¹FIGHT CLUB, miguel diaz

THIRTY NINE , the proposition

"DEMETRI I SWEAR TO GOD . . . " Iris trailed off, staring at the boy like he was the two week old gum on the bottom of her shoe. "If you spin your little unsharpened dagger around me one more time I'll stick it so far up your ass you'll feel it in your throat," The redhead threatened. Demetri gulped and finally let up, deciding not to practice his routine for the tournament anymore around the girl.

Dylan glared at her two friends, working harder than ever on an essay for her Government class. At the moment, no one was having a great time. Demetri was stressed about the tournament, feeling that he couldn't fail Daniel and the other Miyagi-Dos, Dylan was pissed off about schoolwork and prom, and Iris was delving deeper into her sister troubles. It was safe to say that Dylan's apartment was a pretty tense space. In fact, if someone were to walk in, they would leave immediately.

Dylan was furiously typing away, cursing at anyone and everything that stood in her way, Demetri had moved on to practice his punches on Dylan's unused punching bag, and Iris had an entire murder mystery board about Charlotte's disappearance set up — red string and all. None of them liked the outcome of it either.

"You're sure you saw Charlotte at Cobra Kai? With Robby?" Demetri asked in between punches. He had a hard time coming to terms with it. Dylan couldn't quite believe it either. "There's literally no reason for her to join!"

"I know, Demetri," Iris gritted the name out angrily. "But I know what I saw. She was definitely talking with Robby."

"You never said she was wearing a gi though," Dylan pointed out. She'd taken her headphones off of one ear so she could listen to her music and the heated conversation at the same time. "I wouldn't be surprised if she just, wanted to have a conversation or something."

"Yeah sure, but she never talked about Keene or anyone else from Cobra Kai before this. This is the second time I've seen her with him. The last time Tory was there too," Iris explained to them. She was seated on the wood floor, legs crossed.

"Well, what should we do?" Demetri asked them. "I'm genuinely not sure there's a good way of going about this."

"Just find her and talk to her," Dylan advised. "She literally lives in the same house as you. It can't be that difficult."

"But she comes home at like midnight! That's past my bedtime!" Iris screeched. It should be noted that Iris Daley went to bed every night no later than nine thirty. It wasn't that her parents set that rule for their daughters either, she just liked to go to bed earlier than most other teenagers. "I may love my sister to death, but not enough where I'm sacrificing my sleep."

"So corner her in an alley like Dylan would do," Demetri tossed the idea out like it was nothing. Both girls stared at him, unblinking and annoyed.

"Why does everyone need to constantly bring that up?" Dylan asked him, stone-faced. If Eli himself had gotten over it, everyone else should.