Disclaimer-I don't own anything that has to do with DBZ.
The teacher just has to announce us to the entire class.
"Class I'd like you to meet Gohan, Trunks, and Lauren—"
"Jax." I interrupt.
"Huh?" he looks startled.
"I prefer to be called Jax."
He looks at me oddly. "Alright, Jax." I can feel the stares of the class. I just cross my arms and impassively look them over. First impression: Few brains up front and as you get further back you have your jocks and populars and then your outcasts. Did I call it or what?
The teacher is still speaking. "These three scored very high on their entrance exams, almost perfect."
You get the sense of eyes rolling from the entire class. "Just great, nerd boys," someone whispers. "Uh, one of them's a girl," someone replies. "I know that!" The first snaps. I try not to smile, dumb jock and his even dumber crony.
"Now how about you find seats." We head up an aisle. A girl with blonde hair waves at us.
"Hey, guys, there's room for you over hear." We move to sit there.
Gohan is forced to sit between the blonde and an angry brunette. Ha, bubbly blonde and attitudinal brunette. Trunks sits next to the blonde and I sit next to him. Next to the brunette is a pretty boy with long blonde locks wearing a tight tank that shows off his muscular build, don't get me wrong, I like muscles but I hate showoffs. Gohan and Trunks aren't showing off their strength, in fact it looks like they are trying to hide it.
The blonde is rambling on in her bubbly way. They macho man is posturing and Miss Attitude is glaring. This is just too funny. I find my stereotype populars right here. Teeheehee. I never twitter out loud, only in my head. Gohan looks nervous, it seems he's not used to such attention. He even makes a false laugh. Trunks ignores them and stares forward, although his gaze occasionally drifts to the side. He looks slightly annoyed and a little amused. The blonde tries talking at him but is ignored so thoroughly that she turns her attention back to Gohan.
First impression time. Miss Blonde, or Erasa I think she said her name was. Lets see, short blonde curly hair, bright blue eyes, a load of makeup, bright green tube top, and skin tight jeans. Bubbly air headed chick that either is a slut or just likes guys attention. Attention vampire. Mr. Buff, or Sharpner, shoulder length silky blonde hair, tight white tank that showed his muscle tone to the max, and a masculine voice trying to sound superior. Insecure coward trying to overcompensate for something. Likes chicks to like him, likes to intimidate. Which he was trying to do right now with Gohan and Trunks. Gohan played along, Trunks just ignored him although I caught a slight smirk.
Now for Miss Attitude. Long black hair pulled into two pigtails that hang in the front. Baggy t-shirt with equally baggy tank over it. And skin tight shorts. Local tough girl, who refuses to fall into stereotype of girl. Doesn't take crap from anyone and is very suspicious of unknowns. She just might be worth getting to know, at least she doesn't look as stupid as her companions but I could be wrong.
The class is boring. Like I said it would be. I study everybody and assign them to categories. That takes up about ten minutes. The class is 50 minutes long. I amuse myself with occasional glances at Trunks. But that's too dangerous so I start doodling and scribbling random junk in my notebook.
This is the case in most of my classes. And in most of my classes is Trunks and Gohan. I mean we did all get near perfect scores on our entrance exams. Of course, I had a translator to help me take the test.
~~
Lunchtime. My favorite class. We get to leave campus to eat. We have a full 45 minutes to eat so I can't go home. I stand out front of the school thinking and waiting for someone to come ask me what I'm doing.
"Hey, Jax." Bingo. It works every time.
I turn to face Gohan. "Yeah, Gohan?"
"Um, since you're new and all we thought you might like to eat with us."
I smile at him. "Sure, why not."
"Good, now let's get out of here before that blonde and her friends arrive," Trunks mumbles. I smirk. Oh, the troubles of being attractive. I'm never troubled by arduous men, they think I'm too weird. Just the way I like it.
They take me a short distance to a small park. We sit under a large tree and reach for our lunches. I take out of my bag chips, cookies, an orange, a cereal bar, a packet of fruit snacks, and water. It's not the healthiest or most well rounded meal but it tastes good and stops the hunger pains.
I watch as my two companions take out two small capsules. Ok, that can't possibly be their entire meal. They throw the capsules to the ground which erupt into clouds of smoke, when the smoke clears it reveals a picnic of feast-like proportions. I look from the food to them. My eyebrow raises. I've heard of these capsules before but had just never witnessed them. But the amount of food was just short of incredible.
"Uh, you guys must have very fast, uh," I hate Japanese. I hadn't learned the word for metabolism yet. "food systems." I finish lamely.
They both look up. Gohan has a quizzical look on his face. Trunks has a half smile. "I think you mean metabolism," he says.
"Yeah, what you said."
I watch them eat silently. I realize that Gohan actually has a lot more food than Trunks, and he's also shovels the food in at a more rapid pace. Although, not by much. I eat my food slowly. I have a method to it. Cereal bar first, sip of water, chips, sip of water, orange, sip of water, cookies, sip of water, fruit snacks, and the rest of my water. I look up and notice Trunks staring at me.
"What?"
"You have a system of eating."
"Yeah, so."
"Nothing. I just found it interesting."
He continues eating. I pack up my trash.
"Is there a reason behind your method?"
I look at him again. He doesn't seem to be laughing at me. "Well, I take a sip of water after each food because otherwise I would forget to drink anything until the end and then I'd be forced to drink it all at once which I don't like doing so usually waste the water. Although I don't throw it away I just forget it in my bag and it tends to get stale."
"Water gets stale?"
"Why else do you think there are expiration dates on bottles of water?"
He cocks his head. "Never thought of that. So how do you decide the rest of the ritual?"
"The cereal bar can be eaten as a meal so it's the main course and eaten first. The chips accompany a main course so come second. The orange, cookies, and fruit snacks are dessert so they come last. In that order because I don't want two unhealthy foods, the chips and cookies, one after another. I consider fruit snacks neutral in nutrition."
He nods. Accepting my logic if not understanding it.
The boys finish and we head back to school.
~~
My next class is art, an elective. Gohan and Trunks didn't choose the same elective as me. They chose shop, such typical males. So much for being different. Art is the first non-boring class. I don't need to know what the teacher is saying to understand him. And I get graded on my doodling.
The art teacher is young. The young ones are the best, they have yet to be jaded. He is straight out of art school. His hair is long, his clothing is black with the dress code tie a riot of colors and shapes. First impression: he loves art. Loves to make it. Loves to look at it. Loves to study it. Loves to teach it. He won't teach rigid techniques, he'll let us feel out our art. He's unique to this school.
We hit it off well. I show him a few of my sketches, he shows me a few of his. Some would say I have become the teachers pet but in actuality we are two artists comparing notes. The other students don't particularly like this arrangement. Most of them are just taking this class for a credit, a few are here for the art. But instead of discussing art with the teacher when he gives them free time towards the end they turn to their friends. I guess if I had friends I would too. Hmm, nope, I wouldn't. I like getting comments on my art too much. I'd show my art to any friends I had along with the teacher. The best critiquers of art are artists themselves.
So as I make my way to the last class of the day my spirits are much higher than they were earlier. My last class is gym. Trunks and Gohan will be in it.
In the changing room we are handed a pair of shorts and a tee-shirt. I look at the white shirt with its orange lettering and the black shorts. I hate uniforms. Before I put on the uniform I pull on a yellow long sleeve shirt and dark purple wind pants I had brought for this occasion. I then put the uniform on over them.
The teacher glares at me when I come out of the changing room, but he can't say anything because I am wearing the required clothing. I sit down next to Trunks and Gohan. They both study my appearance and grin. Trunks' smile is barely discernable. I look them up and down. I'm starting to like these uniforms. Their muscles show in full force. Their limbs are twice the circumference of mine and ripple with every movement. Gohan blushes at my regard.
"Gohan! Trunks!" A high-pitched squeal interrupts my perusal. I turn and see Erasa and Videl walking towards us.
Trunks sighs. Gohan looks panicky. I barely stop myself from laughing.
"Hi, Erasa, Videl." I say.
Erasa looks at me puzzled then her eyes brighten again in recognition. "Oh, your that new girl."
I sigh. "Yeah, that's me."
Videl ignores our exchange and sits next to Gohan. She looks at him suspiciously. "So, where were you for lunch? We were looking for you."
"Oh," Gohan's voice is high and nervous, "we just went to the local park to eat."
I lean close to Trunks. "Doesn't get out much, does he?" I murmur into his ear.
He glances at me and smirks. "That's an understatement."
I lean back as the teacher starts his spiel. We're going to be learning about softball. I don't like softball, or baseball. They're too slow for me. And not enough contact. My sports are American football, ice hockey, lacrosse, maybe a little non-American football, oh, and I can't forget rugby.
Out on the field Gohan and Trunks look a little hesitant.
"Something wrong guys?" I ask.
"Uh, well, I've never actually played softball before," Gohan says.
Trunks mumbles, "Me neither."
I hear a snicker. I turn to find it came from Sharpner. "This should be fun," he says.
Gym goes okay until Sharpner hits a high ball into the outfield, instant homerun, no way anyone's going to catch it. But someone does. Gohan. He leaps ten feet into the air, hovers for a second, and pegs the ball to the second baseman who falls over from the force of the throw.
Everyone stands, mouths agape. I'm the first one to shake it off. I run to where Gohan landed, perfectly balanced. Trunks stands in front of him glaring. I look between the two as I come to a stop.
"Um, guys, one question. Are you trying to impress everyone with your superhuman abilities?"
Gohan looks sheepish. Trunks scowls.
"We are supposed to be keeping a low profile," Trunks says, still glaring and scowling at Gohan.
"S . . Sorry. Heh heh. I guess I don't know my own strength."
"Well, here's a few tips," I start, "One, even the most athletic of us normal humans can only jump three feet, max. Not ten. Two, we can't hover in the air. As soon as we reach maximum height we're dropping again. And three, lob the ball. Your going to break something, like a hand!"
Gohan just nods.
"I wish he would have know that before he blew our anonymity." Trunks is still scowling.
"Ah, don't worry about it. These guys," I point to the still gaping students and teacher, "will forget all this by tomorrow."
Trunks snorts. "What makes you think that?"
"When confronted with the unbelievable people tend to push it to the back of their minds forgetting it completely or turning it into a dream. It is impossible so therefore it didn't really occur. Just don't do it too often because then they'll have to believe their senses."
"What's your excuse?"
"I believe that anything is possible."
I leave them and run over to the teacher.
"Hey, teacher. Isn't it time for us to go back in?"
He jerks and looks down at me. He blinks a few times then slowly nods.
"Time to hit the showers!" he bellows.
The students shake out of their daze and hurriedly head to the changing rooms.
Trunks and Gohan look relieved as they pass me. Gohan even gives me a grateful smile.