Chapter 7

Serj ended up taking Zelda home after school.

"You were supposed to do that to begin with you bastard…" she selfishly thought to herself.

"I see you lived a little today," Serj joked.

"Ha, yeah, I guess I did. Malon and the other girls were really sweet, actually. I'm going over to her house tomorrow after school," Zelda informed, almost as though she was proud of herself.

"Does she drive?"

"Yeah, she'll take me home. Don't worry, I wouldn't want to ruin happy time," Zelda smarted off, but was actually pretty serious.

"I talked to Link about that guy Ganon," he began.

"And?"

"We should actually be careful of him. Surprisingly, he's the guy every girl, save you, wants," Serj growled in irritation of the subject.

"Ugh! He's ugly!"

"Ugly doesn't change the fact he's the high school quarterback," he stated.

"Oh, that explains a lot," she replied with a roll of her green eyes.

"Yeah. So pretty much he has everyone at the school on his side, basically. His little B squad could easily beat the shit out of me… Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I could help you out today with him, but next time I don't think it'll be enough…"

"Yeah."

Zelda got a creepy feeling from the guy, much worse than she did from Link. Although, Zelda's opinion of Link had begun to change already. He wasn't so bad after all. She knew she was saying this now only because she was no longer jealous of Serj, though there was no way in hell she would ever tell him that.

Now it seemed as though there was a little something special about this Link. She began to wonder if her upfront hatred had only been her heart covering up the opposite feeling. No, there was no way she could actually have feelings for him! Although… he was pretty handsome.

Link on the other hand was becoming less enthused with her every time he thought about the girl. Why did he even care? Just some stupid girl that has a serious attitude problem.

He fiddled with the old song "Spirits in the Material World" from The Police, but couldn't seem to concentrate enough to pick out the chord progression in the song. Flustered, he set the guitar on its stand and laid on his back, his hands behind his head like a cradle. Time sure did fly.

His next show was three days from now… thanks to Serj that is. If it hadn't been for him, it would have been pretty damn hard to do all of that with just the three in the band. Zelda… Damn it! He was doing it again; thinking about that dumb girl. Was he getting soft or something? He had things to do… important things.

The following morning brought dark gray clouds and a light drizzle. The summer season was beginning to pass and the cool fall come upon them unexpectedly. The grass in the front of the school was moist with the tiny droplets of water that slid down each blade like its own little waterfall.

"Californication" was heard from Link's car as he pulled up in the parking lot. He wore a thick black hoody with the "Fender" logo on the front, and his usual faded torn up jeans. Trudging through the damp lawn, he made his way to first period with Serj. Third days of school and he already felt like a semester had passed.

Zelda was nearly falling asleep in her first period class. Boredom struck her like a ton of bricks for some reason. She just wanted to get out and go do something. Laughing in her head, she realized that this was what it was like when you actually have friends. And then there was Link after… Damn it!

Her thoughts were the same as Link's were. She had to figure out why her thoughts kept on drifting over to him. She was becoming more aggravated as she thought about it, but couldn't seem to get the subject off her mind.

At lunch she often found her eyes wondering over to his table with Serj and the other two guys. There were a few times where she caught Link's eyes and quickly looked away. Making eye contact was a major no-no in every book written on earth.

Link knew this as well, as he too found his eyes drifting over to her table. Although, Link had a lot more self control than she did. He wasn't desperate to figure out what the hell was wrong with him, unlike Zelda. The two of them were sharing the same thoughts as each other. Kind of creepy how two people thought they both hated one another were almost connected.

Zelda told Serj after school that she was getting a ride home from someone else. Serj found this somewhat peculiar, but didn't question. Zelda obviously lied… she was going to follow Link. She had noticed that he had gone to his car, but hadn't gotten in it. Instead he pulled out something that was very long and wrapped in white paper. It was only more suspicious when he stuff whatever it was inside of his hoody and started walking to the outskirts of town.

As Zelda trailed him, keeping her distance all the while, she began to wonder if she was mad. "Have I gone completely insane?" she thought to herself. There was no point in turning back now; she had already followed him for ten minutes. She was rather surprised to see that Link had made his way outside the actual city and towards a large fenced in field.

He kept his head down and the hood over. There was an opening in the gate that Link was headed straight for it seemed. She prayed he didn't turn around and notice that she was following him, considering the fact that she now had nowhere to hide in the middle of a field.

He turned into the gated area and she quickly followed, although she stopped dead in her tracks when she realized where she was. A graveyard. What the hell was wrong with his guy? She shook it off and followed him down the paths of tombstones.

The graveyard had an even colder feel to it than the rain and wind itself did. Zelda was actually a bit frightened. There was something up with the wack job, and she intended to find out. She then realized that he had stopped finally and she stepped behind a tree that was only about three feet behind him.

Link looked down under his heavy wet hoody at the grave that lay before him. Taking out the white concealed paper he had, he looked longingly down. As he unfurled it, Zelda realized that it was just roses. She was all wrong about this guy. He wasn't crazy… he was hurting.

"Hey guys…" Link began as he kneeled down. "I know I haven't been here in a while… been kind of busy with the band you know. Things are going pretty good with the whole thing as I had hoped for. We got this really cool guy named Serj who just moved here from Florida with his sister. His sister… man, there's a piece of work! Ha, I don't know though. There's something special about her, though I can't put my finger on it. I won't bore you with that though… I guess, really I just wanted to stop by, let you guys know I still love you, and, well, I miss you a lot. I'll be back soon to see you again, take it easy," he finished, his throat tightening.

He dropped the roses down on the grave and stood up, stuffing his hands in his pockets. With a very heavy sigh, he slowly turned and headed back for the gate. After Link had gone a little ways, Zelda came out from behind the tree to get a quick look at the grave stone. It read:

In memory of Darin and Margery, and their beloved son Tyler. May their thriving son be the missing Link to their dreams…

Zelda was astonished. It was his parents and brother. That's why people called him Link… he got it from the tombstone. Zelda felt as though she was about to cry now. How could someone go on like that with so much loss in his life? She began to feel horrible about treating him so badly. He had felt true pain before…

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Zelda spun around in shock to see Link standing there. He looked very angry, as though his skin was boiling. She didn't exactly blame him, yet she was still terrified of him.

"I, well…"

"Spit it out," Link growled, his eyes breaking through her like knives.

"I followed you," she confessed.

"That much is obvious! Why?" he replied rudely.

"Look… I, I don't know, ok!" she stated truthfully.

"You did it just for the hell of it?"

"Yeah, basically…" she said meekly.

Link was infuriated, but he still felt a little for her. Damn it, there it goes again! Sighing heavily, he knew that pissing off her brother by being an ass would do no good.

"You need to get out of the rain before you get sick, come on," Link stated calmly and gestured for her to follow him.

"Oh, ok…"

Zelda was utterly shocked. She had just being spying on him and he shows like he's concerned and that he cares? Now she knew that there was something really wrong with him.

When she caught up to him, he said nothing, but kept his head low and his hoody on. She couldn't even see his face because the hood was so big. She started to feel a little awkward.

"If, if you don't mind me asking… who were they?" Zelda inquired, although she had a pretty good guess as you saw.

"My parents. And my little brother," he said flatly.

"Oh. When did it happen?" she pried further.

"Three years ago. We were on a trip to Florida strangely enough. Dad lost control of the car and crashed over the side of the bridge and into the river. Don't ask me how I survived, I don't know," he explained in an icy tone.

She knew he was choking back tears even though she couldn't see it. Even she was trying to keep herself from crying. Zelda now felt worse than ever that she had treated him the way she had before. He was a good guy after all.

"Link… I'm sorry, for everything."

"What do you mean?"

"About your family and…"

"Don't worry about it. It's not your fault; it's in the past."

"…And that I was so rude to you earlier," she finished.

Link gave her a puzzled look. What made this girl have such a change of heart? Oh well, not like it really matter, right?

"Oh, yeah, thanks," he replied.

"I don't know, I just got this weird feeling about you at first. But you're an ok guy Link, I really am sorry," she apologized again.

"Really, thanks. Now I don't have to be worried about anything happening with your brother."

Zelda laughed a bit at this. It was true though, sadly enough. Link ended up taking her home after they got back to his car at the school. Giving Link a wave goodbye, she parted ways with her new friend.