An Angel's Tears
Part 4: "Learning More than School Work"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lunch was over and Marron was washing the plates while Bra patted her stomach, satisfied. Marron
smiled when she saw Bra burp loudly.

"Good?" she asked.

"YEAH!" Bra shouted, beaming. "You should stay here and cook more often!"

"Bra, the only way I could do that is---" Marron stopped there, then turned back to the dishes.

"Marron?" Bra called. "Marron, are you okay?"

"Yeah, of course I am! Why wouldn't I be?"

"You were awfully quiet when we ate."

"Um, well, there wasn't much to talk about."

"But---"

"Bra, can we just leave it there? Please?" Marron asked weakly.

"Ok."

Bra went to the living room and crossed her arms over her chest. Marron was very upset when she
had learned the truth...was it that Marron was truly in love with Trunks? For now, all Bra could
do was guess.

~~~~~

"That was an excellent lunch, Trunks!" Katie said to Trunks after their lucheon.

"Well, the best, I guess." Trunks said, blushing very red.

"You should've let me pay." Katie said quietly.

"No, it's ok, I'm the boss right?"

"Hmm."

They stopped there, and waited for the limo to come.

"Damn driver," Trunks grunted. "He's always late."

"Oh well." Katie said, turning to Trunks. "Thanks for making my lunch exciting."

"Yeah. You're welcome."

Trunks and Katie looked into each other's eyes and leaned closer and closer to each other. Their
lips met at last, and it was probably the longest kiss to break the record. Both of them had
their arms around each other, kissing passionately.

Suddenly, a horn honked loudly. Trunks looked and saw the limo in front of them. He was blushing
furiously now as he opened the door for his escort. She didn't blush at all. In fact the look
on her face was...triumphant. How very strange...


4 MONTHS LATER...
~~~~~~~~

School had started again for Bra, and things couldn't get worse. The generator at the Briefs
household had been overloaded because of Vegeta's over-use of the Gravity Room. That
wasn't a problem rebuilding, but Vegeta had knocked the Gravity Room into pieces of rubble
and making Bulma fix it AND the generator at the same time. Bulma was working around-the-clock
to get it fixed, and Trunks was rarely seen at home. Either was Marron. She had got a promotion as
"Executive Budget Manager" altough Bra didn't have the slightest clue what the difference of that was
from her old job.

Bra yawned as the math teacher was giving yet another boring lesson. She began doodling absentmindely
when a sharp voice cracked at her like a whip.

"Miss Briefs!" said the teacher, Mr. Taylor. "Are you paying attention?"

"Uh---yes, Mr. Taylor, why wouldn't I be?" Bra answered weakly.

"Really?" said Mr. Taylor suspicously. "What would you get then, if you added B to A multiplied by
c/d if b was 67 cubic feet?"

"Um---" Bra stammered. "Um---"

"No 'ums'! I'm disappointed. I expect your whole workbook completed tonight."

"But we just started on the workbook!"

"Maybe that'll teach you to draw in my class!"

With that, the bell rang and the class started filing out. Bra snorted, and angrily started throwing her
books into her backpack. She swung the heavy bag over her back and before leaving, gave the teacher the
deepest look of loathing. The teacher held her back.

"What?" she snapped.

"Well, Miss Briefs. Miss Calihan, the cheerleading choreographer and trainer..."

"What about my favorite teacher?" Bra said in a sweet voice.

"She tells me what a WONDERFUL head cheerleader you've been." Mr. Taylor said.

"So?"

"But, however, Principal Summers says what a poor job you've been doing in all your other classes."

"If you have a point, I'd love to hear it." Bra said harshly.

"Yes, yes, my point is, if you don't get a B on this next test in my class, I'm afraid your
cheerleading days are over."

Bra's mouth fell open. Was she actually hearing this?

"But I---"

"Now, you've better get to your next class!"

Bra grunted angrily and left, before the Mr. Taylor shouted behind her shoulder, "Test is on Friday!"



"So now you've got to ace that test or Taylor's gonna tell Calihan to kick you off the team?" Pan asked
her friend at lunch.

"Yes!" Bra shrieked indignantly. "No cheerleading! Imagine that!"

"Beats being on the C squad." Pan said sadly.

"It's ok, Panny, C squad ain't that bad." said Bra, messing with her lunch.

"Easy for you to say! You're the head cheerleader of the A squad! You shouldn't eat lunch with me.
Go eat with the other A squad cheerleaders."

"Nonsense!" Bra said. "I was on the C squad once too!"

"Yeah, like in the Stone Age."

"Whatever. Anyways, I gotta cram for this test otherwise," Bra put on a man's voice. "I'm afraid
your cheerleading days are over."

Pan snorted with laughter.

"I'd love to help you study, Bra, but I'm getting a D in Taylor's class."

"It's ok, I'll ask Trunks to help me!" Bra said briskly.

"Oh yeah...but he's been over at the office a lot lately, hasn't he?" Pan said, poking at the
baked potatoe on her lunch tray.

"You're right...but who cares about what HE'S been doing?" Bra said angrily.

"Ok, should we go see the guys practice football?" Pan asked brightly.

"Good idea! After that, I can cram."



"And clap! And toe-touch stomp! And----STOP, STOP, STOP!!" Bra shouted at the cheerleaders.

"What is it now, Bra?" Miss Calihan, the cheerleading instructor, asked.

"The leg position is totally wrong!" Bra said.

"Is it? Girls?"

All of the cheerleaders were looking very grumpy indeed, some messaging their feet and arms. Bra
looked at them furiously.

"Miss Calihan, if we don't train harder, we'll never win the championship!"

"That's true, but over-working isn't good either."

"So what now?"

"It IS 5:30, so I think we should pack up and call it a day."

"F-f-f-ive thirty?!" Bra yelled.

"Yes. Is something wrong?"

"Dammit! I'm supposed to be at home studying!"

Bra grabbed her gym bag and jacket and yelled goodbyes as she rushed out the gym door, running
very fast. When she got outside, she took off into the skies and prayed that she wouldn't get a
yelling from Tousan.

~~~~

"Where's Bra, Dad?" Trunks asked, home for the first time.

"How am I supposed to know where the little brat is, boy?!"

Vegeta had been in a very bad mood since the Gravity Room had been broken. He had no place to
train, and had to stay cooped up in the house with 'two brats' and the 'annoying woman'. He now
snorted, stomped up the stairs, and Trunks heard a door slam.

Shrugging, Trunks went back to the paper and his coffee. There was a landing of feet outside and
the door slammed OPEN. Bra, huffing and puffing, came in and started throwing things out of her
backpack, not noticing Trunks at all.

"Hey, sis." Trunks said from behind the paper.

"TRUNKS!" Bra panted. "Nice to see you home, at last."

"Yeah well, work ended early."

"Where's Mom?"

"In the generator control room again."

"Daddy?"

"Upstairs."

"Trunks?" Bra asked uncertainly.

"Right here in front of you."

"No really! Is it ok if you helped me with my homework?"

"I'm busy." Trunks said at once.

"Doing what?"

"I'm busy." Trunks repeated.

"But---"

"I'm busy." Trunks said yet again.

"FINE! I can take a hint!"

But instead of storming out of the room, Bra sat down on the kitchen stool across from Trunks and
started talking.

"So anyway, today in cheerleading, Jan kept arguing with me about the footwork of our newest
routine, which is like so stupid because like I'M like the headcheerleader! So it's like she
thinks she so like great just coz like she's dating like the quarterback of our like football
team---"

"STOP!" Trunks bellowed angrily.

"What is it?" Bra asked innocently.

"Please, don't torture my ears!"

"But like---"

"I'll help you do your homework, alright?"

"Why, thank you so much, my dear brother!" Bra said, smiling like a plastic angel.

"You're welcome. Just promise me you won't say 'like' again for a very long time."

"Ok!"

"So, where should we start?" Trunks asked wearily, putting his coffee down.

"Here. Problem 2."

"How many do you got?"

"386." Bra said briskly, getting a pencil out.

"You know what, I'll do the first 84, and you gotta take the other 300." Trunks said.

"Arggh."

"Take it or leave it!"

"Fine, fine!"

For the next 2 hours the pair of sibs sat at the kitchen table, Trunks explaining problems
and Bra nodding along, not paying attention. She thought of Goten, where he might be now, and
when their next date would be. Would he come to the Cheerleading Championships? Would he be able
to get off work early? Would he---

"BRA!"

"What?" Bra snapped back to reality. "What number are we on?"

"24!" Trunks yelled angrily. "Two hours and all we did was 24!"

"Oh well."

"Listen, Bra, if you don't pay attention, then I can't help you." Trunks threw the pencil down
and got up, grabbing his jacket.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

"Out."

"To where?"

"I don't remember it being your buisness. I'm a grown man and I can go wherever I like."

"Fine. Who cares?"

Bra began going back to the homework when something snapped to her. This was the perfect
oppurtunity.

"Say Trunks..." she began, trying to hide a smirk. "Is Goten coming along?"

"Why?" Trunks snapped.

"Because I want to come along if he is!"

"NO! I'm going on a date with Katie!"

Trunks frozed, aware of what he just did. He turned back to look at Bra, whose eyes were as wide
as plates. Her mouth hung open, and she wasn't blinking. She just started stammering and
pointing absentmindely as Trunks' mind wandered for excuses.

"Uh..."



...end of Part 4!