Installment #8: INNUENDO GALORE! (stalker part II)
Zelda sat in the school courtyard under the merciful shade provided by one of many trees, her binder propped up on her knees as she chewed on her pen and stared thoughtfully at her science homework. She'd been in school for nearly a month now, and, sure enough, she'd already grown accustomed to the way things functioned.
"Hey there, Princess."
"I've told you not to call me that in public, you know that, right?" Zelda mumbled to Link, tapping her pen on her nose as she begged the chemistry problem to bend to her will and answer itself. Link sat down next to Zelda, peering over her shoulder at the homework.
"Why aren't you sitting with the rest of your motley crew?" he asked.
"The same could be said for you," Zelda replied, brows furrowed, scratching down an answer she hoped was write and then continuing to the next, equally impossible problem.
"Felt like a break from their banter for a while."
"Malon's doing homework in the library, Lu's off somewhere with Mikau, and Darmani is in tutoring, if I'm right."
"Tutoring? During lunch?"
"He was in tutoring during study hall, too, according to Malon. First month of school and he's already having problems…"
"That's depressing."
"No kidding." Zelda twirled her pen around a few times, then finally slammed her binder shut and dropped her pen. "I can't think. I need food."
"What do you have next?" Link asked, watching Zelda as she reached into her backpack and pulled out a brown sack lunch.
"Uhmmm… comp sci."
"I thought you had French."
"Non, c'est demain," Zelda said to him in her perfect French accent.
"No habla French," Link muttered, causing Zelda to giggle.
"I said, 'no, that is tomorrow.' And never say 'no habla French' to someone whose native tongue is French – they'd slaughter you with their expensive Parisian pastries."
"Or maybe they'd suffocate me with mousse?" Link asked good-humoredly, causing Zelda to giggle lightly into her hand as she pulled out her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She sighed and leaned back against the tree trunk, gazing out at the other students wandering around in the courtyard.
"Hey, Zelda…" Link was leaning back against the tree trunk and staring up into the branches above, his expression unreadable.
"Mm?" she asked through her mouthful of sandwich.
"Do you want to go to the game tonight?" Link's face was carefully blank, and against her will, Zelda found herself swallowing the rather large bite she'd just taken – whole.
"The football game?"
"It's the first game of the season," Link said. "Us versus Black Canon High – it's inner city. We'd go as friends, of course."
"Oh." Zelda felt a sinking within her, though she didn't know why. "Sure. That would be a lot of fun. I've never been to a real football game…"
"Really?" Link looked at her, surprised, then smiled a beautiful, sparkling white smile that left Zelda feeling like she'd been hit by a train, gasping for air and feeling disoriented. "They're a lot of fun. I haven't been to many myself, though…"
"Why not?" Zelda asked, still trying to recover from Link's dazzling smile. Had it always been so….so…irresistible?
"Nobody to go with." Link shrugged, and continued, "I went to a few because Sheep, Rhys, and Lewis are in band and they perform. Oh, and Kafei – at least, he was, until they kicked him off."
"They kicked Kafei out of band?" Zelda was incredulous.
"Yeah." Link laughed, running his hand along the back of his neck, and Zelda realized quite suddenly how very, very hot it was outside… "He hated one of the directors and always acted up."
"Somehow I can't imagine Kafei doing that." Zelda took a swig of the Pepsi Vanilla that she'd purchased from the vending machine and felt the cool liquid sliding through her veins, calming her a little.
"I know, right?" Link laughed and leaned back against the tree, closing his eyes as a breeze blew through the yard. "Part of me wishes it was still summer," he said. "Most of me, actually, but…"
Zelda grinned, shoving a handful of Skittles into her mouth. "School's not as bad as everybody claims it is."
"Well, not at first, anyway," Link corrected. "Towards the end, it gets pretty bad. But the first semester isn't too horrid."
"Want a Skittle?" Zelda offered.
"No thanks." Link turned up his hand in decline then brought his palm to rest over his forehead. "Eh, I wish this day would just end."
"Only one more class." Zelda threw the last of her trash into the paper bag and rolled it shut, standing and making her way over to a trash can near the door to the indoor cafeteria, which was nearly vacant (as all of the students were taking advantage of the beautiful day).
"Yes, only one more class," Link continued once Zelda had sat back down again, "but it's still a whole extra hour that we have to endure. At least you have comp sci."
"Lucky me, pity you," teased Zelda, flicking Link on the nose. "And you have gym."
"Jogging the track," groaned Link. "I'm going to die in this heat."
"I call your room," said Zelda solemnly. Link's death glare sent her into a bout of the giggles and she leaned against his shoulder, tired. "It's hot," she idly commented.
"Yup." Link patted her head, and she sat up again, pulling out her binder and pen once more and glaring down at her work sheet. "I don't suppose you're any good at chemistry?"
----
Forty seven minutes and fifty six and a half seconds later, Zelda was idly swiveling about in front of her computer in comp sci. She was thinking about the football game that night with Link, and, as it was Friday anyway, their teacher wasn't bothering to enforce the rules. So she stared blandly at her computer screen as she surfed the web, listening to her MP3 player, when a window popped up.
Hi.
Zelda stared at the box onscreen: black, with white blinking text and computer coding she didn't understand.
I'm using command to talk to you. Go ahead and type in a reply. I've programmed it to feed into my computer properly through the network.
Zelda tentatively placed her hands on the keyboard.
Who is this?
That's a secret, and secrets are for keeping.
You're some kind of sick stalker, aren't you?
Zelda turned her MP3 player down momentarily, but could hear no sound of laughter over the hubbub. Rather, no traceable sound of laughter.
Maybe I am and maybe I'm not. Maybe I just feel like getting to know you, Princess.
Princess? That was Link's nickname for her…
You ARE stalking me.
Now, now, Princess, don't jump to conclusions so fast. Maybe I just think that you should get the royal treatment you deserve.
Get off my computer.
Hardly a polite way to ask, hm?
Now.
Fine, have it your way.
The screen vanished. Zelda tried not to look around or seem spooked, so instead, she contented herself with returning to the particular news article she was browsing about third world countries. Suddenly, the black box appeared again.
Enjoying your article on starving babies in China?
Piss off.
I get the feeling you don't want to talk to me.
Like hell.
Maybe you should be flattered. Maybe you should appreciate that someone went to a lot of trouble to talk to you.
I still say stalker.
As the shepherd who called wolf. Come now, Princess. Can't we compromise?
No. Now get off my computer, or else.
Or else what? I hardly see how you can do anything, as you don't know who I am.
Try me.
Zelda was fuming as she shut down her programs.
What are you doing?
Zelda hit the start menu and shut her computer down, leaning back in her chair and reaching into her bag. She was creeped out, but she wasn't going to let it show. So she pulled out the chemistry that Link had so clumsily explained to her earlier and got to work, doing her best not to glance around the classroom. A tiresome forty minutes later, the bell rang, and Zelda was certain that she had never been happier to hear the shrill sound in her life. Hastily, she picked up her backpack, slipping her binder inside, and left the class, trying to block out what had occurred.
Link met her at the entryway to the school, and instantly picked up on her foul mood.
"What's wrong?" he asked her.
"Nothing," Zelda replied, taking him by the wrist and dragging him to the train station. "Now come on."
"What's the rush?" Link asked, confused.
"No rush." Zelda quickened the pace.
"You're upset."
"No, I'm not."
"You're a terrible liar."
"Shut up."
They reached the train station in record time, arriving long before any other students.
"Now that there's nobody in sight," Link panted, "do you care to tell me what the problem really is?"
"Nothing I can't handle." Zelda didn't blink as Link collapsed on a bench, casting suspicious glances around out of the corners of her eyes. "What did you do in gym today?"
Link blinked once, twice then shook his head. "Nothing much," he replied. "Sat in the air conditioned gym and took a quiz over the improper ways to weight train. Why?"
"No reason. Who in the school is really good with computers?"
"My crew." Link shrugged, and thought for a moment. "We collected, regardless of social status or position on the food chain."
"Food chain?"
"Grade level," Link clarified. "There aren't many people at school who know as much about computers as myself and the idiots I cast my lot in with."
"How would you program another computer through the network?"
"What happened in comp sci?" Link asked. "You're spooked beyond belief. Did somebody do something?"
"No. I'm only wondering."
Zelda inwardly questioned her reasoning behind not telling Link, but she assured herself that it was because she didn't want him to worry. Because, after all, there really was nothing worse in her eyes than a hot, concerned, friendly, hot, obnoxious, hot, overzealous computer nerd.
Wait. How many "hot's" was that?
"Zel?"
"What?" she snapped, then closed her eyes, breathed in deeply, shook her head once, and then opened her eyes again, smiling at Link. "Sorry," she offered. "You startled me."
"You're blushing," he pointed out, prodding her cheek. "Might I ask why, per chance?"
"You may not," she said, hopping to her feet as the train ground to a halt in front of them. "Come on." She grabbed his wrist and yanked him towards the opening doors, and then suddenly, inexplicably, his arm slid backwards and their hands locked, fingers intertwining subconsciously as she dragged him onto the train, then suddenly skidding to a halt to avoid smashing into the unopened doors on the other side of the metro rail.
"You're jumpy today," Link remarked unnecessarily. "You sure you don't want to tell me about whatever it was that happened in comp sci?"
"Nothing to tell, because nothing happened," Zelda said, glancing over her shoulder at the open door. None of the students were making a move to come stand in Link and Zelda's otherwise empty carriage, and Zelda sagged in relief, sighing and leaning against one of the poles.
"Um, Zelda?"
"Eh?"
"Are you going to let go of my hand?"
Zelda looked down in surprise to see her fingers twisted with Link's – she hadn't even noticed when her grip slipped. Embarrassed, she let go of his digits as though they were made of hot steel.
They are hot, though, Zelda found herself inwardly saying as her glance strayed almost longingly to his hand once more, then she mentally slapped herself. Bad girl.
"Are you okay?"
"Fine, fine." Zelda attempted to laugh airily but wound up sounding like a madwoman, causing Link's intensely blue, quizzical look to become even more pronounced. "Come on," she muttered, slouching and giving it up. "Let's just sit down before the train moves, shall we?"
"Right." Link nodded once, and even though Zelda had turned her back and was proceeding to "her" seat, she could still sense those beautiful blue eyes on her back.
Not beautiful, she said to herself, slapping herself once more mentally. They're just ordinary eyes. What's with you today, girl?
Zelda gave a sigh, dropping her poor Prada back roughly on the floor and propping her feet up. Link plopped down across from her, removing his own patch-covered, forest green backpack and tossing it carelessly into the seat next to him.
"I'm tired," she complained. "I can't wait to just get home and relax. I'm so glad there's no band practice this afternoon."
"That's fine," Link replied, absently picking at a thread on his jeans. "We have two and a half hours before the game begins, and it'll take us about a half hour to drive to the stadium. We can have pizza for dinner there," he added, casting a glance upward at Zelda once – shyly, almost – and then returning his focus to the thread on his pants.
"This is gonna be so much fun," Zelda said with a grin as she tipped her head back, removing the hair tie from her hair and raking her fingers through her wavy, golden locks.
"Yep." Link nodded, idly watching Zelda's pale, slim, lightly calloused fingers rake through the sunshine strands, then turning away and fetching his cap from his bag, squashing it decidedly onto his head.
"You and that hat," laughed Zelda as she tied her hair up in a floppy bun. "What would you ever do if something were to happen to it?"
"Cry for a bit, then go out and buy another one." Link shrugged and grinned like a feral wolf, exposing his pointed, pearly canines. Zelda's heart fluttered lightly, and this time she knocked her head back against the plastic armrest of the next seat behind her – a little harder than intended, unfortunately.
Whack.
"Ohmigosh, Zelda, are you okay?" Link looked horrified (albeit in a slightly amused sort of way) as Zelda clutched the back of her head.
"Owww…."
Today's just not my day.
----
Zelda was laying on her bed, petting Valoo, her constant at-home companion as she thought idly over the day's events.
"Okay," she said out loud. "So I was fine until up around lunch. Then I start getting that weird fluttery feeling that I can't shake. Then comes comp sci, and a certain someone keeps invading my thoughts. Then that weird creep… and then the train ride, where I kept acting up. Not to mention that now my head hurts." Zelda tenderly touched the lump on the back of her head, cursing herself for her stupidity. She looked at Valoo, sighing. "What do you think, kitty?"
Valoo closed his eyes and stretched out underneath Zelda's hands as she patted his fur, purring.
"Fat load of help you are," she commented to the fur ball.
"Do you always talk to yourself?" Zelda leapt up and Valoo looked at her, affronted at the lack of petting.
"I've told you, Link, you're supposed to knock before you come in," she grumbled, face going cherry red as she glowered at the young man leaning against the door frame, arms crossed over his chest as he smirked at her. "What if I had been naked?"
"You would have a very happy Link on your hands, then." He snickered and trotted across the room to plop down next to Zelda on the bed, leaning on one elbow and reaching out to thump Valoo in the side. Zelda, whose mouth had dropped open at Link's lewd statement, twitched as though rousing from a deep sleep, and then quickly whirled on Link, bashing him atop the head with her curled fist.
"Oww," he whined. "What was that for?"
"You… you… GAH. That's disgusting," Zelda spluttered.
"What is?" Link eyed Zelda with childish innocence and naivety, totally different from the suggestive teen of just moments ago.
"That you would… that… me… ewwww…." Zelda whined like a little thirteen year old girl at the sight of two people making out, shuddering. "You're sick."
"I'm male," he replied with a casual shrug. "Not like I can help it much, can I?"
"You taint my holy living space with your… your… impurity," Zelda finally spat out, though she wasn't altogether sure that she didn't like that fact.
"I'm impure?" Link raised one eyebrow then pointed to Red Roses Forever, which was lying atop one of her two bedside tables, cover blatantly implying what occurred inside. "What about that thing?"
"Shut up," Zelda replied, going very red and turning the book over so that the cover exhibiting a man preparing to bed a woman was out of sight.
"No good." Link grinned like a Cheshire cat, to Zelda's utter indignation. "It's the same on the other side."
"Get out of my room, will you? You taint it with your masculinity. This is a girls' only zone."
"What about Valoo?" Link pointed at the cat, still looking rather amused.
"He's gay. He doesn't count."
"What if I were gay?"
"Out," Zelda barked, whapping Link roughly over the head with a down pillow and causing several small feathers to go flying.
"But I don't want to!" Link whined, covering his head. "And if you hit me with that thing one more time, I swear I'll- mmhph mm mmmm!" His words were cut off as she roughly whacked him in the face with the pillow once more.
"You'll 'mmph mm mmm'? How threatening," she said wryly. Of course, what she didn't count on was him ripping the pillow away from her at the speed of light and pinning her under him. "Link," she said slowly, her eyes going wide. "What are you doing?"
"I'm mmph mm mmm," he said with a predatory grin, and began to ruthlessly tickle her.
"No, Link, don't…" Zelda giggled, writhing under his talented fingers. "Don't… hahahaha… Link… hahahahaha…. Don't…….hehehehehehe… stop….."
"Don't stop?" Link asked as Zelda shrieked with laughter. "Okay."
"No…! Link….."
"Fine, fine," said Link, letting up and getting off of Zelda, who glared at him, panting, hair disheveled. "But only because we have to go now. That's why I came in in the first place. The football game starts in about half an hour."
"Oh," Zelda said flatly once she'd regained her breath. "Okay. Cool. Let me get my jacket."
"Uhm…" Link looked shiftily from side to side, moving his weight from one foot to another. "You won't need that…"