Day Two

No Less Than Perfect

As he read his very first report card, Gohan had a content smile on his face. As expected, he had received perfect grades in all of his classes.

That is, until he reached the line for his PE score, and the boy blanched.

Right there, mocking him among all the one hundred percent scores for every other subject, a shameful eighty-nine percent was staring back at him smugly, ruining the homogeneity of the report card.

"What's wrong, Brains?" Sharpner asked from three seats away, his tone mocking. "You got a ninety-nine instead of a hundred somewhere?"

His hands trembled as he held the shameful report card. "W… Worse…"

"Seriously?" Erasa leaned closer to have a look at his report card, but Gohan slammed it backward on the table before she could read it.

Videl leaned forward to look at him over Erasa. "It's in PE, isn't it?" she guessed correctly. "You've been doing well enough but you mess up from time to time; that must be why you didn't get a perfect score for it."

Gohan hung his head in shame. "Y… Yes…"

He had been messing up on purpose, trying not to stand out too much with his athletic capabilities, but that just backfired at him. It was only PE, but the lower grade affected his average score for all of his classes.

He frowned in determination, his hand tightening around the report card and crumpling it. "I guess I'll just have to be better in PE," he decided.

"That's nice and all…" Erasa said with an awkward smile. "But you do know your parents gotta sign that, right?"

From that day on, Gohan made sure he excelled in every class, especially in PE. He would no longer purposely make a blunder. His pride wouldn't let him get anything less than perfect as a grade, even if it wasn't an academic subject.

Today they were doing martial arts. They had brought tatamis outside for the class. Gohan glanced to the side where Videl stood. That girl seemed to suspect he was the Great Saiyaman, and him "not knowing how to fight" was one of the only things he had to disprove her theory. If he showed that he was actually a martial arts expert, Videl would surely get even more persistent into making him admit he was the superhero.

But he couldn't mess up on purpose, either. Things had been going well, as planned, since he started taking PE seriously, and he had been proud to show his mother his report cards with perfect grades in every subject.

But if he excelled today… would Videl figure out who he was? That girl was too cunning for her own good. Everyone else didn't think twice about him and his recent athletic prowess, even when he sometimes didn't control his strength as well as he should when handling any kind of ball during a sports game. His classmates just shrugged it off, but not Videl. Her sharp eye would be observing him with more intensity, and her suspicion about him no doubt increased every time.

Videl was helping the teacher today, since she was a martial arts expert. Mr. Mercury told them to get in pairs while he and Videl showed them some moves.

"Actually, I think it'd be better if I paired up with one of my classmates, a novice to martial arts," Videl said, a calculating glint shining in her eyes. "You know, to show them how to do the moves properly."

For some reason, Gohan was getting nervous. He swallowed in dread.

The teacher gave her the go ahead, and as he feared, Videl's cunning eyes turned right at him. "Gohan, you said you don't know martial arts, right? Don't worry, I'll teach you. Come on." She coaxed him with her hand.

The boy sighed in resignation, slumping his shoulders. He dragged his feet as he passed through his classmates to get to Videl.

"Alright, everyone, let's start with the basics. Mirror me: get in a fighting stance."

With that, she dropped in her stance. Gohan just stood there, not knowing what he should do. He glanced at his classmates, who were all trying to copy Videl's stance, some doing better than others.

"Gohan, do it too," Videl reminded him. She was smirking. "Surely you can copy such a simple stance, right?"

He pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes. That girl had him, and she knew it. If he didn't want to get a lower grade he had to perform well, but if he did Videl would be one step closer to proving he was, in fact, the Great Saiyaman. He wasn't even supposed to know how to fight, and now he was facing none other than Mr. Satan's daughter. Not only Videl, but everyone would start suspecting him if he showed even an ounce of his fighting skills.

Mr. Satan… And idea started forming in his head as he thought of the man who was present at the Cell Games. Didn't he pretend he had slipped when he lost to Cell and intended to fight him again after the golden-haired man had his shot? But when he saw how monstrously strong Cell and his father were, Mr. Satan… pretended to get a stomach ache to get out of fighting again, didn't he?

Heh. Might as well try it. I've got nothing to lose at this point.

Gohan suddenly bend over and held his stomach, complaining loudly that it hurt so much he could barely move.

"How convenient," Videl muttered, clearly not convinced.

But the teacher seemed to believe him and told him to go to the nurse office.

"I'll go with him," Videl volunteered, but the Mr. Mercury reminded her that she agreed to help him with the class today. "Um, how about you guys stretch while I bring Gohan to the nurse office?" she offered. "I won't be long."

Without waiting for the teacher's approval, Videl came up to Gohan and put her hand on his back to lead him inside the school building.

The boys cursed in his head. Great. Just great. Why couldn't things go his way just once? Why was high school so complicated? He missed his homeschooling days when he didn't have to worry about doing well in PE because there was no PE class. Well, he did enjoy going to school and having friends his age, not to mention being a super cool superhero and all, but life was just so much simpler before he started high school.

He kept with the charade and pretended to be in pain while Videl took him to the nurse office. But once they got there, the nurse was nowhere to be found.

Gohan went to one of the beds and lay down, still holding his stomach and fake whimpering in pain. Videl rolled her eyes at him.

"Cut the crap, Gohan, you and I both know you feel just fine."

But the boy wasn't ready to blow his cover. Just because Videl could see through his charade didn't mean he had to confirm her claim.

"No, I'm in a lot of pain, Videl…" he said in a groan.

She crossed her arms, observed him with narrowed eyes. "What's the pain like, then? Describe it to me."

Gohan whimpered in response, pretending that it was too painful to talk. Videl sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. She frowned as she watched his face more closely.

"You're sweating…" she murmured, maybe finally starting to think he might not be lying, even if he was.

She reached over and touched his forehead, no doubt to check if he had a fever. But Gohan was one step ahead of her. He'd been raising his ki to increase his body temperature, which was also how he'd made himself sweat when nothing was wrong with him.

"You're burning up." She bit her lip, her eyes ridden with guilt. "I'm sorry I doubted you, Gohan. You must be in a lot of pain."

He simply nodded and kept whimpering. Videl stood and started opening drawers and cabinets, no doubt looking for some medicine to help with his "fever" and his "stomachache". Gohan figured taking something even though he was fine wouldn't do him any harm. His fast metabolism would process it and get rid of it quickly enough.

She came back and helped him sit up, before telling him to open his mouth. He obliged, and she put two tabs in his mouth; Gohan blushed when her fingers brushed his lips.

Videl brought a glass of water to him and helped him drink to swallow the medicine, then she helped him lie back on the bed and pulled the cover on him. Gohan watched her worried expression as she put a cold, wet cloth on his forehead, and he felt bad for lying to her. It was sweet of her to take care of him like this, though. Was she doing this for him because she felt guilty that she didn't believe him at first?

"The medicine should take effect in about half an hour," Videl said, sitting back on the edge of the bed.

Gohan nodded his head. "You should… go back," he uttered, making it seem like he had to force the words out.

Videl's frown deepened. "The nurse's not here. I can't leave you alone in the state you're in. I'm sure the teacher will figure something out for the class."

Gohan supposed he would have to keep wincing in pain for the next half an hour, then… At least Videl believed him now.

He'd never seen this side of Videl, and it was kinda nice, how she was taking care of him. He still felt bad for lying to her, but in the situation he had been in, he had no other choice. Hopefully, Videl would stop suspecting him after this.

I'm thinking of writing the continuation of this as tomorrow's entry. We'll see how things turn out.

The themes today are High School Life and Secret. I wasn't very inspired and made a couple tries before writing this, and I'm not all that happy with it either, but it's the best I could come up with. Hope you liked it anyway. See you tomorrow. :)

April 9, 2021