Hyrule Academy: A Zelink Story

Deja Vu

Zelda's POV

This is just fantastic. What are they doing here so late? How do I get past them? I can't let them see me, not like this. I'll never hear the end of it. I wish my coat had a hood so I could attempt to walk past them while hiding my face. Maybe I should wait for them to leave. I gingerly lean forward to look past the corner and retract quickly as I see Laila and Malice still standing in front of the room. Malice has his back to me and Laila is facing him. What if she just saw me? I don't think she did; She would've called me out by now.

"Can we go, now? Your friend's finally done changing." Malice's voice is full of irritation.
"Yeah, I'll just speak to the coach before we leave." Uh oh. They're going to walk this way to visit the small office down the hallway. What do I do now? I take a few quiet steps back and as soon as Laila's foot comes into view, I open the door beside me and shut myself inside the room as fast as I can. Pressing my forehead against the door, I hear their footsteps begin to fade. Phew. They must be gone. Wait... they're getting louder again. They're not going to come in here, are they?! I back away and freeze as I realise I've hidden in the men's changing room. Of course I chose to hide in here over simply walking past those two. Luckily, it doesn't seem like anyone is here. It's unlikely that anyone would still be here this late yet, Malice, Laila and her friend are. I need to leave now, incase someone is in here-

"Zelda?" I squeeze my eyes shut as I hear a voice. It sounds like... I open my eyes and gasp. Link is in front of me, without a shirt on! I press my hands to my eyes, my cheeks heating up, and turn away from him.
"I-I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to intrude, I promise. I... um..." Why can't I just explain to him that I'm hiding from Malice? He'll understand.
..."Malice is out there." I sound so embarrassed. Why must I have to hide from him? I should be able to ignore him. I've dealt with worse mannered guys and girls in the past. I look through the small gap between my fingers. Link nods, showing he understands my reason for being here. Phew.
"What's he doing?"
"Nothing. He was stood with his girlfriend in front of the girls changing room and was going to talk to the coach in that office down the hallway. I... didn't want to deal with them, right now." I slowly remove my hands from my face as I speak and cross them over my chest.

Link nods again and turns to the side to put his sword in its case. His hair is also wet and barely touches his shoulders. I don't think I've seen his hair down before; He always has it tied up in the blue tie that's currently around his wrist. His eyes meet mine and I feel a bit flushed. He's noticed I've been staring at him this whole time.
"Um- Anyway, I'm sorry again. I'll be leaving-" As I turn towards the door, I hear the lock turn. ..."now." My feet stay in place for a moment, before rushing to the door. I turn and pull the handle a few times but it won't open. Who locked it?! Why did they lock it?! Was it the coach? Why didn't they at least check to see if anyone was still in here? A small part of me is a bit relieved that no one opened the door and saw me. However, the rest of me in panicking about being locked in here with Link.

"Link, the door is locked! How do we get out?" I rush back to the athlete but, he doesn't seem the least bit concerned with what I've said.
..."Did you hear me? We're locked in!" I repeat. Link shrugs as he rummages through his backpack.
"It's fine. There's a spare key that's kept in here in case someone ever gets locked in." I instantly relax.
"Great. Where is it?"
"I don't know." ...What?! He doesn't know? How can he not know- My anger ceases as I scan the room. It's an absolute mess! There's piles of clothes in some of the corners and many hangers are filled with random sports wear from other students. There's so many lockers in here. Surely there's space to store all this somewhere. The girl's changing rooms are so much cleaner. A small key could be anywhere in here.

"Okay... Is there anywhere in particular it could be right now?" Link scans the room once.
"Not that I know of. It has a place but, I've seen guys move it about to store their things so, I have no clue where it is now." My anxiety begins to rise again. I need to start looking for it.
"Help me look for it then. I'll start over here and look in the lockers if I can- AH!"