❝ this little girl just kicked your ass. ❞

―

"ARE YOU SURE IT'S A GOOD IDEA FOR YOU TO BE HERE?"

Decha turned his head to look at Demetri, giving him a nod. "I told you a million times on the way over here, I'm going to be fine."

"Are you sure?" Demetri asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "Because we can leave if this is too much."

Decha shook his head, reaching for Demetri's hand. "Dem, I'm fine. I'm not even tempted to drink anything, I promise. Trust me."

Demetri nodded his head. "Okay. Okay, but if you feel like you need to leave, don't hesitate."

Decha nodded at him, giving his hand a squeeze as they both turned their attention towards each party in front of them. Brucks was across from them, drinking and partying with a group of college students. The boys plus Chae stared in his direction as he cheered.

"I can't believe Brucks got into MIT," Hawk said in shock. "And was he speaking Latin earlier?"

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

Chae raised her eyebrows, glancing at Hawk. She was curious to know what exactly it was that Demetri meant by that, but she did not question it.

"I assume he is stupid?" Chae asked, nodding her head toward Brucks.

"Understatement of the year," Demetri replied.

At the sound of Kyler's voice, the group turned their heads to see him trying to impress a girl at the bar.

"Even after everything, Kyler still lands on his feet," Miguel spoke.

"Hey, Shitbreath!"

Decha furrowed his eyebrows as a man approached Kyler, grabbing his shoulder and spinning him around so that he was looking at him. Beer from the spout of the keg spilled onto the floor as Kyler turned.

"Did I tell you you could drink my beer, bitch boy?"

"N-no, sir, Mr. Zenker," Kyler stammered.

Zenker grabbed the red cup from Kyler's hand and took a drink of it before gagging. "That shit is stale. Go make me some jungle juice, yeah?" Zenker ordered.

Kyler nodded his head. "Yes, sir, Mr. Zenker."

Kyler walked away from the bar, and Miguel followed after him. Decha shared a confused look with Demetri and Hawk. Chae looked between them.

Decha crossed her arms. "And that, my friends, is what you call karma."

Demetri nodded his head in agreement.

"I'm missing something again, aren't I?" Chae asked.

"Kyler used to bully us," Hawk told her. "Well, not Decha. But they definitely had some beef."

Decha scoffed. "The word 'beef' is an understatement. The guy was a total asshole."

Chae nodded her head, looking up at Hawk. "I see. He's the one that made fun of you for your lip?"

"Yeah," Hawk sighed. "That would be him."

"I don't like him even more now," Chae said as she shook her head.

Hawk stared down at the ground for a moment before he looked up again, grabbing Chae by the hand. "You said you wanted to experience a party, right?"

Chae nodded her head.

"Well, then what are we still doing standing around? Let's go!" Hawk pulled her hand, leading her towards the bar to grab a drink.

Decha stayed with Demetri. He honestly wanted to be anywhere but standing in the middle of a frat house. Decha shoved his hands in his pockets at the same time that a boy tried handing him a drink. Decha shook his head at him.

"I'm good, thanks," Decha told him.

"Dude, it's a frat party," the boy replied. "Why are you even here if you're not going to—"

"He said he's good," Demetri spoke up, coming to Decha's aid. "Go away."

The boy stared at them both before he walked away, mumbling under his breath. Decha turned his head to look at Demetri. He smiled at him and then licked his bottom lip.

"You didn't have to do that, you know," Decha told him.

Demetri shrugged. "I know. I just hate assholes who don't know how to take no for an answer."

Decha raised an eyebrow. "So, you hate me then?"

"What?" Demetri asked. "No. Why would you say that?"

"Because before we started dating, I kept bothering you even after you said no," Decha answered.

Demetri rolled his eyes. "That's...that's not...shut up, Hobbit."

Decha could not stop the smirk that spread on his face or the blush that he could feel forming on his cheeks. "You haven't called me that in a while."

"Yeah, well, wipe that smirk off your face," Demetri told him. "And don't get any ideas."

Decha wiggled his eyebrows at him. "Oh, trust me, I've got a lot of ideas."

Demetri rolled his eyes before he punched him in the shoulder. Decha laughed at him. The two boys turned their heads at the sound of cheering. They turned their heads to see Hawk chugging down cups of alcohol and then placing the empty cups on the spikes of his mohawk.

"Spikes! Spikes! Spikes! Spikes!" the crowd cheered.

Decha and Demetri exchanged a glance before they turned their attention back toward their friend.

"Yeah, chug that shit, Spikes!" a boy yelled.

Chae stood across from Hawk, chugging down cups with him. Hawk finished the cup of beer in his hand and then placed the cup on his mohawk. Chae drank the last bit of beer in her cup and held it up in the air. The crowd cheered for her as Hawk kneeled down, letting her put the cup on one of his blue spikes.

Chae threw her hands up in the air. "Hell, yeah!"

"I am seriously considering a new haircut," Demetri said as Migeul returned, standing next to Decha.

"Hey, where's Shitbreath with the jungle juice?" a boy across from the three boys asked as he approached Zenker.

"I don't know," Zenker responded.

"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," Zenker replied. "Listen, he gets into this frat over my dead body."

"Yeah," the other boy laughed. "I like it."

Decha shoved his hands back into his pockets and exchanged a glance with Demetri.

────────────

Decha, Demetri, Chae, and Hawk stood in a line behind Brucks. Demetri and Hawk were still deeply confused by how he had managed to get into MIT and were bound and determined to get some answers.

"Uh, excuse me, Brucks." Demetri tapped on his shoulder, causing him to turn around. "Uh, so we hear that you go to MIT."

Brucks nodded. "Uh, yeah."

"What did you get on your SATs?" Demetri asked.

"Some ketchup," Brucks replied, followed by a laugh. "Just kidding! I don't know, I mean like, 790, 780."

"Oh, shit!" Brucks exclaimed, turning to the joy next to him with a fresh can of beer in his hands. "Freshie! Let's go. Load it up."

The boy began replacing the empty can on Brucks hat with the fresh can. Demetri stared blankly into space.

"1570 SATs?" Demetri asked in shock. "I have no words."

Decha blinked a few times, trying to make sense of what he was hearing. "Okay, so maybe—"

"Hey!" Zenker's voice echoed through the room, cutting him off.

Decha and Chae both turned their heads to the side, followed by Demetri and Hawk, to where Zenker stood with Miguel and Kyler. Several other partygoers stopped their conversations, looking at the scene unfolding in front of them.

"Listen, Shitbreath," Zenker shouted. "You want in, get on the ground and be the vacuum."

"Is he getting in?" Miguel asked.

Zenker snapped his head in Miguel's direction. "How about you stay out of this?"

Kyler tapped Miguel on the shoulder as he walked past him. He placed his hands on the ground. Zenker grabbed Kyler by the ankles, holding his legs up. Kyler's face was just a few inches from the ground.

"Suction mode, on."

Kyler lowered his mouth to the ground and began eating the food off the floor. Decha scoffed in disgust, shaking his head. He still hated Kyler with a burning passion, but he felt for him in that moment. He had wished for years for something humiliating like this to happen to Kyler, but now that it was actually happening, it wasn't funny like Decha thought it would be.

Chae stared with her eyes wide. She covered her eyes with her hands, peeking out through slits between her fingers. She didn't want to watch, but she could not seem to look away either.

Other people around them laughed, finding the situation amusing. Decha rolled his eyes at them.

"Enough!" Miguel shouted.

Zenker let go of Kyler's legs. Kyler stood up on his feet, popcorn and Cheeto crumbs hanging out of his mouth.

"Why don't you tell him the truth?" Migeul asked.

"The truth about what, man?" Kyler asked, glancing between the two.

"Well, we had a good run," Zenker replied, nodding his head as he looked at Kyler. "The truth is, you are never, and I mean never, getting into this frat."

Kyler's face fell for a split second before he looked back up at him. "Your loss."

As a blonde girl walked behind him holding a cup, Kyler grabbed it out of her hand. He held it above Zenker's head and tilted it, pouring the contents of the cup onto his head. A chorus of gasps and clamoring erupted from the crowd. Decha laughed, finding himself smiling as Kyler tossed the cup to the floor.

Zenker attempted to throw a punch at Kyler, but he blocked it and twisted his arm. "Bitch, don't you know I know karate?"

Kyler punched him in the jaw and then pushed his head into the nearby wall decorated with an old pedestrian walk signal. Zenker hit his head with a metallic thud before he fell to the ground. Miguel swung his leg at Zenker's friend, causing them to either duck or take a step back.

"Who else wants some of this shit?" Kyler questioned.

With that question, the fighting began. Hawk kicked a guy in the face before hooking his arm with Demetri's, who then swung his leg around, kicking a boy in the abdomen. As Demetri ducked to the ground, Hawk stepped on his back and jumped, kneeing a guy in the jaw. Another boy came surging towards Decha, his fist ready to punch him. Decha grabbed him by the wrist and twisted his arm before kicking him in the stomach. The boy fell with a thud.

Two more guys came toward him, and Decha hook kicked them both in the jaw one after the other. He turned his head and looked at Chae.

"Chae! Behind you!" Decha warned her.

Chae snapped her body around, raising his leg as she turned. She landed a kick straight to the guy's chest. He fell backward and looked up at her. Another guy stood in front of Chae, holding his fists up in the air.

"I don't wanna have to hit a little girl," he said to her.

"Aww, that's sweet of you," Chae said with feign gratitude as she put her hand on her chest.

She smiled at him sweetly before she bent down and extended her leg forward. She swept him off his feet, staring at him as he fell to the floor. She stepped towards him and placed her foot on his chest. The guy tried to push her leg away, but had no luck.

"This girl just kicked your ass," Chae told him.

Decha smiled at her as he felt a hand touch his shoulder and was spun around. He came face to face with one of the frat boys, who grabbed into his shoulders and made an attempt to knee him in the stomach. Decha took a step back, preventing the boy from hitting him. Decha grabbed his shoulders and pushed him forward. The boy let go of him and stumbled backward. Decha took the opportunity to kick him in the chest. The boy fell, but quickly rose to his feet.

Two more guys approached, stepping in front of Decha. Chae walked up to him, standing by his side. The three guys started circling around them as Decha and Chae stood back to back, their fists in the air, ready to strike. Together, they each kicked one of the guys that stood in front of them. They stumbled but did not fall. The guy that Decha had kicked tried to punch him, but Decha kicked him back before he had the chance.

"Link your arms with mine," Chae told Decha.

Decha was slightly confused, but he linked his arms with hers. The guy continued circling around them, closing in.

"When I jump, start spinning around," Chae whispered.

Decha nodded his head and waited for Chae to jump. The girl lifted her feet off the ground, jumping up and shifting her weight onto Decha's back. He started to spin, and Chae swung her leg around, kicking all three of the guys in the jaw as Decha spun. They each fell to the floor, groaning in pain. Decha stopped spinning, and Chae placed her feet back on the floor. They unlinked their arms and turned to face each other.

A guy started sneaking up on Chae, but Decha quickly grabbed her shoulders and turned around to switch places with her. He punched the in the nose, causing him to groan in pain. The boy grabbed his nose and then raised his fist to punch Decha. He grabbed him
by the arm and twisted it around and pushed him. He landed one final kick to his chest, causing the boy to hit the wall behind him.

"Hell yeah!" Chae cheered.

Decha nodded his head. "Hell yeah!"

They both smiled and raised their hands to give each other a high five.

"Who would've thought that we would work so well together?" Chae asked.

They walked over to where their friends and Kyler stood, giving each other celebratory high fives.

"Hey. Where's Brucks?" Hawk questioned.

They looked around the room as Brucks picked up a guy and threw him into a table. The table broke into two. Chae's eyes widened, and her mouth fell slightly agape as Decha flinched and gasped in shock.

"Oh shit!" Hawk exclaimed.

"Get Brucksed!" Brucks shouted.

The group exchanged looks with each other before turning back to Brucks. They all raised third hands in the air as they erupted into a chorus of "Yeah!"

"Someone should call campus security," a girl spoke.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go," Hawk said as he started running toward the door.

They all ran behind him, exiting the frat house in a frantic rush.

────────────

The group followed Kyler and Brucks to the campus dining hall. Decha and Chae stood next to the Pac-Man machine with Demetri and Hawk as they watched Brucks play the game.

"Oh. Oh, are you gonna... Oh. Oh!" Brucks said as he played the game and lost. "Oh, damn! Man, why are the ghosts so fast?"

"Maybe you are just bad," Chae mumbled, causing Brucks to turn and look at her.

Hawk chuckled at Chae's statement and at the look of hurt on Brucks' face. Decha just smiled, shaking his head as he leaned against the machine with his arms folded against his chest.

"All right, enough," Demetri spoke, his attention focused on Brucks. "You gotta tell us what's going on with MIT. I mean, did you cheat on the SATs or what?"

Brucks sighed. "Fine. I lied. I didn't get a 790. I got a 750. I just wanted to impress you guys 'cause you're smart and stuff. Five hundred of it was in English, though."

Decha furrowed his eyebrows, standing up straight so that he was no longer leaning against the Pac-Man machine. He exchanged a confused glance with Demetri.

"Hold on," Decha said, looking at Brucks. "You got a 750 total?"

Brucks nodded. "Yeah."

Chae glanced around at the confused boy's surrounding her. "Is 750 bad?"

She received no answer as the boys just stared at Brucks with shocked expressions on their faces. Chae sighed and continued to follow the conversation. She had always been more of an observer anyway.

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

"Because we want to go to MIT," Demetri explained.

Brucks turned to him with a confused look on his face. "You wanna to learn to fix washing machines? It's not that hard."

Decha was even more confused than before. "What?"

Brucks reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He held it up in front of Demetri, showing him a webpage. Decha leaned in closer to him to take a look at the screen.

"Midwest Industrial Training," Demetri read. "Ad Meliora."

Decha nodded his head. "That makes more sense."

"Great, man," Demetri said to Brucks. "That's... That... That's incredible."

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

Demetri shook his head. "No, no. That won't be necessary. I think we can manage to get in on our own."

"Okay," Brucks nodded. "Just let me know if—"

Chae cut him off as she started laughing, pointing at Hawk, Decha, and Demetri. "You guys are idiots! You thought the big dumb boy was smart!"

They all turned to look at her. Brucks' face fell as he turned to look at her. Chae kept laughing, finding the entire situation hysterical.

"You're kind of mean," Brucks said as he stared down at her.

Chae just shrugged her shoulders, continuing to laugh. Hawk smiled at her before he started laughing with her. Brucks sighed and continued playing Pac-Man. Decha grabbed Demetri by the hand and pulled him to one of the nearby tables.

"I can't believe we thought that he actually got into MIT," Decha said as he rolled his eyes.

Demetri let out a scoff. "You're telling me. Who knew there was another MIT?"

Decha shook his head. "Not me."

"Me either," Demetri replied.

The two boys were silent for a moment before Decha spoke up, telling Demetri about what was on his mind. "You are okay with me going to Berklee and being two miles away from you, right? I—I mean, you still want to be with me—be us—after high school?"

Demetri furrowed his eyebrows as he grabbed Decha's hand that was on the table. "What are you talking about? Of course I still want to be with you after high school, and the idea of you being two miles away is quite possibly the most exciting and, quite frankly, kind of scary thing that could happen."

"Really?" Decha asked, followed by a sigh. "I just... forget it."

Demetri gave his hand a squeeze. "What's wrong?"

Decha sighed. "Sometimes I still feel like you deserve better than me. You're this insanely smart guy who has all these goals with his entire life together, and I'm just a recovering alcoholic who has messed more times than I can count. I can't shake the feeling that one day you'll realize how much of a loser I am and leave me for someone who's more like you."

"Listen to me, Decha Thirasawat," Demetri said, looking directly into his eyes. "You are not a loser—maybe a little bit—but you mean the world to me, and I will never leave you. You've made mistakes, but who hasn't? There is not a single person on the planet who has not made a mistake or screwed up. I love you, and that won't change. What will it take for you to get that through that thick skull of yours?"

Decha smiled at him, shaking his head as he chuckled. "I love you too."

Decha turned his head to see Chae standing in front of the Pac-Man machine. Brucks and Hawk were standing on either side, watching her play. They were cheering her on as she was laser focused.

She jumped in the air when she beat Brucks' score. Hawk pulled her into a hug and swung her around as she giggled. He put her down, and Chae turned around to look at Brucks.

"Ha!" Chae exclaimed as she pointed at him. "In your face!"

Decha and Demetri turned to look at each other, both of them laughing.

— EMILIA'S NOTES

i procrastinated writing the fight scene so much. i'm not sure why but fight scenes are really not my friend at the moment and i'm struggling so bad. hope it wasn't a let down.

decha & chae working together to beat up a bunch of frat boys might just be my favorite thing. also she's so funny & has no filter. she's starting to get more comfortable, so therefore is becoming more confident and i love her.

i honestly don't know where that conversation between decha and demetri and the end came from?? my brain just started writing and i was like "oh...okay."

alternative chapter title: chae being an icon once again