Song Listened To - Addicted to a Memory Ft. Bahari - Zedd (True Colors)
*Chapter 47*
Tessa inhaled a deep, gentle breath and let her eyes get lost in her complicated, messy notes. She felt as her skeleton was still in suspended wait, as if she was sat in a nightmare that was never ending. She knew she had to look at the bigger picture, the fact that she now could focus all of her undivided attention to Academy. She felt Academy's gentle, afternoon breeze sweep through the courtyard, as if to kindly remind her that she wasn't alone, somehow. She felt tears sting her eyes as she finally tried her hardest to begin studying her notes and homework. She exhaled a shaky breath and figured potentially stopping by Zane's home, every once in awhile, wouldn't do any harm. She figured, just to catch up and see how he was doing, would potentially be harmless.
"Hey, wrecker," came a deep, familiar voice.
Tessa raised her eyebrows nervously and felt her heart jolt in a fit of uncertainty. She looked up and to the side to see none other than Selka gently worming his way from the shadow of a nearby tree, to Tessa's left. She felt her skin grow cold as she suddenly came to the hard realization that neither of them were in their own game. She attentively watched his figure and wondered if he was going to remain neutral in his slow march to her. He leaned onto the table a little and curiously peered down at what she was doing.
"What do you want," Tessa muttered.
"Doin' some homework?" Selka wondered in a kind tone that sounded too fake; Tessa furrowed her eyebrows and suddenly began to feel nervous.
"Yes, please leave me alone," Tessa muttered, albeit politely.
"Oh, y'see," Selka uttered in a sarcastically sad voice as he tenderly picked up one of Tessa's notebooks, which was half full of notes and homework, "I can't do that."
Tessa felt her heart drop; she knew exactly what was going to unfold here. She remained solid and let it happen, she almost felt as if she hardly had the strength to care, though the second Selka began to rip up her notes made her blood slowly warm from the tepid, room temperate it had been sitting at all week. She lightly flinched and slumped her shoulders in a massive amount of dismay she hid well. Tessa exhaled a hard, annoyed sigh as she stood and gently grabbed her bag. She was successful in slipping a few books into it, though she flinched once a different set of hands angrily swiped her book bag from her and flung it down towards the ground. Tessa inhaled a small gasp and took a few clumsy steps backwards.
"Whoops, did I scare yah?" Hissed one of Selka's friends.
"I think you did," Came another voice from behind her. Tessa whirled around and clenched her fists in rising anger. She harshly furrowed her eyebrows and felt a wave of hatred come over her code, as if she would never know happiness ever again.
"Remember that one time you were too cool to go anywhere without your precious fix it gal? Or, remember that one time you were too chicken to fight me outside my own game?" Selka chuckled as he crossed his arms, Tessa glared at him.
"I'll fight you anywhere," Tessa grumbled, as if this meeting was nothing more than an annoyance.
"Oh, anywhere?" Selka side eyed her with an amused smile, though Tessa took a step backwards in a nervous sense. Selka heaved a small chuckle and shook his head, "Too bad your wrecking powers are useless here, in Academy."
"What?" Tessa furrowed her eyebrows in a twinge of fear, though she was largely shoved from behind, from one of Selka's three friends that had joined him. She exhaled a small gasp and stumbled forward a little, though she nervously peered about a few times and noticed she was slowly being surrounded.
"You weren't fully educated on Academy rules, were you," Selka gave her a daring look, "Once you enter through Academy doors, all student's powers are basically put on pause. Any extra special powers you wield are useless when you're behind these doors."
"Yeah," one of Selka's friends beamed an amused, disgusting smile, "All those pretty hands are good for is-"
"Watch your mouth," Tessa spat as she furrowed her eyebrows. She gave Selka an annoyed smile and gestured her hands about, "Are you mad because I ditched you at the ball? Rejected you? Chose Zane over you?"
"It's all useless now," Selka quietly spat as he looked at Tessa down his nose, "I know that idiot hasn't seen you in days... Sugar Rush's kingdom is up for grabs, is it not?"
"It's NEVER been up for grabs," Tessa barked, though she nervously jolted as she was, again, shoved from behind. She stumbled forward and caught herself before she fell into Selka.
"Aw, NOW you want some love?" Selka chuckled, which caused his three friends to laugh in a disgusting, sly way. Tessa felt tired tears sting her eyes.
"You caught me," Tessa sarcastically mumbled, she knew putting up a fight was not something she could physically afford. She exhaled a tired breath and shook her head lightly.
"Where's your dragon, now?" Selka dared, "Seems as if no one is going to come to your rescue... Not even your little... Zaney... friend."
"What does it matter," Tessa uttered as her eyes glanced about Selka's chest in a nervous, dully annoyed way, "Just beat me up, get it over with... Unlike you, I'll walk away with my dignity in tact."
She tiredly gazed up at Selka, though she'd never let him see the defeated soul underneath the hatred she had for him. She largely flinched, however, once Selka threw out his hand and jammed it into her collar. Tessa exhaled a startled noise as he grappled the collar of her shirt and some of her skin in his fist. She furrowed her eyebrows and firmly pushed on his wrists, though she suddenly felt a cold realization come over her soul; the fact that her strength was practically gone. She squinted her eyes and raised her eyebrows in a sudden force of surprise at the mere fact that Selka was correct, in the fact that her wrecking strength was suddenly acting as if it weren't even a part of her code anymore. She choked a nervous breath and shut her eyes tight to prepare for the beating she was bound to get, though she suddenly forced her eyes from the back of her skull as Selka was suddenly shoved away from her; he clumsily dropped Tessa's collar.
"Hey, whoa, hands off, buddy," spat a familiar voice, one that made her heart curiously jump in a fit of remembrance. Tessa jolted and shook her head lightly. She gently gripped her throat and let her eyes readjust to exactly what was going on. She raised her eyebrows in hard surprise and felt as if her code was about to burst clear out of her skin.
"Zane, my main man!" Selka beamed a cheeky, annoyed smile as he clenched his fist, "You come back for seconds?"
"Leave my girlfriend alone," Zane dared as he largely shoved on Selka's chest; he stumbled backwards a little and gave Zane a confused look. Zane whirled around and gave each of Selka's friend's a hard, angry glare as he firmly pointed downwards, "All of you!"
"I believe you two are outnumbered," Selka beamed an annoyed smile as he pressed forward, towards Zane. He furrowed his eyebrows in pure hatred and glared at Selka.
"You think it makes you a man to bully people?" Zane urged darkly as he stood his ground, though Selka largely budged into his bubble, "This hate is between us. Stop dragging innocent people into our mess."
"Well then, lets go, Zaney boy," Selka laughed as he hovered his forehead before Zane's, "Twinkle toes. You can keep rhythm, right?"
"I keep rhythm like I keep a woman," Zane dared as he firmly shoved his forehead to Selka's in dominant aggression, "Can't say the same, huh meat head?"
"Is this the day I make you game over for good?" Selka darkly muttered, in Zane's face, "Is that what you want?"
"Oh, I'd LOVE to see you try," Zane growled as he gestured his strong arms outwards, so not to touch Selka; his strong shoulder blades peeked around his tight, lazy, black wife-beater. Tessa gazed hard at the back of his head in still shock, though she felt her heart pound harder than it had in a long while.
"Just end him Selk," one of Selka's friend's shouted, the other two loudly and obnoxiously agreed.
"Want your woman to watch?" Selka hissed in Zane's face, "How would you feel, knowing you left Arcade, with your pixels all over the ground, as her last memory of you?"
"All this talking, you're doing, is just you wasting my time," Zane said darkly as he smiled a daring, cheeky, yet dominant, glare of a smile in Selka's face, though he felt his skin prick like needles that were glued to Selka's every single move.
Zane inhaled a slow breath through his nose and let his feet feel the vibrations on the ground, of every last individual within his vicinity. He glanced about Selka's chest and could practically map his every move, like a slow motion play by play. As easily as Zane could, he opened the palms of his hands and faced them lightly towards Selka, by his sides. With rippling courage and a heart on fire for Tessa's safety, he largely let his secretive, hot blue code riddle the palms of his hands with a searing, dark blue light. He tensed his fingers and, just as Selka's fist came rocketing towards Zane's face, Zane clenched his fists closed and sent a shock of a wave outwards towards Selka, which sent him suddenly rocketing backwards. He awkwardly skid and hit the grass a few dozen feet away as dirt kicked up from the roll of pixels that confused the core of the game. Zane exhaled a hard, angry breath and largely whirled around to face Selka's friends.
"Who's next?" Zane shouted to Selka's three other friends, though they uttered noises of concern and flinched in Zane's powerful presence. Zane stepped a few steps closer to Tessa, who was frozen in awe at what exactly was happening.
He was surprised to see his three friends immediately take a good handful of steps backwards, though Zane gently let his eyes fall on Tessa's. He gave her a kind, though daring smile and slowly let his hands dim back to their normal state. He tenderly gripped her hands in his and was thrilled to feel her slide her shaking hands from his to his upper arms and lightly rest on his chest, in an almost confused manner, though she silently conveyed to him that all she wanted was his close presence, no matter the cost. Zane smiled a loving, almost boasting smile into her eyes and was quick to let his strong hands find the dip of her waist and curve of her back.
"C'mon, we've got some catching up to do," Zane eased to her gently; Tessa nodded with a stunned smile, though they flinched once Selka emitted a hard, disgruntled noise and pointed his finger in an angry way.
"Zane used powers inside Academy!" Selka hollered; a few bystanders quickly ogled the scene that had unfolded and nervously chattered with each other as Selka loudly continued, "Zane's not a self-programmed gamer!"
"Secret's out," Zane chuckled as he looked around, though he quickly took Tessa's hand and began to step away with her; she eagerly kept close to him and felt a weird wave of confusion swipe over her, as if she wasn't even sure this was reality. Zane glanced back at her as they quickly began to run for Academy's exit, "Stay close, this could get ugly."