Yasmine and Moon were sitting in Lee's room. "Let me get this straight. He breaks up with you because you'll end up breaking up in college. The overall issue is that you don't trust him and he's a jealous psycho." Yasmine looks at Moon to see if she got it right. She nods that she did. "He just wants to get freaky in Spain then he'll come back and try to get back together with you."
"No, I think he was being sincere." Lee thought he respected her more than that. "We put a bandaid on it when I got back but it fell off yesterday."
"Maybe this is for the best." Moon wanted to believe him.
"So naive." She scoffs.
"Hey," Tom Cole knocked on the door frame. "When I was still talking to Silver he convinced me to be a sponsor for Sekai Taikai. I completely forgot about it until I got the email yesterday. We are going to Barcelona, Spain."
"What?" Lee took a second to process.
"Yeah, I know you said you didn't want to participate. But, we can see your friends in action." He smiles.
"Yeah." She nods slowly. "It's going to be great."
"I'm going to start packing." He winks before leaving the girls to talk.
"This is great. You can tell the guys and…" Moon gets cut off.
Yasmine stood up. "No! This way you can see if Eli is telling the truth. If you go there and he is chatting up girls. You'll know."
"I don't think that proves anything. He said he wants to be single to party. If he doesn't want to be with me, what can I do?" Lee had been holding back her tears since it happened. She was forcing herself to look on the bright side of being friends.
"Yeah, we would only know if your theory is true if Eli tried to get back with her after the trip." Moon got up to hug her when she saw her start to break. Tears came out when the arms wrapped around her.
"Don't tell them anyway. It'll be a nice surprise for them. You know the extra support." She lays off when she realizes Lee wasn't in denial of Eli being a jerk but of her heartbreak.
"That would be good." Moon nods.
"Their faces would be good." Lee smiles. Yasmine held her tongue about wishing to see Eli's dumb face when she was there. She hopes Lee meets a hottie there and has a fling with them.
"Are you crazy?" Demetri yelled at Eli.
"No. We'll never make it long distance. I would rather have her as a friend than an ex-girlfriend." Eli told his friend about what he did.
"She is still your ex-girlfriend." Robby points out.
"Are you going to be able to be her friend when she gets a new partner?" Miguel asks.
"If you can be friends with your ex, why can't I?" Eli didn't know why they were coming down hard on him.
"Sam hasn't been my crush since I was five. She wasn't my first love." Robby didn't know how he was comparing their situations.
"Tory was a rebound relationship. And, we're not close friends with them. I don't call or text Tory every day. I know more about her life through Robby than her." Miguel explains to him what it means to be friends with an ex.
"Wait… what?" Eli tilts his head.
"Yeah, man. Maybe you can be close now but when one of you gets in a relationship then there has to be distance." Robby also wasn't close with Sam anymore. She was his first true friend in years.
"I don't understand what you are doing?" Demetri squints at him. "You pined for years then you got the girl, lost the girl, fought hard to get the girl back and now you're giving the girl up to another guy."
"I'm not giving her to Kwon. He's in Korea. He's not a threat." He yelled.
"Have you not seen 90 Day Fiance?" He thought he was dumb for thinking distance could destroy a relationship with all the technology they have nowadays.
"Look, those two weeks showed both of us what is going to happen when we go to college. I'm going to want to party. At this party, there will be girls. Soon or later I'll fall into temptation. She charms people naturally. She did that to two people in this room." He pointed at the accused.
"She charms you?" Robby looked at Miguel.
"She was going to my hospital room every day. She was sitting on my bed, feeding me dulce de leche." He defends himself. "What about you?"
"That was before I met any of you. She was a hot babe, telling me about some guy she liked who wasn't taking any of her hints. I would be an idiot not to shoot my shot." He thought he had a better defense.
"Don't forget Bert and Anthony." Demetri counts off.
"And Kyler." Robby adds.
"What?" They looked at him.
"Oh yeah, he confessed at her birthday party that he started bullying you guys to get her reaction." He told them.
"I was getting bullied so Kyler could get yelled at by Lee. What a weird kink?" Demetri was horrified.
"So everyone sees my point? We're young and going to naturally explore." Eli didn't know why they were freaking out.
"You already did it so." Robby shrugged.
"It's your choice, but I don't think you're going to be able to handle it when she goes out with someone else. Jealousy doesn't go away because you're not together." Miguel knew that firsthand when Robby and Sam were going out.
"Well, he better because I'm not losing a best friend. The three of us just got reunited." Demetri didn't want to be separated again.
"Everything is going to be fine." Eli rolled his eyes at their worries. "And, who's to say I won't get a girlfriend first?" The guys started laughing, making him get offended. "Seriously?"
"Hey, Lee." Miguel walks to her locker.
"Hey, Miguel." She nods.
"I wanted to see how you're doing?" He grabs his backpack straps.
"I'm fine." She closes her locker and leans against it.
"Really?" He tilts his head.
She shrugged. "I mean…" She let out a big sigh.
"You want to talk about it? We have Study Hall next." Miguel leads her to the library to get a reserved study room. "So…"
"I'm fine. I've numbly sat at home with ice cream and had an Ouran High School Host Club marathon. I cried with the girls. But, now I'm weirdly fine. I saw him in the hallway earlier and didn't feel any sadness or anger. I hope he gets into whatever college he wants and gets to go to Sekai Taikai." She didn't know if she was ready to hang out with him yet but she thinks she could get there.
"That's surprising." After the last break-up, she was left crying on the floor.
"Yeah, I think it's because I saw it coming. I was trying to hold on, but those two weeks it was like a preview of college. It's not just him. I'm going to want to live my life too. I don't want to say no to plans with people because of phone calls." She had rejected Eli's call in Korea because she was having fun sightseeing. It's rude to be on the phone when you're with people.
"It doesn't seem right that out of all of us, you guys are the ones breaking up without giving it a go." He couldn't wrap his head around it. It was harder with how okay both of them seemed.
"We would have never made it in different colleges. I have a hard time trusting him, even though I told myself he wasn't technically cheating. He thinks anyone who shows an interest in me wants to steal me from him." She could imagine the jealous fights they would have had until it was a bitter breakup with friends having to choose sides. "Is this about me and Eli or you and Sam?" She could see how worried he seemed over this.
"I wasn't even thinking about it with college applications and Sekai Taikai. But, now I don't know… you and Eli's communication is better than Sam and I, so if guys can't make it then how are we going to?" The issue of long-distance was now at the forefront of his mind.
"You guys can work on your communication. It's not like you're looking forward to college for the parties." She opened her book when the librarian did a double take when she passed the room.
"I'm sure I'll go to some parties. I'm not going to be a recluse." He pretends to take notes to make the older woman keep walking.
"You and Sam are completely different people than Eli and I." Lee pushed the memory of Sam finding Robby while still with Miguel to the back of her brain.
"I know. I know. I guess, I just like worrying." He taps his pen against the table.
"You got Sekai Taikai and college applications to worry about? I would think that's enough." She rolled her eyes. "Going to different colleges is normally the kiss of death to relationships, but you're all about defying the odd, right?"
"I do seem pretty good at that." He laughs while shrugging. "I know you're not going to do Sekai Taikai but you can still come to practice."
"I'm going to, but right now it's a competition to see who's going to Sekai Taikai. It feels like I would be in the way." She didn't see what she would be doing there.
"You're always welcome at the dojo. When this all started it was me, you, and Sensei." For Miguel, it was weird not looking on the side and seeing her there.
"God, that seems like so long ago." She smiles as she remembers meeting Johnny and showing him the website.
"Yeah, it does." He nods. "So, after looking at all options, is Caltech still the top choice?"
"Yeah, it is. But, who knows? I plan to review all the schools I get accepted to." She shrugged.
"The unknown is scary and exciting." The tournament was a nice distraction from waiting for the colleges to respond.
"Yeah, really scary… and excited." She went back and forth between the two emotions. Senior year was a special time of bittersweet lasts along with the yearning for new firsts.
"Did you know that Eli didn't apply to MIT?" Demetri charged into her house.
"Hello to you too." She closed the door behind him.
"Well, did you?" He screams, flailing his arms around.
"Take down the volume and tone." She crosses her arms. "I did. He told me after going to that frat party."
"And you didn't tell me?" He points a finger to his chest.
"That's not my place to tell you." She wanted to get back to watching the third season of Tokyo Revengers.
"I'm your best friend." He scoffs.
"I'm also Eli's friend. May I remind you that you didn't let me know that Eli was partying with other girls and almost everyone else did? Well, all my female friends." She was annoyed at Demetri's attitude.
"This was life-changing news, but that wasn't. I mean you didn't break up over it." He threw his hands up.
"This is not life-changing. Are you no longer going to MIT?" She points at him.
"No, I'm going." He nodded but was confused by her point.
"Then nothing changes. You're going alone but we're all doing that." Going into things alone was a part of adult life.
"Yeah, but I'm not like the rest of you. I'm not a social butterfly. I'm not Eli, who everyone wants to be friends with because he can chug beer. I'm not you, who makes friends everywhere you go. I'm not Miguel or Robby, that gets everyone's respect and admiration. I'm me. Social-awkward, nerdy, sarcastic me. All I have is you and Eli." He tears up. "I can't lose you guys."
"You're not going to lose us. We're going to make new friends at college, but we'll see each other on breaks." She hugs him. "The best part of college is that you're going to have a major and those classes are full of people that have the same interest as you. That's like a built-in conversation."
"You don't get into your major classes until like third year." He sniffles.
"Demetri, I promise you, you'll be fine. You are the Sheldon Cooper of our group. He was the whole show. Although, he did go to Caltech, not MIT." She teases.
"So, I should make friends with my roommate and force myself into his friend group. Everyone will grow fond of me because of forced proximity" Despite him arguing with her, he was still hugging her.
"Why do you make it so hard to comfort you?" She laughs.
"Because there are so many flaws in your statements." He huffs.
"Despite what you think your sarcasm is your charm and there will be people who are drawn to you. I promise. You'll find an MIT Lee, who loves to argue. She won't be as witty or funny as me but she'll do." She patted his back. "Are you ready to let go?"
"Give me a few more seconds." He squeezes her before letting go. "I'm still mad at Eli for not telling me, but he does need comforting. He didn't get a spot for Sekai Taikai."
"Who made it?" She wonders.
"Miguel, Robby, Sam, Tory, Devon, and me." He points to himself.
"What? You made it." Her jaw dropped while smiling.
"You don't have to be shocked." He rolled his eyes.
"Last time we talked about it, you made it sound like you weren't going to try." She put a hand on her hip. "What changed?"
"Yasmine gave me a pep talk. I'm not a loser. I have to stop acting like that." His mind was naturally negative, he needed a reminder that he could have good things in life.
"That's right, Demetri. You take the attitude to MIT and you'll be turning down plans with how popular you'll be." She pats his shoulder.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." He laughs.
"Hey," Lee walks down the stairs into Moskowitz's basement. "I brought you my grandma's brownies." She put the container on the coffee table.
"Who told you?" He looked at the pity dessert.
"Demetri? He was mad about MIT." She sat on the couch next to him.
"Yeah, I know. He sucker-kicked me and took my spot." He couldn't believe he let Demetri pull a sneaky move like that.
"I'm sorry. I know how much karate means to you." She knew this was the last tournament for the seniors.
"Yeah, well it's over." He shrugged.
"What do you mean?" She raised an eyebrow. "Are you not going to practice?"
"I'm not that sore of a loser. I'll help them train so they can win the Sekai Taikai. But, after this how do I continue karate? I'm not going to join another dojo." He wouldn't betray Miyagi-Do.
"You and Demetri, I swear?" She rolled her eyes. "You realize just because you let in new, doesn't mean you have to let go of the old. Wherever you go, you can join a local dojo. Who knows, you might learn something new that you can bring back to Miyagi-Do when you visit."
"Yeah, maybe." He shrugged.
"So, what's happening at the next practice?" She crosses her legs.
"They're going to decide captains." He grabbed the container. "You coming?"
"Yeah, a few people have been missing me." She shrugged.
"Who, Miguel?" He thought of the person who kept looking around like he was searching for someone.
"Not just him, Demetri said he missed me. Johnny texted me. It had so many misspellings, but he was asking where I was." She named two other people. "Oh, Bert and Anthony." The two underclassmen came up to her at school to encourage her to come to the dojo despite the breakup.
"Right. Right." He nods. "How have you been doing?"
"I'm doing weirdly fine," She felt like she shouldn't be fine. She got broken up with by her first love, she should be broken.
"Me too." He knew he made the right decision.
"Are you playing Dead By Deadlight?" She recognized the game.
"Yeah, want to play?" He starts the second controller and hands it to her.
"Hell yeah," She grabbed it to pick her survivor.