TWENTY NINE.
( I think he knows. )

Walking Emmy back to Hawk's house was a task that Robby knew wasn't going to be easy.

The girl was practically a wailing mess the entire journey, and he had to hold her up right so she wouldn't collapse on the sidewalk. And as much as it was comedic, Robby was also worried.

He didn't exactly know what Emmy saw, only that she must of seen Sam and Miguel in a situation that she was not happy about. But, he wasn't going to pry just yet, knowing that the last thing she needed was to talk about it. He was gonna hand that over to Hawk.

"I just don't understand," Emmy hiccuped as Robby dragged her over to the front door. "I thought he liked me."

He sighed, brushing pieces of her hair out of her face so that they didn't stick to her tears. "It'll be okay, Emmy."

"No, it won't!" she exclaimed, using her hand to wipe her tears. "I just made myself look so fucking stupid."

"No, you didn't," he reassured her. "Okay, I have to go now."

"What?" Emmy frowned. "Why? I just got to see you."

He gave a tight lipped smile. "Not sure your friend wants to see me here with you. Or his parents."

"Oh," she pouted, glancing back at the front door. "Where are you gonna go?"

Robby stuck his hands into his pockets. "I'll think of something. Don't worry about me. Just, get some rest. And drink water. I think you cried all of it out."

"Be safe?"

"Always."

She gave a sad smile, seeing him start to walk away. She waited until she couldn't see him anymore before digging into her pocket and pulled out a house key. Emmy sniffled as she unlocked the door, alerting the family who was eating dinner inside.

They all looked away from their conversation, turning to the front door, seeing Emmy kicking off her shoes.

"Emmy!" Mrs. Moskowitz smiled. "Right on time. We made pizza."

Emmy huffed, hanging her key on her hook before turning around, everyone now seeing her tear-soaked face. She watched as they all stood up from their seats, worry etched on their faces.

"Honey..." Mrs. Moskowitz rushed over to her. "What's wrong?"

The only question only made Emmy burst into tears once more, and the woman quickly pulled her into a comforting hug.

"Miguel's with Sam again," she cried, her arms tightening around her waist.

"What?" Mrs. Moskowitz said in disbelief. "But I thought he liked you."

"I thought so too."

The woman turned to her son, looking absolutely helpless. Hawk clenched his jaw, suddenly feeling a newly fueled rage in his body.

That asshole.

✸

"They what?"

Emmy frantically nodded, stuffing another Oreo into her mouth. "I'm telling you. They would have kissed if I didn't stop them."

Hawk just looked dazed, face scrunched. "I didn't think Miguel would ever do something like that to you. I saw his face whenever he was with you, he was happy."

"Well, clearly he's happier with Sam," Emmy huffed, the tears still slowly coming down while she leaned against Hawk's bed. "She fucking told him about Tory."

His eyes widened into the size of saucers. "What? How the hell does she know about that?"

"She said she overheard us talking at school," Emmy groaned, feeling like the most foolish person ever. "God, I'm so stupid."

Hawk scoffed. "Let me guess. She told him because she knew that it was her guaranteed in with Miguel?"

Emmy grabbed another Oreo, sniffling and nodding. "That's what I think. I didn't even know they were close again. I saw them give that speech about the tournament but I thought that was it. Have they been seeing each other behind my back or something?"

He sighed, grabbing himself an Oreo. "I don't know, Em. But all that matters right now is that you forget about him and Sam. Don't let them break you down."

She turned to him with a deadpanned look, her puffy face on full display for him. "I think it's a bit too late for that."

Hawk rolled his eyes, scooting closer to her. "What I meant was, don't let this control you. You have so much more going for you and you don't have time to worry about them. You just gotta show them that you don't care."

"But I slapped him."

He blinked. "You know, you should really tell me all the details before you let me talk."

She groaned. "What the hell am I gonna do? I mean, people are gonna see them together and they just saw me and him together not too long ago."

"Then you tell what happened," he shrugged. "That Miguel's a cheating asshole."

"But we weren't even official?"

"I'm just calling it what it is."

Emmy huffed, grabbing the Oreo container and placed it on his lap. "Here. I'm gonna end up eating all of it."

He pressed his lips tightly together, putting it down on his right so she couldn't reach it. "It'll be okay. You dodged a bullet."

"Yeah," she breathed out. "Dodged a bullet."

✸

"Damn, so you and 'Rhea done? Does that mean I can shoot my shot?"

"Shut the hell up, Kyler," Emmy snapped, dropping her backpack onto the ground by the front door. "The day that you and I get together is a day that will never come."

"And let's stop talking about it, alright?" Hawk pointed at them, before turning around, immediately freezing. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Emmy whipped around in alert, face dropping when she saw Robby. Her eyes widened as she saw her best friend stomp up to him. "Hawk!"

"Hold on there," Kreese stopped him. "Mr. Keene is our guest."

Emmy furrowed her eyebrows, eyes staring at Robby's. Her face was asking a million questions, but he subtly shook his head, saying that he would explain later.

"Hawk, LaRusso, my office," the pair glanced at each other, the former narrowing his eyes at Robby before they followed after Kreese.

"He's not one of us," Hawk spoke almost immediately after they got settled into the office.

"With the All Valley back on, we need as much strength as we can get," Kreese explained.

"We don't need him," Hawk retorted.

"Why not?" he turned to Emmy, face morphing into disbelief. "He's Johnny's kid, and he knows Miyagi-Do karate. If he learns Cobra Kai karate, he'd be unstoppable."

"Why are you agreeing with this? He put Miguel in the hospital. He's the enemy."

"And you should know that I don't care about that dick anymore," she snapped. "Robby isn't who he was in that school fight anymore. And he's one hell of a fighter."

"You know," Kreese began. "When I was overseas, it was hard to tell who was the enemy. A defenseless local one minute would pull a knife on your throat next. But you know what I learned?"

"What's that?" Hawk tensely asked.

"The enemy of your enemy...is your friend."

Emmy glanced over at Hawk's face, and for some reason, she felt a sense of satisfaction when she saw his facial expression. "Hawk, you're dismissed. LaRusso, I would like another word with you."

Emmy placed her hands behind her back, watching Hawk leave. "What is it now?"

Kreese shrugged, eyebrows raising. "Just wanted to point out that you're still here. You seemed pretty adamant on leaving last night."

"Change of plans," she sighed, her body relaxing. "I no longer have anything holding me back. I thought I knew what I wanted, but, I was wrong."

"Take it as a sign," he told her, eyes squinting as he couldn't contain his smirk. "That no matter what, Cobra Kai is what you should rely on. I hope you know that."

"I do, Sensei," she said. "I promise to never do something as reckless again. I'm sorry for the scare."

"All is forgiven," he responded. "I'm just glad that you can now reach your full potential. I am fairly certain that you can win this next All Valley. Become a two time champ."

"Really?" she lightly rocked back on her heels.

"Really," he repeated. "If you continue the path you're in right now, you'll coast the whole tournament."

Emmy had only gotten this much praise from Kreese. Not even from Johnny or her dad, but from the very man who started Cobra Kai. It was like a boost in her confidence, and she was struck with a new sense of accomplishment.

She smirked. "I won't let you down."

✸

"Ok, we've got one shot at this. Quick, in and out, we'll be good."

Emmy let out a breath, holding her jacket closer to her body. "No offense, but is this really the way to make Kreese proud?"

"Some of us have to go through extreme measures," Hawk said. "We can't all be his little favorite."

She squinted her eyes at him. "Are you seriously still mad at me?"

He shut his mouth, turning away from her. She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "God, you are so childish sometimes."

"Know what you gotta do?" Hawk ignored her and turned to Kyler.

"Hell yeah," Kyler responded, raising his beer can.

Emmy then heard the sound of feet walking on soft leaves, and turned around, face immediately lighting up. "Look who finally decided to join us."

"You invited him?" Hawk asked her in disbelief.

"Yeah. Did I need to ask you permission or something?" she raised her eyebrows again. When he didn't say anything, she hummed.

Kyler then grabbed a can of beer from his bag, holding it out for Robby. "Here you go, Keene."

"I'm good," Robby lightly shook his head.

Hawk scoffed out a laugh. "What, you can't handle a sip of beer?"

Robby just shrugged. "No. I just don't need to drink to pretend to be cool."

Kyler and Emmy both choked out a laugh, Tory grabbed Hawk's arm when he took a threatening step towards Robby. "All right. Let's get going."

As the group went up to the cut fence, Tory pulling it back so they could climb through, Emmy stayed behind with Robby. She flashed him a look of amusement. "Thoughts?"

He chuckled. "Still wondering why you hang out with these people all the time."

"Oh, come on," she laughed. "It's not bad. You get used to Kyler's gibberish after, like, the first week."

He laughed back. "Thanks for inviting me though. Juvie was pretty lonely. Other than your visits."

She put her hand on his shoulder. "It's no problem, seriously. The least I can give you is some fun after being locked up."

He nodded. "How have you been?"

Emmy knew what he was talking and sighed. "Let's just say my phone has been a hot place for people to text."

"That bad?"

"You don't even know," then she grabbed his hand. "But enough of that. We're here to get your blood pumping. Come on."

Tory gave her a knowing look as the two crouched down and walked through the opening of the fence together before she followed after them. The three of them jogged up the slightly steep hill, Robby's face scrunching as he saw where they were. "The zoo? Why do we have to sneak in?"

"You'll see," Tory smirked at him.

He turned to Emmy in curiosity. She just innocently smiled. "Not spoiling anything."

"Come on. This way," Hawk told them, and they all gave each other excited smiles before hurrying up, their bodies buzzing.

"This has to be illegal," Robby said, turning to Emmy as they walked.

"Oh, it definitely is," she caught his panicked eyes. "Don't worry! No one will know that we were here, let alone you. I won't let that happen."

His eyebrows twitched together. "Why are you so nice to me?"

"You're my friend, Robby," she smiled. "And as my friend, you get the nice side of me."

"What about the others?"

She tilted her head at him, raising their interlocked hands and pointed her finger at him. "Don't push it."

He just laughed, and the group finally arrived at the building, Hawk pushing open the door and all of them rushing in. They headed for the stairs, Emmy leaving Robby's side and stood a few steps above everyone.

"Emmy?"

She turned to Hawk. "Two cameras over there."

"The guards go on break once every hour," he added on.

"Okay..." she looked down at the wrist watch Kreese let her borrow. "We have less than five minutes."

And without another word, they ran up the stairs, heading towards the reptile room. One boy opened the door for them, and another joined him to stand guard.

They walked in, and Hawk immediately stripped off his backpack, unzipping it and pulled out sack. "You got the snake pole?"

Kyler looked down, before shutting his eyes in realization. "Oh, shit! Snake pole, right."

Hawk looked as if he was gonna throttle him. "I orchestrated this entire plan and you didn't bring the one thing?"

"I forgot, ok?" Kyler defended himself. "I've got a lot on my mind right now. If I don't pass trig this semester, my dad's gonna shit in my mouth."

Emmy immediately looked at him in disgust. "Did he say that?"

Tory then leaned in closer. "Just reach in and grab the snake!"

"Are you insane?" Hawk looked at her in disbelief. "I'm not gonna stick my hand in there!"

"Just do it!" Emmy whispered shouted.

"Do you want it to bite me?"

"Of course not! But we are on a serious time crunch right now."

"Hey, who's in there?" they heard from outside.

"Shit," Hawk and Emmy simultaneously said, looking at each other with wide eyes.

"Po-po, let's go. We gotta go," Kyler hurriedly said, pushing past Tory and Robby, Hawk and Emmy following after him.

As they ran out, kids and parents looked at them in confusion, more so because of Hawk's mohawk.

Emmy let out a heavy breath as she walked through the opening in the fence, stepping towards Kyler and shoved his shoulder. "Nice going, dumbass."

"Dude! At least I brought beer," Kyler said as if they weren't almost caught.

"We failed the mission 'cause of you!" Hawk exclaimed.

"Wait, where the hell is Robby?" Emmy began to look around frantically.

"Who said we failed?"

She turned around, relief flooding her. "Oh, thank God."

But that wasn't all, and he held up the sack that Hawk had brought, the sound of a snake hissing inside of it. Her eyes blew open, and she grabbed the sack from him. "You got it?"

She pulled the top open, letting out a laugh of joy at the sight of the animal inside. "Holy shit! You actually did it!"

"Did you ever doubt me?" he asked.

She looked up from the bag, and grin on her. She wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "Not for a single second."

✸

"Well done. I'm impressed. You showed fearlessness, leadership. And those are the qualities you need to be a champion."

Kreese stood in front of Robby, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Good job. You're what Cobra Kai has been looking for."

"Do you see what you can accomplish when you work together? Alliances are important. For us and our enemy," Kreese looked directly at Emmy. "Because you better believe that they are making alliances too."

She thickly swallowed, her anger slowly growing.

"What alliances?" Tory asked.

"Oh, you didn't hear?" Kreese feigned his innocent act. "Uh, Diaz and that other LaRusso girl, yeah, they're working together. Yeah, they helped save the All Valley. They gave quite a speech. They make a pretty good team."

Tory turned over to Robby and Emmy, seeing Emmy staring down at the ground with a pissed off expression.

"Well, it's getting late. Dismissed."

Emmy made eye contact with Tory, the two exchanging unspoken words before walking out together. Hawk watched them go with a confused expression, but Kreese looked as if he expected it.

Everything is going as planned.

AUTHOR'S NOTE !

get prepared for the next chapter yall