Making Adjustments
The next day at school, tryouts were being held at the end of the day so Wakusei High students would have a chance to join the sports teams. Bulma was all worked up about possibly losing her spot on the cheerleading squad. "I heard that bitch Snake has been going around telling everyone she was going to take over the team. I don't need to be head cheerleader, but I sure as hell won't stand for her running the squad!" Bulma yelled.
"I don't understand why you have a problem with Snake, Bulma. She's never done anything to us." Goku said. Bulma huffed and turned away from Goku. The group all continued to their classes for the day, anticipating the tryouts after school.
Goku was gearing up for his practice on the football field, among other sports where he would need to defend his title against Vegeta. He wondered just how good Vegeta really was. Everyone showed up on the field after school and lined up in front of Coach Roshi. The original team members were all there along with six Wakusei High students who wanted to join, including Vegeta, Nappa and Raditz. Nappa and Raditz were discussing their opinions of the existing team members, while Vegeta was quietly observing everyone and determined that there was no competition for him on this field, with the exception, possibly of Kakarot.
Coach Roshi explained that only two people could be added to the team, and current players were at risk of losing a spot if they did not prove better than the competition. A practice game was formed with Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo and Tien on the same team. On the other team Raditz, Nappa and Krillin were included. Some other players were quickly eliminated, but Raditz, Nappa and Vegeta proved to be good.
Raditz tackled Goku to the ground, but Goku managed to keep the ball. They were starting a new play where Goku was going to run the ball while Vegeta blocked for him, but as Nappa came charging at Goku, Vegeta took him down, then turned on Goku himself and knocked him hard to the ground. Being taken by surprise at being tackled by his own teammate, Goku took the hit hard and fell to the ground with a good shot in the kidney from Vegeta.
He got up glaring at Vegeta. "What the hell is your problem, Vegeta?!" Goku yelled.
Vegeta spat and tauntingly said, "What? Too rough for you to take it, Kakarot?"
Goku charged Vegeta and the two started throwing a flurry of punches at each other. Raditz, Piccolo and Nappa were closest to the fight, and the only ones brave enough to step in and break it up. Piccolo caught one of Goku's punches in the cheek, but they otherwise managed to break up the fight unscathed.
"Goku! Vegeta! You're done! Go home!" Yelled a shocked Coach Roshi. "If this happens on my field again, you both will be sitting out on a game."
"I'm taking Kakarot home, Coach." Raditz said.
"No thanks, Raditz, I'm walking." Goku said, glaring over his shoulder at Vegeta.
Vegeta was already walking home. Both of them were so bloody and beaten, it was hard for anyone to imagine them being able to make it home safely.
Coach Roshi sighed and hung his head. "What is it with those two? Goku's never acted like that before." Krillin decided to give Goku a ride whether he wanted it or not, and followed his friend.
The cheerleaders had been competing for their own tryouts on the other side of the field and witnessed the whole fight. The girls from Wakusei High were congratulating Vegeta, while Bulma and the rest of her team had rooted on Goku. Vegeta stumbled while reaching the edge of the field, and Bulma was the only one to notice. She felt bad that no one had gone with him, even if he was a jerk. She went to see if he needed any help.
"What do you want?" Vegeta asked her when he sensed her coming.
"Hey, you deserve this for being such a jerk, Vegeta, but I came to see if you needed help anyways." Bulma said as she reached out to give him support.
"I don't need help, now go away!" Vegeta ordered her through his teeth, as he pushed her hands away from him.
"Where do you live, Vegeta?" Bulma asked. Vegeta was surprised at the audacity of this girl.
"I told you, go away." Vegeta repeated quietly. Then he fell again and hissed in pain as he hit the ground. "Damn you, Kakarot." He muttered.
"Enough being stubborn, Vegeta. You aren't going to make it home like that." Bulma said in a bossy tone, waving her hand at Vegeta on the ground lazily. She took out a capsule pack and threw a capsule on the ground, which turned out to be a car. "Now get in!" She ordered, and he reluctantly climbed in the passenger seat, realizing it was the only way to get home without further pestering from this girl. He wrote down his address on some scrap paper.
"If you insist on giving me a ride, woman, take me here." He said, roughly handing her the address.
Bulma glared at his rude behavior then said, "Fine, and my name is Bulma!" She drove Vegeta home, while he passed out in the passenger seat. While driving, she couldn't help admiring his chiseled jawline and his muscular body. He almost didn't look so mean when he was unconscious. "Too bad he's such a jerk." Bulma muttered to herself under her breath.
"Who's a jerk?" Vegeta asked and gave Bulma an amused look. Bulma was too embarrassed to speak. When had Vegeta woken up? Did he notice her checking him out?
As if he heard her thoughts, Vegeta commented, "Like what you see, huh?"
This made Bulma snap. "No! You mean your bloody, banged up body? Your bloody nose? I don't think so!" Bulma could only think of compliments about Vegeta's appearance after that, so decided it was time to change the subject. "You know, that was a cheap shot attacking Goku on the field like that."
"Hn. I had to prove a point." Vegeta said with a shrug.
"What point is that?" Bulma asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"That no one surpasses me, I am the best. That idiot tried to claim he was better than I am, so I let him have it." Vegeta said.
"You're an egotistical asshole, you know that?" Bulma asked as she fought to keep her eyes on the road rather than looking at Vegeta anymore.
"Really? Then why are you enjoying my company so much?" Vegeta asked, but his question sounded more like a statement.
"W-what do you mean?" Bulma asked, a little flustered by his statement.
"You've driven us past my house about five times already. I assumed you just couldn't get enough of me." Vegeta gloated.
Bulma growled and slammed her foot on the brake, causing Vegeta to slide forward and bang his head against the windshield. They were about three houses away from Vegeta's house where she had stopped. "You can walk from here, now get out!" Bulma yelled, and leaned over Vegeta to open his door. Vegeta smiled to himself when Bulma rubbed up against him to reach the passenger door. He hadn't noticed how attractive she really was until she got that close. He contently walked home from there, not even giving Bulma a second glance.
"You're welcome for the ride home! Ungrateful bastard." Bulma grumbled, and drove home for the night, having conflicting thoughts about Vegeta all the way home.
Krillin brought Goku home after getting directions to his new house from Raditz. Goku fell asleep on the ride and Krillin couldn't wake him up when they arrived, so he was fortunate to find Bardock home and get his help carrying Goku into his bed.
Krillin explained to Bardock what happened at tryouts, and Bardock just shook his head, knowing he'd probably be in for more of this if Kakarot had a rivalry started with Vegeta. Bardock knew of Vegeta's reputation from Raditz, and Vegeta would not be backing down to Kakarot any time soon as he saw it.
The next day at school, tryouts would be continuing as the fight interrupted the selection of players for the other sports. Vegeta and Goku were both being stared at by most of the students in school. Their injuries were obviously visible and the fight was the biggest gossip at the school that day. Neither of them really cared what everyone had to say about it, but when ChiChi ran up to Goku asking if he was alright and hugging him tight, he couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed.
"Hey, stop it, ChiChi, I'm fine." He said, trying to push her away.
"You've got an algebra test tomorrow, Goku. We need to study tonight." She told him once she was convinced that he was okay.
"Okay, I'll drive you to my house after school." Goku said. ChiChi agreed, and school continued with Goku and Vegeta annoyed at all the attention they received through the day, but relieved that they were both exempt from the second rounds of tryouts, as Coach Roshi vouched for them both being exemplary players and welcome to join whichever teams they chose. Roshi also did not want to risk another run-in with those two attending tryouts together again. He could only hope that when the time came for the games, those two would learn to work together.
When Goku and ChiChi got to Goku's house after school, the phone rang, and Goku excused himself to answer it, while ChiChi looked around the house. The caller on the phone was Bardock asking Goku what type of takeout he and Raditz wanted that night, and Goku let his dad know that ChiChi would be joining them for dinner, so they could plan for extra food. ChiChi set up some work in Goku's room for him to solve and waited patiently while studying her own homework.
When Goku finished his work, ChiChi sighed. "This won't cut it, Goku. If you take the test like this tomorrow, you'll fail for sure. You did so much better when we used the food." ChiChi tapped her fingers on the desk and thought. "I don't have any food this time. We'll have to find something else to reward you with for good answers."
She looked back to Goku, who she realized had been quietly staring at her. "What?" She said, self-consciously.
"I know what else we can use." Goku said, and he leaned into ChiChi and said, "This" and kissed her. ChiChi felt butterflies in her stomach and started feeling dizzy as she appreciated Goku's musky, outdoorsy scent as he was so close to her, and she loved the softness of his lips, even with the healing cut on his lip from his fight with Vegeta. She found herself wrapping her arms around him and wanting to draw him in closer.
He stuck his tongue in her mouth and she gasped and pushed him away. "No, Goku, we can't do that."
"Why not?" He asked innocently. "It makes me feel good, it makes you feel good."
"Y-yeah." ChiChi said, feeling a little confused now. Goku made it sound so simple. Why was it she couldn't kiss him? Especially if they were using the kissing to help him study, it was for a good purpose…
ChiChi took a moment to clear her head. Aha! Now she remembered. "If I just kiss you when I see you, that's just a casual thing, but I need a relationship. I want a boyfriend, not a fling." ChiChi said authoritatively with a sharp nod of her head.
"Oh, really?" Asked Goku, sounding disappointed as he sat casually in a bean bag chair across the room. "That's too bad. Oh well, what will we use then?"
ChiChi was shocked and felt slighted. She was hoping Goku would take the bait and ask her out, but he really gave up the whole kissing idea more easily than she expected. Then she remembered something Goku had told her before. "You do martial arts, right?" She said with malice in her voice, which Goku didn't pick up on.
"Yeah, I love fighting!" Goku said, looking excited as he leaned forward in the bean bag. "Why?"
"If you get 60% or more of these answers right, I will spar with you after." ChiChi said.
Goku laughed. Hard. "You?" He asked. "How is that a reward?"
ChiChi glared and swung at Goku to punch him in the face, with excellent form and a lot of power. Goku just barely dodged it, looking shocked and staring at ChiChi open-jawed. "You almost hit me!" He yelled at her.
"Well, I figured you would dodge it, but you were laughing at me. I am an excellent martial artist." ChiChi bragged, raising her chin in the air. Goku didn't even respond. ChiChi looked at him to see him furiously working on his algebra equations, concentrating hard.
ChiChi graded Goku's work to find that he actually got 70% right, the highest score Goku ever had in algebra. "Now, promise me you'll work like that during your exam tomorrow, and we can spar!" ChiChi said, beaming with pride.
Goku promised, and they went out back, spent nearly an hour sparring, with a break for the dinner Bardock brought home. Goku drove ChiChi home and thanked her. He almost kissed her again, but she put her hand up and refused to kiss him, one of the hardest things she had ever done. Why did he have to be so irresistible? Then ChiChi remembered what Bulma had told her the other day, and started making a plan to win her guy.