Impa hands me a large blue hoodie with the soccer team's logo on it and Link's name on the back. This is the hoodie he was wearing minutes ago, why did he give it to Impa to give to me?

"He thought you might want something to cover up," Impa answers my thoughts. "He thinks it's his fault that your dress is ruined."

"It is his fault." Kind of...

"Well, he's trying to make up for it."

"If he thinks I'm going to wear his sweaty, old hoodie, he has a few loose screws. If Father sees me in this hoodie, a boy's hoodie, he'll throw all kinds of accusations at me!"

"You could say you bought it from the campus store? Just don't let him see the back. It's better than going home with a dress covered in cheese."

I have to admit, the idea of wearing a hoodie over my dress to hide this awful incident from Father isn't bad, but it won't be a soccer hoodie from the guy he's already suspecting as my secret boyfriend.

"I'll buy a hoodie from the arcade instead," I say and nod at myself. But Impa doesn't seem to agree with that idea.

"You know how much he hates it when you visit the pier. Please don't riks him adding it to the list of forbidden things," she begs and nearly forces my arms into the sleeves of Link's hoodie. "Wear it. Your dad won't even be home, right?"

"It's the weekend and for once he's not away on a business trip."

"Oh," is all she says.

"Should we go to the mall and buy you a new dress?"

"There's no time. I have to be home by 10 PM, remember?" Or does that rule only count for school nights? I forgot, but rather safe than sorry.

"We could drive by the dorms and I could give you one of my dresses. We have to go to campus anyways to get your car."

"No offense, Impa, but he'll definitely know that it's not mine."

"Well, those are your options."

I chew on my cheek and shake my head. This is irrational. I'm sure I could find a plain sweatshirt at one of the many souvenir shops on the pier, but as I am going over my options, I'm already lifting the hoodie over my head and pulling it down. Heading to the stores while my dress is filthy sounds dreadful. All I want right now is to go home.

The hoodie is a bit big, but it doesn't look ridiculously large. This feels strange. I don't often wear hoodies, let alone that of a guy.

"The nachos looked better," Impa teases. I take a look in the mirror and try to ignore the bright red of my cheeks in contrast with the dark blue of Link's hoodie. I feel myself tensing, my shoulders are rigid as if my skin is trying to avoid touching the soft fabric inside. The hoodie isn't as uncomfortable as I had expected, and it's not sweaty at all... It actually... It actually smells really good.

"Ready?" Impa asks, swinging her keychain around her fingers. I'm more than ready. I'm desperate. I nod at Impa and we leave the restroom with her. When I discover that Link has been waiting for us outside, I lose the feeling in my legs. I don't want him to see me wearing his hoodie! I thought I told him to stay away from me... Although... I suppose he's trying to make up for everything, so I should at least thank him.

"Zelda, I..." he begins. I can tell that he's trying not to stare at his hoodie on my body, but his eyes still escape mine to read the slogan of his team. He scratches the back of his head and doesn't finish the sentence he started.

"What is it?" I snap.

His eyes dart to Impa, then back to me. Whatever he wanted to say, with Impa present, he won't speak. I don't get it... He spoke to her just a couple of minutes ago, but now he suddenly refuses to talk in front of her? Or am I the problem?

"You'll get it back on Monday," I tell him and he nods abashed. Is it possible that he's even more embarrassed about this whole thing than I am? What does he even have to be embarrassed about?

When Impa pulls out of the parking lot she wants to turn right on the main road to drive back to campus, where I left my car, but I tell her to drive me home instead. Since she's staying for dinner anyway, I decide that I'll leave my car on campus over the weekend. It'd be a waste of gas and bad for the environment if we drive separately. The only downside is that I won't be able to drive to the library tomorrow as I had anticipated and that I'll have to ride to school with Father on Monday morning. Can't wait to silently sit in the same car as him for half an hour...

Impa and I arrive at my house before 9 PM. It's dark, but the driveway is well lit and I recognize the chef's car by the staff's parking spaces.

"Have you decided what you want to eat?" I ask Impa as we walk up to the house.

"Nachos," she laughs, I don't. "Too soon?"

"Joke's on you; the chef probably doesn't even know how to make nachos. He's a bit..."

"Fancy? Trust me, I know."

"How about pasta? Should be quick," I suggest

"At this point I'd literally eat anything."

"Tires and screws it is," I smile and unlock the front door. I take a deep breath before I step inside. I have to make it to my room without Father seeing me, which should be doable if he's in his study.

"Let's go," I whisper to Impa as I quietly slip out of my sandals.

I peek around the corner by the stairs; Father is on the sofa, watching the news. His eyes are focused on the screen, and the volume of the TV will allow us to sneak by unheard. A sigh of relief. Just as I reach the first step of the stairs, a commercial break interrupts the news and Father turns down the volume. I think my heart just stopped. A wave of heat overcomes me and I feel like Link's hoodie is cutting off the oxygen from my lungs. I turn towards the living room to hide Link's name on my back.

As I am hastily trying to decide which is worse, running upstairs with the risk of getting caught, or facing Father confidently to prevent looking suspicious, he is already getting up from the sofa.

"Evening, sir," Impa greets Father when he turns around and finds us awkwardly standing on the stairs.

"My goodness, you two startled me."

"Sorry, Father."

"Where were you this late? I thought you wanted to study at the library," he questions.

"I was," I say and want to explain why I'm home so late without mentioning the pier, but he cuts me off.

"What is this you're wearing? You look like one of those hideous musicians." He gestures at the oversized hoodie. Impa scooches in front of me to hide my stained legs from his sight.

"I..." I start but fail to say more. If I get caught lying, it's over.

"It's mine," Impa says quickly. "I gave Zelda my hoodie because it was a bit chilly out and she didn't bring a jacket."

"But you're a martial arts fighter. Why do you have a soccer hoodie?"

"No, I meant it's my roommates," Impa explains. "It's just... we share everything, so it's almost like it's mine. That's why I said it's mine."

His eyes meet mine but before he can ask me if it's true, I change the topic.

"I invited Impa for dinner, I hope that's fine. She hasn't eaten all day."

"You should have called. The cook is getting ready to leave."

"That's fine, we'll just eat the leftover," I say. There are always leftovers and it's such a waste to throw it out when we could just reheat it the following day.

"Leftovers? Don't be preposterous, I'll tell him to cook something for you," Father says and heads towards the kitchen. I want to stop him and convince him that the leftovers will do just fine, but I need to get upstairs without him seeing the back of Link's hoodie and this might be my only shot.

As soon as Father is out of sight I rush upstairs and hide the hoodie along with the dress in the far back of my closet. I can't believe I got away with this. Am I lucky or really unlucky?

While Impa stays downstairs, I take a quick shower to wash off the cheese. I put my hair up in a bun and change into leggings and a t-shirt. Just thinking about Malice makes me clench my jaw. Why does she have to do all that to me? What did I do to deserve her blackmailing me? For a second I considered telling Father about it, just so Malice can't spread a rumor that will cost me my bachelor's degree, but what am I even supposed to say?

"Hey Father," I address myself in the mirror in my room, "remember the athlete from that photo you saw on my phone? Yeah, listen, this one girl took a photo of him and me on the floor, but it's not what it looks like. She took another photo of Link touching my shoulder at the pier. What? No, he's not my boyfriend. Oh, but I did wear his hoodie."

I cringe at myself and reply in a poor imitation of Father's deep voice.

"You lied about the pier, the hoodie, and the boy? That's it, you'll drop Biology immediately!" I glare at myself like Father would if he were the one speaking.

"Zelda?" Father's voice numbs my body. He has suddenly appeared at my door, throwing me an uncertain look of disappointment and annoyance.