Kenny opened the door, staring at the two. Alexa held up the fast food bag while Robby held up his backpack. Kenny looked oddly. "How'd you know where I lived?"

Robby twisted the bag to show Kenny's address on the inside. He took it from him, hesitantly taking the bag of food from Alexa. "Thanks."

"So, how's Shawn?" Robby rocked on his heels. "Is he still getting out this summer?"

"They gave him an extra month because he spit in a guards face." Kenny mumbled as he looked down.

Robby laughed. "Okay. Yeah, sounds like him. Hope it was the guard in the computer lab."

Kenny's shoulders sunk with a small sigh. "It's my fault."

"What do you mean?" Robby looked in confusion.

"Shawn had some bad friends at school. I caught one of them stealing from my parents." Kenny explained as the two stood infront of him. "Guy came at me, but Shawn got between us. Beat him pretty bad. He was just defending me. With him gone, i've got no one."

"You didn't make him do that. That's not on you." Alexa said to Kenny with a serious look.

"That's why I was hoping you could h-" Kenny stared again.

"Look. I can't be your tutor." Robby stopped Kenny from going on, and Alexa nearly rolled her eyes at the irony. "I have to focus on the All Valley."

Kenny nodded understandably, his phone beeping as he pulled it from his pocket. A sigh left his lips as a video played. Robby nodded. "What?"

Kenny shook his head, Alexa snatched it from his hands. "Hey!"

The two looked at the video of Kenny opening his locker, milk pouring from the inside all over his legs and books. Alexa rolled her eyes. "You need to bust their noses in."

"Okay, Alexa." Robby put a hand up to stop her slightly. He found Kenny's face. "I can show you a couple of moves."

Alexa watched out of Kenny's window as he kept running off when Robby tried to help him, chuckling under her breath as she ate at Kenny's fries that was left over. Her phone rung, eyes coming off the pair of boys as she looked at the number.

Mom.

"Mom?" Alexa brought her phone to her ear immediately, panic in her tone. "Mom? Are you there?"

"Hey, A." her mother said from the other line, the service was shitty.

"Where are you?" Alexa asked, she was smiling. "I was waiting for you to call."

"Oh, yeah?" she could hear the smile in her voice. "Guess where I am."

"Alaska?" Alexa suggested. "Is it always light there? Is there snow?"

"If this apartment gets any colder then I might as well be." Deenas voice laughed on the other line, and Alexa hung up the phone quickly, yanking the door open.

"Robby!" Alexa yelled.

"What?" he looked in a panic, but had never seen her look so happy in her life. "You okay?"

"We gotta go! My moms home!" Alexa smiled widely, hitting the door. "Come on! Come on, dude! Come on!"

"Alexa!" Robby called as she was running through the house. "Kenny, I'm sorry."

And he raced after her.

"Momma!" Alexa jumped onto her mom, who was thin but managed to hold her up. Robby stood awkwardly in the doorway as Deena struggled to hold Alexa up.

"Oh, kiddo." she laughed, her voice scratchy, like she smoked a pack a day. "You look so gorgeous, even with this busted up nose, like me."

"What are you doing here? Where'd you come from?" Alexa dropped to her feet with a wide smile. Robby thought she looked sweet, like that mean and hard demeanor had finally dropped for a change.

"Went to visit your granpappy over in Texas, he sends his love." Deena said back, scanning Alexa over. "Savin up a lot of money too."

She was southern, and Robby realizing sometimes Alexa's words came off the same way.

"Are you staying?" she looked hopefully.

"As long as that brother of yours can get me a job over at that car wash." she ruffled her air, Alexa grinned and hugged her again. Deena looked to Robby. "Now, who's this handsome fella?"

Robby was almost offended Alexa forget he was there. "Oh, sorry, this is Robby. We do karate together, he's been staying here to get himself on his feet."

"I can give you two space." Robby suggested.

"It's alright, kid." Deena shrugged with a grin. "But come on in and shut that door before the skeeters come in."

Alexa gave Robby a subtle smile as he came in, shutting the door. Deena headed to the kitchen, mixing the chili on the stove. "Where's your parents, Robby?"

"We aren't really on good terms." Robby said, but it seemed clear that he didn't want to talk about it.

"Robbys good company. He likes Dirty Dancing, like you." Alexa spoke for Robby, moving stacks of unfinished homework off the table.

"No shit?" Deena looked his way with a grin.

Robby cracked a smile with a nod. "You missed it last night."

"So, Ty know he's here?" Deena nodded to Alexa.

"Not yet." she mumbled with a guilty look. "I was gonna tell him."

"I'll tell him." Deena waved her off, searching the cabinets for some seasoning. Alexa encouraged Robby to take a seat at the smaller table. "I gave him a call before I rung you, he said that if I can hold a steady job with him, we could move to a three bedroom apartment."

"I bring home some crazy good tips from Cigar Lounge." Alexa nodded her head, adjusting in the chair. "I've been paying the water and electric bill and still having enough for karate."

"You're working at a bar?" Deena looked over in disbelief.

"The guy that owns it doesn't let anyone mess with me, it's completely cool." Alexa nodded her head to stop her worry. "It's only three days a week because i'm still in school but I like it."

"You're still in school? That's my girl." Deena grinned her way. "You doing all right?"

Robby and Alexa shared a look. "Robbys my tutor."

"She's doing fine." Robby nodded his head.

"That's good to hear." she hummed from the kitchen, pouring the chili into three paper bowls. "Hopefully you take after your daddy and graduate, unless me."

Alexa coughed slightly. "You tell granpappy about what happened?"

"Can't say he was disappointed to hear it." Deena shrugged in return as she sat across from the two, placing spoons into their bowls. "How that boy of yours doing?"

Alexa choked on her water as Robby looked questionable. Deena stared in disbelief as Alexa rubbed her face of the water. "Uh, we broke up."

"Aw, no." Deena frowned. "I liked that little- wait, are you two-"

"Nooo." Robby and Alexa said on sync. Alexa continued on. "No, we're just friends. Barley friends."

"I'm just sleeping on her floor and making sure she passed her classes." Robby shook his head, giving a forced laugh. "Not that there's anything wrong with Alexa, your daughter, I mean."

"Robby." Alexa scolded him quickly.

"Let's eat." Deena waved her spoon, gladly changing the subject as Robby took a little bite of the chili, his face immediately going red as a minor cough especially his lips. Alexa hid a laugh while Deena didn't. "Should have warned you about the spice, kid."

"No, it's great." Robby shook his head, his eyes watered. Alexa reached back, giving a rub to his back and pushing her water his way.

"I like your mom." Robby said later on that night after they helped get the pullout couch set up in the living room for Deena, escaping to Alexa's room after. "She seems like she really loves you."

"Yeah, she does." Alexa agreed, flipping the flash cards infront of her. "I just hope she's serious this time."

"About staying?" Robby asked her with a small nod.

"Yeah." Alexa agreed, matching the cards together then passing them his way. "She says that, but she takes off when things get a little rough."

"I get that." Robby nodded, making a hissing noise as she matched the wrong pair. "Remember what makes you feel radioactive."

Alexa matched it with a new one as Robby grinned. "Better."

"Sorry about my mom. She's not really up to date on this generation." Alexa passed the cards his way, getting a questionable look. "She doesn't realize that guys and girls can be friends."

"Barely friends." Robby pointed out with a half grin, getting one in return. "It's cool, made me laugh a little."

Alexa matched another set, passing them over his way as Robby recalled something. "You had a boyfriend?"

Alexa knew it was coming, sighing. "Months ago, we broke up."

"How come?" Robby continued on, flicking her hand when she went to match the wrong pair.

Alexa exhaled, looking for a wording to describe it. "He was my magnetic material that distorted my magnetic field."

Robby grinned. "You remembered magnetic material can destroy a magnetic field."

"Starting to rub off on me." Alexa joked, passing the final two flash cards to him.

"He tried to mess with Cobra Kai?" Robby brought the conversation back to Alexa's ex.

"Yeah, and it made me really mad." Alexa said back with a hum. "You were there too."

A sudden look when across Robbys face. "Demetri."

Alexa hummed with a minor wince. "Ding, ding, ding."

"I really didn't piece that one together." Robby shook his head, thinking back to how when Demetri would talk about Alexa, he's never use her name. "You two don't seem like you go together."

"Because we don't." she said back, and there was a faint bitterness in her tone. "But, we use to."

"What do you mean?" the Keene boy didn't catch on that she didn't want to talk about it.

"Before Cobra Kai, before all of it." Alexa exclaimed with a huff. "Long time ago."

"So, you guys were together a while?" Robby questioned oddly.

"Little over a year." Alexa said back, flipping the binder shut. "I'm tired, are you ready to go to bed?"

"Yup, totally." Robby crawled off her bed to get onto his, watching as she put her binder into the backpack. "Alexa?"

"Yup?" she looked over her bed in questioning.

"I'm glad we're barley friends." Robby cracked a grin up at her.

"Carful, I might suffocate you in your sleep." she rolled her eyes, flipping the light off and hitting play on their rain noises.

•

kylie speaks

i feel like a prologue
book is most def in
my near future.