SEVEN.
( I wanna grab both your shoulders and shake, baby. )

The LaRusso family was having a little family meal, and Emmy had never been so bored.

She was just scrolling on her phone, answering the occasional text, and spamming Hawk with messages about how she didn't want to be there. He offered to show up at the house and come up with some type of excuse for her to leave, but she knew her entire family would freak out if they saw her leave with a boy in a mohawk.

"You know, it's bad enough that this monster is teaching kids. Now, he's somehow convinced the All Valley Board to let Cobra Kai back into the tournament," Daniel complained.

The name of her dojo made Emmy pause her scrolling, and she almost gave in to let Hawk pick her up.

Their grandmother agreed. "Oh, that's horrible. They can't let them back. Oh, they're nothing but a bunch of bullies."

Sam seemed to hesitant. "They can't all be bullies, right?"

"Right!" Emmy was quick to agree. "I know tons of people in Cobra Kai. They would never intentionally hurt anyone. They're just there to learn karate."

Lucille grasped her hand. "Trust me, sweetheart, you don't know the half of it. Those Cobra Kai jerks made my little boy's life miserable. Tell them how they pushed you down that hill."

Emmy turned back to her phone, spamming Hawk with texts.

To omg it's a hawk!!: actually can you come pick me up
To omg it's a hawk!!: if they keep on talking about cobra kai im gonna slip up

From omg it's a hawk!!: already on my way

From omg it's a hawk!!: you wanna just hang at mine???

To omg it's a hawk!!: omg yes please

From omg it's a hawk!!: alrighty I'll see ya

She sent a thumbs up, and exited the messages app.

"Surely they've changed. I mean, it's been years," Emmy kept on defending Cobra Kai.

Daniel paused his grilling and turned to his youngest daughter. "Why does it sound like you're defending them?"

"What? No, no, I'm not defending them. I ⎯ I'm just saying. People can change, people can mature. Maybe some longer than others," her last comment was directed at her little brother as she watched him make his utensils fight each other. He reached over and gave a sharp tug to a lock of her hair. "Ow, dick!"

A pointed look from her mother made her raise her hands in surrender. "I'm just saying. Cobra Kai could have changed from what it used to be way back in the 80's."

"You're just saying that because you're little boyfriend's in Cobra Kai," Anthony continued to push her buttons.

She glared at him, giving a harsh slap to the back of his head. "Do you ever shut up? I don't know how many times I have to tell you, he isn't my boyfriend! It's just...a tiny crush."

"You like some from Cobra Kai?" Sam asked, leaning in her seat in interest.

Emmy dramatically sighed. "Yeah, but it's never gonna happen. He already likes someone else."

"Who?" Sam pushed on.

"Some bitch," Emmy shrugged.

The sound of a car honking made them all jump, and Emmy quickly got up from her seat. "Oh! That's Ha ⎯ Eli. Gotta run."

"Emmy!" her dad said in disbelief.

"Sorry, dad! Friend emergency. Bye!" she slipped back into the house, disappearing from view.

Lucille sighed, taking a sip of water. "I always wonder how she's blood."

✸

"Sam! How many times do I have to tell you not to use my nice shampoo? You know I save that for ⎯ who the hell are you?"

Emmy paused her angry walking to the pool where her sister was lounging, seeing a boy who looked to be Sam's age just standing out there.

The sound of her sister talking made Sam open her eyes, turning to her right to see the same boy.

"Oh, hey," Sam greeted.

Emmy furrowed her eyebrows, and pointed at him. "Uh, am I supposed to know who this is?"

"Sorry, I was...I was looking for Mr. LaRusso. He's been training me back there in the dojo," he explained, taking a few steps toward Sam.

At this news, Emmy frowned, and crossed her arms over her chest. So, her own father refuses to teach her karate but teaches some stranger? She was starting to feel even more left out in this family. Not to mention that she had no idea that he was even doing karate again.

Sam smiled. "Then, I should thank you. He tried roping me into it."

Emmy's frown deepened.

The boy laughed. "So you must be the daughter he talks about all the time."

"Screw this," she muttered, and turned around to go back inside.

"Wait, Em!" Sam called out, making her turn back around. "Where you going? You just came back from Eli's house."

"I'm gonna go see a movie with some friends. Bye."

"Wait!"

"What?" Emmy groaned.

Sam bit her lip, looking reluctant. "Is Miguel gonna be there?"

Emmy felt a bit smug. "Yeah. Why?"

"Can you tell him I said hi?"

Emmy scoffed. "Tell him yourself." And then she went back into the house.

The boy pointed over at the now closed door. "Who was that?"

Sam waved him off. "Oh, that's just my little sister. Don't worry, you'll get used to her attitude."

"Huh," he tilted his head. "Mr. LaRusso mentioned a daughter and son but I didn't know he had another daughter."

"Yeah," Sam nervously chuckled. "Things are a bit...awkward with her. But, like I said, don't worry. You'll barely see her."

"Why?"

"Emmy just hangs out with her friends a lot. She's not a big family time person."

"Okay," he nodded, but he remained intrigued.

✸

"Hey, stop it," Emmy grabbed Hawk's wrist right as he was aiming a piece of popcorn at someone a few rows ahead. "I paid for all the snacks and I would appreciate it if you didn't waste them."

He scoffed, and threw the piece anyways. "So? You can always buy us more. I know you always take cash out of your dad's wallet before you go out. He's loaded."

She took the bucket of popcorn onto her lap, putting it far from him. "And I always put back the remaining amount I have left back into his waller so he barely notices. Now, stop it!"

He stuck his tongue out at her, and she did it in return.

Emmy rolled her eyes at him, instinctively looking over to her other side and frowned at the glum look on his face. "Why the long face?"

He pressed his lips together. "I can't stop thinking about what Sensei told me about Sam's dad, well, your dad."

"Ah," she nodded in understanding. "He gave you the Ali talk."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "You knew?"

"Of course I knew. I'm very noisy."

"So Sensei and Sam's dad had some beef. What's that have to do with you?" Aisha added on.

Emmy snorted. "If only you heard the shit my dad and grandma were saying about Cobra Kai earlier. My family doesn't do Cobra Kai. Or anyone associated with them."

Aisha furrowed her eyebrows and leaned forward to look at her. "You still haven't told your dad?"

Emmy sighed. "Nope."

"But I thought you wanted to tell him before the tournament? You know, so you don't lose focus during it?" Miguel furrowed his eyebrows as well.

"I was, but then Grandma Lucille and everyone else decided to show up for a nice grill and I chickened out. I was not about to be yelled out in front of my entire family," Emmy sunk back into her seat.

Miguel smiled sympathetically at her, and placed his hand on top of hers. Her eyes snapped to it, and she was thankful for the dark theater lighting. She felt him hold her hand, and she almost started coughing. "Then I guess we can just go through this together."

"Yeah," she breathed out, taking a handful of popcorn and shoved it into her mouth. Hawk looked at her weirdly.

"Listen, I've known Mr. LaRusso since third grade. He's a really nice guy," Aisha advised.

"To everyone who isn't Sam," Emmy grumbled.

"I haven't even been invited over yet. She's probably too afraid to introduce me."

"Definitely," Emmy spoke up. "I mean, it's not like we're not allowed to have boys over. Plus, you, Hawk, and Demetri have been over before."

"Your parents are never home when I'm over," Miguel realized. "You're always home alone."

"That's ⎯ that's ⎯ " she saw the look on his face and gave a defeated groan. "That's because my younger brother thinks we're dating and I don't want him to see you and say that to your face."

Miguel began to stutter, his hand pulling away from hers. "O ⎯ oh."

Emmy gave a tight lipped smile. "Yeah."

"Dude, just go over there. It's the alpha move," Hawk inserted himself into the conversation, thankfully saving Emmy from her embarrassment.

She hadn't even noticed that he had taken the popcorn bucket back, and was back to throwing it at people. He threw that landed on a man in front of them, and they both watched in panic as he stood up. "Who the hell did that?"

✸

Later that night, Emmy had locked herself in her room, and was lying down on her floor.

Sure, it wasn't always the most sanitary thing to do, but it was where she did all of her best thinking.

"Emmy! Dinner!" she heard her mom call out. Groaning, she sluggishly got up from the floor, and walked out of the room.

"What happened to your hair?" Anthony said as she sat down at the table.

"I was doing my floor thinking," she simply shrugged, sneaking a sip of her mother's wine when she turned away.

"Floor thinking?" Robby questioned.

She gave a sarcastic smile. "Yes, Newbie. Floor thinking. I lay on my floor, and think."

Emmy knew that she was being a bit petty, but she couldn't help it.

The dinner then started to hit off, especially Robby and Sam. And as always, Emmy was stuck picking at her food, wondering when this was going to be over.

She also couldn't help but feel cold towards Robby. He was just some random guy that her father had recruited to teach karate, and now all of a sudden, everyone was just fawning over him. He was like San in that way. They could do nothing and be praised for it.

Leaves rustling behind her made her turn around, her face dropping when she saw Miguel hidden in the tall bushes. She turned back to Robby and Sam, who were just smiling at each other and talking. Turning back to Miguel, she just frowned at him, not knowing what to say.

He just looked down at his feet, and walked away

Emmy anxiously bit her lip.

How the hell was she supposed to explain this?

✸ AUTHOR'S NOTE ! i am determined to get to season 2 with this book so i at least know im not falling behind when i find the motivation to write for today was a fairytale

also another enemies to lovers robby plot...clap if youre surprised