FIFTY.
( I go back to black. ) 

"I can't believe Brucks got into MIT," Hawk said in disbelief as the four watched the boy chug down a beer can. "And was he speaking Latin earlier?"

"I don't know," Demetri answered. "Maybe your fists unlocked his dormant brain."

"Or have we just been wrong about him this entire time," Emmy added with a disturbed look on her face. "Is Brucks actually smart?"

"No way," Demetri was quick to shake his head. "No way! This is the same guy that still doesn't know his right from his left."

"But he got into MIT," Emmy gave him a pointed look. "You can't just get into MIT. It's MIT!"

"Even after everything, Kyler still lands on his feet," they heard Miguel say. The three of them turned to him before following his line of sight. Kyler was chatting up a pretty girl. 

Emmy hummed in surprise. "He's still got it."

"Hey, Shitbreath!" the four friends watched as another guy approached Kyler and grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to turn around and face him. "Did I tell you you could drink my beer, bitch boy?"

"N ─ No, sir, Mr. Zenker," Kyler replies, sounding like a timid child. 

The guy then takes a sip of the beer, and his face twisted in disgust. "Oh. Ugh. That shit is stale. Go make me some jungle juice."

It was weird seeing Kyler comply with being told what to do. He took the guy's cup. "Yes, sir, Mr. Zenker."

"What the hell?" Emmy muttered. Her face showed that she was disturbed more than anything. "I feel like I just entered an alternate universe where Kyler isn't Kyler. Is this what a stroke feels like? Am I having a stroke?"

She turned to Demetri and Eli who both scanned over her. Demetri gave her an odd look and shook his head. "You're not having a stroke, Em."

"You sure?"

Eli gave her a pat on the shoulder. "We'd tell you if you were."

✸

"Having fun?"

Emmy sighed as she watched Eli chug a cup of beer from a seat at the bar. "Trying to."

She heard Robby chuckle from the other line. "Do you want me to come get you? I can order something and we can just sit around."

The suggestion brought a smile to her face. "That's sweet of you. But, someone needs to make sure that these idiots get home okay, and that someone is me."

"You sound bummed out. You okay?"

"Yeah," she quickly said. "It's just... I used to love parties like this, you know. I'd always be the loudest person there, but now? I... I don't get it anymore."

"You've been through a lot, Em. Some things are gonna change."

"I know, but, I didn't wanna turn boring," she scoffed. "Kyler getting bossed around and me not drinking at a party. God, I am in an alternate universe."

"You're not boring, Em. You've just grown up a bit. You don't need to drink to be a fun person. I think you're super fun! Like, a large amount of fun."

"Okay," she softly laughed to herself. 

"Are you smiling?"

Emmy playfully rolled her eyes. "Yes."

"Good. Now, go be fun. You're fun."

"I'm fun," she repeated with a cheeky smile. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Her thumb pressed the red button on her phone, and she stuffed it into her back pocket. Then, she walked up to Demetri and Miguel, who was also watching Eli put another cup onto his mohawk. 

"Who was that?" Miguel nodded at her, referring to her phone call. 

"Robby," she answered. "He's just checking up on me."

"I am seriously considering a new haircut," Demetri breathed out. 

Emmy immediately cringed. "Don't get a mohawk. Please. If you walk out of here with one, Yasmine will kill all of us."

"I could rock a mohawk," Demetri tried, his voice going up an octave. 

"You can't," Emmy bluntly told him. 

He grumbled under his breath, taking an angry sip of his drink and his face twisting into a grimace. "I don't even like beer."

Emmy sighed and grabbed his cup from his hand before placing it on a nearby table. "Then stop drinking it. Here."

She handed him a can of Dr. Pepper, which he took with great excitement. Then she turned to Miguel and asked, "You want one?"

"Uh, yeah, sure," he smiled. 

She smiled back and stepped forward but then two guys came up before her and she paused. "Where's Shitbreath with the jungle juice?"

"I don't know," the other guys shrugged. 

"I swear, if he wasn't doing all the bitchwork, I'd say we just ditch his ass."

"Oh, we're definitely ditching him once pledging's over. He gets into this frat over my dead body."

Emmy's eyebrows shot up and she glanced at Miguel. "Are they talking about who I think they're talking about?"

Miguel thickly swallowed and nodded. "Yep."

Demetri let out a low whistle. "Good luck to Kyler."

✸

"I don't know nothing about Stanford, Rhea, but this place is lit!"

Emmy chuckled and shook her head at Kyler. "Where you planning on going, Em?"

"Well," she shrugged. "MIT is the dream. But I'm still keeping my options open."

"Hey!" he suddenly wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his side. "I got you. I'll tell Brucks to put in a good word for you."

She forced out a laugh and grabbed his wrist to pull him off of her. She scooted closer to Miguel. "Thanks."

"But trust me, when either of you get here next year, I'm gonna have it on lockdown."

"And you're sure you're getting into this frat?" Miguel questioned him, thinking about what he had overheard not too long ago.

"Sure?" Kyler scoffed in disbelief. "Bro, does the Pope shit with a funny hat?"

Emmy let out a loud snort, placing a hand over her mouth to try to contain her laughter. Miguel sharply nudged her in the side, and she quickly cleared her throat. 

"Look, Kyler, I gotta tell you something," Miguel began seriously. 

"Where's my vacuum?" the loud voice cut in. 

Kyler was the first to look and he immediately looked away. "Oh shit."

"Yo, vacuum. Clean this up," Zenker demanded. 

"Nah, man, I'm good," Kyler calmly declined. 

"Hey!"

Emmy jumped from the loud shout and her irritation flared up. Her eyes narrowed at the guy, and Miguel gave her a warning glance. Everyone around them had begun to focus on the commotion. 

"Listen, Shitbreath," Zenker continued, taking a threatening step towards him. "You want in, get on the ground, and be the vacuum."

"Is he getting in?" Miguel added on. 

Zenker paused and turned to him, looking as if he wasn't expecting him to interject. "How about you stay out of this?"

Emmy opened her mouth to snap back at him but she felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder and she watched as Kyler brushed past her. "Kyler ─ "

But it was too late. She watched in a slow horror as Kyler bent down onto the ground and Zenker grabbed ahold of his ankles, holding him up. "Suction mode, on."

Emmy looked away as Kyler began to pick the fallen pieces of popcorn and chips from the ground with his mouth. 

"Enough!" Miguel shouted angrily, and Zenker slowly dropped his grip on Kyler's ankles. "Why don't you tell him the truth?"

Kyler spat out the leftover food in his mouth. "The truth about what, man?"

Zenker had a smug smile. "Well, we had a good run. The truth is that you are never, and I mean never, getting into this frat."

Emmy had dug her nails into Miguel's jacket to stop herself from jumping at him. 

Kyler was strangely calm but his eyes shined with hurt. "Your loss."

Then, he grabbed a random girl's cup and poured her drink over Zenker's head. 

Emmy let out a sharp gasp, her jaw dropping as her hand slowly released Miguel's jacket. "Holy shit."

Just a beat after that, Zenker swung at Kyler, but the ladder raised an arm to block and effectively twisted his arm. "Bitch don't you know I know karate?"

Kyler then sharply swung his fist into his jaw and shoved him into a nearby object. Miguel instinctively jumped in, spinning a warning kick to the other boys who were about to close in on them. 

"Who else wants some of this shit?" Kyler egged on. 

Everyone got into a fighting stance, but then Brucks let out a loud cheer and tackled one of them into a corner. Eli then spun a kick into a guy's face, shoving him toward Emmy who grabbed the guy by the arm and flipped him onto his back. 

Demetri joined in, linking arms with Eli as he kicked an oncoming guy to the ground before dropping to the floor. Eli stepped up on his back and jumped off, hurdling towards the remaining boys, and kneed one of them in the chest. 

Emmy grinned as one came running at her. She immediately ducked as he swung his fist at her and sharply kicked his knee, causing him to drop down. She quickly stood up and slammed her heel into his chest before the bottom side of her shoe came up to the left side of his face and she forcibly pushed him down, putting all of her weight onto her right foot. 

He writhed from under her, his shouts coming out strained and muffled as she stepped on his face. 

"Emmy!"

Her head whipped up at the sound of Demetri's voice, and her eyes widened a fraction as saw a fist coming straight for her. She took a step back and grabbed his wrist, stopping him from punching her. Her grip tightened, and she twisted and bent it at a weird angle. Her ears picked up the high-pitched whine that escaped from him and she kicked him in the side before tossing him on top of his friend, causing them both to groan. 

She turned to Demetri with a smile. "Thanks!"

Suddenly, she was grabbed by the collar of her shirt and she yelped as she was shoved into the bar table. Her back ached and she angrily glared up at the boy above her. 

"Who the hell do you think you are?" he said through gritted teeth. 

Emmy only spat in his face, causing his eyes to close and he groaned in disgust. She then brought her knee up to his crotch, causing his hands to release her shirt and he shouted in pain. Emmy glanced off to the side and saw a half-drank beer bottle. She grabbed the bottle by its neck and swung it at his head, the glass shattering everywhere. 

She breathed heavily as he dropped to the floor, seeing a stream of blood begin to drip down his face. 

"I'm Emmy," she breathed out, standing up straight. 

She heard a loud cheer that could only come from her mohawk-wearing friend, and she stepped over the unconscious boy to enter the same area the others were. 

"There you are!" Miguel exclaimed excitedly. 

"Hey," Eli caught their attention. "Where's Brucks?"

And then right on cue, they turned and watched as Brucks held a guy up by his neck and slammed him into a table, causing it to split in half. 

All five of them jumped back, faces lighting up in complete shock. 

"Get Brucksed!" Brucks yelled. 

"Yeah!" they all shouted in complete excitement. 

"Someone should call campus security," Emmy heard a girl say behind her. 

"We gotta go!" she hurriedly told the others and they all ran out.

✸

Emmy stared up at the dark ceiling, her eyes still wide awake. Her mind was running at a million miles per second and she could feel her heart pounding against her chest. Her lips were raw and red from her teeth scraping against them and she had only stopped once she tasted her blood. 

Her back was wet with sweat and her blanket had been cast aside, completely forgotten. She thickly swallowed, feeling how dry and scratchy her throat was. Her fists clenched together at her sides and she felt like she was going to combust from anxiety. 

Then suddenly, she shot up from her bed and into a sitting position. She practically jumped off her bed, and her feet carried her out the door to the room across from hers. His door was already slightly open and she pushed it in. Eli was never asleep this early and he was still hyped from the fight. 

His hair was down from its usual gelled mohawk and he had headphones covering his ears. Though, from the corner of his eye, he could see his door opening. Eli quickly paused the game he was playing and slid the headphones down to his neck, turning to his best friend. "Hey. What's up?"

He immediately noticed the look on her face and got up from his seat, removing the headphones from his neck. "Hey. What's wrong? Do you want me to call Robby?"

Emmy pressed her lips together, not sure how to say what she wanted to say. "I'm done with karate."

Eli's eyebrows furrowed together. "What?"

"I'm quitting," she emphasized. 

It seemed like Eli was either too much in shock or her words weren't processing in his mind. "You're what?"

"I don't want to do karate ever again," she finally said. 

And then it hit for him. 

Eli's face had completely dropped and Emmy swore she heard his breath hitch. She gave him a nod. "Good night."

Eli watched as she closed his door and then heard her door close. He stared at the door and breathed out, "Oh shit."

✸ AUTHOR'S NOTE !

there's not much robby and emmy in this and I hate it do not talk to me