THIRTY SIX.
( so what if I'm crazy, the best people are. )

"You sure this is a good idea?"

Tory sighed, her hand tightly clutching the sleeve of her green sweatshirt. "It's the only way I can get back into school. I need to become the person that Brandon needs."

Emmy smiled in sympathy, rubbing her friend's shoulder. "Then are you sure you want me to go in with you? This seems like a private matter."

"Yes," Tory immediately said, turning to Emmy. "I'm not going in there by myself. I need you here."

"Okay," Emmy grabbed her handing, interlocking their fingers. "I'll stay right here with you."

Tory took a deep breath, swallowing thickly and nodded. She then turned back to the door, and rang the door bell.

"Hold on, I'm coming!" they heard from inside. And a few seconds later, the door opened, Amanda's face falling at the sight of them. Her eyes lingered on Emmy, knowing what she had done. "Oh. So you're knocking this time."

Tory looked like a kicked puppy, her usual snarky demeanor gone. "Mrs. LaRusso, I... I need your help."

Amanda stared at her for a moment, before turning to her daughter. "What are you here for?"

"Just here to support a friend," Emmy shrugged.

Amanda thought for a moment, figuring that Emmy wouldn't try anything and screw things up for whatever Tory wanted. "Okay. Come on in. You remember the way?"

Tory glanced at Emmy, who looked at her encouragingly, and the two walked into the house. This was their first time since the house fight.

"I'm scared," Tory admitted in a whisper as they headed for the kitchen table.

"Don't be scared," Emmy whispered back, glancing at her mom. "She's more understanding than my dad."

They took a seat next to each other, Amanda sitting across from Tory and diagonal from Emmy. Tory took a deep breath before talking. "So the principal said he'd consider letting me back into school because of my situation at home, bu your family would have to sign off. Emmy not included."

"Well," Amanda sighed. "I'm gladd you wanna get your life back on track. Going back to school is a big step. But I need you promise me something."

"I'll stay away from Sam," Tory quickly interjected. "I swear."

"That's great. But, um... I want you to get support. Talk to someone. You've been dealing with a lot."

"I have Emmy," Tory breathed out. "She's the only friend I got."

Emmy held her hand tighter, her thumb gently stroking her knuckles.

"That's good. It's good to have friends you can talk to. But, you should... talk to a therapist, a guidance counselor, the Dalai Lama, it doesn't matter. Just someone who isn't karate related."

"Emmy's not just karate related," Tory quickly said. "But, whatever it takes, I'll do it. I need this."

And then suddenly, the sound of the door opening caught their attention.

"So today was a setback, but the boys, they're gonna improve. And you're gonna be fighting against lots of new opponents. And ⎯ "

"What?" Sam exclaimed.

"Shit," Emmy muttered, Tory glancing at her in panic.

"What the hell is she doing here?" Sam looked at her mom us disbelief.

"Sam ⎯ "

"No!" she shouted. "I want her out. Now!"

Amanda knew that there was no arguing with her eldest, and turned to Emmy and Tory with a defeated look. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Tory gently told her. "We'll go. Sorry for the inconvenience."

Tory and Emmy stood up from their seats, the latter glaring at her older sister as she did so. They then headed for the front door.

"Emmy. Wait."

They both stopped, turning around to see Daniel behind them. Emmy looked at him blankly, before turning to Tory. "Wait in the car. I'll be out in a minute."

Tory gulped and nodded, walking out of the house and shut the door behind her. Emmy sighed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Car? You have a car?" Daniel furrowed his eyebrows.

"No. But Sensei Silver let me borrow his."

"I didn't even know you could drive."

"You don't know a lot of things about me dad," Emmy glanced at her sister and mom. "What do you want?"

He gave a large huff, throwing his arms up. "Eli. And what you did to him."

"What about it?"

Daniel looked at her in disbelief. "What about it? He's been your best friend since elementary school."

"Was my best friend," she tiled her head at him. "Just like Demetri was my best friend. Now, he's just a backstabbing dick."

"So you hold him down and cut his mohawk off?" Daniel was in complete shock.

"Yeah," Emmy nodded like it was the most nonchalant thing in the world. "Just be glad I didn't cut him. Because I thought about it."

Daniel looked as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Emmy, I would hope that you of all people realize how crazy that is."

"Maybe I'm crazy, maybe I'm not," she shrugged. "But that's the real world, Dad. You do things, and those things have consequences. It just so happens that it was Eli who made the wrong choice."

"Are you even hearing yourself right now? You sound just like Kreese."

She glanced off to the side. "Is that so bad?"

Daniel let out a heavy breath, hands sweating at his sides. "What are you doing, Emmy? None of this is okay. You have to know that!"

"Oh, I know that none of it is okay," and then a childish smile appears on her face. "That's what makes it fun."

The three were rendered speechless. 

"I'd be careful if I were you guys. Just letting you know."

And then, she walked out of the house, slamming the door behind her.

✸

Emmy just stared at Kenny with an unreadable expression as he took his anger out on one of the new pieces of equipment Silver had gotten them.

"Wait, so they stole all your clothes?" Robby repeated what the boy had just told him.

"And my was brother was in on it?" Emmy crossed her arms over her chest.

"I can't take any more of their crap," Kenny shook his head. "I'm ready to use my training!"

"What do you think you're gonna do?" Robby asked.

"I'll do what you guys do," Kenny paused. "Kick their asses."

Emmy smiled. "That's the spirit! Glad to see your embracing Cobra Kai so well."

Robby nudged her with his elbow, giving her a look. She just shrugged, eyes drifting down to his bare arms. How could someone look so good in a tank top?

"I got kicked out of school and landed in juvie," Robby told Kenny. "Come on. You gotta be smarter than me and your brother."

"Well, I gotta do something," Kenny said. "No offense, but I'm not gonna let your brother get away with this."

She raised her hands up in surrender. "Never said anything about it. Just don't hurt him."

"Class, fall in," all eyes turned to Kreese, and everyone walked over to their spots. "Today we have a very important lesson, don't we, Sensei Silver?"

"Yes, we do. Weakness."

"Your opponent's weakness must be exploited whenever possible."

"At the tournament, you'll have to recognize that weakness. And make no mistake, we all have one."

"Sensei Kreese doesn't," Tory said.

"Of course he does," Silver told her. "We all do. Today, your goral is to find your opponent's weakness and attack it. No points. You hit the mat, you lose. You got it? All right, prepare for combat!"

Emmy took a seat next to the Robby on the mat, sitting with her legs crossed. "Who do you think you're gonna go up against?"

"Hopefully you," he said. "I was thinking of getting some payback."

"Oh, really?" she raised her eyebrows at him. "What makes you so sure?"

He leaned in closer to her. "I know your weakness."

She leaned in closer to him, their faces mere centimeters away from each other. "And what is that?"

Robby stared at her for moment, before leaning back. "I'm not telling you."

Emmy snorted. "I knew you weren't."

"Ms. LaRusso," Silver's voice pierced their conversation. "You're up. And while you're at it, why don't you pick your opponent. I'm sure Sensei Kreese wouldn't mind."

Emmy turned to Kreese, waiting for his response. "Go ahead, LaRusso."

She nodded, looking around at the students on the ground. But, she had already made up her mind since the challenge started. She turned back towards Robby, pointing at him with a teasing smile and gestured for him to come to her. He gave a knowing grin, rising to his feet.

"Ready for round 2?" Emmy asked with a grin, shaking out her limbs.

"Born ready," Robby answered, quickly stretching his arms.

The two stood on opposite corners of the mat, getting their bodies prepared for the match.

"Bow," Kreese said, and they did before getting into their fighting positions. "Ais!"

They both charged at each other, each ducking a punch from the other, causing their arms to lock. Emmy acted quickly, elbowing him in the shoulder and kicked the back of his thigh. Robby tumbled forward, quickly regaining his balance. He charged at her again, throwing another punch that she had managed to block.

Robby then kicked her in her gut, causing her to stumble back and he used this chance go for a kick to her head, but she caught his leg under her arm and swung at his face, landing a hit on his cheek. He quickly recovered, hopping on his one foot and skillfully jumped up and did a spinning kick to her face.

Emmy let go of him, hand clutching her face. Robby turned back to her, eyes widening as he saw her pained expression. He walked towards her. "Em, are you okay ⎯ "

Once he was about 5 inches away from her, Emmy tore her hand away from her face, clenching it into a fist and uppercutted him. The hit was loud, making everyone around the room wince. Emmy then grabbed his hand, pulling him towards her before gathering all of her strength, tucking her head into his chest, and used her shoulder to flip him onto the mat.

Robby fell onto his back with a grunt, and out of reflex, he moved his arm to attack her, but she quickly slammed it down, her other hand slapping down onto his neck to stop him from moving.

"Found your weakness," she breathed out, looking down at him.

Robby gave a few heavy breaths. "Guess you did."

Emmy's lips moved into a grin, giving his face a few light slaps before grabbing his hand and helped him up.

"Excellent, Ms. LaRusso," Silver commented. "Just as I had suspected."

She gave him a light look, quickly bowing before taking her seat.

✸

"Hey."

Emmy and Tory turned away from their conversation, turning to Robby. "Hey."

"You're, uh... You're gonna go?"

"To prom?" Tory raised her eyebrows. "Yeah, right. Let the rich kids have their stupid party. Besides, can you picture me in a ball room dress?"

"I definitely can not," Robby said in amusement and look to Emmy. "You going?"

"Oh, hell yeah I am," she answered, taking a seat on the black, padded bench. "I've had my prom dress planned out since freshman year. There's no way I'm not going."

Robby nodded along, suddenly hearing her giggle. "Do you know what my dream is?"

"What?"

"A promposal," she gave a dreamy sigh. "A giant sign that has the corniest pick up line, flowers, the whole works. I've had so many dreams of that moment. Granted they were all of Miguel, but those days are over."

"Is there anyone you wanna go with?" Robby asked.

She eyed him for a moment, before shaking her head. "No one in particular."

"All right, class. Fall in. LaRusso. You have a phone call."

Emmy glanced at Robby and Tory confused, before walking into the backroom and digging into her bag for her phone. She pulled it out, eyebrows furrowing at the unfamiliar number.

She answered it, putting it up to her ear. "Hello?"

"Emmy!"

Her eyebrows furrowed even deeper, looking at her phone to make sure she was hearing thing before bringing it back to her ear. "Anthony? Did you change your number?"

"Yeah. Some jerk leaked it cause I beat him on some video game."

"Figured. Why are you calling?"

"Is Kenny really at Cobra Kai?"

Emmy suddenly remembered what Kenny had told her before coming in. "Yeah. And I know what happened too."

"What did he tell you? Because I swear, I didn't do anything ⎯ "

"Oh, so you didn't cyberbully him? Or mess with him at the arcade? Or put a bunch of milk in his locker, recorded him opening it, and posted it online? Or chased him around at school? All of that never happened? What the hell, Ant?"

"Emmy, look, I didn't mean for any of that to happen."

"Is that seriously your excuse? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I should be asking you that! You're the one who broke into our house and attacked everyone. And you shaved Eli's mohawk off."

Emmy's face hardened and her jaw clenched. "Bye, Anthony."

"Wait, no! Emmy ⎯ "

She hung up the phone, tossing it into her open bag with a frustrated breath. Great.

✸

Emmy was having a pretty boring day so far. Training was cancelled for the day, Tory was working the whole day, and Robby was out doing who knows what.

She laid on their shared mattress, aimlessly scrolling through social media like a bed ridden zombie. She couldn't remember the last time she was so bored.

She called Robby for the fifth time, waiting impatiently as it just kept on ringing, and ringing, and ringing, and ringing, before going to voicemail.

Emmy let out a loud groan, tossing her phone onto Robby's side of the bed and stuffed her head into her pillow. What the hell was he doing?

Her head lifted up at the sound of the dojo door opening. She frowned, knowing that it was closed and that the senseis would usually come in through the back door, which was just a few feet away from her.

"Sensei Kreese? Sensei Silver?" she called out.

"Just me!"

Her eyebrows furrowed. "Robby? Where the hell have you been?"

"Just a second!"

She got up from the bed, making her way over to the door. She pulled it open, hearing only the rustling of plastic. "Robby, what the hell are you doing ⎯ "

Emmy froze as she reached the hallway, eyes widening. There Robby stood on the mat, a bouquet of flowers, a small teddy bear, and a big paper sign. She read it over and over again.

WILL YOU KICK IT WITH ME AT PROM ? YES _   NO _

Robby had a huge grin on his face, hands tightening around the objects in his hands.

"Robby," she breathed out, slowly walking towards him. She stared at the sign, flowers and teddy bears in shock before her eyes went to him. "You didn't."

"I did," he gently said. "You said that it was your dream and I wanted to make that dream come true."

Emmy's hand went up to her face, standing in front of him. She pointed to the bouquet of tulips. "How did you know ⎯ "

"That you liked tulips?" he gave a cheeky smile. "I saw a pin of them on your bag and took a wild guess."

"Oh my god," she gasped out, taking the flowers out of his hand and instinctively sniffed them. "Robby, they're beautiful."

"Sensei Silver helped me pick them out," he sheepishly said.

"You asked Sensei Silver for help?" she raised an eyebrow, but continued to admire the bouquet of tulips.

"Well, he knew where to get the best of the best," he shrugged. "You still haven't given me an answer yet."

Emmy rolled her eyes at him. "Yes. Of course I'll kick it at prom with you."

Robby barked out a laugh, coming up to her and wrapped his arms around her.

"Thank you for this," she muttered into his ear.

"Anytime," he muttered back.

AUTHOR'S NOTE !

you guys you are not just friends come on now