Girl like Me
October 5th…of course it would be. Gohan sat poring over his notes for tomorrow's class lecture, his turquoise eyes focused on the words in front of him. Today was his daughter's birthday, her fifteenth, to be precise. It was up to her to decide what they would do, and for the time being, she'd taken her sweet time deciding something. Her brother wasn't being much help either, racing around down stairs with what could only be assumed as a game boy and her games. "Goku, settle down or I'm taking the games away." Gohan shouted from the kitchen, hearing him say something derogatory in Chinese.
Pan wasn't in a great mood that day, but she had decided to torture her father in every way possible. Putting her hair up in a tall pony-tail, she used fake dye to make the tips pink. Fifteen was an age for new experiences, such as make up and boyfriends. She didn't have a boyfriend yet, her father was keen on that, and no one dared test him. Sporting some modest eye shadow and black mascara, Pan made sure to do everything in her power to freak her father out. Rifling through her laundry, she came up with a pink schoolgirl skirt, as well as a black short top which she'd donned. Now it was time for shoes, what kind of shoes would she wear? Finding her black, ankle boots, she put them on and smiled at the thick chunky heels on them. Oh yes, this would drive him crazy.
"Pan, what do you want to do for your birthday? I'm not going to guess a hundred and seventy more times." Gohan shouted up the steps waiting for his 'princess'.
"Please, you only guessed a hundred and six." The rebellious teenager shouted back, fixing her black bracelets. Making sure everything was in proper order; she darted down the steps and smiled at the last one. "How's it sit? Pretty cunning, don't ya think?"(1)
Gohan was about to say something, but instead he smiled and nodded. "I like it. Looks cute on you. I wonder why mom never enrolled you in catholic school – oh, cause you'd probably get kicked out the first day." Gohan quirked a smile when Pan's faded. At least she was still happy.
"Dad! Can I go with?" Goku chirped from beside his father. He was only twelve now, and the answer was always the same. Where Pan was going, Goku was not allowed. Not unless it was necessary.
"You only want to go because Bra's going." Pan growled, ruffling his hair, and then leaning on him. The relationship between Goku and Pan was beyond loving, more on the side of abusive, and mildly destructive. "You know she has a boyfriend, right?"
"No way! She said she'd go out with me!" Goku shouted defensibly.
"Too late, she found a steamy piece of man-meat named Lawrence." Her brother's reaction was too great not to miss. Snapping a picture with her camera phone, she smiled sweetly to her dad and walked passed them. "We have to pick Bra up at her house – can I drive?"
"You're only fifteen, Pan, not seventeen." Gohan corrected, walking up beside her. "The answer is no. It's always no."
"Can I--?"
"No. What did I tell you? The answer is always no. No, you can't touch the wheel. No, you can't turn on the lights. No, you can't drive. No, you can't mess with the horn. You can roll down the windows, and that's the extent of your driving privileges." Gohan sneered when the teenager opened her mouth again.
"They let Bra drive!" Pan shouted in her defense.
"Bra's mother can pay the insurance – and you really think someone would want to cross Vegeta? Even on a good day?" Unlocking the car door for her, he closed it behind her when she got in. "Pan, I know you hate me, but wear your seat-belt."
"No."
"Don't make me force you." Pan was well aware that he would, so she didn't argue further. "You're just like your mother."
"Where is mom?" Pan asked when he started the car. He was silent for a moment; she knew it was a sore topic. "Still with grandpa?"
"He's not getting any better, and as much as I hate the man, he has a right to see his daughter."
"Bra!" Pan squealed chasing after her friend. Tackling the aqua haired girl into a hug, they continued to squeal together. Gohan stared from the car, waiting for the two of them to stop so they could leave. "So we're going to take dad to the mall, shopping of course."
"On my dime?" Bra asked holding up her brand new credit card. She waved it under Pan's nose, and then smiled when her friend looked upset. "I know, I truly am the princess."
"You get everything. Do your parents even care that you overdrew your account last time?" Pan never did get an answer, even as they climbed into the car, exchanged looks, and smiled at the same time. "He's in a snarkey mood. Just leave him alone."
"Afraid to admit his little girl is all grown up?" Bra asked, looking at Gohan's reflection in the mirror. "Pan, where are we going first?"
"I was thinking the Boutique. I want a red plaid skirt in the worst way, and they're the only store I can think of that has one. Unless you can think of one." Bra was silent, pondering. "Then the Boutique it is."
"Pan, do we really have to go to every damn store looking for this skirt? You know your grandmother could make you one." Gohan peered at his daughter from the driver's seat, hoping she would change her mind. Of course he wasn't that lucky…it was her birthday today.
Two hours to get to the mall, one hour to ruin his day. Gohan was tired of the silence, it was menacing, mocking. Turning on a CD, he sighed and sat in the traffic jam, watching the cars stand still. Right here waiting, staying strong, come on fall into me… He was quietly listening to the words, remembering his wife, how the song reminded him of her. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Pan's hand reaching over to tune the station. "Don't you dare," Was all he'd said before she backed off.
If he wasn't going to let her change the song, she was going to make him change it. Nodding to Bra, they both started singing as loudly and terribly as they could. "You said you'd turned it off, hid your heart up on a shelf! Scared of what it might cost to take it down for someone else! I don't know the words, so I'm making them up as I goooooooooo!" Strangely, the two girls were in tune with each other, but it didn't change the fact that they were starting to get to him.
"Knock it off, you're fifteen," He murmured, but the girls didn't quit. Instead of letting them have their way, he turned the music all the way up. This earned him odd looks from the people in cars around them, but he really didn't care, he was having fun. "Pan, stop."
"I'd follow any road, any way to get to you! I'd open up my heart if that's what you need me to do! Cause baby it's your move, all you've got to do is BELIEVE IN LOVE! Just BELievE In UUUUSSSSSS!!!!!!"
Smirking, Gohan turned the music down and looked at his daughter. Just like Videl. He couldn't remember a time where she was anything like him. She teased the boys like Videl, she fought like Videl, she even sang like her. Finally giving into the bloody massacre on his ears, he clamped a hand over her mouth. "Shush." There was a murmured 'but I like this song' from under his hand, but he still didn't move. "I don't care, you're making me crazy."
"That's the point," Bra announced from the back seat. "Come on; live a little, Mr. Son."
"And if I do?" He asked the girl in the back seat, watching her from the rear-view mirror. "Will you guys stop?" The question was directed at Pan, so he pulled his hand away so she could answer.
"Not on your life." Came the teenager's response.
"Then you can sit in silence until we get there." Gohan answered, putting his hand back over her mouth. It didn't take her long to get a bright idea. Licking his hand, she smiled when he pulled it away.
"Foiled again by the mistress of mystery!" Pan shouted, turning the radio back on, singing with another Emerson Drive song. "Don't be a stick in the mud, I know you're adventurous. I've seen you play with Goku."
"It's different with you, Pan. You're older…" Then it dawned on him: she wasn't older. She was more matured in some aspects, sure, but she was still his little girl. And here she was, begging him to be stupid with her, and he was denying her that right. It wasn't often that she'd even talked to him, so this was a rare opportunity for him. Smirking, he turned the music back up, and smiled to his daughter. "This will not be repeated in class tomorrow."
It didn't take long for the three of them to get the song memorized, horrible notes, minor inflections and all, but they'd gotten it down. No sooner did the trio memorize it, they were at the Galleria Mall. Pan was out of the car before he could even tell her to meet him later. Instead of holding her back, he merely followed the duo.
"First things first," Pan announced, turning to stare at the aqua haired wonder walking with her. "How much money have we got to spend?"
"About two-hundred," Bra answered, twirling the card in her hand. "Mom says not to spend it all in the same place, so we can go around to different places. Let's start there." Bra pointed to a store with a tall neon sign on the side of the door, saying Spencer's. "Is your dad still following?"
"Yes, but he thinks we can't see him behind the newspaper. Let's just go. Maybe he won't notice we went into a store." Pan smirked and darted into the store, looking around at all the odd things they had. When she'd accidentally wandered into the back of the shop, she flinched and slithered back to the front. "Yea-no, they don't have what we want here."
"Kay," Bra answered stopping into a Khaki store. This one wasn't likely to have it either, but she did pick up two pairs of shorts that she desperately needed. "I don't know, Pan, our search is returning null."
"Shut up, Bulma." Then she saw it, the mother of all stores. The one that no one could resist, no matter how awesome your power; Hot Topic. "Bra…lets do it. He'll never know. Come on."
Walking into the store, the duo noticed the vampire memorabilia first, but they were soon drawn to the novelty tees. "Omigawd, look at these earrings!" Bra shouted from a display case of earrings and rings. Next to it hung belts and necklaces. Behind that part of the store there was clothes, undergarments, and accessories. This was where Pan had wandered off too.
"Bra." Pan pointed to one particular black shirt and smirked. The corset was smaller than her, would probably kill her to breathe, but she didn't care. Her dad was too strict; she wanted him to smile once in a while. Or at least yell at her – she never got yelled at. "I'm getting it. I have to, it's beckoning me."
"Ok, but you so have to wear it tomorrow to my house. Mom would love it; you know how she is about those things." Bra nodded in a matter of fact manner, then plucked it off the shelf and ran to the desk to pay for it. "Anything else you want, Pan? Socks, shoes?"
"Nothing I see that's peaked my interest, no. But let's keep looking, there's bound to be something around here. Where do you think dad went?" Pan asked coming up behind Bra with a pair of socks that she threw on top of the shirt.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"So this coffee is twelve dollars and eighty seven cents?" Gohan asked, holding out a twenty. "That's an awful lot for one cup of coffee."
"These beans come straight from like, Venezuela or something," The lady behind the counter responded. It was hard for Gohan to admit to stereotypes, but this girl screamed metro. "And like, why would you care? You're like, shopping in the mall, right? This is like, the best coffee place in the mall."
There were times where Gohan was glad to be a teacher, but at times like these he found the unnecessary urge to rip people's hair out. "Like, yeah." He commented then slapped his palm to his forehead. "I meant to say yes." Off in the distance he could barely make out the figure of his daughter, stalking toward a coffee shop with her gal-pal in tow. "Hmm…"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"So now what?" Pan asked her best friend, sitting outside of the store sipping on a latté with a smirk. It had been nearly two hours and they still didn't find what they were looking for. "I think we've eluded dad long enough, let's drag him along. Not like he can say much, right?"
"You are the birthday girl," Bra answered, racing off with Pan to catch her dad. Gohan wasn't very far away, he was in one of the stores looking at girls clothing. Normally this would have been considered pedophiliac, but when his daughter showed up it wasn't so bad. "Mr. Son?"
He held up a bright pink skirt with black dots. "How about this one? I think this would look nice on you." Of course it was knee length, and he just wasn't getting the hint. She ran a hand over the fabric then shook her head. "No? We'll find something else."
Pan and Bra shuffled through the multiple racks of clothing, still unable to find what they wanted. Finally after two hours of looking, Gohan came back over with a black skirt with red laced plaid. It wasn't precisely what the girl was looking for, but it was close. Pan shrieked a thank you, and then ran off to try it on. "I think she likes it," He whispered to Bra before turning back to the dressing room doors.
After they had dropped Bra off at home, Gohan and Pan went back to their house and showed off their spoils. Gohan was satisfied he'd gotten to spend the day with his teenage daughter, regardless of the circumstances, and Pan was excited to have new clothes to show off. Her mother was home, which was a wonderful chance for her to play fashion model. "Momma!" Pan shouted grabbing her mother's arm. "Come upstairs, I want to show you my new clothes!"
Videl merely smiled at Pan. "Happy birthday, sweetie." She then tossed a bottle of Aspirin to Gohan with a wink. Gohan couldn't help but smile at his wife and daughter, glad they were bonding. Even though Pan bonded all the time with Videl, he felt a little out of the loop. Then he heard 'Joey Higgins' and Gohan smirked. Not on your life, little girl.
The whole story was based on a day out that I had with my step-dad when I turned 15. I wanted to test his limits in the worst way, but he would just laugh and join in with us. It was rather funny trying to get him to snap. In the four years my mom and him have been married, he only yelled at me once, and that was for slamming the door on my mom. Also, there's a tag in there with a number 1, that was a reference from Firefly, when Jayne got a hat from his mom. I believe it's in Letters from Home but I could be wrong.