Song Listened To - Cry - The Used (Imaginary Enemy)

*Chapter 86*

As quick as Tessa could move, she barged out of her last hour class, but not after politely explaining to Otto why she had to bail so quickly. Without looking inconspicuous, she moved down the crowded hallway with grace; gamers of all sorts filed into the hallways in a leisurely, moseying antics. She furrowed her eyebrows, and with agile footwork, in which she was blessed with by her mother, she bobbed and weaved around the mess with perfect accuracy. She finally pushed into the lobby, though she felt her heart sink as to just who she saw, or exactly who she didn't see. Penny could be seen, standing alone with her books tucked to her chest, in nervous wait for Tessa. Tessa exhaled a hard groan and finally made her way to Penny.

"Oliver left?" Tessa barked in hard annoyance, Penny gestured her hands out in defense.

"You know my last hour class is closest to the lobby," Penny argued, in Tessa's defense, "I didn't even see him leave the wing he usually comes from."

"He must have asked to slip out a minute early, to beat us," Tessa growled as she furrowed her eyebrows, though she suddenly jolted in a prick of knowing and lightly pointed to Penny, "Zed's always out in the station, before Academy lets out. If Oliver left, surely Zed saw him leave."

"Good thinking," Penny rushed as the two suddenly sprung into action.

They easily filed out of the crowded Academy and, as if they were the only two excited to leave the building, they flew down Academy's stoop and began to power walk their way all the way to Zed in hard determination. Zed stood in poised surprise as he saw the two rapidly approaching. He was worried keeping his whole prom secret, just that, was going to be difficult, but with how busied Tessa's mind looked, he suddenly felt a wave of relief come over him as they neared.

"Did you see Oliver leave?" Tessa largely worried as she approached Zed and Lickity; Lickity eagerly nuzzled her snout into Tessa's center and grumbled a kind hello, in which Tessa replied to in a loving few strokes on her snout.

"Yeah, he left early," Zed said in worried confusion as he gestured to Sugar Rush, though he kept his nervous gaze to the two girls before him, "What's going on?"

"I really need to talk to him," Tessa grumbled in a gripe of a complain as she threw her arm lazily out towards Sugar Rush, "He's been avoiding me ALL day."

"It's true," Penny rolled her eyes, "Tessa went to sit next to him, at lunch, and he had the gall to get up and leave without saying anything."

"User," Zed scoffed with an annoyed smile, "Did... Did we really upset him, that badly?"

"Apparently so," Tessa slumped her shoulders, though she nervously peered at Zed, "I really need to go talk to him."

"Do you know where he might be, in Sugar Rush?" Zed wondered softly as the two girls just barely started to relax.

"In the castle," Tessa muttered as she glared at Sugar Rush's outlet, "User knows exactly WHERE, in the castle."

"Better start looking," Penny rolled her eyes.

"I'm sorry," Tessa urged to Zed, in a nervous demeanor, though Zed furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Why are you apologizing?" Zed wondered as he shook his head and gave her a confused look, as if to question her notions further.

"I don't know, you've been by yourself all day, with Lickity, and here you probably expected to hang out with us," Tessa rushed as she slumped a few fingers onto her forehead, through her bangs, "And here I am, just running away, over something so ridiculous!"

"Tessa, this isn't ridiculous," Zed firmly grabbed her hands and peered into her eyes, "This is your brother... Go to him. He needs you, right now."

Tessa raised her eyebrows in delighted anguish, though she nodded and began to take a few steps away. Zed chuckled and released her with a gentle notion of a wave.

"Don't get hurt," Zed called, though he lightly peered to Penny, who had a kind air about herself, though her eyes peered into Zed's as if she somehow could sense something was different.

"You're quick to get Tessa to leave," Penny chimed as she crossed her arms.

"I-I may not have a family, but I understand the importance of-"

"You're forgetting that I'm the sharpest smarty you will ever meet," Penny rushed in a snap as she cocked an eyebrow, "What's the deets?"

"Deets?" Zed hissed with an annoyed sigh, though once Penny gave him a dull glare of annoyance, he slumped his shoulders and peered off to Sugar Rush just in time to see Tessa vanish into her own game, "Penny, your intuition is frightening, sometimes."

"Rumor has it, prom is being held at Dead Zed," Penny said slyly as she peered at Zed down her nose.

"...How did you find out?" Zed argued, he almost was bummed he wasn't able to surprise absolutely everyone.

"Well," Penny sighed as she finally looked at her nails, "My lab partner, in third hour, was late to Academy this morning. She told me she saw the director of Academy events chatting with you, out in Game Central Station, after the final bell rang."

"Dammit," Zed hissed as he looked away, though he nervously peered his full attention to Penny, "Please don't tell Tessa, I want to surprise her."

"Well, the whole school will know tomorrow," Penny giggled as she shook her head, "It's public knowledge, we sort of have to know where prom will be held, y'know?"

"True," Zed looked down to Game Central Station's tiles, though he raised his eyebrows in surprise as Penny took a step closer to him.

"I'll make you a deal," Penny smiled a charming, scheming smile, "You let me in on how your prom-posal unfolds, and I'll pretend to Tessa that you're not even attending."

"What? She'd slaughter me. She knows I love to dance, that's suicide," Zed argued with a smile.

"Well, so is opposed-code swapping, but I'm assuming you're still down for that venture, yeah?" Penny cocked an eyebrow and gave him a dull stare, as if to call check-mate. Zed raised his eyebrows in hard surprise and suddenly felt cold, though before too much time passed, he exhaled a small laugh and shook his head.

"Fine," Zed chuckled, "If you can keep a secret from Tessa, then you can help me make a believable story to go with my unveiled prom-posal."

"There doesn't have to be a story," Penny lightly shrugged, though Zed crossed his arms, "Pretend that you genuinely don't want to go. Point blank. It'll make her more mad than any other sob story you can pull out of your ass."

"Hey, I come up with good sob stories," Zed argued with a small chuckle.

"A likely story," Penny sneered with a playful smile.

Tessa barged into her home, the castle was quiet for the long day that everyone either had a game day or Academy. Tessa slammed the castle doors shut and peered about her Great Hall with growing, seething anger. She inhaled a slow, steady breath through her nose and just barely shook her head, as if she was having a billion arguments with herself over which side of her would win this battle: the glitch or the wrecker. She looked about for any signs of life, though the only thing she could sense was a bit of light coming from hers, Penny's and Oliver's wing of the castle. Tessa inhaled yet another breath, to steady herself, and finally opened her mouth.

"Oliver?" Tessa hollered, her voice echoed throughout her castle, as if the whole kingdom was suddenly attuned to every single move of their future leader, though she flinched once she saw Oliver lazily walk from the kitchen corridor, and cross to head to his room. Tessa furrowed her eyebrows and felt her blood begin to boil, with the fact that he was blatantly ignoring her. She grit her teeth, "Oliver!"

"What," Oliver spat, though he only briefly looked over to her as he continued to march across the massive Great Hall.

"Will you stop?" Tessa urged in an annoyed tone as she quickly began to step over to him. She tried her hardest to get a few feet in front of him. With much struggle to get anywhere, Oliver finally huffed a hard, annoyed breath and pierced his dark brown glare into her soul, "Why are you ignoring me?"

"Excuse me," Oliver growled as he tried his hardest to step around Tessa, though with agile footwork, in which he only slightly lacked, Tessa was able to stop him in his tracks again. She began to feel a twinge of worry hit her skin; she could practically feel the heat from his boiling blood.

"Oliver, talk to me!" Tessa begged, she began to feel panic begin to build under her skin. She largely gestured to herself and gave him a pleading look.

"About what!" Oliver barked as he clenched his fists. Tessa raised her eyebrows in hard surprise and felt a sarcastic smile sprawl her face.

"Oh, gee, I don't know, Olly," Tessa chirped in a high, sarcastic tone as she looked up to the Great Hall's gloriously arched ceilings, "The weather! It's been so hot out, lately."

"I'm sure it was hot last night, too, wasn't it," Oliver spat as he harshly furrowed his eyebrows; Tessa gaped.

"Is that what this is all about?" Tessa said in an incredulous tone, "I really don't know why you're so suddenly getting so bent out of shape about mine and Zed's relationship."

"You don't get it!" Oliver barked as he gestured his arms out, "You'll never get it! You're too busy traipsing after deletion, you don't care that the rest of us are worried sick about you!"

"Oliver, I never said I don't care! That's stupid, of course I care!" Tessa loudly argued back, "No one has ever said anything, how am I supposed to cater to you guys if I don't even know there's an event!"

"You'd think you'd read between the lines," Oliver muttered as he looked Tessa over, in a mild look of disgust. He softly tried to push past her, though he was largely shoved backwards, her strong hands suddenly jolted into his broad chest. He flinched and gazed down at her in a fit of wild surprise as he grunted a noise of pure annoyance.

"You know you can ALWAYS come to me, for anything Olly, you know that!" Tessa urged in his face as she pointed an angry finger, "If you had, you'd know that Zed and I know how to completely avoid deletion. Then maybe you would get your panties out of a knot!"

"Well, then, good for you!" Oliver hollered in her face, "Why don't you go swap with him now, prove us all wrong then!"

"What do you have against him?" Tessa wrinkled her nose, their shout match easily clung to the echoing walls of the quiet Great Hall, "You guys get along so well, why is this suddenly an issue?"

"You wanna know why?" Oliver barked as he pointed an angry finger to the castle's front doors, "You're absolutely careless about your powers, you temporarily gave Zed OUR wrecking ability, and he nearly broke his arms!"

"I didn't think it'd have such a bad backlash!" Tessa pleaded.

"You didn't THINK," Oliver shoved two hard, angry fingers to his temples for emphasis and glared down at her, "You ever stop to think about how you two would fight, after finally sharing codes?"

"Oliver," Tessa urged, though he largely cut her off.

"He would wreck the sprinkles out of you!" Oliver hollered, "A guy with a past like him, one of which he's struggling to even remember? Do you know how much pent up frustrations that guy probably has?"

"You're one to talk, you bottle your feelings all the time!" Tessa volleyed, the two were mere inches from each other's faces.

"I've learned how to accept the things I struggle with, I remember my past, I've sorted everything out!" Oliver gestured to himself, "He doesn't even know he has siblings, Tess! That stunt you pulled, on the beach yesterday, was incredibly stupid."

"Okay, then, Oliver, tell me how to pan out my relationship with my boyfriend," Tessa dared in annoyed sarcasm as she crossed her arms.

"Oh, I get a say in this?" Oliver barked with a widening, annoyed smile as he clenched his fists, "Alright. Here's what you do. Think of someone, other than yourself, before Zed gets it in, will yah?"

Tessa raised her eyebrows in hard, searing surprise, though just as she was about to let her mother's calm, soothing advice coat her existence, she honed in on her father's key, four words, in which were his signature game-shout. She furrowed her eyebrows deep into her eyes, and as if standing on the edge of the world, she reeled back and largely slapped Oliver across the face. He recoiled as Tessa exhaled a hard, angry breath. He shook his head lightly and peered at her in stunned shock, as if he was certain they would never ever reach this point, until now.

"I think about you guys ALL THE TIME," Tessa growled in his face, which read nervous, albeit angry, shock, "I've always put your feelings first, and if you can't see that, then you've absolutely gone Turbo."

Tessa quickly turned heel and began to march towards her bedroom. She left Oliver in stunned silence, though she peered down their wing of the castle in pure, writhing hate. She furrowed her eyebrows and wondered which emotion she should let surface first; hate, sorrow, regret? She shook her head and shoved away all feelings. She knew she had to let the two simmer before any sort of reconciliation was planted. Just as Tessa entered their wing of the castle, she suddenly flinched as a loud, reverberating bang suddenly rocked the whole world and nearly brought her to her knees. She gasped a small noise and wobbled a little, to catch her footing. She largely whirled around, and amidst a dust cloud of wrecked tile, Oliver stood with his fists largely clenched, his head was tilted down, though he gave Tessa a near hateful scowl. Within split seconds, Tessa felt her blood hit the boiling point.

"Think you're hot shit, huh? Trying out your new wrecking ability?" Tessa called in growing anger, though her voice was laced with her mother's charming, sly wit. She largely rocketed her book bag into the wall, of their wing, and cracked her knuckles as her bag hit the ground with a large thud, "Well, I've been wreckin' since day one, buddy."