"Oh….mah.…gosh." Frozen in horror, Zelda stood in the doorway. Her dark hair fell over her face until only her chin could be seen. She clenched her fists until they turned bright white. She could feel the bile rise in her throat. She turned and ran like the wind down the corridor. She crashed straight into Asa Pike.

"What's up with you?" He asked, pulling her to her feet quite roughly. Her hair fell out of her face. He saw that her eyes were big red and puffy. "Oh Zel." He pulled her into a hug and Zelda cried.

three minutes before

The finals were coming up and Manfred Bloor had to study. Lydia Pieman was in his trigonometry class and he could use a study partner. Who knew Lydia wanted more than that? She was pretty enough, but he had Zelda, the most important thing in his life….at the moment.

"How long have you and that Dobinski girl been together now?" Lydia asked.

"Long enough, why?" "Maybe she should give someone else a chance." She gave him a look that sort of creeped him out. He used to like her "like that" but now…not so much. She put her hand on his leg and he moved. She rolled her eyes and looked around the room. "I, personally, think her nose is a bit to…large."

"So? Not everyone is a clone of a Mary-sue." Manfred snarled defensively. Lydia rolled her eyes and began to walk around the room. She turned to face him again. "What?" Manfred gave her a funny look.

"You really do seem to be a sweet guy. Why didn't I notice before?" Lydia leaned into his face and kissed him. Right then, the door opened revealing Zelda. They both looked. Zelda darted down the hall and Manfred kicked Lydia to the ground. He went after her.

There she was, in the corridor with Asa trying to calm her down. Asa gave him a quick look that seemed to say Dude, what did you do to her? Manfred shook his head and looked at Zelda. She turned her head to look at him. She pushed away from Asa and walked out. Manfred chased after her.

"Zelda!" He called.

"Why don't you just go back to Lydia and leave me alone?" She shrieked bitterly.

"Alright, fine. Don't give me at all a chance to explain and go on to find someone else." Manfred retorted.

"Maybe I will!"

"Do it! See if I care."

"Good-bye Manfred." Zelda turned and continued to walk down the street. It was so like Manfred to act like he didn't care. He was always like that.

3

2

1

"Zelda! Wait. Please let me explain." Manfred chased after her. "I swear to god if I have to tackle you to listen, I'll do it." Zelda stopped and looked at him. "You've got 60 seconds."

"She came on to me!"

"Typical." A look of pure hate spread across her face. "Is that all you can say?"

"We were studying and she began hitting on me and talking trash about you. Then she dove across the room and you just happened to walk in."

"Yeah, suuuure." Zelda walked away leaving Manfred in the dust. Asa watched in the doorway. To him it sounded quite fake.

"Well that's my story and I'm not going to change it. If you don't believe me, it's your loss then." Manfred yelled down the road. Zelda kept walking. Manfred began panicking. Why did he always have to sound like he didn't care?

"Oh, ok. A loss. More like a gain!" Her chest hurt so bad, she thought she would collapse. She sat down on a bench in the park and looked up at the sky. Calm down Zel, you deserve soooooo much better…right? Oh come on Zelda, you know how much you like him and vice versa. I am not going to sit here and have a conversation with myself! Ummm, I'm not you. Then who are you? I am the author…duh. ANYWAY! You're about to have a series of flashbacks that will make you run back to him…or not.

The flashbacks

"Come on Zel, let me see." Manfred knocked lightly on the door. Zelda leaned her back against the door and looked at herself in the mirror. She totally wasn't ready for this, not at all. She looked at her self in the mirror.

"No way." She began to feel nervous. "I look stupid." "I'm sure you don't."

"You're going to laugh."

"No way."

Zelda opened the door and glared at him. She couldn't believe she was doing this. Dresses weren't her "Thing". Zelda blushed and turned away. Manfred grabbed her arm and spun her around. She blushed even more. "See? I look stupid!"

"Yeah, you sort of do."

"I told you!" She went to dart back into the room but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.

"I was kidding." He murmured. Zelda rolled her eyes. The dress was short and purple and waaaaaaay to flashy for a girl like Zelda. To him, she looked perfect. She always did.

3 3 3 3 3 END FLASHBACK NUMERO UNO! 3 3 3 3 3

The smell of French fries and cotton candy filled the air. Asa had eaten half of his weight in fair food and was now puking in a garbage can after riding the round up for the umpteenth time. He looked back up from the nasty garbage can and chugged down a can of Dr. Pepper, sloshed it through his mouth and spit it back into the can.

"Here." Zelda handed him a piece of gum.

"You're such a dumbass." Manfred rolled his eyes.

"You guys totally should of rode! It was freaking awesome!" Asa looked back at the ride. "I wanna do it again!"

"Calm down there." Zelda crossed her arms. "You're going to puke up all of your internal organs." "Don't need to get graphic, Zel." Manfred looked over his shoulder. "Come on, I want to get out of here."

"You're such a party pooper." Zelda joked. They all began to walk back to the car. Manfred gently took her hand. She looked up at him but he kept his sight straight ahead. She sighed and they got into the car.

They dropped Asa off first because he lived the closest. That just left Manfred and Zelda in the car. He pulled up to her house. He was never the affectionate type, so when he kissed her, it was like an electric shock through her body.

"So I'll pick you up tomorrow?" He asked.

"Yeah." Zelda smiled and floated into her house and up to her room. She lay down on her bed and looked up at the ceiling.

3 3 3 3 3 3 END FLASHBACK NUMBER TWO! 3 3 3 3 3

"He hasn't told you yet!?" Beth gripped her fists. "You've been dating for about…seven months in February!" She plopped down on the bed.

"Calm down Beth! I'm sure he will…sometime." Zelda looked at the floor. "He's a really good guy." "Then he should have told you he loved you by now." "Oh no, what if he…doesn't?" Zelda began to panic. Beth tried to calm her down but the girl was inconsolable. After about ten minutes, Beth left the room. At first, Zelda thought she just had to go the bathroom or something. Then Manfred showed up and Zelda knew what was going on.

He wrapped his arms around her slender body and managed to calm her down. "I didn't know how much it meant to you." He whispered. "I'm so sorry but I can't say it."

End flashbacks…present

That last flash back happened just a month ago. She put her head in her hands and heaved out loud sigh before starting to cry again. She felt someone sit next to her and hold her close. It began to rain. She looked over to see…Manfred. Were those tear streaks on his face or was it rain? "Zel, I love you." That's all she needed to hear to believe him. She thought he would never say it. "I love you too." She whimpered. It was all she needed.