Himmels: Now that school is out, we plan on writing a lot more. Lol, sorry for the long delay. One of our reviewers sent a message that told us the exact month span in which we were gone. We felt terrible.
Draculina: This chapter isn't too long, but we figured that something is better than adding another month to the quota and giving y'all nothing.
Himmels: We'll try to finish this story this summer. Next years school loud wont be more, but it will be harder.
Draculina: Of course, Himmels signed us up for the hardest classes. . . Government, advanced German, calculus, physics, and she indulged me with an art class. . .
Chapter 11
Miserable Mondays
"Suspicions
Even though I know that you love me baby
And I really shouldn't feel this way
Ooh suspicions
I can't help it you're just so good lookin'
I'm afraid somebody's gonna steal you away from me
Suspicions
Oh baby Oh darlin' "
--Tim McGraw
Back in California, they called these Miserable Mondays. I never really had a Miserable Monday before. But then again, I've never pretended to go out with someone before either. Technically, the misery started last night, when I received a call from Dark Link. When my mom gave me the phone I was surprised that it was him to say the least. He told me that it was necessary for him to call me, because that is what couples do and if I had brains I would've called him first, because girls were supposed to be the chatty ones in the relationship.
Since this was the biggest piece of word structure he's given me ever, I blinked at the phone silently, which only served to frustrate him more. Trying to talk like couples would do didn't exactly work between us. I'm not so cynical as to talk to him in such a way, and he is not so nice to talk to me in such a way. In the end, we just ended up studying over the phone. He helped me with my geometry and I with his English.
The day was clear as Mom drove me to school. The trees that edged the river that the posse and I traveled down were prominent behind the alfalfa fields. The McKirian horses that were released in one of their back pastures slipped their heads through the fence boards and happily grazed the neighbor's crop. Farther onward and one could see the large rock that covered the sight of the O'Conner property. Wild deer crept around this rock and then bolted into the trees once more when the loud roar of the diesel engine approached.
The short drive to the small, lonely school was quickly finished and I was let out into the Texas heat. Being late September and the lack of school dress codes (other than "Don't look like the town whore"), I wore denim shorts and a spaghetti strapped white shirt. My hair was pulled back into two low pigtails and I had a white cowgirl hat with a blue buckled band on my head. Even with the lack of clothes, the humidity attacked my skin, making it feel as if I didn't dry off from my morning shower.
Hoisting my heavy backpack higher onto my shoulders, I began my walk up to the open entranced school, easily spotting my friends lounging on the long horn grass. How they could lay pleasantly in such heat was beyond me.
I grinned when I reached them and was about to sit next to Rian, but Dark gave me a look and I remembered. Setting my backpack down next to Rian as if I meant to in the first place, I crossed over and sat next to Dark Link.
Giving him a happy enough smile, I said, "Hey."
"Howdy. . ." he mumbled in return.
Our friends stared at us for a good while, but then they eventually relapsed back into whatever they were talking about before. It was obvious that they were trying to make this new "Dark and Zelda" thing as smooth as possible. My new boyfriend fidgeted next to me and I knew he was thinking what I was thinking also. How are we supposed to talk to each other? Were we supposed to be all lovey in front of everyone? I seriously doubt that Dark is capable of something so personal, especially with his friends and family pretending not to eavesdrop and watch us from the corner of their eyes.
Well, most of them were pretending not to eavesdrop and watch from the corner of their eyes. Sheik was doing it openly and without a care. His lazy lidded eyes slowly shifted from Dark and then to me, as if expecting one of us to say or do something, but really, with Sheik around I don't know if I could. Like the others said, he is a true lie detector and I think he'd be able to pick out our false smiles and mindless chats without even trying.
"May I talk to you in private?" Dark asked me suddenly and without waiting for an answer he stood.
"Sure." I replied and also stood, brushing off my thighs of the grasses that caught.
After giving us a glance, they tried to act as if they didn't care that Dark and I were going off alone, but I could still see their eyes shifting and I could feel them watching us walk away.
Dark and I crossed the long horn grass and came upon the wooden picnic tables, where he leaned against one with a sigh saying, "It wasn't so tense before. . ."
"I know. . ." I leaned against it next to him and let out a deep breath, "In California, most people would be like "oh, whatever", with people starting to go out."
"This town is too small to let things slip through the net." He shrugged, "We get bored, so we gossip about one another mercilessly. Other than tending to our livestock and going about our jobs, there is nothing else to do. It takes too long to drive to the city."
I smirked, "If it wasn't so hard to keep this facade up, I think I'd enjoy this, you know?"
Dark raised his eyebrow, "No, I don't know. How would you enjoy this?"
"Well, in cities, people don't really care about each other very much, because everybody doesn't know everybody. There are just too many people. Here, everyone knows all the others, so they are capable of caring about who is going with who. If you take out the lies in which the gossip brings, it just comes down to how much a person cares for another person if they live in a town so small."
Dark was silent for a long while, but gradually he murmured, ". . . I still blame the bore that plagued the population. . ."
I closed my eyes and laughed, "You would, Dark, you would. We better go back before they think we're exchanging our undying love for one another."
"Oh, no, that already happened." Dark informed me placidly.
I blinked, "Did it?"
"Last night on the phone."
I glared, but when I realized he was telling the truth, I growled and punished him by making him hold my hand until the nonexistent bell rang and we had to separate to our different scheduled classes.
Naturally, during biology class I sat in the center desk of Link and Ruto. Between Ruto's constant eye flicks in my direction and Link's body twists to my angle as if to start to ask something but then decide against it, I knew that they were dying to know what was happening between Dark and me. It has been plainly obvious since I arrived that Dark hasn't told anyone a thing about what we were doing. Perhaps that's a good thing, though. . . What are the chances of Dark actually telling me what he told them? Slim and none, if you ask me.
"So. . ." Ruto mumbled with a thin smile and slight nod, "you and Dark, huh?"
It was safe at that moment to talk, for Mr. Gaebora was writing the schedule upon the board, along with the homework for the night, "Yup, me and Dark." I nodded back slowly.
"Err. . ." Link started in the same manner of Ruto, "when did this start happening again?"
"Week or two ago or somewhere in that time region." I shrugged, "We weren't really a 'couple' per se, because, as y'all must have realized at the lake, I wasn't exactly aware of it."
Link chuckled, "That's just like Dark, eh Ruto?"
She, too, laughed, "Yeah. He goes out with someone, but that someone doesn't really know they are taken until he tells them."
At that moment, Mr. Gaebora began his lecture of Friday's homework, binary fission and mitosis. While Mr. Gaebora rambled on cytokinesis and prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and all those other phases that only biologist care about, I got to thinking once more about how this will work out between Dark and me. It was clear to me that it would probably be easiest and best if Dark and I have a pretend break up. Since it is so early in this game, the whole crying and whining to one's friends isn't necessary to fake.
Quickly, I wrote down the newest homework and stretched when biology was over. Like usual, Ruto split from the three of us toward the geometry class while Link and I strode to world history. This class passed by at the same fast pace. History was a simple class for me, so I couldn't really pay attention. Especially since Nabooru was in this class and she'd never let me look at the board long enough to know what was going on. If she wasn't passing notes, she was throwing something at me or Link.
With Rian around for P.E. and the competitiveness that blossomed within me, she and I had a good game of soccer going on between us. The other poor students didn't get the ball long enough to do anything and they were too terrified of Rian to get near her. Basically, it was just me and her on the field. After getting undressed and back in my street clothes, I didn't know whether or not I was happy or nervous that lunched rolled around. I knew I had to talk to Dark about my idea for a pretend break up, but I didn't know if I could get him into a private enough place for such. Anyone could hear with the small school crowded with the little amount of students that it had.
Buying a slice of pizza and a soda, I eased my way past the line of kids and crossed the campus to the longhorn grass. When I reached there, I blinked when I noticed that Dark wasn't among them.
"Where's Dark?" I asked.
Darunia's feathers looked a little ruffled, I noticed, as he replied by jabbing his thumb in the direction of the picnic tables and saying in a growl, "There."
Turning my head, I frowned when I saw that Dark was standing next to the table where Ganondorf and his followers sat. With his back turned, I couldn't see Dark's expression, but I could see Sheik's and Link's who were sitting next to each other, glowering death at the table of miscreants. Though it is probably a bad decision on my part, I set down my lunch and proceeded in the direction of Dark Link. I could hear mumbles from my friends as I walked away, but I figured nothing too terrible would happen. Besides, I doubted that Link or Sheik would let me linger over there too long before they came to investigate and prosecute.
As I neared, Zant had flicked his eyes in my direction and elbowed his brother and whispered in his ear. Immediately, Ganondorf's eyes sought me out and a feral smile spread his lips. Following his gaze, Dark looked at me in disbelief as I approached.
"Hello, there." I greeted friendly enough when I reached the end of the table where my "boyfriend" stood.
"Lovely to see you, Princess." Ganondorf was quick to reply, "I figure that you are here to rescue Darkie Boy?"
I shrugged, "It could be taken that way. We should be sitting with each other, don't you think?"
The Russian mimicked my shrug and answered similarly, "It could be assumed that way. We'll finish our conversation later, Darkie." He smiled and continued, "We'll see you around. Maybe you, too, Zelda."
I didn't bother with answering that, but instead grabbed Dark's hand and led him back to the longhorn grass. Though, I still found Ganondorf on the creepy side, his effect was losing his touch on me. Probably because of how Dark was reacting to all that we was saying when I was there. He didn't seem too distressed like he used to be. Of course, from what I learned of that evil little group, Dark's lack of strong emotions could be taken as an either good or bad thing.
Instantly when we arrived, Link accosted Dark, "What happened? Were they trying to get you to join that ridiculous cult again?"
"It isn't a cult!" Dark snapped.
"Close enough." Sheik had mumbled dryly.
Dark ripped his hand from my grasp and snatched his backpack from the ground, storming off to his next class. I blinked in surprise at his anger and then looked to his family. Saria, who was sitting close by, murmured her distaste on how her cousin still grew frustrated when they spoke of his past friends.
Lunch went by quickly after that and English and German class took relatively no time at all. I had waited impatiently for geometry to roll by, so I could find my seat next to Dark Link in the back of the class and pass him a note, questioning him on what was happening.
After writing down the definitions and constants meanings of a few geometric equations that were written on the board, I ripped a paper from my notebook and began to scribble down, "What was lunch all about?"
I tossed it onto Dark's desk. For a moment he stared down at the folded piece of paper and then slowly looked up at me as if wondering to himself just how juvenile I truly was. With an indulgent sigh, Dark opened the paper and lifted an eyebrow. When he smirked and wrote down a single word, I knew I'd be crumpling and tossing that note straight at his head. Sure enough, he answered, "Eating."
When the teacher turned her back and wrote an example onto the board, I threw the ball of paper at him, but then growled when he slapped it out of the way, barely sparing it a glance. Again, I ripped out another paper and began to write, "You know what I mean, Dark. Link, Sheik, and Saria were worried about you. So was I, actually."
He glared when I tossed it onto his desk and leaned his cheek against his upright arm. Idly, he replied, "Nothing to worry about. We were just speaking, not anything important."
"Not one word of good comes from that Ganondorf's mouth, so I doubt that it was really unimportant."
"Stop worrying. It isn't like we truly are dating."
I glared at that response, "That has nothing to do with it!"
"Whatever."
With narrowed eyes, I crumpled this note series as well and through it into the garbage close by. Frowning, I copied the last of the equations, examples, and definitions from the board and wrote down tonight's homework. From what I caught of what Mrs. Fujiwatari explained, it would be relatively simple, so I didn't mind so much when I realized I missed a lot of the lecture.
Sighing, I lifted my backpack when class was out and waved to my friends within the classroom. Miserable Monday, indeed.
Himmels: Now that school is out, we feel more confident in promising a chapter sooner. However, we still do expect reviews despite our negligence to our writings. XD
Draculina: They make our day when we do post. XD Thanks for reading!
