The thing about Bryce was, despite not having anyone he'd call a friend, he got along with people at parties. That was usually the alcohol that did it to him, and the fact that it wasn't just people from West Valley High that attended. He'd always been good at parties, different, better. Maybe it was because he was fantastic at beer pong. Sam and the rest of Miyagi-Do had arrived together, walking toward the back after the stare down with Cobra Kai.

"Hell yeah! Drink up!" Bryce's voice had caught her attention, looking to the right. He'd clearly had jumped in Moons pool a little bit again, his hair damp, and bare chest sparkled of dripping alcohol. He'd had the opposite boy stumbling after drinking, while he'd only had to do two cups now. Bryce was smiling, leaning on the table, perfecting his movement. Sam figured he took his shirt off the second he got here to show off to everyone around him.

"I'm gonna go look for a water to even the beer out." Sam said, turning back around and walking toward Moons kitchen. There were a few people
playing a mix of seven minutes of heaven and spin the bottle, opening the fridge and leaning down to grab one of the water bottles toward the bottom. When she came back up, pulling the fridge shut, she jumped suddenly. "Jesus."

Bryce stood there, grinning at her slightly. One arm was leaning against the fridge, pressing most of his weight to the side with a minor grin down at Sam. "Maybe you aren't such a good girl after all."

"You always this much of a creep?" she rolled her eyes, holding her water in her right hand.

"No usually." he flashed her a grin, being met with a glare. "But, my partner is puking in the pool right now."

"What's that have to do with me?" Sam shrugged in return.

"So, you can be my new beer pong partner." Bryce wiggled his eyebrows at her. "You know, unless that's too against the rules for you to handle."

Sam glared slightly. "What makes you think I know how to play?"

"It's not hard, i'll shows you." Bryce said back, a questionable smirk down to her. "Come on, come on."

Sam sighed, following Bryce back outside. Piper and Moon weren't far, watching the table. Two boys Sam hadn't known were on the other side, one with dark hair and the other with curly blonde. "Guys, this is Sam. She's with me. Don't be weird."

"Hi Sam." the pair said back on sync, Sam wanted to laugh at their typical frat guy voices.

"Okay, hold this." Bryce passed her the the plastic ball, Sam was taken back by his hands pulling on her forearms, parking her infront of him, Sams back to Bryce's chest. He reached for her hand that had the ball. "Okay, all you're gonna do is focus on one cup. Bounce it off the middle, but you gotta be gentle enough to not have it fly across the backyard. But not too gentle were it just rolls back to you."

Sam inhaled. "Seems easy enough."

"I'll show you the first time." Bryce held her hand, the other on her opposite shoulder to keep her in place. Sam let her hand loosen in order for him to toss her wrist slightly, the ball bouncing off the middle and into one of the cups across from them. "Yeah! See, you're a natural. You've got it in the bag."

Sam smiled, proud of herself. The blonde across the table bounced the ball into one of their cups, Bryce reaching for it before Sam grasped it, downing half the cup with a little disgusting noise. Bryce laughed when she pulled back. "I'll do the rest."

Sam agreed, passing him the solo cup to finish it off for her.

Bryce had escaped to the bathroom after drinking too much beer, expecting to come back and find Sam and the boys waiting, only to discover her on a stool with Tory Nicholes across from her. He exhaled, shaking his head. "What have I gotten her into?"

He walked over, passing Migeul to look up at her. "Samantha. What are you doing up there?"

"Just a game." she stared down at him, Bryce looked toward Tory as she gave a minor glare. "Move out of the way unless you want me to throw a solo cup at you."

Bryce shook his head, backing up. He turned, seeing Miguel eyeing him. "It's okay, you can stare."

"What?" the Diaz boy gave a crazy look. "How long did it take to get that tattoo?"

Bryce's left side was covered in a tattoo, one Miguel was not aware of. "Around seventeen hours. Didn't do it all in one sitting."

The two turned, watching as Tory and Sam both rose one foot, drinking the entire cup before tossing it down. Bryce leaned back on the table some, looking up at Sam with a knowing smirk. She stumbled slightly, but she'd been doing good. Tory seemed to think she'd fall any minute now, the knowing smirk across her face. "How you doing over there, LaRusso?"

"You put her up to this?" Robby gave Bryce a questionable look.

"I could do this all night." Sam answered Tory with an exhale.

"All her." Bryce flashed Robby a half grin.

"Hey, Big Red, two shots of vodka." Tory called the a red haired boy in the back.

"Sam." Robby looked up ad her.

"Just give it to me." she answered in annoyance.

"Yeah, give it to her!" Bryce cheered her on, a grin as he forcefully bumped Robby. "If she's willing to take the after math, then let her at it."

"Drink! Drink! Drink!" the crowd cheered as the two girls got their shots, Tory taking hers first before Sam did. She stumbled slightly, Bryce moved forward the catch her if she fell, but she hadn't, balancing herself like her dad had taught her. Sam took the shot, tossing it down.

"You got this, Tory!" a boy from the crowd called. But, she hadn't had it, the stool coming out from under her as she fell to the ground with the rest of the solo cups.

Bryce winced at the impact, but didn't let it linger as he looked up at Sam. "Uh oh, looks like I can't call you a good girl anymore."

"Guess not." she said back when Tory stormed off, trying to step down, but it was clear she was drunk as hell. Bryce grasped her hand, having it go around his neck as he held her bridal style. "I had that."

"Yeah, i'm sure you did." he hummed, adjusting her in his arms with a cheeky smirk. "Where to, M'lady?"

"Kitchen." she slurred slightly.

"Kitchen it is." he walked over. "You gotta get something in that belly or all this alcohol is gonna be a lot worse when you wake up tomorrow."

"Mm." Sam hummed, letting Bryce sit her down. "Robbys so pissed at me."

"So you wanna get crazy drunk? Who cares? You're here with all of us, not off alone with some random weirdos." Bryce shrugged his shoulders. "You have the right to do that every now and then. Plus, I have a sense of knowing you probably have never done the hard stuff before."

Sam laughed slightly, grabbing the bottle from behind the counter. "No, never."

Bryce reached over, rubbing some of her smeared mascara off her cheek.
Sam met his eye, her face going red under the extremely obvious stare down he was giving her. Aisha walked over. "Maybe you should take it easy."

Bryce sense the tension there, nodding his head. "I'm gonna go find you a snack, do not go anywhere, and watch your drink."

He headed toward the kitchen with ease, getting a look at Demetri outside, talking on the mic. He couldn't hear from where he was, but assumed he'd been going on a ramble about Star Wars or, if he was feeling fancy, Harry Potter.

"Hey, Bryce." Moon smiled as she walked over.

"Moon, how's it going?" he gave her a grin, looking through her cabinets. "You have anything with banana in it? They help with a hang over, and based on Sams state, she'd gonna need it."

"I think I have a banana smoothie." she agreed, heading for the fridge. "I didn't know you and Sam were friends."

"We're not, I just have to make mends with her so I can stay at Miyagi-Do." Bryce hummed, leaning on the counter.

Moon gave him a knowing look. "You be good to Sam. She's a sweet girl, I know how you are."

"Meaning what?" Bryce tilted his head to the side with a half grin.

"Meaning Sam doesn't need to cry because you ghosted her." Moon said slightly bitter, passing him the smoothie. "I trust that you found peace and no longer do that?"

"Oh, definitely found all the peace." Bryce hummed, giving her a knowing wink. "Thanks for-"

Sirens were heard.

"Oh, shit." Bryce pulled a weird look as he saw everyone start to take off. "You gonna be able to handle this?"

Moon sighed. "I guess so. Make sure Sam gets home safe."

Bryce nodded, hurrying toward where he left her, finding it empty. "Damn it, LaRusso."

Bryce jogged outside, grasping his shirt on the beer pong table, seeing Sam walking over. "Code blue, Samantha. We gotta head out."

"Bryce, I did something so bad." Sam said, clear guilt and realization setting in.

"Okay, you can spill it to me on the ride home." he nodded, pulling her wrist as they headed toward his car.

"My parents are gonna freak out if they see me like this. I should just stay with Moon." Sam stopped with a shake of her head, Bryce looked back at her.

"You wanna deal with the cops, too? The ones who will definitely call your parents?" he rose his eyebrows.

Sam looked guilty. "I can't go home."

Bryce hesitated, sighing as he nodded. "Okay, I've got you."

•

kylie speaks

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