Chapter Ten

I Guess You're Trying to Move on

He hadn't meant to skip school. After he and Videl finally broke apart, Gohan had started going back to class. Yet, somehow, he'd ended up on the school roof. And then, oddly enough, he was soaring through the sky.

He'd been flying aimlessly for some time now, the blurry lands passing below him, changing again and again.

It was over.

It didn't even get to start properly, and it was over.

His heart felt dead. Or maybe he wished it were, if only that meant it wouldn't hurt so much.

And so his first love story ended. Nothing was ever going to happen between him and Videl. They weren't going to run off to the sunset together. They weren't going to do anything together anymore, ever.

It was all over.

He felt like crying. Gohan stopped in his tracks, hovering in the sky above the endless ocean. His hands moved to cover his face, his shoulders started shaking; the boy let his tears flow freely, hoping, praying it could relieve some of the wrenching pain in his chest.

"…Kid?"

Gohan swallowed, his hands trembling as he wiped his face. While he appreciated the sentiment, he wished Piccolo hadn't come to check up on him. Piccolo must have sensed something was wrong through his ki and got concerned, and Gohan knew he should feel lucky that he had such a devoted friend who would cross continents just to make sure he was okay, but, right now, the last thing he wanted was for Piccolo to see him in such a pitiful state.

"Can you go away please, Piccolo? I really don't want you to see me like this…" He hated that he couldn't control the quiver in his voice.

Piccolo scoffed in response, and from the shift in the air, Gohan sensed that the Namekian behind him crossed his arms.

"What, you mean, seeing you crying? Like that's anything new for me, or did you forget the year I trained you in the wilderness?"

The recollection made a tiny little smile tug on his lips. Gohan blew out a long breath. "But I was a child back then," he countered, wiping his face again as he turned around to face his friend. He hoped he didn't look too horrible.

"You still are," Piccolo smirked, staring down at him.

Gohan pouted slightly. "I'm seventeen now," he muttered. "Eighteen, actually, if you count the year I spent with Dad in the Room of Spirit and Time."

A big, green, four-fingered hand patted his head. "You could be seventy, I'll always see the sniveling little crybaby I was forced to train when I look at you."

"I was four years old, of course I would be a crybaby over being left alone in the wilderness to fend for myself," Gohan retorted, narrowing his eyes playfully at the taller man. "And aren't you pretty young yourself? Weren't you born right after Dad defeated the Demon King Piccolo or something like that? Didn't you grow up freakishly fast in like three years, making you only like, four years older than me?"

Piccolo's eye twitched. "I reunited with Kami, that makes me hundreds of years old."

"And not a wrinkle to show for it," Gohan joked, his smile widening. "Impressive."

Piccolo crossed his arms again, scowling at the insolent boy. "Well, since we're here already, how about a little sparring session? You've gotten so rusty from all these years of peace, I'm pretty sure I could take you now."

"Is that so?" Gohan raised an eyebrow at his challenger.

"Hell, I bet even Yamcha could probably give you a run for your money at this point."

"Ouch," Gohan chuckled at the jibe. A little spar sounded pretty good right now, actually.

ooOoo

"Are you sure? He couldn't have ditched school like that, not Gohan…"

Videl tried to tune out the conversation Erasa was having with one of her friends from class A, who had joined them under their usual tree for lunch. The girl wouldn't have had minded so much if it weren't for their topic of conversation. Did they have to be talking about Gohan, of all things?

"Maybe he's sick?" wondered Kit, a hint of worry in her voice. "I hope he's all right. He seemed a bit down lately, you know?"

"Yeah," agreed Erasa, nodding her head thoughtfully. "I wonder what happened… Do you know anything, Videl?"

The girl in question froze, not expecting to be questioned about the topic. Her brain worked fast, trying to find something plausible to say. Anything that would get her out of this tricky question.

To think she had to resort to the one thing she despised most. She couldn't do otherwise, though. How could she tell them the truth? How could she say that Gohan most likely ditched school because she broke his heart? That he'd been down lately because she had rejected him on his birthday? How could she possibly say any of this to anyone, and especially Erasa, knowing that the only thing she would achieve in doing so would be to hurt her best friend?

"Not really…" she ended up saying in reply, unable to come up with anything clever. It seemed to suffice, however.

"Man… I hope he's all right," said Kit again, heaving out a sigh. "He's such a sweet guy."

"Tell me about it," replied Erasa, sighing dreamily. "He's so… pure, you know?"

"Exactly!"

Videl averted her gaze to hide her blush, her thoughts going back to yesterday afternoon, after class, when Gohan had backed her up against the bookcase and kissed her avidly, boldly groping her. Yes, she did understand what Erasa and Kit meant by saying that Gohan was "pure", but at the time, when his lips and hands had been all over her, when his hard arousal had ground against her crotch in such need, and the lust in his eyes seemed to devour her hungrily… he definitely hadn't been innocent.

From then on, Erasa and Kit kept listing off all of Gohan's qualities, while Videl lay down on the grass and closed her eyes, her head comfortably nested on her joined hands. She listened to them go on about him, a thin smile on her lips. It didn't bother her at all now, because she knew how it was all true, that Gohan really was that amazing.

Her heart gave a pang. To think she'd had to give up on such a great guy… Her mind drifted back to this morning, to their goodbyes… God, how she wished she never had to stop kissing him. How she wished he never let her go…

"Oh my god! Is that… Reece Blann?" whispered Kit excitedly.

Videl's eyes shot open. She sat up and anxiously looked around, figuring that Reece had come for her. Erasa told her that he seemed to genuinely like her, and she did plan to give him a chance. After all, it couldn't have been better timing, seeing as Videl desperately needed to get over Gohan, the sooner the better.

He flashed her a charming smile as their eyes locked, and then walked towards them. "May I sit down?" he asked respectfully, not tearing his gaze from her for even a moment.

"Sure," she said casually.

He sat down across from her, still staring at her with a smile. Well, Videl had to admit, Reece was pretty cute. And she did like how his eyes twinkled when he looked at her. Oddly enough it felt somewhat familiar…

She lowered her head, suddenly remembering why. Gohan would always look at her with a similar expression, although his eyes were much gentler yet expressed so much more. Damn it, why was she still thinking of Gohan? There was a perfectly decent, normal guy right in front of her, one that her best friend wasn't already crazy about. Wasn't it what she'd wanted? A more normal life, with possibly a normal boyfriend? This was her chance; she couldn't brush it off. She had to take it. She had to least give Reece a chance. She had to stop thinking about Gohan. She couldn't keep this up – somehow, it had to stop.

She had to stop loving Gohan. Somehow.

ooOoo

Piccolo eyed the kid from the corner of his eye, massaging his sore shoulder. They were sitting on a cliff in a small, deserted island, sometime after their fight.

Gohan had been surprisingly aggressive. It happened in a blink, as though something suddenly clicked inside of him, and Piccolo figured it had something to do with the way he'd found him earlier. The kid clearly had something to vent about.

Well, today wouldn't be the day he beat his former pupil. He should've known he would get his ass handed to him anyway, even when Gohan wasn't even transformed. After all, no sane person would knowingly cross the kid's path when he was obviously upset.

It wasn't too bad, though. Yeah, he was sore all over and was pretty sure he had a few broken ribs, among other parts of him, but at least now Gohan seemed to have relaxed somewhat. At least he didn't get beaten up for nothing.

"I'm sorry, Piccolo," sighed Gohan, looking very sorry indeed. "I shouldn't have lost it like that… You had nothing to do with it."

"Please," said Piccolo, waving him off. "This is nothing. Sorry to say kid, but you've got a long way before you can compare with Freeza, or even Nappa. At least, at the time."

"That's because I stopped before you lost consciousness," he said, frowning deeply in concern. The kid didn't have many injuries, himself. A few scratches, some torn parts on his clothes, a bruise here and there.

Obviously. It was a miracle he'd been able to keep up with Gohan at all, let alone hurt him. It didn't sit well with his ego.

"I'm really sorry," Gohan said again, letting out a sigh.

"Meh, I'm fine," said Piccolo. "A good workout. Just what I needed."

The boy smiled slightly and Piccolo patted his head in a rare show of affection. But really, he'd have to be heartless not to be affected by Gohan's sad eyes. He used to think he had no heart, but ever since Gohan entered his life, the sniveling little boy had taught him that he could, in fact, grow attached to someone.

"So what is it? What's got you so upset?"

Gohan sighed, wrapping his arms around his legs and resting his chin onto his knees. "I don't really want to talk about it… But I guess I owe you after you took the beating I just gave you…"

Piccolo waited as the boy took the time to collect his thoughts. A painful wince then crossed his youthful features, and a frown of concern overtook his own.

"You're going to think this is stupid… And you can't really understand anyway."

"There's no harm in telling me, though, is there?"

"I guess not," Gohan breathed out. "Okay… It's about a girl. I fell in love with a girl, but we can't be together."

Okay, so the kid was absolutely right. Piccolo had not the slightest clue as to what he was going through. The only kind of love he knew was the fatherly affection he had for Gohan. Namekians weren't exactly fit for romance, but that didn't mean he couldn't be a good listener, or at least try to be.

The things he did for the boy…

"Go on."

"I don't really know why, either. She said it's because if she accepted my feelings, she would be betraying her best friend, but I have no idea what she meant…" Gohan sighed again.

"Is there anything you can do?"

The boy shook his head. "No. I tried to win her over, but I realized I was being selfish. I made her cry, because she was struggling with something and I was making things worse for her… So I decided to give up on her. There's nothing left to do. We've said our goodbyes already. It's over… Undeniably over."

"Ah."

Really, what else could he respond to this? Piccolo wished he had the means to find the right words for Gohan, that he knew what to say to make him feel better.

He gave it a go nonetheless.

"I'm no expert, but I believe humans can fall in love more than once in their lifetime," he started after a few moments of silence, hoping he wasn't going to screw this up. "I'm sure you don't think it's possible right now, but you'll probably fall in love again with someone else in the future, and maybe that next person will be the right one for you."

Gohan didn't say anything in response, but he moved to sit cross-legged and was staring ahead with a dubious frown furrowing his brow, folding his arms over his chest. Probably not the best thing he could've said, but it was really all he could muster, given his biology.

"If you say so," Gohan muttered. Piccolo pursed his lips, knowing that what he said hadn't helped at all.

"Who is she? The girl that broke your heart." Or whatever that meant.

"Her name's Videl. She's actually…" Gohan seemed to hesitate, scratching the back of his head in that annoying habit he took after his father. "She's Mr. Satan's daughter."

Piccolo scoffed, struggling to hold in a fit of laughter. "That fool's daughter? I hope she doesn't look like him."

"She doesn't!" Gohan defended fervently. "She's nothing like him! She's beautiful and unbelievably honest, and she even fights crime in Satan City. And she's stronger than him!"

In any case, Gohan sure was taken with that girl. The irony was positively hilarious.

"Well, anyway," said Piccolo, deciding to change the topic. "You may be stronger than me, but your fighting is pretty sloppy. You've slacked off."

Gohan smiled slightly. "Yeah, I'm aware of that. I could feel I wasn't as good as I was seven years ago."

"So train more often. Better yet: come find me so that we can spar. Dende knows I need a good sparring partner."

"Sure," replied the boy, a genuine smile curling his lips. Piccolo smiled back at him, a rare sight indeed. But he only reserved those for Gohan, who was really the only one who could melt his not-so-hardened heart.

ooOoo

The next day, Gohan felt somewhat better when he got to school. Talking with Piccolo had helped take his mind off his situation for a bit, and fighting the Namek had allowed him to vent his frustration and suffering. Sure, he was still hurting, but at least he felt a little more at peace.

After class, like usual, he went to the library as his after school activity. He wasn't surprised that Videl wasn't showing up, and he felt a pang in his heart thinking that she might never hang out with him in the library again. Their sanctuary was no more.

Erasa came, though, and Gohan observed her carefully, wondering what on earth Videl meant, and how Erasa had anything to do with the two of them.

She really was a nice girl. She was lively and helpful; she didn't just stand by and watch him work about, she actually gave him a hand whenever she hung out with him in the library. She was a great friend, and Gohan could see why she meant so much to Videl.

She seemed especially bubbly and excited today, and soon enough he learned why.

"Videl's got a date! I, like, can't believe it myself! My little tomboy got herself a date, I'm so proud!"

His world shattered in an instant. He was in a tornado, a blizzard, a tsunami of unbearable pain, and he could not hear a thing that Erasa said after that. He felt like dying. He felt miserable and empty. He could barely keep standing and had to grab onto the shelf of a bookcase so he didn't give out and fall to the floor.

"Gohan, are you all right?" asked Erasa, concern filling her eyes. They were blue, he noticed for the first time, but a different shade than Videl's.

"I…" He swallowed. His shoulders slumped. "So Videl's trying to move on, huh…"

Erasa gave him a confused look, tilting her head to the side. "Move on… what do you mean? Move on from what?"

Gohan stood straighter and ran a trembling hand through his hair, a sad, defeated smile on his lips. "I guess she hasn't told you about what happened… That's surprising. You two are so close, I was sure she told you everything."

Something he didn't understand flashed across Erasa's eyes. Something that looked like… alarm.

Huh. How odd.

"What… do you mean? Wha… What happened?"

Her voice sounded distressed too. What was going on…?

"Well…" he went on nonetheless, but then a blush formed on his cheeks at the thought of telling his friend about what happened between him and Videl. "I kinda… Well, I… fell for Videl. Like a ton of bricks. But Videl rejected me. I wish I knew why… Because I'm pretty sure she shares my feelings, but there's something holding her back."

x

Yes, indeed, something was holding Videl back. Not something, someone: Erasa herself.

"And I guess she's trying to move on with that other guy…" Gohan went on, not noticing her inner turmoil as he was staring off in the distance in thoughts. He let out a dejected sigh. "Man, this hurts like the worst punch in the gut… But I can't blame her for trying to forget about me." He swallowed and actually looked like he was close to tears. "I just… I wish I knew why she rejected me." He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, his voice lowering to a barely audible whisper. "I wish I wasn't so deeply in love with her… It just hurts so much."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Gohan was even more taken with Videl than she ever would have imagined. And to think, Videl actually had to reject him even though she was so obviously crazy about him. And now she was even trying to forget about him with Reece…

All for her, her undeserving best friend.

Erasa suddenly collapsed, right there and then, onto the floor. Gohan stared at her with wide eyes.

"Erasa? Are you okay? Do you need me to take you to the nurse office?"

But she couldn't hear him. She felt crushed – crushed by her guilt. She couldn't believe how terrible she'd been to Videl, who had all but sacrificed her very first love for her sake. And to Gohan, whom she was supposed to be in love with, yet was suffering so much because of her.

"This is all my fault…"

She was the worst. And she'd actually been happy with the recent turn of events, thinking, hoping that maybe Gohan would finally look at her now that Videl was out of the picture. To think, she had all but cheerfully told the "good news" to Gohan, even though she knew that she would be hurting him deeply.

As if someone as pure and inherently good as Gohan would ever like someone as despicable as her. It was no wonder that he fell for Videl, who was righteous and honest. It was no wonder that he never developed any kind of romantic feelings for her.

She was unworthy of him. Unworthy of Videl's friendship, let alone of her loyalty.

"Your fault…? What do you mean, your fault?"

x

How could it be Erasa's fault? Yes, Videl did say that her rejecting him had something to do with her best friend, but…

Gohan was drawing a complete blank. What on earth could it all mean?

"I'm sorry, Gohan, I don't feel so good… I think I'll just go home…"

He frowned deeply as he watched the girl leave, concerned about her well-being as well as completely lost as to her involvement in his situation with Videl.

x

She really was the worst. Here was the perfect opportunity to tell Gohan everything, to admit her feelings for him, to explain to him she was the reason Videl had rejected him, to tell him that Videl most definitely felt the same way about him and that he had to go and fight for her, that he couldn't give up on her, that they were made for each other, and she was just a nuisance that was getting in their way.

And yet, she couldn't say anything. She couldn't give him the push he needed to be happy with the girl he loved.

She was the worst. She hated her mere existence on the earth. She didn't deserve anything good. She was just the worst of the worst.

Gohan and Videl would've been better off if they hadn't known her at all.

ooOoo

Friday night. Videl wasn't training at her gym like every day of the week. She was actually getting ready for her very first date with a boy.

A boy who wasn't Gohan.

Shaking her head swiftly, she let out a sigh, and looked at her reflection once more. She was wearing dark skinny jeans and a red, somewhat loose t-shirt that reached down her hips and slid off her left shoulder, showing the thick strap of a black, tight tank top underneath. Her hair was pulled down to her right side in a braid, and as a final touch to her outfit, she was wearing some jewelry: a pair of pearl earrings and a few bracelets on her wrists. She even wore a little bit of makeup, though only a bit of lip gloss and mascara, unwilling to put on herself more than necessary. All in all, she thought she looked quite nice indeed, for her date with Reece.

Videl was a little perplexed, though, that Erasa hadn't come over to help her get ready, but she figured she had done pretty well on her own and wasn't unhappy with the final results, not at all.

She quickly snatched a black purse and walked out of her room, crossing the giant house to get to the front door. Not in a mood to see her father freak out once he realized her plans for tonight, she wisely decided to wait for her date outside, passing through the gates.

She looked at her watch anxiously and refrained herself from pacing along the sidewalk; lest Reece arrived and saw what a nervous wreck she was.

In a matter of minutes, his motorbike pulled up on the driveway. He took off his helmet and ruffled his chestnut hair, flashing her a charming grin. He held out his hand to her, and Videl smiled as she took it, hoping she didn't look ridiculous. He brought her hand to him and brushed his lips on her palm. Videl forced herself not to frown.

The contact felt like… nothing. When she thought about how the simplest touch from Gohan could make electricity course through her whole being… She willed those thoughts away and forced herself to keep smiling at Reece.

She just needed to give him time. She was still not over Gohan, so it was only natural that it wasn't all explosions and fireworks with Reece already. She just needed to give them the time to bond.

She put on the spare helmet he gave her and got on the bike behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

He was much thinner than Gohan, she mused, and not nearly as well-toned, either. Of course, Gohan was toned in such a perfect way, he even surpassed the Greek gods themselves – he was a category of his own, and she had yet to see a body as masculine and gorgeous as his. And she grew up in a gym full of topless fighters.

Once again willing her thoughts to stay away from Gohan, she tightened her arms around Reece as he started the engine, and they were off.

Hopefully, it was going to be a wonderful first date. One that would be able to take her mind off of Gohan, once and for all.

At least, if anything, she would get a free meal out of it.

January 17, 2021