ANNOYANCES AND SECRETS
october 11th

( in her last moments, she played through her memories, searching for someone who she never truly knew )

"I'm asking to be taken out of calculus, it is not a required class for me." She had repeated countlessly, frustration pouring out from her tone. She was biting back a scowl, her eyes were narrowed with heavy annoyance.

A faux sweet smile was placed on her features, a lame attempt to mask the anger she was feeling. "I was originally taking physics. It makes no sense to switch up my subject in the middle of the year." She had to refrain from rolling her eyes at the dazed expression from the counselor. "Do I need to repeat myself?" She replied in a dry tone, her head shaking as Zelda stared at the woman dumbly.

"Well you did switch schools in the middle of the year. Something like this was bound to happen, sweetie." Her condescending tone almost caused Zelda to snap, yet she managed to hold herself back. "I would just ask a friend for notes." She added on, giving one last sympathetic nod before turning around in her chair, making it clear that the conversation was over.

Zelda's lips parted as she slowly released a breath, leaning down to gather her back over her shoulder before twisting around. Her free hand was clenched into a tight fist, visibly holding back the frustration she felt with the lady. Her vision was blurry with unshed tears, lips trembling as she concealed her feelings away.

Her fingers clutched at her locker door, her head slightly falling in just to hide away from the wandering eyes. She could not find the correct way to explain that she was too dumb to comprehend calculus, other than to blame it on switching schools almost halfway through the school year.

"Rough first day, i'm guessing?" A boy said from beside her, amusement clear in his voice. She could hear the grin just from her position.

She slowly angled her head to the side, brows raising in question. "Isn't every first day rough?" Zelda asked rhetorically, exhaustion from previous conversation taking a toll on her ability to speak now. Her body was practically resting against the metal lockers lazily, barely even holding herself up.

He mirrored her position with a sheepish shrug, "I happen to love first days. It might just be a you a problem." Sprinkles of playfulness was in his tone, making a soft smile appear on her lips for a quick moment.

His hand slowly reached out, palm splayed out for her to take. "I'm Derren." He introduced politely, the corner of his lip spread till a wide grin was on his lips.

He waited patiently till she raised her hand to fit into his palm, "Zelda, it's nice to meet you." She replied, purposely leaving out the part of her name that has caused an unknown ruckus.

His grin fell for a moment, excitement now masked on his features. His fingers tightened around her palm, freezing in astonishment. "Like the legend of zelda?" He questioned enthusiastically, seeming entranced by her name.

Her shoulders tensed involuntarily, an embarrassed rosy color painting her cheeks. "My dad was obsessed with the game, apparently I gave off 'Zelda' vibes as a baby." Eyes rolling at the bizarre yet true explanation. Zelda tugged her hand out of his grip, allowing it to snake around her middle.

His brows raised as his mouth fell agap, shaking his head in amazement. "That's so cool."

She couldn't help but release a short laugh at his reaction. This had to be the first genuine conversation she has had in awhile, one where she didn't feel on edge.

Well the sweet boy wasn't not genuine, just odd.

"I hope you know that this makes us friends now." He stated, a confidence radiated off of him as he nodded. Eyes narrowing when she slightly shook her head in disagreement, turning her gaze away from his. "This isn't up for negotiation, sorry." He mocked disappointment.

Zelda glanced at him with surprise, "Oh? I cannot choose my own friends?" She asked, sounding not at all angry by his attitude.

She wanted to feel annoyed by his demand yet some part of her found comfort in being his friend, maybe growing attachments this time won't be too bad.

"Unfortunately not." He clicked his tongue, pushing away from their mirrored position to reach inside his locker to pull out extra clothes.

Her head tilted with curiosity, eyes being drawn to the clothes. "What are those for?"

"Lacrosse. Coach would kill me if I forgot my clothes again."

Zelda's eyes snapped up to meet with his, brows knitting together in thought. 'I have lacrosse after school but if you need another ride, just wait about an hour.' She remembered those certain words from earlier.

"Do you happen to know this guy?" His brows automatically raised, features showcasing how lost he was. "Uhm, he rides a motorcycle? Has a very hyper-active friend?" She added more information. Her features contorted into a grimace, giving a half shoulder shrug.

His fingers came to pinch at his chin, lips pouting in thought. "Scott Mccall? Pretty sure you mean him. There's only one friend by that description and that's Stiles." He explained, nodding his own head along in agreement to his own question. "Why are you asking?"

'Scotty.' Rang throughout her mind.

"He drove me here and he offered to drive me home... I was just wondering who he was." It wasn't all a lie, she was truly curious who the sweet boy was, why he was so eager to help her.

Derren's brow rose, "You let a person you didn't even know drive you to school?" He questioned, watching her with suspicious eyes.

"He didn't seem like the type to kill me." She murmured shyly, a small hum following as she angled her body to close the locker door.

"Well he isn't. Scott is the nicest person I know, just ignore Stiles." He said the last name bitterly, eyes rolling out of annoyance it seemed. "Speaking of them, I really do have to get to lacrosse." He added on with dread.

Zelda only nodded, twisting to give him a small wave goodbye; though that seemed to be a mistake since he grabbed her hand once again, a pen meeting her skin.

"What... Why?"

"My phone number." He only responded, writing out the numbers skillfully on her wrist as his hand held hers.

"There, now you have to text me or I will be upset." He warned, giving her a pointed glance. He had released her hand, flashing her his confident grin before he turned to sprint down the hall; his sneakers creating a screeching noise anytime he almost ran into a student. Her gaze fell to her wrist, seeing messy scribbles successfully covering it.

Zelda had considered just walking to the parking lot and waiting till he showed up, not having the energy nor focus to attempt to walk home.

Her shoulders dropped as she sighed, tension sliding off of her body once she began to take careful steps down the hall; ignoring the dizziness that clouded her mind.

"I don't trust her. She just stares at everyone, she keeps wandering off into space during classe- and did you see how sick she looks? That's suspicious, way too suspicious!"

Her steps came to a halt, head angling towards the door where the muffled voice came from. She heard a small voice answer in return yet wasn't able to hear his response.

Zelda glanced around her surroundings, feeling squeamish as she took careful steps to lean her ear onto the door; holding in her nervous breaths.

"Stiles, she's fine. She is probably nervous about a new school." The sweet boy, Scott excused.

Were they talking about her?

"No, No! You said you felt something weird about her, what if she is like you? And once again, Why does she always look like she's on the verge of passing out?" He rambled out, spouting out question after question. "Even Malia said something felt off!"

"Why do you think I offered her a ride? I didn't think she would make it here, safely. Not everyone we meet is a werewolf Stiles. And- Wait, when did Malia meet her?" He questioned, sounding curious and confused.

Which one is Malia? Was she the girl from earlier?

Her heart skipped momentarily at the sudden silence, feet shifting to press closer against the door. "Last night in the-" He was cut off as her hand accidentally pushed down against the door handle, causing her to slam against the door with a yelp.

She pushed off from the door, tightening her grip on her bag before sprinting away from the door; blocking out the sounds of frantic door opening and footsteps as she prayed he wouldn't notice her.

Her head angled to glance behind her, sighing at how they were both glancing around for her. Just as she turned the corner, her body collided with a strong force causing both students to crash down to the floor.

"Watch where you are going." She moved her gaze to the growl, eyes momentarily widening at who she crashed into.

Zelda stopped breathing as her blue eyes crashed with brown, her rushing thoughts being put to ease. "I'm sorry..." She murmured; tearing her eyes away to see all the girls' fallen books. She leant forward to grab at the books, stacking them on top of each other. "I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention." She announced more clearly. Her eyes flickering up to still see the irritated features on her gentle face.

She is even more captivating from up close.

The girl's features seemed to soften, gazing at Zelda with hesitance before her hand swiped out to grab at her books, a slight scowl was still present on her lips. "Just watch where you are walking." She grumbled, not bothering to say anything else as she pushed herself to stand. Her eyes trailing over Zelda, seconds later she walked away, leaving Zelda to pick herself off from the floor.

She managed to feel worse than she did before, only because now she had those brown eyes occupying her thoughts alongside those piercing blue eyes. Her arms snaked around her middle, fingers clutching the soft leather of her jacket as she walked the separate way.

Zelda found herself inches away from his bike, staring at it as if it would help with her decision. She felt her heart clench at the thought of just leaving with no explanation, he had defended her actions.

Yet she couldn't help but feel a pit in her stomach at what she heard, that girl 'Malia' had met her? She could not find herself remembering that. And what did he mean by 'like him'? She had questions piling in her mind just from the snippet she had happened to hear.

She released a sigh, head dropping as she turned on her heal; taking quick steps away from the bike. "I better not get lost." She whispered to herself.

...

Zelda goes through times in her life where she wonders if she lacks common sense.

This is one of those times. She had wandered into the woods once again, the familiar crunching under her feet left chills running down her back.

Her experience last night had her memorizing the path home, almost suspecting she would end up in these woods once again. Yet she found herself lost, following different paths until she found herself on track again.

She almost regretted not staying behind that extra hour, he would've gotten her home safely, she just could not shake away that odd feeling.

"You've been going in circles." Causing her to shift back, an embarrassing loud squeak leaving her throat as she turned towards the voice.

He was taller than her, leather jacket, facial hair, bright green eyes; and overall he looked like he could kill her.

"How do you know that?" She questioned, attempting to keep her voice steady despite the crushing weight on her chest.

His brows raised, arm moving to gesture around their surroundings. "I could see you." He merely said, managing to sound calm despite his eary words.

"So stalking, basically? That's a little creepy." The words left her mouth before she could control it, shock showing on her own features at her boldness.

The corners of his lips cracked up, "If I wanted to kill you, I would've done it by now." He responded dumbly, giving her a pointed look, almost scolding her with his eyes.

She only shrugged sheepishly, taking a timid step back as she kept her gaze locked on his movements.

He seemed to sense her discomfort in a way, his hand gesturing to the right of her, "That leads to town and-" Twisting his body the opposite direction, "This way leads back to residential areas." He instructed.

Zelda nodded slowly, "Thank you." She murmured, keeping her body upright as she began to walk by him; her eyes flicking between in front of her and him.

Once she had passed him, her steps hurried; desperate to get away and be back by herself.

"Scott was right." She heard him say, almost like he didn't mean for her to overhear.

Zelda wanted to stop, turn around and demand to know the secret that everyone knows about her, that Scott knows about her. Yet she didn't, she kept her eyes forward and steps large.

┇AUTHOR NOTE┇

this was a shorter chapter (: but i wanted to introduce some people and of
course confuse even more people 🔪
Things will start in the next chapter, i promise!
what did you think of this chapter?
what are they suspecting from her?