[Spoilers ahead from season three.] Jackie Cruz plays Orange Is the New Black's Flaca, the Smiths-loving grammar nerd who hates reggaeton, matches her purple hair to her lipstick, and along with Diane Guerrero's character Maritza, is one-half of TV's most hilarious set of BFFs ever (Long live Flaritza!). In season three, we find out that Flaca (real name: Marisol Gonzales) gets arrested for fraud and endangerment after she sells some classmates fake acid and one of them jumps off the school's roof thinking he's actually high. Cosmopolitan.com spoke to Cruz about Flaca's heartbreaking backstory and whether Flaca is really as tough as she seems.

When you initially saw that you were playing a Latina in prison, did you ever worry that the role would just be very stereotypical?

When I auditioned, I didn't know what I was getting myself into. The only thing I know about Flaca was that she was a "feisty Latina," but I really thought I was only going to do one episode, so I was just happy to be there. I didn't really think, you know, Oh, is this going to be a stereotypical Latina character? And even if it is a little bit stereotypical, there are so many other great Latina characters on the show with me that I don't think it matters. The writers eventually told me, "Flaca wasn't supposed to be a big deal, she was just going to have a few lines here and there." And I guess they saw something in me, so they slowly started to add more in. One of the writers was like, "We need more Flaca!" and I was like, "Oh, thank you so much."

Netflix

People love Flaca and Maritza's friendship. People write fan fiction about you guys.

Oh yeah. We have like, a Flaritza fan club! At the beginning, I think Diane's character was supposed to be more with Aleida, kind of as her "daughter," but then they put us in a scene together, and Diane and I have such a connection off-screen. I thought it was really cool that the writers saw that in us. We'd joke about flirting with each other, and then it was like, they'd write that in a scene. We hang out all the time, we're actual friends. Actually, I don't know if that's the reason, I'm just guessing. [Laughs.]

When you found out Flaca would be in jail for distributing fake drugs, did you feel bad for her or did you think she deserved her punishment?

Just talking about it now, I get chills. When I read it, I was like, 'Wow." I was in shock. I was really surprised by her character outside of prison, because I thought Flaca was a little more gangster, but you can see she's not. She was very sweet, very vulnerable, a good person. But I think when you go to prison, you have to put on this facade or a shell so people don't mess with you. You have to be someone you're not.

Yeah, Flaca wants people to think she's really tough. She's even got the teardrop under eye.

If you look closely, it's even on the wrong side. I felt really bad for her. She just wanted to do something big, and now her life has been taken away from her. I don't know how long she's in there for or what happened to the kid who jumped off the roof. She was a good person — when the police come to arrest her, she was really worried about that kid — and she made a mistake that she probably wants to take back. The episode with her mom and the sewing machine and you know, the knockoff dresses, broke my heart. She was like, "I'm going to be bigger than this," and then she ended up being her own worst nightmare. I really felt for her.

Netflix

Do you think she's done trying to muscle in on Piper's underwear business now that her mom is sick?

Oh, I have no idea! My first day of shooting is tomorrow. I'm halfway finished reading the script. I'm getting — well, Flaca's getting — like, a cold heart for Piper. She's not having it anymore. Piper fired Flaca. She didn't believe Flaca when she told Piper that her mom was sick and she hadn't stolen Piper's money. She's starting to hate Piper, you know?

Follow Alanna on Twitter.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io