╔.𖥸. .════════════════╗

𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗬

chapter forty-two
theta omega, or whatever

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ALYSSA HAD HER arm linked through Sam's as they wandered around the college fair. During lunch that day, a bunch of representatives from four-year colleges had come to West Valley so the seniors could see their options.

It was honestly crazy to Alyssa that the time was already here. For practically entire life, she had been wondering what a world outside of Reseda would be. After all, she didn't choose this town, and she dreamed of getting out, despite there being one specific person who could make her stay. Yet now, that it was rapidly approaching, Alyssa wished it would all just stop, or at least just slow down (in the wise words of Gabriella Montez.) After all, her high school years had been tainted by an influx of karate.

Sam had dragged her around to all the different college booths. Alyssa, a smile on her face, as she looked with her. However, unlike Sam who had many brochures, Alyssa had just one. UCLA. It had taken some time to figure out, but Alyssa decided she wanted to be a nurse, just like her mom — and UCLA had a very good nursing program. All she really wanted to do was help people. UCLA, and a nurse, could help with that.

"You sure you don't want another brochure?" Sam asked. "I have extras."

Alyssa laughed, glancing down at the pile of brochures Sam had in her hands. "Yeah, I can tell, babe."

Sam rolled her eyes playfully. "Say all you want, but it's good to have your options open. I mean, there's so many good schools."

She let out a breath. "I know. It just feels like . . . a lot, you know? To quote High School Musical 3, I guess my heart just doesn't know it's in high school."

Sam pulled her in closer to her with their interlocked arms. "Hey, it'll all work out. And we still have time."

"I sure hope so," Alyssa said. She then glanced along the way. "Oh, hey, there's Miguel." Alyssa dragged Sam over to Miguel, who was walking away from the Stanford University booth, smiling down at the brochure he was reading about it. "Hi, Miguel."

Sam bumped her other elbow against Miguel's. "Hey."

"Hey, you two," Miguel replied before he saw what Sam was holding. "Woah, you got a lot of brochures."

"Yeah, okay, but don't be worried, 'cause at least three of them are close to Stanford."

"Oh, come on. I haven't even gotten in. Please."

"You're going to get in, honey," Alyssa reassured him. "I can feel it."

"Hey!" Demetri exclaimed, and the three slowed to a stop to see him and Eli standing together.

"What's up?" Eli added. He then nodded to Alyssa, his eyes softening. "Hey, you."

Alyssa grinned at him, her face feeling warm. "Hi."

"All of our trials and tribulations of nerdom have finally come to this," Demetri continued. "We're the belles of the ball."

"Is that what we are?" Miguel responded.

"Oh, yes, my friend. They are fumbling around our dresses trying to cop a feel of our tantalizing brains."

Sam stared at him for a second before turning to Miguel. "Okay, that's where I leave you."

"I'm sorry," Miguel told her before kissing her for a second.

Sam squeezed his arm. "Good luck."

"Thank you."

Sam looked over at Alyssa. "You coming?"

"I would, but I promised this one I'd hang out with him during lunch," Alyssa stated, glancing over at Eli to see he had a gleeful look on his face. She let her arm drop from Sam's. "I'll see you later, though."

Sam nodded. "Bye, Ally."

Demetri nodded to a booth behind them. "These vultures are wasting their time, though. Eli and I have had our sights set on MIT for years."

Alyssa raised an eyebrow at the look on Eli's face. He didn't seem that enthusiastic about MIT. Like, at all.

Eli locked eyes with her for a second before gesturing to Miguel, clearly wanting to move on. "Are you applying early decision to Stanford?"

"Yeah, definitely," Miguel answered. "But I guess I should probably look into some safety schools, too." He opened the brochure and showed them the prices listed, making Alyssa wince. "Stanford's pretty expensive."

"Hey, fam," a new voice began from behind them, and they all turned to see it was a representative named Gary from College of the Valley. "You bros looking to post up at a college a little closer to home, or what's the word?"

Alyssa blinked. "Bros?"

"Well, Gary, the word is we'll be taking our brodeo on the roadeo," Demetri said. "But, um, thank you for all of your bro-vertures."

She stared at him for a second. "It's like I'm nonexistent."

"All right, bet," Gary voiced. "But safety schools get a bad rap. They keep you closer to home, set you up for a big school later, and they take that weight off Mom and Pop's wallet."

Miguel took one of the brochures with a quiet thanks. Alyssa frowned slightly at him, feeling her heart sink to her stomach. She could tell how badly Miguel wanted to go to Stanford, but it was good to keep options open.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

WHICH IS EXACTLY how Miguel convinced them to go on a tour of College of the Valley after school. Alyssa held hands with Eli as they walked with their tour group, staring out at the buildings. It was a cute campus, she had to say, but she really couldn't picture herself here at all.

"Over here, you'll see our multi-level library, the fourth largest in the San Fernando Valley," their tour guide explained.

"What are we doing here?" Demetri complained. "If the University of Phoenix wasn't online, it'd be this."

"Chillax, okay?" Miguel told him. "I still need to keep my options open.

"The chemistry lab was rebuilt in 1993—" the tour guide continued.

However, he was instantly cut off by a large figure knocking into him. Alyssa's eyes widened as she watched the tour guide crumple to the ground. She looked up, only to see a familiar face, one she wasn't exactly happy to see, and hadn't seen in a while. Another familiar face then ran up to them.

Alyssa rolled her eyes. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

Kyler pushed Brucks playfully. "Oh, sick grab, boy! Yeah!"

"Yeah!" Brucks agreed, clutching onto a frisbee.

Kyler looked down at the tour guide. "You just got Brucksed, kid!" He hit the chest of the tour guide, who had been helped up by somebody. "You're welcome, homie." Kyler suddenly stopped, staring at how the four of them were standing there in shock. "Oh. What's up, guys?"

Miguel pointed to him. "Kyler, you go to school here?"

"Nah, it's more like this school goes to me. You know what I mean?"

"What's up, Brucks?" Eli greeted. "You . . . you look good, man."

"Thanks, man," Brucks replied. "All new teeth. Swallowed the old ones when you—"

Ah, yes. Red hair Hawk phase. A phase rooted deep in anger, a mind being manipulated by an actual psychopath running Cobra Kai. Alyssa remembered that day that Eli — or Hawk, really — had come up to her in the hallway at school, just to tell her that he had beat up Brucks when he had tried to join Cobra Kai, even though they weren't exactly on speaking terms, or friendly terms at all. It was a weird time in their lives. Alyssa hadn't really heard exactly what happened in that fight, but judging by what Brucks just said, it probably wasn't pretty. In fact, nothing Hawk did during that time was pretty.

"Ew," Alyssa commented.

Eli glanced down at the ground for a second, a guilty expression flashing across his face as he gripped Alyssa's hand a little tighter. "Yeah, I'm really sorry about that, dude. I — I was in a bad place then, and—"

"It's all good, buddy," Brucks reassured him. "Play karate games, win karate prizes, you know? Hey, it helped me get my life on track. Ad meilora. Toward better things."

"Sick."

Brucks punched Kyler's shoulder. "See you at the house, Ky?"

"Bet," Kyler responded.

"Yes, sir. Let's go!"

"Wait, so you and Brucks both go here," Demetri stated. "That makes sense."

"Nah, he's just visiting," Kyler revealed. "He goes to MIT."

Alyssa's mouth fell open. Excuse her? Did she just hear that right?

"I'm sorry, did you say MIT?" Demetri questioned.

"Yeah, and he's killing it, too," Kyler said. He didn't seem phased at all by their shock, and pulled Demetri into him by his shoulders. "So, what's up, guys? We hanging out or what?"

Alyssa probably would've rather thrown herself off the roof of the multi-level library (fourth largest in the San Fernando Valley!) than hang out with Kyler and Brucks willingly, but the boys wanted to go, so she tagged along. Which is how she found herself standing in a frat house at a party, feeling very out of place. Every party she had ever been to had ended in a disaster — the canyon party where Eli was an absolute dick to her, Moon's party where she stopped Demetri from causing an even further rift between Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai, and after the Sekai Taikai where they found out Tory had been working with Kreese.

Safe to say she wasn't much of a party person anymore. Especially not now, when surrounded by sorority girls and frat boys, feeling insignificant under the neon lights and surrounded by plastic cups.

Alyssa had detached herself from the boys for a second, standing by Kyler as he got her a drink. She didn't trust Kyler, not one bit. After everything he did, she couldn't just let it go.

She watched Kyler pour the beer for her. "You know, Kyler, I still don't like you. The boys may think different, but me? I'm not that easily convinced. Taylor Swift once said you don't have to forgive and you don't have to forget. I live by that. Especially with what you did to Sam and Eli."

Kyler shrugged. "I don't blame you." He extended the cup towards her. "I just hope we can get off on the right foot one day."

Alyssa accepted the cup, her eyes narrowing. "You're on thin fucking ice."

She turned and started to walk back to the boys. Alyssa pushed herself through the crowd, ignoring the stares she got. She was in a long-sleeved crocheted black crop top layered over a cropped black tank and a pair of jeans, which was totally school appropriate, but maybe not frat party appropriate. Alyssa guessed that wasn't part of the dress code. It also didn't help that it was a million degrees in there because of her layers.

Brucks chugged a beer as she walked by. "Woo! I love college! Woo-hoo! Woo, woo, woo, woo! Bro, you wanna see a party trick?"

"I can't believe Brucks got into MIT," Eli admitted, slipping an arm around Alyssa's waist when she settled next to him. "And was he speaking Latin earlier?"

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

Miguel watched as Kyler talked to a girl over by the keg. "Even after everything, Kyler still lands on his feet."

"Hey, Shitbreath!" a stereotypical frat guy called, pulling Kyler back by his shoulder. "Did I tell you you could drink my beer, bitch boy?"

"N-No sir, Mr. Zenker," Kyler stuttered.

Zenker took a sip of the beer and winced. "Oh, ugh. That shit is stale." He punched Kyler's shoulder. "Go make me some jungle juice, yeah?"

"Yes, sir, Mr. Zenker."

Alyssa raised her eyebrows as Kyler walked off, looking utterly defeated as he went to go make jungle juice, which Alyssa was sure would send her body into cardiac arrest. Miguel instantly followed after him. No matter how much she hated Kyler, she still hated people who acted like assholes. And this Zenker, who she could debunk down to frat boy number seventy-two because he was that insignificant, was horrible.

"It's gross in here," Alyssa said after a while, moving some of her red hair off of her shoulder. "Why did we come to a frat party again?"

Eli removed his arm from around her waist and pulled a hair tie off of his wrist. "Here you go. It'll at least make you feel a little better."

Alyssa's eyebrows knit in confusion, taking the hair tie from him. "You just have a hair tie?"

"I've had it for months," Eli admitted. "It's the same one from that fight at Sam's house. During Christmas, remember? Never comes off my wrist."

She paused for a second, looking down at the hair tie. Memories suddenly came rushing back to her — tying her hair back to fight Rickenberger to make a point, Eli switching sides, him taking out her hair and apologizing for that stupid comment Rickenberger made, the hug they shared . . .

And that's the closest she'd come to her heart exploding.

Alyssa smiled up at him, her eyes bright. "Thank you."

She handed him her cup for a moment and tied her hair back in a bun, pulling out two front pieces. Alyssa then took her cup back and sipped, trying not to wince. The beer was horrible.

Some time later — and honest to God, Alyssa wasn't sure how the hell they got to this point — she stood off to the side, watching her boyfriend with wide eyes. Eli was in the middle of a crowd of people, chugging something out of a red plastic cup with two other cups he had drowned before resting on individual spikes of his mohawk. Beer? Jungle juice? Alyssa wasn't sure. All that she did know was that the crowd was getting hyped, cheering Spikes! over and over again.

"Yeah, chug that shit, Spikes!" a guy exclaimed from the staircase.

Eli finished his cup and yelled out triumphantly, making the crowd go wild. He then placed his empty cup on the very front spike of his mohawk, sticking out his tongue. Alyssa blinked, clutching onto her cup. Whatever made him happy, she guessed.

Alyssa then felt somebody walk up beside her, and she turned to see it was Miguel. "Hi, honey."

Demetri shook his head. "I am seriously considering a new haircut." He glanced at Alyssa. "Shouldn't you be stopping him, or something?"

She tilted her head, watching as Eli's face lit up accepting praises from people around him. "Nah. He seems to be having a good time."

Zenker nodded to that one kid who had cheered on Eli from the stairs. "Hey, what's up, bro?"

The kid accepted the bro-hug. "Hey. Where's Shitbreath with the jungle juice? 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. Listen, he gets into this frat over my dead body."

"Yeah!" The kid laughed and bro-hugged Zenker again. "I like it."

Alyssa rolled her eyes, taking another sip of her drink. She snuck a glance over to Miguel, who looked positively outraged. Her heart softened for a second. Miguel, always the hero.

"Hey," the kid who had cheered on Eli greeted, stopping in front of Alyssa and giving her a smile that was nothing short of dazzling. It was gross. "What's your name?"

She grinned at him sarcastically, so sugary-sweet it was mocking. "Keep walking, buddy." Alyssa nodded to Eli. "I'm with Spikes. He might kick you into oblivion if you try anything . . . after I do, of course."

The guy seemed to get the hint. He nodded and walked away. Alyssa shrugged in satisfaction.

Eli then stumbled up to her, the red plastic cups no longer on his hair and holding a bowl of popcorn and hot Cheetos, for some odd reason. "Hi, mi amor."

"Hi, handsome," Alyssa replied, letting out a small laugh as she watched him eat his food, his eyes slightly squinting from all the alcohol. "Having fun?"

He nodded. "Did you see me?"

"I did. I watched you the whole time." Alyssa ran her hand up and down his back for a moment. "Maybe just cool it on the drinks for a bit, baby."

A little while later, with the party still raging, Brucks wandered back near them while Miguel went to go talk to Kyler. Demetri was obviously still dumbfounded by the thought of Brucks being in MIT and would not let it go, so he made it his personal mission to find out more.

"Uh, excuse me, Brucks," Demetri announced over the loud music. "Hey." Brucks turned to them, spitting the straw that was connected to his beer hat out of his mouth. "Uh, so we hear that you go to MIT?"

"Oh, yeah," Brucks answered.

"What did you get on your SATs?"

"Some ketchup. Just kidding! I don't know. I mean, like seven-ninety, seven-eighty." Brucks then turned to the guy next to him, who was holding another beer. "Oh shit! Freshie! Let's go. Load it up."

"Fifteen-seventy SATs?" Demetri inquired.

"Load it up."

"I have no words."

"Where's my vacuum?" Zenker shouted, gaining Alyssa's attention. She tore her eyes away from Brucks, only to see him staring straight at Kyler and pointing to the floor, which was covered in popcorn and hot Cheetos. "Yo, vacuum. Clean this up."

"Nah, man, I'm good," Kyler told him.

"Hey!" Zenker yelled, and everything around them seemed to go quiet. Everybody stopped talking and turned to look at what was going on. "Listen, Shitbreath. You want in, get on the ground and be the vacuum."

Miguel looked at him accusingly. "Is he getting in?"

"How about you stay out of this?"

Kyler patted Miguel's shoulder and stepped out defeatedly. He bent down and placed his hands on the ground, lifting up his legs.

Zenker took his legs in his hands. "Suction mode, on."

Alyssa then watched in complete horror as Kyler started to eat all the food off of the floor, the frat boys falling into laughter around them. Her eyes widened, and her hand clenched into a fist at her side. Like she said before, she did not like Kyler, but she hated assholes more. This was just fucking cruel.

"Enough!" Miguel yelled. The air in the house turned tense, and Kyler stood up fully, spitting the food out of his mouth. "Why don't you tell him the truth?"

Kyler glanced in between Miguel and Zenker. "The truth about what, man?"

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

Eli watched, slipping a piece of popcorn into his mouth. Alyssa face-palmed.

Kyler nodded. "Your loss."

He turned back and grabbed a cup out of a girl's hand that was passing by. Kyler then turned the cup over Zenker's head, and beer poured out of it, instantly spilling all over him. Alyssa gasped, a slight smirk making its way onto her face. Brucks pointed at Zenker and laughed loudly. Even Miguel smiled smugly.

Zenker stared at Kyler in complete shock, like he couldn't believe what just happened. He wound his fist back and went to punch, but clearly, Zenker wasn't experienced in fighting whatsoever. Kyler easily blocked his punch and twisted his arm.

"Bitch, don't you know I know karate?" Kyler asked.

Kyler then punched Zenker and pushed him. Zenker's head made contact with a metal beam in the house and instantly crumpled to the ground. Miguel turned himself around and kicked, sending all the frat bros who were by Kyler away.

"Who else wants some of this shit?"

Kyler and Miguel raised their fists. The frat boys did too, yet they looked skittish. Obviously.

Alyssa sighed and let her cup fall carelessly to the floor. "So much for a party not ending in a disaster." She took out her signature hoop earrings and put them in her pocket. "Let's fucking go, I guess."

Brucks yelled out defiance, charging forwards. He took two guys with him, crashing them into the wall. Miguel pulled Kyler back as Brucks did so to get him out of the way. A boy ran up to Eli, Alyssa, and Demetri. Eli immediately lifted up his leg and kicked, spinning himself around as the guy fell to the floor. Demetri ran forwards and locked arms with Eli, turning himself around so he could kick the same boy right in the face. He then crouched down to the ground.

Eli glanced over at Alyssa, and they met each other's eyes for a split-second. His had a clear message — go for it. Alyssa ran forwards, vaulted herself off of Demetri's back, and launched herself into the air with her leg extended. Her foot made contact with that guy's chest, who fell into the arms of his friend behind him.

Brucks, Eli, Kyler, and Miguel all immediately got into their own fights. Clearly, they were leaving Alyssa alone — as much of assholes as they were, it was clear that hitting a girl wasn't in their vocabulary (not that they actually could, anyways.) She then turned, only to see Demetri on the other side of the beer pong table, cornered by three of the frat guys, including the one who had hit on her earlier. They taunted him, going back and forth so Demetri wouldn't escape.

Alyssa ran up to the table. She nodded to Demetri across the way before turning herself around, lifting her leg up in the air. Her foot made contact with that guy's head, and he slumped against the table for a second before falling on the floor. Demetri threw cups of beer in the other guy's faces and slid along the table, kicking the one on the left out of the way. He then got up from the table and kicked the one on the right, sending him stumbling backwards.

However, the guy who Demetri had just kicked was still with it. He ran straight at Demetri, who then ran towards one of the counters, but Alyssa intervened. She lifted up her leg and kicked his side, making him double over. Alyssa kicked him in the stomach before spinning around and kicking, her foot hitting his head. And with that, he fell to the ground.

"I love this kind of party!" Kyler exclaimed.

Alyssa suddenly felt an arm wrap around her waist and lift her up off the ground. She shrieked at the sudden movement and struggled against the arm, but her back was suddenly slammed against a wall. Alyssa grunted in pain and blinked a couple of times to see just another frat bro holding her in place. He had a triumphant look on his face, making anger run through Alyssa's veins. She reared her fist back and punched him as hard as she could. He stumbled backwards from the force, making Alyssa fall. She caught herself and maneuvered into a forward roll against the ground. Alyssa stayed low to the ground and swept her leg, making the guy's legs fall from underneath him. He fell right next to her, and she punched him again for good measure before standing up.

Something caught her eye. Zenker had gotten to his senses and stood back up, grabbing a glass bottle from beside him. He looked to Miguel and raised it above his head.

"Miguel!" Alyssa shouted, starting to move forwards.

However, there was no need for her to do anything. Kyler caught his arm and twisted it over. Miguel lifted up his knee to the bottle, and it flew out of Zenker's hand up into the air. Kyler caught it and broke it over Zenker's head, who then fell to the ground.

Alyssa let out a deep breath and looked around, tucking some hair that had fallen out behind her ears. Demetri and Eli had finished up with their own fights, and everybody was strewn across the floor, obviously hurt. She then watched as Eli let out an excited yell and brought Demetri into a hug, smiling softly at them. Eli then turned to her and ran, taking his waist into her arms and lifting her up into the air. Alyssa laughed loudly and wrapped her arms around his neck as he spun her around.

"Let's go!" Miguel shouted, clearly hyped as well.

"Let's freaking go, man!" Kyler agreed.

Eli set Alyssa down, but glanced around in confusion. "Where's Brucks?"

They got their answer. Over by the beer pong table, Brucks had lifted up that same guy who had hit on Alyssa earlier into the air. Her eyes widened as she watched Brucks absolutely slam the guy into the table with so much force it broke in half.

"Get Brucksed!" Brucks screamed.

A moment of stunned silence. Then cheers from their little group in victory.

"Someone should call campus security," a girl suggested from behind them.

"Uh-oh," Alyssa let out, reaching down and grabbing Eli's hand.

At once, all of them ran together out of the frat house, leaving the beaten up guys and the stupid fucking party behind.

Kyler brought them to their campus center. It was basically a place where the students could hang out, eat food, and play at the arcade. Miguel was busy talking with Kyler in the food court, while Alyssa stuck with Eli and Demetri in the arcade with Brucks.

Brucks was in the middle of playing a game of Pacman. Alyssa, now finally cooler than she was in that house, had let her hair out of that bun — it was falling out because of the fight, anyways. (And yes, she had given it back to Eli to keep.) She stood next to Eli, her hands resting on his shoulder with her chin on top of them. Eli had his arm wrapped around her waist, holding her close. Apparently, he wasn't too happy that they had gotten separated during the fight, but Alyssa didn't mind the extra closeness now.

"Oh, oh, are you gonna . . . oh, oh!" Brucks commented during his game, but ended up dying. "Oh, damn! Man, why are the ghosts so fast?"

Demetri was clearly fed up. "All right, enough. You gotta tell us what is going on with MIT. I mean, did you cheat on the SATs or what?"

"Fine. I lied. I didn't get a seven-ninety. I got a seven-fifty. I just wanted to impress you guys 'cause you're smart and stuff. Five hundred of it was in English, though."

"Wait, you got seven-fifty total?" Eli questioned.

Brucks nodded. "Yeah. What? Why are you guys so worried about this anyway?"

"Because we want to go to MIT," Demetri revealed, gesturing to him and Eli.

"You wanna learn to fix washing machines? It's not that hard."

Alyssa blinked. "Huh?"

Demetri read off of Brucks' phone when he pulled it out. "Midwest Industrial Training. Ad meilora. Great, man. That's — that — that's incredible."

"I'm stoked," Brucks voiced. "So, uh, you guys want me to make a call or something?"

Alyssa let out a small giggle at that, resting her forehead against Eli's jaw. He merely pulled her closer to him because of it, making her heart glow. However, she couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen to them when they left for college.

•─•°•❀•°•─•

blowing smoke is so eliyssa season one coded and I knew it, I knew you is so eliyssa season two coded and imgonnagetyouback is so eliyssa season three coded and I love you, I'm sorry is so eliyssa season four coded and so high school is so eliyssa season five coded and the alchemy is so eliyssa season six coded and and and

also the frat fight was my favorite part from this season so far it was just so silly to me or maybe I was just vibing with the song

guys this book gained like a good 15k+ reads in the span of maybe a week 🧍🏼‍♀️ and the last chapter got over 700 reads in a week 🧍🏼‍♀️. . . um. hello. I was not expecting that but thank you ❤️ crazy shit fr

glad to see y'all are as feral for hawk as I am 😏 (no I'm not kidding I've never been more down bad for a fictional character than I am with him I'm literally clawing at the walls)