*Chapter 24*
Hung in a sanctuary that was very slowly becoming her own, Tessa's eyes adored each and every single one of her mother's code boxes in the massive, heavenly code room. It glowed with pride as it cradled it's very first heir, of who had her first gasps of breath in the very stillness she sat in. In humbled quiet, Tessa sat for what seemed to be hours, studying the working of her future kingdom. She sat cross legged in a lazy posture on the invisible flooring, as if she were floating in mid air. The massive code boxes slowly spun in a delicate, working flow, a proper core and epicenter to everything Sugar Rush. The silence in the encompasing bubble was almost deafening, in such a way where you were pleasantly driven to the brink of insanity. The gentle hum of working, electric currents buzzed through each and every single wire, the interconnecting web of each of the thousands of code boxes.
Tessa held in her hand the infamous code book, of which never left The Hull; Vanellope saw fit that Tessa hold onto it, for her special coming of age task. Tessa's eyes dazed into space as she thought of what next week held in store for her. Her larger fingers tenderly slid up and down the golden, crisped edged pages of the thick code book. It was loved and bound in a cherry wood, with Sugar Rush's logo carved on the front, as well as a few other intricate designs. She finally heaved a hard sigh and fixed her eyes on the large book in her lap; she knew she had already studied a good chunk of it, now, though she knew she still had a bit of a ways to go before she could feel confident about Sugar Rush being left in her control for a single night. She furrowed her eyebrows lightly and mulled over the fact that growing up, Arcade style, was indeed a fast paced process, though she could feel that nauseating knot settle at the base of her stomach, yet again. The fact that the ball immediately came to the forefront of her thoughts, which were to take place tomorrow, made the situation more tense.
She threw her eyes far above her and heaved an annoyed noise to her beloved code room, the very center where she came into being. She smiled a gapped tooth smile in annoyance and shook her head lightly. The code boxes shone down at her, as if to meet her half way with an equal amount of fervor she had given out. The thought of the ball crept further into her mind, as well as the thought of dancing with Selka. She knew it'd only be a minor, small amount of time out of the whole night she'd be able to spend with her friends, though somehow she felt guilty. She slumped her shoulders and wondered how low she could sink; with no benefit to her best friend, Zane selflessly gave up his time to help her learn how to properly dance. She wondered if this dance with Selka were in vain; a proverbial smack to Zane's face.
With yet another, hard and annoyed sigh, she stood up and lugged the book to her center and chest. She hugged it tight, though she wrinkled her nose out of cheerful annoyance as the code room played back; it hummed back a louder, equally annoyed noise down to it's princess, as if to kindly tell her to stop worrying. Tessa side eyed the very tip top of the code room and glanced around at each box that bobbed around.
"Alright, alright, I get it," Tessa heaved, though she wagged a finger, "You can poke fun, I get it. Though, if you could randomly materialize a dress for me, that'd be fantastic."
No sooner had she said that, she froze and wondered if the code room would even respond to her silly orders. As if politely following it's duty, the code room gently lulled all the boxes in a certain direction, in which it was careful not to hit Tessa with any boxes or wires. As easy as cake, a box, which was labelled for Vanellope's closet, came close to Tessa, until it finally nudged her center. Tessa wobbled backwards with a small laugh before she squinted her eyes and smiled into the box. She snapped her finger with a wide beam and poked the box, as if to thank it.
"Of course, mom's bound to have something!" Tessa said quietly before she began to head towards the code room's sealed exit, "Thank you!" Tessa called over her shoulder; she was surprised to see all the boxes go back to their normal position and routine of lulling around. She shook her head in mild amazement as she finally slipped out of her safe haven.
"Mom?" Tessa lightly inquired, along with a gentle tap on her parent's cracked bedroom door.
She lightly peered in with gained confidence; she knew if her parents wanted privacy, the door would be closed. She immediately spot her father comfortably seated on his usual, large arm chair. He had the holographic, digital pad in his hand; he ran over a few, end of the day routines on Sugar Rush. His eyes glanced up briefly with a genuine smile.
"Hey Tess," Ralph said casually as he jot down a note or two. He kept his eyes trained downwards, though he continued, "Mom is out at Tapper's with your three aunts for a girl's night. Everything okay?"
"O-Oh," Tessa barely slumped her shoulders, though she hugged the code book closer to her chest, as if she had suddenly embarked on awkward territory. She smiled, nonetheless, "I'm fine, I guess... I just sort of have a girly question, a-and I doubt you'd be interested."
"Hit me," Ralph said through a hard grunt as he straightened up and stood from his comfortable position. Tessa gave him an annoyed smile as he largely stretched and groaned as well, he continued to speak through his strained voice as he raised his large arms and hands over his head, "I may be a big brute, but the women in this castle outweigh the men."
"I-I just needed to see if there was a certain article of clothing I could borrow from mom," Tessa said meekly, she suddenly felt very embarrassed as she hugged the code book tighter to her body.
"I'm sure you could look through her side of the closet," Ralph said as he glanced back at their large bathroom, where their walk-in closet resided. He furrowed his eyebrows and gazed long and hard at the archway to their dim bathroom, though he curiously peered back at his daughter, who painfully remained in the doorway of their bedroom, "What are you looking for?"
"Uh," Tessa exhaled gently as her eyes darted around their familiar, warmly lit room, "A-a dress."
"A dress," Ralph repeated as he raised an eyebrow, though he immediately dropped his teasing front as Tessa's eyes held a questionable amount of billowing hurt that could potentially amount to tears and neverending embarrassment. Ralph rubbed the back of his head and glanced down, "Yeah, Tess, she's got lots of dresses. I guess I sort of forgot... The Game Central Academy ball is tomorrow, huh."
"Yeah," Tessa quipped as she looked away in a shy manner, "It crept up on me."
"C'mon, she has a few for the occasion," Ralph kindly gestured, "You're about her size, anyhow."
"Thanks, dad," Tessa eased as she finally stepped farther into the room. She felt a sense of awkwardness hang over the two, she knew she'd feel a lot more comfortable doing this with her mother, though she figured any help was good enough.
"Yep," Ralph kindly chimed as they slowly stepped across the large, pearly bathroom and to the open, walk-in closet.
Ralph flipped a light switch as the two moved to Vanellope's side of the closet. He sifted through a few things lightly before he came to a section where she kept her few dresses. He delicately pulled each one aside a little as Tessa tried not to seem to eager to join him. She raised her eyebrows and bit her bottom lip in a fit of girly glee that hit her skin in a very unfamiliar way. She suddenly furrowed her eyebrows and wrinkled her nose.
"Never thought I'd hear you saying you want to wear a dress," Ralph said through a small chuckle as he nudged Tessa; she was quick to nudge him back.
"Dad," Tessa complained with a wide, embarrassed smile, "I'm not 6 months old anymore."
"I know," Ralph said through a gentle sigh and a broken smile, he slowly eased his hands to his sides and gazed down at Tessa in a sudden whirl of realization.
He furrowed his eyebrows and gazed down at his daughter through an endearing, comfortable stare. She gently tucked her long hair behind her ear and set the code book on a shelf, for the time being. Ralph gently took a step or two to the side and let Tessa sift through which dress she'd like to wear. He gazed down at her in a delightful, sorrowful way; he just barely shook his head, and had to wonder where the time went. She gingerly felt the fabrics of her mother's beautiful evening dresses, she kept coming back to a cream dress that flared at the bottom. He long blinked a few times and knew Tessa would grow into herself eventually; he knew there would come a day where dresses, boys and all things dainty and cute would stop becoming sissy and slowly eke into her life somehow. He knew she was a tomboy at heart, though the twinkle in her eye led to suggest her late blooming spirit was on the cusp of it's peak. He felt his heart pang as a wide, loving smile crept his face. He looked down to the ground and heaved a gentle sigh; he figured this bumbling grace and lithe air about herself had to be coming about from one thing and one thing only; a boy.
"So, you going to the dance with Penny?" Ralph inquired gently, Tessa glanced up at him.
"Yeah, Penny, Oliver and uh, Zane," Tessa said cooly; she inwardly cursed herself for the pause before his name.
"Zane's going?" Ralph prod; he knew the four heads of Sugar Rush had a bit of a bumbling first impression with him, though he figured everything seemed stable.
"Yeah, we're just going as friends," Tessa said, though her tone led on as if she wanted to keep talking about her worries.
"Sounds fun," Ralph crossed his arms lightly and watched as Tessa finally took the cream dress off the hanger, "You going to dance with anyone?"
"No," Tessa shot her father an annoyed beam, though she heaved a hard, forced chuckle and slumped the dress into her chest. She finally looked away in defeat and sighed through the truth, "Yes."
"Ah yeah?" Ralph tried not to seem to eager to be seeing this new side to his first born, "You gunna dance with Zane?"
"Why does everyone think I'm going to be dancing with Zane?" Tessa turned around and gave her dad an annoyed smile; Ralph largely shrugged.
"You guys hang out a lot, right?" Ralph innocently wondered as he gestured his hand a little, "Just a guess."
"No, I'm not dancing with Zane," Tessa said kindly, though she tried her hardest to hide the disappointment in her voice.
She hugged the dress to her and quickly strolled out of the closet. Ralph raised his eyebrows and quickly followed, though he slowed once Tessa slipped behind Vanellope's large, sprawling changing wall. He slumped his shoulders and put a few of his large fingers into the pockets of his comfortable, black sweats. He shook his head with an annoyed smile and awaited for her to finish changing.
"So who are you dancing with, then?" Ralph wondered as he began to feel protective.
"His name is Selka," Tessa stated as she rustled around, "H-He's... He's a popular guy in Dead Zed."
"Popular?" Ralph wrinkled his nose and held his eyes on the changing wall, it was beautifully graced with swirls of mint and pops of coral colors, "What makes him so special?"
"Oh, I don't even know," Tessa heaved a hard sigh, "Somehow, he gets all the girls to fawn over him, has friends all over Arcade, annnd, he just so happened to ask me, and only me, to save a dance for him."
"Do you WANT to dance with this... Selka, person?" Ralph furrowed his eyebrows, "Popular kids always seem to be a dull type, anyhow."
"I don't know," Tessa complained, "I was sort of hoping maybe it'd earn me some friends in Academy."
"Your cousins, Zane, Oliver and Emery aren't enough?" Ralph teased with a small laugh, Tessa returned the favor, but in a more annoyed tone.
"I just don't want to be eaten alive at Academy," Tessa said dully as she continued to rustle around, "Maybe once everyone sees that I snagged a dance with the popular boy, they'll want to know who I am, yada yada."
"Seems shallow, Tess," Ralph stated as delicately as he can, though he was surprised to hear Tessa laugh.
"Don't need to tell me twice," Tessa snapped, as if she had been kicking herself all week; Ralph raised his eyebrows in surprise as the pitch in her voice became a bit higher and nasally, "Not to mention, I've practically used Zane for this endeavor, too. I'm such an awesome best friend!"
"What do you mean?" Ralph furrowed his eyebrows harder, though he perked up once Tessa gently emerged from behind the changing wall.
Ralph slumped his shoulders in surprise and felt his heart jump; Tessa fit into Vanellope's dress perfectly, she was draped in the glorious, shimmery fabric as if the dress was made just for her. Ralph gently lugged his hand to his heart in a small fit of awe, though he frowned hard in surprise once he saw Tessa's teary eyes and cheeks. He heaved a confused chuckle and shook his head, though he took a step or two closer to her and gestured his hand out to her.
"Tess, you look," Ralph shook his head and gazed into his daughter's sad, tearful eyes. His heart sunk harder as a loving smile sprawled across his face. He shook his head and furrowed his eyebrows, "You look, so beautiful. Although, I'm pretty sure the dress didn't come with the tears."
"I know," Tessa meeped quietly as she rubbed her eyes with the backs of her larger hands. She inhaled a hard sniffle and peered up at her father again, as if to ask for pity she definitely didn't deserve.
"What's with all the self-loathing, huh?" Ralph wondered gently as he reached out towards her and took her hand in his larger one. He squeezed it lovingly and tilted his head down to get a good look into her eyes.
"Zane has been teaching me how to dance for the past two weeks, so I can dance with Selka at the ball," Tessa admitted as she slumped her free hand to her side, as if to express further dismay. She inhaled a raspy breath and looked down at Ralph's chest, "I'm repaying him by dancing with a guy everyone deems more worthy..."
"Bah, Tess," Ralph hissed as he gently lugged her hand to his chest, he cupped her one hand in both of his and bent down slightly, "You won't go far with popularity... Popularity leads to gossip, unwanted drama... I doubt you'd keep your close circle of friends... The ones who have been by your side for this whole year of the start of your life."
Tessa humbly gazed up at Ralph through saddened eyes, they slowly sunk back to his chest in a gentle downfall of regret. Ralph shook her hand a little, to get her attention, and bent down a little farther to gain eye contact again.
"There's no harm in dancing with this Selka, person," Ralph chuckled as he shrugged lightly and looked to the side, "I just hope you know, at the end of the day, who your true friends are... But if Selka tries anything, I'll wreck'im into oblivion."
"Dad," Tessa hissed with an annoyed smile that just barely emerged.
"You'll be amazed what respect others will give you, if you just be yourself," Ralph earnestly gazed deep into Tessa's eyes, "Us wreckers have that reputation to stick to, you know."
"I won't let you down," Tessa said through a small sigh as she lulled her eyes closed.
"I know you won't," Ralph said calmly as he finally, and slowly, lugged his large arms around his daughter. He squeezed her gently to him and buried his nose into the top of Tessa's hair. He shut his eyes tight and furrowed his eyebrows as he continued atop her head, "Don't let anyone rob you of that..."
"I won't," Tessa inhaled a nervous breath through tears that stained her father's shirt. She gripped her arms around his center as best as she could as the two gave each other a loving squeeze.
"That's my girl," Ralph whispered as he finally kissed the top of her head and pulled away delicately. He beamed a loving smile down to her and wiped away a few more tears that rested on her cheeks, with his large thumbs. He held her cheeks afterwards and made her look up at him, "I'd really like to see these dance moves that you've been taught, though."
"Not in this lifetime," Tessa grumbled as a smile surfaced, yet again.