Chapter 41: He is capable of laughter after all
It was early in the morning, Link hadn't really managed to sleep at all, even though they used a big inflatable mattress he bought, big enough to not bother the Princess with his body temperature, making Zelda no longer a concern, yet his mind would not let him rest. He checked the time and decided to wake the Princess up as a courtesy, to give her time to bathe, fix her hair and put on some makeup. That is the general routine most girls follow, and it takes them HOURS… but he soon found out that his Princess was a HUGE exception to the rule. Zelda didn't bathe since she had done it yesterday before going to sleep, she just brushed her hair and teeth, then pulled a random blouse out of her backpack to put on, and reused yesterday's jeans. Link's constant glare was making her uncomfortable.
ZELDA POV
He has been staring at me for TOO LONG, I think I look fine, my clothes are on and properly placed, I mean my blouse is not backwards or food stained, my face is clean and my hair is knot free. Why is he staring at me like that?
"Do you need something?" Zelda finally asks Link.
His eyes meet hers as he answers "I was just wondering, you bought make-up, why are you not using it?"
Zelda rolls her eyes "You told me to do what I saw others do to avoid standing out, the girls at the mall were buying it, so I bought some. Not planning on using it though. I don't believe in make-up… If you are pretty, you don't need it. If you are ugly, you REALLY don't need it. Using it will age you and make you uglier over time according to mom, I see no gain using it under any circumstance." Zelda answers with conviction.
Link smiles genuinely at her "With that I agree, let's go then"
They both left the apartment and headed to school, it didn't take them long to walk there. As they approached the school entrance, they received curious stares from the other students, but most of them where nasty glares from the girls. Zelda was perplexed by this.
"Do they hate us? Why?" Zelda asked Link on a very low volume.
"Not me, but they may hate YOU a little… that is because you are cute" Link answers her.
"WHAT!!! That makes no sense, why would they hate me for that?" Zelda asks.
"Jealousy maybe, I don't know, the female psyche is unexplored territory for me" Link answers faking being sorry for not being able to provide an answer.
Jealous… of me? Really? But I am so petite an undeveloped compared to them. These girls are tall, with glossy hair and curvy bodies.
They enter the school and continue walking until they reach Zelda's room, Link leaves Zelda there and tells her to move to the next room in her schedule when she hears the school bell. If she has trouble finding her next classroom, she can ask any teacher for help.
Zelda opens her eyes wide "WAIT, you are leaving me here?"
"My class is somewhere else, I need to hurry to get there, you will survive right?" Link says, then he turns and rushes off, the bell starts ringing.
Zelda shivers and hugs her transparent zipper binder.
["THERE, you should be able to carry sheets of paper, your pens and pencils in this" Link hands her the binder "the school requested us to use this or a see-through backpack, since they don't have lockers" Link takes a deep breath "the need to see what students carry at all times, means it's not a safe school environment, you should avoid conflict with other students… but don't let them trample you either, am I clear?"]
After taking a big breath Zelda turns and enter her classroom.
LINK POV
"I am terribly sorry madame, I got a little lost since it is my fist day here, may I come in?"
"Of course, you may sweety, there is an open seat next to Briana at the back, or you can sit next to Li right there, he doesn't talk much though" the teacher says trying to warn him.
Link looks up and there in the middle of the classroom was his clone, they stared at each other for a few seconds, then Link starts smirking.
["Link you have to promise me something. If or when you meet your donor, you talk to him gently"
"He may be a monster you know? Link says.
Zelda rolls her eyes "He is not, he is like a scared animal… he bites mainly out of fear, so be gentle. I will not forgive you if you scare him off"]
"Lee sounds perfect mam; I hate having to chat with people" Link says to the teacher and turns walking to take a seat next to Li.
I send a text yesterday to Carla, just to ratify the donors name to be Robert Li, that last name is clearly Chinese and the boy does NOT look Chinese at all, but according to Carla, it IS his name… how did he came to have it?
Link sits next to Lee and extends a hand at him.
"We started on the wrong foot yesterday, I am Link"
"Li" he answers shaking Link's hand.
"That is a Chinese last name, isn't it? You don't look Chinese"
"And you are not the first bright bulb to notice" Robert answers bluntly.
This motherfucker, but all right, I won't press… either way I just confirmed his identity, I need to tell him about the donor program, and also… find a way to make him start talking to me. I need to know what he knows, and if he remembers anything.
The class continues, the literature teacher adjusts her glasses and FINALLY notices the cause of the ruckus in her classroom. The new student and Li look VERY alike, she sighs at the realization and mentally smacks herself for not noticing before. Link closes the book he was reading and stares at the clock, 5 min. left before the bell rings.
"Li, when do you have your lunch period today?"
"Why?" Li asks with reserve.
"I need to talk to you, figured lunch time is a good time" Link says in a happy tone.
"What if I DON'T want to talk to you?"
Link starts showing a malicious grin "Look, it's going to happen willingly or not, but I rather go about this the civil way" Link starts twirling a pen in his left hand "I can promise you one thing; you DEFINETLY want to hear what I have to say" Link says as he throws the pen in the air, catches it and brins it down stabbing the desk with it.
*So much for being gentile*
Gentile my ass, even if he is not me, he will soon be a man. Men don't respect feminine traits in other men. And I need him to respect me enough to believe everything I have to tell him.
Li stares back at Link and answers "10:40pm"
"Perfect" the bell rings "see you then" Link says as he raises from his chair.
Once he starts to head out, he notices an odd distribution of the female population smiling mischievously at him and pilling to obstruct his path. A loud whistle is heard, Link turns to see Li calling him back with his hand. Link he heads back to Lee curious.
"Lesson 1: you ALWAYS want to wait a few minutes after the bell, to avoid the mob of desperate horny bitches… but if you crave the attention I recommend Hanna, she is discrete" Li tells him while closing his own book and placing it on the book tray of the desk.
Link nods at him and half smiles thinking of a meme "Robert of the literature classroom, share your wisdom" he smiles joking.
Li makes the association with the meme and starts roaring in laughter. The room goes radio silent at that moment; they all stared at them wide eyed. Link starts to freak out a little looking around for the obvious treat. Li slowly dims his laughter falling into silence, he shakes his head, stands up and walks out of the classroom pulling Link by the front of his shirt whit him.
Cough "I should be going that way" Link says pointing at a completely different direction.
Li sighs and releases his hold on the hero's shirt. Link just looks at Robert and decides to ask "They have never heard you laugh before, have they?" Link asks.
Li ignores the question and continues walking to his next class.
From what I gathered, Li does not smile or laugh often. Why? What happened to him? also, my name did not ring a bell at all, I will assume his memories about his life as Hyrule's hero got whipped out… or he isn't me after all. Either way I need to know about his past, about his family, where and how he currently lives. Even if he is not me, I am going to make things better for him if I can, I like the guy.
Link enters his next class, but the algebra teacher was a cranky old guy, he refused to take into account that Link was a new student and could get lost. Without much pity he requested Link to walk out of the room, and to arrive on time tomorrow if he wanted to attend his class. Link came out rolling his eyes, he decided to head to the library and pass the time there.
Now that I think about it… I could just skip the next class too and wait till 10:40 to speak with Li. But… I guess I can't do that in good conscience. I told my Princess that she could safely follow my lead. If I am claiming to be a role model, then I better be a DAMN GOOD role model. Skipping a class is behavior I would not condone from her, meaning I CAN'T do it either.
He kept walking around searching for a book that may catch his interest, but he found nothing of the sort, not like he was disappointed, this WAS a middle school after all, the school had no interest on reviewing complex and thought-provoking literature, just the normal dramas to entertain teens. The bell starts ringing, Link opens his own binder to check what class is next for him, and finds his next period to be Algebra once again.
*Well, this is going to be fun. *
Not at all, I am not even going to try, the fucker already turned me down, he even said to try again TOMORROW, not later today, and I just happen to be a very obedient boy.
*That is a way of skipping without giving a bad example… kind of*
ZELDA POV
"But I did not start this, SHE did" Zelda claims pointing at Kenia.
The principal rubs his temples "I don't care who started, all I care about are the repercussions of what you both did. And so far, it's not good. 12 girls injured is more than enough reason to expel the both of you" says the principal exasperated.
"NO FAIR. Most of them just fell on one another" Kenia tells him dismissively.
Clearing his throat "From what I was told, most of them began punching each other siding one of you" the principal says pointing at both of the girls.
The Princess rolls her eyes "As I said before, Kenia started it, she pushed me into the mud and when I didn't respond to the attack, she tried to make Emma eat a death snake she found on the garden" Zelda reiterates.
"THAT STILL doesn't give you permission to swing a punch at my face, you broke my nose stupid blonde" Kenia said in anger rubbing the ridge of her nose.
"It's not broken, it just bled a little, and don't lie, I didn't throw a single punch at you, I just tried to shove the snake down your throat" Zelda adds mischievously.
"JUST BLED A LITTLE? I had to change my clothes cuz of the blood stain"
The principal just reclined on his chair breathing out loudly, thinking he was not paid enough to be dealing with this shit.
"I think I don't want to know any more details" said the principal shocked by the savagery of the girls.
Zelda grins wickedly at him "You don't want to know, but I am going to tell you anyway or how else are you going to pass a fair judgment?" clears her throat "As I was saying, while I was trying to make Kenia eat a spoonful of her own venom, one of her friends kicked my face, Emma began crying for help and several girls gathered to defend us, but more of Kenia's friends came to join the fight and… I guess you know the rest"
The principal takes a deep breath and comes to a conclusion he was surely going to regret. Dealing with Kenia was difficult, but dealing with her mother was a whole new level of an ordeal. The lady was packed with money, and this was the 3rd school Kenia was moved to… The mother refused to believe her daughter had an aggression problem. She was surely going to be pissed about this, and he would have to hear ALL about it, and get scolded by her for not doing his job and failing Kenia.
The principal takes a deep breath before informing the girls of his decision "Zelda, it's a shame but you are suspended for the next 3 days. As for you Kenia, you have a long record of aggression towards other students, I won't tolerate it anymore, you are expelled"
Kenia opened her mouth wide and frowned, then started insulting Zelda and the principal himself, he stood up and pushed them both out of his office.
"Call anyone you need to, but get out of here or I call the police" the principals say to Kenia "as for you Zelda, you have 1 hour to leave the institution, I will see you back on Thursday" the principal says closing the door of his office. Kenia comes dangerously close to the Princess, growls loudly and leaves dialing someone on her cellphone.
Well, damn. Will this get me in trouble with Link? It should not, I mean, I did what he told me to do, I did not let the bitch trample me.
Zelda starts heading to the entrance of the school unsure of where to go now to find Link, she needed him to hand over the keys so she could enter the department. She sees a line of cooks rushing over with bread trays to the cafeteria, and in the line helping with the trays was Link.
Why? What exactly is he… what am I saying. Its Link we are talking about, of course he would get involved in the kitchen affairs, surely that is how he meet Nana and Chacha.
"LINK!!!" Zelda yells.
LINK POV
Link turns to look at her rising an eyebrow at her. He was about to ask her why she was there and not in her classroom, but he noticed Lee behind her approaching them.
Why is Lee here too? And why is Zelda all covered in mud?
"And I thought you didn't come to school today" Li said to Zelda.
"OH, HI… I am sorry I can't stay to chat" she turns to Link "I got suspended, I need the keys to head back please" Zelda tells Link with sad puppy eyes.
The Prince opens his eyes wide "Suspended? What the fuck did you do?" Link ask more surprised than angry.
"I kind of started a girl mob fight, WAIT NO, I did not start it, but I DID finish it." Zelda says rising her head high in fake pride.
Li starts cracking in giggles, by when Link and Zelda notice and turn to him, he could not hold it in any longer, he blurted out with maniac laughter. He then points at Zelda.
"YOU, fragile, petite and absentminded girl got on a fight?" Li says as he continues to laugh.
Link turns to Zelda and balancing the bread tray in his left hand, he uses his right to grab her chin between his index and thumb to lift and turn her head, he sighs and half smiling hands her the keys.
"Give me a quick recap of the damage I am seeing" Link demands.
The Princess clears her throat "I was thrown on a mud puddle, scratched with impossibly long nails, kicked in the face and my hair got pulled… I will survive though" Zelda answers no longer afraid of Link scolding her "but she got it worse, I kicked her, punched her nose, bit her leg… and also ripped the wig out of her head."
Savage, I shouldn't be feeling so proud of her.
"The fight was with Kenia right? this is her trade mark" Li says as he points and rubs on Zelda's cheek where she had a mark from Kenia's ring. Link nods at Lee's thanking him for telling him who had dared to harm his Princess.
Zelda notices the vengeful vibe both of the boys where exuding "In case you were thinking doing something to her because you are both brute animals... you don't have to worry; I got her expelled" Zelda brags proudly.
Li starts laughing again and walks towards the food line still cracking up. Link follows him with his gaze, then chuckles.
I suck at this, I am supposed to be angry at her for getting suspended, but I am not, my kitty used her claws and fangs to fend off. I am so fucking proud of her. And I should not feel like this I think, I should reprimand her.
*Oh, cut the crap, will you? You are NOT her dad, you are her guardian, that means you are here to protect her, and to teach her how to defend herself for when you are not around. *
Smiling the hero turns to Zelda "Once I get home, I want all the details… and good job by the way" He winks at his Princess.
Zelda smiles elated "I demand an explanation of THIS too" she points at the bread tray he is still carrying; she turns and walks away giggling.