Chasing the Gold


Murder wasn't something Po thought of before. Now, someone disappearing wasn't the worst thing in the world. Po stood amid a sea of dancing and laughing animals; his face the only one devoid of any humor. He rested his back against the high school gym wall, plastered with prom decorations of black and purple. A wallflower if ever there were one.

Why was he here sulking?

Staring across the room with bedazzled ladies and gentlemen, Po found one person on his mind. And her arms were lovingly wrapped around another. Sadness trickled from his heart to his gut while heated eyes bore into the lucky guy dancing with his friend of four years. And just his friend. The guy was handsome, smooth face, rough-cut. The star football quarterback dancing with a beautiful tiger in a shimmering red dress.

Po actually hated the dress more than the person whose hands were wrapped around it. It was his idea to have her get that dress. Po gnashed his teeth together until they pained him. The jock was cuddled up with his friend who looked more beautiful than he ever dreamed of.

Po wouldn't admit it, but the female tiger looked so happy with him. Gazing into his eyes like a love-struck soul hopelessly lost to the slow rhythm of the music while he, the wallflower, as punishment for heaven knows what, sat watching in envy.

And it was all his fault. Because he didn't say what he wanted to say. Tigress, the tiger beautifully clad in the sparkling dress he suggested, twirled around with her dance partner. Po looked at the empty cup he held and grumbled.

"I need some air." And no one knew when he walked out, because wallflowers don't make a sound. He left the gym, saw a cop car parked by the side with one buffalo officer in it, and turned to the other side of the gym's parking lot where he wouldn't be lectured in some "go back in there and get them" attitude from a guy who probably didn't know what he was going through.

Po and Tigress had been friends since they came to Jade High, and the two had stuck together for a while. For four proms, they had gone together with their usual group of six friends, but after junior year, a solid decision to avoid the next one was made. That is... until Tigress started dating the famous quarterback, Jakko. "Please, Po," Tigress said, "I need your help. I can't figure out what to wear." Po remembered when he went with her to get the dress and even offered to pay for half of it using the money he saved up to get a new car.

"Like the Good! Friend! I am," Po facepalmed his head with each word. As he sat on the sidewalk's edge, he looked out past the floodlights in a packed parking lot. He knew about his crush on Tigress for a while, since the beginning of Senior year. He tried to figure out ways of getting out of the friendzone, but that's when Jakko came into the picture and messed things up.

But there was another reason for his problem. Po's dad was chatting with a friend about Po's love life... which is very nonexistent. But the boisterous panda said something that jarred Po. "Yeah, he's been having a little hard time with the ladies, but I'm sure the one will come around."

"What kind of girl do you think he'll have?" asked the friend.

"Oh, actually I was thinking maybe a panda or a soft-spoken type. I can't really see him with a canine or feline," his dad said.

A feline. He couldn't see him with a feline. Po later asked his dad why, but his dad couldn't give any sound reason other than it didn't seem like he would be with one. His friends had the same outlook, though he didn't know if Tigress did. So what? Was he not good enough for felines and canines? Why did they get to dictate who he could and couldn't date?

"And why do I care?" Po mumbled. "Ugh... I can't believe I'm doing this. Why did I come to this stupid thing?"

Because of Tigress.

"And why do I care about that?"

Because it's Tigress.

"GAAAHH!" Po screamed. He clawed at his head. There was no way around it. He had to confessed that he made the biggest mistake not telling Tigress how he felt sooner.

The worst part was that Jakko wasn't a total jerk. Star athlete, smart, tall, wise beyond his age, and actually stuck out for Po when he was getting bullied. Though his arrogance did flair up when they were going up to state, the quick lesson in not choking did humble him. He was perfect. "Just. Perfect," Po crushed the cup in his hand.

Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice. "Goodbye." Po whipped his head around and saw the star athlete leaving the gym. Without Tigress. Before Po could even get up, the tiger in question rounded the corner. Po looked at her. She looked at him. They said nothing. Tigress simply sat down next to him, looking at the sea of cars and floodlights with him.

"Hey," She finally said.

"Hey."

"What are you doing out here?"

"Uuhhh... I uh... needed to get some air. Yeah, just didn't like all the people in there, I guess," Po lied. Tigress stared at him, low-lidded eyes with an unimpressive line for a mouth.

"One, you're more social than me. You don't get overwhelmed easily by people. Two, you love parties. Three, you love people." Po cursed himself in his head. Of course she knew that. "So tell, without lying, what are you doing out here?"

"What about you?" Po asked. "I thought you were dancing with Jakko. Did something happen?"

"Uummm yeah. He and I... broke up." Po dropped the crushed cup.

"I'm sorry, what? Wh... wahy Why? What happened in there?" Po narrowed his eyes. "Did he try something on you?"

"Po," Tigress said flatly, "If he did, he would be screaming out of there. I can protect myself, you know." This was true. The tiger had taken multiple self-defense classes, to which she'd practice on Po at times.

The panda really needed to say no sometimes.

"But," Tigress continued, calling Po's attention again. "We... after we danced, I was trying to look for you, but... I thought you went to the bathroom. I sat with Jakko, and we laughed about the dance."

The absolute silence was oddly placed between them. Several times the door from the gym opened and closed, signaling the end of the prom. The night air was cool, still, so there was no possible way for Po to mishear her words. And yet, she just stopped.

The awkward pause made Po shake his head like a robot malfunctioning. "And?"

"That's it. Nothing happened. Nothing. We just... sat there and did nothing and said... nothing." Po rose his eyebrow. "I guess that's when I knew something was wrong with us."

"Really?" Po asked. "What do you mean?"

Tigress gave a large sigh. She wrapped her arms around her knees close to her chest. The cool night gave her pause more weight. "We didn't say anything for a while but then... Jakko asked if I was having a good time. I said yeah, but then he said, 'no I mean with me. Have you been having a good time with me?'"

"Sounds a bit cocky," Po muttered, though he quickly heard the hatred behind his own words.

"But when I said yeah, he said, 'I mean dating me.' I asked what he meant." Tigress started chuckling. "The dork started quoting Charles Dickens."

"Excuse me?"

"'Another idol has displaced me.' he said. Before I could say what, he said, 'A golden one'. I laughed and said, 'This is the even-handed dealing of the world. There is nothing on which it is so hard as poverty; and there is nothing it professes to condemn with severity as the pursuit of wealth.' He chuckled and said, 'You fear the world too much'."

Po's eyebrows netted together. "What are you guys talking about?"

Tigress rolled her eyes. "It's a scene from A Christmas Carol. You were in the play."

"OHH! Right! The scene where he's getting ditched by... oh that's cold."

"Wait there's more," Tigress smirked with a tint of mischief. She always had that look when she was hiding something interesting. "We got to the part where Scrooge says he was a boy. He... Jakko kinda looked sad and said, 'Your own feeling tells you that you were not what you are. I am. That promised happiness when we started out. And how much I've thought about keeping it... despite the misery of two star-crossed lovers.'"

"That's not-"

"SSShshh shut up," Tigress hushed, "I'm getting there. He said, 'it is enough that I thought of the consequences and can... now release you.' He went to leave, but I grabbed his arm.

'Have I ever sought release?'

'In words? No. Never.'

'In what, then?'

'In long lost stares; in confused names; in pining for another life, another one. Tell me, if the gold you forsook sought you out, would you seek me, the silver, out?' I... I couldn't answer him. I couldn't even look at him. He said, 'When I have learned a truth like this, I know how strong and irresistible it must be. But if it is so, how wrong to poke the key into a lock it wasn't made to fit. Would you go through the struggle to make it fit?'" Tigress shivered a bit, not from the cold. "He said, 'I wouldn't, and I do release you. May you be happy in the life you have chosen.'"

"I... Am... so confused," Po said. "First off, why were you two talking about a Christmas Carol in May? Second, what does that have to do with you two breaking up? Third, since when is the quarterback a poet? Fourth,...WHAT?!"

Tigress sighed and looked Po in the eye. "He means that I loved him not because I wanted him, but because I couldn't get someone else."

"Oh... so... there was another?" Po asked. Tigress nodded. This was news. As far as he could remember, Tigress didn't have any other crushes. She was too busy in the business class, running student presidency, winning awards. Admittedly, Jakko was kind of a last-minute thing, so it wasn't crazy that they broke up. But who else was there?

"As much as I tried to make it work," Tigress continued, "And as much as he was patient with me, ultimately it's stupid to force something like this."

"Didn't know he had a knack for poetry," Po sighed. "But it... almost sounds like he called you out instead of breaking up with you."

"He... in a way he did. But... he also gave me hope," Tigress sniffled, wiping her eye, "I can't hate him for that."

"So... what are you doing out here then?" Po asked. She smiled at him, like he had performed some kind of part in their little play perfectly.

"I'm getting my gold." She leaned forward. Po couldn't even remember what was happening. One moment, they were talking about an old book. The next, Tigress was kissing him. Po jumped back, disconnecting them. Surprise and shock colored his reddened face. Tigress frowned. "I'm sorry, I-"

She didn't need to say anymore. He paid her back. His lips pressed against hers. His hand cupped her chin as they tilted their heads. Tigress placed a hand on his black suit jacket, but she made sure not to crush the red rose she had picked her him. "You have to look nice, too. Maybe you'll find a pretty girl at the prom," She had said.

And he did. He finally did.

*********FF***

"No teenager talks like that," Demi loudly announced.

"Shut up! Shut up! I know, I know!" I grunted. "I'll fix it... I hope."

Hopefully, I have.

The End