*Chapter 21*
Tessa quietly slipped into the castle and felt a sense of worry come over her. She knew she was late to show up before the Arcade closed. On her way into the dimly lit game, she noticed the racetracks were desolate and still. She held her breath and entered the Great Hall with agile feet and no sound whatsoever. As tenderly as she could, she closed the castle's massive front doors and slumped her bag to the ground, where Penny's and Oliver's shoes reside. As easily as she could, she began to swiftly speed walk to the corridor of the kitchen. As soon as she reached the archway, a few voices from across the hall could be heard coming down from the spiral stairwell, that lead to the throne room.
Tessa jolted and tried her hardest to look as if she was casually coming out of the corridor to the kitchen, as if she was just down that wing. She nonchalantly slipped her larger fingers into her front pockets and beamed a closed mouth grin, she tried her hardest not to look sheepish or guilty. She relaxed, however, once she saw her mom, dad, aunt Taffyta and uncle Rancis slowly pile down the long, wide spiral spills of stairs. Tessa smiled a warm smile and began to head over to them; they seemed to be chattering about something rather important.
"Hey Tess, where's Penny and Oliver?" Vanellope kindly called, the three racers were still sat in their dusty racing gear; Ralph moseyed over as well, in his usual gameday overalls.
"Uh," Tessa stuttered as she tried her very hardest to peer into her peripherals, though she stammered on a few words and looked back at the kitchen corridor in which she had pretend to come from, "I-I'm not sure, I was in the kitchen getting a snack."
"Oh," Vanellope shrugged, she opened her mouth to continue, but Taffyta loudly cut her off.
"Penny, Oliver get down here!" Taffyta hollered to every single wall of the Great Hall, which caused everyone to flinch and cover their ears. Ralph merely rolled his eyes and lulled his head back with an annoyed smile.
"Surely there's an easier way to get our kin in a room," Rancis side eyed Taffyta, his smile was patient yet mildly annoyed.
"When you think of a better way, tell me," Taffyta chuckled as she crossed her arms, though much to everyone's surprise, Penny and Oliver came crashing down from the spiral staircase that led to Ralph and Vanellope's room, as well as Tessa's and Oliver's. Taffyta beamed a cocky smile in Rancis' direction and squinted her eyes, "You were saying?"
"I said, my ears are bleeding," Rancis mumbled as he straightened out his jacket; he wrinkled his nose at his wife as they exchanged childish, mocking faces to each other.
"Everything okay?" Penny worried with a genuine look of fear, she gazed at Tessa with dewed concern.
"Everything is fine," Vanellope eased as Penny quickly marched up, Oliver wasn't too far behind. Vanellope tenderly put a hand on her niece's shoulder and squeezed it with love, "We have some news for you guys."
"News," Tessa repeated as she crossed her arms, Penny and Oliver came along side her as Vanellope gestured towards the Great Hall.
"We think, since you and Penny will be starting Academy in less than a month, and with Oliver not far behind, us four think it is time for you three to have your very own wing of the castle!" Vanellope concluded.
"What!" Tessa beamed a wide smile and dropped her arms, her and Penny immediately gave each other looks of sudden excitement.
"Yes!" Oliver hissed as he threw his fist in the air.
"Where will our wing be?" Tessa wondered with a hint of worry and confusion, she looked around the Great Hall before she gave her mom a look of concern, "Are you going to build it?"
"Yes," Vanellope motioned towards the code room, "We're going to knock out half of the living room so your guys' wing can fit on this side of the Great Hall, across from the kitchen."
"Midnight snacks, here I come," Oliver muttered with a smug smile, though Ralph gently stepped in.
"With this bout of freedom we're giving you three, we expect your best behavior," Ralph said down to the three kindly, though he kept a stern air about himself, "If you are to leave, one of us four must know where you're going."
"This castle is a stronghold," Vanellope reminded, though she glanced at Rancis, "But that doesn't mean it's prone to attacks. You three have to be on guard at all times. No funny business, you hear?"
"Attacks?" Oliver worried as the three became still with the attention grabbing subject they had set into.
"Sugar Rush is a highly sought after game, you three," Rancis chimed in, "It's easy to let in people we deem kind and good, only to find they are bad. We have to protect Sugar Rush at all costs. We've had virus scares before because of poor decisions. We can't let that happen again."
"Will we be okay on the ground floor?" Tessa worried as she crossed her arms.
"Rancis and I are on the ground floor, as well as your aunt Candlehead and uncle Gloyd," Taffyta reminded gently, "We've been on the ground floor since day one and have been perfectly fine."
"Though, we don't go opening the front doors after dark," Rancis reminded, "And if we leave, we all leave together and make sure the castle is secure behind us."
"We'll keep watch," Tessa assured with a confident nod, "We promise."
"Good," Vanellope put her hands on her hips and smiled down at her maturing daughter.
"A strong Queen you will be," Ralph said softly and kindly down to her; Tessa shot him an almost embarrassed and annoyed smile, though he nudged her shoulder with his large knuckles lightly; she wobbled and let out a happy laugh.
"Now," Vanellope held her hands together before she gestured to the code room, "Enough of the hard stuff, let's get at it, yeah?"
"Yes!" Tessa agreed with a wide smile; she switched from mature, confident leader to-be, to excitable adolescent in no time flat.
Before too much time had passed, everyone slowly piled into the code room. Tessa ever so eagerly got a good look around, the glowing white code room was massive. The usual, hot purple and glowing blue code boxes hung around with palpable power. Tessa let her eyes get lost in her very own code room. She inhaled a deep breath of the code room's cold, and surprisingly fresh smelling air. She exhaled a long, hard breath and felt her veins come to life, as if she had a hidden destiny here she wasn't quite sure of. She eagerly followed closely behind her father on the invisible flooring which was concrete in place. She could hear mutters of worries from Penny about the lack of being able to see the floor. She let a small smile spread across her face for her best friend, and cousin, Penny; she worried about everything.
"You wanna do this?" Ralph gently said down to his daughter. Tessa eagerly stared up at him in silence, as if she didn't know what to say. Ralph chuckled lightly and put his hands on his hips, "Should I take that as a yes?"
"I-I don't know how," Tessa worried, though Ralph tenderly laid a few of his larger fingers on her small shoulder and pulled her closer.
"I'll show you," Ralph gestured up towards the millions of code boxes that hung overhead and all around. They bobbed and weaved in gentle motions, as if they were sat in water, "Now, since we're adding on to the Great Hall, you're going to need which box?"
"The box that says Great Hall," Tessa assured, the lights of the code boxes twinkled in her eyes.
"Right," Ralph smiled as he gave her shoulder a final squeeze. He lifted his large arm and hand in the air and gazed down at Tessa, "Now all we have to do is summon the box to us."
"Right," Tessa nodded, though she remained humble in her confusion.
"Since your mother holds the original core code of the game, and we share your mother's code, you, me, your mother and Oliver can control these code boxes," Ralph explained.
"Really?" Tessa squinted her eyes in amazement, Ralph nodded with a dorky smile.
"Aren't we lucky," Ralph smiled his usual gapped tooth smile; Tessa plastered the same smile on her face.
"You can say that again," Tessa muttered with an appreciative smile.
"You won't be able to achieve this part yet, because you don't know how to glitch, but once you're taught, you'll be able to control the code boxes with the very code that's inside you," Ralph explained as he very tenderly nudged his large finger to her chest, just underneath her collarbone, over her heart.
"I-I can glitch like mom?" Tessa wondered with a furrowed expression, though Ralph beamed an annoyed smile.
"Boy can you," Ralph laughed as he glanced back at the rest of the crew, they hung back as Ralph carried on with his teaching session; he caught eyes with Vanellope. She had her arms crossed and a smile full of pride, Ralph continued, "When you were a baby, we couldn't get you to knock it off. Though, it wasn't controlled or directed. Just hiccup-glitches."
"Huh," Tessa breathed as she looked down at her large hands, "I had no idea. Can you glitch too?"
"Yep," Ralph smiled as the whole palm of his hand lowly began to riddle itself with circuits and hot purple wiring that rose underneath his flesh.
With one gentle movement, Ralph swiped his hand sideways and downwards. All the boxes in the code room tenderly lulled in the direction Ralph cued. He continued to work his hand around before he finally found the Great Hall box. He breathed a noise of accomplishment and gently lowered the box to him and Tessa. He finally stole a glance at her; her whole face was riddled with amazement.
"Wow," Tessa breathed as she peered up at her dad, "I-I could never do that!"
"Oh yes you could," Ralph chuckled as he laid his hand on her shoulder again, "In time, and with practice."
"How do we go about doing this?" Tessa wondered as her father opened the large box labelled 'Great Hall', "Won't it cause a mess?"
"That's the beauty of living in a computer," Ralph chuckled and was immediately reminded just how small even he was, "Modifying things is a piece of cake."
"Hey, there we are!" Tessa chuckled as she pointed into the box, a small sliver of the code room was added in the Great Hall's coordinates and map.
"Yep, all of us," Ralph pointed lightly, though he gently cut away a large square of the Great Hall, which cut into the large living room they had in place, "Alright. Go ahead and map out what you want your wing to look like."
"Me?" Tessa wondered in a dumbfounded way; Ralph laughed and shook her shoulder a little.
"YOU," Ralph beamed, "You've gotta learn how to be Queen eventually. And trust me, being Queen may mean running the game and setting issues straight, but if I've learned one thing about the duties of a Queen, is a Queen LOVES to redecorate."
"I can hear you," Vanellope called from the handful of yards they were away; everyone burst out in a fit of laughter.
"In the best way possible," Ralph called over his shoulder, to his wife, with a wide smile. He glued his attention back to Tessa and gestured at the box, "Go ahead. Make sure you make the hall long enough to support three bedrooms. One for you, Penny and Oliver."
"Okay," Tessa bit her bottom lip in concentration before she gently trailed her larger finger in a delicate motion; she easily mapped out a proper corridor for their wing of the castle. She gazed up at Ralph curiously, "Like that?"
"Perfect, now add three rooms. Make sure you make 'em the same size, so none of you guys fight about it," Ralph chuckled as he placed his hands on his hips.
With ease, Tessa marked three large bedroom for herself, her brother and cousin. She beamed a wide, accomplished smile and stepped away from the box. She eagerly gazed up at her father, who nodded and shot Tessa a smile of appreciation.
"Perfect," Ralph eased, "Told you it'd be cake."
"Cake!" Taffyta suddenly shouted as she began to run out of the code room, "I forgot about the cake!"
"User help us all," Rancis muttered as he didn't even flinch, "That's the fourth time this week she's forgotten she's had something in the oven."
"Maybe next time it'll be a bun," Vanellope said cooly as she caught glances with Penny. They both stifled giggles as Rancis heaved a hard sigh, though even he couldn't help but beam a bashful smile.
"C'mon guys!" Tessa shouted excitedly as her, Oliver and Penny began to run towards the new corridor she had made in the Great Hall.
"I get dibs on the biggest room!" Oliver hollered as they trampled into the Great Hall.
"I made them all the same size, idiot!" Tessa and Penny laughed.
"Fine, I get the one with a view!" Oliver argued.
"Oliver, they EACH have a view! The front lawn of the castle!" Tessa protested as they continued to run.
"Why didn't we do this sooner?" Penny wondered with a small giggle as the three immediately piled to the entrance of their wing. They each stopped and gazed down their new addition to the castle, as if touching it would make this moment false.
"I can't believe it!" Tessa said excitedly as her voice echoed down their new wing, "It's all ours!"
"Finally!" Penny laughed as the three quickly bolted down the hall.
Oliver was the first one to tear into a room. Each room was on the right, and it hugged the natural curve of the front of the castle. Tessa and Penny kept jogging down the hall, but they both sped up a little as they could hear Oliver's loud, enthusiastic wails of excitement as he entered his new, massive room. Penny quickly ducked into the second room, hoping to get to it before Tessa. Tessa laughed and rolled her eyes as Penny exclaimed loudly as well. Tessa slowed as she reached her room, which was at the very end of the hall. She slowly budged into it and stepped inside. She gasped silently and looked up and around. Since her room was on the deeper curve of the castle, she had one massive bay window that hugged the bend; she had a perfect view of Starkrem far off in the distance. She clutched her chest, over her heart, gently and slowly stepped into her large, high ceiling room. She felt content, a sudden rush of freedom she never thought she'd have. She bit her lower lip and let her shoulders slump. She was excited that the time had finally come where the reins on her childhood were loosened. Though she knew they wouldn't be cut until she went to Academy, she figured she could survive another two or three weeks.
"Tessa, no fair! Your room has the view!" Oliver wailed in annoyance as him and Penny stepped in; Tessa rolled her eyes and looked back at her two family members.
"Hey, you two ducked into the first two rooms. I just went to the end of the hall," Tessa shrugged with an annoyed smirk.
"Bah, whatever," Oliver waved his hand as he began to stroll away, "My room is closest to the kitchen."
"You did good," Penny said kindly as she grew closer to Tessa.
"Thanks, Pen," Tessa said softly to her best friend and cousin.
"We should have Tammy and Emery over to see your handiwork," Penny said gently as the two hung near Tessa's large window. They gazed out it with eager eyes.
"Of course," Tessa nodded as she crossed her arms, she glanced at her cousin with a grateful heart.
"I'm sure Zane will be seeing a lot of this room," Penny said in a more sly tone than her normal snarky self; Tessa furrowed her eyebrows and gazed at her cousin in confusion.
"What do you mean?" Tessa uttered, she wondered why her face suddenly felt hot.
"You know exactly what I mean," Penny raised her eyebrows, her dark blue eyes pierced Tessa's hazel ones with sincerity, yet a subtle sense of daring seriousness, "I know that you wanted to be alone with Zane, today."
"Penny," Tessa beamed an annoyed smile and dropped her arms, though Penny interrupted.
"I know you guys are in love," Penny pointed, as if she had solved the puzzle; Tessa shook her head in shock and beamed a more than amused smile.
"In love!" Tessa laughed as she held up her hands, "Whoa, take a few hundred steps back, there, Pens."
"Come off of it," Penny snapped with her usual, charming smile, "I see the way he looks at you."
"...Penny, you've got the wrong idea," Tessa laughed as she rubbed her forehead in mild annoyance.
"Oh do I?" Penny breathed sarcastically, she put her hands on her hips and tilted her head, "I don't suppose sneaking away to Dead Zed to be with just him for the day means you guys were doing Emery's 'science project', in which doesn't exist?"
"Penny, it's not what you think," Tessa smiled as she looked down and to the side. She heaved a hard sigh and opened her mouth to speak, but Penny cut her off.
"C'mon Tess, you can tell me anything!" Penny pleaded quietly as she gently took her cousin's hand, "Isn't that what best friends are for? What does a first kiss feel like?"
"Penny!" Tessa laughed as she grabbed her shoulders, "Trust me, when I find out, I'll tell yah!"
"You mean, you guys didn't kiss?" Penny frowned, Tessa rolled her eyes.
"Why, in Arcade, would I kiss Zane?" Tessa wrinkled her nose in that sense of delighted repulsion that hit her skin yet again, "He's my best friend, that'd be so weird!"
"Then what were you two doing today?" Penny wondered with a curious frown; Tessa let go of Penny's shoulders and looked down and to the side.
"If I tell you," Tessa started as she pointed a finger, "You have to promise not to tell anyone."
"I won't," Penny assured with a small nod, "I promise."
"I went to Zane's today because..." Tessa trailed off and gazed into Penny's eyes with a sudden rush of nervous adrenaline, "Zane is teaching me how to dance."
"Really?" Penny's curious frown immediately curled into a girly grin as she tucked her fists to her chin in a fit of delight.
"Yes," Tessa hissed as she looked away in embarrassment, "He offered to teach me, so I don't look like a fool dancing with Selka at the ball."
"That's really nice of Zane," Penny said in a serious tone as she looked down to her feet, though a small smile remained on her face, "Don't forget to really thank him, if the ball goes smoothly."
"Yeah," Tessa looked out her large window and heaved a hard sigh, as Starkrem's city lights created a cloud of wonder up into the sky above, she felt her face heat up a little, "I won't forget."