It was just like any other day in West City; everyone was getting ready for another day and wanting to see what that day would bring them. Parents got ready for work, teenagers were busy talking on their phones and hanging out with their friends on their way to school, and everyone else was busy being themselves.
"Chichi! Come on! We're going to be late!" Bulma called out to her best friend. She was waiting outside her house, in her new blue capsule car wondering what was taking her so long to get ready.
"Sorry Bulma!" Chichi finally emerged from her house and got into the car.
Once inside Bulma started the car and drove off to West High.
"Man, Chichi, I don't think I've ever seen you take this long to get ready." Bulma looked at her friend out of the corner of her eye and saw her trying to apply eye shadow that would match her new outfit. Chichi had on a short sleeved chinese style yellow top with dark blue jeans and black sneaker. "Is there a reason why you're all dressed up?"
"Well…I guess you could say that." Chichi said to her best friend, she was busy trying to put a red ribbon in her hair but it was not going to well. "Oh! Stupid ribbon!" she gave up on the bow and set it down.
"Calm down, you look good without the ribbon. Actually I think you look better without it." Bulma said to her as they arrived at their school. She found a parking space and stopped the car and got out. "So are you going to explain to me why you're dressed up or not?" she asked her again.
"Relax, I'll tell you everything once we're inside." Chichi told her.
Both girls walked inside and stopped at their lockers, they got the books they needed and headed to their homeroom.
"Hey 18! What's up?" Bulma and Chichi walked over to their other best friend and took the seats next to her.
"Hey girls." The blonde greeted back and looked up. "Chichi? What's up with the getup? You've never been one who gets all dressed up for nothing." 18 said looking at her friend. 18 wasn't her real name, just her nickname, but she hated her real name so she made everyone call her by her nickname.
"That's what I've been asking her since this morning but she still has yet to give me an answer." Bulma said moving some of her blue hair behind her ear. "Urgh! Man, this weather is like totally killing my hair." She said to herself, she looked through her purse hoping to find a headband, but there wasn't one in there. "Great. Hey Chichi, do you mind if I bother that ribbon you have?" Bulma asked her friend but received no reply. "Chichi?"
"Don't bother wasting your breath; our good friend has her attention on something else." 18 told her. "Or rather someone else." Both girls followed Chichi's gaze and found that it landed on their old friend, "Goku."
Bulma looked to her friend, to Goku, and then back to her friend. A big smiled formed on her face. "Oh, I get it. Your planning on confessing to Goku today aren't you?" Bulma had to stop herself from laughing when she saw how red Chichi's face turned.
"Bulma!" Chichi shrieked. "Be quite. He might hear you."
"Chill out, Chichi, there's no way he could hear us from all the way up here." Bulma said to her.
"Yeah, the only who probably could is green boy down there." 18 motioned to their other friend Piccolo who was looking up at them now. He was an alien from the planet Namek. He had green skin and pointy ears that gave him amazing hearing. It wasn't really weird to anyone anymore that they had alien as classmates, because of how far technology had become it was normal to see those from other planets come to earth.
"But still…I don't need Goku finding out. Well at least, not yet." She mumbled the last part to herself but her friends still heard her.
"Whoa, what?!" Bulma looked at her best friend and wanted details. "Are you planning on confessing to him?" she asked her.
Chichi nodded her head trying to hide her blushing face. She was scared that if she spoke then Goku would hear her and then everything would be ruined.
"So when are you gonna do it?" 18 asked her friend. Normally she wouldn't care about any of this. But this was her friend, so she wanted to help.
"Tomorrow after school." She reached into her bag and pulled out a white envelope with a little heart on the back keeping it closed. "I was going to put this in his locker tomorrow before school started, but I can't now." She looked down with sadness in her eyes.
"Why not?" 18 and Bulma asked her. They knew this was a big deal to their friend and they hated seeing her depressed like this.
"I have to go into town tomorrow with my dad for a health check up and I won't be back until the end of lunch." She told them thinking her plan was ruined.
Bulma suddenly smiled. "Hey no problem. We'll just put the note in his locker tomorrow before school starts and then we just have to wait for you and let the magic happen." She wasn't gong to let her friend stay sad like this. She wanted to help her and by god she was going to.
Chichi had to stop herself from crying. "Really, you'll do that for me?" Bulma nodded her head and 18 smiled. "Sure, we'll help you. But you had better not chicken out and not show up. God knows I hate waking up early." She said.
"Oh! Thank you both." Chichi got up and hugged both of her best friends. "You guys are the greatest." She squealed.
"Isn't it a bit early for your stupid girl moments." A voice could be heart from behind them.
"Vegeta!" Bulma turned around to glare at the guy who, she believed, sole reason in life was to annoy the hell out of her. "And isn't it a bit early to be such a jackass." She retorted back crossing her arms.
Vegeta just smirked at her. "I'd rather be a 'jackass' as you say then a stupid woman, who can't help but be controlled by their emotions." He said to her, his smirked never once leaving his face.
Bulma opened her mouth to scream at him, but the teacher walked in and stopped her. She turned back around in her seat and huffed, she really hated that guy sometimes.
The day went on and soon school came to an end.
"Hey, you guys wanna go and get something to eat?"18 asked her two friends and they agreed. They all walked to Bulma's car and headed off to the nearest fast food joint. They got their food and started to talk about Chichi and her letter.
"Ok, so tell us what you wrote in the letter." Bulma wanted to know exactly what her friend wrote.
"What for?" Chichi asked taking a sip of her drink.
"So this we know what we need to do tomorrow. Like in the letter did you mention anything hat you would be wearing to let him know who you were and how to find you?" Bulma ate some of her fries and waited for her friend's response.
"Well…um…oh here! Just read it." She handed them her letter and went back to her drink, she was too embarrassed to look at them right now.
With great curiosity they opened the letter and read what Chichi wrote.
Dear, My Brave Fighter.
I know this is sudden but I can't wait any longer. For a while now, I have liked you but I never knew how to tell you. So now I'm gathering my courage and letting you know that I Love You. I know I should have said it sooner but I didn't know how. So please meet me today after school in the back, I'll be sitting under the cherry blossom tree wearing a red ribbon in my hair.
I hope to see you soon, my love.
"Aw! Chichi! This is so cute." Bulma said after reading the letter.
"Thanks. I was actually planning on giving him the letter today, that's why I brought the ribbon with me, but I'm happy that I can do it tomorrow. I can have some more time to prepare myself." Chichi said taking out the ribbon.
"Cool. But hey, since you aren't using it, can I borrow you ribbon for my hair? This weather is making it all frizzy and I need some help controlling it." Bulma asked her once again for the bow.
Chichi thought about it. "Well alright, but your hair looks fine to me." She handed Bulma the ribbon.
"Thanks." She tied the ribbon in her hair and was happy that her hair was back under her control.
18 looked at both her friends and smiled. "So do you know where his locker is?"
Chichi nodded. "Yeah, I'll give it to you guys when we're done eating"
"Ok, cool. Now that we know what to do, we have better start planning on what to do if someone catches us. They could tell Goku they saw us putting the note in his locker and there goes your plan Chichi." Bulma said to them.
Chichi nodded knowing what Bulma said was true. If someone did see them, then Goku might think that it might be a joke or something more. "Well if that does happen, then just tell him that the note is from me."
"You sure?" 18 asked her leaning back in her chair crossing her arms. "We could always just tell him that we were asked by a friend to do it." She suggested.
Chichi smiled. "True, but I'd rather you just tell him it was me. Who knows, it may make things a lot easier."
"Yeah, I guess. But hey Chichi?" Bulma called to her friend. "Why'd you pick after school? I mean doesn't Goku have karate club practice right after school? You might be waiting there for a while, and I doubt that Vegeta would let him lave early just because of a love letter." Bulma, Chichi, and 18 knew that she spoke the truth. Vegeta was serious when it came to fighting and there were no excuses for missing practice.
"Hmm? This may be harder then we first thought. Isn't Vegeta the captain of the karate club too?" 18 wondered taking a sip out of her drink.
"Karate, Judo, Kendo, if it involves fighting, you'll find Vegeta as the captain." Bulma told her.
"How is he captain for all these cubs again?" Chichi wondered. Was it even possible to be captain of all these clubs?
"The clubs meet on different days, so he can go to each one and never skip practice." Bulma told them looking bored. She didn't really like to talk about Vegeta.
"Wow, Bulma, you really know a lot about Vegeta." Chichi said finishing up her meal.
"Well what'd you expect? We were neighbors for a while and sort of grew up together, I know a lot more about him then I need to know." Bulma said taking a big bite out of her food.
18 stared at her. "Hey, I heard rumor about you that I've been meaning you ask you about." Bulma looked at her friend. She wondered what people where saying about her now. "They said that back in middle school, Vegeta asked you out but you turned him down."
Bulma almost chocked on her food. Chichi moved to pat her on her back, trying to help her breath again. "Who…who told you that?" She asked after she started breathing again.
"Oh, you know, people." 18 didn't look at her as she started to drink.
"Krillin told you, didn't he?" Bulma gave her a knowing smile.
"Maybe?" 18 moved her head as her cheeks turned pink. It was no secret to them that she had a small crush on their bald friend. Now getting her to admit it was another thing.
Bulma looked at her blonde friend and then looked down at her drink. "Well it's true. Vegeta asked me out at the end of middle school."
"I thought you were dating that Yamcha guy during middle school?" 18 asked her.
"I was, but that dumb bastard cheated on me so I dumped his ass." She let out a low laugh. "Well I didn't really dump him, Vegeta kid of beat the crap out of him and I guess you could say that he got the message."
18 blinked in confusion. "Ok, I'm confused. Mind explaining this a bit more?"
"Sure. Well it all started the last day of middle school…"
/Flashback/
It was the final day of middle school and most people were off enjoying themselves while others weren't.
"Yamcha, I said leave me alone!" a younger Bulma shouted out at her ex-boyfriend.
"Come on, Bulma. Give me another chance!" Yamcha grabbed onto her arm to stop her from moving away from him.
"I said no, now let go of me!" She shouted again trying to break free of his grip.
"Not until you agree to be my girl again." He told her. He wasn't going to let her go.
"I said no, you lying, womanizing cheater!" She cried still trying to free her hand.
"Come on, baby. You know that you're the only one for me. Those other girls mean nothing to me." He tried to tell her hoping that she would buy it. It was true that he did cheat on her, but he couldn't help himself, besides he only cared for Bulma. Those other girls were just for fun, but he was serious with Bulma.
"Go tell someone who cares." She slapped him across the face and left a mark. "Now for the last time, leave me alone!" She had enough of Yamcha and his stupid games.
"But Bulma…! Ow!" He stopped in his tracks when he felt something hit the back of his head. "What the…?!
"Hey!" Both teens turned around to see Vegeta walking up towards them. "She said leave her alone. Or is your brain so small that you can't understand something that simple?" He stopped right in front of Yamcha wearing his famous smirk. Though he wasn't as tall as Yamcha, he still scared him enough to back away.
"Just go away, Vegeta! This doesn't concern you." Yamcha tried to sound brave, but was failing, Vegeta scared him not that he would admit it.
"Whatever. I really could careless about what concerns me or not." He said and then looked at Bulma. "Woman, come on. Your parents and stupid friends are looking for you."
Bulma jumped a little but nodded. She moved to walk to him but Yamcha stopped her.
"No way. Bulma, you're not going anywhere until you agree to go back out with me." Yamcha tried again.
"I already told you no." She moved to slap him again but he caught her other hand. "Let me go!"
"I will, once you say that you'll be my girl again." He told her once more.
"Never." She shouted at him glaring.
"Then, I'm not letting you go. I…!" Yamcha felt a fist make contact with his cheek and he fell to the ground. He coughed up some blood and lost a tooth.
Vegeta stood in front of Bulma now, one hand out from his last punch against Yamcha. He was glaring down at him before smirking again. "Stupid fool. It's your own fault so take it like a man for once in your pathetic life and just walk away"
Yamcha glared up at Vegeta. "Fuck off man. Why are you even here? What are you trying to prove yourself as some strong warrior or something? Or are you trying to impress Bulma? Well forget it, she would never fall for a stupid orphan deadbeat like yourself." He smirked hoping that he would wound Vegeta's pride.
Vegeta took in deep breaths and glared at Yamcha. His eyes took on a dark look and he stepped closer to the scar faced man. "You…" He hissed. "You're going to regret that." He lunged at him and proceeded to beat the living daylights out of him.
"Vegeta!" Bulma ran to him and tried to pull him off Yamcha. She could careless about what happened to her ex, but she didn't want Vegeta to get in trouble. "Let him go, Vegeta! He's not worth it." She pulled at his arm trying to stop the punches.
Vegeta heard her cries and finally stopped. He stopped up from the bleeding Yamcha and looked down at him with disgust. "Come on." He grunted out walking away from the bleeding man and motioned for Bulma to follow him.
She followed him in silence and began to wonder what made him go off like that. It could have been when Yamcha called him an orphan. Vegeta lost his parents when he was twelve and she knew that it was still a touchy subject for him. "Hey Vegeta. Don't listen to Yamcha and his stupid insults. He's just a big cheater who says stupid thing, besides what he said wasn't true."
Vegeta stopped walking and turned around to face her. "Really?" He asked her.
"Yeah, of course. I mean you're one of the strongest guys that I know and you know how to take care of yourself really well." She complimented him. She knew how big of an ego he had and the quickest way to cheer him up was to build up his ego.
"Is that so?" He was wearing his famous smirk and took a step closer to her.
"Yeah. What Yamcha said is wrong, you're not a deadbeat." She smiled at him.
Vegeta stopped and stared at the girl in front of him. His stare suddenly became a glare. "You stupid woman! How the hell are you suppose to be a genius!?" He was pissed off.
Bulma taken back by his shouts glared back at him. "Well excuse me for trying to cheer you up!" she huffed putting hr hands on her hips. "What's your deal anyways? What, annoyed that you had to rescue me and there was no challenge?"
"That's not the point woman." He stopped shouting but still glared at her.
"Then what is the point Vegeta!?" Bulma wanted to know what he was talking about.
Vegeta glared at her even more no. "You really don't know?"
"If I did would I be asking you?" She retorted back to him.
Vegeta let out a big sigh and looked towards the ground. He wasn't really sure about what he should do.
Bulma was getting impatient. "Well…are you going to tell me or what?"
"Would you shut up a minute woman!? I'm trying to think here!" he went back to shouting at her.
"Fine!" She began to walk away. "I'll leave you to your thoughts." She tried to walk past him but Vegeta caught her arm and spun her around to face him.
"Never walk away from me." He told her in hushed voice.
Bulma, never having been this close to him before, stared up at him and couldn't help the blush that placed itself on her cheeks. "Vegeta…" He grasped her chin silencing her.
He looked down at her and moved closer "Be quite." His lips met her and for a moment Bulma could have sworn that she was hearing wedding bells. Her whole body froze up and she couldn't think. Unconsciously she began to respond back, placing her hands on his chest as his tongue licked her bottom lip and sneak its way inside her mouth.
Finally coming back to her senses, Bulma pulled away and was panting. This was all to sudden and weird for her. She was the smartest person in her school and even she couldn't figure this out.
"Wha…how…when…we…" She couldn't even form a sentence.
"Vegeta just smirked at her. "I did not think that one kiss would have this much of an effect on you."
Bulma began to blush again and took a few steps back. "Why…why did you kiss me?" She had never known Vegeta for doing this like this, kissing someone so gently. She's seen him make-out with other girls but they way he kissed her seemed different from how he kissed the others. Did he do it just to shut her up? Maybe he was just joking around.
Vegeta frowned at her, as if reading her mind he moved closer to her. "I'm just fooling around. You of all people should know that I never joke around." She knew that he was right. Vegeta was known for being serious and never joked around about anything. "I kissed you because I wanted too, and I still want too. I will only say this once so don't ever ask me to say this again." He said with a look in his eyes. It wasn't a scary look, but it held something that Bulma had never seen before.
"I…like you." He muttered looking everywhere but her. His cheeks felt hot and his hands were balled into fists.
Bulma had never seen him like this before, he was always so confident around her and everyone else. Seeing him like this, acting like a shy little kid, was very different and was very surprising.
"What?!" She heard him but she still couldn't believe it.
Vegeta seemed to get angry at this. "I said, I want you as my woman!" He growled at her finally looking her in the eyes. "So…"
"So? So what?" Bulma didn't know hat he wanted.
"Your answer woman. Will you be mine or not?" He stared at her, waiting for his answer. He was trying hard to show it, but he was a little nervous. If her answer was no e didn't know what he was supposed to do. He wasn't going to give up, he never give up on anything, but the whole awkward feeling that came after the rejection.
Bulma didn't know what to say. She had never once pictured this moment happening to her. Vegeta confessing to her! This had to be a dream or something. No way was it real. But she knew in her heart that it was real and she had to give him an answer. But what was she suppose to say, she didn't like him like that and she was kind of afraid to tell him no, he had a temper and he knew how to use it to his advantage.
"Um…I…I can't." She whispered softly.
Vegeta couldn't help the growl that escaped for his throat. "And why not?" His eye began to twitch.
Bulma saw his eye twitch and had to stop herself from jumping back. "Because…well you see…uh…" she had to com up with an excuse and quick. She didn't know what to say, until she saw Yamcha moving on the ground holding his face. Suddenly an idea popped into her head.
"I can't because of my father."
"Your father?"
"Yeah. Because of Yamcha and how he cheated on me, my dad said that I can't start dating again until I'm a second year in high school." She hoped that he would buy this. If not, well then she didn't know what would happen.
Vegeta looked at her before turning his head around to glare at Yamcha. "Fine." He turned back around to face her. "But know this, when we are in high school and it's our second year, you will give me a proper answer." With that said he put his hands in his pant's pockets and walked away.
Bulma watched him go and let out a sigh of relief. "I'm safe. For now, but once high school comes, I'm in trouble." She said to herself before making her way towards her friends. She hoped that by the time high did come she would have an answer.
/End Flashback/
18 stared at her wondering she should believe that story or not. "You have got to be kidding me."
Bulma could only laugh. "Believe it or not, but that is really what happened that day." She said looking down at her reflection in the cup. "That day…Vegeta seemed like a completely different person to me. It was so weird and yet it was kind of nice."
"But Bulma…we've been in our second year of high school for about three months now. How come Vegeta hasn't come near you or anything? Or did you already turn him down?" She wondered. If Bulma did turn him down then she would have thought that she would have seen some type of incident happen or maybe Vegeta was just a really good actor.
"I still haven't given him an answer." She told her.
"What? But how? I would have thought that Vegeta would be following you around waiting for you to reply to his question." She was sure that he would have done something.
Bulma and Chichi couldn't help but laugh. "He has been."
"What do you mean?" 18 asked her. She hasn't seen him do anything.
"Come on 18, haven't you ever wonder why Vegeta is always sitting behind or near Bulma?" Chichi looked at her blonde friend. "He knows that he can't follow her around like a shadow all day, though we all know that he wants too." She gave Bulma a knowing smile. "So instead he chooses to sit near her and makes sure that she knows that he's there waiting for her to answer him." She added.
"Ok, but that still doesn't explain how you haven't told him our answer in three months." 18 looked at Bulma.
"Well I guess it's because of all his clubs. Because he's in every type of club that involves violence he doesn't really have free time after school and when he does have free time, it's usually when we're surrounded by people." She finished off her drink and continued with her explanation. "He's one who doesn't like to talk about feelings in front of others, so he hasn't asked me anything yet. I think he's waiting for me to make a move first."
"Well are you?" 18 sudden asked her.
Bulma thought about her reply. "I guess I will have to soon. I mean, I can't keep ignoring this because sooner or later, he will lose it and then we're all in trouble." She let out a sigh. "I guess wish I had a straight answer to this."
Chichi had a soft smile on her face for her friend. "Relax Bulma. I'm sure you'll figure all this out eventually." She reassured her.
"I hope so. All this worrying is so not good for my skin." All three girls started to laugh at this. "Come on, let's go home." They all got up and threw out their garbage.
"Oh wait." Chichi stopped them and took a pen and napkin and started to write something on it. "Here. Sorry if it's a little messy but it's Goku's locker number and combination."
"Cool." Bulma took the napkin from her friend and put it in her purse.
"How's you get his combo?" 18 asked as they walked out to the car.
"Krillin told me." Chichi said getting in the passengers seat and let Bulma drive both her and 18 home.
The next day came and Bulma and 18 arrived at school early and were at the locker that Chichi wrote down for them.
"Are you sure that this is the right locker?" Bulma asked 18 who, once again, tried to open the locker with the combination that had been given.
"Positive. Did you bring the ribbon?' 18 asked punching in the numbers once again.
"Got it right here along with the letter." Bulma held out both the ribbon and letter in her hand.
"Good. Now if only this stupid locker would corporate and open up!" 18 was getting annoyed and was ready to go to the janitors closet and get something from there that would force this locker open.
"Here let m try." Bulma switched places with 18 and grabbed the lock and tried the combination. "Urgh. It's not opening! How the hell am I suppose to put this letter in if it won't open?!" She called out trying to open the locker again.
"Is there any reason why you girls are trying to break into my locker?" Both girls froze and looked up to Vegeta staring own at them.
"Your locker?" Bulma gulped and looked up at him. She stood up next to 18 and both girls tried to come with a good excuse to give him.
"Well you see…" Neither of them knew what to say.
Vegeta stared at the two girls when the letter Bulma was holding caught his eye. He took it from her and began to read it.
"No wait!" But it was too late. He was already reading the letter.
Bulma and 18 turned to stare at each other, what were they suppose to do? Chichi gave them the wrong locker and now Vegeta was reading a love letter that wasn't meant for him.
Once he was done reading the letter, Vegeta stared at Bulma and then looked down at the ribbon that she was still holding.
Bulma followed his gazed to the ribbon and gasped. This was so not good.
Vegeta smirked. "Well, it's about time you answered me. I was beginning to think that I would have to take matters into my own hands." He put the letter into his back pocket and moved closer to Bulma. He opened his mouth to speak but was stopped when a teacher came by.
"What are you kids doing here his early? You better not be causing and trouble."
18 quickly stepped in. "No sir. In fact Bulma and I were just leaving." 18 grabbed Bulma's hand and began to drag her off away from Vegeta and into the school.
"This is so not good." 18 muttered to herself as she dragged her shocked friend around school.