Hi again!! Well, I have more time off in college than I did in high school!
Of course, I still have to motivate my lazy self to write this, but here it
is: a brand spanking new chapter- and it's a pretty long one!
Many thanks go out to all those who have stuck with this
story. You have great patience and I love you all for it!!
Not mine, don't sue.
Truth in the Lies
Bulma played video games for a few hours after she got home. By the time she had finished Grand Theft Auto it was 7 o'clock and she was feeling pretty hungry. Bunny was at her weekly gardening club meeting and wouldn't be home for a couple of hours, so Bulma was left to her own devices. Luckily she knew the phone numbers of all the best take-out restaurants in town. She'd just settled down with her Chinese when her phone rang.
"Hello?" asked Bulma around a mouthful of noodles.
"Hey, Bulma, is that you? You know it's not well- mannered to talk with your mouth full."
"Why don't you try to teach Goku that, ChiChi? He needs more help that I do." Bulma knew only ChiChi would comment on her manners- or lack thereof- with out even saying hello.
"Oh, believe me, I've already tried and given up. That man is impossible when it comes to food!" The two friends shared a good laugh at Goku's expense, knowing he wouldn't really mind it.
"I know you didn't call just to make fun of Goku. Sweet ChiChi would never do that!"
"Nope, you caught me and my ulterior motive. I've got some juicy gossip to tell."
"C'mon Chi, you know I don't go in for that. It's so stupid that people believe all that crap."
"I'm only telling you so I can get the truth straight from the horse's mouth. I'd never bother you unless this had something to do with you."
"What did I supposedly do now? Lemme guess, the tabloids caught me at the show Saturday and now I'm embroiled in a hotbed of drugs and sex." Normally the tabloids didn't bother Bulma, but if they had nothing else to write about, she was fair game.
"Hm, I'll have to check on that one. Nope, this I heard from our very own high school. Supposedly a blue haired girl was seen Saturday night at a bar with a fellow notorious senior. A certain male student with outrageous black hair and a tan. These same two were seen this afternoon cavorting recklessly beneath the baseball bleachers- with out a baseball game in sight!"
"Oh, please," Bulma snorted. "'Cavorting recklessly' is such an overstatement." ChiChi leapt on like a starving lion.
"Aha! So you were with Mr. Vegeta Baryn this afternoon. Am I to assume that you were together Saturday night as well?" she asked in an arch tone.
"Chi, please, now you're sounding like a tabloid. We're partners in government, that's all. He needed to know what to research so I don't have to do all the work tomorrow after sch-" Bulma stopped abruptly.
"After school? My, my Bulma, I'd thought you'd sworn off boys for good. But you can blame you falling for a sexy martial arts movie man?"
"How'd you know?!"
"Oh, so Vegeta confessed his little secret already? Don't worry, Bulma, I only know because Goku's got some of his movies and is freaking out over being in the same school as 'The Vegeta Baryn.'" Bulma could just tell that ChiChi was doing air quotes to act disgusted. Chi loved Goku too much to ever be mad at him for long.
"Hm, I wonder if Vegeta knows that. From the way he talked it sounded like he though it was still a secret."
"Soooo?"
"So what?," asked a perplexed Bulma.
"You still haven't told me if Saturday night is true. You have to tell Bulma, I'm your best friend!"
"One of them, but yes, you are my friend. Ok, ok, we were in the same bar Saturday night. I went for the punk show, but they had this fight club thing beforehand. I got there just in time to kick some middle-aged dork's ass. He stayed afterwards for the show and we got to talking. That's it, end of story." ::At least that's all that anyone needs to know about.::
"Well.." ChiChi still sounded skeptical.
"Honest truth, Chi. You know I'd tell you first if any thing was going on." ::If I told anyone at all. There are some things no one needs to know about.::
"Okay, Bulma, I believe you."
"Thanks, ChiChi," said a relieved Bulma. "So what have you been up to in the few hours since I left you?" From there the conversation turned to complaints about the enormous loads of homework teachers piled on them and how their parents just didn't understand them. By the time they said their goodbyes it was past 11 o'clock and Bulma could feel herself dozing off. ::Well, it's a good thing Vegeta said I could wait to start my research. Though he'll probably forget he said that and get all mad again. Oh well, I'd better get ready to handle his tantrum.::
* * * *
Across town, Vegeta was also getting ready for bed. He, however was having a little more of a problem than Bulma. ::Agghhh, why can't I get that blasted woman out of my head?? There's no reason I should keep focusing on her..her blue hair, the way her eyes light up when she's mad.MUST STOP THIS!!!!:: Vegeta paced up and down his room, hoping that would distract his mind. ::She'd better have done some research. It's not like she's has anything else more important to do. Well, maybe she hasn't and I can yell at her some more. That will make her angry..::
"Aggggrrrhhhh!!" Vegeta let out a yell as he flopped back onto his bed. It disgusted him that he thought this much about one girl. Finding someone attractive wasn't new to him, but he'd always been able to get what he wanted and leave with no complications. With Bulma, he actually cared what she thought of him- though he had never put it into words, not even in his thoughts.
Right now he desperately needed to get some sleep. Pacing wasn't helping; he'd only get yelled at if he tried to work out this late. Finally, nearing 3 a.m., he fell into bed with his headphones on and Limp Bizkit's "Eat you Alive" blaring in his eardrums.
::That's right. I'm a man and I can think what the hell I want to think,:: was his last coherent thought.
* * *
*
Bulma, on the other hand, fell asleep quickly, but it was not a restful sleep. Her conversation with ChiChi had brought back all the things she'd never told her friends. She always convinced herself that it was better they didn't they know, but she wanted so badly to confide in someone. The closest she'd ever come to blurting out everything was that night she talked with Vegeta.
::Why does it have to be HIM that I want to tell everything to?! But then again, when has my life ever been easy?:: Most people wouldn't believe it, but Bulma had been through many a tough situation in her life. Ever since she'd started school, Bulma had known she would always be different from her peers. Like all school-age children, they had shunned her for being so smart. Over the years it had grown worse, culminating in a failed attempt to integrate herself by playing dumb in junior high. It had given her a few shallow friends, but Bulma had quickly tired of keeping up the show. That was just about the time Yamcha came along.
::And a fat lot of good that did me.:: thought Bulma . ::I can't believe anyone really buys that high school is the best years of your life. I know no one who'd ever suffered through the public school system would ever come up with that crap.:: Like she'd told Vegeta, Yamcha had been a dream come true at first. Things had deteriorated fast, but no one knew how far down they'd gone.
Bulma drifted in and out of a fitful sleep. She was relieved when her alarm rang. Finally, she could escape her dreams. However nightmarish they were, she knew they were true events and that made them more terrifying than anything her imagination could produce. Bulma had tried so hard to forget that time in her life that the dreams were only fragments. They seemed to have happened to a different person, or taken from the plot of a movie seen long ago. Surely the scared little girl running, crying and screaming "NO!!", with the bruises on her arms and the big bad monster chasing after her, that couldn't be Bulma.
She tried to shake the images from her mind with a shower, but they never really left. ::Ah, no one better piss me off today, :: she thought resignedly. :: This is not going to be a good day.::
Truth in the Lies
Bulma played video games for a few hours after she got home. By the time she had finished Grand Theft Auto it was 7 o'clock and she was feeling pretty hungry. Bunny was at her weekly gardening club meeting and wouldn't be home for a couple of hours, so Bulma was left to her own devices. Luckily she knew the phone numbers of all the best take-out restaurants in town. She'd just settled down with her Chinese when her phone rang.
"Hello?" asked Bulma around a mouthful of noodles.
"Hey, Bulma, is that you? You know it's not well- mannered to talk with your mouth full."
"Why don't you try to teach Goku that, ChiChi? He needs more help that I do." Bulma knew only ChiChi would comment on her manners- or lack thereof- with out even saying hello.
"Oh, believe me, I've already tried and given up. That man is impossible when it comes to food!" The two friends shared a good laugh at Goku's expense, knowing he wouldn't really mind it.
"I know you didn't call just to make fun of Goku. Sweet ChiChi would never do that!"
"Nope, you caught me and my ulterior motive. I've got some juicy gossip to tell."
"C'mon Chi, you know I don't go in for that. It's so stupid that people believe all that crap."
"I'm only telling you so I can get the truth straight from the horse's mouth. I'd never bother you unless this had something to do with you."
"What did I supposedly do now? Lemme guess, the tabloids caught me at the show Saturday and now I'm embroiled in a hotbed of drugs and sex." Normally the tabloids didn't bother Bulma, but if they had nothing else to write about, she was fair game.
"Hm, I'll have to check on that one. Nope, this I heard from our very own high school. Supposedly a blue haired girl was seen Saturday night at a bar with a fellow notorious senior. A certain male student with outrageous black hair and a tan. These same two were seen this afternoon cavorting recklessly beneath the baseball bleachers- with out a baseball game in sight!"
"Oh, please," Bulma snorted. "'Cavorting recklessly' is such an overstatement." ChiChi leapt on like a starving lion.
"Aha! So you were with Mr. Vegeta Baryn this afternoon. Am I to assume that you were together Saturday night as well?" she asked in an arch tone.
"Chi, please, now you're sounding like a tabloid. We're partners in government, that's all. He needed to know what to research so I don't have to do all the work tomorrow after sch-" Bulma stopped abruptly.
"After school? My, my Bulma, I'd thought you'd sworn off boys for good. But you can blame you falling for a sexy martial arts movie man?"
"How'd you know?!"
"Oh, so Vegeta confessed his little secret already? Don't worry, Bulma, I only know because Goku's got some of his movies and is freaking out over being in the same school as 'The Vegeta Baryn.'" Bulma could just tell that ChiChi was doing air quotes to act disgusted. Chi loved Goku too much to ever be mad at him for long.
"Hm, I wonder if Vegeta knows that. From the way he talked it sounded like he though it was still a secret."
"Soooo?"
"So what?," asked a perplexed Bulma.
"You still haven't told me if Saturday night is true. You have to tell Bulma, I'm your best friend!"
"One of them, but yes, you are my friend. Ok, ok, we were in the same bar Saturday night. I went for the punk show, but they had this fight club thing beforehand. I got there just in time to kick some middle-aged dork's ass. He stayed afterwards for the show and we got to talking. That's it, end of story." ::At least that's all that anyone needs to know about.::
"Well.." ChiChi still sounded skeptical.
"Honest truth, Chi. You know I'd tell you first if any thing was going on." ::If I told anyone at all. There are some things no one needs to know about.::
"Okay, Bulma, I believe you."
"Thanks, ChiChi," said a relieved Bulma. "So what have you been up to in the few hours since I left you?" From there the conversation turned to complaints about the enormous loads of homework teachers piled on them and how their parents just didn't understand them. By the time they said their goodbyes it was past 11 o'clock and Bulma could feel herself dozing off. ::Well, it's a good thing Vegeta said I could wait to start my research. Though he'll probably forget he said that and get all mad again. Oh well, I'd better get ready to handle his tantrum.::
* * * *
Across town, Vegeta was also getting ready for bed. He, however was having a little more of a problem than Bulma. ::Agghhh, why can't I get that blasted woman out of my head?? There's no reason I should keep focusing on her..her blue hair, the way her eyes light up when she's mad.MUST STOP THIS!!!!:: Vegeta paced up and down his room, hoping that would distract his mind. ::She'd better have done some research. It's not like she's has anything else more important to do. Well, maybe she hasn't and I can yell at her some more. That will make her angry..::
"Aggggrrrhhhh!!" Vegeta let out a yell as he flopped back onto his bed. It disgusted him that he thought this much about one girl. Finding someone attractive wasn't new to him, but he'd always been able to get what he wanted and leave with no complications. With Bulma, he actually cared what she thought of him- though he had never put it into words, not even in his thoughts.
Right now he desperately needed to get some sleep. Pacing wasn't helping; he'd only get yelled at if he tried to work out this late. Finally, nearing 3 a.m., he fell into bed with his headphones on and Limp Bizkit's "Eat you Alive" blaring in his eardrums.
::That's right. I'm a man and I can think what the hell I want to think,:: was his last coherent thought.
* * *
*
Bulma, on the other hand, fell asleep quickly, but it was not a restful sleep. Her conversation with ChiChi had brought back all the things she'd never told her friends. She always convinced herself that it was better they didn't they know, but she wanted so badly to confide in someone. The closest she'd ever come to blurting out everything was that night she talked with Vegeta.
::Why does it have to be HIM that I want to tell everything to?! But then again, when has my life ever been easy?:: Most people wouldn't believe it, but Bulma had been through many a tough situation in her life. Ever since she'd started school, Bulma had known she would always be different from her peers. Like all school-age children, they had shunned her for being so smart. Over the years it had grown worse, culminating in a failed attempt to integrate herself by playing dumb in junior high. It had given her a few shallow friends, but Bulma had quickly tired of keeping up the show. That was just about the time Yamcha came along.
::And a fat lot of good that did me.:: thought Bulma . ::I can't believe anyone really buys that high school is the best years of your life. I know no one who'd ever suffered through the public school system would ever come up with that crap.:: Like she'd told Vegeta, Yamcha had been a dream come true at first. Things had deteriorated fast, but no one knew how far down they'd gone.
Bulma drifted in and out of a fitful sleep. She was relieved when her alarm rang. Finally, she could escape her dreams. However nightmarish they were, she knew they were true events and that made them more terrifying than anything her imagination could produce. Bulma had tried so hard to forget that time in her life that the dreams were only fragments. They seemed to have happened to a different person, or taken from the plot of a movie seen long ago. Surely the scared little girl running, crying and screaming "NO!!", with the bruises on her arms and the big bad monster chasing after her, that couldn't be Bulma.
She tried to shake the images from her mind with a shower, but they never really left. ::Ah, no one better piss me off today, :: she thought resignedly. :: This is not going to be a good day.::