Hey everyone! This chapter is the start of troubles for Tecna. It shows that she does have some bitterness in her, though she doesn't often show it. The rest of her bitterness is going to come out in the next chapter, which is when I'm going to introduce the new villain. For now, just enjoy a cute little moment between Tecna and Timmy. Happy reading!
Chapter 2: Lunch with the Boys
After five days of school and studying, all seven of the girls were dog tired. Actually, after the first day, they were all dog tired. Every night, they did their homework, and went right to bed, too tired to do anything else. Flora watered her plants every few days, and Musa made time for writing her music, but they barely had time to do the things they loved that week. They retreated to their rooms on Friday evening, ready for an early night in. Each girl threw her books onto her bed, and went right for something she loved, wanting to get her mind off work.
About 7:00, Bloom was about to suggest that they watch a movie, but she got a call on her cell phone before she could speak. She picked it up, and answered it, sincerely hoping it was a certain blonde-haired prince.
"Hello?" she asked.
"Hey Bloom, it's Sky," came the voice of her boyfriend.
She smiled as she said back, "Hey Sky, how's it going?"
"Not bad, what about you?" asked Sky.
"Not too bad," said Bloom. "The girls and I are exhausted, but we're fine."
"Not too exhausted for lunch, I hope," said Sky, a teasing edge to his voice.
"What?" asked Bloom.
"I was wondering if you and the rest of the girls might be interested in lunch with us tomorrow, say about 11:00?"
"That sounds good, let me talk to the girls a second," said Bloom. She covered the mouthpiece and said, "Sky and the rest of the boys are inviting us out to lunch tomorrow. Do you girls want to go?"
"Yeah," said a chorus of voices.
"Hey Guinevere, do you want me to set you up on a blind date?" asked Stella. Guinevere was about to say no, but she didn't get the chance. Before she could so much as open her mouth, Stella had grabbed the phone out of Bloom's hand and began speaking. "Sky, it's Stella are you still there?"
"Yeah, what do you need Stella?" asked Sky.
"Do you know a guy at Red Fountain named Bobby?" asked Stella.
"Yeah, he's in our class, why?"
"I want you to bring him to lunch with you tomorrow," replied Stella. "I'm setting Guinevere up with him."
"Does Guinevere know you're setting them up? I mean, you're not surprising her like you surprised Musa with Jared, are you?"
"Sky!" came a voice in the background. It was Riven. "You promised you wouldn't bring that up again!"
"Sorry Riven," said Sky.
"Don't worry, she knows," said Stella. "So, will you bring him?"
"Okay, we'll bring him. Now, can you please put Bloom back on?"
Stella handed the phone back to Bloom, and she said, "so it's all arranged then?"
"Yeah, we'll be by to pick you girls up at 11:00," said Sky. "See you then, love you."
"Love you, bye," said Bloom, hanging up the phone.
"You've officially got a date Guinevere," said Stella, going to sit next to her. "His name is Bobby, he's in the rest of the boy's class and he's really handsome."
"You didn't ask if I wanted a date or not," said Guinevere.
"You wouldn't have had any say it anyway Guinevere," said Musa. "She would have set you up whether you said yes or not. She set me up on a blind date last year, and I still haven't forgiven her for it." She said the last part mostly to Stella, who rolled her eyes and sighed exasperatedly.
"I just thought Jared would make a way better boyfriend than Riven, that's all."
"Well, I had my heart set on Riven, so it was done."
"So, back to the business at hand, you'll love him, I promise," said Stella, winking at Guinevere, who shook her head.
"I'll go out with him tomorrow Stella, but if he's not up to scratch, I won't go out with him again," replied Guinevere.
"How will you know whether or not he's up to scratch?" asked Layla. "You can't tell that by just one date, can you?"
"A girl knows, a girl always knows," said Guinevere, glancing at Flora. Flora caught on what she meant. If Bobby wasn't the boy they'd seen in the Room of Time, Guinevere wouldn't go out with him again. She didn't want to risk falling in love with another boy.
The next morning, the girls passed the time in their rooms doing something they loved while waiting for the boys to get there. At least most of them did. About 9:00, they heard Stella give a scream of panic, which meant that she was in the process of tearing her closet apart in the hope of finding something to wear. And from the raucous they could hear in her room, it didn't sound like it was going well.
"Aaaaarggggghhhh!" she shouted. "I can't find the perfect outfit."
"Stella, you have a thousand outfits, there's gotta be one in here that's good enough," said Bloom, starting to clean up the room.
"Nothing is good enough!" said Stella, trying hard not to use the word perfect because it reminded her too much of Downland. "This one is too formal for lunch with our boyfriends, this one is too casual, this one is the wrong color, this one's too long, this one's too short, all the beads have fallen off this one and this one has too many wrinkles!"
"Okay Stella, calm down," said Bloom. "Why don't you just use magic to make one of your outfits perfect?"
"You can't use magic to change even one aspect on clothes Bloom!" said Stella. "It's against the rules of fashion!"
"Stella, just close your eyes, reach out and pick something," suggested Bloom.
The rest of the girls had just come in and heard what they were saying.
"That sounds like a good suggestion Bloom," said Tecna. "There's a very high chance that the result will come out to your liking Stella, a 95 chance to be exact."
"Yeah, listen to them Stella," said Musa. "Just pick something. Brandon will love you in anything you wear."
"I know, but I still want to look perfect for him, where's my hairbrush?" In her moment of crisis, she had forgotten about her vendetta against the word perfect, and was too busy looking for a nice dress. She started digging through the drawers of her vanity, looking for both that and her hairbrush.
"Is she always like this?" asked Guinevere.
"Always, you'll get used to it," said Flora.
After a while, they managed to pick out a yellow sundress for Stella. The rest of the girls all wore their normal outfits. A few minutes before eleven, the girls were still putting the finishing touches on Stella's hair and makeup.
"There," said Bloom, putting a last little bit of eye liner on Stella's eyelids. "Now you look perfect Stella.
Stella opened her eyes, looked at her appearance, and said, "you're right. You girls did a great job."
"And just in time too," said Layla, looking out the window just in time to see the boy's levabikes pull into the quad. She looked over Bloom and Flora's balcony and called down to them, "we'll be down in a minute!" The girls walked outside, all of them excited about spending time with their boyfriends, Guinevere a little nervous about her blind date. She purposefully hung back a little with Flora so as to give them a chance to speak without the others hearing them.
"Flora, do you think this will be the guy?" she asked.
"I don't know, we'll see," replied Flora, as they reached the quad.
"Hey girls," said Sky, rushing right to Bloom, who jumped into his arms. He laughed and spun her around; he'd missed seeing her this last week. He kissed her and said, "how are you doing Bloom?"
"I'm wishing it was still vacation," said Bloom.
"Aren't we all?" replied Sky.
"Hey Stella, you look stunning today," said Brandon, taking her in his arms.
"Thanks," said Stella, after kissing him.
While all the girls were greeting their boyfriends, Guinevere was standing a little off to the side, feeling a little left out. There was a boy standing a little off to the side as well, whom she guessed was her blind date, but she had avoided eye contact with anyone, so she didn't know what to make of him.
"Please let him be the one," she said. "It'll take all the awkwardness out of the situation."
Stella walked over to her and pulled her forward, mumbling about she needed to be more sociable. Guinevere was about to retort that being a witch for most of her life didn't exactly make her sociable, but she didn't want to be reminded of the curse, and she didn't want her potential boyfriend to know about it yet either.
Stella smiled, shoved her towards the boy and said, "Guinevere, meet your blind date." A boy walked forward and Guinevere could tell at once that it wouldn't work out. He had short black hair and green eyes, not at all like the boy she had seen in the Pool of Infinity. She met Flora's gaze and both of them knew it was a lost cause.
"Hi, I'm Bobby," he said extending his hand.
"Guinevere," she said, giving him hers.
All the girls got on their boyfriends levabikes and took off for a nice restaurant in Magix. They ate some exquisite food, and all of them talking about how school was going so far. If you were to look at them, you could never tell they were going through times that were rapidly changing their lives. They acted as though they were a normal group of teenagers, going to schools for magic and heroics.
The only problem was they could tell Guinevere wasn't enjoying herself. She liked Bobby all right as a friend, and she was having fun with the rest of the girls, but she didn't like being in such close proximity to a boy who wasn't her boyfriend, and never would be. She considered going back to Alfea, but she didn't want to be rude, so she just decided to stick it out for a little while.
"Why can't we talk about something other than school?" asked Stella.
"What else is there to talk about Stella?" asked Tecna. "Nothing's happened to us since we got back. There's an 88 chance of not having anything else to talk about."
"I'm sick and tired of all your percents and calculations Tecna," said Stella.
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Tecna indignantly.
"You always have to calculate how high a chance something is," said Stella. "It gets really annoying after awhile. Can't you just take a little time off from that just for an hour or so?"
The words she said usually didn't mean anything to Tecna, but the way she said it made tears well up inside her eyes. She ran off, taking the road that led back to Alfea, but halfway there, she stopped and dashed inside a clump of trees. She just sat and cried her eyes out, hoping that no one would be able to find her.
"Oh way to go Stella," said Layla sarcastically. "Do you always have to do that?"
"It's just the way I am, sorry," said Stella. "Let me go talk to her."
"No, I'll talk to her," said Musa, getting up. "Be back in a few minutes."
Musa ran out of the restaurant, in the direction Tecna went. It was hard to find her, because she had no idea how far Tecna had gone, or whether or not she had made it back to Alfea. She wondered how to find her friend and roommate for a second, then snapped her fingers and gave a small smile. She released a small group of sound waves, which reverberated all over the immediate vicinity, then bounced back to her a few minutes later. They were sound waves that were supposed to pick up the slightest sound, and she had spelled these to give her signs of her friend. She was stunned when she heard the sounds of her friend crying. She ran forward, turned left, and found Tecna, sitting on the ground, trying to cover up the tears that were spreading quickly down her face.
"Hey Tecna," said Musa, sitting next to her, and placing a comforting arm around her shoulders. "You know, you really shouldn't listen to what Stella says. Her mouth gets in the way so much, it's hard to tell what she really thinks. I wouldn't be surprised if she's had another mood swing spell put on her like she did in freshmen year. That sparked a huge argument."
"I'm tired of everyone treating me as though I'm just a machine," said Tecna, not taking in a thing Musa had just said. "Just because I come from a digital realm, it doesn't mean I am a computer myself. I mean, that's what Timmy thought of me when we first met, even if he doesn't think of me like that now. Why does everyone treat me like that?"
"No one treats you like that, especially not us, and especially not Timmy," said Musa. "He's never thought of you like that, he's always had feelings for you. He was just afraid to come out and admit it."
"That may be, but everyone else treats me like a computer."
"No one treats you like a computer. You're a person, just like everyone else."
"Don't say things you know aren't true Musa," said Tecna. "People talk about me behind my back as though I'm just a know-it-all, can't get enough of impressing a teacher, computer driven fairy."
"That's only because they don't know you like we do," said Musa. "You're a great fairy, a great roommate and a really great friend. We couldn't have defeated any of the villains we did without you. Our Charmix power wouldn't have been strong enough, and we wouldn't have had your expertise to guide us along the way. You've always been there for us, it's our turn to be there for you." Even though she meant it for this particular situation, she had no idea just how much that statement was going to come true in the next two days.
"Thanks Musa," said Tecna, hugging her friend. The two of them stood up and came out of the trees, onto the sunlit path. "Let's go back to Alfea, I've rather lost my appetite."
"I kinda have too," said Musa. "I'll call Riven and tell him."
Suddenly, they heard the sound of a levabike coming toward them and a moment later, Timmy appeared in front of them. He took off his helmet and walked towards them.
"Are you okay Tecna?" he asked, placing his hands comfortingly on her shoulders.
"I'm fine," she said.
"I'll be over there if you need me," said Musa, walking across the path, with her back to them.
"I hope what Stella said didn't upset you too much," said Timmy. "I know she can be a little mean sometimes, but you shouldn't take too much notice."
"I usually don't, but this time, she just drove me over the edge," said Tecna.
"Well, I have something that might make you feel better," he said. He nervously pulled out a little box with a bow on top and handed it to Tecna. She took it curiously, seriously hoping it wasn't another heat sync, and opened it. Her eyes lit up when she saw what was inside. It was a heart shaped locket. When she opened it, she saw a little mirror on the left side and a picture of the two of them on the right.
"Timmy, it's beautiful, thank you," she said, jumping into his arms. This surprised him a little bit, but he wrapped his arms around her nonetheless, and gave a small smile. She kissed him, making him blush, and then turned around, so he could clasp the locket around her neck.
"Your welcome, do you want me to take you back to Alfea?"
"Yeah," she said. "Musa, why don't you go back to the restaurant and enjoy yourself?"
"Okay," she said. "Will you be okay there on your own?"
"I'll be fine," replied Tecna. She and Timmy went speeding back to Alfea and Musa walked back to the restaurant. The others had just finished their meal and were about to go and look for them.
"Everything ok?" asked Riven, putting his arm around Musa.
"Everything's fine," she replied. "Timmy's taken Tecna back to Alfea. She's better off then she was."
"Do you think she'll ever want to speak to me again?" asked Stella.
"I don't know Stella, you kinda blew it this time," said Musa.
"Girls, let's just go back to Alfea, and try and reconcile before anything else happens," said Bloom. The rest all agreed with her.
"Is it going to be like this all the time?" asked Guinevere.
"Welcome to the Winx Club, Guinevere," said Layla.
"Gee, what a warm welcome," said Guinevere sarcastically.
The boys dropped the girls off at Alfea and went back to Red Fountain, Bobby knowing he'd have to find another girlfriend, considering he'd probably never see Guinevere again.
The girls were silent as they walked up to their rooms. When they got there, they found Tecna lying on her bed, reading a magazine. She sat up as they came in and gave a small smile, purposefully avoiding Stella's apologetic eye.
"How are you doing Tecna?" asked Bloom, sitting next to her.
"I'm fine now," she replied, her locket swinging around her neck.
"Where did you get the locket, it's pretty," said Bloom.
"Timmy gave it to me," she said. "I love it."
"Tecna, I just want to say I'm sorry," said Stella. "I know I sometimes say things I don't mean, but you're still my friend."
"It's all right Stella," said Tecna. There was a tense moment of silence, then she asked, "So Guinevere, how did things go with Bobby?"
"He's a nice guy, but I told him I just wanted to be friends," said Guinevere. Seeing the look on Stella's face, she said, "I have my reasons Stella, that's all you need to know."
"Look, let's not get into any more fights," said Bloom. The girls all stayed and chatted in Bloom and Flora's room for the rest of the morning, except for one minute, when Guinevere went into her room to get something. As she entered, she saw a note lying on her bedside table. She picked it up and it read:
Princess Guinevere,
As you are aware, your sister, Princess Elbereath, has disappeared and
there have not been any signs of her on Rampara. Your parents informed us
that you wish to be kept informed of the search for your sister. As of yet there
is no news of her, but we are hopeful that we shall find her soon.
Sincerely yours,
The Royal Guard of Rampara
Guinevere crumpled the note up and threw it in the wastepaper basket in the corner of the room. "How could they not know where she is?" she asked herself. She tried not to worry however, she'd promised her parents she wouldn't get involved. But she decided if they didn't turn up something soon, she'd have to take charge of the search herself.
Author's Note: There's the next chapter done. I hope you enjoyed it, and I will see you in a few days, when I have time to get the next chapter up. So in the next one, we'll have the villain from the prologue back again, Paritho, though Tecna's not going to find out who he is until the chapter after that, unless I decide to rearrange things. Stay tuned!
