Author's Note – OMG, soooo sorry! I haven't posted, in, well, a long time. I have had such terrible writer's block…ugh. But, Booyah! Here it is! Finally, Chapter 10 is up! Hehe, nothing really dangerous yet, but you gotta know it's getting there! ;) Sorry to keep you waiting so long for this chapter, but I won't any longer, so, enjoy!
Chapter 10 – Our Kind of Chemistry
"And so I said, I think the pink is probably better." Erassa continued as Zoa sat staring blankly at her. She really wasn't sure what they were talking about anymore, but she just kept smiling and nodding, and Erassa didn't seem to notice. Zoa frowned and lazily looked up as Videl slammed her books down on her desk as she often did on the other side of Erassa. Sharpner opened and eye from his sleep to peer at her as she did so.
"What's your problem?" He inquired, adding sarcastically, "Besides being your usual self." Videl shot him an angry glare and slumped down in her chair.
"Nothing. I just got up too early, okay?" Zoa let out a small chuckle at this comment. "I heard that…" She muttered to herself as she played with a pencil, twirling it around in her fingers. Erassa looked over at her quizzically as she said this. Zoa noticed her concern and shrugged her shoulders, putting her pencil down. "Oh, it's nothing, I just got up a little too early myself." She explained, yawning for extra effect. Erassa nodded her understanding, and looked up suddenly. "I see. Oh! Good morning Gohan!" Zoa froze in her seat as she heard Gohan take his place beside her.
"Hey Erassa. Hey guys." Zoa frowned, blinking as some sweat started to roll down her face. She slowly turned around, smiling shakily. "Um, h-hi." She managed as she turned to see him. He looked over at her and nodded, opening his books and immediately beginning to do some work. The rest of that class went pretty much the same way, the most exciting conversation being when Erassa and Videl started talking about some half-price shoe sale that was to take place that weekend. The whole time, Gohan didn't say a word. Zoa frowned, watching the clock intently as the teacher rambled on about something or other, and finally decided to break the ice when they were getting their books out of their lockers for second period.
"So, Chem next. Exciting hey?" She asked idly, grabbing her textbook and binder. Gohan unzipped his book bag and started digging around in it.
"Yeah."
Zoa rolled her eyes. Some progress. Suddenly she became extremely mad at herself for being so shy. I've known this guy since I was 5 and he was 6. Why can't I talk to him? As Gohan grabbed his books, Zoa pushed out a hand and shut his locker door.
"Look, enough of this. We have to talk." Gohan raised an eyebrow, looking down at his pencil case.
"Fine. What do you want to talk about?"
Zoa let out a tired breath. "Look, you know what I want to talk about. Gohan, you're my best friend. Please say you're not going to stop talking to me cause I'm an idiot…" Gohan frowned as she said this.
"You're not an idiot Zoa." Zoa leaned over, placing her head against her locker. "Well, I could have knocked." Gohan shrugged. "I guess I could have closed the door properly." Suddenly, the warning bell signaled for class to start soon. Zoa turned quickly at the sound than turned back to Gohan, a worried look plastered over her face.
"Look, I'm really sorry about everything, I didn't mean to embarrass you or anything. I hope you can forgive me." Gohan smiled slightly, tilting his head to one side. "Well, it was a really unexpected incident, but, well, I'm not mad at you for it. Just a little, um, what's a good term? Well, either way, you're not acting any differently, so why should I?" Zoa smiled as he said this, and suddenly lunged forward and grabbed him in a hug. "Thanks Gohan."
Gohan laughed nervously, hugging her back. "Um, but we'd better get to class now, or we'll be late!" Zoa nodded, releasing her grip on him and gesturing towards the classroom. "Yeah, let's go!"
"And that's a rather interesting fact, don't you think? Salt and Vinegar chips contain no actual 'salt' in the sense of referring to table salt, NaCl. And no vinegar either. The flavoring is actually composed of the ionic compound sodium acetate, NaCH3COO." Zoa scribbled down some notes as the teacher continued the lecture, still thinking this was rather irrelevant to anything, but deciding it would probably be on the test. Finishing, she turned to Gohan curiously.
"So, did you just come straight to class this morning?" She inquired nonchalantly, making sure no one would understand what she meant if they overheard. Gohan looked up from his book and nodded. "Yeah. I didn't have any interruptions." He explained, but looked down suddenly as he happened to notice something. Two guys in the row ahead of them were having a rather interesting conversation.
"Yeah, so there's this new superhero in the city. Yeah, I heard he just showed up last night. They say his outfit is kinda funny, but he's super strong. They call him The Great Singing man." Gohan frowned and leaned down towards them.
"The Great SAIYAMAN! Not 'Singing Man!'" He declared, much to their surprise. Zoa's eyes widened as she realized what this could lead to.
"Oh." One of the guys answered, "And how would you know that Gohan?" Gohan sat back in his chair, his mind racing. "Uh, because I know someone who was there!" He explained in as convincing a voice as possible. Suddenly, a strange beeping noise started sounding from somewhere near Videl.
"Yes. Yes it's me captain. A school bus? Right. Well, we'll show them. I'll be right there." With that, Videl leapt out of her seat, running towards the door. "Can I be excused? Thank you." She asked, without even giving the teacher a chance to respond. Gohan and Zoa watched the scene, both wondering what the hell it was all about.
"Hey, what's up with that? How come she just took off so fast?" Gohan asked Erassa as the students continued their work, hardly even looking up from what they were doing.
"Oh, she's off to fight crime. She works with the police, always protecting the city from bad guys. I mean, after all, she is the daughter of the strongest man in the world!" Erassa explained matter-of-factly. Zoa rolled her eyes. That was a laugh… Gohan shook his head. "So you mean she goes out there and fights them herself?" Erassa nodded.
"Yeah. Must be fun to go out on all of those adventures all the time." Gohan still couldn't get this. "But isn't that a little dangerous?"
"Don't worry about it Brains." Sharpner interrupted, actually awake for once. "Videl's even stronger than me. She can handle herself." "That's right!" Erassa added, "And she's almost as strong as her father!" Gohan and Zoa turned to each other with skeptical looks. They were more worried about her being as WEAK as her father…
"So anyway," Erassa began, changing the subject, "Let's talk about something else. Hey, since it's Friday and all, we should do something fun tonight! Would you guys be interested in coming to a movie maybe?" She inquired, but Gohan and Zoa weren't really paying attention. Gohan looked up, and started waving his hand in the air.
"Yes Gohan?" The teacher inquired as she noticed him.
"Can I go to the bathroom?" Gohan asked somewhat hurriedly. "Alright-" the teacher began, but before she could have even decided to change her mind, Gohan was out the door. Zoa frowned as she watched him take off and disappear out of sight.
"Boy, he sure was in a hurry." Erassa pondered. Sharpner laughed. "Well, when you gotta go, you gotta go I guess." Zoa sat quietly for a few minutes, then also raised her hand.
"Excuse me, but I'm REALLY thirsty. May I go get a drink?" The teacher frowned, becoming a little suspicious as the number of students suddenly wanting to leave class began to increase. "Yes you may." "Thank you!" Zoa exclaimed, hurrying casually down and into the hallway.
Erassa sat with a puzzled expression, turning to Sharpner and declaring. "Three people in our row! I hope nothing happens that makes me have to leave class…"
Zoa looked around the hallway carefully and then quickly snuck up a flight of stairs. She reached the door to the roof as she got to the top and snuck out it, closing it gently so as not to make noise. She raised her hand and pulled back the gemstone on her ring, revealing a small button inside underneath the clasp. She quickly pushed it, and became adorned in a rather tight fitting black dress with neon green trim and high slits up the sides. She also wore long white gloves and white boots, and a helmet similar to Gohan's except slightly V shaped and also neon green. She grinned as she adjusted the gloves. Yes, Bulma had done an awesome job on her disguise, that was for sure.
Oh no, she thought abruptly, if people see Gohan and I together as superheroes, they might realize something and start getting suspicious of our true identities… Wait, I know something that might work! Zoa smiled, powering up and going Super Saiyan. Then, letting her golden aura disappear, her hair, which was pulled out the back of her helmet in a ponytail, remained looking not quite so bright, and since no one had seen her power up, she would hopefully be able to pass simply as being blonde. And that way, people wouldn't recognize her as being one of the mysterious 'Gold Fighters', as how everyone in Orange Star always referred to the Saiyans (especially Gohan and Goku, since they seemed to be the most 'famous' of the Z Fighters around the city since they fought the most to save the planet), who were super strong and had appeared at the Cell games. Of course her hair was a little spiky, jutting out of her ponytail, but hey, with all people could do with gel these days, no one would notice, right?
Zoa leapt off the roof top and hovered around, feeling for Gohan's Ki. Once she sensed it, she took off as quickly as she could in his direction. She was pretty sure she had heard Videl say something about a school bus. Zoa frowned. She hoped that no one would get seriously hurt, especially if there might have been little kids involved… She increased her speed and adjusted her helmet visor. She wasn't sure exactly what was going to happen, but it was sure to be very interesting…