At World's End

Chapter 3: You And Me Baby Ain't Nothin' But Wacky

How do you like my ideas so far? I just bought the new Linkin Park CD, Meteora, and so I'm really excited and decided to write another chapter for this fan-fic. Hope you enjoy. God, how I love Linkin Park...

++++++++++

Gohan sighed and slammed his head against his locker harder and harder. He felt a tap on his shoulder and jerked to a stop, turning around to greet Videl, who was back into her traditional Fight shirt and black shorts. "What are you doing, Gohan? Did you get a B plus on your test or something? It's not like it's the end of the world. Oh, sorry, it kindda just slipped out."

Gohan leaned against his locker and banged his head one last time. "I think it has a nice ring to it, don't you? Bang bang-bang, bang-bang, bang. I'm my own one person rock band. How do I sound?" he asked her.

She raised an eyebrow. "You sound like you're high. Are you sure you're okay, Gohan? I mean, I didn't want to say anything, but you are looking a little pale."

Gohan sighed. "I'm fine. I guess I'm just a little tired. Being dead and trying to study for final exams isn't as easy as I first thought it was going to be, but I think I'm going to be able to handle it, as long as I study hard enough."

Videl sighed. "Yup, that's you. The world is saved finally, and what is Son Gohan thinking about? Why, he's worrying about studying for a stupid test that is most likely going to be canceled anyway."

Gohan shot straight up. "They can't cancel the exams! If the teachers cancel the exams, then I can't get tested. If I'm not tested, then I wouldn't be allowed to apply to a nice university, and my mother will most likely kill me. I've got to talk to someone about this. The testing must go on!"

Videl touched Gohan's arm softly. "Gohan, I was just pulling your leg. I doubt that the teachers are going to cancel the exams. I swear, Gohan, I don't know anyone else who would want to take exams like you. You live to study and to serve your mother. But I guess it's in a good way. Just make sure you don't let the whole studying all the time thing get to you, or else you might end up a freak like all of the other extremely smart people."

Gohan shrugged. "I don't have a problem being smart. I think it suits me well. In addition, once I get into a good university, my mother will finally get off of my case about my studying habits and let me fight and train Goten. I just wish my father was here to help him." Gohan locked his locker and spun the combination lock. "There I go again, thinking about my father like that again. I guess I just can't help it. My father was here when I was growing up and he isn't here for Goten. Things just don't seem to be fair." Gohan glanced down at Videl. "I'm sorry. I'm probably boring you out of your mind. It just seems so natural to think about my father."

"Believe me. I know what it's like. My mother died when I was only five. I always find myself thinking about her, even if I don't want to. You're right, it just seems so natural to think about our parents once they've perished. But a look at it this way, your father has died before and he was alive again, so chances are high that he will end up alive again. And to top it off, you don't have to live with a psycho, mentally retarded father who is turned on by women who aren't even old enough to be his children. Talk about having a messed up family and life. From my point of view, your family is perfectly normal."

"Yeah. I guess that's why it's easy to talk to you about my family. First of all, you know how out of this world my family, and species, is and you understand what it's like to have to suffer without a parent. Besides, you're suck with a crazy parent, sure your father is alive and my mother is alive, but we have to admit that neither one of them are completely sane. It's nice to have a friend to talk to about this type of thing."

Videl nodded and clutched her text books tighter. 'What is wrong with you, Gohan? Calling me a friend! Did you forget that we kissed yesterday? Or did you just happen to blackout and lose all of your memory?' Or, a terrible thought ran through Videl's mind before she could stop it, 'do you not care about me? Are you pretending that we never kissed because you were ashamed at kissing me?' "Yeah, Gohan. It's wonderful to have a great friend like you to talk to about my mother. If you ever need to talk about your father, I'm here to listen." Videl walked off down the hall, trying to keep her tears to herself. 'Fine. You be in denial, Gohan. You'll pay for missing with my feelings; for missing with my heart.'

Videl made her way through the busy halls of her high school and found her way into her English class just as the bell rang. 'How did I become the last person to make it to class before the bell rings? I used to be one of the first ones in.' Gohan ran in as soon as the bell stopped ringing. 'Well, I just I can always count on Gohan for being late.' Gohan scanned the room quickly, and of course, the only empty seat was right next to Videl. Gohan quickly sat down next to her.

"Class, please put all your belongings on the floor. All you need is a pencil. We are going to be taking a pop quiz today on the works of Shakespeare. There will be no talking during the test. The test should take you all period. Should you finish your test early, just sit there and think about something else like you usually do in my class."

"Excuse me, Mr. Waters, but we took this test yesterday. Why are we taking the same test over?" Videl asked.

Everyone in class turned to face her. Mr. Waters stared at her, a confused look on his face. "Videl, we didn't have class yesterday. Yesterday the school was closed. Today is the first day back. We couldn't have possibly taken the test yesterday. Are you sure you're feeling okay? Would you like to visit the nurse's office?"

Videl shook her head. "I feel fine. I just don't understand. I was here at school yesterday. And I took this test. I know I missed at least one question because you said to list five famous works of Shakespeare and I could only remember three. And then you asked a question about where he was born and I forgot that too."

Mr. Waters stared at Videl. "You keep telling the class what is on the test, and I'll have to send you to the front office for cheating during a quiz. This is a serious issue, Miss Satan, so sit down and shut up!"

Videl was shocked. She sat down and buried her head in her hands. 'What the hell is happening here?'

++++++++++

"Videl, is everything all right? You've seemed a little upset all day. And what happened in Mr. Waters' class today? He's never had to tell anyone in the class to shut up before," Erasa observed as they walked into the courtyard as school was dismissed.

Videl shrugged. "Sure, I'm fine. It's just that," Videl sighed, "oh, never mind. It's not even worth talking about. This one person is just confusing me so much and I don't understand him. He's so unemotional that it's kind of freaking me out. And he tries to talk to me about serious things, but then things change in a flash and acts so clueless. And what happened in class was just a misunderstanding."

"It's okay. I mean, your parents are supposed to be clueless. You can't blame your father for being clueless. He is the world champion," Erasa reminded Videl.

Videl rolled her eyes at her best friend. 'She thinks I'm talking about my father. Gohan isn't the only clueless one. Maybe it's a mass virus that is spreading.' Well, Videl couldn't handle all the stupidity that was being thrown at her. Videl flew off and sped up. She didn't stop until she reached her bedroom balcony. Then she threw open the sliding glass door and slid it shut behind her. Videl didn't want to deal with her father at that time, so she thought it best not to even tell him that she was home.

Videl sighed and threw Linkin Park's CD, Meteora, into her boom box. The rock music would help her calm down, she decided.

'Peep the style and the kids checking for it,

The number one question is,

How could you ignore it,

We drop right back in the cut,

Over basement tracks,

With raps that got you backing this up like rewind that'

She laid down on the bed, bouncing her feet with the rhythm, eyes closed, consumed by the lyrics and music. There was a pounding on her bedroom door and Hercule threw it open. "Turn that noise off!"

"Why? You can't make love in your office with my music as a distraction?" Videl asked.

"No! I mean yes! Well, I don't know what I mean, but turn off that noise right now!"

Videl rolled her eyes and turned the boom box off. "What makes you think that you are able to boss me around?"

"Well, first of all, I'm your father. And then there is the fact that this is my mansion that I bought with my money from being famous. So if you want to be able to live in this house of mine, I suggest you obey my rules."

Hercule slammed the door as he left back to his office. Videl sighed and banged her head against the headboard of her bed. 'You die, and suddenly the whole worlds gone crazy. Even the people who helped saved the world aren't completely sane. What is up with that?' Videl closed her eyes. The day before seemed so long ago. She wasn't even sure that she wanted to remember it. Maybe she shouldn't even be able to dream walk like that. Videl didn't know if being a dream walker was as good as she thought. Ever since she had discovered her power, ever since she had used it, things hadn't gone exactly right.

'Gohan kissed me yesterday. That's all I can think about; nothing else matters. So then why, if I feel this way, does he seem so out of it? He doesn't even seem to realize what happened at his house. And then there was the whole taking the test over again deal. Something is not right. What is going on around here these days?'

There was a knock on the door. Videl sat up as Melissa opened the door quietly. "Miss Videl, there is someone downstairs to see you."

Videl nodded and went downstairs. Gohan was standing in the family room, waiting for her. Gohan grinned when he saw Videl come down the stairs. He had been really worried about her after her scene with Mr. Waters earlier that day. "Hey, Videl."

Videl smiled back at him. "Hi, Gohan. Is there something you needed help with?"

Gohan just looked at her. 'Maybe I should mind my own business instead of dragging myself into this whole mess.' "I was just wondering what happened with Mr. Waters. Everyone was talking about you like you've lost your mind."

Videl sighed. "Gohan, I really don't want to talk about it. All I know is that I went to school yesterday and I took that test yesterday."

"But you were over at my house yesterday."

"The only reason I was over at your house was to ask you why you weren't at school. I went to school yesterday and I don't care what people are saying about me. I was at school and I took that stupid test."

"It just seems odd that you are the only one who remembers going to school yesterday. It doesn't mean that you're crazy."

"Gohan, are you saying that you think I'm crazy?" Videl shot out.

"No, I didn't say that. I said you're not crazy. It just seems a little odd."

"You're telling me? I'm the one everyone is treating like a freak! I swear for the freedom of this Earth that I went to school yesterday. I still don't understand. Maybe it has something to do with my dream walking power. That could be causing all these problems, but it's a far off idea."

"Dream walking? What are you talking about?" Gohan asked.

Videl was puzzled. "I explained it to you yesterday, right before we," Videl gasped. 'Kissed! Right before we kissed! But it happened yesterday and all of yesterday was changed and twisted, so the kisses never happened and that's why he doesn't remember and why he doesn't know a thing about the dream walking. Which means I'm saved; why Gohan didn't say anything about us kissing. I'm a freaking scientist!' "Never mind about what we did. This is great! I figured it out! The only reason you don't know is because I told you yesterday night. Except, not all of yesterday happened, only parts of it did. And my final dream walking didn't happen! Except I don't think that the dream walking has any power to change and distort the past. I still don't understand that part."

"You realize that you've totally lost me, don't you? I have no idea what you are talking about, Videl. First of all, what is dream walking?" Gohan asked. Videl smiled. "It's my own power. I can fall into a sleeping state and then control my brain to transport me to other places. I don't know the extent of my power, because I've only tried it a few times and I haven't mastered it yet, but I'm hoping that I will be able to control it enough that I will be able to just transport without falling into the state of sleeping. But I haven't even mastered controlling where I go, so I have a while."

Gohan just nodded and I realized that he was still just as confused as before. "I bet you anything that a virus is still spreading, the way everyone is acting."

Gohan raised his eyebrows and he looked so cute for a moment. "Coming from the person who is talking gibberish in English class and talking about transporting herself in her sleep. Maybe the virus got you too."

Videl smiled. "Tease all you want, but my power is real and as soon as I can control it, I'm going to be a very powerful person. Then we'll see who's laughing." Gohan grinned his wonderful Son grin. Videl was surprised to realize that her knees went weak. "Gohan..."

Gohan looked down at her, a little surprised. She sounded upset and ashamed. "Yeah?"

She looked up at him, her eyes sparkling with tears. "I'm sorry," she whispered, "and I know you don't understand why. But if you did know why, then you might be upset with me. So I'm truly sorry."

Gohan took a step closer to Videl. "What are you talking about?"

She shook her head and looked back up at him, smiling, a single tear running down her cheek. "Videl, you're confusing me. What's gotten into you?"

"Feelings have. And emotions. I-I always promised myself that I wouldn't feel like this, but you-you're just different."

Gohan raised an eyebrow. "Thank you, I think."

She smiled. "It's a good thing to be different, I guess. It's just that..." 'It's just that you are different in the way that I like you. You scare me, Gohan. You're so kind and caring and that scares me. You scare me because you challenge me. You don't let me act spoiled and rich - you make me want to be myself. That scares me.'

"Videl, please say something. You're starting to scare me, now."

Videl laughed and dried a tear away. "You shouldn't be talking about scaring people."

"And what it that supposed to mean? You're speaking in code and I don't understand it. Maybe I should just leave now and let you feel however you feel."

Videl reached out for Gohan, but stopped her hand halfway. She froze for a second, but then sighed and pulled the hand back to tuck a few loose strands of hair behind her ear. "Maybe you should leave now. Sorry if I didn't help you any."

Gohan nodded. He headed for the front door, but Videl didn't really want Gohan to leave. "Wait," she said softly and sighed, "please don't leave yet."

Gohan turned back around to face her. Videl's mind was going crazy, throwing ideas back and forth. 'I'm a teenager. I can make my own decisions.' She walked up to him until her body was only a few inches away from his. Videl slowly placed her hands on his shoulders, losing her nerve halfway through, not getting her arms around his neck. She blushed slightly and looked down at her feet.

Gohan stared in shock at Videl's forehead. 'Ok…' He used his fingers to lift her chin up so she was facing him. "Videl?" he whispered.

She didn't say anything. Instead, she finished wrapping her arms around his neck. Gohan had to calmly remind himself to breathe. "Videl, I don't know what's going on but-" Gohan said softly, but was interrupted when Videl put her finger on his lips, amazed at how cool they were. "Shhh. Don't say anything," she whispered.

Gohan nodded and Videl giggled. She slowly rested her head on his shoulder, facing his neck which smelt good. Gohan slowly wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her a little closer.

Videl sighed and pulled away from Gohan. "Thank you," she whispered.

Their eyes locked, "You're welcome," Gohan whispered. They leaned in to kiss, but someone cleared their throat and Videl jerked away to see Melissa staring at them. "Don't forget that your father is upstairs, Videl. You know how he gets."

Videl nodded and pulled away from Gohan. "I'd better leave. Good bye," Gohan told her.

"Good bye," she whispered as Gohan disappeared through the front door. Videl sighed. 'So close, and yet, so far.'

++++++++++

Ring ring, ring ring. Videl didn't bother answering the phone. She already knew is was Erasa. Erasa had already called the house several times in the past hour. Videl just sighed and looked out her window, where the tree was swaying back and forth. Then she heard a bang against her sliding glass door. Videl screamed and jumped out of the bed.

Gohan was standing on her balcony. Videl waited until her nerves calmed down and then she slowly slid open the glass door. "What are you doing here?" she hissed. It was 9:30 PM and Videl had already changed into her sleeping attire - a tank top that didn't cover her stomach and a pair of loose sweatpants.

Gohan didn't say anything for a minute. "I came to get my clothes that I lent to you. It turns out that I need them back right away."

Videl raised an eyebrow. "Why? Do you have another wet girl at your house who needs to borrow them?" She asked as she went over to her dresser and pulled them out of her second drawer. She brought them back over to Gohan and tossed them at him. He easily caught them with one hand. "Thanks."

Videl nodded, leaning against the sliding glass door. Gohan sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "I actually didn't come over to have you return the clothes."

Videl pretended to be shocked. "Really? Then what ever did you come for, Gohan?"

Gohan blushed slightly and hoped that Videl didn't notice. "I don't really know that quite yet. It's just that today, when we almost kissed in your hallway, I felt something. I mean, I don't know what is was, but I know it was something. And I guess I just needed to know if you did too." By the time Gohan had finished talking, his whole face was a bright pink color.

Videl was blushing as well; hers wasn't as noticeable. Videl stood up straight and forced herself to look into his eyes. 'His eyes are wonderful' she thought, 'all of Gohan is wonderful.' She sighed. "I think - I think that I felt something, too, but I don't know for certain." She unfolded her arms, which had been across her chest, and put one hand to her forehead. "Things have just been so crazy lately with Earth being restored and everyone being alive again. I thought I felt something, but for all I know it could have just been the air conditioner. Don't get me wrong, Gohan. I'm not saying that I didn't feel anything. All I'm saying is that I don't know for certain."

"That makes it a little harder," Gohan told her. "You see, I know that I felt something, but I can't do anything about it unless I know you felt something, because if I did, then it wouldn't be right. And if you don't feel something, then I don't want to look like a fool."

Videl stared into his eyes, "What were you going to do? What did you come here to do, Gohan? Just tell me? You can't feel like a fool compared to my dream walking gibberish."

Gohan thought it was getting too hot. His face looked like a cherry. "I wasn't going to do anything. I'm not going to do anything. Nothing is going to happen."

"Gohan," Videl whispered softly. "What did you come here to do?" she asked. "Stop being afraid and just tell me. I won't get upset or angry."

"I just came to ask you how you feel. And know that I've gotten my answer, I think it would be best for me to leave," he answered and turned around.

Videl grabbed his hand before he could fly off. "Stop running, Gohan! Maybe I wasn't completely honest with you."

Gohan turned around to face her. "Meaning?"

Videl blushed slightly. "Meaning that what I said I felt and what I actually do aren't the same. I did feel something, Gohan. But it's crazy!" Videl threw her hands up in the air. "You can all the way here just to ask me something, and I went all the way to your house to talk to you. And you came all the way over here to make sure I was okay. I just," she brought her hands back down, "don't know what to do. It's touching that you came and told me how you feel, it really is, but I just don't know what to do!"

"Then don't do anything," Gohan told her.

Videl wanted to scream in frustration. "That's what my brain keeps telling me. But my heart is saying something different and my whole body feels like a tennis court and the tennis ball is the feelings bouncing back and forth. This is driving me crazy! Part of me wants you to leave right now and the other part is saying 'he shouldn't ever leave'. Part of me wants me to tell you my feelings and the other part is killing me because I won't shut my big mouth. And then there's the whole-"

Gohan rested his finger on her lips. "Shhh," he whispered and took a step closer to her. "Part of me," Gohan told her softly, "is saying that I should just drop the bridge I've put up around my heart and kiss you, but the other part is saying that if I did, then we couldn't be friends. Part of me is saying that I don't want to be just your friend and the other part is agreeing."

Videl froze. "Gohan," she muttered right before his lips brushed hers softly, leaving a light kiss on her lips. Videl didn't say anything as he pulled away, and she felt like crying. 'Tell him you care about him,' her mind screamed for once, but she couldn't form the words in her mouth. "Gohan, I..." her voice trailed off. 'Just kiss him, you idiot!' she yelled to herself. Videl slowly leaned up to meet his lips again. She slowly wrapped her arms around his neck as Gohan's arms encircled her waist. She pulled his head down tighter against her lips and then slowly pulled away. "I felt something just then," she whispered to him.

Gohan grinned. "I'm glad," he whispered back, "because so did I."

Videl slowly pulled herself away from his grasp and let her arms rest by her sides. She smiled back at him, her heart beating a mile a minute. "Can I ask you a question? You don't have to answer it if you're not ready."

Videl giggled, "What kind of question do you ask if you don't expect an answer?"

"The kind of question a person might not know the answer to right away. Anyways, just listen, please. Videl?" Gohan asked.

Videl raised an eyebrow, "Yes?"

"Would you be willing to be my girlfriend?"