Bruises- Modern Zelink- discontinued :(

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"Have you done your homework?"
"No! I'm doing it right now, though!"

In truth, he wasn't. He had a whole essay to write by Friday, and he hadn't started.

<×>

L: hey zellie have u done the essay
Z: yes, and don't call me zellie
Z: if you're going to shorten my name, call me zel
L: fine
L: have u finished your essay zel
Z: yes
L: can you help me
L: I don't know how to start
L: writer's block, ya know
Z: yes, I do know
Z: and yes, I can HELP you
Z: first you need to prewrite
L: what the fuck does that mean
Z: the teacher talked about that every day this week
L: I wasn't listening
Z: of course you weren't
L: so how do you prewrite
Z: you have to come up with ideas...

<×>

They texted back and forth for a while. Zelda told Link step-by-step how to write an essay, and it helped him quite a bit. He decided that he should probably listen more in class. She also told him how to do the math homework. Of course, she had already done Algebra and Geometry in middle school, so she didn't have that homework, but she still helped him.

Once they finished the work, Link thanked Zelda profusely. He also invited her to play Knights of Hyrule with him, though she had never played a game like that before. He helped her set it up on her computer, and he taught her how to play. To his surprise, she was a goddess at the game.

They played for a while, and at some point, Sean joined in. He obviously wasn't expecting Zelda to be so good.

Link, however, wasn't doing too great. He kept spacing out for no reason. He just stared at the screen.

In the chat, Sean typed,
S: Dude, what the freak? Pay attention.

It took Link a moment to notice, but when he did, he quickly typed,
L:Oh, sorry
L: I gotta pause for a sec, be right back

Why did he do that? What was going on with him?

He stood up rather quickly, but had to sit back down again because he felt lightheaded.
"What the fuck..."
He put a hand on his head, which was beginning to hurt.

Why was he feeling so shitty all of a sudden? What was wrong with him?

He stood up again, slower this time, and he didn't feel lightheaded.
"I need some fresh air."
He walked over to his window and opened it up. As he turned around, he heard a knock on his door. He dashed over to his computer to turn it off before the person came in, but the door opened before he got to it.

His dad came in and examined the computer.
"What is this? Don't you have homework?"
"Yes, but-"
"No buts!"
He turned the computer off and walked over to Link.
"I hope this teaches you a lesson for once in your goddess-damned life."

<<×>>

Zelda kept playing with Sean, wondering what Link had to do. Sean kept dying while she sniped from a tower. She smiled as Sean typed,
S: have you played this before?
Z: no
S: tell the truth
Z: I swear I've never played this or any game like it in my life
S: are you sure
Z: I'm usually too busy doing work to play games
Z: I wish I didn't have to work like that
S: you don't
Z: no, you don't. I do
S: what do you mean?
Z: you do know that ur about to get killed
S: oh shit thanks
Z: haha no problem

Zelda laughed a little, making sure she was being quiet. She didn't want her dad to hear and make her do more work.

She was startled when she heard a shout through her open window. She paused the game and ran over to it to see if something was going on. She heard a second shout, and she realized that it was coming from the direction of Link's house. She ran back to her desk and picked up her phone, typing a message to Link.

Z: everything alright?
Z: I heard someone yelling
Z: it sounded kind of like you
Z: link?
Z: link!
Z: why aren't you answering me?
Z: was it you?
Z: answer me!

She grew increasingly worried as she waited for him to respond. After a few minutes, she unpaused the game and told Sean,

Z: gotta go, I need to check on something
S: k, bye
S: see ya
Z: bye

She closed the game and shut her computer off before grabbing her phone and practically running out the door.
"Hey, gotta go do something, I'll be back soon," she told her mom as she hurried out.

She ran down the street, listening for another shout. As she got closer to Link's house, she began to hear noises. Two people were, talking, and one of them was obviously very mad. When she reached his house, she realized that the voices were none other than Link and his dad.

"No, stop, I promise I won't do it again, stop- ow! I'm sorry- ow!"
"You better be sorry!"
"Ow! Stop, stop!"

Link was sobbing. Zelda carefully climbed onto the fence to try and see a little better. She hoped no one would notice.
When that didn't work, she when to the front door and rang the doorbell.

"You got it, boy? You're never disobeying me again! You're lucky that your butt got saved by that package or whatever it is. You're one lucky son of a bitch."

She heard footsteps coming towards the door, and Link's dad opened the door.
"What is it?"
"I, um, came to tell Link something, sir."
"What do you wanna tell him?"
"May I speak to him privately?"
"Whatever you gotta say to him, it has to be important enough to say to my face. I don't want anyone talking shit about me behind my back."
"Oh, no, that's not what I'm here for. I just heard some noises coming from this house and I was wondering if everything was alright?"
"You better believe everything's fine, bitch."
"Alright. Well, have a good day. Tell Link I said hello."
"Okay, okay, fine. Now leave."

He slammed the door shut in her face, and she walked back to her house, wondering what all of that was about.