Reviews :
Jay Sketchin : That means a lot, friend, thank you so much ;_; LOL And Berri definitely has to learn a juggling act, right about NOW.
CHICKENM4N : Hooo believe me, in due time, my friend.
Burgie : Quite literally! xD
Snake557 : Wise words! She learns this the hard way, unfortunately.
Song Listened To :
Must Be Love by Christina Grimmie
*Chapter 59*
Blue : Okay, so... Don't freak out or anything. Please promise me you won't freak out. I'm like actually begging you, do not freak out.
Berri continued to ride on the high of the out-of-body experience she was enduring, the way hers and Gunners footsteps fell into rhythm, with the trail of the few security guards behind them, her fingers tapped away on her phone in tender nonchalance; she was hoping Gunner wasn't cued to the raw fact that she was, indeed, sending out a beacon of a warning to Wren and Theo. Berri merely glanced up at Gunner as he politely pressed on about the vast, wide variety of different self-programmed gamers that attended Academy, the fact that he was excited to bury his head into some text books and really ground himself, and just as Berri could sense Gunner on the verge of potentially revealing just the reason of the falling out he had with his previous band mates, he skillfully segued into a different topic. Berri was sure that although he seemed like an open book, he probably had some skeletons in his closet.
Songbird : I promise you I absolutely will freak out. Why am I going to freak out.
Blue : Gunner Ko and I are headed to the music hall, together. This isn't a joke. This isn't a drill. I swear it on my life, THE Gunner Ko is literally walking right next to me as I type all of this and we're on our way. Warn Theo, too.
Berri only idly lulled her phone into her hand and sagged it by her side, so to further convince Gunner that she was wholly paying attention to his gentle words. The rhythm in his words, the cadence of his speech, the gentle gesture of his masculine hands, and although the softness of his honey-brown eyes was a whispering squint of tenderness, she could see those piercing glints of gold, a fiery swathe of golden goodness hidden behind a warm, friendly exterior. Berri swallowed hard and glossed him in a full glance, uncertain this was even a pressing reality, the way Gunner continued to glance to her as they walked, his easy conversation pushed on.
"Certainly you understand, I mean... Being a princess and all, surely you're recognized everywhere you go?" Gunner wondered, having previously state that he was nervous to be in such a large place due to everyone here knowing exactly who he was; Berri shrugged and bobbed a nod.
"I'm not so much known outside of Sugar Rush... If I'm inside Sugar Rush's biggest metropolis, Orion City, then yeah, everyone knows my name, knows who I am... Most certainly knows my mom and dad," Berri eased a nervous giggle, the two began to cross into the outdoor corridor that lead to the music hall. A stretch of gorgeous grass its stoney walls hugged, a massive quad of a field, said gathering spot was so large that the students on the other side looked like mere peanuts, "But... Inside Academy, no one really knows me. I just have royal stature. I'm no celebrity, or anything."
"But, you play, don't you? You're not known for your music, back home?" Gunner wondered, his fingertips so gently tapped to the bottom of Berri's gorgeous electric guitar, the bottom of it poked over her shoulder as it safely remained slung over her backside.
"User, no, I mean... Me and my cousins have a silly garage band, and a studio and everything, but," Berri dragged on in a tender slump of nonchalance, "We've never played live or anything. If you exclude family, or anything like that. No stages involved. Just a recording studio."
"You should play me something," Gunner smiled to her, and although she peered to him in a warm slump of almost begging not to be pitied, the look of genuine excitement, in Gunner's eyes, remained true, "I am down band members, after all."
"There's no way in hell we're good enough to reform Archived Chaos, that's funny," Berri spat with a laugh as she shook her head, her heart didn't even have the courage to get excited or worked up over the idea, because she knew, full well, that'd be a pipe dream.
"If you insist," Gunner chimed in a lilt of tease, a sarcastic, sorrowful show of raised eyebrows, eyes down and a shrug of his hands into his expensive black jeans, perfectly torn at the knees. Berri furrowed her brow and now felt annoyed; she could've sworn she was here to now be the one playing hard to get.
"Now, wait a minute, I didn't say we weren't good," Berri pointed a finger at him and blurt a small laugh, to which he shrugged and gave her an equally as coy, teasing smile.
"I think maybe it's a good thing you have your guitar with you, then," Gunner rushed gently, he waggled his eyebrows in a further show of cute, boyish tease, though just as he opened his mouth to continue on with their gentle climb of flirtatious banter, a crowd of maybe half a dozen girls loudly gasped and began to hurriedly and nervously rush over; Berri was well aware, due to their stifled squealing and high-pitched murmurs of Gunner's name, that these girls were excited to see Gunner, though as the two rolled to a gentle stop, Berri was legitimately surprised to see Gunner hover tight to Berri's presence, as if she was potentially in on this nonsense, no questions asked.
"Hey, ladies," Gunner eased in politeness, they loosely hovered before him in a swathe of entire, girly bounces, giddy, fanning swoons of fangirling in full force, Berri almost felt a weird wash come over her, as if she was simply a fly on the wall.
"We're huge fans," One girl urged, she nearly looked as if she was about to burst into tears, her trembling hands began to hesitantly hand Gunner her notepad for an autograph.
"I can't believe you're actually attending GCA," Another girl pressed in blushing excitement, and although they were strictly here to see Gunner, Berri was continuously floored that he stood tight to Berri's side, an inclusive show of fresh camaraderie.
"It'll be great, huh," Gunner glossed his autograph across a few of their opened notebooks with a black marker he had in his pocket, a squiggled result of likely being written thousands of times, "Maybe we'll have some classes together?"
The girls immediately blurt out with excited notions, each one of them began to ramble off their busy school schedule, somehow hoping Gunner was potentially in any single one of their classes. Berri stood frozen in discombobulation; she was absolutely certain she was simply just a fly on the wall, in this instance. She wondered just exactly when she segued from fangirling dweeb right into a proud, fresh new friend of the very epicenter of said potential fangirling. She narrowed her gaze and looked off in whole entire confusion, towards herself, she wondered just how on User's pixeled Arcade did she ever find herself in this rare situation, and it wasn't until one of the girls in front of her gingerly eased her notepad into Berri's vicinity did Berri wonder if she was swiftly being gifted the opportunity to wear yet another hat, added to her now growing collection of titles. Fellow Sugar Rush heir, lykata runner, guitarist and lead singer of a private garage band, a turbo-charged killer of a best friend, and now, celebrity in training.
"A-Are you Gunner's new guitarist?" The girl with the trembling notepad wondered in wavering, dewy, bright-eyed excitement; the answer floated through Berri's head as if it were entirely unreal, she had absolutely no clue where to even begin with this.
"I-I... Well..." Berri staggered; she knew that if she were to answer these girls questions without Gunner's given permission, they'd take absolutely anything said here and spread the news like wild fire. She felt her face heat up the second Gunner warmly, and casually, wrapped his arm about the tops of Berri's shoulders and kept her close, simply as if to insinuate that she had a voice here, though she should probably tread lightly, for his and media's sake.
"Ladies, this is Berri," Gunner smiled and gestured to Berri, he looked down to her in a smidge of currently growing pride, a twinge of adoration that hung in his tone, Berri glossed her blue eyes up to him in unadulterated surprise and held frozen in his side embrace, "We're currently headed to the music hall to have a small chat. Who knows what will happen... But I'd be lucky to have this beauty on stage with me, don't you guys think?"
"Aww," All the girls cooed and fawned, they peered to the two, and it was here did Berri immediately see every single last one of them pair the two off, a ship that immediately set sail in their eyes, Berri swallowed hard and finally began to feel her heart get the memo; a hearty, hefty pound began to just soak her veins and circuits in girly, blushing terror.
"I appreciate it," Berri eased cooly, though she exhaled a shaky breath and gave Gunner a bashful smile of appreciation; it was here did all the girls immediately begin to push their notepads in Berri's direction, and it was with this rush of further given admiration did Berri now deem herself doomed, "Maybe my feet will find the stage. My best friend told me that I play the sickest air guitar he's ever seen, so... I probably am killer on the actual instrument itself."
"I'd be willing to bet," Gunner's soft voice eased down to her, he lightly kept Berri in his gentle side embrace, though in a smooth segue, he eased the two forward in a push of a departure away from the group of girls, "Thanks, ladies. Be seeing you!"
All of the girls in the now swooning and cooing group eagerly stated their excited goodbyes, and that they'd save him a seat at lunch, they'd see him in the halls, anything to be anywhere close to him, Berri felt it absolutely odd that she, of all girls, was the single one still tightly saddled next to him, in his loose and lazy side embrace. She cocked an eyebrow and peered forward, and after a moment, Gunner finally unhanded her and eased out of her gravity. The gentle nudge of their knuckles bumped as their hands swayed in walking motion, Berri swallowed hard and now began to feel as if every single rushing, girly emotion finally caught up with her brain and was eagerly reminded of just what the hell was going on, in this raw instance.
Songbird : I'm literally going to go back to Sugar Rush, you can't say things like that to me and expect that I know what the hell to do with information like that.
Songbird : You can't be serious.
Songbird : I KNOW you're not serious.
"I'm sorry if that was difficult for you," Berri eased as her eyes glossed Wren's now trembling messages, she shook her head and just barely felt a nervous giggle brim at the back of her throat, the very idea that Wren and Theo were about to be absolutely knocked right on their asses, "I'm sure your fans are just wondering when you'll be making more music. I know they wouldn't even begin to feel your pain, about your band members leaving, but... I'm positive it's all too fresh to even begin thinking about gaining new band members."
"It's... Sticky, that's for sure," Gunner staggered as he grimaced, looked off and shrugged, though his honey-brown eyes glossed Berri's with care, "But, it's okay... I've had about a month to heal, and I have an awesome team of people that are looking out for me. I won't be down and out forever."
Berri bobbed a nod and knew to seal that door shut right at the seams, she figured this topic was dropped, though she cocked an eyebrow and noticed Gunner inhale a deep breath, in her peripheral, his eyes honed tight to her figure in almost secretive, adoring glee.
"I didn't think I'd be bumping into an awesome, blue-haired musician today, though, so I really don't know what's ahead," Gunner huffed softly, their conversation was at a decent volume, and Berri began to grow bashful with the amount of silent demeanors that hovered behind them in the form of security guards, like the moon to Earth's gravity, Berri held her breath and felt the blood leave her face as Gunner warmly carried on, the tenderness in his voice was unmatched, "Guess it's for the better they left, and I'm stuck here... Who knows what's to come of this new life, of mine."
"Already making friends," Berri only playfully sneered, as if to somehow insinuate that she could potentially be one of said friends, as awesome as that'd be, though as the words left her mouth, she understood that it was very rapidly becoming true, the way the two casually strolled in warm, soft steps, a moseying pace of strange camaraderie, Berri raised her eyebrows in plucked surprise as Gunner bobbed her a nod of agreeing.
"I do appreciate the fact that you were so buried in your phone that you literally ran right into me," Gunner blurt a small chuckle, and it was here did Berri roll her eyes and dare to nudge Gunner's lower arm in a show of teasing annoyance.
"It was an important text message, okay? It's not like I wasn't doing something valid," Berri argued with a widening smile, though she felt her brain somersault at the small predicament she had just placed herself in, yet again.
"Ah, importantly future-Queenly duties? Maybe messaging a boyfriend, or something?" Gunner prod; Berri knew exactly why he'd ask such a side-stepping question.
"No, no boyfriend," Berri immediately aired, though she reeled and now wondered if that was wise or not; she furrowed her brow, looked off and felt confusion hit her skin, dead on, "I-I, well... No, I was just messaging my best friend. Just reiterating plans we made yesterday, after I get back from Academy."
"Oh, she doesn't go to Academy?" Gunner pressed, just what Berri was dreading, she wondered when she'd stop digging herself a hole.
"Uh... No, HE is a User made gamer," Berri stated proudly, though it was here that she was certain her shovel was now touching the Earth's molten core.
"What I'd give," Gunner mumbled, and it was here did Berri's heart begin to crawl up into her throat, "How cool would it be to be made my Users? I mean... I'm grateful for my parents, well... Y'know... But still. Must be empowering to have a game day and to be a part of something bigger than yourself."
Berri furrowed her brow, glossed her eyes to the glorious, cascading arches of the glowing music hall they tenderly eased into. Almost similar in structure to Game Central Station, the hall was silent, a symphony of electric hum that just barely coat the place in a tender bass of reverberating warmth. As her beautiful blue eyes twinkled under the hall's extraordinarily high ceiling lights, she thought back to her mother. Someone of incredible, near-invincible stature, someone with the entirety of Sugar Rush in her hand, someone who had done great things to protect her kingdom, yet was still a self-programmed gamer. Berri shrugged, she relished in the rebellious aspect of having a mild disadvantage and still doing fantastic, unbelievable things.
"Eh, I'm cool with it," Berri disagreed lightly, and although Berri was certain starting off a brand new friendship with a wavering celebrity, of wary trust, was probably not wise to be throwing disagreeable comments at, she stood her ground anyhow; she knew it had gotten her this far, anyways, "My grandmother has a game day... I see how exhausted she is, and how eager they are for Sunday to come around. It has its pros and cons."
"Whose your grandmother?" Gunner wondered with a smile, the two, including Gunner's small mob of guards, eased down the stretch of the hall and came to a specific class room, in which Wren and Theo were patiently waiting inside.
"Vanellope Von Schweetz," Berri eased cooly, though Gunner raised his eyebrows in solid surprise.
"What? THE Vanellope Von Schweetz?" Gunner gawked, it was here did Berri fully understand that she maybe had more Arcade leverage than she realized; she decided to take it two steps further.
"My grandfather is Wreck-It Ralph," Berri chimed sweetly, a braggy exterior she was now confident in wearing, especially when it came to her fantastic family members, "And, I'm sure you've already guessed it by now, due to my blue hair, but... My dad is Zed, of Dead Zed."
"Holy User, how many big-time gamers are in your family, anyhow?" Gunner scoffed a hard laugh and peered to her with a wide-eyed look of kind humility.
"Well, my uncle is Fix-It Felix, my aunt is Sergeant Calhoun of Hero's Duty," Berri listed, she teasingly looked off and shrugged, "My Aunt Koko is swap mates with Turbo's littlest brother, Nox, annnnd... Turbo's old racing coach and oldest brother, Throttle, currently gives me lectures, while I'm suspended. He used to teach at End of Line Academy."
"Alright... Maybe YOU should be the one walking around with the security guards," Gunner stabbed with a harder laugh, he jolted a step forward to grapple the large, long door handle of the heavy classroom door, and with a gentle, though hefty tug, he politely allowed Berri inside.
"Maybe I should," Berri snipped, the twinkle in her eye glossed Gunner's figure in a proverbial checkmate, the Queen held the board hostage, her lovely blue hair wafted after her figure in a smooth glide into the music room, and as her confidence continued to sky rocket, she knew she had Gunner's googly-eyed, dewy friendship in the bag.
As Berri stepped into the colder, air conditioned music room, her eyes glossed the place in tender remembrance. She knew, before she officially had started Academy about a month ago, she got a proper tour of this room, though now the fact that she was due to be welcomed back made her feel a sweep of ownership. She inhaled a deep breath, the gorgeous room had a loft of massive steps to her right, a hugged mini amphitheater styled standing and seating area, a place to potentially put chairs and have a proper orchestra. To her left was a wall of chalk and white boards, glass windows that peered into separate recording studios, a massive grand piano and instruments lined the room, it was a musicians heaven. The cherry on top was the gorgeous arch of a domed, glass ceiling, all lined with gold beams of structure, she tried not to get way too lost in thought; she knew, full well, she was now due to knocking both Wren and Theo off of their feet. Just as she thought this, she directed her attention to one of the white, glowing, secluded recording studios to her left, where Wren and Theo now cautiously staggered out of the fling of the heavy door, to said separate recording studio.
"Berri, y-you can't... Tell me to... N-Not freak out," Wren staggered, his deep voice crackled in giddy terror, he held his hands to his broad chest in a show of entire uncertainty and locked his eyes tight to Gunner's figure, as well as the handful of guards that filed into the empty room behind them, Wren continued on in a pitch of soprano that Berri was actually shocked he could squeak to reach, "C-Can I freak out now?"
"If you want to hold on to your dignity, then, no," Berri blurt a small laugh and crossed her arms, though Gunner's confidence and ease with fans had his feet pushing closer to Wren and Theo, who stood frozen in the archway of the door they hung out of.
"Hey, guys," Gunner pressed with a warm smile, he outreached his hand to Wren, as he neared, and bobbed a causal nod, "You must be Berri's cousins."
Wren was entirely frozen, Berri was certain he had turned to stone, though as Wren held out his trembling hand, Gunner shook it with further confidence, to which Wren's arm nearly turned into a noodle. Theo choked a small laugh, and although he was beside himself, as well, he wasn't nearly as far gone as Wren currently was.
"I'm Theo," Theo clarified as he reached out his larger hand, to which Gunner almost hesitantly shook, "Stone-cold, here, is Wren... I-I'm shocked you're here, actually... Y-You must've bumped into Berri, or something?"
"Literally," Gunner blurt a chuckle, sagged a few steps away from both men and casually sank his hands into his pockets, "Your hands are huge... I'm going to assume Wreck-It Ralph is also your grandfather?"
"Oh, yeah, he's mine and Berri's grandfather," Theo rubbed the back of his head and beamed Gunner a bashful smile, "I got more of the physical wrecking gene, than Berri."
"I didn't escape it, though," Berri muttered, she looked down to her larger wrecking hands; although not as large as Tessa's, and not nearly as large as Oliver's or Theo's, she still grimaced a little and was successful in hiding the fact that it was a mild insecurity of hers.
"You guys have gamer powers?" Gunner pressed in excitement, and although conversation spiked from excitement to a quick sag of casual easiness, Wren was still frozen solid, a look of dumbfounded, unadulterated shock still hung tight to his near-gaping facial expression.
"M-Me and Theo do," Berri now blurt a giggle, eased closer to Wren and so softly rested her hand on Wren's shoulder, "Wren? You, uh... You gunna be okay?"
"I-I'm fine," Wren mumbled as he shook his head and long-blinked, "I-I need to sit down."
"Guess I did sort of just... Wrangle you guys into my afternoon," Gunner stated sheepishly, he tugged his collar a little and almost gave Berri an apologetic smile, "I've made five attempts at making friends... Sort of trying to cling to any form of genuine friends I can get, here.. Hard to come by, in my situation, y'know..."
"Well, you're safe with us," Berri eased genuinely with a shrug, to which Theo nodded an encouraging nod, though Wren huffed a shaky breath and sagged back into the smaller recording studio that Wren and Theo were previously stationed inside. Everyone burst out into laughter as Wren's quaking figure finally found one of the studio's comfortable swivel chairs and plopped down in still-frozen terror, "This is Wren, forgive his silence, uh... I've probably done a decent job at concealing it, but... Truth be told, all three of us are huge fans of Archived Chaos."
"It's no biggie, I appreciate the support," Gunner heaved a small chuckle, and as the group began to softly melt into the brightly lit recording studio, Gunner found a tall stool to sit on, and did just that. Theo eased to the swivel chair near Wren's still frozen figure and Berri crossed her arms and opted to stand near Gunner, due to previously been sitting through hers, Tessa's, Penny's and Mr. Kelta's council meeting.
"I'm sure you're used to all of this clamoring attention, yeah?" Theo nonchalantly eased, it was clear that he was definitely the most even-keel, level headed individual among this mess, amidst any mess, though Berri could still see the shock in his vivid, emerald eyes, "Have you had any issue getting around campus?"
"Well, to be honest with you, my first day here will be next Monday," Gunner eased softly, he looked down to his hands and heaved an already exhausted sigh, "Even being here after hours has proven to be mildly difficult. I-I guess I just need a proper friend group to pal around with, a bit more of a buffer than what I have. It's nice having my guards and my manager here on the regular, but... I just stick out like a sore thumb, due to it."
"No one comes near us, so I guess there's no danger in hanging out with our little group of misfits," Berri shrugged, she lofted Theo a giggle, to which he beamed and cued to with joined laughter.
"That'll probably be changing VERY quickly, soon here," Theo grumbled teasingly as his laughter trailed into a wistful, nervous sigh. He eyed Wren, both him and Berri noticed that he was as stiff as a log, a look of terrified glee still glued to his face, which was lacking any amount of blood, "Alright, Wren, why don't you finally muster the courage to introduce yourself, then?"
"C'mon, dude, I won't bite, seriously," Gunner breathed a soft laugh, his sweet, loving eyes honed tight to Wren's nervous figure, he contemplated standing and making his way over to Wren to ease the situation, "Berri told me you guys are in a band, and have your own studio and everything... Y'guys maybe mind playing me something?"
It was here did Wren scoff a shaky noise of almost undeserving disbelief, he bugged his eyes, shook his head and trailed his trembling blue orbs to Berri's.
"...Welp, Theo and I would be happy to show you something, but I can tell you now that Wren will likely be sitting this one out," Berri blurt a laugh, to which Gunner and Theo joined in on.
"I understand entirely, I mean... No pressure at all," Gunner shook his head and beamed an eager smile, "I'd just love to have some friends to jam with, y'know? I haven't picked up the microphone since Archived Chaos fell apart..."
"We gotcha covered," Berri encouraged with a bob of a nod and a smile, though as Theo grunted to a stand, so to approach the one of many music hall's drum sets, Berri felt her insides do a weird dance as her hands also reached for her electric guitar. The very idea of the incredible Gunner Ko holding undivided attention to Sugar Rush's palace garage band was something she was entirely uncertain she was even ready for.
