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"Wait, so, you can just come here whenever you want? Why don't you just crash here instead of Kyler's?"
"I considered it at first," Emmy shrugged. "But, with his dad away, and his mom having to work and take care of him, I didn't want to give her something else to worry about. And, I didn't really feel like bringing all this karate drama here. They don't deserve that."
Robby hummed, staring at her side profile. "You know, I thought you were entirely different when I first met you."
She snorted. "Yeah, because when we first met, you were just a random kid in my backyard."
He cracked a smile. "I was, huh? And Sam didn't make anything better."
"I wasn't expecting her to," Emmy glanced at him. "Let me guess. She told you that I'm not big on family time and things are always awkward with me?"
He furrowed his eyebrows. "Yeah, actually. She said exactly that. How'd you know?"
Emmy chuckled. "It was my families default response when I was in a mood and they didn't want people to pry."
"Damn. That's harsh," he told her. "Do you think we would have been friends if none of that happened?"
"Of course," she said in disbelief. "You are way too much like me for our paths not to cross at least once. I feel like we would have gotten close regardless of what happens."
He didn't respond as she knocked on the door, only staring at her face. Was she always this pretty?
Robby was quickly snapped out of his thoughts as the door opened, revealing a confused Kenny.
"What's up, bud?" Emmy smiled, holding out his backpack. "You left your backpack."
Kenny didn't smile once, only grabbing it and tossing it to the side. "Thanks."
"So how's Shawn?" Robby asked. "Is he still getting out this summer?"
"They gave him an extra month because he spit in a guard's face," Kenny solemnly answered.
Robby chuckled. "Okay. Yeah, sounds like him. Hope it was the guard in the computer lab."
"Is that the guy who was always intensely staring at me when I came to visit you?" Emmy wondered.
Robby thought for a moment. "Yeah, it was."
"I knew it!" she exclaimed. And then she turned her attention back to Kenny, and began to snap in his face. "Hey. What's with the look?"
"It's my fault," he gently said.
"What do you mean?" Robby asked.
"Shawn had some bad friends at school," Kenny began. "I caught one of them stealing from my parents. 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. That's why I was hoping you could ⎯ "
