TWENTY FIVE.
( I'm getting older, think I'm aging well. )

After Emmy's most recent visit with Miguel, everyone could tell that she was slowly getting happier and happier. They were over the moon when they found out that the two were going to give it a try, and wanted nothing but the best for her. 

She was smiling and laughing with the Cobra Kai's, Hawk's arm draped over her shoulder while he burst out laughing at some lame joke she said. 

From her table, she saw a bunch of freshman playing with a soccer ball and an idea sparked in her head. "I'll be right back." Pulling away, she walked over to the group of boys, who all froze when they saw a girl come up to them. She gave them a charming smile, eyes twinkling. "Hi, boys! I saw that you were playing with a soccer ball there and I was wondering if I could borrow it?"

They gave up the neon ball with no questions, and Emmy grinned, winking at them. "Thank you!"

"Hawk!" she called out, the boy turning around from his conversation. "Catch!"

Emmy threw the ball his way, and once he caught it, he smiled. Then he turned to Big Red, pointing at her. He immediately got the message, pulling out his phone and walked over to another spot while Hawk began to bounce the ball repeatedly on his knee. Emmy couldn't help but smile as she watched him enjoy himself. 

Unlike everyone else, she could tell that what happened to Miguel and the school fight affected him more than he let on, and she wanted to repay him for all that he did for her by making sure he was okay too. 

The redhead came waltzing over again, recording his friend trying to score a new record. Emmy let out a short cheer when he did beat his record and the ball rolled away. "Hey, 22 in a row. New record."

She giggled, walking over to the boy and the two gave each other a strong high-five. "Damn. My record was 21. Guess you finally beat me."

He laughed, before looking at something behind her and his face dropped. Her eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

Emmy turned around, seeing Demetri stood up from his chair, theatrically explaining a Lego project that was placed in the center of the table. Moon was laughing and smiling at whatever he was saying, and she could see the back of Yasmine's head. 

Her blood began to boil at the thought of Demetri being friendly with someone who tormented them for years. But Emmy knew why Hawk was starting to get irritated, and from the corner of her eye, she spotted the neon ball being rolled back and stopped by her foot. She glanced at Hawk before picking it up. "If he's doing a project on dinosaurs, then everyone should know what killed them, right?"

Hawk was a bit confused when she held up the ball, but his face sunk into realization soon after and matched her smirk. He took the ball from her hands. "I love a good history lesson."

He turned back around, reeled his arm back, and fired it at Demetri's table. The ball launched at his Lego project, causing it to fall apart, pieces splattering to the floor.

Emmy watched as Hawk walked up to the table, catching the ball with ease as someone threw it back to him. "I'm sorry, man. Looks like my ball just got away from me."

Demetri just looked at him with a glare. "That took me three weeks to build."

"Yeah, well, it took about three seconds for my ball to destroy it," Hawk's smirk deepened, and walked back over to Emmy who pat him on the back. 

"Another week, another pissing contest. Although, I shouldn't be surprised since you love pissing so much," Demetri made a bold move and stalked over to their table.

"You landed one kick," Hawk scoffed. "You got lucky."

Sam appeared beside Demetri. "Better back off, or you won't be lucky."

Emmy stepped in front of her best friend. "Keep talking to him in that tone and I will slap the shit out of you." Sam adverted her glare to her sister. 

Hawk looked at the something behind the pair, seeing Counselor Blatt walking around each table. "And it's not like you'll start anything, princess. Actually, why don't you go sleep around with someone new and break his heart?"

Emmy stifled her laugh, but then suddenly, Sam shoved the boy back, making him fall into two boys behind him, who caught him. Emmy's smile vanished, and her eyes narrowed. 

"What' going on here, Miss LaRusso?" everyone looked to Counselor Blatt. "You know our guidelines against physical contact. Did she enter your personal bubble without your verbal consent?"

Hawk feigned looking vulnerable, his arms closing in to make his body look smaller. "Yeah, she definitely triggered me in my safe space."

"What are you talking about? He started it by destroying my science project!" Demetri exclaimed, gesturing over to his broken project.

Emmy stepped in. "Counselor Blatt, I swear that that was an accident. We were just trying to give a few freshman their ball back and it went the wrong way. Maybe you just shouldn't bring your toys to school, Dem. Things like that can be a real hazard."

"I don't want excuses. I just want you all to respect each other."

"She's right, guys," Hawk began. "We should stop the aggression. Micro and macro."

"Oh, give me a break," Sam snapped. 

"Hey," Counselor Blatt said in a scolding tone, "Consider this a warning, Miss LaRusso. Get these Legos off the ground. Like Emmy said, these can be a real hazard and someone could get hurt."

Once she walked away, their innocent facade faded, menacing smiles and smirks replacing them. "For you pansies, no space is safe." Then, they all walked away, laughing amongst themselves.

✸

When Hawk texted her about the soccer incident and then she was called down to the Counselor Blatt's office, Emmy was furious. She stormed past the doors, seeing three Cobra Kai students standing outside the door and some Miyagi-Do against the lockers. 

The sound of the door loudly opening made everyone look over, the ones in the red jerseys smirking in triumph. 

It was no secret that most, if not all, teachers adored the younger LaRusso girl. It was one of the only things that Sam could never take away from her. She helped around a lot, and managed to get into the staffs good graces by the end of freshman year. 

"What are you doing here?" Sam immediately asked. 

Emmy smiled. "Oh, well, Counselor Blatt actually called me over. Said something about wanting a third opinion."

"What? But you're obviously biased! Why would she call you over?" Demetri asked in disbelief. 

"What do you mean, Dem?" she innocently asked. "Hawk's my best friend." She then smirked. "You're my best friend. Sam's my sister. I actually think the odds may be in your favor today."

She then walked past them and entered into the office. Hawk felt relieved at the sight of her. 

"You requested to see me, Mrs. Blatt?" Emmy asked as if she had no idea what she was called in for.

The counselor smiled and used her hand to point to the seat beside Hawk. "Yes. Please, have a seat."

"Emmy, Mr. Moskowitz and his friends have gotten into a physical altercation with your sister and her friends on the soccer field, and I need an outside, unbiased opinion."

"Of course, Mrs. Blatt. You know I am all for innocent until proven guilty," Emmy turned to Hawk with a frown, examining the bruises and dirt on his face. "Can I ask what happened?"

"According to Eli, Sam and her friends has broken the rules of soccer, using their karate to their advantage, and overall, breaking our physical guidelines."

Emmy hissed. "Mrs. Blatt, as much as I want to advocate for my sister's reasonings and innocence, along with Demetri, since you know we've been childhood friends, I can say with 100% certainty that Eli wouldn't lie about something as serious as that. When it comes to physically safe school activities, he always knows to follow the rules."

The woman kindly smiled at the girl in front of her. "Thank you for the intel, Emmy. I am grateful that you have taken your class time off to discuss this matter with us."

Emmy waved her off. "No need for that. You know I am always up for helping out our faculty."

"Alright. If you two would follow me."

The friends stood up from their seats, silently doing their handshake behind the counselor's back. The three exited the room, and Blatt looked to the other three in red. "Caldwell, Johnson, Rickenburger, the three of you and Eli and Emmy are free to go."

"What?" Sam said from behind the woman. She then squinted her eyes at her sister. "What did you tell her?"

Blatt pointed her finger at the girl. "I really do not appreciate your tone, Miss LaRusso. Your sister was put into an impossible situation and I'm sure it was very difficult for her to do what she did."

"Thank you, Counselor Blatt. Eli's mom makes a gorgeous fruit salad and I will be sure to bring you some tomorrow," Emmy smiled gratefully at her. 

The woman turned around. "Why thank you, Emmy. Eli, be sure to thank your mother for me."

"Of course," he said. 

She then walked back into her office, leaving the teens outside. 

"Have a nice day," Emmy told them, before the Cobra Kais all walked away. 

✸

"I seriously think that you being here is a bad idea," Emmy mumbled as she sank into her seat, anxiously waiting for Robby to walk through the door. "Robby and I are in a good place."

"You know, for someone who's involved with Diaz, you seem close with Keene," Kreese hummed. 

"Asshole!" she whisper shouted, slapping his shoulder. "And don't talk about Miguel. He deserves more than your cigar ridden breath. And for your information, me and Robby are just friends. We've just been through a lot of the same shit."

The sound of the door opening made her turn away, and she made eye contact with Robby, who then froze at the sight of Kreese. "Hello, son."

Robby slowly and cautiously took a seat across from them, eyeing the two weirdly. 

"What are you doing here?" Robby directed his question at Kreese. 

Kreese shrugged. "Emmy let her secret visits slip and I thought I'd stop by."

Robby turned to Emmy who winced. "I don't know when to shut up sometimes."

"I understand your father hasn't been by to see you," Kreese commented.

Emmy felt her eyes widened, and she turned to him. She didn't think they were going to ask those type of questions.

"Well, let me tell you about your dad," he began. "He was always a scrapper. But the moment I knew he was the real deal was his first All Valley. He made the quarters but he drew a kid named Vidal. Now Vidal was a third-generation black belt. Very skilled. Way beyond Johnny, at the time. Your old man lost. But he didn't make it easy. And I saw that look in his eye that he would never let that happen again."

Robby nodded, looking uninterested. "Cool story. Try telling it to someone who gives a shit."

Emmy immediately slapped a hand over her mouth, making eye contact with Robby and the two tried to contain their smiles and laughs. 

Kreese didn't let it affect him however and laughed. "You're his son, all right."

"Yeah, and look where that got me," Robby said, using his eyes to gesture to the room around them. 

"Come on, kid," Kreese persisted. "You know you don't deserve to be here. From what I heard, you tried to break up that fight and... Diaz attacked you. Sure, you can keep beating yourself up for what went down. But by the look of your face, there's plenty of people here happy to do that for you."

Robby took a deep breath. "You're wasting your time, old man. The last thing I need is another sensei."

"Fair enough," Kreese nodded and pushed himself up. "I don't think there's much I could teach you right now anyway. Except maybe this...all that Miyagi-Do mumbo jumbo...that might score you points in a tournament. But now you're in the real world, kid, you might wanna learn to strike first."

Robby glanced down at the table, face reading an entirely new expression. 

"I'll leave you two be," Kreese then exited the room. 

Emmy sighed, moving over to Kreese's previous seat. 

"You two close or something?" Robby asked. 

"It's complicated," she sighed, brushing her hair out of her face. "He's more like a grandpa I haven't seen since I was 4."

"You do know how weird it is that you brought him with you, right?"

"Do not get me started on that," Emmy huffed, leaning her head on her palm. "Trust me, I didn't wanna bring him but that old fucker is such a pain in the ass."

Robby chuckled at her choice of words. "You just get funnier and funnier every time I see you."

"Thank you," she smiled at him. "I try to give you light in this dark place. Speaking of which, you didn't take my advice."

"What? You mean talking to that jerk? No chance," Robby scoffed. 

"Oh, come on!" Emmy whined. "He'll back off if you tell him you're a friend of mine. He owes me way too much not to."

"Because you babysit his brother?" he raised his eyebrows at her. 

"Uh, yes," she confidently said. "If it weren't for me, Kenny would be minced meat right now."

"Kenny?"

Her lips parted, seeing his crack into a smile. "Don't judge! He's a sweet kid."

"Alright, alright," he chuckled, leaning back in his seat. "Anything fun planned later? You've been saying how bored you've been."

"I'm going to the arcade with Hawk and the others," she smiled. "And then I'm gonna head over to Miguel's for dinner. His mom has been wanting to see me since I'm not living in their apartment anymore."

"That's good," Robby gave her a small smile. "Still haven't told him?"

Her face dropped, hand slapping over her face. "God, I completely forgot."

"How do you forget about something like that?" Robby couldn't help but laugh. 

"That's the world of love, loser," she snorted, standing up. "I'll come by tomorrow to let you know how it goes. Oh! And I bought some of those weird chili chips you like. I'll bring those tomorrow too."

"Thanks, Em," Robby said. "And I'll think about the Shawn thing."

"Good," she gave him a pointed look before smiling. "See ya, Keene."

He waved goodbye. "See ya, Em."

✸

Emmy felt adrenaline pump through her as she and the rest ran through the arcade like maniacs, disturbing people's play time, and snatching whatever tickets they could find laying around. 

She giggled loudly as she quickly bent down, grabbing a pile of tickets from a girl that was playing a ball game, and sprinted away before she could notice. 

"Look what I got!" she exclaimed over the loud music, raising her hand to her friends who all loudly cheered for her. 

Hawk wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and the group hurried over to the prizes, where Chris stood behind the counter. 

"Hey, old friend," she grinned, slapping the tickets onto the glass surface. 

"Hey, prize wench," Mitch greeted his ex friend. 

"What do you guys want?" Chris asked. 

"Well, to spend our hard-earned tickets, of course," Hawk scoffed, pulling Emmy closer to him. You would think the two would just start dating from how close they were. "Why don't you be a good girl and grab us one of those bobbleheads?"

Chris hesitated, but solemnly agreed and headed up from the ladder so that he could reach the high up toys. 

"Go, go, go!" Emmy whisper shouted, shoving Hawk forward and the two hopped over the counter, grabbing whatever they could get their hands on and tossing them to the other boys behind the counter. 

Chris panicked, quickly stepping down and tried to stop them, but Hawk chucked a stuffed animal at his face, grabbing Emmy's hand and the two hurriedly ran around the counter. 

"Thanks, Chris. Tell your mom I miss her," Mitch said. 

"Yeah, tell her to stop calling me," Hawk continued. 

"And tell her to start calling me," Emmy finished with a laugh before they all quickly ran out. 

They managed to get to a secluded part of the arcade, breathing heavily. Emmy squeezed the dinosaur plushy in her hands. "Oh, my God. My heart is beating so fast."

"Fun right?" Hawk chuckled, slapping her back. "We'll bring you to our next one."

She grinned, before feeling her phone buzz in her pocket. She pulled it out. 

"That Chris's mom?" Mitch teasingly asked. 

Emmy shoved his face away from her. "Shut up." But once she glanced down at her phone, her face dropped. 

Hawk immediately took notice. "What? What is it?"

She quickly shut her phone off, and shoved it into the back pocket of her jeans. "Nothing. But, I have to go."

"What? But we just got here," Hawk furrowed his eyebrows.

"I know," she grimaced, before handing him her stuffed animal. "Put this in my room. I prob won't be back by the time you guys leave, so, have fun."

She walked away, before thickly swallowing. 

From sensei j: I need your help.

AUTHOR'S NOTE !

emmy and eli are my fav besties