☼not good enough☾

"I mean, you two are no-brainers. It's really only that seventh spot up for grabs." Demetri said as he, Sonny, and Eli stood at Eli's locker. Sonny smiled and gently rubbed her elbow against Demetri's side.

"Yeah, and it's all yours." Sonny said as Eli closed his locker and nodded in agreement. As they started to walk down the hallway, Demetri sighed and shook his head. "I appreciate the support, but I ran a statistical analysis. And while there is an 18% chance you two are right, the smart money is on Kenny."

Demetri, who was standing on Eli's left, turned to him and raised his eyebrows. "I mean, he did beat you in that head-to-head. Cheap shot not withstanding." He said, earning an eye roll from Eli.

"Okay, Payne's got power. But so do you. Don't count yourself out, man." Eli said, slapping Demetri's chest.

Demetri sighed as he looked down the hall ahead of them. "I prefer to focus on something actually achievable for me, getting into MIT." He breathed out before he turned to Eli beside him excitedly and slapped his chest. "Early Action decisions come out any day now, you know."

Sonny looked up at the two boys as Eli sighed, his head dropping. "Yeah, I know." He muttered and Sonny frowned, knowing that Eli still hadn't told Demetri he didn't apply to MIT.

Demetri nudged Eli's shoulder with his own, giving him a small smile. "Hey, come on, man. Have no fear." He said, making Eli and Sonny look up to him.

"I may not have confidence about becoming a world karate champion, but I know that MIT cannot turn down the Binary Bros." Demetri said just as the bell rang.

Sonny's steps slowed and her shoulders slumped. Demetri kept singling Sonny out, completely disregarding the fact that she applied to MIT too; that she was hoping to go to MIT with them. Sonny squinted as she watched Demetri turn down one of the hallways to his class, leaving Eli and Sonny.

Something in her chest sparked her to chase Eli and find out what was up with Demetri. She and Eli were heading in the same direction anyway, she might as well find out what was up with Demetri in the process.

"Hey." Sonny muttered, stepping a little closer to Eli as they walked. The boy noticed she was trying to say something quieter and leaned closer to her. "Has Demetri.. been acting weird with you about MIT?" Sonny asked, her eyes staying on Eli, hoping to be able to read his face.

She watched as his eyebrows raised and his eyes twitch. He was hiding something. "What do you mean?" He asked nervously, not looking at Sonny.

Sonny's jaw dropped, stopping completely as Hawk abruptly turned into his classroom. "You're doing it now too!" She yelled after him.

Sonny stood in the hallway, her stomach churning as all the different scenarios of what could be happening started to circle her mind.

...

Sonny stood on the end of the front row, next to Hawk and in front of Demetri. On the sparring deck in front of the students, Daniel and Johnny stood with a man Sonny had never seen before,

"Please welcome our guest for the weekend, Sensei Barnes." Daniel introduced and Sonny's eyes widened a bit more, recognizing the man's name from past stories.

Whispers about Sensei Barnes involvement in the Silver house fight started to murmur across the students told Sonny that others recognized his name as well.

"Silence!" Sensei Barnes yelled, making Sonny's eyes widen. She flinched, her shoulders straightening as she stood taller.

"In order to keep things unbiased, we brought in Sensei Barnes to observe then select our top seven." Daniel explained. Sonny understood what Daniel and Johnny wanted to do but she thought the sensei's should be biased. If anyone knows their students strengths and capabilities, it's them, not a random stranger.

"During my years as the Tournament Terror, all I wanted was to be in the Sekai Takai. But I blew my chance. I am here to ensure that maximize yours." Sensei Barnes explained, starting to walk down the rows of students.

"Everyone I know who has participated in this has horror stories. This thing is intense. Unpredictable. People have died. Move!" Barnes yelled, getting right in Big Reds face when he noticed he was a step out of line.

"Who's ready for that?" He asked, and Demetri's eyebrows furrowed. He leaned forward so his mouth was right by Sonny's ear. "Wait, ready for the tournament or to die?" He whispered. Sonny pressed her lips into a line to hide her laughs.

"I will do to you what the Sekai Takai will do. I will surprise you with events, I will push you to your limits. And if any of you delicate flowers feel like going to your senseis and crying, don't. I've been given full authority for these eliminations." Sensei Barnes said and Daniel immediately shook his head.

"Selections. Let's keep this positive." He interrupted and Barnes turned around to face him. "You came to me. The deal was my way or the highway." He told Daniel, and Daniel instantly backed off, nodding his head understandingly.

Sensei Barnes turned back to the students, his twisted into a hard stare. "Get on the sparring deck! Now!" He screamed.

As all of the students scrambled to get to the sparring deck, Sonny walked with Hawk, watching the new Sensei with wide eyes. Hawk noticed Sonny staring at Sensei Barnes and chuckled.

"This guy is like Sensei Lawrence when we first joined." He said, making Sonny run to him. She laughed, rolling her eyes a little as she thought about her first six months in karate.

"Yeah, at least this guy's not making fun of your lip or calling my parents hippies." Sonny muttered back, getting a loud laugh from Hawk.

...

After chasing around a flock of chickens, breaking boards, doing wall sits until she physically couldn't anymore, and getting partnered up with Hawk to fight her teammates to practice teamwork, Sonny was certain there wasn't a single part of her body that wouldn't hurt the next morning.

But Barnes was finally done analyzing the students. After tallying up the scores, Sensei Barnes gathered all the students to announce his decisions. "Congratulations. You didn't die. But still, half of you wouldn't last one match at the Sekai Takai." Barnes pulled out his notebook and started to flip through the pages. "To the twelve who might, join me up here when I call your name."

Sonny's fingers anxiously drummed against her leg, the small fear that she didn't make the list starting to creep up on her.

"Hawk." Sensei Barnes announced. Sonny turned to Hawk next to her, a big smile on her face as she grabbed one of his shoulders and shook him a bit. Hawk laughed at Sonny's excitement for him and started to walk up to the sparring deck.

He got about halfway up to Barnes before the man called another name.

"Sonny."

Sonny's smile brightened hearing her name. Everyone around her cheered and she sped up to walk with Hawk. The two got to Sensei Barnes seconds apart and as soon as they were facing the rest of the class, Hawk wrapped a lazy arm around Sonny, pulling her into his side to congratulate her.

Sensei Barnes smiled at the two of them. "I have never seen such teamwork. You two work really well." He said, making Sonny turn to Hawk excitedly

"Hell, yeah!" Sonny yelled, pulling out of her hug with Hawk to do her handshake with him.

He then called up Robby, Miguel, Sam, Tory. Sonny expected all of those names, but what she didn't expect, was what Sensei Barnes said next.

"Muscles."

Sonny's face scrunched and she leaned towards Hawk, her eyes staying on all of the students standing in front of them. "Who?" She whispered but Hawk just shrugged.

Barnes looked into the students and nodded at Mitch. "Yeah, you." Mitch's eyes widened.

"I have a new nickname?" Mitch asked. Barnes ignored him, motioning for the boy to come over. "Get up here." Sensei Barnes scolded and Mitch let out a loud laugh.

"I have a new nickname!" He yelled, running toward the sparring deck.

"Kenny." Sensei Barnes called next, and once Kenny took his spot on the deck, Sensei Barnes turned to him. "Kenny, good job. No one ever catches the chicken." He gave them a proud nod, making Kenny's smile widen.

"Chris and Demetri." Barnes continued. Sonny's eyes grew and she looked to Demetri with a big smile. When he looked to her, Sonny did a small and silent cheer, her cheeks getting a little sore from how hard she was smiling. She really hoped all three of them could go to the Sekai Takai.

Barnes reopened his notebook and then groaned, quickly slapping it shut. "Oh, right. Devon and the last name, Anthony."

Everyone clapped for the last two students and once they were standing with the other ten, Sensei Barnes looked back to the kids who didn't make the list. "Congratulations, top 12. Meet me back here tomorrow for round two. The rest of you, you're out. Better luck next time."

...

"There's no way you aren't getting a spot, Sonny. You already made it to the top 12. Getting into the top 7 will be easy." Moon said as she drove Sonny to karate. Even though Sonny knew she was right, she was still nervous. Her foot tapped on the floor of Moons car rapidly as she watched the streets blur past her window.

"Yeah, just nervous and all." Sonny breathed out before she looked away from the passenger side window to turn to Moon, her eyebrows furrowing a little. "Plus, Demetri's been acting really weird recently. I don't know, I just have a bad feeling."

As Moon pulled up to the dojo, she parked the car and faed Sonny. She gave the girl a small smile as she leaned her head back against her seat. "Everything will work itself out, yeah?" Moon said, bringing her hand up to cup Sonny's cheek.

Sonny took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down before she nodded, giving Moon a small smile. "Yeah."

Moon leaned towards Sonny, pulling the girls face towards her since she was still cupping Sonny's cheek. Moon smiled into the kiss, easing the last bit of stress that was circling Sonny's gut. When they pulled away, a small laugh passed through Moon's lips. "Now, go kill it out there."

Sonny laughed, leaning in to give Moon one more quick kiss, her hand behind her back to open her door. "I love you." Sonny said as she pulled away, opening the door and starting to climb out of the car.

"I love you too!" Moon called out after her, watching as Sonny grabbed her bag from the foot of the car and close the door.

As Sonny walked towards the backyard of the dojo, she started to realize how sore she was from the night prior. Her and the other eleven trained all night for round two. Her muscles ached and she could definitely see herself falling asleep on the lawn if Sensei Barnes gave her five minutes.

But instead, Sonny was stuck sticking flags onto Demetri's limbs while Miguel put her flags onto hers.

Hawk, who already had his flags on his arms, legs, and back, smiled at the three in front of him. "Ready for the big day?" He asked and immediately, Demetri smiled. Once Sonny finished putting on his last flag, Demetri took a step towards Hawk, and playfully punched his shoulder.

"Oh, I was born ready. Just like MIT, you are not going to Barcelona without me." Demetri sang and Sonny's brows furrowed. Again he was leaving her out when he talked about MIT.

It seemed to be a last straw for Sonny. She could hardly even control herself when she took a step forward just as Miguel finished putting on her last flag on her back.

"Why do you keep doing that?" Sonny blurted, making Miguel, Hawk, and Demetri turn to her with confused looks. Sonny kept her eyes on Demetri, frowning as she shook her head. "You keep saying you and Eli are going to MIT. I applied too! I'm going too! Why aren't you acknowledging that?" Sonny yelled.

Hawk turned to Miguel and leaned closer to him. "I would run now while you still can." He whispered. Miguel turned to Hawk, chuckling but as soon as he realized the boy wasn't joking, he sped away, leaving Hawk with Sonny and Demetri.

Sonny shook her head in irritation. "I mean... You keep excluding me out of it as if..." Just before Sonny could finish her sentence, she turned to Eli. She watched as his face fell and he looked away from her.

Sonny's heart dropped and she felt like she had suddenly been punched in the gut. Slowly, she turned to face Demetri in front of her, her jaw fallen and her eyes started to water.

"You don't think I'm gonna get in." Sonny whispered and just like Eli, Demetri looked away from Sonny and bit his lip.

Sonny felt the betrayal twist in her chest and she took a step forward, moving so Demetri would look at her. "That's what this is, isn't it?" Sonny yelled, getting closer to Demetri. "You don't think I'm gonna get in!"

The boy jumped back as if he had finally snapped. "Okay, fine! I don't think you're gonna get in!" Demetri screamed.

It was quiet between the three of them. Hawk watched Sonny with a small frown. Every time it was only him and Demetri, Demetri brought up his theory on Sonny not getting into the school. Hawk would tell him to quit it, to have faith in his friend. He never thought Demetri would ever say that to Sonny's face.

Sonny was frozen, she could've sworn she stopped breathing for a second. "What?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper as she straightened up.

Demetri took a deep breath before finally meeting Sonny's gaze. "Just... Think about it, Sonny! You never went to computer camp any summer with Eli and I, you dropped out of the robotics team because karate and cheer was too much on your plate, you got an average score on your SATs and ACTs, and..." Demetri rambled, pulling straws to defend himself.

It seemed like he was fighting himself to say his next words. Sonny watched him with wide, tear-filled eyes as Hawk shook his head desperately at the boy, silently begging him not to keep going.

"You're not good enough!" Demetri yelled, finally snapping.

Sonny felt the wind get knocked out of her. She stared at the boy, her best friend, in shock.

The tears in her eyes finally fell when she blinked and Sonny had to swallow back crying. Her chest tightened and shoulders shook as she tried to control her breathing. How could someone she trusted with her life say something so cruel to her?

Sonny took a deep breath, and pushed down her sadness. As she held her chin higher, Sonny tried her hardest to turn her sadness into anger.

Demetri and Eli watched as Sonny's face that was once holding back a cry, suddenly looked stone cold despite the tears in it. She took a step towards Demetri, the boy taking a scared step back.

He looked down at her with wide eyes as she shook her head. "You know what? I don't think I can spend another four years with you anyways." Sonny spat. She watched Demetri's face fall and a small part of Sonny told her to take it back immediately, to not hurt the boys feelings.

But another part of her pushed those thoughts away as she thought of everything he said to her. A small smirk made its way onto her lips. "Have fun in the Valley, Demetri. Because I'm gonna kick your ass for your flags."

"Top 12, get ready!" Sensei Barnes yelled from the sparring deck.

Sonny started to walk towards the man, making sure to bash her shoulder into Demetri's as she passed him. As soon as she was away from the boy, the tears in her eyes started to return. She quickly wiped them when she heard footsteps run after her.

"Sonny! Wait!" Eli yelled and Sonny abruptly stopped and spun around, startling Eli. He almost fell over from how fast he had to stop.

"Do you agree with him?" Sonny asked, her voice shaky and her eyes filled with tears. She watched as Eli's face somehow fell more and he shook his head almost immediately.

"No, I don't agree with him, Sonny. Not at all." He quickly said. Sonny looked away to hide the tears in her eyes.

He's always hated seeing Sonny crying, ever since they were little. He never knew how to comfort her. Hawk opened and closed his mouth, shaking his head and trying to come up with words to get Sonny to look at him again.

"You know how Demetri gets whe—" He started but Sonny cut Eli off, walking away and muttering a small "just leave me alone."

Eli watched Sonny go with a small frown before he followed her and the other ten students onto the sparring deck.

The twelve students stood in two lines that faced each other. Sonny stood in front of Demetri, her jaw clenched and her eyes a little teary but the boy wouldn't even look at her.

"Today's challenge is a Battle Royale. The rules are simple. Protect your flags. Steal the others. Lose you flags, and you're out. The one's with the most flags at the end go to Barcelona. The rest of you will be judged on performance. You have two minutes. Ready?" Sensei Barnes asked and all of the students bowed to him and then each other.

He waited until they were all in their fighting positions before he yelled. "And fight!"

Sonny ran towards Demetri and the boy knew her. He knew she'd run after him. He darted away in seconds, his longer legs giving himself distance between himself and Sonny.

As Sonny jumped off the sparring deck after Demetri, she landed next to Chris who immediately ripped one of Sonny's flags off of her arm.

Sonny froze, looking down at the arm that no longer had a flag before she turned back to Chris. Her jaw fell and her eyes widened. "Dude!" She yelled and Chris just shrugged.

"Sorry, Sonny. You know we can't both call off work." Chris said with a small frown. Sonny's lips curled in anger as Chris leapt towards her. He grabbed Sonny's shoulders to try and get more of her flags, but it only gave Sonny the perfect opening to grab both of Chris's arm flags.

Chris froze, gasping when he heard the two flags rip from his gi. Sonny ran underneath one of Chris's arms to get behind him, stealing the flag on his back too.

"Sonny!" Chris yelled as Sonny started to run away. The girl ran backwards, facing Chris with a big smile as she tucked his three flags into her bra strap. "Sorry, Chris! We can't both call off work."

Sonny suddenly ran into someone. She turned to see who she ran into and her eyes widened when she realized she bumped into Robby, who was in the middle of fighting Miguel and Hawk.

Sonny stepped back, putting distance between her and the boys. They made a square, all of them waiting for one of them to make a move.

Robby jumped towards Sonny, reaching to grab one of his flags but Sonny jumped back just before his fingers could grab the fabric. With his attention on Sonny, Hawk tried to use this opportunity to get some of Robby's flags.

Hawk ran at Robby grabbing his arm to try and take a flag off of Robby's arm but Robby spun around, twisting Hawks arm so he couldn't move. At the same time, he and Miguel both ripped one flag off of Hawk.

"Shit!" Hawk yelled and Sonny ran towards the three boys. Just before they could run away, Sonny ripped one flag off of Miguel and Robby each for payback.

She fled before any of the boys could chase her, all of them scattering in their own directions. As Sonny ran towards the koi pond, she saw Demetri rip off one of Mitch's flags on the other side of it.

Sonny's pulse quickened as she pushed herself harder, anger driving her forward. She ran towards the deck that stretched over the water, barely slowing as she leaped onto it. Her feet pounded the wooden planks in quick, and without losing momentum, she ran across the floating deck and launched herself off, landing in the grass just a foot away from Demetri.

"Hey, Dem." Sonny breathed out.

Demetri spun around, his eyes wide, but Sonny was already on him. She threw a punch toward his face, and Demetri barely had time to block it with his forearm. He tried to aim a low kick at her legs, but Sonny jumped back.

Sonny's fists flew, throwing punch after punch towards Demetri that forced him to take a step back with every punch he blocked. He managed to dodge throw an elbow at Sonny's side, but she twisted, catching his arm and yanking him off balance. She sent a quick knee to his stomach, sending him stumbling backward.

She faked left before spinning around and landing a high kick to Demetri's shoulder, knocking him sideways. Demetri stumbled and using this time, Sonny leapt up, twisting mid-air, and sent a spinning kick right in Demetri's chest. The kick sent him crashing to the ground, breathless and dazed.

Before he could recover, Sonny yanked off his two arms flags with a triumphant huff. She stepped back, holding them tightly, her chest heaving to catch her breath as she stared down at him.

"How's that for not good enough?" Sonny taunted, pushing Demetri's flags into her bra strap with Chris, Miguel, and Robby's .

Demetri looked up at her, shock etched across his face. He could hardly believe the intensity in her eyes, the anger that she had towards him. The Sonny he knew wasn't standing in front of him, and maybe that was his fault. Demetri opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

"Time! That's it!" Sensei Barnes yelled, making Sonny look away from Demetri and to the man on the other side of the dojo, gesturing for all of the kids to come towards him. "Let me see those flags! Come on!"

Sonny didn't give one last look to Demetri, stepping over him to walk towards Barnes. She lined up on the end next to Tory, pulling out all of the flags she snatched and held them up.

Barnes smiled at the first five lined up. "All right, we're clearly got our top five." He laughed out and Sonny smiled when she saw the man look at her.

"Sonny, Tory, Robby, Sam, Miguel. You fight are going to Barcelona." Sensei Barnes said and Sonny smiled wide. Tory pulled the girl into a hug, making Sonny's smiles turn into laughs of excitement as Barnes turned to look to Devon, Hawk, Demetri, and Kenny.

"You bottom four are tied. I'll go back tonight and review my notes, re-tally the scores. I'll announce the final two in the morning." He said as Sam moved past Robby and Tory, throwing her arms around Sonny in happiness.

Sonny giggled as Sam let out an excited cheer. "We're going to Barcelona!"

–ive missed sam and sonnyyyy

DEMETRI AND SONNY DOWNFALL IS HAPPENING GUYSSSSS💔💔

only a two or three more chapters and then we have to wait for 73 days🙄🙄🙄(i have a countdown)