*Chapter 90*
Tessa sat comfortably, though in still contemplation. She heaved a hard, silent sigh and peered out to the glorious, fluffy sand court in which her mother and aunt Taffyta had been skillfully playing on for the last half an hour or so. Tessa was pleased that Otto had arrived shortly before the game had started; she figured it was someone else to distract Penny from prying into her fragile feelings. After a little while, Tessa glanced about their group and noticed Zed, Oliver and Tammy were stood at the small bar stationed inside their massive, reserved, front row booth of the game. She rolled her eyes, though quickly caught herself as she could see Penny notice her out of her peripheral.
"Alright, one more roll, and I swear to User, I'm going to shove you and Zed into that changing room over there, and won't let you out until you've made up," Penny quietly barked as she pointed across the room, where there was a lone changing room.
"Come off of it, leave me alone, can't I just sulk in peace?" Tessa argued as she nervously glanced over to Zed, Tammy and Oliver; they were loudly caught in happy, laughing conversation.
"Are you seriously going to sulk for the whole game?" Penny wondered as she gestured towards the court; Ralph and Rancis were stood just outside the booth, to eagerly watch the game, though Penny knew it was to intimidate Mario and Luigi, who were across the far end of the court as well.
"If I said yes, would that be your hint to leave me alone?" Tessa glowered, Penny shot her a death glare.
"What the heck, where did all this come from?" Otto laughed as she wildly gestured her clawed paws; she was dressed in comfortable, green shorts and a white crop top.
"Tessa's upset with Zed," Penny said in a dull tone.
"Please, say it louder," Tessa argued as she slunk her elbow over the back of the fold out chairs that the three were sat on. She lazily gestured her hand in Zed's direction.
"Why are you upset with Zed?" Otto wondered quietly as she flattened her ears, though she honed her attention to Penny, she knew she'd likely have more raw, solid information on the subject matter, as opposed to Tessa's moody mess of an explanation.
"She's just mad she had to find out the location of prom through our third hour teacher, instead of Zed himself," Penny rushed in an annoyed way as she kept her dull stare to Tessa's agitated one, "She's too stubborn to approach Zed about it."
"I can see why you're upset," Otto assured to Tessa, which caused her to sit up straighter out of surprise.
"You can?" Tessa asked in sudden, quiet shock.
"What!" Penny complained as she gave Otto a pleadingly hard stare, she squinted her eyes in mild offense.
"Sure! I'm positive Zed's known about this for a lot longer than the rest of us, at Academy," Otto said in an annoyed tone, in loo of Tessa's feelings.
"At least SOMEONE understands," Tessa said through a half hearted giggle as she crossed her arms and sunk into her chair; Penny furrowed her eyebrows at Otto.
"You're just being a sore sport," Penny volleyed, "What if he has something up his sleeve! Or, here's something, what if he just, oh I don't know... Forgot?"
"She has a point," Otto uttered softly as her claws lightly arranged her whiskers on her cheeks. She glanced in between Tessa and Penny.
"Forgot," Tessa spat with a sarcastic huff of a laugh, she shook her head and peered out to the court to continue to watch the game, "He may have a bit of a memory coding issue, but trust me... He's not a forgetful person."
"Just go talk to him, this is the perfect opportunity!" Penny hissed quietly as she flung her arm out and gestured to the three about a dozen feet across the booth.
"If you just ask him, it wouldn't hurt anything," Otto gently shrugged, "You might be getting bent out of shape for no reason."
Tessa inhaled a hard breath and slowly looked over her shoulder. She peered at Zed from across the way and scrunched her shoulders in a fit of contemplation. After a few moments of silence between the three girls, she finally glued her eyes to Penny's and breathed out a long breath through her nose.
"C'mon, we'll go up with you and maybe try and distract Tammy and Oliver," Penny kindly concluded, though her voice still held a twinge of annoyance.
"With what, your nagging?" Tessa muttered as the three stood on a cue, though Penny cocked an eyebrow in Tessa's direction.
"Excuse you?" Penny's voice grew deep and quiet, though Otto flicked her tail in hard annoyance and waved her hands about.
"Alright, Tessa's upset with Zed, we don't need to add YOU to the mix," Otto snapped at Penny, though she gave Tessa a look of snark as well, ears flattened and all.
Tessa inhaled a sharp breath through her nose, yet again, and began to trudge towards the bar counter, where Zed, Tammy and Oliver were lazily laughing about a story Tammy was telling. Otto and Penny moseyed over as casually as they could, alongside Tessa, though they tried to keep to Tessa's cues and such. Tessa lightly hung near Zed, Otto was first to make herself the divider between Tessa and Penny, so to avoid the two bickering any farther. Tessa listened in on what Tammy was saying; it was a story from before Tessa was born, one of which involved Orion. Tessa furrowed her eyebrows and knew she had heard this small story a billion times, though she found it interesting to the cute way Zed reacted to it, as if listening to it told vicariously through Zed's ears was something brand new. For a lull of a quiet moment in her brain, her frustrations lifted as she eased into the warmth of his side, though it wasn't until he accidentally elbowed her arm did she snap back into blinded frustration.
"Oh, sorry," Zed uttered nervously as he peered over his shoulder, though his eyes lit up once Tessa's face came into his view, "Oh, hey Tess. Come to join the party, eh?"
"Yeah... We were warned the first half of the game is relatively boring," Tessa muttered through a forced, small smile, though it immediately sulked back to dull annoyance once Zed fixated his eager attention back to Tammy's lively story.
Tessa breathed a mentally exhausted sigh and slumped her elbow to the counter, as well as her chin into her fist. She furrowed her eyebrows and side-eyed Zed, though she felt her ears prick as Penny's sharp, whispering voice daintily called to her.
"Just ask if you can talk to him, after Tammy's done talking," Penny whispered as she leaned over the bar counter a little, to get a good look into Tessa's eyes.
"I really don't know if this is the time and place to discuss this whole prom issue," Tessa whispered back, as quietly as she could, though Tammy, Oliver and Zed were loudly preoccupied.
"All you have to do is pull him aside," Penny argued in the softest whisper she could muster as she gestured her palms outwards, a little.
"Surely he'll comply," Otto eased quietly as well, she lifted a fountain drink she had left on the bar counter a few minutes prior and brought the straw closer to her, in preparation to take a sip. She side-eyed Tessa with a kind, knowing smile, "You won't know if you don't try."
"I think I'm just going to drop it," Tessa slumped her shoulders and let her defeated gaze glance about the bar counter, though she flinched once Penny exhaled a huff of a sigh.
"Seriously? After all your complaining and griping?" Penny gawked quietly, though she largely gestured to Zed, who thankfully had his back partially turned to the three girls, "Get it over with...!"
"You're already here, y'minus well," Otto chuckled as she set her drink down and flattened her whiskers and ears to her face and skull, as if to express non-aggression.
Tessa furrowed her eyebrows and lightly peered to her left; Zed's arm was lightly pushed into hers, they relaxed in a casual, skin tight friction that seemingly rested dormant, or so Tessa thought. She felt her circuits go mad, though she knew in order to find her way out of this maddening maze, she'd first have to communicate to him. She knew this learning experience was rough around all of the edges, though she was positive she was at least sort of beginning to get the hang of it. With an inhale of confidence she finally gained, and an ounce of kindness that finally surfaced to her skin, she reached her hand out for Zed's arm. Just as her fingertips met his warm skin, the six at the bar jolted with sudden nervous anticipation as the whole crowd, outside their booth, suddenly gasped and called out nervous antics.
Tessa raised her eyebrows in hard surprise as everyone whirled around to get a good look as just to what was going on. She felt her heart drop in nervousness as she could see her father and uncle Rancis running out onto the court, towards Vanellope. As if poison gas was suddenly let into the air, everyone tensed into action and rushed to the opening of the booth. Tessa squinted as the harsh sunshine pierced her pupils with a painful glare. She quickly burst out to the sandy outskirts of the court and, as desperately as she wanted to rush out onto the messy, hot sand, in which her mother, father, aunt and uncle were nervously poised, she jolted as a sharp whistle was suddenly cued towards her. She flinched and peered to the side of the court, where the referee flagged her not to step any farther. She furrowed her eyebrows in growing anger and gestured her arms out.
"You gunna fight me for it?" Tessa hollered angrily as Tessa, Oliver, Tammy, Zed, Penny and Otto largely hung back. Tessa glanced at her family in the center of the court and could feel the tension rising, she glared back at the referee and quickly began to disregard his warning, "My mother is in trouble, I don't care what you want!"
Tessa shot the referee a dirty look before she quickly focused her full attention on her family, who were nervously gathered around Vanellope. She quickly pushed into their bubble and brushed arms with her uncle, who eagerly shot her a curious look. Tessa glanced about her family before she glued her attention to her mother, who was calmly stood, though Taffyta and Ralph largely hovered near her and quietly asked her nervous, rushing questions. Tessa reached out her hand to her mother, though she inhaled a sharp gasp and yanked her hand away. Vanellope's arm was very visibly broken at the base of the wrist.
"Mom!" Tessa cried quietly as her eyes bulged, though Vanellope shot her attention to the new set of eyes before her.
"I'm okay, I'm alright!" Vanellope complained, almost in an annoyed way, "Why am I always the one to get hurt at these stupid events?"
"You definitely have a knack for putting your code through hell," Rancis chuckled, though the five flinched as yet another whistle was blown and another referee ran over to the group.
"Quick, we'll get it looked at in the safe room," The referee assured as he gestured for Vanellope's good arm, to help aid her. He winced and furrowed his blonde eyebrows, "Yikes... Got a nasty break."
"Tell me something I don't know," Vanellope muttered, though she nervously shot her attention to Taffyta, who quickly began to follow the three, "I don't want to forfeit... Not to those snobs."
"I-I'm sure we'll figure something out," Taffyta worried as the three vanished, though Rancis quickly followed suit.
Tessa and Ralph tensed to quickly follow along, though a sharp, girly, sly voice from behind quickly caught Tessa's attention.
"Oh, how sad," Daisy suddenly chimed as she rested a dainty hand on her collar; she looked back to Peach in a sarcastically sorrowful way, "I'm sure the only thing she thought she'd break today was a nail!"
Tessa scrunched her shoulders straight into her head and froze dead in her tracks. She inhaled a sharp breath and, as if she had never felt anything like it before, the anger level in her code suddenly shot through the roof, from zero to sixty in no time flat. She whirled around and practically seethed as her angry footsteps began to pace closer to the two competitors across the court. She could swear she could see red, though she suddenly was jolted out of her fury as her father's large hand grappled for hers and yanked her back into perspective.
"Tessa Von Schweetz, I don't think so," Ralph barked quietly with a hint of an annoyed chuckle. He yanked Tessa tight to his side and began to lead her towards where Taffyta, Vanellope, Rancis and the referee led off to.
"I could take them," Tessa said through grit teeth as she remained in writhing fury. Ralph laughed and squeezed her into a large side hug as the two continued on, though Tessa stumbled a bit.
"Oh, girly, I know you could," Ralph laughed quietly as he gently let her go, though in doing so, he largely ruffled the top of her head and pushed her ahead of him, using the tips of his fingers to nudge her farther away from the escalating situation; she grimaced in an annoyed way and waved her father off, though not without exhaling a hard raspberry of frustration, "Y'could show them just how volleyball is played."
"I'd put the ball somewhere, I'll tell you that," Tessa muttered, though she couldn't help but smile as Ralph exhaled a hard laugh at her notions. She beamed him an annoyed side smile, "I'm glad you find my death threats amusing, dad."
"You're just like your mother," Ralph uttered with a kind smile down to her, though the two pricked their attention to the bustling, nervous group Tessa had left behind.
"Is she okay?" Zed worried as the five nervously peered back to a room Vanellope, Taffyta and the referee vanished into.
"She seems to be walking just fine," Penny uttered worriedly as she held her fists just under her chin, "What happened?"
"She broke her arm," Ralph uttered through a hard sigh as he shook his head, "Don't know how, but... We might have to lose this game."
"No!" Tessa urged in a hard, annoyed tone as she flung her arm out towards the court, "You saw those girls, they don't deserve that trophy. There has to be something we can do."
"Tess," Ralph urged, though the six flinched as she suddenly pushed and weaved past everyone and began to head in the direction that her mother vanished to. Ralph exhaled a raspy sigh and ran his large hand over his face, "Tessa!"
Tessa furrowed her eyebrows and ignored her father's gentle plea. She quickly pushed down a small hallway and towards the room that her mother, aunt and the referee vanished down. She noticed two nervous nurses push their way into a room that hooked to the right, though she suddenly flinched as she could hear her mother's painful cries pierce her eardrums. She jolted and moved faster towards her injured mother. She largely pushed into the room and finally slowed to a stop as the raw sight before her hit her brain like needles.
The doctor, a tall, stoic, intelligent looking EZ Living local stood carefully assessing Vanellope's arm; she loudly grimaced and grit her teeth in growing pain, though the doctor was handed a few things, from the quickly working nurses. Taffyta stood close to Vanellope; both girls were drenched in sweat and had sand gripped to their lower calves and down. Taffyta brushed her forehead free of sweat and caught eyes with Tessa in an apprehensive, knowing sort of way.
"This is irreversible, here in EZ Living," The doctor softly eased down to Vanellope, which seemingly put the room at a less tense level. He softly began to wrap Vanellope's arm, though she loudly groaned an utter of pure pain.
"What are we supposed to do?" Taffyta argued, "We can't just leave EZ Living and go back to Sugar Rush to reset her code, that could take over a half an hour alone!"
"There's nothing I can do here, that will make it so Mrs. Schweetz can continue on playing," The doctor softly worried as he glanced into Taffyta's eyes, though he focused his whole attention down on wrapping Vanellope's left arm.
"Can we buy that kind of time?" Taffyta suddenly flung her attention to the referee, he largely flinched and gave her an incredulous look, "Surely we can just rush there, and rush back."
"Buying twenty minutes of game time is about as much as we can afford," The referee rushed.
"We're racers! If we just rush home, and rush back, it'll be all good, yeah?" Taffyta wagered, though the referee wagged his finger and looked down in contemplation.
"Actually, come to think of it, leaving the arena disqualifies you automatically," The referee urged gently, though Taffyta largely slapped her arms to her sides.
"You're kidding me!" Taffyta shouted, though Vanellope shot her a confused, albeit agreeing look, "So, we have to forfeit to those prissy princess wannabe's!?"
"You don't have a choice," The referee argued back, though it was obvious everyone was attempting to remain calm, "Either you forfeit, or you put someone of code relation in Mrs. Schweetz's spot."
"We can't do that, Penny would never play!" Taffyta bellowed down to Vanellope as the two caught eyes, though the room grew a very painful decibel of quiet as everyone gently stopped what they were doing.
Taffyta slowly raised her finger and let a wide, scheming, excited smile sprawl her face. Everyone nervously slid their line of eyesight to just who was standing in the gaping doorway, with a nervous, incredulous look of shock on her face. Taffyta beamed in excited knowing and squinted her eyes. She crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow back at her nervous, misfit of a niece. Tessa raised her eyebrows in dewy surprise, though she remained frozen cold. Taffyta exhaled a small laugh and shook her head as she continued on.
"Ohhh but I know one smarty who will."