As luck would have it, Link's first class was mathematics, something he struggled with. Well, that was good in some ways, to get it over with. And they said you were usually at your best first thing in the morning. So, after getting dressed and having breakfast, he headed to the math building, room 103.
The professor had assigned seats alphabetically from left to right and front to back. Link took his seat near the middle of the room, and a girl named Lucy took the desk to his left. A few minutes later, Mipha entered the class, looked at the seating chart, and took a seat to Lucy's left. She glanced over at Link and smiled. Link smiled back and tried to hide that he was blushing again. Lucy turned to her right and glanced at Link, assuming he must be staring at her because she thought she was quite cute. But when she realized Link wasn't staring at her, she turned to her left to see Mipha looking back at Link. She frowned and shook her head. The last two girls to enter the room were Zelda and Rena, both of whom took seats near the rear of the class. But there was no time for any chatting as the class began.
The subject was calculus, and Link paid attention, taking notes. At one point, the professor asked if anyone was familiar with the binomial theorem. Zelda raised her hand but misunderstood the question and thought it concerned binary numbers. Mipha then raised her hand and explained the binomial expansion when called on. Zelda frowned, not liking to be shown up, but there was nothing to do about it.
The rest of the class was uneventful, and at the end, everyone filed out into the hall. Zelda called out to Lucy, who was friends with her and Rena. The three of them had a break between classes and wanted to get some coffee.
"Wait a minute," said Zelda. "I need to have a word with someone."
Zelda began walking toward Mipha, and both Lucy and Rena followed.
"Hey, smarty!" Zelda called out to Mipha.
"Do you mean me?" Mipha asked.
Link stopped to watch what was happening because he didn't like Zelda's tone.
"When I don't know something, I don't appreciate another student showing me up. So next time, just keep your mouth shut and let the professor explain it."
"The professor asked if anyone knew, and I did," said Mipha. "I was just answering the question."
"You still don't get it, do you?" said Zelda.
"Yeah, for someone so smart, she seems pretty dumb now," said Rena.
"I don't like to be embarrassed!" said Zelda as she pushed Mipha with her hand.
Link felt things were about to get nasty. He didn't like to get involved with girls fighting, but this was three against one.
"Hey, Zelda. Don't push Mipha. You're out of line."
"What business is it of yours?" Zelda asked, turning her anger on Link.
"Just because Mipha is smarter than you and prettier too, I might add, is no reason to pick on her," said Link.
"WHAT?! HOW DARE YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT!" screamed Zelda.
Zelda actually had something of a crush on Link, as he was the star athlete at school and someone she could show off as a boyfriend if he became one.
Link looked over at Mipha, and she was blushing and smiling at the same time.
"I need to get to my next class," said Mipha. "Thank you, Link, for coming to my defense."
Mipha left, and Link left as well. He had another class too, but not the same one as Mipha.