Chapter Seven.
She was avoiding him, she knew. Bulma sighed as she gathered her books from her locker. The reason why she was avoiding him though was unknown. She was sure everyone could notice it. After all, she had put on quite a show to leave whenever the certain widow peaked male got anywhere close to her. She bowed her hand and sighed again. Why in the world was she acting this way?
The reason is obvious, Bulma. All you have to do is admit it.
Bulma frowned and blocked her thoughts out. She did not want to believe that the only reason she was avoiding Vegeta was because she felt uncomfortable around him. And why did she feel uncomfortable around him all of a sudden?
Because Bulma, you're starting to-
She blocked the remaining words out of her mind, locked them in a cage and left them for dead. There was no way she was going to admit to that because for one, it wasn't true. She had absolutely no feelings for Vegeta except their brother-sister bond.
So why are you ducking and dodging every time he comes by?
Bulma gritted her teeth. She really hated her inner thoughts. She was only avoiding him now because she wanted to give him space. When she had last talked to him yesterday, their conversation hadn't ended so great. Now that she thought about, it hadn't really ended well at all; it seemed almost like an argument.
"So you're worried that he'll get jealous?" Vegeta questioned.
"No. I'm worried that he'll feel forgotten. Vegeta, just because we're close doesn't mean I have to spend more time with you then him and I noticed that I've been doing that a lot lately. He's my boyfriend, like it or not, and sometimes I'm gonna be with him and not you."
Bulma winced slightly at the memory. It sounded like she had been the more aggressive one. She remembered the look of pure shock and disbelief on Vegeta's face when she got into Yamcha's car and drove away. It had been eating at all her night while she tried to sleep. Why had his expression bothered her so much?
Because it had been mixed with pain.
Bulma slammed her locker shut and closed her eyes. Yes, the pain had been clear in his expression as well. Vegeta might have been able to hide his emotions from everyone else but Bulma was too keen on them to be fooled. That mixture of pain and hurt had caused her heart to ache and it still was having the same effect. Had her words stung him that much? Or was it the simple action of leaving him in the parking lot without waiting for a response?
"Bulma?"
The voice startled her so much she screamed out and swirled in the direction of it, eyes wide.
"Whoa, whoa! Calm down tiger!" Laughed the familiar, light voice of her boyfriend, holding up his hands as a way of defense. "I didn't mean to scare ya babe." Bulma relaxed and gave him a fake smile, gripping the corners of her books with both hands. She really didn't feel like confronting him right now.
"Oh hey Yamcha, "Bulma said shakily. "I'm sorry, I was...just thinking. What's up?" She glanced at her watch and deduced she had about 4 minutes to get to her next class. Yamcha leaned against her locker and gave her a warm smile.
"I was just wondering if you felt like going somewhere after school." He started to play with a loose strand of her blue hair.
"Uh...Actually no, I...I have to-"She stopped in mid sentence and snapped her fingers, her eyes widening. "Oh, look at that! The bell! Come on, we can't be late to class!!" Yamcha blinked and opened his mouth to protest but Bulma was already skirting down the hallway and around the corner.
"Uh...I didn't hear the bell ring..."The scar faced teen said, furrowing his eyebrows.
She's avoiding me, I know.
Vegeta sat in his 2nd hour, eyes slanted, lazily staring at the board while the rest of the class worked silently on whatever assignment the teacher had given out.
Why the fuck was she still upset?
The widow peaked male's thoughts were, of course, on a certain blue haired best friend of his. Ever since he arrived at school, she had been eluding any chance for him to get close to her and he was growing irritated by her behavior. If she ever stayed in one spot long enough, he'd probably pin her down and try to talk to her and apologize.
Wait, why the hell do I have to say sorry?
He wasn't at fault here! All he had done this whole time was try to correct everything and make it better. And all she ended up doing was making to worse and shunning him. He wasn't the one who ran off into Yamcha's arms.
I'm thinking about it again.
The scene from yesterday had seemed to play over and over in his head. Her face, hard and placid. Her getting into the car and slamming it shut. Her boyfriend's idiotic grin when they drove off. Damn, if anything had ever bothered him in his life, it was this. And why the hell was he still thinking about this at all? Bulma was making it perfectly clear who she wanted to spend time with now. If avoiding steering clear of him and hanging out with Yamcha was what she wanted to do, then shit Vegeta hadn't any plans to interrupt.
After all, a life time friendship didn't amount to an on and off again boyfriend. Not according to her anyway.
"Vegeta!"
He was abruptly pulled from his thoughts by the voice and looked up, eyes narrowed to see his teacher, Mr. Slick with his green/blue eyes blazing in his pale face, fixed on him.
"I hope you're little day dream is about over. If you hadn't known, there is an assignment to be done and you, out of everyone, doesn't have the grades to disregard it. Especially if you plan on staying on the Football team. Now, I suggest you do what has to be done or get out!"
There were giggles in the classroom as Mr. Slick turned around curtly and walked back to is desk. Vegeta glared daggers in his back and his eye started to twitch.
"Do what he says V!" Came the whispered voice of Goku who was sitting behind him, holding out a pencil. "Coach is going to be making cuts soon. Bringing in Piccolo was only half of what he has in store for us."
Vegeta snatched the pencil from Goku and grabbed his textbook out of his bag. "Thank you Kakarot." He sneered in sarcasm.
"You've been in a bad mood all day. What are you and Bulma fighting about now?" Goku didn't know when to let up.
"Nothing. What makes you think I'm in a bad mood because of her anyway?" Vegeta snapped, opening the Literature Book.
"I don't know. You're always in a bad mood because of her. Not only that, but you've both been acting weird around each other." Goku blinked. His observations made Vegeta growl.
"I'm not the one who's been acting weird. And I'm not in a bad mood; this is always how I am."
"Come on V, you can tell me what's wrong."
"WOULD YOU SHUT THE HELL UP!?" Exploded the fire haired male, causing everyone in class to swirl to him in surprise. There was loud banging sound towards the front of that class where Mr. Slick slammed his fist on his desk.
"Mr. Prince, get out!" The teacher's stern voice commanded, pointing towards the door. He got up, collected his items and stormed out angrily, leaving Goku to stare wide eyed.
"If that's not a bad mood, I don't know what is." He said in a mumble.
Piccolo had an unexplainable urge to crack some body's skull.
"And, "Continued the bronze haired teen that had interrupted him while he was heading to his 3rd hour."I've heard you got on the Football team. You do know you only made it because your Uncle is the coach right?" The guy had gone on to explain how Piccolo wasn't going to make it in this school and how he was geek with no backbone and so on.
Ok, so maybe the urge was explainable.
"Get out of my way." The green skinned male said in monotone, preparing to continue to his class. Bronze hair grabbed his shirt collar and swung him against the lockers and before Piccolo could react, the guy had been pushed into a wall.
"Pick on somebody you're own size, Bull." Said a long, dark haired teen, probably the one who had pushed Bronze hair, walking up in front of Piccolo with his hands in pockets. He was on the football team, Piccolo recalled, but his name wasn't registering.
Bronze haired, now dubbed as Bull by the pretty boy, got up and growled and Piccolo thought it made him sound like an animal. A crowd had started to gather around them. "You made a huge mistake, Seventeen." Bull grumbled angrily.
Seventeen. Ah, that was his name. Piccolo watched Seventeen's smirk that had flooded into his lips.
"What are you going to do? Tell Yamcha on me? By the way, if he put you up to this, tell him he's more of a coward then I thought he was."
Bull met Seventeen's cool glance with one of pure hatred and then growled again and spun around, pushing into the crowd to walk away.
"You Okay?" Seventeen's gaze was now on Piccolo as the crowd that had gathered dissipated.
"I could have taken him." Piccolo stated.
Seventeen smiled. "I bet you could have. After all those hits you took yesterday at practice, I wouldn't be surprised."
"If I do recall, you got a few tackles on me as well." Piccolo was beginning to walk away and Seventeen followed. The green skinned teen was slightly annoyed. Why did everyone insist on being his buddy?
"I was simply blocking for my team, doing what I always do. Sorry if I hit ya hard, I normally am facing off against Goku and he's a fucking rock. No hard feelings?"
"Whatever." Piccolo shrugged. Seventeen's smile faded a bit. "So you think Yamcha made that guy come fuck with me?" Yamcha was the one dude whom Piccolo couldn't forget. He had been the most ruthless yesterday and Piccolo was sure it was because of his sudden demoting from Quarterback. "Is that guy really out to get me?"
Seventeen laughed. "He took it pretty hard when you took his spot. But nahh, I don't think Yamcha's that deranged. He probably just whined and bitched to a lot of people about you and Bull decided to come and show you up. Yamcha has his own little 'cliché' he hangs with and he thinks that he runs this school."
"You're telling me his ego is so huge he couldn't stand being beat once?" Piccolo asked with a small frown. The guy sounded pretty deranged to him.
Seventeen nodded. "Don't worry; he isn't the only one who's like that. You should meet my other friend who has a chest full of pride."
"I'll pass." Piccolo muttered dryly. The bell rung right when Piccolo arrived outside his classroom and Seventeen gave a little bow.
"Come hang with us anytime you want, seriously. And don't pay Yamcha any mind. He's a jackass." That said, pretty boy kept on walking down the hall and turned a corner. Piccolo watched him go with a raised eyebrow and then walked into his classroom.
"Ok spill it, what's up?" Chichi's slightly annoyed voice cut through Bulma's thoughts as she flipped their Arts book, trying to figure out how to mold clay into something interesting.
"Spill what?" Bulma didn't take her eyes off the thin book, as she scanned the reading. Chichi frowned, trying to paint in an eye on her work.
"You know what. Are you going to tell me what you and Vegeta are arguing over now? Or is it, you and Yamcha?" Chichi dabbed some red paint on her paper. Bulma held up the book to hide her face which was burning. She hated when Chichi was always right, the girl could pull off being psychic if she wanted too. The blue haired girl turned slightly to the certain widow peaked male in question who was 3 round tables away, sitting beside Goku and Krillin. Aside from them, Yamcha was also in this class, tinkering with something at the table beside the boys, sitting next to some guy and some girl.
"There's nothing wrong. I'm not fighting with either of them."
"Really?" Chichi raised an eyebrow. "I thought we were best friend B, I thought we told each other everything." The hurt in her voice was apparent and annoying.
"We are Chi and I do." Bulma sat the book down with a sigh and was relieved when Eighteen interrupted, arrived at their table with black paper.
"I don't see why I let you guys convince me into taking art. I suck at this crap." Said the blond as she slumped into the seat beside Chichi, sighing heavily. Chichi giggled and patted the girl on her back.
"Oh chill out, you're actually a great drawer Eighteen." Said the raven haired girl with a warming smile.
"Yeah Eighteen, "Bulma put in. "You're an awesome drawer. Why don't you just sketch a picture or something?"
"Mrs. Renald is saying that she wants me to chalk out something. Chalk? I don't even know what the fuck that is. I don't fucking chalk!" The blond threw up her hands in exasperation and Chichi laughed again.
"Aside from your chalking problems, Bulma has her own. She won't tell me what's bothering her." Chichi smirked, seeing that she had an edge if Eighteen joined in on the mystery of getting her to talk. Bulma gave her black haired friend a look.
"There's nothing bothering me." The blue haired girl sighed.
"Then what's with you and vegetable avoiding eye contact and you running away from him all day?" Eighteen droned on bluntly, picking up a piece of chalk and grimacing at it.
"I wasn't running away from him."Bulma protested hotly.
"I think sprinting the other way when he comes is classified as running away." Eighteen continued in her monotone. Bulma frowned and Eighteen shrugged.
"If you just tell us what's up, we'll stop bothering you. I know it's either about Vegeta or Yamcha, they're the only two who rack your nerve. What? Did Vegeta do something stupid again?" Chichi inquired, dipping her paint brush in a red can of paint.
No, I did. Bulma thought with a heavy sigh. "No Chi, neither one of them did anything. Would you please drop it!?"
"Whoa. Bitch alert. Now I know some thing's up." Eighteen laughed, flicking her blond hair over her shoulder. Bulma closed her eyes and growled.
"Nothing is BOTHERING ME!" The blue haired girl screamed angrily, causing the whole class to swerve to look at them. She instantly sunk down in her seat and put the book in front of her face which was burning again.
"Is there a problem over there, Ms. Briefs?" Called Mrs.Renald.
"No Ma'am!" Bulma called back.
Vegeta was still staring at her while the rest of the class went back to what they were doing. He finally turned away when she put down her book.
"Are you going to talk to her?" Goku asked absently as he played with some play dough. Vegeta glanced at him and Krillin ignored them both, intently engaged in his Magazine.
"Talk to whom?" Vegeta narrowed his eyebrows.
"Bulma."
"For what? We have nothing to talk about."
"Suit yourself."
Krillin turned the page in his Magazine lazily and yawned. Goku continued with his play dough and Vegeta, for some strange reason, grew irritated. "Would you guys stop thinking that we're fighting?"
"We don't think that." Both boys said distractedly in unison. Vegeta sunk into silence and said nothing. Goku rolled the dough into a ball and put it on the table steadily, smacking it flat with his palm causing some of it to go splattering into the air. The goofy teen looked up to see Krillin and Vegeta giving him annoyed looks, pieces of play dough on their faces, eyes twitching.
"Hehe...Sorry." Goku laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head, smiling. They threw the dough at him and he blinked, ducking down to evade it. "I said I was sorry!"
"Geez Goku, can a man read a magazine in peace?" Krillin said with slanted eyes.
"Shouldn't you be doing work anyway?" Goku raised an eyebrow.
"Since you put it that way; No." Krillin went back to his article and Goku rolled his eyes. "Haha, lookie here. It says out school is one of the Top when it comes to winning our football, Soccer and Basketball matches. Girls and Boys teams."
Vegeta snatched it from him and scrolled down to read it, smirking. "Well duh, we have me on the team after all."
A hand snatched it from Vegeta and all three boys looked up to see Yamcha standing before them, smirking, the Magazine now in his hands. "Not for long if you keep up with those grades. The coach isn't dealing with slackers anymore, didn't you hear?"
Vegeta frowned and snatched it back. "My academic achievements aren't any of your concern. Just stick to playing jump rope like the rest of the girls." He smirked.
It was Yamcha's turn to frown but as he tried to snatch the Magazine back, Vegeta turned and he missed. "At least I'm not the one who's lusting after someone else's girlfriend when they, most obviously, are already in love with someone far better." The comment hit Vegeta hard and he narrowed his eyes and clenched his hands into fists, grinding his teeth. Goku watched as the widow peaked male stood up, glowering down.
"Don't think you have me and my emotions down pat. You don't have a damn clue what is and has been going on with Bulma and me. At least I can handle a woman. Unlike you who tend to snivel at Bulma's feet and hop about whenever she needs something like a dog!"
Goku gulped and watched as Yamcha narrowed his eyes too and fists clenched. This isn't going to turn out too good. Goku thought, watching the battle-ready expressions both boys had on their faces. He exchanged a glance with Krillin who had the same worried expression that mirrored his.
"What? You don't call holding Bulma's books, driving her home and doing her homework being on a leash? If I wouldn't have known any better, I'd have thought you were her slave and not her friend." Yamcha snapped back. By now, the rest of the class had surrounded them, watching the verbal fight with interest.
Bulma, Eighteen and Chichi noticed the crowd gathering around and exchanged glances. All three girls stood up and approached the group cautiously and curiously.
"A leash? You're saying I'm the one who's on a leash?" Vegeta's eyebrows shot up.
"I'm sorry, would you like me to call it a hook to save some of your pride?" Yamcha grinned. Goku shot up and put his hands out between the two boys who were getting dangerously close.
"Ok now, lets just calm down guys. It's not that serious." Goku said in a nervous laugh. Chichi, Eighteen and Bulma had all made it to the front of the crowd now.
"Stay out of this Goku. I wanna see what Prince almighty has to say."Yamcha growled.
"Yes Kakarot, step out of the way so I can show this Jackass here who he's fucking with."
"Vegeta!? Yamcha!?" Bulma interrupted, running up to them. Chichi and Eighteen hung back, confused.
"Who I'm fucking with?" Yamcha continued, oblivious to everyone around him. "If I were you, I'd worry about how you're going to-"
"Going to what? I'd like to see you try and lay a hand on me Yamcha." Vegeta sneered angrily.
"Would you guys stop it!?" Bulma yelled, throwing up her hands. Goku still had his hand in between them, looking at Bulma with relief. Yamcha and Vegeta both turned to the blue haired girl.
"He started it!" Yamcha exclaimed. Vegeta snorted.
"Nice attitude." Vegeta muttered making a whipping sound. Yamcha growled.
"You're trying my patience Vegeta!"
"Oh? Do you really want to know what you're doing to mines?"
They were back in each other's faces and Bulma sighed heavily. "Come on guys!" Goku continued to try and reason with them.
"I got five on Vegeta." Eighteen whispered to Chichi who gasped and slapped her lightly on her shoulder, trying to contain her giggles.
"You're both acting very egotistical." Bulma stated evenly in an angered tone. "And childish."
"Me? Childish?" Vegeta scoffed and smirked. "Come on now Bulma; are you the one who needs to be lecturing about such a thing?" Bulma's eyes widened and she growled.
"I take that back."Eighteen whispered, watching her blue haired friend's face turn bright red. "I got 30 on Bulma."
"Y-Y-YOU HAVE THE NERVE!" Bulma screamed, standing on her tiptoes to get in Vegeta's face. "To call ME childish!? You-You-"
"Come on, you can finish the sentence. Just sound out the words." Vegeta mocked her even more and she growled again, her eyes blazing.
"You're the one who got mad because I wanted to spend time with my BOYFRIEND!" Bulma screamed. Goku withdrew his hand back and glanced about, wondering how the argument had switched from Vegeta and Yamcha to Vegeta and Bulma.
"Stand back. This might be ugly." Chichi whispered to Eighteen who raised an eyebrow. Krillin gulped hard and held his breath. Yamcha just crossed his arms over his chest and smirked, liking the new change up.
"MAD? I got MAD? You must be the one who's mad if you ever thought such a thing!" Vegeta snapped back. "I couldn't care less about YOU or your stupid ass BOYFRIEND. I don't care WHAT you do and I don't care WHO you do it with. You can go to Texas and marry him if you want just don't expect me at the wedding! Everything's always YOU, YOU, YOU! How fucking self centered can you get!?"
There was a collective "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh" The sounded through the class and Bulma's eyes narrowed into two slits, her teeth clenched together and her body shaking with anger. But before she could respond, they were all interrupted.
"What is this commotion?" Asked Mrs.Renald as she pushed through the class to stand before them. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to the teacher who had a stern, red face, hands on her hips. The class instantly dispersed and scrambled back to their seats, leaving Yamcha, Eighteen, Bulma, Chichi, Goku, and Eighteen still standing since Krillin had never gotten up to begin with. "All of you SIT DOWN! I do not want anymore noise."
They did as they were told, all scattering back to their own tables.
Vegeta sent a quick glance to Bulma as she walked away, her back to him and sighed, slumping into his seat.
"If you guys weren't fighting then, "Krillin spoke up, turning a page in his Magazine. "You sure are now." Vegeta frowned, grabbed a piece of Goku's play dough and chucked it at the bald teen that yelped and ducked.
Bulma sat in her chair and crossed her arms below her chest, muttering angrily to herself. Eighteen and Chichi exchanged looks.
"You OK B?" Chichi spoke up.
"How DARE he! ME? SELF centered?!" Bulma suddenly erupted, throwing up her hands.
"Vegeta's a jerk. You know that." Eighteen shrugged.
"Yeah, he probably didn't mean it." Chichi added with a light smile. Bulma, however, rolled her eyes.
"That's right. He's a jerk all right." Yamcha said as walked up to their table, putting his arms around Bulma. Eighteen and Chichi gave him bored, unimpressed look. Bulma was either to angry to care about what he said or she actually agreed. "Hey babe, wanna get out of here? Everyone is giving us weird looks. Let's ditch and go..." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "talk."
Maybe it was because she was so heated or because she wasn't thinking straight but Bulma smiled and nodded, getting up to collect her things.
"Bulma!" Chichi exclaimed in shock and disbelief. "You're actually going?"
"Why not? Mrs. Renald's not looking. Besides, I need to go cool off." The blue haired girl shrugged.
"With Yamcha?" Eighteen sent him an annoyed look and the scar faced male returned it.
"He's my boyfriend after all." Bulma rolled her eyes while smiling. "Cover for me, will ya?" That said she left hand and hand with Yamcha. Chichi furrowed her eyebrows and exchanged a look with Eighteen who shrugged and got back to her work.
Vegeta got up to get more dough for Goku and stopped dead when he saw Yamcha and Bulma skip out. His eyes widened a bit and he felt his heart drop. Then he narrowed his eyes and forced the image of them holding hands out of his memory and turned away slowly, sitting back in his seat.
"Hey, I thought you were getting me more play dough?" Goku asked with a small frown.
But Vegeta didn't answer him. He lowered his head and stayed that way for awhile. Krillin and Goku exchanged confused looks but said nothing. Suddenly, his head came up and he was smirking.
"Hey, cover for me." Was the only thing he said before dodging out of the room also.
"Where's he going?" Goku asked with furrowed eyebrows. Krillin shrugged.
"Probably after Bulma." Said the bald headed teen. Goku shot him a look and then glanced at the girls' table, just now realizing that the blue haired teen was missing.
"How'd you know she left?" Goku inquired in amazement. Krillin shrugged again and flipped a page in his book.
"I'm physic."
"Nuh uh!" Goku exclaimed with a smile. "Really?"
Krillin rolled his eyes. "Yes really, Goku."
"Then what am I thinking right now?" Goku said with a smug expression.
"You're thinking if I can read your mind or not."
Goku's eyes widened and he gasped. "Holy crap Krillin, you really are!"
Krillin sent his goofy friend a look of disbelief at his genuine amazement and scoffed. "You always seem to brighten my day, dude."
