FINALLY i finished chapter nine. certainly took me long enough. i hope you guys didnt get too bored waiting. Now, we finally get to find out what Marth's up to! and it's the first rehearsal! yaay!!! the moment Link and Zelda have been waiting for! well, there's lots to read here, so without any further babbling, may i prsent chapter 9!

Chapter 9: The First Rehearsal

"Link."

"Yes Roy?"

"Please stop shaking."

"I… I can't help it!. I'm too—"

"Excited. I know. But please, I'm trying to finish my essay."

Link sighed, "Okay." Her turned to his own sheet of paper, which had only the date written on it. He was only minutes away from his first rehearsal. Just minutes! But Socials class was being cruel, and it dragged on for an eternity; stretching those few little minutes into millennia. "Come on… Come on!" Link urged the clock.

"The clock won't reply Link."

Link gasped. "One minute and counting."

"Oh joy." Roy sighed as he scrawled out his last few sentences.

"Fifty seconds!… Forty-five!"

"Link!"

"Forty!!"

"LINK!"

"THRITY-FIVE!"

Their socials teacher looked up from his desk. "Quiet you two! Or it's detention after school."

"Yeah, so shut up Link." Roy grumbled.

"Twenty." Link whispered excitedly. Roy snapped his pencil in half as he tried to contain his anger.

"Fifteen."

Must… not… kill… Link…

"Ten. Nine. Eight. Seve—"

"OH I CAN'T TAKE IT ANY LONGER!" Roy screamed. He jumped out of his seat and bolted out of the room, leaving the other students shocked and confused. The silence was broken only by the final bell.

"Umm…" The teacher blinked, "Link… what just happened?"

Link chuckled. "Roy,uh, had to go to the bathroom really badly." The teacher looked flabbergasted that his top student just ran away screaming in the middle of class. "He's under a lot of stress." Link tried to hold back his uncontrollable laughter. The teacher shook his head.

"Please hand in your essays everyone." Link took Roy's paper…or rather, his stack of papers, stapled them together and tossed them into the pile. He then strode back to his desk, crumpled up his unwritten essay and threw it into the garbage can. He packed up his and Roy's books and took both their bags to the drama room. On the way, he met Peach.

"Oh, hey Peach."

"Hey Link. How's it going?"

"Not too bad. Just had a good time bugging Roy in Socials. He didn't take it too well though."

"I was wondering if that was my boyfriend running down the hallway screaming." Peach laughed. "I don't know what I'm going to do with him."

"One day everything is gonna catch up to that boy and he'll regret it."

"Well, that's why he has us." Peach said, "We'll keep him on the right track, wont we Link?"

"Yeah." The conversation turned to the upcoming rehearsal as the two headed for the Drama room.

---

As she walked to the Drama room, Zelda was still going over in her mind what happened that morning with Marth.

What the hell?… What's Marth got in his head? Ooh, that little schemer. I know he's up to something… But what could Marth be thinking? Why the sudden change of heart? Arrogant, cocky Marth, actually showing some form of compassion? It was beyond believable! She pushed her way passed the hundreds of students getting ready to go home. The halls were about as overcrowded and chaotic as Zelda's mind, as a million thoughts bounced around. She pressed on as she tried to sort through her thoughts.

By the time Zelda arrived at the drama room, everyone else was already there. In no organized fashion, all the cast members were spread out around the room, sitting, standing, leaning on things. But they were all focussed on their scripts. Samus was among the dozens of students in the room. She looked up and realized Zelda's arrival. She waved Zelda over to a small circle of students, which included Marth, Peach Toadstool, her boyfriend Roy, and Link. Zelda quickly made her way over.

"Hey guys." She said. The others looked up.

"Hi Zelda." Marth said, wearing that friendly, un-Marthy smile.

"Hey Zelda!" Link said cheerfully, "Isn't this exciting?"
Zelda laughed. "Sure is, Link."

"Oh!" Link exclaimed. "Wait right here! I'll get you a copy of the script!" He leapt from his seat on the floor and into their teacher's empty office. As he rummaged through her files, Zelda took a seat in a folding chair beside Samus.

"Don't mind him." Roy said, "Getting into the play has been the highlight of the year for him."

"Oh, but aren't you excited too?" Zelda said. "I know I am."

"Oh I'm glad I got in all right." Roy said, "But Link… He's gone absolutely crazy ever since he found out."

Zelda giggled. "Yes, I suppose he has."

"Here you are Zelda!" Link was back, and with Zelda's script in hand.

Zelda took it from Link. "Wow, it's so thick!" She said.

"Yeah, the play's pretty long." Link said, sitting down again.

"Gosh… how am I going to memorize all this?"

"Well." Marth said, "We could always go over it after I tutor you if you wanted."

"WHAT?" Link blurted out. "You're tutoring her?"

Marth turned to Link. "As a matter of fact I am." He said. "Not that it's any of your business."

Link looked to Zelda with a disbelieving expression. Feeling the tension rising, Roy, Peach, and Samus hid behind their scripts.

"Yeah." She said, "I thought I could use the help…"

"Oh…" WHAT? ZELDA LET MARTH TUTOR HER? I THOUGHT SHE SAID SHE DIDN'T LIKE HIM! "…cool."

"Yeah…" Zelda said awkwardly.

Still in shock, Link looked down and pretended to read. This… This is unbelievable! She told me herself she hated him! She told me he was an arrogant jerk…

Zelda and Marth lowered their heads to their scripts as well. There was a rather unsettling atmosphere surrounding the small circle of six, as each person pretended to read their script. Samus, Roy and Peach kept giving each other nervous glances, trying to decide what to think of the situation. Link's eyes kept darting to Zelda, as he tried to think of some logical reason for her decision. Zelda was intently staring at her script, trying to avoid both Marth and Link. And Marth kept giving Link the occasional glare. This six-way exchange of glances was finally interrupted when their drama teacher made her entrance.

She stepped into the room; eyes aglow and hands clasp together. Her eyes swept over her new cast, and exciting ideas were popping into her head. She drew in a loud breath and proclaimed:

"Welcome to your first rehearsal! I am so happy to finally get this started. This is our school's first ever production in years!" Her eyes swept across the room again. "Oh, you will make a wonderful cast! Now come, all of you! In a circle! It's time for our first read through of the script!"

All the students dragged their chairs into a deformed circle shape and flipped their scripts to the first page.

"From the top!" Their teacher said, "Three, Two, One. Action!"

Drawing in a shaky breath, Luigi said the first line…

oh oh oh! tension is building again! is that a hint of jealousy i detect Link? tsk tsk.

anyways, i hope you enjoyed that chapter, and if you didnt (whcih would make me rather sad), there's still another chapter for you to read that you may like.

but if you did like this then feel free to review...

really... by all means, review...

come on! i know you want to.

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