BC03: MATIAS JUAREZ [DECEASED]

[Rattlesnake]

DECEASED


Name: Matias Juarez
Gender: Male
Age: 18
Grade: 12th
Hobbies and Interest: Punk music, drumming, partying, ASL, origami, soccer

Appearance: Matias presents a lean figure at 5’8” and 135 pounds. He has a smooth, sienna-brown complexion due to his Mestizo heritage. His face is almost triangular, with a sharp chin and well-defined cheeks. He has a pointed nose with a prominent, horizontal scar that runs across the bridge, from below the inner edge of one eye to the inner edge of the other eye. He also has a birthmark an inch below his left eye, a small black dot. His lips are often chapped, with occasional blood clots beneath the skin. He constantly applies lip balm to remedy this, but to little to no effect. His eyes are brown and almond-shaped. His hair is of even length throughout his scalp and is worn in a messy, but deliberately styled bedhead manner, such that locks of hair often hang in front of his eyes.

His wardrobe is rather minimal due to his family’s current financial status, and while he makes attempts to update it every couple of months, his rotating outfits have become a recurring joke among his friends. It consists of a motley of hoodies, T-shirts, and tank tops, depending on the weather, along with a mix of jeans and shorts. He’s not very particular with his choice of clothes, but tends to prefer those with a rougher, edgier look. When he does have the money, he tends to buy from brands such as Superdry and Levi’s from the clearance section of the local department store. He only has two pairs of sneakers, both of which are somewhat worn down with the midsole peeling away. He has made attempts to fix this with Superglue, and these are met with varying levels of success.

On the day of his abduction, he was wearing a red Superdry hoodie with a striped black and gray tank top underneath, along with black ripped jeans and white sneakers.

Biography: On January 5, 2003, Matias Juarez, the first of 4 siblings, was born in Miami, Florida to Elena Juarez (nee Dominguez) and Tomas Juarez. Elena and Tomas were both second-generation Cuban immigrants that met in their senior year of college and married within a year of meeting each other. As the two had just graduated when they married, Elena opted out of entering the workplace and decided to become a stay-at-home mom, while Tomas pursued a career as an accountant at American Airlines.

Since he was a toddler, Matias had shown signs of being prone to temper tantrums. These would often manifest when he didn’t immediately get what he wanted, like when a classmate wouldn’t immediately give him a toy, or when his parents or a classmate or a teacher wouldn’t answer him at once. As a result, he would get into a few fights with his classmates, which would result in Matias being sent to the principal’s office a few times. The school authorities let Elena and Tomas know about his behavior, and so, they tried a few different methods to remedy this, including grounding him, signing him up for extracurricular activities, and having extended conversations with him about his behavior. None of these methods worked immediately, and Matias became known as an aggressive bully for all of kindergarten and 1st grade.

One of the activities introduced to Matias around this time was soccer. Tomas had been an avid soccer player in his youth, and hoped that the sport would provide an outlet for some of Matias’ anger. This did not prove to be the case, as Matias would get angry whenever his team would lose, resulting in a few stern lectures from the coach and from his parents. Matias did, however, enjoy the sport, at first, and learned to calm down enough on the field to avoid being removed from the team entirely. In addition, it provided a bonding activity for him and his dad.

Around the beginning of 2009, Elena discovered she was pregnant with her second child. Matias didn’t really care about this, at first, as it simply meant his mother had to spend more time in bed, and less time playing with him, which he understood. However, once the child, Salome, was born, Matias became somewhat fascinated with her, and would dote on his little sister every chance he got, at first.

There were a few episodes where Matias would get irritated with all the attention being paid to Salome, but after one of his tantrums, Tomas talked to Matias and chastised him for being jealous of a baby. Matias became embarrassed for acting that way, and mellowed his behavior. He became more loving towards his baby sister. This came as a great relief to Elena and Tomas, who worried that his feelings of jealousy would result in poor sibling relations.

Matias’ newfound easygoing behavior carried over in school, starting around third grade. While Matias still carried a negative reputation from his attitude last year, he became more friendly with his classmates, and learned how to better deal with sharing attention. Eventually, Matias gained a circle of friends. In addition, his grades got better. While Matias had never really had trouble with his subjects in school, he did have the tendency to fall behind occasionally due to being sent home from school for getting into fights, an issue that had been resolved by third grade. Now, Matias was in the top 10% of his class, something which brought great satisfaction to his family, and to Matias himself, as he liked being better than average at something.

After Salome came Lucas and Josefa, twins born in the summer of 2010. Their introduction to the family went smoother than Salome’s, with Matias not showing as much jealousy to them as he had to Salome. The Juarez household became rather hectic at the time due to the presence of four young children, but Elena and Tomas had always wanted a house with many children, so they were happy with the way things were.

The Juarez family used to live a typical middle-class life. While they weren’t especially rich, the needs of the family were generally met, and the house they lived in was a classic two-story house in a suburb. This was true until 2012, when American Airlines began laying off employees due to the bankruptcy of its parent company AMR. Among those laid off was Tomas. While the family had savings in their account, searching for jobs proved difficult in the post-recession economy, and Tomas’ job search took long enough that their savings were nearly depleted by the time he found a lower-paying job at a company in downtown Miami. They were unable to rely on financial assistance from their extended family on either Elena or Tomas’ side as they were predominantly working class, so they did not have much money to offer them. Tomas, in particular, had been seen as the breadwinner of his clan, so the loss of his job was especially demotivating to him.

In addition, the presence of four children in the house, including three toddlers, put a severe strain on the Juarez family’s finances. While Elena and Tomas tried to hide the dire situation from their kids, it became untenable to do so when they were forced to move to a smaller apartment. They were unable to pay the mortgage loans, even with Tomas’ new job, forcing them to make the move.

Even after the move, the combined cost of rent, food, utilities, and gas was too much for Tomas’ salary to pay for on its own, so Elena was forced to get a job as a night-shift retail worker. This meant that, for most of the week, there would only be one parent at the house at any given time. It also meant that Matias had to assist either his mom or his dad with raising the children, and performing chores around the house. In order to make time for all of his duties, Matias had to withdraw from his football team and go home immediately after school, lessening the time he had to spend with his friends.

These drastic changes did not go unnoticed by Matias. He understood, on a surface level, why these things were happening, but he couldn’t understand why it happened to his family, in particular. As far as he knew, his father had done nothing wrong, so he didn’t deserve to lose his job. This struck Matias as unfair, and depressed him somewhat. He did not discuss his feelings with his family, as he felt his siblings were too young to understand, and he didn’t want to add any more stress into his parents’ life. He also didn't show his anger to his family, as he didn’t view them as responsible for the misfortunes that had befallen them, and so they didn’t take notice of Matias’ increasingly short temper.

While Matias entered middle school with many of the same classmates he’d had in elementary school, he began to drift away and lose the friends he’d made there. He felt like his friends also didn’t understand what he was going through, and felt somewhat ashamed about being poor. He wasn’t able to buy and play video games like most kids his age, and he still wore largely the same clothes he had in elementary school. He felt it better to deal with these issues by being alone, and so he started talking less to his friends and showeing up less to their gatherings.

This newfound isolation made him vulnerable to being targeted by bullies. At first, he kept his head down and ignored the harassment as he didn’t want to get in trouble and disappoint his parents. This bullying continued for a few months, and slowly escalated from taunting to shoving and tripping. It came to a head one day when a boy pushed him, causing Matias to fall head-first onto the edge of a bench.

The injury left Matias with a permanent facial scar. It also left him with a concussion that kept him out of school for a week. Teachers reported the incident to authorities, but the boy’s parents were close friends with the principal of the school, and after a few days of deliberation, they were able to keep the boy’s punishment down to suspension for two weeks. This was despite Matias’ parents arguing for the boy’s expulsion.

As a result of the concussion, Matias does not remember the incident itself, nor the day leading up to or after it. Once he’d found out what happened to him, however, he was infuriated by the school’s response. He felt betrayed by the authorities, and realized that he had no one else to rely on but himself for self-defense.

When the boy’s suspension ended, Matias greeted his return by punching him in the back of the head and knocking him onto the ground. This earned Matias a week’s suspension from school. However, it also had the effect of lessening the bullying he received, as they didn’t want to pick on someone who would retaliate.

While his parents were disappointed in his behavior, they also understood why he lashed out, and decided not to punish him any further. They tried to see if they could transfer him to a different school in the hopes of keeping him away from bullies, and sent in applications to nearby charter schools, but Matias failed to win the lottery in any of the schools he applied to. Also, in Florida, there are potential penalties for enrolling one’s child in an out-of-zone school, something Matias’ parents were unwilling to risk due to the delicate state of their finances. So, Matias was forced to stay at his school another year.

Matias’ short temper became more apparent around the beginning of 7th grade, and while he wasn’t bullied as much as before, he would talk back against teachers and classmates much more easily than he had before. This was a defense mechanism he had developed; the way he saw it, if he showed aggression first, then people would be scared to pick on him, like what had happened in 6th grade. These incidents got him sent to the principal’s office twice a month. His parents tried to deal with this issue like before with punishments like grounding, but to no effect. Eventually, the school suggested he visit a counselor regularly to deal with his anger issues.

During therapy, his counselor would suggest he try out origami. The idea here was that origami, a slow, deliberate task that requires plenty of concentration, would allow Matias to divert his energy elsewhere, and give him time to calm down whenever he’s angry. While Matias dismissed origami as a ‘girly’ hobby, he did eventually try it at his counselor’s behest, and found it to be calming. To this day, he carries around some slips of paper with him to fold into cranes or elephants whenever he’s stressed, and he uses origami as a first resort to lower his stress whenever he’s had a bad day.

While waiting for his appointments, he would often talk with a boy named Jake, who was also seeing a counselor for anger issues. As they had nothing else to do, they would make small talk, and eventually, became best friends. While they didn’t have many interests in common at first, they bonded over a mutual distrust of authority and a similarly sarcastic sense of humor.

The two soon started hanging out more often. While hanging out, Jake would suggest that Matias listen to bands like Bad Religion and Rise Against. He did, and he took a liking to the bands’ upbeat but aggressive style of music. He felt a sense of catharsis listening to their music. For Matias, those bands served as a gateway towards the punk genre as a whole, sparking a lifelong interest in this music.

While hanging out at Jake’s house one day and listening to their favorite bands, Jake mentioned he had a drum set lying around his house. Matias asked if he could try, and Jake said yes. So, Matias played around with the drums while listening to the songs, and he found that he had a natural talent for keeping rhythm. He asked his parents for a set of drums as his birthday gift, but they refused, as they still lived in an apartment and didn’t want to disrupt neighbors. So, Matias made it a point to go to Jake’s house twice a week to hang out and play the drums, while Jake shouted and sang along to their favorite songs.

Eventually, during these visits, Jake’s younger brother would come around and hang out with them. At first, Matias was put off by how silent he was, but then he and Jake started communicating via sign language. Jake explained to Matias that his younger brother had been born deaf, so ASL was the language they used to talk to one another. Out of curiosity, Matias asked if he could learn a few signs, and so Jake taught him. Over time, Jake taught him more and more signs, and eventually, they started communicating with one another in sign language. They would use ASL as a secret language to talk about things they did not want others to overhear, such as snide jokes directed at classmates or teachers. Due to the regular conversations they had in ASL, Matias managed to become conversationally fluent in the language. While he was not able to pick up on nuances like time, direction, or expression, he was able to pick up on the language’s grammar. In addition, he learned a decent amount of words, and used fingerspelling to convey words he didn’t know.

Matias would still occasionally get in trouble for his attitude during 7th and 8th grade, but having a best friend to confide in, a counselor to guide him, and a few hobbies to direct his energy towards lessened the issues that had manifested during 6th grade. His grades went on the upswing once again.

Elena and Tomas had lost confidence in the Miami public school system following Matias’ experiences in 6th grade. Also, they were hoping that entering Matias into a prestigious school would boost his college prospects which, in turn, would boost his job prospects and, perhaps, provide a way out of poverty, back towards the middle class. As such, they pushed him to take the entrance test for Mangrove Garden High School. He was easily convinced by them as he too wanted a better life for his family. So, he took the test and passed, to everyone’s initial delight.

However, this meant that he and Jake would be going to separate schools. Jake was a middling student, and while he had also taken the test, he missed the cutoff, and his parents did not have the money needed to pay his tuition there. While he and Matias promised to stay best friends, and spent plenty of time together over the summer, they both grew busy with high school work once 9th grade arrived, and eventually drifted apart. They still maintain contact with one another, but their conversations are short and stilted, and only happen once or twice a month. It is during these conversations that Matias is able to practice ASL and retain a somewhat rudimentary level of fluency, as he is still interested in the language. It is also one of the few common interests they have to talk about, as Jake lost interest in punk music after entering high school. The two talk more for nostalgia's sake, and out of an unwillingness to fully let go of their friendship, rather than out of a genuine interest in talking to one another.

Over the summer, Matias’ father had received a significant pay raise at his job. Elena and Tomas used the extra money to hire a babysitter to lessen the workload for both of them, and to allow Matias to focus on his education more and spend more time with his friends, as they had noticed how his behavior had improved when Jake was around.

Matias entered high school alone, scared that, because he knew no one at this school, he would be targeted like he had been in middle school. So, he applied for the soccer team, even though he had lost interest in the sport during middle school, as it was an environment he was familiar with. Due to the speed and agility he displayed during try-outs, he was assigned to be a striker for the team.

He initially had good relations with his teammates. He was keen to make friends with them, so he would attempt to restrain himself during times that his temper would flare up. However, he was not completely successful at this, and would become noticeably cold after losses, often opting to walk straight out of the locker room instead of spending more time with his teammates.

Throughout elementary and middle school, Matias had earned good grades with little effort, as most subjects simply came naturally to him. Before, it had been enough for him to simply cram the night before an exam. When his grades started dropping in the middle of 9th grade, he ignored it at first and assumed that it was simply a bump in the road that would pass soon, and that he would simply understand these subjects better later on. So, he continued his old habits, even after the rankings for the first semester showed him around the halfway point. This went on until Matias received an F in a math exam, his first ever failing grade. His parents found out, and grounded him for a week, forcing him to study for his other exams. While he had been scared into action at this point, he had already fallen behind in most of his subjects, and struggled to catch up. Thus, despite his best efforts, his rankings fell even further at the end of 9th grade.

The gravity of this sudden change in his fortunes weighed on Matias throughout the summer leading up to 10th grade. He made attempts to self-study and catch up on the subjects he struggled in, especially math and science, but he simply failed to understand. He found the books he had on the subject to be too dense for his liking, and he was unable to ask help from his parents as they were both busy with their jobs.

This made him more volatile and easy to anger come 10th grade, and this volatility manifested when his soccer team lost in an upset in the first round of the playoffs. He initially took out his anger on Emmy Soon, a key player of the team who had just come out as transgender and withdrew for that reason, and blamed her for their loss. Soon after, Matias became more hostile with most other members of the team, as he was both bitter about the loss and nervous about his grades falling. He soon started entering into shouting matches with teammates he perceived as having made mistakes during practice, something the coach did not take kindly to. He warned Matias that if he did not improve his behavior, he risked being kicked out of the team. Not wanting to lose his main group of friends, he restrained himself once more, and apologized to those he had conflicted with, but the damage was partially done. Matias still has friends among the team, but less than before.

In the 10th grade, Matias entered into a relationship with Liam Walsh, a classmate he had made friends with the previous year. He had never really questioned his sexuality before they met. While he had shown little interest in girls, and more than a passing interest in his teammates while they hung out in the locker room, Matias had simply assumed he would find a girl he liked in the future, but after having met Liam, he finally realized that he liked boys.

Liam, like Matias, had a short temper, and Matias liked having someone who could relate to this aspect of him. He found Liam’s outbursts while gaming more endearing rather than annoying, and found his Irish accent to be funny, but more than anything, Matias enjoyed having someone who loved him. He started playing SOTF Champions and watching streams of this game solely so he and Liam could have a shared interest, and more things to talk about.

Their relationship lasted around a year. A few cracks had developed between them over that time. Liam had the tendency to make insensitive remarks and cutting jokes, and Matias, out of pride, would not say anything about it, letting the hurt simmer below the surface. They had several arguments over the course of their relationship. At first, these arguments had been playful and light-natured, but over time, they became more negative and serious in tone, with Matias taking personal offense at Liam’s jokes, and Liam not understanding why Matias was taking offense in the first place.

Over time, Matias felt that they were feeding off each others’ anger, and that the relationship was mutually toxic for both of them. He also realized his personality was driving away a lot of people in his life, and wished to improve that aspect of himself. So, Matias broke up with Liam after another fight of theirs. The aftermath was bitter. The two avoided each other as much as possible, with any encounters between them short and hostile. Matias withdrew from gaming as a whole, as the hobby reminded him too much of Liam.

Eventually, Matias realized that he still loved Liam, but he didn’t ask him back both out of a sense of pride, and out of fear that Liam wouldn’t reciprocate these feelings, and that Matias would simply be humiliated if he asked. This fear was partially realized when Liam entered a long-term relationship with another man after their break-up.

To get over Liam, Matias began going out to parties. He would do so mostly on Friday nights and weekends, under the guise of studying with friends or meeting for group projects, as he felt his parents wouldn’t approve due to his struggling grades. While he would drink enough at these parties to get buzzed, he was careful not to get drunk so his parents wouldn’t find out about his parties, and he made sure to get home before midnight.

In a misguided attempt to both figure out his sexuality and drown out the regret and self-loathing that followed the break-up, Matias briefly tried experimenting with women he met at these parties. He was able to do this since his relationship, per Liam’s wishes, had been secret, so most of the school assumed he was straight. These attempts at moving on only confirmed to him, however, that he was solely interested in men, and he mostly avoids those he dated during this period out of a feeling of awkwardness.

He came out to his family subsequently. This was treated awkwardly by them. While they still loved and accepted him, Elena and Tomas, in particular, were somewhat traditional, and did not approve of him getting into relationships with men. They acknowledged, however, that they couldn’t really stop him even if they wanted to, which Matias took as a tacit permit from them to continue dating. Nowadays, the topic isn’t really brought up in the household, and Matias tends to keep his relationships secret from them.

At these parties, Matias made friends who, like him, were also into punk music. One night, while he was particularly drunk, he asked some of them if they would be interested in starting a band. They were, so they started going out to practice weekly, with Matias becoming the drummer of the band after he was able to convince his parents to buy him a new, if rather cheaply made, drum set as a birthday gift. The band is of average quality, and only manages to get gigs performing at clubs sparingly, but they play more for the sake of it rather than out of any aspiration of becoming famous.

The time he spent at parties or band practice significantly took away from time he could’ve spent studying, causing his already mediocre rankings to lower even further. At this point, he had already resigned himself to the fact that his grades would never be as high as they had been before, but his parents were alarmed by this. He reassured them that he was studying when he said he was and that he was trying his best, and he was covered for by the friends he would party with. His parents remained suspicious, and started watching over him more closely, but accepted this line of reasoning for the moment.

Around the beginning of 12th grade, Elena got fired from her retail job after she snapped back against a rude customer. It was not the first time she had done this, but her previous manager had been more tolerant of this behavior, while her new manager was not. Elena tried to find a job elsewhere, as Tomas’ income was not enough to pay for all the bills and expenses, but she had trouble getting anyone to call back due to her getting fired.

As Elena’s job search stretched on, the need for an additional source of income became urgent, as they risked not being able to pay their utilities if they didn’t find one soon enough. This possibility made Matias very stressed. His siblings were in 5th and 6th grade, around this time, and the current situation felt reminiscent of what Matias had been going through when he was in 6th grade. So, he took on a job at a fast food restaurant. This was not enough to bring their finances to what they had been before Elena’s termination, but it was enough to keep them afloat for now.

Matias eventually came to the realization that, with his poor grades and his family’s finance problems, he wouldn’t be able to go off to college immediately, as he needed to stay around and continue working to support his siblings through school. As a result, Matias began going to parties more. While his limited free time meant that he could only go to parties weekly, he compensated for this by becoming rowdier at these gatherings. He started being less careful about his drinking, and acting more recklessly. Eventually, he wound up stumbling home drunk one night, to the displeasure of his parents. They got into several arguments, and tried punishing him by banning him from going out. However, this was not an option as he still had to go out regularly to work, and from there, no one could really stop him from going where he wanted to go.

A long period of strained relations followed, marked mostly by silence between Matias and his parents. They eventually began talking to each other like before, after a month, but they are not as close as they were before. This has caused great stress with Matias, as he loves his family as a whole dearly, and still strives to support them. On the other hand, after having dealt with being poor for around 6 years, at this point, he has developed some resentment towards his parents for the situation they are in. He knows this is irrational, and that the circumstances that led to his father being laid off were not his fault, but this resentment has fueled him to take less heed of their approval or disapproval when making decisions like whether or not to stay out late.

His relations with his siblings, on the other hand, are excellent. He cares for them deeply, and views himself as a protector figure for the three. He has become especially watchful over them as of late since they are in 5th and 6th grade, and he does not want them to go through the same experiences he had. Thankfully, his siblings have, so far, not been bullied as of late, and generally do well in academics, which he is grateful for. His hope is that they do not repeat the mistakes he has with regards to their studies.

Matias’ most recent rankings placed him solidly in the bottom quartile of the class. His grades hover around a D- in math and science, his worst subjects, while he manages a C+ or B- in music and arts. He still seeks tutoring with the subjects he struggles with, but this is more to keep his grades above failing rather than to raise his grades. While he has accepted the lowness of his rankings, he still feels some lingering bitterness about how drastically they’ve lowered since middle school, and is rather jealous of those who have done better in the rankings.

Matias’ behavior has become markedly worse since he was forced to take on a job. He has become more prone to lashing out at classmates when they irritate him. Favorite targets of his include those he views as arrogant and privileged, and those he has had dust-ups with in the past. He often throws snide remarks at them when forced to interact with them, and isn’t above getting into verbal confrontations with them, or even physical confrontations when drunk. His friends have lessened even further as a result, but he still has those he is loyal to, including his bandmates and some of his soccer teammates. With these people, he strives not to burst out at them, as he is aware on some level that his outbursts are irrational and exacerbated by outside circumstances, for the most part.

After years of mostly making cranes, flexagons, and elephants, Matias has started making more complex paper models. He has leaned into origami as a coping mechanism for his anger, and finds the hobby to be a tranquil escape from his life as a whole. While Matias isn't secretive about his hobby, as he regularly makes cranes in breaks between classes, there are not many people in Mangrove Garden that share his interest, so it remains a mostly solitary hobby. He has started making more long-term projects at home, and is currently studying different techniques like wet-folding, and modular origami, whenever he has spare time.

He still hooks up with men on a semi-regular basis, but none of his relationships have lasted as long as Liam's. He holds many hang-ups about Liam, still, and feels guilty committing to anyone else. These hook-ups are more a form of distraction, a way of seeking short-term pleasure, rather than a genuine attempt to get romantically involved with someone.

He does not see a way out of the situation he’s been placed in for the short term, and so has not thought about any future job prospects. His main goal is to get a well-earning job to help his family and, perhaps, achieve financial independence in the long-term future, so that he may live his own life. He has vague dreams of making a living as a drummer in a punk band, but he realizes this is unrealistic. He is currently considering working in construction, as many jobs there do not require college education.

He watches SOTF on a regular basis, but would merely consider himself to be a casual fan of the show. He is more of a fan of the violence and action the show presents. He realizes that there are serious ethical issues with the show, and that these are kids his age being made to fight, but these issues have not perturbed him enough to dissuade him from watching the show.

Advantages: As Matias is on the soccer team, he can run quickly for extended amounts of time, making it easier for him to outrun potential opponents. Also, he possesses good stamina as a soccer player and a drummer. To those he considers his closest friends, he is very loyal, and can rely on them as allies.
Disadvantages: Matias’ aggressive behavior is well-known to the class at this point, which will make it hard for him to make allies with those he does not consider to be his friends. In addition, he is very impulsive and prone to emotional outbursts, making him liable to alienate allies and enter physical confrontations which could result in his death.

Designated Number: BC03

----

Designated Weapon: Complete Student Roster Including Assigned Teams And Weapons

Mentor Comment: "Hey there! You know, it's actually a little weird filling this bit out when you're actually going to get to read it. Goes for the rest of the team too, I guess. You better be sharing this with them!

Anyways, for those keeping track at home, I think we've got quite an asset to the team here. He knows what's at stake and what it means to take a stand, and has the intel to make it happen. Great designated number, too. There's going to be more than a little buzz about Mat before it's all over."


DECEASED