Zelda was now in the fourth grade, and she had never genuinely enjoyed school—ever. When had anyone?

She had made a new friend named Midna Twilit, a girl who Zelda thought was much prettier than her. Midna didn't know sign language at first, but once she realized Zelda was deaf and couldn't speak, she tried to learn as much as she could of it.

They had been friends since second grade, and Midna had mastered sign language at the beginning of fourth grade.

Zelda was very thankful to have someone as caring and kind as Midna for a best friend. Midna hadn't made that many friends either, so it was nice to just have each other in their lives.

But nobody had stopped bullying Zelda ever since she punched Link in first grade. Whenever she was alone, she angrily thought to herself, why can't they just let that go?

She knew it was because of her deafness, though. Zelda wished she wasn't like this. Mother always told her that she was fine like this, but someone deep in Zelda's mind always told her otherwise. Zelda always thought of that voice as Link, since he teased her the most.

Zelda was at school right now, staring at her gross looking lunch. She had forgotten to pack her lunch today, so she brought some money and bought the school's lunch. School lunch was never good, but Zelda didn't want to starve until she came home in the afternoon.

"This looks disgusting," Zelda signed to Midna, which the orange haired girl agreed on as she picked at her own school lunch.

"This is the first time I've looked at pizza and said no," Midna signed back and Zelda cracked a smile and laughed a little, picking up the pizza and taking the smallest bite off of the tip of it.

She spit it out. "Good thing I got fruit and stuff," Zelda signed to Midna, grabbing her carton of milk and opening it. Then, she grabbed the mandarin oranges she had gotten and ate one.

"Y'know, I wish they had popcorn chicken today, that's like—the only okay thing they serve here," Midna signed and giggled a bit afterwards, eating her pizza and suffering while doing so.

Then all of a sudden Link sat down at their table. He had brought his own lunch today.

"Lucky him," Zelda signed to Midna. Link couldn't understand this language, so she could outwardly insult Link to Midna only and she'd laugh while Link stared at them in bewilderment.

He gave Zelda an odd look, but she was used to seeing that facial expression on him. It showed disgust—he was disgusted by just her presence. It didn't really get to Zelda that much, but she always wondered why only one person in this swarm of kids wanted to be her friend. Otherwise, no one else did. Link. It was Link's fault.

Link looked at Midna and grinned. "Mind if I sit here?" he asked her.

Zelda didn't know what was going on, but Midna had the ability to talk like Link and the others did. She looked at her friend and watched the girl roll her eyes, resting her chin in the palm of her hand. The brunette girl watched as Midna talked to Link.

Zelda had actually been able to read a handful of words off of people's lips—by a handful, I mean only four words. Go away, Zelda and hello. Not much, and Zelda wanted to learn more. She wanted to talk.

"Sure. Don't say a word to Zelda," Midna said to Link, and the chestnut haired boy rolled his eyes back at her and sat down.

Unzipping his lunchbox, he pulled out his peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwich, grabbing the water and pretzels he had in there as well. He ripped open the plastic bag of pretzels, grabbing one and throwing it in his mouth. As he began to chew, he noticed Zelda staring almost longingly at the food he had.

Link, with food still in his mouth, raised an eyebrow and then looked over at Midna.

"What does she want?" he questioned her.

Midna glanced at Zelda, then at Zelda's food tray, and then at Link's better-looking food.

"Have you ever tasted the cafeteria food?" Midna asked Link, stifling a chuckle as she spoke.

Link thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. "I tried it once in kindergarten. All I remember is that it was really gross, so my parents decided to pack my lunch everyday since then."

Midna nodded, picking up one of the grapes on her tray and chucking it at Link's forehead. It hit him a bit harshly, and the boy winced at the short moment of pain he felt. Then he glared at Midna.

"Do you have anything else in your lunchbox?" Midna asked. "If you do...give something to Zelda."

Link bit his lip to stop himself from laughing at her outrageous statement. "Psh, why would I want to give food to her?"

"I don't know what sort of grudge you have against her, but cut it out. If you're just going to tease her without her even knowing, then please leave," Midna stated, and by her tone of voice Link could tell that she was pissed now.

"Why did you even sit here if you hate Zelda?" Midna asked in a quieter tone, making sure nobody else around them overheard.

Link stared at Midna in disbelief, a bit taken aback by her words. He sighed in defeat and looked inside his lunchbox, finding a granola bar and a Hershey's chocolate bar in there. He glanced at Zelda, then at Midna, and back at Zelda. He finally gave it up and handed his food to Zelda.

Zelda watched as Link held out both items to her, with one of the most annoyed faces she had seen him make. She noticed that his eyes were beautiful, but why would a fourth grader think that? She hadn't had any crushes before, but she always thought Link was a little cute. Even if he teased her the most.

Nonetheless, she gingerly accepted his offers with a barely visible blush on her cheeks. This moment felt almost surreal. She grinned when she unwrapped the wrapper of the granola bar, taking a bite of it and tasting its goodness.

She sighed a thank you to Link, returning to eating the granola bar. Link nodded and then looked at Midna.

"Thank you," Midna thanked. "I still want to know why you're sitting here if you don't like her."

Link didn't want to answer, but he also wanted to tell someone.

"All my friends ditched me for this new kid. I hate him—I don't even know his name! All I know is that he stole all my friends and—and he doesn't even talk to me either. It's obvious he hates me..." Link ranted, feeling more distraught as he spoke more and more about his problem.

"This is what Zelda felt like for a long time. And me, too," Midna said. "Now you know what it feels like to be alone."

"Yeah... I need to stop..." Link said, tugging at strands of his hair and releasing a heavy sigh. "I need to stop teasing Zelda. She can't hear me, though, right? I want to apologize."

"She hates you for what you've done to her. Don't expect her to apologize so quickly," Midna stated.

"I'll—I'll make it up to her—no. I'll prove to her that—that I'm sorry... I hate myself for what I've done to her..." Link rambled on and on, but Midna eventually lost him as his words grew quieter and were muffled by food.

Midna wasn't ready to take his words into pity.

But Zelda had finally learned a new statement that people said—I'm sorry.

She didn't want to accept Link's apology, though. No, he hurt her too much.

Maybe one day. Not now.

He looked sad, though. Was he sad or was he just being dramatic? She couldn't tell with Link.

And she couldn't ask him, either.

I'll talk to Midna about it later, she thought, finishing off her granola bar and eating her mandarin oranges.

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