*Chapter 85*
"That's only the main track, though," Zed continued on, deep in his and Tessa's conversation. He lightly glanced at her as the two, including Lickity, slowly moseyed down Dead Zed's wires, "The other ones are a bit more... Winding."
"So, what about yours?" Tessa wondered, she shoved her hands into the pockets of the brown hoodie that used to be Zed's, she wore her black spaghetti strap underneath as well as a pair of her worn Sugar Rush pants.
"My track?" Zed wondered as he wrinkled his nose and caught eyes with her once and for all, the familiar scent of Game Central Station could finally be sensed as the draft, through Dead Zed's winding wire, brushed their hair about, a little bit. Zed shrugged his shoulders, through his comfortable black t-shirt, "Y'know... It's been so long since I've raced on that track, I sort of forget."
"That's right, you've only ever had one quarter alert," Tessa said through a small sigh as she peered ahead; the interior of Dead Zed's outlet finally came into view, "You didn't happen to take it all in, on that one run, did you?"
"I would have, if I wasn't flustered as it was," Zed chuckled as he shook his head and let his gaze remain forward, "Suddenly, it was just go-time, and I did the only thing I really knew how to do. Race."
"I wish I had one day where I could race the Users," Tessa grumbled as she crossed her arms.
"A day, yes," Zed's eyes met hers in growing kindness, "Though, I've heard from a lot of user-made gamers that game day is anything but a walk in the park."
"Guess we'll never find out," Tessa grumbled as the two finally stepped into Game Central Station, with Lickity not far behind them.
"Yeah, oh well," Zed laughed softly as the two stopped; they finally faced each other as Lickity came alongside Tessa, "More time to faff around."
"True," Tessa raised her eyebrows before she lightly looked down to Lickity, with a kind smile, though she wrinkled her nose lightly as the memory of last night, and her massive interrupting scene, came back to her mind.
"You gunna talk to Oliver before Academy?" Zed wondered nervously as he lightly shrugged his hands into the baggy pockets of his comfortable, dark green cargo pants. He gently glanced over to Sugar Rush's outlet to see if Oliver and Penny were on their way.
"Yeah, I'll try," Tessa hissed through a dreaded sigh and a soft nod. She furrowed her eyebrows and felt as if her thoughts were slowly jumbling with too much, as if the pile was suddenly too big to even care about anymore. She lightly gave Zed her tired attention and lovingly reached out to stroke the side of Lickity's cheek, "Not positive he'll listen to me..."
"You have a way with words," Zed assured as he tilted his head lightly and caught humble eye contact with her, "You should be just fine."
After a few moments of light conversation and letting the bustling hum of the station cloud their thoughts, their little bubble was softly popped by Penny's kind voice.
"Hey, guys!" Penny smiled as she lightly nudged Zed's elbow with hers; he gave her a kind, surprised smile and stepped aside lightly, to make room.
"Hey Pens," Zed said kindly, though he felt his heart nervously sink as he could see Oliver, in his peripheral, hang back on purpose.
"You guys have a good night?" Penny genuinely wondered, though she flinched once Oliver lightly nudged her elbow and took a few eager, clearly brooding steps away.
"I'll catch you in second hour, Penny," Oliver said to her, and only her.
"O-Oh, okay!" Penny lightly waved, though just as Tessa was about to open her mouth, to speak to Oliver, he largely waved his hand and shooed her off, as he turned heel.
"Save it," Oliver firmly ordered to Tessa as he finally stepped away, his pacing stride looked dominant and angry.
Tessa raised her eyebrows in hard surprise and felt her skin grow cold at the sheer amount of insult suddenly laid into her. After a few seconds of dreadfully painful silence, between the three, she nervously peered to Penny and Zed through glassy eyes, which cued Zed to slump his shoulders in a sweep of anguish.
"Really?" Tessa argued as she gestured towards her younger brother, who was quickly approaching Academy, from far across the station, "I have six classes with that guy. What am I supposed to do?"
"Olly's been pissed off, ever since yesterday," Penny heaved a hard sigh as she shook her head, she nervously tugged her bag over her shoulder and adjusted her light pink zip-up jacket, over her body, "He's hardly said anything, to anyone."
"Was mom mad I was gone, last night?" Tessa wondered with a twinge of fear in her voice, though much to her surprise, Penny smiled.
"No, she wasn't mad," Penny waved her hand lightly, "I think she was confused, more than anything... But she knew you'd be safe with Zed."
Tessa raised her eyebrows in disbelief and quickly averted her attention to Zed; they peered at each other in incredulous looks of surprise, though she lightly shrugged and figured the two shouldn't question it.
"I'll take it," Tessa said through a nervous chuckle, though she finally shook her head and peered towards Academy, "What do I do, now? Sit next to him, in each and every single one of our classes, and just wonder why he's ignoring me?"
"I don't know, Tess," Penny sighed, though she gave her cousin an apologetic frown, "He's really upset... I'd say just let him stew, for as long as he needs to."
"That could be for an eternity," Tessa argued.
"When guys are upset, they just need to hull away and be by themselves," Zed explained softly, "I'm sure he just needs more time to process... I'm sure he's just bottling a lot of stuff, he's been dying to tell you, but wasn't sure how."
"I'll never understand why you boys operate the way you do," Tessa grumbled, though she gave Zed a kind smirk. He easily returned the gesture, though with a playful eye roll.
"It'll be fine... Just maybe give him space," Penny suggested, though the two lightly flinched as the warning bell suddenly rang through Game Central Station. She nervously peered to Tessa, though she immediately switched it to a smile of assurance, "C'mon, you'll see."
Tessa nodded, though out of nervous instinct, she quickly filled the gap, between her and Zed, and eased into his arms for a goodbye hug. Zed raised his eyebrows in surprise, though he wasted no time in welcoming her into his warm embrace. He chuckled softly and gave her a good, hard squeeze and a loving kiss on the cheek.
"Git," Zed lovingly snapped, though the two caught eyes in a whirl of gentle delight, "You'll be just fine. I love you."
Tessa raised her eyebrows in poised surprise and, as if it were their first reveal, all over again, she felt her skeleton want to turn to goo. She couldn't help but beam a gentle smile that wanted to explode into the happiest of grins. She lightly took a step away from him and tucked her fists to her chin, just barely. She could practically feel Penny ogle the two.
"I love you too," Tessa assured softly, and with a curious smile given to him, her and Penny lightly turned heel and head for Academy.
Penny lightly hooked her hand in the nook of Tessa's inner elbow and latched onto her. Tessa exhaled a soft giggle as the two quickened their pace towards Academy. She rolled her eyes and knew Penny was about to crawl all over her.
"Ohhh, you're on 'I love you' status, now?" Penny chimed quietly, "Is this a 'what happened last night stays in last night' kind of thing?"
"No, Penny," Tessa giggled in a bashful way as she covered her face lightly, "He told me he loved me, like a month ago."
"Why didn't you tell me!" Penny worried in an annoyed, excluded kind of a way. Tessa laughed and gave her cousin a mildly annoyed look, though she figured she should hold fast to her brood; she knew all they could ever do was care.
"I'm sorry, Pens," Tessa said honestly, "Slipped my mind."
"Slip'n'sliding away from being embarrassed, is what it is," Penny muttered, though she squeezed herself tighter to her cousin, "Sooo how was last night?"
"Penny," Tessa bashfully complained.
"Oh come on, you have to tell me, it's unwritten cousin code!" Penny rushed in a twinge of a whine.
"I'll tell you later," Tessa muttered through a wide, bashful smile.
"I'm holding you to it," Penny cocked an eyebrow as the two pushed into Academy together.
Zed heaved a hard sigh and watched as Penny and Tessa quickly head to Academy. Once they were inside, and once the final bell had rung, Zed finally peered his attention to Lickity, who was calmly sat on her hindquarters, with her wings lightly relaxed. Zed lovingly reached out and softly pet the side of her head and face, in which she easily bowed into. She grumbled a soft purr of appreciation and let her eyes lull closed.
"Alright, Lickity, where to, today?" Zed wondered through a soft breath of a sigh as her ears softly perked atop her head. She peered up at him expectantly, though he furrowed his eyebrows in teasing shyness and lightly wagged a finger, "Don't think I'm going to forget the stunt you pulled, last night."
Lickity garbled an almost apologetic noise, though she seemed smug about being mischievous. She bared her fangs and lightly let her tongue just barely hang out of her mouth, though Zed flinched once she was quick to straighten her goofy posture and hold true to poised readiness. Zed furrowed his eyebrows as she flattened her ears, he noticed her pupils lightly shrink. He opened his mouth to speak to her, out of pure confusion, though he was jolted out of his thoughts.
"Ahem, uh... Mr. Zed?" Called a curious voice; Zed whirled around in hard surprise and came face to face with none other than someone from the administrative side of Academy. He was about Zed's height, though he held a clipboard with a thick stack of papers on it.
"Oh, hello," Zed said in a neutral, albeit confused, tone. He flinched once Lickity bowed her head and let a nervous, quiet growl hum in the back of her throat.
"Y-Your... Your dragon isn't going to hurt me, is he?" The finely dressed individual wondered as he held his clipboard over his chin in nervous contemplation.
"No, no, she won't," Zed quickly assured, he lovingly pet Lickity's snout and was thrilled to gain her eye contact, "It's okay, Lickity, no danger here... Everything's alright."
"Not used to strangers?" the new presence wondered, he gave Zed an understanding look, though he continued to look a little nervous.
"Bah, sh-she had a bad weekend. She's usually really friendly to strangers, but, she'll bounce back eventually," Zed waved his hand lightly. He continued to keep a loving hand on her neck, tucked behind Lickity's flat ear. Little did the stranger before them know, he let the coding, on his hand, come alive, so to ease Lickity's worries, and to prevent an unnecessary game-over. Zed raised an eyebrow in curious wonder and looked about, "Is uh... Everything okay?"
"Ah yes, everything fine. I'm Chester, director of Academy's events," Chester said as he relaxed a little, his dark brown hair was tidy, and his small glasses made him look beyond intelligent. He gave Zed a kind look, though he looked down to his clipboard, as if to contemplate his next move, "I originally wouldn't bother you, with this notion, but, some other workers in Academy have noted seeing you in Game Central Station before and after Academy hours, mingling with a few students."
"I-Is that a problem?" Zed worried as he kept his loving grip to Lickity's neck; she remained calm.
"Not at all," Chester smiled as he breathed a small chuckle, "We were certain it'd be difficult to track you down. I was almost positive I would have to trek through Dead Zed's jungles to find you. Half the reason we almost didn't consider you..."
"Consider me?" Zed wondered nervously, he began to feel tense.
"The school is in a bit of a predicament. The game that Academy was originally going to host this year's prom at, unfortunately got unplugged yesterday," Chester said in a sorrowful tone as he looked down to the tiles. He slowly caught eyes with Zed and gave him a curious, inquisitive look, "Since you know some of Academy's students, and are seemingly more active in the game world, on behalf of Game Central Station's education board, we were curious if you would do us the honor of hosting this year's prom, in your game. Surely you have some noteworthy locations, for such an event."
"H-Host prom? Wow," Zed scoffed, he removed his hand from Lickity and brushed his fingers through his hair as he was suddenly hit with a wave of shock.
"You would simply just be giving us a plot of land, for the evening," Chester assured, "No planning or tired actions, on your end, are needed... You don't even have to attend, if you wish against it."
"Oh, well," Zed smiled down to the tiles and suddenly felt his heart pound with overflowing delight that coursed through him. He chuckled softly and looked back to Chester with a curious smile, "That's sort of a game changer."
"We understand if you wish to decline," Chester assured with no sense of neediness.
"I accept," Zed smiled, though he held up a finger, "On one condition."
"Name your price," Chester breathed a small, knowing laugh as he folded the clipboard over his center, in a proper way.
"I don't know the school's policy, on attendees, but," Zed trailed off and furrowed his eyebrows, "My girlfriend attends Academy... I'm curious, if I can use Academy grounds to ask her to prom, in my own way."
"It is leaning against social conduct, that user-made gamers ask any of our students to prom, but seeing as you're doing the school a massive favor, I'm sure we can all work something out," Chester smiled, though Zed gently motioned back to Lickity.
"It would involve bringing her dragon onto the grounds," Zed worried, though he gave Chester a hard stare, as if to pray it would be alright.
"Hmm," Chester furrowed his eyebrows and lightly scanned Lickity, "If she can get that temper under control, without your aid, I'm sure I could pull some strings. Just tell me the day, of your proposal, and the Academy will be prepared."
"Great, then it's settled," Zed gestured his arms as he beamed an excited smile, Chester nodded and gently outreached his hand for a handshake.
"Yessir," Chester chuckled as the two held in a firm handshake, "Academy will be in touch with you, about your desired location for the event."
"Thank you so much," Zed smiled, he tried his hardest to hide his overflowing excitement.
"No, thank you," Chester assured; the two lightly parted ways, though once he was out of earshot, Zed threw his fists in the air and jumped lightly. Lickity garbled a curious, excited noise and relaxed her stance.
"Yes, this is perfect! I could just kiss you!" Zed hissed as he largely grabbed Lickity's cheeks and pushed a hard smooch into the top of her snout. Lickity wrinkled her nose and shook her head with an annoyed garble. Zed nudged her and gestured for her to follow, "C'mon girl, we got some plannin' to do."