Bruises- Modern Zelink- discontinued :(

Bad Mood

Don't cry.
Don't cry.
Do not cry.
Stop crying, you idiot.
Idiot.
You're an idiot.
A useless idiot.
Girly fuck.
You do everything wrong.
You can't do anything right.
Idiot.
Don't fucking cry.
If you do, you'll just get another beating.
You deserve it.
Putting everybody through this.
Idiot.
Idiot.
Idiot.
Don't cry.
Don't cry.
Don't cry.
He isn't doing anything wrong.
It's you.
He's punishing you for a reason.
Idiot.

<<×>>

Zelda sat at her desk, doing her homework. Well, she was trying to do her homework. She couldn't focus.
All she could focus on was Link. She kept thinking about Saturday. It seemed like the day would never come.

She shook her head and continued working. She didn't have time to be thinking about that right now. Anyway, she still needed to study.

<<×>>
*Thursday*

Link still hadn't gotten to class. Zelda had been waiting for him for five minutes. She had made toast again, since he seemed to like it.

Then, he walked through the door. He looked exhausted, his hair even messier than usual, and he had a black eye.

Zelda stood up and hurried over.
"What happened to you!?"
"I don't wanna talk about it."
He pushed her away and sat in his seat. He then held his hand out, and she put the bag of toast in it. He opened it and started eating.

"Is everything alright?"
"Yes. I'm fine. I just didn't sleep."
"What about your eye?"
He adjusted his hair so it was covering it, saying, "It's nothing. Don't ask. I'm fine."
He muttered something else under his breath, then sighed.
"Okay, I won't." Then, she leaned over and whispered, "Text me or something. I want to help."

Instead of answering, he just pushed her away, not even turning to look at her.

Zelda decided not to bother him any more. He seemed to be in a bad mood, and she didn't want him getting upset.

<<×>>

His dad was an asshole.
No- Link was just incompetent.
Stupid.
It was his fault.
His fault.
His fault.
His fault.

"Link! Pay attention!"
Something hit his desk, and he jumped.
"Sorry, sorry! I'm sorry, I won't do that again! Stupid, stupid, stupid. I'm stupid. And sorry." He laughed nervously.

He shook his head. The teacher couldn't hurt him. She'd get in trouble if she did that. If only parents got in trouble for doing that...
No. He shook his head again. He deserved that. It was his fault, his punishment.

He looked at the board, struggling to stay focused. Actually, he was struggling to keep his eyes focused on the board.
Eventually, he just gave up. Why bother, if he was just going to put all of his energy into looking at the board without actually reading what was being written?

What a useless excuse for a person he was. He couldn't even read a board without spacing out. Couldn't focus on anything.

Someone asked him a question.
"Mhm, yeah."
They said something. His name.
"Link! Focus!"
"Oh, shit. Sorry."
"If you were truly sorry, you'd actually try to fix it!"
"I-I'll try harder this time."

He was trying. It was just too hard.

He stared down at his desk. Time passed. How much time, he wasn't sure.

Someone shook him.
"Link, class is over."
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I didn't notice."
"How did you not hear the bell?"
"I dunno."
"Is everything okay, man? You seem awfully distracted."
He looked at Sean and smiled. "Yeah, I'm good. I'm fine."
Sean nodded. "Okay, if you're sure."

Sean left, leaving him alone in the empty classroom.

<<×>>

Okay. Lunch. He could eat something, and maybe he'd be able to concentrate better. So far, he hadn't been able to do that all day.

He got some lunch and quickly finished it. He didn't feel any better. Maybe he had eaten it too fast.
He would have gone to get more food, but he didn't want to waste the little money he had in his school account.

Instead, he just talked to his friends. Well, he didn't really talk. He wasn't really following the conversation. He was just going along with whatever they said.

"Don't you think so, Link?"
"Mhm, yeah. Definitely."
"Um... okay. Interesting answer."

A few minutes passed by. They were full of vague agreements on his part.
Then, the lunch bell rang. Finally.

"Well, bye." He stood up, picking up his tray. He walked over to the trash can and dumped the contents in. He then put the tray with the others and left for his next class.

<<×>>

Riiiiiiiing!

"Yes! Finally, school is over!"
"What? Already?"
"Uh, yeah. C'mon buddy, let's go."
"Kay. Just let me get my stuff together."

He picked up his bag and put it on. He walked out of the classroom with Sean.

"You've seemed kind of off today. Are you sure everything's alright?"
"Yeah, yeah, I just didn't get much sleep."
"Oh, yeah, that makes sense. I understand."

Good. Sean didn't suspect anything. He was worried for a moment there.
Just as long as Sean didn't know. There were already too many people that knew.

He just wanted Zelda.
She was nice.
A little too nice for her own good.
...
He liked that about her.

"Hey, you good?"
"Hm? Yeah. Just... thinking."
"Ooh, about Zelda? I heard you're going out with her later."
"We're just going to the movies on Saturday. And how do you keep hearing about these things?"
"Zelda's brothers."
"Oh. Yeah, that makes sense."