"Groose—Groose, slow down. I'm not really following."

His friend's angry voice in the receiver stopped abruptly in Shad's ear.

"Okay, start over from the beginning, please. Something about Karane going upstairs with Pipit? At some party?" Shad promptly slowly.

"Yes. That fucking bastard finally cheated. I saw it with my own eyes. I wanted to wring his stupid pencil neck right there but enough had happened already last night." Groose launched into another angry tirade.

Shad sighed deeply. He had woken up this morning to over twenty missed calls from Groose in the night. When he had called him back, there had been no answer. An hour or so later—presumably when Groose had woken up—he got a call back.

"Wait, wait, wait. So you saw Pipit cheat on Zelda with Karane?" he clarified.

"I saw them go upstairs."

"How is that cheating?"

"What the fuck do you think they did up there, you fucking nerd? Why else do people sneak upstairs at parties?"

Shad felt his own ignorance very acutely. He was very book smart, but socially, he was...lacking. "Okay, so they went upstairs and presumably engaged in some inappropriate activities. Where was Zelda during this? I thought you mentioned her being there."

"She left like half an hour before. It was bad. Malon accused her of cheating with other guys at the party and she ran out."

"Well, did she?"

"'Did she' what?" Groose growled.

"Cheat," Shad finished quietly.

"YOU FUCKING DIPSHIT OF COURSE SHE DIDN'T—" He had to pull the phone away from his ear to avoid the verbal assault being launched at him.

He backtracked in hopes of Groose calming down. "Okay, how about you walk me through Zelda running out so I can understand what happened?"

His friend huffed. "I don't even really know. No one does. We were playing a game and Zelda went into the closet with a guy for seven minutes and when she came out it seemed like stuff had happened. Malon called her out and said something about Zelda being with another guy in the hot tub? I didn't see that, so I don't really know about it. Anyway, Pipit got upset and yelled at Zelda, but then Link was like, 'It wasn't like that,' and then Pipit was like, 'So it was you?' and he got pissed at Link. Zelda ran out and Pipit got up like he was going to fight Link, which I would have liked to see, honestly—"

"Groose. Focus."

"Fine. Link tried to get Pipit to stop and he wouldn't, so Link left too. Pipit was just standing there pissed off as hell, and everyone else was just quiet because we had no idea what was going on, like Pipit saw Zelda go into the closet and wasn't mad but now he was? And no one had any idea about the hot tub shit. It didn't make sense.

"I didn't go up to him because I know Zelda would never do anything like that and he was an idiot for thinking she would. I kept an eye on him. Karane went up to him all apologetic and shit. They sat down in the corner for like, a while, and were being all touchy and I got so mad. I was just about to go over and yell at him, but then the two of them went upstairs. I wanted to rip him apart so bad, but I knew you would get pissed at me. So I called you but you didn't answer. Then I went home and crashed."

Shad processed Groose's clumsy recollection of events. "Are Pipit and Zelda even still together?"

"What? I don't know. Yes? They didn't say they were over or anything."

"They might not have to. Maybe it was unspoken."

"I don't know, dude. I was drunk. All I know is that Pipit decided that Zelda cheated on him when she didn't and then he decided to throw a pity party and hook up with Karane." Shad could tell by Groose's voice that he had made up his mind about what had happened, and nothing Shad said could convince him otherwise.

"Okay. I'm going to have Ashei talk to Zelda so we can get her side of the story."

"Her side? I'm telling you her side! We need to tell her that Pipit is a cheating bastard and that she needs to dump him. Now."

Shad sighed. "Groose. If they are no longer together, that means Pipit didn't cheat."

"Fine. But we need to tell her as soon as possible. She should know." He hung up abruptly.

Shad groaned. He really didn't want to regret trying to help someone, but goddesses, this was not easy.

He called Ashei. She picked up immediately. He gave her a quick, half-hearted explanation of what was happening.

"Hmm. Zelda hasn't responded to any texts since she left for the party last night, but I doubt all that really happened, yeah? That's not the kind of person Zelda is," she said slowly when he finished.

"I don't know what to think," Shad responded quietly.

Ashei stayed quiet for a moment, thinking. He didn't have the energy for all of this drama today. Teenagers were exhausting.

"I'll deal with it, Shad. Don't worry, I'll call Midna and we can handle this. You've done enough. Okay?" It was as if she was reading his mind. The way she read people astonished him sometimes.

"Thank you, Ashei. I really appreciate it," he said, relieved.

She laughed. "Of course, dummy."

Zelda squeezed her eyes shut tighter and turned over away from the light. Something was pulling at her waist. She clawed at the fabric wrapped around her absently.

Her eyes opened against her will. She shut them again, resisting her body's slow call to wake up. Not yet. She felt bad. Why did she feel bad?

Oh.

Right. The party last night. She stopped fighting, and her eyes snapped open again. She sat up and realized her sheet had wrapped around her in the night. She must have tossed and turned in her sleep. She extracted herself from her bed with some effort and stood up. Her room turned around her. She quickly sat back down on her bed so she wouldn't collapse on the floor. She sat, gripping the bedding tightly to anchor herself, and waited for the room around her to stop moving.

Eventually, the walls and ceiling seemed to settle into one spot. She stood up again, taking it slower than she had in her last attempt. She was stable. Shaky, but stable.

What time was it? She didn't have a clock in her room, but judging by the light coming in her window it was at least 9:30 or 10:00 am. Where had she put her phone? She hadn't checked it when she got home last night.

She found it still in the back pocket of the jeans she had worn and then left balled up on the ground. She tried to turn it on, but it was dead. She plugged it into her charger and sat down on the ground next to it, waiting. She felt surprisingly alright, considering all that she had gone through. Her head hurt a bit but it wasn't horrible, and the cuts on her palms had scabbed over cleanly. She was sure some of her nausea would be cured with a good breakfast, too. She was starving.

Her phone screen lit up as it came back to life. She picked it up and waited. When her lock screen appeared, she smacked a hand over her mouth in shock. It was well past noon. How had she managed to sleep so late? Impa always woke her up at a reasonable time if she wasn't already awake.

She unlocked her phone. She had a dozen texts and missed calls. All of the calls were from Ashei about an hour and a half ago. Had something happened? Zelda called her friend back nervously.

"Zelda? Holy fuck, I've been so worried. Are you okay?" Ashei asked her frantically, picking up the call instantly.

"Are you okay? I was scared when I saw you had called me so many times."

Ashei laughed nervously. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine. I got a little carried away. Oops. Anyway, about last night—"

Zelda's stomach plummeted. Had people already started talking? Did everyone know? "What have you heard?"

"Um, not a lot of specifics. I wanted to ask you about it."

She took a deep breath to calm herself. "That's fine. I need to talk it through anyway. I don't really want to do it over the phone, though."

"That's fine! Do you want to just come over? My dad won't care. Midna can come, too. We're both worried."

So everyone did know already. Zelda felt the phone start to shake next to her ear. "Y-yeah, I'll come over. Could you give me a ride?"

"Yes. I'll come over now, yeah? See you in fifteen?"

Zelda agreed and hung up. At least Ashei seemed concerned and not angry or disgusted. She stood up from the floor. Her body felt stiff and brittle, like any sudden movements would cause her to snap into little pieces.

She found her favorite sweater in her laundry and sniffed it to make sure it didn't smell too bad before changing into it. She considered keeping her pajama pants on but decided against it. She could use a little extra dignity today.

She brushed through her bedhead. In the mirror, she saw a sad, defeated, girl who was dressed like she had put on dirty, wrinkled clothes. At least it was accurate.

She snuck downstairs, willing Impa not to hear her or see her. Impa obviously knew something was wrong; she never let Zelda sleep in unless she was sick. She loved the strong Sheikah woman dearly, but having to explain what had happened even once to Ashei and Midna seemed daunting. Twice was too much.

She pulled on her boots and grabbed her coat and quietly stepped outside. Ashei wasn't there yet, but being outside made Zelda less likely to be detected. She paced back and forth on her porch, still holding her coat rather than putting it on.

Ashei pulled in only a few moments later. Zelda rushed to the passenger side of her car and got in.

Her friend looked at her, not saying anything. Zelda preferred the silence anyway. They pulled out of the driveway and drove away.

On their way to her house, Ashei had pulled into a fast food place and ordered two breakfast sandwiches. The person working there had tried to explain that it was past the time they served breakfast, but Ashei quickly changed their mind with a few choice words. She pulled up to the window and took the bag from the intimidated worker and set it in Zelda's lap.

"Eat."

She obeyed and quickly finished one sandwich. She looked into the bag longingly at the other.

"They're both yours," Ashei told her, eyes not leaving the road.

Zelda made quick work of the other sandwich.

They got to Ashei's house, and Ashei grabbed the empty bag from Zelda and tossed it in the backseat. Zelda got out of the car and realized they were parked next to Midna, who was waiting for them in her car. She got out, too.

The three of them headed inside. Zelda went in first. Behind her, Midna looked at Ashei, hoping for some reassurance that everything was okay, but Ashei shook her head.

Ashei led them up to her room and shut the door behind them. The three girls stood awkwardly in the middle of the room for a moment before Midna said, "Okay, can someone tell me what the fuck is happening right now? Did someone die?"

The tension broke a bit, and Zelda smiled weakly. "Sorry. I just had sort of the worst night of my life."

"Will you tell us about it?" Ashei asked. "If you don't want to, that's fine."

"No, no, I will," Zelda said. She plopped into a gray bean bag chair with a sigh. Ashei motioned to Midna, and the two of them sat on Ashei's bed.

Zelda explained everything, from accidentally chugging booze, to hanging out with Link, to her seven minutes in "heaven" with Sidon, to running away after what Malon and Pipit had said to her. She trailed off after that.

Her friends' shocked faces were hard to look at. Zelda looked down at her hands and picked at a hangnail to avoid meeting their eyes.

After a moment, Midna spoke up. "Umm, excuse me? That cannot be the end. How did you get home? You didn't walk, right?"

"No, no, of course not. I ran outside and…" She hesitated. Link had seemed like a completely different person last night. Their time together when he took her home felt strangely personal. Both Midna and Ashei knew Link so much better than her. She was scared that when she told them what had happened, it would feel shallow and meaningless. Not that it needed to mean anything, of course. Why did she want it to? Did she want it to? Everything was so confusing.

"And?"

"And Link followed me. He took me home," she finished.

To Zelda's surprise, neither of her friends seemed shocked by this information. Midna actually nodded, as if this was expected.

"No response? Seriously? He hates me but he was so nice last night. I was freaking out." Zelda looked between them, hoping for some kind of reaction.

Instead, Midna said, "Just because he doesn't like you doesn't make him a bad person. He's always helped people who needed it without thinking, no matter who they are."

"I never said he was a bad person," Zelda said defensively. "Whatever. He dropped me off and I went to bed. The end."

It was silent for a minute as they processed what Zelda had said.

"Are you and Pipit still together?" Ashei asked finally.

"I...I don't know. He never said we weren't, but he was so angry. He tried to hit Link." Zelda's chest squeezed at the memory.

"Has he tried to talk to you?"

"No…wait, I haven't checked my texts yet today. Maybe he has." She pulled out her phone and opened her text messages. There were multiple from Ashei trying to talk to her earlier. She also had two texts from Link. She opened them. He had sent both last night, shortly after he dropped her off. One text read you ok? The other was from twenty minutes later and said goodnight. i'm sorry. Zelda wasn't sure if she should respond.

"Well? Did he text you?" Midna asked.

She looked up from her phone. "Oh, right. He didn't." She glanced down again. She sent a quick text back to Link that said i'm ok. don't be sorry, i'm the one who's always sorry remember?

Zelda put her phone back in her pocket. Her friends were looking at her with concern. "What do I do?" she asked them softly.

"You need to talk to Pipit," Midna said firmly.

"Wait, no. Not yet," Ashei said. "There...might be an issue. Shad told me that Groose told him he saw Pipit do something bad after you left."

Zelda blinked in confusion. Something bad?

"Okay, so Shad told me that Groose said he saw Pipit go upstairs. With Karane. Like, together." Ashei finished awkwardly.

Zelda stared blankly for a moment before a million thoughts flooded her head. Pipit and Karane? Pipit cheated on her. Or did he? He might have thought they were broken up. But he didn't say that they were broken up. Was she being stupid? Were they obviously broken up and she was just naive and clinging to the hope that they were still together? She hadn't done anything to hurt him; Malon just made it sound like she did. But Pipit didn't know that. But would he dump her just like that because of something someone else had said? Was any of this even true? Groose didn't like anyone who gave her romantic attention. Maybe he lied about what he saw? But he's not a bad person. Would he have lied anyway? What if he thought he saw something that he didn't? What if—

"Zelda!" Midna's voice snapped her back into the present. "Zelda. What are you thinking right now? We want to help you. Please."

She shook her head. She was too overwhelmed to speak.

Ashei stood up and came over to her. She crouched down by the beanbag and pulled Zelda into her arms and squeezed her firmly. "Hey, hey," she said. "It's going to be okay, no matter what. The worst that can happen is that he did break up with you and then decided to hook up with Karane. It's shitty, but it's not the end of the world, yeah? That's the worst-case scenario."

Zelda forced herself to take a deep breath in to combat her lungs from only taking short gasps of air. "You're right," she choked out. Ashei was right. Nothing worse than that could happen. The worst she could have to endure was a breakup.

Ashei let go of her slowly. "Are you okay?"

She nodded.

"Okay," her friend said. "I think the next step is talking to Pipit, like Midna said"

She tried to swallow the lump in her throat. Ashei was right; she couldn't avoid Pipit forever. However, the idea of facing him now felt like condemning herself to a slow, painful death. "I don't think I can today. I need time to think."

Ashei shrugged. "That's fine. I know you won't put it off forever, Zel."

Midna watched their exchange from Ashei's bed. She felt helpless. Emotional stuff was way out of her comfort zone. She knew Ashei felt that way too, but here she was, being amazing and supportive. How did she do it? When people got upset around Midna, her first instinct was always to leave as quickly as possible.

Ashei stood up and looked between her and Zelda. "I think we need to go somewhere and just distract ourselves, yeah? We can talk about all of this bullshit or we can avoid it while we're out, but we need to just be somewhere else. Who's with me?"

Zelda raised her hand with a weak laugh, and Midna nodded in agreement.

"Well, let's go then! How about the mall?"

As they left Ashei's house and drove to the mall, Zelda realized that some of the weight on her chest had been lifted just by talking with her friends. Some weight, not all, but it was more than enough for now.

Grammarly always yells at me to fix Groose's dialog LOL. He's not exactly eloquent…

Sorry for the short chapter. There was supposed to be another scene at the end of this, but when I wrote the last paragraph it felt very finite. I feel like it's been long enough since I last posted, too, so here we are. I wouldn't want you guys to think I left you hanging again! Anyway, this chapter is not my favorite, so I'm going to do a better job for you guys next time. There's definitely more action coming up, so it'll be easy. ;)

REVIEW REPLIES:

Oracle of Hylia: Yeah, I agree, and I'm sorry if I've made Malon too one-sided. I'll work on that in future updates, so thank you! And don't worry, Zelda will get there soon. Sometimes it's hard to know your worth, y'know? Thanks for reading!

Generala: It's more about jealousy of Zelda than liking Link, I think. At least that's how I see it. And yes! Zelda needs to stand up for herself! My goal is for her to realize that very soon. I agree!

Guest: Thank you so much, you're too sweet! :D