The next morning, or better put, later that morning, was just as miserable as Zelda predicted it would be. Her alarm blared around seven, a mere three hours after she had finally gone to bed. Instantly she decided she could miss her first period, maybe even second, and went right back to sleep.

She didn't awake again until around eleven-thirty and decided that she should probably try to make last period.

She checked her phone and saw she had a text from Peach asking if she'd be at lunch today. Lunch started at 12:15 so she would have time to get ready and be there on time, plus she wanted to catch Peach up on everything that happened last night.

Suddenly her stomach dropped at the thought. What if she saw Ike, Samus, and Roy at lunch? What if they knew what she and Link had done? Worse yet, what if they had already told everyone what she had done? Part of her wanted them to know, but the other dreaded the consequences she would face. She had been a perfect student all of her life, the thought of facing the principal or even her coach made her feel sick.

Well, what's done is done, she thought to herself. Maybe it would be good to go face the damage head on.

She quickly rinsed off in the shower since she had been too tired to last night and dressed in simple light washed jeans and a lilac blouse with tan sandals. She brushed out her hair and quickly applied a little bit of mascara and lip gloss then grabbed her backpack and headed for the school.

Her heart was racing as she pulled into the school parking lot. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. She wrote Link a text asking if he was at school today, she had a feeling she'd definitely need his support.

The bell rang in the distance signaling that lunch had begun. Reluctantly she got out of her car, locked it, and headed for the large grey building before her. Somehow it had an ominous look to it today.

The cafeteria was loud and jam-packed with students as usual. To her relief, nobody seemed to be staring at her as much as they had been yesterday. Maybe nobody knew what happened yet.

She was able to quickly find Peach and Daisy at the salad bar, as always, and rushed up to join them.

"Hey!" Peach exclaimed when she saw her. "Where have you been all day, I feel like I haven't seen you."

"Yeah, why weren't you in third period?" Daisy added.

"Well... a lot happened last night." Zelda said quietly, looking around.

"Well, spill!" Peach said in a 'duh' tone.

"Maybe we can eat somewhere more private...I don't want anyone to hear." Zelda replied, still looking around to see if anyone was eavesdropping.

"Wow, mysterious much?" Peach asked, looking at her best friend with confusion.

"We can eat in my car," Daisy offered kindly, picking up on Zelda's discomfort.

The three girls piled into Daisy's cute, orange, Volkswagen Slug Bug. Zelda sat in the center seat of the back row while Daisy sat in the driver's and Peach in the passenger's. Both girls turned to face her.

"So...what's all the mystery about?" Peach asked, shoving a forkful of salad into her mouth.

"Well for starters, the reason I missed third period is because I actually just got to school." Zelda said to Daisy, answering her question from minutes before.

"Why?" She responded simply.

"I woke up really late because I didn't get to bed until four in the morning last night and I went to bed so late because... I was with Link." She admitted the last part slowly, not sure how her best friends would react to the news.

Peach inhaled her salad and began coughing, just the kind of reaction Zelda expected. She gulped down some water and then exclaimed, "WITH LINK?!" Daisy held a similar expression of shock on her face.

"Yes.." Zelda replied softly.

"And just what were you and Link up to until four in the morning?" Peach asked, suggestively wiggling her eyebrows and smirking.

"Nothing like that!" Zelda said defensively. "Although...it was something bad."

"Oh?" Daisy and Peach replied in unison, eyebrows raised.

"Long story short, Link helped me get a little bit of revenge on Ike and Samus...and Roy." She said carefully.

"What kind of revenge?" Daisy asked, a look of concern growing on her face.

"Just a series of pranks to, you know, kind of teach them a lesson." Zelda explained, feeling a little embarrassed at the childishness of it all.

Peach laughed, "pranks? What kind of pranks?"

Zelda recounted the events to the two girls, from the fish under the seats, to the toilet paper, to the spray paint, to putting hair remover on one of Ike's eyebrows. By the end all of the girls were giggling hysterically.

"You...did...not!" Peach exclaimed between fits of laughter.

"Well, I guess that explains why neither of them are at school today." Daisy said with a smirk. "I wouldn't want to show up to school with one eyebrow either!"

"So you guys haven't heard anything about it then?" Zelda asked nervously.

"Nope! This is definitely the first I'm hearing of it!" Peach exclaimed, still trying to catch her breath from all the laughing. "Me too," Daisy agreed.

"Well that's a relief I guess," Zelda sighed. "I'm pretty nervous Samus will tell our coach and end up getting me kicked off the team. Or one of them will tell the principal..."

"Yeah, that's pretty strange that they haven't said anything, but I'm sure the principal would've contacted you or your parents by now if you were in trouble," Daisy reasoned.

"Maybe they don't know who did it?" Peach suggested.

"No, I think the spray painted letters made it pretty obvious. Plus, who else would prank all three of them?" Zelda replied, a hint of anxiousness in her voice.

"Yeah, Zelda's right" Daisy agreed. "If it had just been Ike and Roy it maybe could be blamed on one of their teammates and friends, but the fact that it's Samus too? Pretty obvious."

"I wonder why they haven't said anything then?" Zelda pondered aloud. Both Peach and Daisy shrugged, nobody had a clue as to why they wouldn't want to get her into trouble right away.

"Unless..." Daisy trailed off after a few minutes of silence. "Maybe they're coming up with another way to get back at you."

Zelda gulped nervously. Daisy was right, maybe they were gonna get her back with something worse than getting her in trouble with the school. She had no idea what that entailed, but she wasn't eager to find out.

~*~

The rest of the day went surprisingly smooth. Daisy and Peach were right, Ike and Samus didn't seem to be there that day. It was around four in the afternoon and she once again found herself in the school parking lot, nervous to go inside. This time it was for her volleyball game that would start at five, but they were required to come early to warm up. Would Samus really miss a game too? Time to find out.

She threw her duffel over her shoulder and headed inside. She went straight for the girls' locker room. It appeared she was one of the only girls there so far. She headed over to her locker and began unloading her duffel filled with her gear for the game.

She felt the hair rise on the back of her neck and suddenly got the feeling that somebody was right behind her. She turned around slowly and her heart immediately dropped to her stomach when she spotted who it was. Samus.

"Hello, Zel." Samus said curtly.

"Hey Samus," Zelda replied nervously, trying her best to act natural.

"Ready for the game tonight?" Samus asked, her lips still held in a tight scowl with a borderline threatening tone of voice.

"I mean yeah, I guess so.." Zelda trailed off, unsure of where exactly this conversation was going.

"Really? That's pretty surprising." She replied dryly.

"What do you mean?" Zelda asked in confusion.

"It seems like you and your new little boyfriend were out pretty late last night. Sure you're rested up for the game?" She spat, leaning in closer to Zelda's face.

Before Zelda had a chance to respond, the locker room door creaked open and the voices of chattering girls echoed in the large space. Samus gave Zelda one last glare then walked over to her own locker.

The girls greeted both of them as they walked in, to which Zelda responded with a quiet 'hello' and Samus just gave a tight nod.

Zelda had never felt so nervous for a game in her entire life and it wasn't because of the opponents. This time, she was scared of one of her own teammates.

Once all of the girls had arrived, the coach ordered them onto the court to begin their warm up drills. Other than some aggressive passing and glares, Samus didn't do anything to Zelda...at least not yet.

As it neared five o'clock, people started to file into the bleachers to watch the game. Zelda waved to Peach, Daisy, and the other girls on the cheer squad as they gathered behind the 'home' side of the court and began their warmup stretches.

"Alright ladies, go get some water and then into positions!" Coach Sheik ordered.

Zelda walked over to the sideline and guzzled water from her water bottle gratefully. Someone tapped her shoulder, making her whip around nervously. "Hey!" She exclaimed when she saw it was just Link. "I wasn't expecting you to come."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world, miss star player." He joked with a smile.

"Did you go to school today?" She asked. "You never texted me back."

"My how the tables have turned. Look who's upset for not getting a text back now?" Link teased with a smirk. Zelda just rolled her eyes.

"Actually, I slept through school and your text. I decided at that point I might as well just come talk to you at your game in a few hours." He explained.

Zelda nodded in understanding.

A buzzer echoed through the gym, it was almost time to start the game.

"I better get out there," Zelda said, putting her water bottle down. "I'm really glad you came, though."

Link nodded and smiled, then headed into the bleachers, sitting next to his friend Pit. Zelda walked out to the front left side of the court where her main position as setter played. She couldn't help but feel a little nervous as Samus positioned herself behind her in her spot as outside hitter.

The first three sets went well. Smash High had won two out of three, so they were in the lead. After a short huddle and water break, the girls were sent back out onto the court to begin the fourth set.

Out of the corner of her eye, Zelda caught a mop of blue hair walk through one of the doors on the far side of the gym. She turned and her fears were confirmed, Ike.

His signature red bandana was worn extra low on his head covering his eyebrows or now perhaps singular eyebrow. He looked right at her, making brief eye contact before she snapped her face back toward the opponents. Normally her heart would swoon that he had made it to her game. After all, football practice usually just barely ends in time and he's sometimes too exhausted to make it. But things were different now. Very different.

She glanced over quickly to where Link was sitting in the bleachers and saw that he was staring at where she had just spotted Ike as well. His face was hard and stern, he didn't seem at all worried, more angry if anything. Hopefully nobody would cause a scene.

The set began, forcing her attention to the game at hand, though her mind still raced with the possibilities of a confrontation between Ike and Link.

The set was very close with each team switching off who had the leading point. The other team's spiker hit the ball over Zelda's head and back into Samus' territory.

"Zelda, watch out!" Lynn yelled from the right side of the court. Zelda barely had time to look over in confusion before she was tackled to the ground. The back of her head smacked the hard floor of the court and her vision immediately went black.

After a few seconds, she was able to blink away the darkness. Coach Sheik, Lynn, and Ike were all gathered around her. Wait, Ike?!

"Are you okay??" Lynn asked with a lot of concern.

"What...happened?" Zelda asked in a daze, the room was spinning.

"Aran dove for the ball and ran right into you." The coach explained.

"Samus?" Zelda asked, barely able to process what her coach had just said.

"Seems like you hit your head pretty hard," Coach Sheik continued. "I want you out on the bench for the rest of the game. The nurse will examine you to see if you have a concussion."

She shooed everyone away and helped Zelda to her feet and guided the stumbling player to the sidelines where she sat next to the other players. "Wilson, you're in!" Coach Shiek barked, sending another girl onto the court.

The nurse came over and asked her several questions. She also shined a flashlight into her eyes to check her pupils. "I think you have a mild concussion," she concluded, examining her notes. "You'll need to stay home from school and practice tomorrow and rest. After that, you should be back to normal, but come to me immediately if your nausea, dizziness, and vision problems persists on Thursday." Zelda nodded in understanding and the nurse headed off.

As soon as the nurse was gone, Peach ran over and sat next to her on the bench. "Are you okay, Zel??"

"Yeah, just a little dizzy." Zelda grumbled, clutching the ice pack to the back of her pounding head.

"That was literally insane! Samus totally just tackled you out of nowhere!" She whispered wildly.

"I thought she was diving for the ball?"

"I mean that's what she said, but it definitely didn't look like it to me. She didn't even hit the ball." Peach informed her matter-of-factly.

"So, you think she did it on purpose?" Zelda asked carefully. Peach nodded with wide eyes.

"Hey captain! We need you!" Someone yelled from where the cheer squad was assembled.

"I gotta get back, but we'll talk after kay?" Peach said quickly. She barely gave Zelda time to nod slowly before she bounced up and ran over to the squad.

The referee's whistle blew, much to the annoyance of Zelda's already pounding headache, signaling the last set had begun. She felt the weight of someone sitting next to her on the bench and turned, expecting Peach to have returned.

"We need to talk, please." Ike begged from the seat next to her. Zelda stared at him in bewilderment, unsure of what to think.

"Meet me at our spot tomorrow at six," he added before disappearing from the gym.

Zelda felt a flock of nervous butterflies unleash in her stomach at the thought of talking to Ike again. She honestly hadn't spoken to him since his fight with Link. Maybe if she went he wouldn't get her in trouble for what she did and maybe it would be good to talk things out.

The jumbling thoughts in her mind were no help for her aching brain and the butterflies didn't help the nausea. She felt like she was going to be sick, like actually sick. She stood up and ran over to the trash can in the corner of the gym, just barely making it before her lunch made a reappearance.

Was she that nervous or was it just the concussion?