Chapter Octavum

And my exams are over! Whew. Well, I guess it could have been worse but I was stressing and revising like mad, especially for French – Mon personnage préféré de Homestuck est Karkat Vantas car qu'il soit souvent en colère – and I spent ages revising trig and then that WASN'T EVEN IN THE STUPID EXAM but anyway.

Oh, and, hello and thank you to everyone who's started following this since I last uploaded.

Right, now I thought I'd better write some of Tessa's back-story because you're going to need to know this pretty soon, sooooo...

Stories From the Past

Tessa fled silently across the MU campus. She wasn't supposed to be here – she was supposed to be in school, listening to Sir drone on and on about the history of Greece, as if they'd ever need to know anything about the human world – but she had to find out more about that cute boy she'd caught a glimpse of. She knew she was being a stalker, but she couldn't stop herself.

Pausing behind a tree, she wondered if anyone had noticed her. She honestly hoped not. Hauling herself fairly easily into its branches, she settled down in the thick foliage to wait. She was tempted to put her ear-buds in, but she needed to be on full alert. Stabilizing herself by wrapping her tentacles round the closest branches, she leaned back relaxing against a V in the trunk.

###

Half an hour later, Tessa was regretting not putting her ear-buds in. She was bored out of her mind and on the verge of calling it a day. At fifteen years old, she had more patience than most girls her age, but right now it was wearing thin. She was beginning to with she had just gone to school like any sensible monster would have, but Tessa had always been more impulsive than was good for her, and, like a love-sick puppy, just had to go and do this. Waltz straight into the campus to see the boy of her dreams.

Then, against all expectations, she saw him. Slim and graceful and gorgeously awkward. He wasn't wearing his glasses, but it was him all the same. Her hearts fluttered in her chest, suddenly out of time with each other, and she could feel herself blushing indigo.

###

About a week later, Tessa found herself once again in the branches of what she now considered to be her tree. She hadn't been to school at all since That Fateful Day, preferring instead to lounge in her tree, waiting and watching, but she knew it couldn't last. The school would be sure to contact her parents, and that would be it. No more creepy stalking for her. She couldn't let that happen. There was no way they were going to take her away from HIM. Since the first day, Tessa had found out a bit more about the boy. His name was Randall Boggs but went by Randy, he was a freshman, which explained why she hadn't seen him before, and he tended to hang out with his room-mate, Michael 'Mike' Wazowski, a small green blob of a guy who Tessa wasn't sure she liked.

She checked her watch, to discover that she was late – oops. She took her ear-buds out – since that first day, Tessa had always listened to music, and had discovered that it actually kept her more alert than otherwise – and slid down the trunk.

###

That evening, she lay on her bed, twirling Randy's glasses around by one arm. She hadn't stolen them, she told herself, he'd been the one to drop then in the bin. She'd seen him do it. If he didn't want them, surely it was better she got them than landfill. Her parent's conversation drifted up from below.

"I thing you should talk to her about it, Frank, because in all honesty, I don't feel up to confronting that girl. She's wilful and impulsive, and she tires me out!"

"Darling, are you sure that's not yourself you're describing?"

"Oh ha ha. Just go talk to her."

That didn't sound good.

She didn't hear her father walk up the stairs – it was from his side that she'd got her 'silent ninja powers' – but she did hear him knock.

"Tess, can I come in? You're mother wants me to talk to you."

Tessa forced her voice to remain neutral. "Yeah, okay."

He father entered and sat down on the edge of her bed. He cleared his throat. "How was school?"

Alarm bells started ringing. "Oh, you know, school-y."

"Oh really? Because the school rang earlier today. They wanted to know why you haven't been in school in a while. Over a week now."

Ah. "And you never considered the fact that the registers might be wrong?"

"Tessa."

"I mean, come one, your lack of faith in me is astounding. I've never missed school before in my life, why should you assume I've started now?"

"Tessa."

"Haven't you ever heard of the presumption of innocence? How you could ever suspect me of doing such a thing –"

"Tessa!"

"Okay, yes, I've been skipping school. Happy now?"

"Tessa, why would I be happy that you're skipping school, and, for instance, the registers weren't in fact, wrong? But what I really want to know is why. Why have you been skipping school?"

Tessa scowled. "I have my reasons."

"Which are?"

"Dad, I don't see why I should tell you about every moment of my entire life! I have my reasons, and can't we just drop it?"

"Tessa..."

"No!"

###

The next day found Tessa in school once more, much to her annoyance. Her father had agreed to stop questioning her if she agreed to stop skipping school. Her best friend JuLia was telling her about something, but she wasn't really listening. She was furious. How dare her father butt into her life? Didn't he realize how important this was to her? She was a teenager, not a little kid, and as such she needed her freedom. Why couldn't he respect that?

"Tess? Tessa? Earth to Tessa, what's wrong with you?"

Tessa blinked. JuLia's two heads were staring at her, Ju's with a look of concern, Lia's with intense irritation. It had been Lia who'd spoken.

"Oh, sorry, I was just thinking about something."

Lia gave her an It'd better be good face, as Ju asked, "What about? Homework? Parents? Boys? You're blushing; it is boys. Who? Spill!"

Tessa's face was hot, as she said, "No-one you'd know."

Ju wasn't one to give up easily, though. "Come on, who? I want to knoooooow!"

Tessa shifted her weight nervously. "Just some cute guy I happened to catch a glimpse of on the MU campus. His name's Randy."

"You talked to him?"

"Nah, I just, um, overheard someone else talking to him."

Lia's cynical nature took over. "Really? What were you doing on the MU campus anyway?"

"I never said I was on campus! So suspicious! Anyone might think you think I'm a stalker or something."

"Well, anyway, you still haven't told us why you were off school." Ju said, trying to change the subject. There was silence.

"Oh Tessa."

###

Tessa had worked out a routine. She would skip school once a fortnight, a different day each time so teachers wouldn't get suspicious. She would then spend that day on the MU campus, and the next day, Ju would pester her about it. She had almost completely ditched her tree in favour of following Randy around. He never saw her, though he got scarily close to it, once.

Tessa had been following him about ten metres behind, ready to slip into the crowd if needs be. She had looked away for a second, and when she looked back, Randy was gone. She had panicked – how could he have disappeared so quickly? – and looked around her desperately. Where was he?

After what seemed like eternity, but was probably only two or three seconds, Randy had appeared right next to her. Startled, she had jumped, but he didn't appear to notice her. He had just gone straight back to Mike, leaving Tessa blinking behind him. Ever since then, she'd kept her eyes on him at all time.

###

Randy could camouflage himself against any background! Tessa honestly didn't understand why she was surprised, it would explain how he'd disappeared like that. This was sooo coooooool!

###

It was a year later when Tessa was finally approached by the MSS. They had been watching her for a while, and since concealing oneself from a guy who could turn invisible at will was not easy, they had decided she would be suitable for the job.

What exactly the job was, she was yet to find out.

Writing teen Tessa was weird. She's weird, her plans are weird...