Chapter 5: A Month of Frustrations
Gale's life had become increasingly miserable with the news that Grandpa Loze had managed to enroll Link in school. He was scheduled to start classes at the beginning of second quarter which was sometime around the middle of October, and that was less than two weeks from now. Link had begun to act even stranger than before after he had heard about the weird kid Gale had almost run into: what was his name again? Skull Kid?
The silver haired teen watched Link working at the register out of the corner of his eye. Petrov was currently taking orders from an elderly lady.
"A medium supreme to go," he passed the pizza box to her. Before she left, Link stopped her with a question. "Excuse me ma'am, I was wondering if you could help me."
The lady smiled pleasantly – she was one of those 'neighborhood mom' types.
"I was wondering if you've ever seen a boy about this high wandering around by himself. He has an ocarina."
The lady's smile turned from pleasant to puzzled. "No, I can't say I have."
"Are you sure? He also giggles a lot, and likes to pull pranks. Has anyone pulled a prank on you recently?"
Gale decided to step in. He gave a warm smile to the lady and told her to have a nice day while he pushed Link over to a corner. "Are you scaring away our customers now?" He asked icily.
"The customers think I'm charming, quite frankly."
"Well aren't you the charmer boy."
Loze peeked around from behind one of the ovens. "Gale! Are you distracting my new employee?"
Gale growled something from between his teeth before he turned his cold glare back to Link. "What the heck is with you and your Skull Kid obsessions?!" he hissed.
Link took a step forward and he stared down Gale's disconcertingly red eyes coolly. "He's a lot more important than you think. I have to find him."
Gale stood unflinching. "Then get out. Get out and take your lunatic ideas far away from here."
"You two boys stop bickering and help me run the store!" Loze's gruff voice caused Link to look behind him for a moment. Then, he turned back to Gale.
"I would do it, because goddesses know I'm just wasting my time here," Link spoke softly, hints of frustration in his voice. He shook his head, and then stepped past Gale to take care of a line of curious customers wondering why the two teens looked so hostile to each other. "But I need your help. Damn it I need your help, and you don't know just how important you are."
Gale huffed. Crazy bastard.
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The bell rang. English was one of Gale's least favorite class, and it was only going to get worse.
Opal D'Aragon counted the number of people who had been called up today. One, two, …three? Wait, that can't be right. It was supposed to be two. It had always been two for as long as she could remember; her and Gale were the only people who had consistently caused problems in class to be called up at the end of class. She turned her head to her right and noticed Gale looking more upset than usual. She turned to her left. Ah, it was that new kid who was working for Gale's grandfather now. He had his hands in his coat pockets and was looking sheepishly at the spot between his feet. She could understand why he had quickly become popular with the girls in the school with his cute features.
"Gale, I have no words for you except to get a hold of your life. Opal, have you made use of the resource center? I haven't seen progress from you, and you're skirting a fine line between passing and failing. And… Link?"
"Yes'm." The other two were staring at the newcomer.
"Um, you don't happen to have dyslexia by any chance?"
"Dyslexy-what?"
"Mmm, never mind." Mrs. Hemmer tapped her pen on her desk. "Well, the ideas you presented were well thought out but um, your spelling was nothing short of awful."
Link nodded. Opal's eyebrows arched high when she saw Link's paper full of spelling errors. She was surprised Mrs. Hemmer could even read it.
"I suggest you take advantage of the resource center to help you with spelling. Go with Opal. She should go there often if she actually listens to my advice. Take a look at this as well." She handed him a worksheet full of exercises. "Show it to me when you're done. I'd also ask Gale to help you if he actually had good work ethics."
The three filed out of class and did their best to avoid the class coming in. Gale and Link split off from Opal who had left for her AP calculus class. The two boys moved off to chemistry.
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"All right. You're coming with me."
"What?" Link asked, surprised, when Gale pulled him over after chemistry class. He had been heading over to the cafeteria.
"Shut up and come with me. I need a few words with you."
"Are you eating lunch?"
"In the shit pit? No way. I'm eating at Subways."
"I'd rather stay here. If you need to talk, find me in the cafeteria."
"You stubborn – Aahrgh!"
Link gave his pleasant smile as Gale grit his teeth in anger. "You're not used to people not moving the way you want them to. You know how to make them run in circles, but you don't know anything about how to make me run."
Gale stormed his way to the cafeteria. "That's because you're goddess friggin' crazy."
"It's because I'm not afraid of you." Link waved and walked away without giving Gale a second glance. "See ya later."
Fifteen minutes later, Gale was carrying a tray with a rubbery looking hotdog and a bottle of Pepsi. His nose was crinkled in disgust, and he snapped at anyone who stood too close to him in line. Some students, especially the girls, either whispered quietly or gawked; Gale rarely frequented the cafeteria so he was a rare sight. Slightly liking the attention even though he was scowling the entire time, Gale stood at the edge of the cafeteria trying to find the frustrating blond teen.
It only took him several minutes until he found Link surrounded by a group of freshman girls chattering loudly at a small, circular table. The chattering stopped when Gale walked over and stood patiently off to the side. A cheerleader type of girl with her bleached blond hair growing dark at the roots took her attention off of Link for a moment to address the disgruntled looking Gale. "Hey Gale, sit with us today?"
Gale's expression brightened if only for a moment. "I'm sitting here, yes, but I'm going to have to ask you ladies to leave so I can have a quick word with Petrov."
"Oh, don't be so mean and make us move." Another girl pouted.
"I'm a mean bastard, so I can make you move if I wanted to. Scram," Gale growled, his sly smile leaving him. After some protests, the girls gathered their belongings and left for a different table, and he heard one girl mumble to her friend "he's so hot when he's angry."
Once the girls were gone, Gale dropped into the seat across from Link and narrowed his eyes. He cut straight to the point. "What were you doing before you came here?"
Link munched on his turkey sandwich. The sound of lettuce crunching filled the silence. Gale's cheek twitched as he waited for an answer. Link sighed. "I was living in my car. I told you."
Gale's lips curled upward into a nasty grin. "Always? Were you always living in a car? Did your mother give birth to you there?" He scoffed. "What about grade school? How did you get your license even? If I was to guess, you didn't even have an education before, did you? It was obvious you knew nothing in chem."
"I just don't like chemistry," Link responded, not looking Gale in the eye.
"You couldn't do simple equations, you didn't know what the periodic table was, you knew nothing. I just thought you were stupid with nervousness during the first few days you came to school, but there's something else off with you. I wouldn't have found it weird if it weren't for all your other strange quirks." He took a bite from his hotdog, and then quickly took a drink of soda after he made a face. "Cough up. Where were you before the car? I bet you didn't even have a car."
Link quietly pushed his food aside and placed his hands in front of him, tapping his fingers together. "I had… a different education than you. And I did have a car."
"You didn't answer my question. Where were you?"
Link suddenly stood up and Gale followed suit. "That's personal." Gale looked none too happy.
"If I need to live with you I have a right to know you're someone I can trust, because right now, I don't trust you one bit."
Link turned around and began to walk away. Gale put a hand on his shoulder and applied a firm pressure to stop him. Link slowly moved the other teen's hand away, ignoring some glances from other students who had wondered if a fight was going to start. "Things will become easier to explain when you realize your real name."
The albino sounded exasperated. "This Vaati the Sorcerer bullshit again?"
The blond said nothing.
"At least show me the car. If you want someone to believe something, you need to have proof."
Link tilted his head. He seemed to consider something for a while, and then he finally said, "I'll see you after school."
Gale's bright red eyes followed Link's retreating back.
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After the dismissal bell rang, a tired Link was stopped by Gale who had his arms crossed in front of him. The skater teen cocked his head towards the exit, demanding him to hurry up. The two boys wordlessly walked out of school; Link with his hands in his pockets and Gale carrying his dervish under one arm. They didn't speak for a long while as they walked.
Occasionally, Link glanced around and behind his shoulder as though he were making sure no one was watching them. His peering around increased in frequency when they reached a small shopping outlet. This behavior made Gale suspicious. "Link," he began with a tone of warning, but was shushed by a wave of Link's gloved hand and an understanding nod.
"All right, all right." Link took a deep breath, crouching down between two cars as though he wanted to tie his shoes. He motioned Gale to do the same, and the two teens crouched out of sight behind the cars. Link drummed his fingers on his knee. "I actually don't have my car anymore. But – " he held up a hand, forcing Gale to quiet down so he could explain. "What I'm about to show you should answer one of your questions."
Gale looked confused. He watched Link stick his hands into the deep pockets of his jacket and rummage around for something.
"Understand I am placing a lot of trust in you by showing you this, and in return I ask for the same," Link said as he pulled out a bobby pin and a small screwdriver. He looked at Gale sternly. "Can I trust you on this?"
"Sure?" Gale shrugged.
In a minute, Link put his hand against the door of the bright red Ford Mustang they were sitting next to. Gale's jaw dropped when he saw Link twiddle around with the keyhole with his bobby pin and screwdriver. He broke a bobby pin once, but after his second one he masterfully managed to pick open the door. Gale never knew picking open a car door with nothing but a bobby pin and a screwdriver was possible; obviously this Petrov kid was good.
With a bobby pin between his teeth, Link sat in the driver's seat of the sports car with a satisfied grin on his face. Then, he turned to Gale with an innocent smile as though he were saying, "there's the truth." Link jumped out of the car and began to walk home after closing the car door behind him, leaving the albino teen staring after him in disbelief. More questions popped up in Gale's puzzled head.
So he steals cars? What the hell? Where did he learn that?! And what other things does he carry around in those gigantic coat pockets? I don't trust him at all!
For the time being, it seemed Link was unwilling to explain more about his past. Gale let it slide because he was too shocked by what he had seen, but he trusted Petrov even less now. He didn't know what else that kid could do, and Gale didn't like it when he couldn't get a good read on someone. The only thing he knew for sure was that he didn't like Link Petrov at all. There was something off about him, and he rubbed him the wrong way. And his smile. Goddamn that kid was so likeable by everyone. Gale didn't believe someone could be truly good all the way to the core unless they were beyond mortals; even the best saints had a dark side to them. He would rather trust someone who shamelessly showed everyone their darker side instead of someone who had a pleasant outer exterior.
One of these days, he was going to get an explanation out of that kid that actually made sense.
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It had been roughly a month since Zelda had picked up the mysterious Skull Kid off the streets, and she was exhausted. From working on her college studies to taking care of some of the legal issues involving the boy, she had almost no time to relax. Now that she had gotten her father's approval to keep Skull Kid around, some of the stress had lifted from her shoulders. Zelda had brought him to the local police station to see if they could get any leads on his parents – having found none, they had agreed to allow the Sterlings keep him in their home until his real guardians came looking for him. All she needed now was a document for adoption and to enroll him in school and…
I'm so tired.
At least her father wasn't the type to ask many questions. He left her alone to be independent after her mother had passed away. He'd become quiet, and had changed his name from Sterling to Harkinian, probably because he didn't want to remember the times when there had once been three Sterlings and not just two. Zelda didn't know him anymore, and she doubted her father knew much about her either. They lived in separate worlds now, and if Zelda had brought home some orphan boy then it was her problem.
She heard his business was going well. She knew he would be leaving soon in a couple of months again on a business trip. She was ok with it; they never talked much anyway.
The monitor of her sleek pink Dell Inspiron laptop cast a faint glow on her face. She logged into her Gmail account, making sure her chat status was on 'invisible' since she didn't feel like talking to anyone today. She heard Skull Kid giggling in front of the TV downstairs; she had left him to watch Dekudeku Adventures, which would hopefully occupy him for at least an hour.
She quickly glanced over her mail to look for any that seemed important. There were a couple of messages from facebook saying some friends had commented on her status, a notice from Aeropostale about a sale, and other random messages here and there. One email, however, caught her eye and she leaned forward into her chair to take a better look. The subject line read "Grant offer for Ms. Sterling," and the email address was by someone she didn't know. It read:
dugal h to me
Dear Ms. Zelda Sterling:
I would like to congratulate you on being invited to work with the research team of Dr. Stan Willits. The team is currently interested in the real world applications of energy manipulation, and we believe your current work on the manipulation properties of certain objects will be perfect for a joint collaboration project with Dr. Willits' work.
I have heard from reliable sources about your discovery of a possible zeron, or an object that can create energy distortions. Should you decide to accept this offer, you will be provided with a grant fully funded by Avilux I, an organization dedicated to expanding scientific knowledge by supporting innovative ideas. I will email you within the coming week to discuss a possible meeting with you to go over this offer.
I hope you will take up this wonderful opportunity.
Sincerely,
Halstead Dugal
Avilux I Chief Executive Consultant
Zelda stared at the screen. Full funding? Really? She read the message over and over again, daring her eyes to tell her she had misread it, but no matter how many times she reread the message it told her this Mr. Dugal and the organization he worked for was willing to fund her project.
Her breathing had quickened, excited at the prospect that people were beginning to show interest in the field of energy manipulation. She wasn't familiar with the term 'zeron;' it was likely a new word coined by one of the bigger labs working on the field. Maybe Dr. Willits himself coined it? Was she going to work with one of the leading scientists in the field of energy manipulation?
Calm down. You're letting your imagination get to you.
Still, Dr. Willits was already working on "real world applications of energy manipulation." That was something. Zelda had thought that people were only attempting to understand it at the moment – to be able to think of putting it to use was way beyond what she and her coworkers had been working on. It was curious, then, that Dr. Willits' team hadn't gained greater notoriety yet: perhaps he wanted to wait until he was done with his current research to reveal his results with a bang. The field was still a joke to some scientists, and it would be better to have something ground shattering to give those nonbelievers a good wakeup call.
In any event, this was a huge step for Zelda. By working on a joint project with the Willits lab, maybe she can finally move forward in unraveling the mysteries of energy manipulation and Skull Kid's ocarina? The community college she worked at just didn't have the resources – this offer could help her.
Taking a deep breath, Zelda began to type a reply.
Dear Mr. Dugal:
Shadow Blues: lol to the Zelda comment XD. Such is the life of Vaati, but it makes it all the more amusing for people like me kekeke
Astral S. Kepeire: Link - They think you're Vaati too.
Gale - You're the one who started the rumor, jerk.
Death-Note-Zelda-Kitty: Link just never gets the hint, though in this chapter the roles were somewhat reversed. There's going to be a different dynamic for those two in this story from BC ;)
Midna Hytwilian: What IS up with Link and Skull Kid, ne? And gosh, Link, picking locks now. XP Hopefully these two will make sense later on, but for now, we'll just let Gale puzzle over them bwahaha
Reily96: I hope they didn't kill him off for good D: Zelda's a true scientist - gotta make sacrifices XD She's tired, and she still hasn't realized Skull Kid's a bad idea (whistles innocently)
marium: Dundundun... oh Zelda. Don't worry about Link and Gale - Gale's just being uncooperatingly sour. Like always.
drydrydesert: I have some pictures up on my devart account under the name fleetfleets :). It was a little difficult figuring out how to keep them in character - I'm happy it's working!
DarkLinkvsRaineSagefan101: I was thinking of splitting that chapter in two, but I'm glad I decided to keep it as one. :)
Darkwind: lol he should've. But he thinks there's no way a sorcerer who was mistaken to be the good looking Gale could also be an ugly monster. Nope. Orbit! (goes off to buy some for our albino sailor).
Bishieluver01: Whatever gave you that idea? (whispers back) psst don't tell anyone ;)
Yes. I am. Good lord. I guess it wasn't so temporary then XD. Zelda got a teensy bit technical there. I guess in basic terms, she studies things that disobey normal physics laws (we would call it magic, but that word is highly taboo in the scientific world).
Link would meet Zelda at some point. That should be interesting.