The weekend flew by quicker than the two expected and within no time it was time for school again. The teenage half-saiyan was esctatic to soar through the air, being kissed by the warm, gentle morning sun. The boy had almost never flew faster, him becoming practically nothing but a blur from under the clouds. He swiftly landed on the rooftop of his school, racing down the stairwell.

A few moments after, Videl began speedily swerving down through halls, searching for a certain ebony haired fighter. She couldn't even find Erasa and Sharpener in the thick, populous halls. Why was everyone in a rush? And why were they all headed the same direction? She continued maneuvering through the sea of students until she felt someone running past knock her to the ground.

"Hey!"

She looked up to a sheepish looking Gohan, extending his arm towards her. A small smirk appeared on her face and she grabbed it firmly, planting her entired body weight unto his arm. To her surprise he just raised his eyebrow and his arm, carrying the other teenager with it. She let go of it, alarmed that she noticed her feet weren't touching the ground anymore.

"I knew you were strong but this is just scary!" Videl shrieked, walking towards a bench outside with him. "Not even Sharpener could lift me like that with one arm."

"I think that says more about you than Sharpener." He teased back.

"Do you just not enjoy living or something?" Videl threatened jokingly.

"Eh, can't lie - gets a bit boring a times..."

"Hmph. You came to school 15 minutes early." She randomly stated.

"So did you, Captain Obvious." Gohan laughed in response.

"Huh, always thought Captain Obvious was a guy."

"It's 767, Videl!"

The two erupted with giggles and guffaws, attracting a certain blonde duo.

"Again, you guys should just make it official!" Erasa remarked, grinning smugly at the sight of the two.

"And again, not going to happen." The black-haired teens voiced, eerily in unison. "Woah, weird! Okay, now it's just creepy. Yep, definitely creepy."

The two blondes looked at each other in disbelief.

"Stop it! Seriously! ARGH!" The two huffed symmetrically.

"I think they've been hanging with eachother too long!" Sharpener chuckled to Erasa.

"Definitely." She voiced in response. "Well, we're going to leave you two love birds alone."

"No, wait up! I mean, we aren't love birds, ew..." Videl muttered with a blush, "stay! We're all friends here, aren't we?"

"Most of us." Sharpener grumbled bitterly.

"Whatever Sharpener, the sooner you get over your bruised ego and pathetic jealousy, the better." Videl snarled, aggravated by his petty bitterness towards the half Saiyan.

"Sure I'll just get over my fractured radius aswell. Speaking of broken arms, what happened to yours, and your black eye?"

Videl paused for a moment before flipiping her hair and sassily saying,

"Rich people secrets."

Gohan gave her a small half smile and chuckled at the jock's irritation. He stormed off, Erasa not even bothering to chase after him and just joining the two on the bench.

"So... Gohan, fancy anyone here in Orange Star?" The brown eyed girl elbowed him, making him quite unconcomfortable.

"Uh... not really." Gohan answered, unwilling to admit anything. Soon the bell rang, saving Gohan from Erasa's nosey interrogation and ordering the students to get to their classes.

The trio made their way to their Registration, all eyes on Gohan and Videl. He still didn't seem to be very popular with the other students which he suspected after the fiasco that occurred on the first day of school. Murmurs and whispers filled the room, each inaudible mutter a bullet of guilt striking Gohan's chest. His expression changed from radiant with zeal to remorseful when he noticed what everyone was truly doing. They were be cautious, warning eachother, attempting to protect each other from him. They were scared. Why wouldn't they be? The entire school had just found out the new kid was actually an aggressive, mighty bully who could turn the most dominanting and intimidating athlete into a fearful, trembling oaf.

Videl noticed his change in demeanour and rubbed his arm in a comforting manner. He'd finally seen the consequences of his actions when he gave in to his Saiyan instincts. Pride. Immorality. A Saiyan warrior would attack the vulnerable due to the fact they were angry, not because they were fighting for justice. And the fact that he had harmed other kids who couldn't do any real harm to him, because they offended him? He believed he was as bad as any one of them. It seemed that as he was tormented with grief, his human traits were suffering with him.

Erasa pulled his hand, encouraging him to sit down, returning him to reality after the trance he didn't know he had fell into. Even Sharpener, who was at their row, sitting with legs resting on his desk offered Gohan looks of concern. He was partly responsible for everyone's wariness of him.

Gohan obeyed and sat in his seat, just praying for their teacher to arrive so the painful whispers would die down. He could make out the words with Saiyan hearing, but they overlapped so much it was beginning give him a headache.

"He's the guy who broke Sharpener's arm! The guys out of control!"

"It was bad enough that Chikara's around and then he shows up. Another out of control freak on a power high!"

"Shut up! He might hear you! Don't anger him!"

"Who does he think he is? Just because he's all tough he thinks he can pick on others? I'd love to teach him a lesson!"

"Helloo?! Did you not see what he did to Chikara?! He'd murder you! We just have to play it safe."

Play it safe? They spoke about him as if he was an enemy or threat to school, which he realised he did resemble from his previous behaviour. Gohan slammed his head down into his arms, alerting the entire class room. Everyone jumped from the sudden action, including Videl who after got out of her seat and crouch next to his desk. She was about to remove his arms from his face but chose against it when she remembered his temper.

"Gohan..."

"What?" When he eventually replied, his voice was raspy and low.

"I'm sorry."

Gohan lifted his head up to stare her in the face before anwsering, "Why would you be sorry?"

"Because on the first day you said something that had never been truer. Don't judge a book by its cover. And that's all this school had done. No one took in to account that this would be hard for you and that Chikara and Sharpener are pretty much the biggest tools ever."

"But at the same time first impressions count and me acting like an asshole wasn't going to do any good." Gohan uttered, ashamed.

"Ever wondered why the assholes became assholes? Between you and me, the truth is Chikara's actually just really insecure. He acts like such a jerk because he thinks fear is the same as respect and he'll take the closest thing he has to that to make himself feel better." Videl whispered. "And Sharpener's not even a jerk. He just acts like one because all the athletes are dumb and he wants to fit in. He was the new kid once. Everyone's done things they aren't proud of. But your actions don't define who you are."

"Have you ever killed someone?" Was all that Gohan could say in response before he layed his head in his arms. Videl stuttered for a few seconds before just rubbing his arm comfortingly and frowning.

The school day couldn't pass any slower and it didn't help that people were evading Gohan wherever he went. Group work in his Science class never became harder now that his team all begged to do the work themselves and that he didn't need to worry. His mood didn't change throughout the day, him struggling to keep the promise he made to his little brother. He couldn't even pick up a pencil without someone hypothesising he was going to stab a fellow student.

Attempting to cheer her friend up, Videl suggested they trained together in the mountains which Gohan agreed to. However, it certainly didn't work as Gohan looked as glum as ever, throwing fake attacks at Videl which wouldn't hit their mark. She even some how managed to hit him with her ki, vexing her to the point her entire body was a burning rouge.

"GOHAN! If you didn't want to train I would have understood! For the last 25 minutes, I've been going all out and all you haven't even bothered to throw an actual punch at me. If you were planning on wasting my time today, you certainly succeeded!" She spat, wishing she didn't sound so selfish. Her body was still blazing with anger though her expression softened to a more disappointed frown.

"Sorry, Videl."

"Apology accepted. Now can we just go? Obviously your heart's not in this and I won't force you any longer." She began rising into the air, until a hand wrapped around her wrist and stopped her.

"Wait. Stop. Didn't I say if you hit me then I'd show you something cool?" Gohan recalled with an apologetic smile. Videl dropped to her feet and rested her hands on her hips.

"Yes. But I didn't actually hit you, you let me. It doesn't count. And I want to kick your ass on my own merit. Or it isn't much a challenge, is it?" She confidently replied before she asked, "Does that mean you'll actually fight?"

Gohan nodded, causing her to grin gleefully. She held her grin for a few seconds, summoning up ki and then launching it at her partners chest. He skillfully dodged causing her to growl and then smirk. It wouldn't have been that easy.

That's 26 done. I don't know how it became so sad but oh well, it makes sense though now that Gohan's calmed down, he kind of sees what he's done in his anger. Please tell me your thoughts in the review, I'm not that confident about this chapter right now... :/ EmberTheUnknown out!