The Sixth Sense: Of Cookie Dough
"Zelda, I'm sorry," Link said, taking her in his arms and looking into her eyes with those deep, crystalline blue orbs he possessed. Inside, she felt herself melting, before she buried her head in his shoulder.
"Oh, Link…" Zelda wept, wrapping her arms around his middle and holding him tightly. "Everything's fine now…."
"Yes," Link said, smiling joyously down at her. "Everything is fine now." Link dipped his head to Zelda and probed her petal soft lips with his own, kissing her sweetly, making Zelda feel almost as though she could fly.
"There's something I've been meaning to ask you," he murmured huskily once he surfaced for air. He looked at Zelda with those beautiful blue eyes, touching his nose to hers.
"Will you be my cookie dough?"
"What?" Zelda asked, recoiling.
"I said, will you be my cookie dough? I promise I won't put you in the freezer and then painfully thaw you…"
"Cookie dough?"
"Yeah," affirmed Link. "You can be my chocolate chip cookie dough, if you'd like…"
Suddenly, a shrill ringing pierced the air and Zelda looked around in alarm.
"Don't worry," Link soothed her, wrapping her up within his embrace once more. "It's just the oven timer going off. So, what do you say?"
"Er, I..." Zelda breathed in and closed her eyes, thinking. It was a lot of responsibility to be someone's cookie dough…
And when she opened her eyes, she was lying in bed and her alarm clock was shrieking next to her ear.
"Owww," grumbled Zelda, sitting up and slapping it quiet. She rubbed her head and furrowed her eyebrows. "Cookie dough? Good lord, what DID I eat yesterday? And Link? Ugh."
Muttering incoherently about Link and cookie dough, she dragged herself out of bed and into the bathroom she had all to herself, showering herself clean and brushing her teeth, washing her face, and blow drying her hair. She even applied a light touch of makeup, and why not? After all, it was the first day of school.
Feeling tense about the day, Zelda pulled on a lacy red bra and matching panties, then a pair of new jeans, a vintage baseball tee, her gray zip-up hoodie, and her brown, scuffed Doc Martins. Casting a nervous eye over her appearance once, Zelda swooped over and tied her hair up in its usual high wavy ponytail and, slightly satisfied, clomped out of her room and down the stairs into the kitchen, where Impa was scrambling eggs and boiling potatoes for a set of breakfast tacos.
"Now, I know you and Link haven't been getting along lately," began Impa, shaking her head and smiling as she spoke, "but you're going to have to tolerate him long enough for him to show you to school."
"Alright," mumbled Zelda, seating herself at the table, then hopping up. "Anything I can do?"
"Eat. You'll need a good meal," Impa commanded, and Zelda sat obediently back down.
"I'm sorry that Link and I are fighting, Impa," apologized Zelda.
Impa gave a laugh. "It's fine. It keeps things around here interesting, and besides, it's natural for young people such as yourselves to fight."
"I see," replied Zelda, furrowing her brows at Impa's oddness.
"By the way," said the ex-hippie as she dropped two still-sizzling breakfast tacos onto Zelda's plate, "I'm not going to be here when you get home this afternoon because I have to take the twins to the doctor for their annual checkup. I'll leave some cookie dough in the fridge, and I would really appreciate it if you could whip up a batch of cookies for me."
Zelda nodded. "Yeah. Sure." Cookie dough? Déjà vu….
Just then, Zelda heard a "whump thump thumpitythumpity thump thump" on the stairs and groaned into her taco. Great. Her hero was awake.
"Are those breakfast tacos, Mom?" Link yawned as he entered the kitchen. Zelda glared at him once and returned to eating, then did a double take.
He was striking in a pair of khaki jeans and a baggy green "The Who" shirt, shining brown combat boots glistening at his feet and his tousled blond hair even more tousled than normal. Through the wheat locks, his ear piercings glinted silver, completing his image. Though on some men this would look terrible, on Link it was nothing short of… well… drop dead sexy.
Zelda immediately stood and fetched herself a glass of icy water to quell the surge of heat that rushed through her at the sight of him. Bad girl, she thought to herself. You hate him, remember?
But he's so damn sexy, it makes me just want to... her inner self ended in an evil cackle, and Zelda added more ice to the water.
"Glad to see you're awake," said Impa, smiling to her son. "What do you want in your taco?"
Link grinned sleepily. "Everything's good, Mom. You make the best tacos ever."
Impa laughed. "You flatter me, dear. Three tacos?"
"Three would be great," Link said with a smile, plopping down next to Zelda's chair at the table. Zelda proceeded back to the table as well, sitting down edgily next to Link and scarfing down the second of her two breakfast tacos.
"Thank you so much, Mom," Link yawned with a canine grin as he took the plate heaped with tacos from his mother. Zelda hopped up and grabbed her plate, carrying it to the sink and rinsing it off, then bolting out of the room (which had become stifling to her) to fetch her backpack from the coat closet by the front door in the fancy foyer, the foyer Zelda had not yet used, as all of the comings and goings came through the kitchen. She paused for a moment to sit on the plush bench by the large windows looking out into the ruined front garden (courtesy of the workers who had remodeled) and flicked at one of the diamond-shaped panes with her fingernail. Sighing, she stood, swinging her Prada backpack uselessly as she returned to the kitchen.
"Wow," said Impa as Zelda re-entered. "Is that a Prada bag?"
"Yeah," mumbled Zelda, examining it blandly. "My aunt bought it for me."
"What does your aunt do?" Impa asked as she turned off the stove.
"She's a movie makeup artist. She did Orlando Bloom's makeup in Lord of the Rings."
Impa clapped her hands. "How exciting!"
"Yeah," said Zelda with a shrug. "So she's always traveling for movie shoots. She's in high demand."
"How nice." Impa smiled, and turned her back on Zelda, scrubbing the pan off.
"Come on," said Link to Zelda, though not with his usual hostility as he loaded his empty plate into the dish washer. "Let's go."
"Bye, Impa," Zelda called as she followed Link out the door. He grabbed his green backpack from the porch where he'd left it the previous night, and slung it over his shoulders. The two walked along, an uncomfortable silence steadily growing between them, and Zelda unconsciously clenched and unclenched her fists.
"Listen, Zelda…" Link began, stopping and turning to face her. Zelda, surprised, bumped into him then jumped backward as though she'd been electrocuted.
"Yes?" She asked, trying not to explode at him.
"You've been avoiding me for three and a half weeks, and I don't know where you've been, and…"
"It's none of your business where I decide to spend my days," Zelda snapped, walking past him with her nose in the air. "Maybe once you get that through that thick skull of yours…"
"Look, I know it's none of my business," said Link, grabbing Zelda by the forearm and spinning her to face him. "But that doesn't keep me from caring, because despite what you think, Zelda, I do care. And you know why that is?"
"Enlighten me," grumbled Zelda, trying to shake his hand off of her arm – to no avail.
"Because I am your friend, and friends care about each other. Or at least, I was your friend, and I wish I was still. I know you're upset," he continued, softening his voice, searching Zelda's face and trying to meet her eyes, "because I realize that it felt like I was trying to control your life like your father did, but that wasn't it at all. I was worried about you, Zelda, and I care. So please, let's not be angry anymore… please?"
"Oh, Link," sighed Zelda, relaxing a little. "Don't get me wrong, because I still am angry at you, but… I'll try and forgive you. I don't want to fight anymore, either."
Link grinned, pleased. "So," he said, stepping back, "truce?" He extended his hand, and Zelda looked down at it for a moment, thinking.
"Truce." She smiled up at him and took his hand, and found herself quite suddenly pulled into a bear hug.
Link let go of her and stepped back, grinning as he adjusted the backpack on his shoulders. "Great." He turned abruptly on his heel and began to walk once more along the pavement, trotting towards the train station.
"We get to ride the train every day?" Zelda asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yep," replied Link, slipping two ten dollar bills into the pass machine. It popped out two sleek green and white metro cards, and Link handed Zelda one.
"Here," he said. "This is your train pass. Don't lose it."
"We didn't get passes when we went to the mall," Zelda pointed out quizzically as she slid her card into the slot and the bar machine allowed her through. "Or when I went to Fry's to get you those CDs and that hard drive…"
"You can just slip in some quarters for the trip, normally," Link told her as he sat down on a bench to wait, "but really, these are much more practical for the school year. Do you have anywhere safe to keep it?"
"Yeah," said Zelda, plopping down next to Link and setting her bag on her knees, opening up one of the pouches and revealing a small card-holder.
"Ooh," winced Link, looking into the card holder. "You'll need to get a student ID or you can't use the library."
"Blast." Zelda snapped her fingers and closed her backpack up, then leaned back against the bench, closing her eyes. "Ugh," she grunted. "It's too early."
"Hey Zel!" Zelda's eyes popped open and she beheld the redhead standing before her, grinning.
"Malon!" Zelda smiled as well, scooting over to make room for her on the bench.
"You two know each other?" Link asked, confused.
"We've been hanging out," stated Malon airily, brushing her perfect red strands over her shoulder with a French-manicured nail. "So anyway, Zel, I had the weirdest dream last night."
"Really?" Zelda asked, cocking her head. "Funny. I think I did too…"
"Yeah, it was really strange." Malon nodded. "'The Cookie Dough Song' was #1 on the charts nation wide and you were all famous and stuff and…" Malon cast a suspicious eye on Link and leaned in to Zelda, whispering something in her ear. Zelda's jaw dropped and she began to giggle, clapping her hands over her mouth.
"Malon!" she chastised once the redhead was done. "That's absolutely scandalous!"
"I know!" Malon giggled a little herself and shook her head, her perfect red tresses floating in a cloud. "So, what about your dream?"
"Well…" Zelda turned and cupped her hand around Malon's ear, whispering. Malon's eyes went wide.
"No way. No way. No. Way!" She cracked up and Zelda pulled back, blushing. "What is it with cookie dough?"
"I don't know," Zelda responded, grinning despite the redness of her cheeks. "I think it was the 'Cookie Dough Song' yesterday, and… yeah."
Link cleared his throat rather loudly, and both girls jerked their heads around to face him.
"What's this I hear about cookie dough?" he asked. Malon and Zelda looked at each other for a moment then fell into another bout of the giggles.
Just then, Mikau stepped into the station, yawning and rubbing his eyes, Darmani just behind.
"Oo!" Malon squealed and hopped up, running to embrace Darmani. Zelda followed, though slightly more composed, and high-fived with Mikau when she saw him.
"Hey, man," she said with a grin and nodded at Darmani. "You ready for school?"
"Like hell I am," Mikau snorted, swigging deeply from a thermos filled with coffee. "I hate school. I always do miserably."
"That's a lie," interjected Darmani. "You always get the highest scores out of all of us."
"Somethin' wrong with Link?" Mikau asked, squinting around Zelda to the young man still seated on the bench. Zelda instantly felt a pang at having forgotten, and shook her head.
"Nah. I'm going to go sit back down now, though. Band meeting this afternoon?"
"My casa at five," Mikau stated with a nod then walked off with Darmani and Malon in tow. Zelda shook her head, smiling, and returned to the bench to plop down roughly next to Link.
"That's where you've been?" he asked quietly. "They're who you've been hanging out with?"
"Yeah," Zelda said, swiveling her head around to look at him. "Why?"
"I don't like Mikau much," Link said softly.
"Eh, he's cool." Zelda shrugged then stood once more as the train ground to a halt before them. She noticed that there were several other students standing around in the station – people she'd never seen before.
"Who are they? I haven't seen them around," Zelda whispered to Link as they made their way into the train.
"Mostly freshmen," Link grumbled in reply. "Not many people live out here. Most live closer to the city, or in the city itself."
"Ah."
The two friends took their seats and were quiet, both looking out the windows in thought.
----
A mostly quiet and slightly tense fifteen minutes later, Zelda followed Link off the train and down the street in the opposite direction of the shopping mall. Malon, Mikau, and Darmani were quite a ways ahead of them, and though part of Zelda strained to go and hang out with them, another part of her remembered her loyalty to Link. His family had taken her in, had they not? Therefore, Zelda should walk with him.
"So," she began awkwardly, "what exactly is going down today?"
"Homeroom locations will be plastered on the doors to the gym," Link said. "Ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grades will be segregated. You and I won't be in the same homeroom, but that's okay because we'll be close. In homeroom, we'll get our schedules, then get the paperwork Impa has to fill out, and then we'll have a while to sit and talk. It's a half an hour long. The bell will ring and we each go to our different classes. I'll show you to yours – just write out a copy of your schedule."
"Mm-hm," murmured Zelda with a nod, biting on her lip as she took it all in.
"There's four classes a day, and we have A and B days. Classes are an hour long. The passing periods are ten minutes, and there's also a half hour study hall either before or after lunch, depending on which shift of lunch you have. There's two shifts… it's not as complicated as it sounds. You'll get a schedule in homeroom. Oh, and another thing," Link added to a wide-eyed Zelda, "you don't need to worry about missing the train. It runs once every twenty minutes starting at seven in the morning going to about ten at night, so you should be covered, even if you have to come in early to do work or something."
"Uhn," mumbled Zelda. "That's a lot to remember."
"Not really," said Link with a laugh and a smile. "All you need to know is that class is an hour long and that school ends at 3:40 every afternoon. We should have the same lunch, too," Link mumbled, furrowing his brows, "unless they've changed things. Upperclassmen have second shift lunch, and since we're both juniors, we should be in the same lunch."
"Why do they make the upperclassmen wait to eat?" Zelda asked.
"Because," Link explained, "a lot of the seniors get last period free, so they just leave at lunch to go home."
"Ooh," Zelda said, nodding in understanding. "I see. So what time do we eat, then?"
"1:30," Link responded, causing Zelda to wince, "but some teachers are cool and let you eat during their classes."
"I see."
"Don't worry though," Link added hastily, seeing the look of dread and discomfort scrawled across Zelda's features. "After about a week, everything will make perfect sense."
"I hope so."
They rounded a bend in the pavement and several new-looking brick buildings loomed up above them, four floors high and surrounded by an asphalt parking lot and some pathetic grounds.
"The portables and sports fields are in the back, behind the math wing," Link said, noting Zelda's gaze sweeping the lot. "And the gym is by the cafeterias, but you can't see it from here."
"It's huge," Zelda commented as she followed the steady stream of students along the sidewalk and onto school grounds.
"Yeah," Link gave an easy laugh. "It is. You can hang out with your friends now if you'd like. I expect my crew would just bore you..."
Did Zelda detect a hint of bitterness in his voice? "No," she found herself saying. "I'll stay with you for the first few days."
Was that joy that lit up his eyes? A greedy little demon in Zelda's inside coveted it, but maybe it was because Link just wanted her to get along with his friends. Or maybe one of his friends liked her and he was being paid to help her out?
Now you're over thinking it, girl, Zelda told herself. She cleared her throat and looked hesitantly to Link. "Shouldn't we be finding what homeroom we need to go to?"
"I suppose so," replied Link with a shrug, "but it doesn't really matter if we're late on the first day."
"Link!" Zelda swatted at him, knocking his green baseball cap off of his head.
"Thanks for reminding me." Link grinned and shoved the cap into his backpack, then ruffled up his hair. "I get in trouble all the time for that thing."
Zelda rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Then why do you wear it?"
"Because I like it!" The look on Link's face as he said this was too adorable for Zelda to ignore, and she immediately began to giggle.
"What?" Now he looked even more bewildered, and, more importantly, incredibly cute with his rumpled hair hanging into those blue eyes of his…
"Nothing," Zelda said, shaking her head to clear it of certain unwanted thoughts. "Um. Homerooms?"
"Right."