood up from the table and threw their trash away. Juliana grabbed Hawk by the hand and dragged him through the arcade to where Dance Dance Revolution was. She let go of his hand and started up the game. The song started playing, and the arrows were telling them where to step, moving down the screen. Hawk was struggling to keep up, missing several of his steps. Juliana did not miss a single one, easily winning.

Juliana started jumping up and down. She held her arms out front of her and started moving them around in a circle, doing a celebratory dance.

"I won! I won!" Juliana cheered.

Hawk laughed. "How did you not miss a single step?"

Juliana shrugged. "I guess you could say I'm just awesome like that."

Hawk chuckled at her. "It's getting kind of crowded. Do you want to get going?"

Juliana nodded her head. She grabbed his hand again, and together, they walked out to the parking lot. They got in the car and started driving back to Juliana's neighborhood. But before Hawk dropped her off and went home, they had one more stop to make.

They stood on Demetri's front porch, waiting for him to answer the door. Juliana had texted him while she was in the car that they would be dripping by. The door opened, and Demetri's face appeared on the other side.

"What's going on?" Demetri asked. "I was trying to plan our next D&D campaign when you texted me. You made it sound kind of urgent."

"It is urgent," Juliana told him as she walked inside. "It's about our parents."

Demetri raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Let's go upstairs," Juliana told him.

Hawk followed after her and Demetri shut the door. The three of them made their way up to Demetri's room. He shut the door and glanced between Juliana and Hawk.

"So?" Demetri asked. "What's the urgent matter that has to do with our parents?"

"When I came back from karate practice, they were all sitting on the couch," Juliana explained. "But the weird thing is they immediately stopped talking when I came in the door. They stared at me like I stumbled across something I wasn't supposed to."

"Yeah, that's definitely strange," Demetri agreed. "But maybe they were just spending some quality parent time together? I mean, the three of us—their children are friends—would it really be that odd if they were friends as well? Eli and I's parents are friends. So maybe they're also friends with your parents."

Juliana sighed. "They can be friends if they want, but it felt like so much more than that. Something is going on. I just have a feeling."

"Let me guess, you want to solve the mystery?" Demetri asked.

Juliana nodded her head. "What do you guys say? Want to help me figure out what's happening with our parents?"

Hawk nodded. "I'm in."

Juliana and Hawk both turned their heads to look at Demetri. The sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, I'm in," Demetri agreed.

Juliana smiled, walking up to Hawk to give him a hug before stepping over to Demetri. She had to stand on her tiptoes to hug him. When she pulled back from the hug, she glanced at the lit-up computer screen. She furrowed her eyebrows and stepped closer to the screen, leaning forward to get a better look. It was on a program that she didn't recognize.

"Eli and Demetri's Perfect Girl," Juliana read from the screen. "Dark brown, almost black hair with brown eyes and tanned skin."

Demetri and Hawk turned to look at each other, their eyes so wide they might as well have been bulging out of their sockets.

Juliana chuckled. "What is this?"

She glanced back and forth between them before looking back at the screen and continuing to read. "She loves Harry Potter, Doctor Who, and Star Wars. She likes to play Dungeons and Dragons and Trivial Pursuit. She isn't afraid to speak up."

Demetri rushed over to the computer and closed out of the program. Juliana turned her head toward him.

"What is that, and why did it describe me?" Juliana asked as she glanced back and forth between the two boys.

"Uh..." Hawk trailed off, looking to Demetri.

Demetri gulped. "Well, um, you see..."

— EMILIA'S NOTES

the mystery continues to grow even deeper. and also can we talk about the cliffhanger? it's so fun to leave y'all on cliffhangers. i'm kidding...

juliana staring at kreese and being like "i know this old man is not having the audacity to look at me" she is not going to fall for his crap.

anyway, until next time! please vote and comment!! i love hearing your thoughts <3