Author's Note:
Bullies man. Serious crap. I'd know.
Don't do it.
Take out your insecurities like Link: le shrug.
(Okay, don't do that either. Link's a dummy)
The large, thick muscled boy loomed over him to a point where Link had to bend back slightly.
Whenever Link forgot just HOW big Groose was, he was reminded by this towering effect the lumbering giant pulled every now and then. Dumb jock just had to flaunt his muscles and size.
"So you think you can push me around too, do you!?" Groose growled menacingly. Link glared back and simultaneously masked how much that statement had taken him off guard. "too...?"
"I just needed some silverware," said Link stiffly.
"Well, be more careful then, slug," the larger boy said, giving Link a hard shove that forced his smaller body back a few steps, behind the cabinets.
Link ground his teeth. Getting into a fight right now would not end well for either of them. Besides, Groose wouldn't start anything with all the professors in here.
"So," Groose began, stalking forward wolf-like, "What's up with you and Zelda?" The red-haired terror of the academy said this as if he were asking Link about the weather, but the sandy-haired boy saw how those other's hands flexed and clenched, making the muscles of his powerful arms ripple.
Link's first thought) What IS this creep's deal with Zelda?, and his second) Oh, boy. Groose had left the building. Say goodbye to your favorite teeth.
So, helpless to prevent the unraveling train of events, Link decided he had nothing to lose.
"What's it look like? " Link asked with a shrug. "Two good friends chowing down on some lunch. So sue me."
"Oh yah, right." Groose mocked, giving Link a hard shove and forcing him to step even further back, through two large doors. The roar of the cafeteria became suddenly, all too quickly silent when Groose let the doors shut behind him, and Link felt an inexplicable jolt of panic as they shut. Like a mouse hearing the snap of a trap.
Link recognized this place well enough, even if he had known it better in its hay day. This is where the old kitchen had been, back when he was still just a kid. Dark, unkempt, filthy...rusted walls spouting out lifeless, ripped pipes like torn tree roots, and strange hisses and whirring hums coming from inside the walls...the kitchen had a creepy, abandoned feel to it.
"Hey!" Link spat, but Groose merely cut him off, jabbing a finger into his chest so hard it nearly made Link fall over.
"Stay away from her, weakling. I don't get why Zelda'd wanna hang around a shrimp like you, but she deserves a lot better."
Link composed himself, assuming the "tough guy" act, and taking a few shuddering breaths looked up and grinned.
"Well, she doesn't seem to care all that much about you."
*WHAM*
Groose's anvil-sized fist landed smack into his jaw, sending Link flying back into the wall with a resounding CRACK.
What made it worse; Link had seen it coming. For as much as dumb as Groose looked, his muscle-bound rival had just cornered him like a rat. There was nowhere to go, and Groose had surprisingly light feet despite his size.
Link looked up, his brain sluggishly establishing that he'd landed on the nasty floor, and saw six blurry Grooses coming back for more.
Sectioned off from the rest of the cafeteria, no one in sight, three layers of stone wall and wood barring the space between them and everyone else, and jaw so banged up he doubted he could make a peep if he wanted to, Link could only think of one thing:
Clever.
The larger boy cracked his knuckles as he loomed closer, step-by-step. Link hated that sound...it sounded like breaking bones. It sounded like pain.
"Listen, PAL, I need to get into the enrollment, got that?" Link's collar constricted tightly around his throat as Groose yanked the smaller boy up like a rag doll. "And Link my man, you are, unfortunately, in my way." He slammed the boy into the wall with enough force to kill a remlin, and for the second time that same hour, Link saw stars. "I don't know how a sissy like you managed to not break anything back on that island, but let me guarantee that if you don't shape up and learn who your betters are, I'm going to have to break every bone in your body myself.
Link blanched. Groose was serious.
"It's noon...in the cafeteria, Groose," Link choked out through the searing pain in his jaw, a thin, warm trail of blood seeping into his eye. "What...do you think no one would hear?"
Groose smirked. "Idiot. Did it ever occur to your puny little brain as to why no one ever complained about the ol' stove that used to sit here? You remember, don't cha'?" Link glared back and said nothing, and Groose continued, regardless, "Yah, you do. Well, that's because these walls here are perfectly sound proof. Isn't that something?" Groose shook him a little, and by this point Link's face had become white as chalk. "Ha! If no one heard that ol' girl running, they're sure not going to be hearing you scream."
Dang it.
Zelda finished her crispy Panini and drained the last of her punch with a happy belch. It hadn't been her favorite meal, but it sure tasted just fine. Her eyes wondered lazily over the cafeteria, then outside the window. She loved sitting here, but the window seats were always taken up by crazy, "lovey-dovey" birds, who didn't even enjoy the scenery because they were too busy staring lovesick into each other's eyes. Ugh. Whatever. Man, she'd skipped a beat seeing this spot open. That dope...she'd had to drag Link over here before somebody -a couple- stole her window seat. Geez, Link had fought her the whole way too, lazy butt.
Speaking of which, where was that lousy, good-for-nothing punk?
Zelda looked down at that barely touched, cold plate in her friend's empty spot and pursed her lips.
Good goddess, how long does it take to grab a spoon?
She craned her neck over the last stragglers, trying to see that sorry blond matt of hair.
He didn't leave, did he?
Zelda frowned. Nah, he was waaay too hungry to abandon a plate of Mrs. Tolsen's breakfast dish. And after all that trouble she'd gone to get him that, too. That idiot.
Zelda sighed, got up, and grabbed her tray, tossing it into the trashcan with a clang as she passed it. The girl then made her way past rows of empty tables and abandoned trash to the silverware drawers, and with an annoyed frown, found her friend no where in sight.
Where in the Seven Heavens was that boy? Goddess!
She heard low whispers behind her and sensing trouble, pretended to occupy herself with a pair of knifes.
"Yah, ... saw him. Squealed ... little pig, he did!"
Zelda swirled around on her heel, eyes ablaze with the wrath of the goddess herself.
Just as she suspected, it was Groose's lackeys, hunched over and snickering with gleeful, sickening smiles that could only mean one thing.
Zelda slammed one knife hard into wooden cabinet so it made a harsh thud and stuck. The two boys, one thin as a rail, honking nose, and greyish blond bowl-cut, the other a short, plump, girlish-looking boy with long black curls, looked up simultaneously from their conversation, startled. Seeing the small, pretty, and utterly fuming girl with one knife pointed at them and the other stuck in the table, left hand still gripping the silver handle to show just who had done it, the boys wisely took a few steps back.
Well, the headmaster's daughter was having none of that.
"All right, where is he?" Zelda demanded, marching towards the two, knife in hand.
"Zelda, geez, put that thing away!" The blond one (Ssss-started with an S, she was sure) shouted, hands up guardedly and looking at her like she was crazy.
She probably was, but she was so sick of this stupid game, and nothing else she'd tried before: shouting matches, telling authorities, revenge pranks, reason, and just plain "NO" didn't get through their thick, freaking skulls — one in particular who she wanted to MURDER — had worked. Zelda was left with no other option. Besides, if Groose could walk around with a muscle-bound bulk perfectly capable of killing someone with a single blow, then she didn't see why she couldn't carry around something equally as dangerous — say a knife for example — to prove her point. (no pun intended) Seriously, all the guy had to do was flex his muscles to get whatever the heck he wanted!
Zelda narrowed her eyes dangerously. "I said: Where. Is. He."
The short guy gave her an odd, forced smile and folded his arms. "G-geez ...wench, your boyfriend's just around the corner." He nodded his plump little head in her direction, double chin wobbling.
"Y-yah, saw him and Groose g-go in the old kitchen." The blond one added. Then gaining confidence he jeered, "Groose looked ready to kill that little brat. You ever see him that mad?"
"Heh...yah..." The short one tried, but lacked his buddy's courage.
Zelda bit her lip, whether because she was furious or about ready to cry — Curse her angry tears to the pits of the Dark Realm. Why didn't men have to deal with this? — she didn't know, but she was definitely not looking forward to picking up whatever was left of her best friend.
Zelda looked away, then pulling herself together, turned to glare at the two, stupid boys with all she had in her. "Listen, you couple of numbskulls, " —Oh, how much she wanted to cuss them out, she had felt a couple naughtier words slip right past the tip of her tongue — "tell your boyfriend that if he messes with either Link or I again..." Zelda spun the knife expertly in her hand and let it spiral in the air before catching it, slamming its shining blade right next to the first. "I'm coming after him." Zelda turned on her heel and stormed the recess behind the drawers before pausing, and looking over her shoulder hissed, "And the next time you call me a "wench", Cawlin,
(Yes, she remembered his name!)
"I'm going to make you —"
(Shoot, shoot, what's a good threat?)
"— into my new footstool."
(Okay, not the most clever, but it got the point across...they both looked threatened enough...yah.)
And she marched off, heart pounding and face flushed with anger.
Zelda had the strangest feeling of terrifying exhilaration and pride.
Terrified because she'd just pulled some real scary crap back there, and it wouldn't be long before rumors started and the whole school thought she was completely nuts.
Oh, geez...this was embarrassing. Why did she DO that? WHY did she SAY those things, they weren't even that GOOD!"
Footstool? she found herself thinking as she pushed open the door. What was I thinking... Then as an afterthought, Good thing Karane taught you that sweet party trick, huh?
As soon as Zelda stepped in she noticed something red and dark on the far wall and paled. Oh goddess, that was a lot of blood... The young girl quickened her pace. She knew Link had to be right around here, and she would have to find a way to drag him to the nurses' office, more like. ...Again.
"Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay," she whispered to herself frantically.
Oh goddess...what if he couldn't fly, or if he lost...a-and then...they couldn't graduate together... Oh, she'd just die. Especially if...Oh goddess, if Groose won, she'd push him off the goddess-freaking statue — WITHOUT the parachute.