When Zelda had arrived home that day, she immediately ran up to her room and pulled out her phone, going to the message app.

She had to tell Midna about what had just happened.

MIDNA

what

ok so u know that link??

oh yes! I know him. I hate him :)

cool same!

anyways we communicated through paper and he asked me something

"can you help me if I apologize to you"

this boi thinks I'm going to forgive him that quickly!!

calm down

I thought he hated you??

guess not ??

did he write down anything else

he said he'd do anything to make it up to me

so I said yes, idk why I even did

I don't know what he should do tho

make him become your friend

yea that'll be his goal. he has to try to earn your friendship, and like a genuine one, don't fake it just to help him

lmao why would I

I told him he has a month to do this so we'll see what happens

shdhfhdjsjsj this'll be eventful

Zelda sat down her phone, feeling it buzz against her small hand. She was so tired though, and it was only six o'clock in the evening. Normally, she wouldn't be tired at this point, but Zelda assumed it was just the emotional stress that had weighed her down so much today. Plus, school was getting even more stressful with the work and such.

So, she ignored her phone, grabbing some pajamas to change in to, preparing herself for a comfortable nap. There was no school tomorrow, since it was a weekend, so she could sleep all she wanted without any worry about tomorrow. Maybe she'd sleep so long that she'd awaken on Saturday morning.

That would be lovely, Zelda thought.

••

Monday had arrived, and Zelda was dreading her return to school. Sure, was happy to be able to see Midna in person again, but otherwise she would have just laid in bed all day. There was nothing to look forward to at school aside from Midna and trying to get good grades.

Oh, and Link. Why Link? He was interesting to Zelda now. She had thought about him a couple of times throughout the weekend, trying to figure out what emotion he held in his eyes when she had locked hers with his. The image of his eyes was so clouded and faded now that she couldn't make out a thing.

But, she wanted to see what would happen today, between her and Link.

She still had to tell him what she had decided this deal would be. Until then, would he actually try to succeed?

Zelda felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw that Midna had texted her again.

hola there's going to be a new gorl at our school today. bewarb

The brunette sighed as she walked outside and into the cool weather, wearing a fitting outfit for such a temperature and carrying her books under one arm, with her backpack slung over her other shoulder.

oh golly gee am I excited!!!1!1

Stuffing her phone back in her pocket, Zelda boarded the bus and sat down in the very front—her usual seat.

The bus began to drive off in the direction of the school, with Zelda looking around everywhere with a bored facial expression. Looking over her shoulder, she saw people smiling and laughing as they sat in their seats. The more rebellious kids, as Zelda would call them, were trying to jump in their seats or even run down the bus aisles, but they would always look terrified when the bus driver began to talk to them. Zelda assumed the bus driver was scolding them.

Staring ahead once more, and then looking out the window, Zelda watched the trees and cars rush past her view. The whole moment made Zelda feel safe, aside from the stress she was feeling and how much she was overthinking what today would be like.

Then, she felt someone sit down next to her. Once again, nobody bothered to sit with her on the bus. Ever.

Zelda looked to her right and saw that Link was sitting there. She had completely forgotten that he lived in the same neighborhood as her. How did she remember that now, though? All she remembered was seeing him on the bus in kindergarten.

I guess he just never showed himself to me. Why would he avoid me that much for the few weeks we've ridden this new bus, though? Zelda wondered to herself.

Realizing she was staring at him, Zelda forced a smile and looked at her hands, which were sitting in her lap.

Link tapped her shoulder, alerting the brunette and causing her to look at him again. He handed her a slip of paper, which Zelda took slowly, giving him a quizzical look the entire time.

Heaving a sigh, Zelda scanned the words on the piece of paper.

Zelda nodded and grabbed a pencil out of a pocket in her backpack, and then carefully (and with much trouble due to the bus), scribbled down her answer on the paper.

When she finished, she handed it back to Link.

Yep. You're going to have to make me believe you're really sorry by trying to befriend me. If you can do that in a month, I'll help you.

Link stared at it with a confused look, before writing down his short reply.

Yep.

Try me.

Link laughed shortly at Zelda's words, and the brunette girl just rolled her eyes at the boy sitting next to her.

She looked at him again, and he made a motion with his hands. The strange thing was—she recognized what that meant.

He had just signed to her the letter Z in sign language.

Staring confusedly at his hands, Link slapped them on his knees and gave her a look that read, "I give up."

Did you try to learn how to say my name in sign language? Zelda had written down on the paper.

Link read her words, looking back up at her and nodding happily. He was wearing the happiest smile she had ever seen on his face.

And she was the cause of that smile.

In that moment, Zelda remembered how she admired Link's looks for awhile in fourth grade. He had really changed a lot from then, she noticed. It was quite obvious, but now that she had shared her first laugh with him, she really noticed how good looking he was.

Oh no, Zelda thought.

She didn't want to think that about him.

But another small part of her wanted this to work out.

••

😩