I Never: Chapter 2
Pan liked staying up relatively late in the evening, so she had to curse out loud when her cell phone rang at three o'clock in the morning. She fell asleep not an hour before after reading several chapters out of her novel, and she planned originally to wake up at noon at the earliest. Pan stirred and reached for her phone on her bedside table and then answered it.
"Hello?" Pan cursed/yawned.
"Hey there Pan. This is Stacy from the Hot Todd and Stacy show on Hot 109.9, you applied here a few days ago. Well, I'm calling you to ask you to come in today, if you want the job, and see how you can do!"
"Oh yeah, of course." Why this time of morning though?
"I didn't wake you up, did I?"
"No, no." Pan lied.
"Okay, good. If you want to be on the morning show here you have to get up a bit early."
"Yeah." Pan realized. If she wanted her dream job, she was going to have to make some changes.
"So, if you want the job, you'll be here at five this morning, and we'll see how well you'll stack up against the rest of the applicants. Do you still want it?"
"Of course I do!"
"Good, we'll see you then this morning."
"Alright, I'll be there." Pan clicked off the phone. "Dammit." Pan groused. But it's my dream job! Sleep can come later.
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Trunks had his own troubles when it came to sleep. While being tired usually made people sleep, peace of mind, or a lack thereof, could make the weariest of individuals toss and turn. Trunks sat up in bed and turned on his fifty-inch high definition television and flicked to the sports channel, where it was airing its third repeat of the recap of Monday night's game. The final score was sixty-nine to seven, with the home team's lone score coming with three minutes to go in the game. The home team's star wide receiver made a cornerback miss and dashed in for the touchdown, and upon reaching the endzone, he celebrated by pulling a pen out of his sock and a piece of paper, a check in fact, and signed the check in the endorsement slot against the goalpost. That generated a fury of excitement, which was not surprising considering the past antics of the particular player, but still, the media ate it up because it was outrageous for him to celebrate in such a way, especially with his team being embarrassed all night long. Oh well.
Trunks flipped off the television and walked over to his new computer, the same model which Capsule Corp. began releasing to the general public just a week ago. He saw two of his messaging buddies were online, his mother Bulma, and his friend slash fellow employee, Kenji. Bulma rang up first on the messenger.
"Hi son! How are you? Aren't you up early?"
"I'm alright, yeah, I guess I am up early, lol." Trunks typed in reply.
"What time is it over there? I hear you guys are in for a big snowstorm."
"It's 4 AM, and yes, we're expecting 2-3 feet."
"Ouch! How are things with Kendra? Did you patch things up?"
"No mom, we broke up."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"It's okay mom, really."
"You know Pan's over there, she's going to college."
"Oh really? Wow, I haven't talked to her in ages! Perhaps I should find her sometime and see what's new on her end. She's graduated now?"
"Yep, kinda hard…"
"Yo T to the runks! Wassup?" Kenji's window popped up above Bulma's.
"Hey man." Trunks typed in reply.
"…to believe, isn't it? Pan actually made valedictorian, and she was the first one in ten years at Orange Star High to not mention Abercrombie and Hollister in her valedictorian address. That pissed a lot of the preppies off."
"Wassup?" Trunks read from Kenji's window. "Hello, are you there?"
"Yes, I'm here." Trunks typed in his chat window.
"Wow, is that so?" Trunks typed into his mother's chat window.
"Look at who her father is." Bulma replied.
"Good point."
"Why are you ignoring me?" Trunks read from Kenji's window.
"I'm not," Trunks replied. "I'm just talking to my mother at the same time."
"Well son, get some rest! I'm busy right now. Later!"
"Later mom!" Trunks sent before closing her chat window.
"I thought we were friends." Trunks read from Kenji.
"Dude, you can't be serious!" What the fuck was Kenji smoking?
"Well, how'd it go with Kendra last night?"
"We broke up."
"Dude, that sucks."
"Tell me about it."
"I have another lady you might be interested in!"
"Ken, you aren't exactly batting a thousand when you pick my dates for me."
"Come on Trunks! You'll like this one! She's a real looker and very well mannered!"
"Whatever."
"Dude, just give her a chance! I'll set you two up once this storm moves out."
Trunks logged off without saying goodbye. A fat lot of good that did.
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Come as you are. That was what Stacy told Pan when she asked what to wear on the job. Interesting. They probably wouldn't mind black cargoes with a white pullover, but what would they think about a tail? That wasn't something an average human saw everyday, but I'm not about to have it bunched in to the point of excruciating pain, or worse, have it hacked off. No. I made a promise to my grandfather when I was five years old. I promised him that I would be the best warrior I could be. And if the need arises, having my tail means Bulma could give me a small shot in the arm with that brute ray she's rebuilding. Of course, I'd rather reach that certain milestone by my own power of will, but without the dragonballs, there's no more do-overs. Once someone dies, they die for good. Maybe that's why the gang got so complacent after a while. They always had the RELATIVE safety of the dragonballs. Not anymore. Yes, the tail's going to stay, whether they like it or not.
Four-thirty in the morning. Time for the interview. Pan bundled up in a thick black coat, which completed her generally dark outfit --Pan didn't consider herself goth, but she did have an affinity for black clothing and banging good rock and roll-- and walked out the door to see a fully wintry scene. She wasn't sure if her car could handle the mess on the roads, but she found her answer when she looked across the street. Her new neighbors in a big white sedan spun out of the parking lot and into the ditch. Pan rushed over to them, an elderly couple to see if they were alright. They were fine, but the car was stuck in the ditch. Pan looked underneath the car to survey the drivetrain of the vehicle, a rear wheel drive, the worst setup to have in a wintry mess.
"Need help?" Pan asked politely, coming across as opposite the person the elderly male driver expected.
"Yes please! I didn't think we'd wind up in the ditch this early, dear." The old man breathed.
"Alright, I'll dig you out. Just hit the gas when I tell you to."
"Thank you very much child." The elderly lady replied.
The car was stuck with its rear wheels dug in, almost sunk into the ground, but its fronts were still out in the street. Pan positioned herself behind the rear bumper and pushed down on it, adding weight and hopefully traction to the rear drive wheels. Her feet slipped into the ditch and it was hard for her to get a good footing, but she instructed the man to hit the gas, but it did no good. She determined the slick ground gave her less hold than being in the air, so she levitated off the ground, being careful to not allow the couple see what she was doing, and instructed once again to hit the gas. Pan gave it all she got and successfully pushed them out onto the road without anyone noticing what took place.
"God bless you child!" The elderly male breathed after climbing out of the car.
"You're welcome sir. Glad I could help you! Maybe you should stay home?"
"I believe we shall, young lady. What's your name?"
"It's Pan."
"Thank you very much, Pan. You know, I could have sworn you had darker eyebrows."
"Oh." Shit. "Really?"
"Perhaps you were seeing things." His wife countered, saving the day.
"You're right. Thank you very much Pan, and have a good day!"
"You too!"
Pan was wondering why she felt so high-strung. The tail told the tale. It glowed brightly golden, the only obvious indication that Pan was in super-saiyajin form. Her hair was thankfully tied back in a ponytail within her hoodie, so no one saw that change. Pan took a breath and relaxed herself down to normal, then walked back to her apartment. Driving to the radio station was out of the question. That left one more option: instant transmission, one of the last tricks Pan learned from her grandfather. Two fingers on her forehead, and presto! Pan was in the alley beside the radio station. She then walked into the building where she was greeted by Stacy.
"Why hello Pan, it looks like you might be the only applicant here today!"
"Really?"
"Yep, it looks like the storm's driven everybody off. It's too bad. So we'll see how you do today."
"Oh wow, really?" Damn, the only reason I'm here is because I cheated.
"Yep, we're on in fifteen minutes. Hold up, what's with that tail?" Stacy asked, dumbfounded, and pointing directly to it as it flicked around.
"The tail? Oh, I thought it would be somewhat unique, something different. A personality thing, ya know?" Pan dodged.
"Different ain't the word for it, I'm telling you. But no matter, you're here and so, let's get you hooked up!"
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Trunks tossed and turned, still unable to catch sleep. He put on his slippers and walked out to the front porch. The bottom two steps to the porch disappeared completely, and it didn't look good for the third step. Nope, no one would show up for work today.
