Molly walked around the college fair like a kid in a candy store.

She took just about every brochure that was handed to her even though she already had her heart set on UCLA.

Molly knew Eli was wanting to go to MIT. He and Demetri have been dreaming about the college since before her and Eli even started dating, but she wasn't upset about their distance.

Back when they first started dating at computer camp, Molly told the boy how she was wanting to go to UCLA to be an EMT and before she could even finish her sentence, Eli blurted the idea of doing long distance. Talking with Eli now as seniors, Eli was still adamant on doing long distance. He didn't want to break up with Molly and he let out a sigh of relief when Molly said she didn't want to break up with him after graduation either.

Even though Molly wanted to go to UCLA, she knew to keep her options open. She can't rely on only applying to one school. She had to have safety schools.

Hence why Moly was now dragging not only Eli, but Demetri around the college fair.

When they left the UC Davis table, Molly was practically bouncing off the walls. Her eyes landed on Sam and Miguel walking away from the Stanford table, and her smile somehow doubled in size.

"Hey!" Molly called out, making Demetri and Eli realize Miguel and Sam were coming toward them. Demetri shoved his hands into his pockets and smiled at the couple.

"All of our trials and tribulations of nerdom have finally come to this." Demetri breathed out as he looked around all the table of colleges. He turned back to Sam and Miguel, smirking. "We're the Belles of the ball."

Miguel's eyebrows raised and Sam had to hold back chuckling. "Is that what we are?" Miguel asked and Demetri immediately nodded his head, no longer kidding around.

"Oh, yes, my friend. They are fumbling around our dresses trying to cop a feel of our tantalizing brains." Demetri said and while Eli squinted at the boys words, Molly, Miguel, and San cringed.

Molly turned to face Demetri, shaking her head aan unexpected giggle left her lips. "You have such a way with words..." Molly muttered sarcastically, but Demetri smiled nonetheless.

Sam, on the other hand, frowned and shook her head. "Yeah, that's where I leave you." She muttered, her voice still laced in disgust. She turned to look up at Miguel, muttered a few words to him before kissing him goodbye and walking away.

Molly stuck her arms out after the girl as if she were reaching out to latch onto her, but Sam was too far. "Take me with you!" She whispered out to her.

Demetri scoffed at Molly's words and leaned back so he could reach behind Eli to smack Molly's arm. He turned back to Miguel and shrugged. "These vultures are wasting their time though. Eli and I have had our sights set on MIT for years." Demetri hummed, wrapping a lazy arm around Eli's shoulders.

Before Miguel could question their college choice, Demetri was speaking again. This time, he let out a dramatic sigh and turned to look at Molly. "And it breaks our hearts to say Molly does not want to follow us to the East Coast life. She's had her heart set on UCLA just as long."

Miguel turned to face Molly with eyebrows raised and a growing smile. In the past few weeks, Miguel had been talking and stressing about Stanford so much, he completely forgot ot ask Molly about where she was planning to go.

Molly smiled at the attention moving onto her and playfully flipping her hair behind her shoulder. "They could never take the West Coast girl out of me. Plus, UCLA has an amazing EMT program." Molly said before her smile shifted and her eyes flashed a tinge of nervousness.

She tried to hide it by quickly smiling again and shrugging, but Miguel caught it. "I'll have to be in the Fire Department as well if I want to be an EMT in LA but hey, at least I'll get crazy big muscles." Molly said before raised her arms and playfully showed off her biceps, making the three boys laugh.

When their laughter died down, Molly's eyes widened and she whipped her head around to look at all the tables in the room. "Speaking of UCLA, I need to find where they're tabling."

Miguel perked up at that, he and Sam just passing the table before they ran into Molly, Hawk, and Demetri. "Over..." He stopped to look around the room before his eyes landed on the table. Keeping his eyes on it, he leaned toward Molly and pointed in the direction. "There."

Molly perked up, her lips curving into a small "o" shape as she followed where Miguelw as pointing before her lips turned into a smile. She turned to face Eli, who was already looking down at her and expecting her next words. "I'll be right back." She whispered and Eli nodded, smiling back down at her.

"Bye." He whispered, leaning down as his hand raised to gently hold the edge of Molly's jaw. Eli pulled her lips into his and he felt Molly smile into the kiss.

When they pulled away, Molly was still smiling and Eli felt his shoulders straighten in some weird form of pride seeing how giddy she was.

"Bye." Molly hummed back and as she started to walk away, Demetri leaned closer to the girl teasingly, puckering his lips. "Bye, Mollyyyy." He sang and Molly scoffed, holding back her own laugh. She raised her hand, pressing her palm to Demetri's face and pushing him backwards, muttering a small, "shut up" through her giggles as she walked away.

Molly's eyes trailed over the UCLA table as she walked toward it. The man working the table was already talking to another student, a girl Molly had AP Gov with so she kept herself occupied until he was free, looking at all the pamphlets the table had to promote the campus.

Right on the edge of the table was a pamphlet for UCLA's EMT program. Molly hummed happily to herself, grabbing it and immediately opening it to read. When she felt a body squeeze beside her, Molly moved over to give the person more space and muttered a small apology, but as she turned her head, Molly's eyes almost popped out of her head when she realized it was Sam.

"I didn't know you were looking at UCLA!" Molly gushed as Sam stared down at the same pamphlets Molly was just looking at.

Sam didn't look as excited as Molly. She actually didn't look excited at all.

Sam squinted more to herself than Molly and tilted her head a little as she looked up at Molly. "I... kinda am?" She shook her head and frowned a little, turning back to the table with a defeated shrug of her shoulders. "My dad really wants me to go." Sam muttered and Molly's eyebrows raised.

"But you don't want to?" Molly asked and Sam sighed again. She turned away from the table and moved to face Molly, completely giving up on trying to act interested in the school. Her arms crossed over her chest as she thrilled her lips. "It's just... too close to home. I need some space between my family." Sam admitted.

Her eyes moved away from Molly and back to where she had left Miguel on the other end of the room. She smiled looking at the boy and lowered her head when she felt her face start to heat up. "But it's still pretty close to Miguel when he goes to Stanford."

Molly snickered at that, looking away from the table and to Sam. She copied the LaRusso girl's action, crossing her arms over her chest and raising her eyebrows in a slight amusement. "A six hour drive is close for you?" Molly asked and Sam rolled her eyes.

"Well, it's better than a six hour flight to Boston." She shot back and Molly sighed, shutting her eyes.

"Touche." She muttered, her voice no longer having any playfulness in it. Sam's teasing smile falter and she felt her stomach twist in guilt at the comment. She tilted her head, sending Molly a softer smile.

"How are you feeling about that? About long distance?" Sam asked, taking a step closer to Molly to make their conversation a little more private.

Molly bit her lip and looked away from Sam for a moment to look back at Eli over his shoulder. He was huddled over Miguel's shoulder, looking at one of the pamphlets in his hands. He had a big smile on his face that made Mollys entire chest and stomach fill with warmth.

But then she thought about how in a few short months, he'll be off at the East Coast with Demetri, and she wouldn't get to see that smile as much anymore.

Molly turned back to Sam and sighed. "I mean... it's not like I'm ecstatic about it. I don't want to be so far apart from Eli, but he wants to go to MIT, and I want to go to UCLA." Molly explained, but her eyes didn't meet Sam's until the end of her sentence. She shrugged, not really knowing what else to do. "It sucks, but it's better than not being together at all."

Sam nodded along and Molly realized that just like her and Eli, Sam and Miguel would have to do long distance too. Miguel was set on wanting Stanford and by the looks of it, Sam didn't know where she was going yet.

Molly gently reached out and tapped Sam's shoulder, her eyebrows raising. "What about you?" She asked and Sam sighed, a fit of giggles coming out with it. "You kinda took the words right out of my mouth."

Suddenly, two arms snaked around Molly's face and she felt a chin nudge its way into the crook of her neck.

"Hey." The voice said and Molly and Sam both smiled. Molly turned around to face Eli, his hands staying on her waist as she moved, causing his finger to run just along the edge of her shirt and graze her exposed skin.

"I'll leave you two." Sam hummed in a teasing tone, sending Molly a look as she walked by her. Molly rolled her eyes, looking up to Hawk, and then smiling. "Hey."

"Miguel, Demetri and I were thinking of touring College of the Valley after schoool. You wanna come?" Eli asked, nodding his head in the direction of Miguel and Demetri at the other end of the room.

Mollys eyes followed where Eli gestured to and saw Miguel looking down for a pamphlet for the school. She turned back to her boyfriend and nodded as her eyebrows screwed together a little. "Yeah, sure. Miguel's looking into it?" She asked and Eli's lips morphed into a frown and he cringed.

"Yeah, the guy working the table was weird... but he must've said something to convince Miguel." He said with a defeated shrug before turning to look at the table Molly was standing at.

His eyes brightened at "UCLA" staring back at him before he turned back to Molly. Eli's smile was only adding to Molly's happiness as he lightly dragged his thumb up and down her side. "How about you? How's the UCLA table looking?"

Molly felt her face heat up as she looked down at her hands and flipped the pamphlet for the EMT program around to face Eli. "Got an EMT pamphlet!" Molly was on cloud 9 when Eli let go of Molly's waist to grab ahold of the pamphlet. He flipped through a couple pages and Molly was bouncing on her toes in excitement watching the way Eli's eyes crinkled reading it over.

He looked back up to her, his smile getting bigger as he saw how happy she was. Eli's neck and ears started to slowly turn pink as one of his hands moved up to cup Molly's face. "I don't know how you're not bursting in excitement." Eli whispered, his voice raspy, but still having a tinge of excitement and softness in it.

Molly hummed playfully, trying her hardest to ignore the fluttering in her stomach. "Pretty close to it." She giggled out and Eli let out a small laugh with her before using his hand still cupping her face to pull Molly into a kiss.

...

Molly and Demetri didn't even try to pay attention to the tour. The two of them trailed mindlessly behind Miguel and Hawk, talking over each other and talking loud enough that Miguel and Hawk couldn't hear the guide over the two of them.

Molly would've paid attention—maybe she could've made this a safety school incase things with UCLA don't work out in her favor—but the second Molly got out of the car and looked at College of the Valley, Molly visibly cringed.

When Miguel snapped his head back to shush the two and reprimand them, Demetri walked a little faster so he was closer to Miguel and Hawk.

"This school is not for you! It's not for any of us!" Demetri whispered aggressively. His eyes did a disgusted scan of the school before he looked back to Miguel, frowning and shaking his head. "If the University of Phoenix wasn't online, it'd be this!"

Miguel rolled his eyes at Demetri's comment. He turned around so he was walking backwards and facing Demetri and Molly, shaking his head. "I need to keep my options open." He tried to explain and when Molly and Demetri both sped up to be at the same pace as him and Eli, Miguel turned to face forward again.

"I heard CSUN is having walk-in tours. We can check it out sometime too." Molly suggested and Miguel sighed again, not in annoyance this time, but relief that Molly was actually trying to help him figure out his future.

Keeping his head facing their tour guide, Miguel looked to Molly and nodded his head. "Thanks, Molls." He muttered quietly, but gratefully before he leaned forward to look at Demetri on the other side of Hawk. "That is how you be helpful." He said in a sarcastically loud tone so Demetri would get the point.

Demetri rolled his eyes, grumbling a small, "yeah, yeah."

A loud crash from in front of them made all four of their heads snap ahead, completely dropping their discussion to stare at their now tackled tour guide lying on the ground.

And when the body that tackled him stood up, all four of their jaws dropped.

"You just got Brucksed!"

"Oh no..." Molly muttered as she stared at Brucks standing over their tour guide, cackling as he picked up the frisbee he was attempting to catch.

Then, a second body came running over and Molly rolled her eyes when Kyler rammed his body into Brucks's for a chest bump. "Oh, sick grab, boy!" He yelled as the rest of the tour group dispersed, leaving to tour the campus on their own.

Leaving Molly, Eli, Demetri, and Miguel with Kyler and Brucks.

Molly, keeping her eyes on the two older boys, leaned toward Miguel on her left, who was also staring at the two in shock. "CSUN is looking pretty good right now, huh?" She muttered, catching Brucks and Kyler's attention.

Their laughter died down as their eyes landed on the four seniors and for some reason, Kyler's face lit up as if he were friends with the four of them. "Oh! What's up, guys?"

Kyler asked and Molly opened and closed her mouth in shock. "Holy shit." She whispered under her breath that only Miguel and Eli could hear.

Miguel let out a barely noticeable chuckle at Molly's words before he quickly hid it. "Kyler, you go to school here?" He  asked, and Kyler laughed, hitting Brucks in the chest.

"Nah, it's more like this school goes to me. You know what I mean?" Kyler asked, him and Brucks laughing while Molly, Miguel, Demetri, and Eli watched them with confused looks.

"That doesn't even..." Molly whispered, shaking her head because what? What does that even mean?

Her words stopped when she noticed Eli tense as he stared at Brucks. "What's up, Brucks? You... you look good, man." Eli said nervously, an anxious smile on his face as he greeted the boy.

Eli told everyone about what he had done to Brucks back when he and Kyler first tried to join Cobra Kai so Molly watched Brucks anxiously, she was almost as anxious as Eli.

But Brucks smiled—a real one that kind of surprised Molly and Eli. "Thanks, man. All new teeth." He said, moving the side of his mouth to show off his teeth. He gave Eli an uncomfortable smile and shrugged. "Swallowed the old ones when you... you know."

Hawk sucked in a deep breath, wincing at the memory. "Yeah, I'm really sorry about that, dude. I... I was in a bad place then, and—" He was interrupted by Brucks, who shook his head and gave them a reassuring smile. "It's all good, buddy! Play karate games, win karate prizes, you know?"

Molly suddenly felt a body stand right behind her, a face right by her ear and she jumped when Demetri spoke. "That doesn't make sense." He whispered, ignoring Molly jumping at his closeness. She relaxed when she realized it was only Demetri and huffed in agreement.

"I can feel myself losing braincells every time they speak. We need to get out of here." She whispered back to Demetri and he immediately nodded in agreement. Molly was about to tug Miguel away from the two older boys as Demetri did the same with Eli, but the two of them stopped when Brucks continued on.

"It helped me get my life on track. Ad meliora. Towards better things." Brucks said with a small laugh and a simple shrug of his shoulders.

Molly face scrunched. Was that Latin? Just as confused as her, Eli just gave Brucks a small nod. "Sick."

Brucks ignored the confused looks the four of them gave him and just turned to Kyler, holding out his fist for a fist bump. "See you at the house, Ky?" He asked and Kyler nodded, returning the fist bump. "Bet."

The four watched Brucks head the way he came and Molly slowly turned back to Kyler, squinting. "Wait, so you and Brucks both go here?" Molly asked and before Kyler could respond, Demetri scoffed from the other side of Hawk.

"That makes sense." Demetri muttered, Kyler shook his head. "No, he's just visiting. He goes to MIT."

Eli and Demetri's jaws dropped and Mollys eyes got so big, she was shocked they didn't just roll out of her head. She looked to Eli and Demetri on her right to see if she heard Kyler right and when she saw their faces, she knew did.

"I'm sorry. Did you say MIT?" Demetri asked and Kyler smiled, nodding his head happily.

"Yeah, and he's killing it too." Kyler said before he grabbed Demetri by the shoulder and pulled the lanky boy into his side. "So what's up guys? We hanging out or what?" He asked with a big smile on his face, dragging his knuckles along the top of Demetri's head, making the boy cringe.

Before anyone could respond, Kyler's eyes widened and his smile doubled in size. "Oh, my house is actually doing a party in an hour! You four should definitely pull up."

Molly cringed at the idea of going to a frat party. She immediately shook her head, not noticing Eli's face breaking out into a big smile. "I will not be pulling up. Sorry." Molly said and Eli's head snapped to face her, his smile wiped clean from his face and his eyebrows furrowed.

Kyler had the same expression as Eli. The older boy groaned, his arm dropping from around Demetri. "What? Come on, Preston." Kyler groaned and Molly stood her ground, shaking her head.

"Come on, Molls... Our first frat party." Eli tried to reason, but Molly only looked up at Eli as if he had three heads. She turned her whole body to face him and shook her head again. "Eli, I don't do well at any party. Or crowds for that matter. I've had a panic attack at both All Valley's, the party at the canyons, and Moon's house party!"

All four boys cringed at those words and Kyler waved his hand, pulling Eli and Molly's attention back to him. Kyler smiled at Molly, shaking his head. "Nah, it's alright. Mental health's important. You dig?" Kyler asked and Molly squinted.

"Dig? What?" Molly whispered to herself before deciding not to question it. She didn't want Kyler to talk any more. She felt like she was losing brain cells every time he opened his mouth.

Molly turned to Eli and Miguel on her left, shaking her head. "You guys go. I'll pick you guys up afterwards and you can tell me all about it." She said, shrugging as if it didn't bother her that they were going, which it didn't.

Miguel, Demetri, and Eli though? They didn't want to leave Molly hanging. Demetri was about to protest, not really wanting to go either, but Kyler let out a loud laugh, cutting him off.

"Sweet! So you three are down?" He said through his laughter, pointing between the three boys.

Demetri stepped forward, raising a single finger. "I actually–" Demetri was suddenly cut off by a hand covering his mouth. He tried to speak, but Hawk's grip over his mouth was tight and only let his words come out and muffled.

"Yes!" Eli blurted before Demetri could decline the offer.

...

Molly knew the boys would be out for a while so when she got home, Molly went straight to her bedroom and cuddled up with Loki, who let out a loud meow at her late arrival home. After weeks of training for the Sekai Taikai and stressing about college essays, Molly just needed a couple hours to relax.

Every now and then, Molly would get a text, pulling her out of the movie she was watching. First, it was a photo of Eli and Demetri, the photo taken by Eli. They both showed off the solo cups filled with some mysterious liquid in their hands and while Eli wore a joking serious face, Demetri looked close to wanting to vanish from the human eye.

Then, Molly got another photo sent to her about an hour later, this time, Demetri sent it. By the looks of it, Demetri was standing in the corner of the room, his phone zoomed in to capture Eli standing dead center, his head thrown back to chug the drink in his hand. But what really caught Molly's eyes were the three solo cups dangling from the spikes of his mohawk.

Molly giggled at the photo, immediately saving it to her camera roll as a text from Demetri followed up after the photo.

"Save me."

Molly knew Demetri wasn't serious about saving him—he would've been much more persistent about getting picked up than a simple two words.

She didn't hear from them until another two hours later, Eli called her asking if she could come pick them up from the dining hall and having just finished her second movie, Molly left right away.

When Molly got to the dining hall, she didn't even have to text Eli saying she was hear because the second she pulled up, Eli, Demetri, and Miguel were bursting through the dining hall doors with Kyler and Brucks laughing and trialing behind them.

Eli clamored into the passenger seat, muttering a small, "hi, baby" to Molly as he leaned over the center console to give her a kiss. As they pulled away, Molly muttered a small hi back before the three boys—Demetri and Miguel now in the backseat of the car—all started to voice over each other about their night.

Molly giggled watching the three of them before hearing a small tap on her drivers window. She turned her head and her smile slowly started to disappear as she watched Kyler and Brucks waiting for her on the other side of the glass.

Reluctantly, Molly rolled down the window.

She forced a smile onto her face and looked back at the three boys in her car for a second before turning back to Kyler and Brucks. "Hope they weren't too much trouble." Molly giggled out and Kyler pressed his elbows onto the windowsill to lean into the car. There was a smile onto his face that Molly had never seen before. It didn't look cocky or evil. It looked soft and genuine.

"Nah, they were chill. Definitely good company." He said, looking behind Molly to look at the three boys. Kyler turned back to Molly and smiled. "You got some really good friends and a real good boyfriend, Preston.

Molly smiled at that, a little more real than the fake one she had been wearing since the conversation started, but it wasn't enough. "Thanks, Kyler."

Kyler's smile slowly started to fall when he realized Molly's smile didn't really reach her eyes when she said that. His head dropped into his arms resting on Molly's door and he let out a small huff.

After a couple seconds, he lifted his head and let his eyes land on Molly. Now this expression was new. His entire face was twisted with guilt.

"Look, Preston... I'm sorry for how I've treated you. Especially at the waterpark. That wasn't cool of me." Kyler started and Molly's eyes widened at the apology. She blinked, but Kyler kept going.

"I wasn't in a good place then. With Cobra Kai, and finding out my life after high school, and my dad, I wasn't in the right headspace," Kyler straightened up at that and shook his head as if to contradict himself. "and I know that's not an excuse, but I wanted you to know." He relaxed against Molly's Jeep again, sighing. "I'm sorry, Preston."

Molly stared at Kyler like he had three heads. She blinked once, then twice, then slowly started to nod her head, making Kyler's body straighten up.

"Thank you, Kyler." There's a sentence Molly never thought she'd say.

Kyler looked ready to bounce off the walls at that. He let out a happy laugh, pushing himself off of Molly's car and sticking his hand out for Molly to dap up. Unenthusiastically, Molly responded the dap.

"You ever feeling up for a frat party, hit me up and you're in." Kyler practically howled out in laughter and Molly actually had to hold her laugh back, nodding her head. "Will do."

She will not.

Kyler nodded, backing away from Molly's car. Brucks peaked his head out from behind the boy, smiling and waving a goodbye to Molly. "Get home safe!" He hummed as Molly put the car in drive and started to head toward Demetri's house.

She yelled out a "thank you" before rolling up her window and turning her attention to the three boys in her car, their conversation died out and all the energy and adrenaline in their bodies gone. All of them leaned back into their respected seats looking on the brink of sleep.

"So..." Molly dragged out teasingly, her eyebrows raised. "How was the party?"

In seconds, all of their energy came rushing back, Demetri and Miguel leaned over the center console to squeeze their heads into the front seats as Eli turned his entire body to face his girlfriend.

The three of them yelled over each other, trying to tell Molly about their night and even though Molly could only grasp a handful of words they said every minute, she giggled as she drove home.

emily speaks...
love this chapter so much it's so silly and it's UGHH like molly and eli this chapter🥰🥰, molly and sam, molly and demetri, molly and miguel ALL THE MOLLY RELATIONSHIPS ARE THRIVINGGG(for now)

IM AT THE BEACH RN SO I DONT HAVE BUT TO SAY BUT ILL SEE YOU GUYS SOON!! THANK YOU FOR ALL THE LOVE YOU GIVE THIS BOOK💗