Chapter 1: Keeping Time in Minutes

Thirty minutes.

This isn't right. I shouldn't be staring at a clock like this. Why do I care? I told her I didn't care and now I'm proving myself wrong. Why. I don't get it. I need to stop staring at the clock.

Twenty-nine minutes.

Has it only been a minute? Why am I surprised, I can't stop staring at the clock. This is wrong. What I did was wrong, but I can't apologize. That would be wrong too. Damn sayain pride. It's not fair. I should hate her, but I don't. I don't know what I feel. Yes I do. This is wrong. Me sitting on a coach staring at a clock watching my life go by is wrong. But so is apologizing. I refuse to apologize. I shouldn't need to apologize

Twenty-seven minutes.

Good, two minutes of brooding down. I should end the torture now. I should either stop looking at the clock and go on with my life, or I need to go and apologize. Maybe dad or Vegeta would spar with me, and then I wouldn't be able to think about time and how long it might take me to get there... ... It would only take five minutes. I could be there in five minutes. It wouldn't take long. The point is, when the clock strikes 5:55 then there is no more time. The plane leaves at six.

Twenty-three.

I can make it

I can make it

I can make it

Twenty-two.

No I can't

This isn't right, but neither is she.

Twenty.

I should fix this, no I shouldn't. She should. But didn't she already try. Yes she did. I refused. She is giving me one last chance, and I'm still not sure if I am going to take it. Why should I take it? Everything that needed to be said was said, right. No, not everything. Not the most important thing. The most important thing has been left unsaid, and I'm too prideful to go and say it. When the clock hits six it will be all over. I can last until then. But if I don't care, then why am I still staring at the clock. Shouldn't I just not care? I shouldn't care, but for some reason I do.

Goku looked at his son. He had been sitting there all afternoon. The whole Z gang was having a party at Bulmas and all Gohan had done was sit and stare at the clock. He hadn't even eaten anything. Gohan needed to get off his but and get the girl. So what was stopping him? Goku noticed that all the male adults were coming in. Apparently they want to see how Gohan was faring as well. There was only a half an hour left. That's all he had. He had a half an hour to make a choice. And no one could make it but him.

"Why is he still staring, I would have thought that he would have gone by now. I know that it would only take five minutes to get there but still, he should get going. "Yamcha said in a quite voice.

Suddenly the ever quite Gohan spoke up and answered Yamcha's question.

"I'm not going."

Most everyone was shocked. They had all thought that Gohan would go at the last minute. No one had expected to have the teenager make the decision to not go.

"Do you want to spar Vegeta? I don't want to waste any more time sitting here staring at a clock. I've made my choice. I'm not going."

"No"

The voice was quite and sad sounding. A first for Vegeta.

The chair Gohan had been sitting in turned around to face the sayain prince. Gohan's eyebrow raised up and he looked geniually surprised by Vegeta's answer. But then again, who wouldn't be. The prince usually didn't turn down a good spar. Gohan turned his chair back around and stared at the clock again before answering.

" And is there a reason you don't want to spar, or just the fact that you don't want your ass kicked today."

The comment would usually have gotten Vegeta angered, but then again this situation was special. The prince simply leaned against the wall, and then smirked.

"Maybe its because I like to see you sit here and suffer. Maybe because its fun to watch you stare at a clock for a half hour watching the time go by. The time that you have to fix things, and I get to watch you ruin your life. Its funny, but your mom always claimed you're a genius. Yet, all of us just watched you waste the day staring at a clock and not doing anything to stop the one person you love from leaving you. How pathetic, and how incredibly stupid."

"I don't love her."

"The why did you stare at a clock all day like your very life depended upon it. You love her, and your letting her get away. You'll never get her back, and you'll never want another woman. You love her otherwise you wouldn't be sitting in that chair staring at a clock."

"If I loved her then I would be with her right now telling her that she was right and I was wrong and that I was sorry."

"Are you sorry?"

"No"

"Lair"

"I hate her"

"No you don't, you just wish you did so it wouldn't have hurt so bad. You loved her before this happened, and you still love her. Nothing has changed"

"I wish I could strangle her."

"Why didn't you?"

"I don't know why, but I wish I had"

"Yes you do. You know why. You love her" Time seemed to stand still as everyone in the room waited for Gohan's answer to that. Some time passed before the demi-sayain answered Vegeta's challenge.

"By the way Vegeta, I only have fifteen minutes not thirty, but hey, whose counting?"