A/N: This is the actual Chapter One. It's a fast forward to Gohan's first day of seventh grade. A number of things happened in those seven years between the prologue and this chapter, but they'll be talked about in the chapters to come, so it won't really matter. Anyway, it's Gohan's first day...again. Anyone think this one will go better than his first day of kindergarten? ...I'll wait until you read the chapter to decide that for yourself.
This won't cover the entire first day of seventh grade, because there are still some things I want to get in. Namely: Gohan's tennis tryouts, his first martial arts club meeting, and an encounter with Videl. That would make the chapter too long, though. Also, I need to get some sleep for school, because my AP Government/Politics test is tomorrow. :D;;; Wish me luck, I guess, if you want.
Also, I took a bit of license with Gohan's last name. I really just added two letters to it. Since it's A/U and a fanfiction, I'm assuming I'm allowed to do that. *shrug*
The title is part of a lyric from "When September Ends" by Green Day.
Disclaimer: The fun about this sentence is that you don't realize it doesn't say anything until you've finished reading it. Also, I don't own Goku, ChiChi, Gohan, and Videl. Avery Ratcliffe, Michelle Belafonte, James Pickett, and Jenifyr Stone are mine, and any similarities between them and another character you may have found in another fanfiction, names or behavior, are entirely coincidental.
His Saving Grace
Chapter 1 - Seven Years Have Gone So Fast
'Why do I feel such a bad sense of déjà vu?' Gohan thought as he adjusted the strap of his messenger bag. Maybe it was because he was entering someplace totally new, except this time instead of kindergarten, it was seventh grade. Maybe it was because his father was walking him to school like he had in kindergarten. Maybe it was that sense of nervousness that pervaded his being, except this time, he had many more reasons to believe that his nervousness was necessary. Also, this time, the thought of his father's hugs wasn't enough to keep the bad feelings at bay.
"I'll be here waiting for you after school, Gohan," his father said, and Gohan nodded. It had become a custom of sorts, since Gohan's first day of kindergarten had turned out so unhappily. The first day of every school year, Goku would walk Gohan to and from school. As Gohan's teasers had gotten older, their taunts had gotten more and more outrageous in regards to Gohan and his dad, but it was nothing Gohan thought about too deeply.
He'd developed this sort of mindset that he called "The Fog". Once he went into it, only he could bring himself back out again, no matter what Avery, Jenifyr, James, or Michelle did. That was the main reason he'd developed it, of course. He'd learned that nothing he did would ever make them stop, so he would just have to roll with it.
"Have a good day, Gohan," his father said, and Gohan gave another nod as he hugged his father briefly. Then with a backward wave of his hand, Gohan had vanished in a sea of students.
Gohan hadn't even been in the main building two minutes before he felt someone shove him hard enough to make him stumble sideways, and heard giggles and a snicker. He looked up and found Avery Ratcliffe standing in front of him, arms crossed, a smirk firmly in place on his prematurely squared features. "Hey, slob, did you say goodbye to your daddy before you came to big kid school?" Avery asked, to another set of giggles and snickers.
Gohan slipped into The Fog and straightened himself to his full twelve-year-old height. He was actually rather tall for his age, something he got from his dad. He also had a thick frame, though he was still a bit thinner than was average for someone of his age and size. However, no one saw his full height or build that often, since he spent so much time walking with his shoulders hunched and bent over. Acting as though he were trying to make himself as small as possible.
"Hey, slob, I'm talking to you," Avery said, shoving Gohan in the shoulders. Gohan was in The Fog, though, so he didn't react. He just moved past Avery Ratcliffe and started walking toward the Hub, a circular room in the middle of the school with hallways branching off in all four directions.
Orange Star Junior High School was set up around a central Hub. Extending from it were four corridors. To the south laid the English corridor, where all the different English teachers were. To the north was the Science wing, which only had three classrooms. However, the science classes were set up in blocks, and each lab had a pull-out wall to separate the desks from the lab stations; first half of the block was the classroom time, and the second half was dedicated to laboratory activities, and were rotated. To the east of the Hub was the Math hallway, and to the west was the Social Studies section of the school.
A smaller hallway branched off from the Social Studies wing; that was the Fine Arts hallway, where the visual and performing arts classes were held. Off of the English wing there was a small cul-de-sac-like area that was designated as the Foreign Languages section. Gohan hadn't bothered to sign up for any of the Fine Arts classes when doing scheduling near the end of sixth grade. He'd heard the Trouble Force Four (his own private nickname for Avery, Jenifyr, Michelle, and James) discussing taking some of those classes since they were supposed to be easy A's.
Gohan wouldn't have taken an easy class anyway; his mother would never permit it, and it would just give her something else to use against him. Gohan still didn't know why she seemed to yell at him so much, but, like he did with the TFF, he just went into The Fog whenever she started on him.
Gohan ignored Avery's calls after him and got into line at the proper table for Incoming Seventh Graders, Last Name R-Z. He got his schedule handed to him by a smiling girl not much older than he was. He returned the smile vaguely, still immersed in The Fog, and looked at his schedule. Apparently, his homeroom would be with Mr. Dolby, in the Science wing.
He headed for the science wing and opened the first door he came to, and walked in. The room was empty except for a slightly balding man with white hair sitting at the desk in front of the class. At Gohan's entrance, the man smiled, stood, and walked across the classroom, hand outstretched. Gohan managed to pull himself out of The Fog in time to hear the man say, "I'm Mr. Dolby. I'm assuming you're in my homeroom?"
Gohan managed a smile and said, "Yes, Mr. Dolby. My name is Gohan."
"Do you have a last name, Gohan?" Mr. Dolby asked with a smile as he shook Gohan's hand. Gohan quickly decided he liked this man; he was friendly and warm.
"My last name is S…"
"Slob!" a voice Gohan recognized as James Pickett's, and Gohan sighed.
Mr. Dolby raised an eyebrow and looked from Gohan to James, then consulted a list attached to a clipboard that he'd brought with him. "Hmm, would you mind telling me your name, young man?" he asked James. "I don't believe I have anyone registered in my homeroom as Inconsiderately Insulting."
Gohan covered his smile with a hand as James narrowed his eyes at Mr. Dolby. Mr. Dolby smiled serenely and turned to greet the influx of students entering his classroom. As he did so, James turned to Gohan and said, "You'd better wipe that smile off your face, slob, if you know what's good for you."
Gohan immediately sobered, and moved as far away from James as possible, picking a desk that was close to Mr. Dolby's desk. Until the tardy bell rang, Gohan studiously ignored James's threatening glances. Then, once the bell rang, Mr. Dolby cleared his throat, and said, "Now, as your homeroom teacher, I have a few extra responsibilities. Not only is it my responsibility to make sure that all of you are actually here, but I also have to let you know about any activities available through the school and outside of it.
"To that end, I have here a list of possible sports that can be joined. Among some of the choices available are football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, badminton, wrestling, soccer, baseball, and, for the ladies mostly, cheer, although guys can join it, too." At this, assorted snickers rose up among the students, which Mr. Dolby ignored as he continued. "Also, we have gymnastics, and finally, we also have a martial arts club, where the adviser teaches a style of martial arts she developed herself.
"And that wraps up the sports that Orange Star Junior High offers. A lot of the sports here are also offered at the high school, so it might be good to join these if you plan to play any of those sports in high school."
"We're almost out of time now," Mr. Dolby said, checking his watch. "If any of you are interested in any of these sports, I have sign-up sheets for tryouts and a list of coaches." He pulled a sheaf of papers off of his clipboard and laid them in piles. "Feel free to sign up for however many sports you feel that you can participate in."
A mass of students stood up, a large number of them solely interested in joining the football team. A fair number were at each of the others as well, and Gohan stood up slowly, moving towards the groups of people lethargically. The first piece of paper that Gohan picked up happened to have the names of the coaches on it. He was mildly interested in sports, since his father seemed to be. According to Goku, he'd once been the star of his high school tennis team.
'Tennis sounds like an interesting game,' Gohan thought, and perused the list to see who the coach was. He found it and smiled. The tennis coach was none other than Mr. Dolby. 'And that signs my deal,' Gohan thought as he signed his name down on the tennis sheet. He saw that he was the eighth person to sign the paper, which surprised him. He hadn't thought tennis would be so popular. He'd just started to scan the list when…
"Surprising that so many people signed up for tennis, isn't it?" Mr. Dolby asked him, making Gohan jump. "Oops, sorry, didn't mean to startle you."
"No, that's fine," Gohan replied with a small smile. Internally, he was thinking, 'Maybe I should sign up for that martial arts club, as well. Then at least I'd be able to stand up to the Trouble Force Four. And I wouldn't be startled so easily.'
Mr. Dolby smiled in return and said, "Anyway, people who sign up for the tennis team usually have some sort of family connection. Is that the case with you?"
"Yes, sir. My father told me that he was the star of his high school's tennis team."
"Is that so? Well, that's good. What's your father's name?"
"My father's name is Goku. Goku Sondë." There was a gasp from the students that had come ambling over, and Mr. Dolby's eyes disappeared into his receding hairline.
"Your father is Goku Sondë?" Mr. Dolby asked, and Gohan gave a wary nod. "Well then," Mr. Dolby said. "I'll be expecting great things from you, Gohan. With any luck you'll have inherited your father's genes."
Gohan smiled, but a voice cut in, "Oh please. I think he's lying; there's no way his father is Goku Sondë, the number-one tennis player at Orange Star High." It was James, and Gohan felt a pang of fright. 'Why can't he just let me be?' he wondered. 'What did I ever do to James Pickett? Or any of them, for that matter?'
"Mr…Pickett, is it?" Mr. Dolby said, and James nodded. "Very well. Keep harassing Mr. Sondë, and you'll start off the year with a detention. Am I clear?" James's eyes flashed, and Gohan could see the gears turning behind them as James gave a nod. He then sent a cool glance to Gohan that made him flinch. That gaze said, "Have to have your teachers stand up for you? Are you really that pathetic?"
Gohan put down the tennis sheet without seeing who else's name was on it, and stared at James from through The Fog until James turned and signed his name on another list. Just then, the bell rang, and Gohan picked up his things from his desk before walking past the lists again. He stopped at the one for the martial arts club and saw that only four other people had signed up for it. He took out his pen and signed his name on that as well, and looked up to see Mr. Dolby smiling at him. Gohan smiled back and hurriedly left the room, eager to try and blend into the masses of students.
He consulted his schedule and saw that his first period class was Spanish. He smiled. He was fairly sure that James, Michelle, Avery, and Jenifyr wouldn't go anywhere near those classes. He saw that his teacher's name was Sra. Filcure, and gave a start. 'That's Videl's mother,' he realized, and closed his eyes. That would mean that Videl would probably be in that class as well.
He was both relieved and slightly disappointed when he walked into the classroom to find a woman standing there smiling, and Videl nowhere in sight. "Buenos dias, ¿puedo mirar tu horario?" (1) she said, and Gohan scratched his head before looking at his schedule. He pointed to it, and Sra. Filcure smiled and nodded, saying, "Sí, es tu horario, ¿verdad?" (2)
Gohan honestly hadn't the slightest idea what she was saying, but assumed from her nod that she wanted to look at his schedule. 'Probably to verify that I'm supposed to be here this period,' he thought, handing her the schedule. She looked it for a second before smiling at him. "You're Gohan Sondë?"
"Yes, ma'am," Gohan replied, taken aback by her sudden reversion to English.
"My daughter's told me about you," Sra. Filcure said, handing Gohan his schedule back. "She says you're quiet, mostly."
'Videl's told her mother about me?' Gohan thought, before he replied, "That's flattering, ma'am. I don't talk much, that's for sure. I just don't have much to say, because someone else usually says it first."
'That or the Trouble Force Four spends the whole time glaring at me,' Gohan thought, but didn't say. "Is Videl in this class, ma'am?"
"Please, call me Señora Filcure, or just Señora," Sra. Filcure replied with another smile. Maybe it was just Gohan, but all these smiles the teachers had been giving him scared him slightly. Like there was something hidden behind them. Gohan shook it from his thoughts as Sra. Filcure continued. "And no, Videl decided that to have a parent as a teacher would be too awkward. So she opted for French instead." Sra. Wrinkled her nose slightly, and would've said more, but it was then that other students started trickling through the door.
"Por favor, siéntate dónde te prefieres," (3) she said, throwing Gohan off by her sudden switch back to Spanish, and then she was off greeting the incoming students. Gohan gave a small shrug and picked a seat in a corner, away from the center of the classroom.
When all the students had entered the classroom and the bell had rung, Sra. Filcure walked to the front of the class and said, "Bienvenidos a la clase de español. Me llamo Señora Filcure, y espero que ustedes aprendan a hablar español tan facilmente como yo, o un poco." (4)
Silence followed this speech, and Sra. said, "Now who can tell me what I just said?" For a minute or so, there was no response, and then a hand raised timidly. "Yes, señorita?" Sra. Filcure said with a smile.
"Umm…was it something like 'Welcome at the class of Spanish. My name is Mrs. Filcure, and…'" the girl trailed off, looking faintly embarrassed.
Sra. Filcure smiled and said, "That's good, so far. Tell you what." She turned around and wrote what she'd said on the whiteboard. When she'd finished, she turned back around and said, "Now, if anyone can fully and accurately translate this, they will get extra credit." There were excited whisperings at the mention of extra credit, because what kind of a teacher would give extra credit chances at the very beginning of the year?
"Ahora, chicos y chicas. Atención, por favor," (5) Sra. Filcure said, snapping her fingers above her head. Eventually the students quieted, and class began. 'This could be fun,' Gohan thought as he bent over his Spanish notebook to write down Sra. Filcure's message down. 'This could be fun indeed.'
The rest of the morning went by uneventfully, largely due to the fact that Gohan didn't have any of the TFF in his morning classes. However, Videl was in his social studies class, although she ended up on the opposite end of the classroom, since the teacher sat the students alphabetically.
His day remained trouble-free until lunch. Gohan walked into the cafeteria and found it set up much differently from the elementary school, where the tables had been set up in sections of tables three long and two wide, with the benches on the tables' opposite sides folded down. Here, the tables were circular with four chairs seated around it. Gohan could easily see which tables belonged to which groups, and could see where he would have to sit just as easily, judging from the looks various tables were giving him: on his own. He got his lunch from the lunch line, and as he was headed toward a table off in the corner that was unoccupied, he happened to walk past the table where Avery, Michelle, James, and Jenifyr were sitting.
Neither Avery nor James were sitting in a position to bother Gohan, so Gohan didn't concern himself with them. As such, he missed Avery leaning across the table toward Michelle and whispering something to her. He missed her nod, and so he was caught completely off-guard when she pushed her chair away from the table…straight into his path.
He tripped over the leg of her chair and watched in horror as the contents of his lunch tray slid off his tray and straight onto Michelle. He stumbled backward as she screeched in disgust and stood up. "Michelle, I'm so sorry…" he began, but didn't get much farther before Michelle was in his face.
"Look what you did, you slob! Can't you watch where you're going?!" she demanded of him, shoving him even further backward. He tripped over his feet and ended up spinning and slamming his hands into someone's lunch. The person had happened to have gotten soup today, and Gohan retracted his hand as quickly as he could, yet still not fast enough to prevent himself from burning the hand that had gone into the soup.
He blew on his hand as the person whose lunch he'd ruined stood slowly, seeming to tower over Gohan. In reality, he was only about half a head taller than Gohan, but Gohan had his head down, focused on his hand, and as such, couldn't tell.
"You ruined my lunch!" a voice said, and Gohan's attention got taken away from his burned hand when a fist connected with the side of his face. He felt a molar in the back of his mouth get separated from his gum, and spat it out into his hand with a few drops of blood. He could feel the side of his face bruising and looked up straight into another fist.
This one plowed into his nose, snapping his head back. He brought his head back down and could feel something warm flowing from his nostrils. He did his best to retreat into The Fog, and succeeded. He'd gone into it so quickly he couldn't hear the demands made of him by the person who'd punched him, couldn't hear the laughter of the kids around him, couldn't feel the tears starting to leak down his still stinging face.
He turned around and found himself face-to-face with a familiar teacher…but he couldn't place her name. "Come on, Gohan, let's get you to the nurse," the teacher said, and Gohan vaguely realized that it was Sra. Filcure who was leading him by the arm out of the cafeteria.
-TBC-
A/N II: Poor Gohan. Oh well. It won't get any easier for a while. Anyway, read and review, please. :D
Also, Gohan's last name is pronounced like "SOHN-duh".
Translations:
(1) - "Good morning, may I look at your schedule?"
(2) - "Yes, that's your schedule, true?"
(3) - "Please, Gohan, sit down where you prefer."
(4) - "Welcome to Spanish class. My name is Mrs. Filcure, and I hope that you all will learn to speak Spanish as easily as I, or a little."
(5) - "Now, boys and girls. Attention, please."
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