Yet another chapter for you guys. Chapter 13 will be up after not too much longer, so don't get all weepy eyed on me. As always, I appreciate the reveiws I am receiving. I would especially like to point out Super Davis. When he first commented on my fic, it was rather harsh, and, well, pissed me off. Yet I decided that instead of getting defensive, I really dug into the minds of the characters more. Thank you for helping me to realize just how slow the whole thing was moving. I know that alot of you prolly thought the beginning was pretty boring, and I suppose to an extent, it was. I like to ease it in instead of throwing the plot at you in the blink of an eye. Makes it more interesting as it progresses I think. And sorry to Davis for my chapters not being long enough. I find a good stopping point and end it right there. Well, enuff mindless babble from me. This chapter things really spice up though it may not be clear at first. Well, enjoy guys, and as always, leave me reveiws. Thanx guys

Geddy

Chapter 12

"So what do you think of this one? Zelda? Zelda!" Malon shouted.

"Oh, what? Sorry," Zelda apologized as she snapped her head away from its dreamy daze.

"You're not even paying attention anymore, are you?"

"Sorry, I just keep spacing off for some reason," Zelda explained.

"You keep spacing off? Or is it that you can't get your mind of your boyfriend?" Malon retorted.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Zelda snarled.

"You wish."

Zelda glared at Malon.

"Truth hurts doesn't it Zelda?" Malon stated as she sat down on her bed.

Zelda rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. Malon's room was painted light blue with a light pink border around the middle of the room. . Stuffed animals and pictures lied strewn about in neat bunches or on the dresser. It was a very neat space, as you could imagine with the prissiness of Malon around.

"Look, I'm not trying to harp on you. If this is what you want, then fine, I can live with that. I just don't think you've thought this through well enough, you know?" Malon explained in her soothing voice.

"Yeah, I know. It's kind of hard to think about everything when you're crazy about someone though," Zelda replied as she rolled back over and shoved her face into a nearby pillow.

"I know, I know. You look like you could use a break. Let's go out and get some ice cream," Malon suggested as she hopped up from the bed and grabbed Zelda's arms.

Being nearly dragged off the bed, Zelda stumbled and followed the red head out to her car. Zelda felt great when she was around Malon. Always full of spirit and life, no matter what the situation. Zelda just hoped she stayed that way.

Link himself was just now getting home from the "practice". He had never had such a pathetic practice, and he had been expecting it to be the best. He didn't blame Serj for feeling the way he did, but still. He had NEVER come up with licks and riffs that sweet before.

He shrugged it off nonetheless. There was nothing he could do about it, and it would give him some good time to really crack down and starting building a song out of it instead of it just being a rumbled gunk of chords. Grabbing a Pepsi and leftover pizza from the night before, he turned his stereo onto Rush's cover of "Heart Full of Soul".

As the chords from the stereo bounced off the walls soothingly, he opened up his newest "Guitar World" magazine. Avenged Sevenfold was featured this month.

"Big shock," he thought to himself.

They had seemed to be everywhere in the days of late. Link didn't complain; they were by far one of his favorite bands. Usually Link would have been very into what the rhythm guitar player, Zakky Vengeance, was saying… yet he found his mind wandering.

Strangely enough, he wasn't thinking of anything in particular. You would think that he would have been thinking about Zelda a lot, but the girl had hardly crossed his mind since he had kissed her earlier.

He had already begun to feel like she was his, as sad as it may sound. He was really beginning to wonder if he should just straight up talk to Serj about it. Then again, it would be a little stupid to walk up to your friend and say:

"Hey man. I know we've only known each other about three weeks… But your sister is pretty hot and I have a thing for her so I just wanted to let you know I'm going to get with her. Maybe take her virginity, maybe not. Well, thanks dude, I knew you'd understand!"

Link laughed at himself. Talking to Serj would be the definition of stupid he decided. Link knew the best thing to do was to let the whole thing slide and just see what happened. Picking up his guitar, he wailed away on it late into the night before going to bed.

"You just got to roll the bones dude," Mido told Link at lunch the next day.

"Ask him and see what happens? Are you crazy!" Link shouted under his breath (if that makes sense).

"Hey man, just my suggestion. Don't get your boxers in a bunch," Mido retorted as he examined the crappy excuse for food.

"Hell no dude. You're nuts. Watch this…"

Link and Mido sat down at the table with Kafei and Serj. Link was rather anxious to show Mido exactly why it was that he was unwilling to tell Serj.

"Hey Serj, I know this is random, but out of curiosity, what's it like to have a sister?" Link asked in a very relaxed and deceptive tone.

"Damn right that was random… Um, why? That's probably the stupidest question I've heard," Serj retorted.

"I mean like, how would you react if let's say I was to date your sister," Link asked, almost as though he was sneaking in for the kill.

"Why, you have plans on it?" Serj interrogated, his voice growing hot.

"Just wondering man, don't get all pissed about it."

"I wouldn't like it too much. Actually I'd be pretty pissed. Really though, why?" Serj questioned further, a dark gaze fixed on Link.

"Mido wants to go out with her," Link interjected.

Mido shot Link a very dirty glare. Though you would think that it would be very foolish of Link to do this, he knew Mido wouldn't rat him out. Mido was far too good of a friend.

"Yes, it's true. I have such a longing for your sister Serj. Saria isn't cutting it for me," Mido said sarcastically.

Fortunately, Mido's sarcasm and stupidity made Serj forget about the whole conversation. Link couldn't help but give Mido the I-told-you-so look every chance he got. Link had just confirmed his own suspicions, and though he felt good about proving Mido wrong, it didn't help the situation knowing that Serj would tear him limb from limb if he ever found out.

School flashed by again faster than Link had expected. As the weeks passed by and the weather began to chill out, literally, Link noticed that Zelda basically was his girlfriend. It sucked.

He left like he couldn't even be close to Zelda during school, and sadly, he was right. Serj was like a hawk when it came down to watching out for his little sister, and he had already made it clear that he would not at all be happy if one of his friend's were to do anything with her.

The occasional peck on the lips when no one was looking wasn't great, but it was better than nothing. It seemed to risky to even talk to each other now, seeing as Link had brought up the idea of friend's dating sisters, which was apparently a big, big no-no.

It was also far too risky to try and sneak off by their lonesome for even five minutes. They both had a thing for each other, that much was for sure. And that's all it was. Link felt like he was being forced to date this girl, even though he wasn't dating her at all.

The months passed on and on and the snow began to fall. It really didn't snow at all in San Demas; a very thin layer of white frost would cover the ground once in a blue moon, and that was as close as they were going to get

Link along with Prototype had exceptionally good connections along the east coast, surprisingly. A guy by the name of Dennis Jennings had seen one of their shows in San Demas and was, of no surprise, amazed.

Link had kept in contact with Dennis and ended up landing Prototype a gig in New York City, which was where Dennis was from. The trip luckily landed right in the center of Christmas break, which sent the band through the roof.

Link used a good chunk of money to do it, but he made an actual trip for the entire school to go. It cost several hundred dollars per person, but it was sure to be well worth it.

"Can you imagine it? Snow… SNOW!" Mido shouted at Serj's house.

"Yeah, they have snow. It's that white stuff that falls down from the sky in flakes. Good to see you know what it is though, Mido," Malon jabbed sarcastically.

It was eight o'clock now, the night before the trip. Dennis had arranged for a plane to actually take all of the band's gear for the show up there a week before, which lightened the load considerably. Dennis sure was a great guy to them.

"I've always wanted to go to N.Y.C. you know," Saria announced.

"Ok, seriously, how much longer is this cheap movie scene going to go on? If I wanted to hear corny cliché lines, I'd go buy some low budget horror movie," Serj growled to no one in particular.

Link smiled and chuckled at bit. Him and Serj were in the living room hammering away on their guitars. Link had been training him on doing a little lead guitar. Link loved to sing, but he was one of those guys that would rather just play his guitar than do both. Thus, he had worked very hard with Serj to take the lead vocals slot from him. Serj was more than happy to do the singing, and Link was glad he was able to let up a bit and drift off onto the lead guitar again.

Serj had learned a lot from Link already, and it was pretty obvious. Serj's speed with his left hand had improved a lot; though not quite up to the handle of hammer-ons and pull-offs Link had. Link felt a little satisfied with himself, for that fact. He began to think of giving guitar lessons strangely enough.

Zelda on the other hand was happy about the trip for one simple reason: There was a possibility that she would be able to spend some time with Link. Although… it would be pretty cold. There ended up being over two hundred students that were going, to Link's surprise. It was a good opportunity to see a new place, and see their hometown's best band perform in front of over ten thousand people!

Needless to say, Prototype was very hyped up about the whole thing. Not only were they playing in front of a huge crowd, but they were headlining! Not just opening as the cheap band that isn't good enough to headline, but were the only ones running the show. Well, when you're friends with a guy that did some work with Metallica and Pantera, what more can you expect?