Disclaimer: I still don't own dragonball z.

Note: This chapter and the next were originally meant to be one chapter but it would just have been too long, they're long on their own, imagine together. Hope you enjoy! And another thanks to all of you who reviewed so far.

How Great it is to be loved by you!

by: Pic's Pixie

Chapter 5: Starting school and meeting Gohan

"Oh man! The week is almost over and I don't think my true love has showed up yet." Maybe the dragon was lying and hadn't really granted my wish.

"Nah, he did ,he must have." Gohan was getting really anxious, because it was Thursday morning and he still hadn't met someone new who he thought could be the one.

"Oh well, must not think about that. It's time for school anyway I'll worry about this later." Gohan said while grabbing his things and running out the door and jumping onto Nimbus who had arrived a minute or so earlier.

It was apparently time to get up since Bulma was in the room she had put Piccolo in shaking the sleeping girl violently. Piccolo sat up and looked at Bulma a little confused then she remembered that today she was to go to school. She didn't really care but Piccolo never liked to get off to a bad start at new experiences. Bulma left and Piccolo just sat there for a minute trying to wake up completely. She yawned and then stood up. Piccolo walked out of her room, down the hall, down the stairs and followed her nose to the kitchen. Vegeta was sitting there again in only his boxers, and was eating an egg, bacon, sausage, toast, pancake and waffle breakfast while Trunks was gobbling down a few hundred bowls of cereal. Piccolo was just standing there in the door frame until Bulma saw her and told her to take a seat. Vegeta then looked up and so did Trunks, their eyes went wide and their mouths dropped. At first Piccolo didn't know what they were looking at then she looked down and saw that she was wearing something that Bulma had picked out at the mall, she was wearing a cute pyjama set which were pink and had little teddy bears and red hearts all over it. Piccolo sweat dropped and shot the saiyans a 'don't-mess-with-me-I'm-still-tired' kind of look. The boys got the hint and muffled their cries of laughter. Bulma then set a plate of food infront of Piccolo and he started to eat carefully not wanting to goof up again. After Piccolo had cleared her plate Bulma grabbed her by the arm and dragged her back upstairs. She picked out her outfit and waited a while for Piccolo to figure out how to put it on then she started on Piccolo's hair and make-up. Trunks was grabbing his lunch pale and Vegeta was heading for the living room to watch television when Bulma stumbled down the stairs and introduced 'the new and improved' she said

"VICTORIA! Or Vicki for short."

Then as if on cue, a very lovely girl about 5'4, wearing knee-high brown leather boots with about a 4" heel, a patched denim mini-skirt, a brown tank-top that came down to about 3" above her belly button, it had a loose hanging neck line and had no sleeves. This girl was also wearing blue with brown stripped wrist bands, and her hair was pulled up into a tight bun with some locks sticking out from the back almost like fingers unravelling from the bun and two locks in front of her ears hanging down the sides of her face. On her face she wore mascara emphasising her eyelashes and deep blue eye shadow , she also had the lightest application of blue lipstick , it was a little bold but since when has Bulma bought anything average. She stood there motionless for a while not moving for either fear of falling , or of complete humiliation. She looked around from shocked face to shocked face. Vegeta was actually drooling, his mouth was wide open letting flies in and he was stuttering quietly, Trunks wasn't much better from his father even though he was only about 8 or so. His lunch pail had fallen from his hands and his mouth was also adjure. Bulma just looked around admiring her handy work when Piccolo finally spoke.

"Umm, isn't it time to go to school, I don't want to be late for the first day." Piccolo could hardly believe she was the one to remind them of taking her to school but she couldn't stand them just starring at her like that.

"Oh my gosh, you're right ,come on Trunks hurry up , here take this Vicki." Bulma was is her hurry mode now.

"Vicki? Why do you keep calling me that when no one else is here?" Piccolo was a little annoyed.

"You have to get used to answering to that name or people will figure you out." Bulma said this as she shoved a brown leather bag that looked somewhat like a brief case and a duffel bag combined with a shoulder strap.

"What's this?" Piccolo asked undoing the clamps holding it shut trying to see what was inside.

"It's your school supplies, you know pencils, pens, paper, just the essentials."

"Yeah I really see how laptop, cell phone, and electronic planners are the basics." Piccolo mocked as she saw all the high tech gadgets that Bulma loved to show off.

"Well now adays in school you never know what you might need and a cell phone is important if I've found a break through in your situation or if you need any help adjusting to this new body." Bulma said all this with that know-it-all look on her face and one index finger pointed in the air as if that's where she got all her words.

"Okay , I guess I buy that so lets go already I want to get this over with." Piccolo's patience was warring thin.

"Come on Trunks, bye sweetie." That last remark was meant for Vegeta ,he just grunted and turned to walk away.

"Yeah ,goodbye snuckums miss me!" Piccolo added as she ran out the door not wanting to experience the retaliation he would get for a remark like that. Bulma closed the door and was hurrying towards the car. You could hear Vegeta screaming curses from outside and Piccolo was already regretting what she said because she was already sore from yesterday's sparring session. They all piled into the car, Bulma in the drivers seat, Piccolo in the front passenger seat and Trunks in the back. Bulma dropped Trunks off first at the elementary school and then headed towards the high school. Bulma parked the car then escorted Piccolo to the principals office.

"Hello there how may I help you?" the nice secretary asked.

"My name is Bulma Briefs and this is my cousin Victoria. She is suppose to start school here today and we were told by the vice principal yesterday that someone would be here to take her to her first class." Bulma could be so official when she really wanted to be.

"Oh yes, James they're here!" she called to the room behind her.

"Oh hello, my name in Mr.Sunami and I assume this is Victoria." A kind man came from the room and offered Bulma and Piccolo his hand.

"Yes this is she well I have to be running now see you later Vicki, you can make your way home right?" Bulma had planned a day at the spa today and she already had arranged for Vegeta to pick up Trunks.

"Yeah sure whatever." Piccolo was actually starting to feel sick, she was nervous, she had never been to a school before.

"Goodbye Mr.Sunami nice meeting you."

"Yes same here Mrs.Briefs." With that Bulma walked out of the room and out of the building. Piccolo's stomach was doing flip flops.

"Well now it says here your first class is in room 42 with Mrs.Alto." the nice man then opened the door and allowed Piccolo to exit first. The man was humming the whole way which was driving Piccolo insane ,her hearing was some what duller but it was still better than any humans.

"Here we are ,if you don't mind I'll go in and inform the sensei that you are here ,please wait here a moment." The man then walked into the room and left Piccolo waiting in the hall.

Gohan had just gotten to class Videl had joined him when she saw him fly up to the school on the Nimbus. She met him on the roof of the school. He landed and sent Nimbus away and started to make his way towards the entrance of the school when he heard a yell of surprise and then he was tackled by a very excited Videl.

"He..ey, Videl how are you?" Gohan asked a little shaken.

"Oh I'm fine how about you?" But before he could answer she yelled something.

"We better hurry we're going to be late!"

Videl jumped to her feet and ran to the door, Gohan got up with no help from Videl and dusted himself off. He then followed her down the stairs and to their classroom. Gohan got into his row and sat down next to Videl who was seated next to Sharpener. Then this cheery blonde sat next to him she was always nice to him and he had wondered if she were the one. But the answer was no they were just friends. Gohan had put his bag down under his desk and looked up to see Mr.Sunami talking to his sensei Mrs.Alto.

"Hmmm, I wonder what's going on?" Gohan asked quietly not really to any one in particular.

"I dunno maybe a new student is here, maybe a really cute guy from a far off country!" the blonde had gone into daydream mode and her eyes were in hearts. Mr. Sunami left the room.

"Okay miss you can go in now." Piccolo was wondering how so many butterflies had found their way into his stomach when Mr.Sunami came out and said that.

"Oh okay." Piccolo took a deep breath and stuck her head up high and walked in. She saw rows and rows of seats just packed with other kids. She was a little taken back and then realised she would have to see the sensei. Piccolo walked up to the woman and said hello.

"Oh hi, you must be Victoria ,I'm Mrs.Alto." this woman had a very take- charge kind of voice, it reminded Piccolo of himself.

Videl was babbling on about something not important when Mrs.Alto quieted the class. The blonde was then poking Gohan's side, "See I told you we had an exchange student."

Gohan was taken back by this, he hadn't paid attention after Mr.Sunami left and now there was obviously someone new in the room but they were blocked by Mrs.Alto.

"Class calm down this instant!" Mrs. Alto boomed. The class automatically became silent and the teacher gave a small smirk.

"That's better, we have a new student with us today her name is Victoria." Mrs. Alto then moved aside to let the students have a good view of their new class mate.

Gohan was speechless ,he had never seen someone even close to as beautiful as that girl was. His mouth fell open and his eyes were wide, so were about every other males' faces. They were all in awe.

Piccolo was a little nervous, the guys immediately looked brain dead and some of the girls looked as if they would grow horns and start chasing her with pitch forks.

"Why don't you tell us a little about yourself Victoria?" Mrs.Alto was trying to lighten the mood.

"Well my name is Victoria Briefs ,I guess you can call me Vicki, I am visiting my cousin Bulma and staying at Capsule Corporation for the time being." Piccolo was a little nervous so she said all this quite quickly.

"What?! I didn't know Bulma had any cousins?" Gohan said that more or less to himself, he really didn't think Bulma did have any, but I guess he never really asked, why would he.

"You may go take a seat up over there beside Roy and Marcel. Piccolo saw who she was talking about by the teachers motions and by the dorky looks on those boys' faces when they realised that Piccolo would be sitting by them. Piccolo climbed the steps and caught sight of someone very unexpected. /What?! Gohan! What is he doing here? Oh and there's Videl/ Piccolo thought that she would explode ,what if one of them found out who she was for real? Piccolo only paused for a moment then continued, she scootched over between the two boys and sat down. Her seat was right infront of Gohan ,this could turn into a problem he might even see my ears, a simple thing like that could undue this entire disguise.

/Wow! What luck the teacher sent her right infront of me, now I can have a nice clear view of her all the time. WHAT am I thinking ,I shouldn't think that way it's rude./ Gohan was so awe struck that he completely forgot about the wish which is exactly what he wished for.

The day went by pretty quietly, Piccolo was just adjusting to this new situation. It wasn't as bad as she would have thought if it weren't for all the stupid guys always starring at her. What was their problem haven't they ever seen a namek-turned-human before? She also had a strange feeling all the time as if someone was watching her ,other than the tons of brainless male teens. It was close to being the end of the day, there were only about 15 minutes left to class and being how she used to be the guardian of the earth there really wasn't anything they could teach her about this world that she didn't already know. She had all her things in her bag and was just sitting there with her head in her hand and the other tapping her fingers on the desk from boredom.

"Hey umm...Victoria" a voice from behind her clued her back into reality.

"Huh," she turned around and was practically nose to nose with Gohan, he had leaned down closer so she would hear him.

"Hehe, sorry didn't mean to scare you." Gohan just laughed weakly and shot Piccolo the son-smile.

"You didn't scare me Gohan." Piccolo said this in the normal Piccolo fashion.

"Wow, how did you know my name?" Piccolo hadn't realised that ,she had to think up some excuse fast.

"Ahh, Bulma loves her photo albums, hehe." Piccolo now tried to sound all teenager-like.

"Oh , so you really are Bulma's cousin, I didn't think she had any." Gohan couldn't believe it, he was actually talking to her and he wasn't sounding like a complete geek, well he thought he wasn't anyway.

"Well she does." Piccolo corrected making herself sound like she was the expert on Bulma's family tree.

"HEY VICKI!WHAT'S UP?" the quiet conversation was very loudly interrupted but none other than Videl.

"Oh nothing!" Piccolo sweat dropped this girl was nice but she could be a real pain.

"Hey Gohan! My dad gave me a ton of money this week for allowance you wanna go out for dinner with me tonight?" Videl was trying to get a date with Gohan again. And even Piccolo could easily see he was trying to get out of it.

"Umm,... I'd love to but...ummm. .but ..ahhh" Gohan was trying his hardest to think of some excuse.

"Ummm, Gohan didn't you say you were going to show me around the city. You know since I'm new here?" Piccolo couldn't help but feel sorry for his friend so he decided to bail him out this time.

"Huh,...what... ahh oh yeah yes I did sorry Videl I have plans with Victoria tonight." Gohan shot Piccolo a god-thank-you look and just nodded. So did Piccolo.

"Oh... okay then" Videl sounded disappointed but if she couldn't take the hint it was her loss. The bell rang and Piccolo went to get up, she grabbed her bag and turned around and ran right into a hard object almost like a wall. Gohan had grabbed his own bag and had jumped over his desk to be right behind Victoria as she turned around and ran right into his chest. She was falling backwards and was grasping out for something to hold onto when Gohan grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her up to her feet.

"Ahh, thanks." Piccolo could feel her face heat up for a moment and she didn't know why.

Gohan just smiled and apologised for being so fast.

"So ,where did you want to start?"

"What do you mean?" Piccolo was confused as to what Gohan was talking about.

"Well aren't I going to give you a tour of the city?" Piccolo sweat dropped .

"Oh yeah okay well I don't know where would you like to start?"

"I don't know how about we go to the park first?" Gohan was pretty calm on the outside but inside he was doing cartwheels ,this beautiful girl had bailed him out with Videl and was now actually going to go for a walk with him, only him.

"Hold on a sec, I have to call Bulma and tell her I'll be a little late." Piccolo opened up her bag and picked up the cell phone ,she pushed a button that had tape on it saying 'press this to reach me' she figured it was from Bulma so she pushed it and heard a lot of beeping , then some ringing, as she was waiting for Bulma to pick up she signalled Gohan to start walking because it was a cell phone and she could walk and talk at the same time.

"Hello, Bulma Briefs speaking," Bulma's voice was heard on the other side.

"Hey Bulma. It's me, Vicki."

"Oh hi, how's school is it over, is something wrong?" Bulma was a little concerned as to why Piccolo had called her.

"Oh I'm just calling to let you know I'll be a little late getting home tonight I've made plans." Piccolo didn't feel she needed to elaborate.

"Really, plans huh. What kind of plans?" Bulma was really curious she knew what Piccolo looked like and assumed those plans must contain a guy somewhere. Before Piccolo could think of an excuse Gohan had grabbed the phone./shit/ she thought. What is Bulma going to think? Wait a minute, why should I care what she's going to think? Man I am becoming a softy.

"Hey Bulma!" Gohan practically yelled into the phone ,obviously excited about talking to his friend, or is it just to get going faster.

"What? Gohan, is that you?" Bulma was shocked to hear Gohan's voice on the other end.

"Yeah it's me ,you never told me you had a cousin."

"Well you never asked" Bulma said quickly thinking of excuses.

"What are you two doing tonight anyway to make her late?" Bulma was joking around with him she had no idea that he actually liked her.

"We're going for a walk, I'm showing her around the city since she's new and all." Gohan's face was turning red and Piccolo noticed. Why is he turning red I hope he's not sick.

"Oh that's nice Gohan ,well talk to you two later okay."

"Okay bye Bulma." With that said Gohan closed the phone and handed it back to Victoria.

"Okay that's done ,lets go." Gohan was excited and it was really showing now. They left the school grounds in silence, both were awkwardly shy with each other. Piccolo couldn't understand it ,why was it so hard to talk to him, it has never been this difficult.

"So Gohan, how's life treating you?" Piccolo didn't know anything else to say.

"It's okay I guess how about yours?" Gohan didn't really have anything to say to that he didn't want to bore her with his life story, but he wanted the conversation to develope.

"It's a little confusing right now to be honest. I guess you could say I'm kind of going through an identity crisis." Piccolo gave a weak smile in contemplating just how close to the truth that actually was.

"Really? I wouldn't have guessed you seem so sure of yourself." Gohan was feeling a bit concerned.

"That's just my exterior, it's like a mask I put on before I get up in the morning." Piccolo was shocked how she was just letting out her emotions like this ,she never was much of a touchy-feely kinda person.

"I know what you mean." Gohan got kind of a sad face on and Piccolo wondered if she shouldn't have said what she did.

"Why? What would you have to hide?" Piccolo immediately saw that she shouldn't have asked that, of course he had to hide things, he was a z warrior and how would he be able to live a normal life with people knowing he could destroy them with a simple flick of the finger. Piccolo frowned, it was a lot like when he was younger and had tried to fit in but couldn't because of his skin colour and interesting features like his ears and fangs. Gohan noticed the saddened expression Victoria had on her face and decided to try and lift her spirits.

"Hey I'll race you to that street light over there?" Gohan got a silly smile on and looked at her while pointing at the pole. Piccolo was confused but then excited, finally a challenge. She smiled at him and gave a quick nod and assumed a racing position. Gohan did the same and counted.

"3........2........1.......and GO!" Gohan bolted out hardly saving any energy if this were a longer race but since it was a sprint that was fine. Piccolo on the other hand was almost immediately reminded of her most recent footwear, those knee-high, four inch, leather boots weren't exactly Nike's newest sporting craze. Piccolo had to concentrate hard on not tripping over her own feet and falling face first. This caused Gohan an incredible lead. Gohan not even noticing how much trouble she was having was running at slightly abnormal human speeds and only turned to look at her when he heard her squeal.

"Ahh......!"Piccolo never knew such a high-pitched sound would ever have been created by him. Piccolo had done the inevitable and tripped, she fell face first, well it would have been face first if she hadn't put her arms up infront of her to soften the fall. Gohan who was looking back ran right into the pole. He was a little dizzy but was back on his feet soon enough and running the wrong way, he jogged over to where Vicki lay in a heap.

"You can still beat me you know." Gohan tried to encourage her ,half expecting her to leap to her feet and knock him down while she ran for the pole, her fall only being a joke. But this wasn't Videl ,it was Victoria, and yes she really did fall. Gohan noticed this and immediately bent down to help her up.

"How about next time we switch shoes before the race?" Piccolo joked trying to make him feel better about beating a girl with heels.

"I meant it you still can win ,I didn't cross the finish line, I actually kinda ran into it." With that Gohan started laughing. Piccolo just realised what he said and also started to laugh ,he was so much like his father it was almost scary.

"Aww, I think I'll let you win by default." Piccolo was completely taken off guard when Gohan lifted her into the air and began to jog towards the pole.

"What are you doing?" Piccolo was completely a blank.

"I'm letting you win this time." Gohan said cheerfully. Proud of doing the gentlemen-like thing to do. Gohan ran right up to the pole and gently let Victoria land on the other side.

"See, that wasn't so hard." Gohan was smiling ear to ear, he had actually gotten to hold her on their first time out together.

"You think you're real funny don't you?" Piccolo was a bit annoyed that he had so obviously let her win, but at the same time she also felt happy. He had really cared about her feelings.

"Yes I do, well I think so anyway." Piccolo had been kinda confused ,she had almost forgotten that she had actually asked him something. She remembered what she said and shyly with that same weird heat on her face she said "you'd be right."

Gohan couldn't believe his ears ,she had complimented him, wow. He had just came out of his daze and realised she wasn't by his side anymore. He quickly moved his head about desperately searching for her, and found her a few feet away dusting herself off and waiting for him to get a clue.