A/N: Hey guys! Thanks so much for all your input, and such, for how I should upload Tessa's and Zed's special scene ;D I will be uploading one chapter a day, for said scene, which is 3 chapters long (and all shiny and finished and ready for you guys to devour!) Though, there's still a bit of a wait and I know it's torture and I'm sorry Dx
Song Listened To - Fall Into The Sky ft. Ellie Goulding - Zedd
*Chapter 97*
Tessa nervously tapped her pencil and fingers, in un-timed, nervous antics, on her desk. She heaved a soft, silent sigh for the tenth time in the past handful of minutes. Her and Penny were sat in assigned seating, by their teacher, which meant they were sat across the room from each other. Their third hour class, Game Science, which was right before lunch, seemed to drone on. Tessa knew she should be paying attention and taking notes, though she couldn't help but run over the millions of different scenarios her and Zed would have, after Academy. She wondered if he was upset she 'missed' him, this morning. She knew Penny was bound to give her information, though she figured lunch hour would be full of this topic. Just as she was about to feel her stomach growl, the bell softly chimed, which cued every tired body, in the room, to suddenly tense and rustle their items in an excited drone of routine.
Tessa perked up and, as quickly as she could, she tucked the long strands of her hair behind her right ear and quickly began to shove her stuff into her lazy sling bag, in no particular cleanly order. She quickly stood and assessed where Penny had laid off to, though she wasn't surprised to see her making a bee-line towards Tessa's desk, so the two could walk together to lunch. Tessa gave Penny a weak smile, though it quickly slipped to annoyed knowing as Penny approached her with a dull stare.
"I know what you're going to say," Tessa droned, Penny crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow.
"You don't think I can hear you sighing and clacking your pencil from across the room?" Penny grumbled, though Tessa rolled her eyes and began to step towards the exit of the class, after mostly everyone else had slipped out of the classroom.
"You really shouldn't worry, just talk to Zed, maybe you're just hungry, blah blah blah," Tessa wagged her hand about as the two slowly moseyed out of their classroom and into the beautiful stoned archways of their great Academy halls.
"You should just start writing this stuff down," Penny giggled as she pushed one of her textbooks into her bag, "It's clear you'll need it for the classes we don't have together."
"I'm just mentally exhausted, mulling all this over," Tessa grumbled, "I mean... Prom is in three days. He knows that, right?"
"I mean, I'm sure he does," Penny shrugged gently, though she felt as if bursting at the seams was now a huge understatement.
"Did Zed say anything to you today, before Academy, about it?" Tessa curiously wondered, with renewed energy, as she glued her hopeful eyes to her cousin. Her sharp new hair style made Penny look twice, as if it was still confusing to get used to.
"No, not that I recall," Penny fibbed plainly, "He just mentioned taking Lickity and giving her a good bath."
"What?" Tessa hissed in annoyance, "I just gave her a bath, last night. What, she doesn't look good enough for him?"
"I-I..." Penny stammered on her words and instantly cursed herself for picking that white lie to rely on. She furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head, "I have no idea. Maybe he's taking her fishing, and will clean her afterwards."
"Maybe," Tessa finally settled as she looked ahead, in a disgruntled way. Penny beamed an annoyed smile and shook her head.
"I'm going to go to the bathroom, real fast," Penny concluded softly as she began to gently peel in a different direction, "I'll meet you guys at our table."
"Sounds good," Tessa said dully as she waved Penny off and continued on.
Tessa knew she was burdening her family with these minor worries of hers. She knew it was just a dance, just a simple event; she knew it'd blow over, and somehow she'd come out of it, with Zed, and their relationship maintained. She had to wonder if he knew how upset she was, over this, though she figured everything would get settled after Academy. With a renewed breath and her head held high, for the first time in days, she finally was successful in mostly ridding herself of her negative thoughts. Just as she was about to step out of Academy's glorious stone archways, and into the soft, inviting green grass of the massive courtyard, in which their table lay in wait across the way, her thoughts were lightly disturbed by someone she thought she'd never come across ever again.
"And to our left, ladies and gentleman, is the clear example as to why zoos were invented," Jeska snapped in a slick chime of dark sass. The small group of girls, she was with, began to giggle and snicker in mean delight.
Tessa let the words roll off her shoulders as she dazed a confused smile out to the courtyard, though the second realization hit her brain, as to just who was speaking, she felt a cold spill of knowing roll over her skin. She stopped dead in her tracks and quickly peered her attention to her right, where Jeska and her small band of friends hung around and idly chit chat, though most of them had their delighted, predatory attention honed to Tessa's lonely figure. Tessa let the words replay in her mind over and over, as fast as lightning, though as if on a cue, she beamed a small smile and played along.
"Oh, cool, thanks!" Tessa started sarcastically, as she dared to take a step closer to the group of preppy girls, "Not only can I eat like an animal... I can also fight like one. Want a demonstration?"
"What, and miss out on seeing your wrecking abilities?" Jeska joked in sly charm as she side-eyed Tessa, "We should probably wait until you're in your own game. Wouldn't want to hurt yourself."
"Hurt myself?" Tessa snapped as she wrinkled her nose and gave Jeska a dirty look.
"Yeah," Jeska plainly shrugged, "I mean, clearly you can't handle even getting a hair-cut. Is your new hair-style a result of losing a bet with your kitchen blender?"
Tessa furrowed her eyebrows in growing hate, and as much as she wanted to lunge for Jeska's throat and take her out, she inhaled a sharp, slow breath through her nose and did everything in her power to slowly step away, with no further interaction. As much as it made her blood boil, she continued to step away, an act of self control she knew she needed to hone, if she were to make a strong Queen, one day. She shut her eyes tight and continued to slowly breathe in and out as she let the soft grass, under her bare feet, coat her existence calm.
She finally peeled her eyes open and, as Jeska and her friends' giggling finally sunk from her ears, she let Academy's warm sun hit her skin with delight. She tried her hardest to wholly focus on the gentle, kind atmosphere that welcomed her into the courtyard. She forced a small smile and noticed Tammy, Emery, Otto and Oliver lolly-gagging near their table, as if to get ready to go in small groups to get lunch, one at a time. She noticed Emery and Oliver step away together, to be the first to go get lunch, while Tammy and Otto hung back, so not to lose their table. Tessa slowly approached them and set her bag down in an open seat.
"'Sup, Tess," Tammy smiled, Otto gave her a kind nod.
"Hey," Tessa heaved a soft sigh and watched Oliver and Emery disappear towards the cafeteria.
"We missed you this morning," Tammy lightly inquired, with an almost annoyed smile. Tessa nervously caught eyes with her older cousin's.
"O-Oh, yeah, I was just..." Tessa trailed off and scanned every last fiber of her being for a good excuse, "I was just talking to administration about my schedule."
"What happened?" Otto worried, as if losing her good friend, from their last hour class together, was the last thing she wanted to happen. She flattened her ears in impending worry.
"Oh, nothing, I-I just had a question about a higher class I'm interested in," Tessa coolly fibbed, though she began to feel the pressure as Tammy's hot, knowing stare became more dominant and unsure on Tessa's nervous skin. Tessa cleared her throat and let her worried gaze chase after Oliver and Emery, who were now a good ways away across the courtyard, "I-I'm going to go join Oliver and Emery."
Tessa slowly began to step away, though Tammy and Otto gave each other knowing smiles.
"What a fibber," Tammy chuckled once Tessa was out of ear-shot, Otto lulled her head a little and flicked her tail once.
"That girl doesn't know what's about to hit her," Otto beamed an excited smile.
Tessa could feel the circuits underneath her skin continue to wiggle with anger, from her raw encounter with Jeska; the look of hatred still burned into her dark eyes, her unforgiving stare on Tessa's soul. Tessa figured she was just upset she was now with the head of her very game, and that Jeska lost her chance, though the fact that Tessa had to now endure bullying, without being able to do anything about it, is what made her the most mad. She continued to try her very hardest to keep her cool. She knew she didn't have to see Jeska, at all, during the day, because of lack of classes with her, though the fact that she could still be seen in the hallways, for her to bark mean antics in her direction, was what made Tessa sometimes wish she was invisible. She finally slid her worries off of her thoughts and focused now, on catching up with Oliver and Emery. She softly pressed through the quiet courtyard, with gentle chit-chat of other gamers, than lingered around, though much to her massive dismay, a quiet, though sharp voice pierced her bubble, once more.
"Hey," Jeska snapped, she slowly approached Tessa from the opposite direction, in which Tessa was walking. Tessa felt as if all of her hard work, in calming herself down, had now suddenly been thrown to the wind. Tessa only briefly glanced to Jeska's direction, as she approached, though she continued onward, "Don't you know it's rude to walk away from a conversation?"
"I also know it's rude to deck someone in the face, for petty reasons," Tessa snapped darkly as she continued on, "So, I walked away to avoid hurting you."
Tessa pushed on as firmly and dominantly as she could, though she was floored to see Jeska suddenly step out and in front of Tessa, to get her to stop. Tessa jolted to a halt and pierced her scary gaze straight into Jeska's soul, as if to give her a hard, threatening warning. Jeska crossed her arms and gave her an equally annoyed glare.
"Were you ever taught manners?" Jeska glowered, "Surely, being royalty would have taught you at least SOMETHING about how to be a proper princess. How does Zed even deal with that?"
"He doesn't have to 'deal' with anything," Tessa muttered darkly, her hateful gaze laid into Jeska's soul with as much fierce dominance as she could muster, "Not like the grotesque stories he's told me about YOU."
"What, I keep up with my hygiene? I wear shoes?" Jeska said in sarcastic sorrow as she gave Tessa a look of annoyed anguish and cupped her hands together, "Is that maybe why the poor boy hasn't asked you to prom?"
Tessa raised her eyebrows in cold, nervous surprise and immediately wondered how Jeska got this information; her blood began to angrily pulse in her skin.
"That's right," Jeska hissed as she dared to take a step closer to Tessa, though Tessa was surprised to feel herself suddenly flinch and her defenses fall; Jeska darkly continued on, "I'm not stupid. I have eyes and ears all around Academy. I know it's all you can complain about... The master of the game doesn't even want to go with you, to prom... What a shame. He probably saw your new do and ran for the hills."
"Back off," Tessa dared to hold her ground, with success. She clenched her fists and felt the anger in her circuits rise to a degree she was almost uncertain she could calm.
"Perhaps, he doesn't want to be seen with a hobo, like you," Jeska uttered with a mean smirk.
"I'm not a hobo," Tessa raised her voice, only lightly; she knew such a word was a teasing, loving pet-name her mother had used towards her father.
She felt her heart began to crumple in agony as the torture, that Jeska dished, was becoming too much for her to want to retaliate with just words alone. She clenched her fists and was more than prepared to receive suspension; she accepted her fate and awaited one more wise-crack from Jeska's mouth.
"What if I told you that Zed's thinking of inviting ME, to prom," Jeska whispered loudly, in Tessa's face, as the two hovered just angry inches from each other, "He's too scared to tell you, and let you down... He's afraid you might... Wreck-it."
Tessa inhaled a sharp breath, and just as she was about to let her raw strength fly, she jolted and was surprised to see Jeska take a worried step or two back, and peer over Tessa's shoulder in pure terror. Tessa raised her eyebrows in angry confusion and exhaled a small noise of inquisition, as if she so badly wanted to continue to follow through, with beating Jeska to a pulp, though she kept her hard, confused gaze to Jeska.
After a moment, Tessa finally whirled around and followed Jeska's line of sight. Before any gears in Tessa's brain could work correctly, she felt her whole existence crumple into extreme confusion as to just who she saw nervously moseying into the courtyard. Her adorable dragon companion, with wings tucked tight to her body, sniffed the glorious grass a few times before she finally set her large, cat-like eyes to Tessa. Tessa gawked in horrified confusion as Lickity slowly began to make her way across their massive distance; she could swear the whole school was now frantic with excited notions towards the new, curious addition to the school.