Versus 3: Eclipse
--All You Distrust--
Her weekend had been a disaster. She should have left home at some point to be with Goten. If she got away with it once, she could have gotten away with it again. It would have been easy. Then again, Goten was already worried about her getting into trouble the first time she snuck out. He probably wouldn't have been able to have a good time because he'd be worrying too much. So that would have been a waste. And of course, somehow, her father would have known. He seems to know everything. But that wouldn't have mattered because he would never rat her out to her mother. And who cared if she found out? What could she do? Ground her again? That was a joke. Bra could just sneak out again. Well, her mother DID invent some of the strangest things at times. There was no telling what she would have come up with. As a matter of fact, that's probably what kept her father at bay sometimes.
So besides spending most of the weekend sleeping through history lessons, Bra had finally begun a new little project. She would build her very own gravity machine in which to begin her new workout regimen. Bra was pretty excited about that. She had access to all the equipment she needed in her mother's lab. Of course, she'd need a little advice, but it was the most convenient thing she could think of at the time. It would take up most of her day until it was time to study with her new tutor.
"It's been a while since I attended this school. Seems like centuries ago," Nick reminisced as he walked through the halls of Bra's high school.
Bra frowned. She couldn't believe that there was nothing she could do to avoid this. Stuck coming to school with her tutor. Well, at least he wouldn't be staying the entire morning. He had his own job to get to. She watched Nick as he walked around, looking at the lockers. How sentimental he had become. It made her wonder if he was going to spend all day at that one locker in particular. That one must have been his years ago. She doubted that she'd be able to remember which locker was hers ten years from now. She could barely remember which one was hers from day to day.
She opened the locker three doors down from the one Nick stood at.
"Whoa. I just had a major deja vu trip," Nick announced.
Bra rolled her eyes. What was he talking about? It was like he was a war vet recalling battles of the past. She looked at the nut-job out of the corner of her eye.
"My locker was here," Nick continued. "And my old girlfriend's locker was right where you're standing." He looked at Bra. "We'd be the first to arrive at school everyday...."
Bra sighed. What did she care about his old girlfriend and her locker? She looked at Goten's dark classroom. He hadn't arrived yet. Hopefully he would be here soon. The sooner he got here, the sooner Asylum-Guy could leave. She was ready to get this over with. Now that there was no avoiding it, it was time to face it head on.
What was she so afraid of...?
She caught sight of Nick looking at his watch. "You know, I could ask my teacher what we'll be studying and bring it back to you," Bra suggested. She'd do anything to avoid doing this today. Not on the day that she had to apologize to Goten. Hell, she'd already apologized to one person in the past 3 days. She wasn't good at apologizing. She'd never practiced it. And she'd never planned on actually doing it. She was the daughter of the prince of all Saiyans. She shouldn't have to apologize to anyone.
Nick laughed a little. "Thanks, but I think I'd rather find out for myself. Getting a head start on what you're being taught will allow me to better help you during tutoring."
He wasn't helping during tutoring now. She slept through the whole thing. It was all such a waste of time. She could see where he was coming from about doing his job, but she really needed a way to get this guy out of her house.
Just when Bra was about to say something, Goten came down the hall. He may as well have been bleeding because the look on his face was a hurt one. It brought back the memories of that night. The night that had been so wonderful before THAT word was brought up. Then her wonderful night became a nightmare. She watched Goten as he approached. Luckily they were the only three people in the hall at the time.
"Hey," Goten greeted, barely even laying eyes on them. He opened his classroom door.
Bra couldn't find her voice at that moment. Even if she could, she wouldn't know what to say.
"Hello," Nick said to Goten.
Goten turned back to him and looked at him strangely. "I'm sorry, I didn't notice you were standing there, sir. How may I help you?"
Bra still wasn't able to talk.
"Well, I'm looking for this young lady's history teacher. I'm hoping it's free to assume that you are he," Nick stated.
Goten folded his arms across his chest. "That's right. What can I do for you?"
Nick looked at Bra, then back at Goten. "My name is Nick Carnage. I'm Miss Bra Brief's tutor. I just wanted a little information about your curriculum so that I'll have an idea of what Miss Bra should be concentrating on with her studies."
Goten raised an eyebrow. "You're her new tutor?"
"That's correct. I'm sorry. I didn't catch your name," Nick told Goten.
"Son," Goten said simply.
"Alright, Mr. Son. If I could have a copy of your lesson plans, I think I would be most beneficial," Nick explained with a smile.
Bra still wasn't able to talk. She just watched as Goten talked to Nick. She noticed that Goten hadn't smiled once the whole time. That was very unusual. But then again, she HAD recently broken his heart.
Goten raised both of his eyebrows. "Of course." He went through his briefcase and pulled out some papers. He looked at them for a long time. Then he stood. "I'll just go make a copy for you, Mr. Carnage."
After he left the room, Nick looked at Bra strangely. "Are you okay? You seem a little distracted," he said.
Bra looked at him. She wasn't really sure what to say. She wasn't even sure if she had the ability to talk. Clearing her throat, she managed to say, "I'm fine." The truth of the matter was that she WAS distracted. But that could have gone without saying.
Goten returned with some extra papers and handed them to Nick. "This is basically what we're going to cover for the rest of the year."
Nick nodded to Goten and extended his hand for a shake. "Thank you, Mr. Son. I believe that between the two of us, this young lady will become quite knowledgeable in the field of history."
Goten shook his hand.
Just as Nick was about to leave, the classroom door opened and in walked Pan. She'd almost run the poor guy over at the speed she was traveling.
"Oh! I'm sorry. I--" Pan began. She looked at Nick and gasped. "Oh my gosh! You're...you're Nick Carnage!"
Nick smiled. "Hello."
Pan dropped her books on the floor and shook his hand ecstatically. "Wow, it's really Nick Carnage!" She looked over at Goten and Bra. "You guys never told me that you knew Nick Carnage." She narrowed her eyes at them.
Goten looked confused.
Bra frowned.
Nick raised his eyebrows and returned Pan's handshake. "I'm sorry. Do I know you?"
"No, you don't. But I think Eroder is, like, the best band on the planet," Pan told Nick.
"Band?" Goten asked.
Oh, boy.
Nick smiled. "You say it like we're big-time. But thanks anyway."
"You're big-time to me," Pan chirped. She finally let go of his hand. "You're big-time to a lot of people in this city."
"Thank you," Nick said. "What's your name?"
Pan blushed. "Wow! He asked me what my name is!"
Goten frowned. "Well, you might wanna tell him."
"Oh. Right. I'm Pan," she stated.
"Pan. That's a nice name," Nick complimented. "Well, I've gotta go to work. I'll see you later, Miss Bra. It was nice meeting you all."
Bra waved to him as he exited.
"Nick Carnage thinks I have a nice name," Pan said dreamily.
Goten sat at his desk and stared at his papers.
Her ability to speak had to come back soon, or she wouldn't be able to tell Goten how sorry she was for not saying that she loved him. Of course, saying it in front of Pan would be hard. Bra looked at Pan, who was lost in her own little rock-n-roll fantasy. She wouldn't be able to hear what they were saying anyway. Bra walked over to Goten's desk.
"Um, Goten...," Bra began.
"He's a little young, isn't he?" Goten questioned. He wasn't really looking at her. He was kinda looking past her. "Much younger than I expected."
"Yeah. My mom said that too," Bra explained. "But listen, I didn't come here to talk about him. I want to talk about us."
Goten finally looked at her.
"What y-you said last n-night...I...," Bra stammered.
Goten just stared at her.
"I wanted to say...I...," Bra attempted to say.
Goten sighed and smiled sadly. She hated when he did that. "You don't have to say it, Bra. I said it because that's the way I feel. You don't have to say it just because I said it."
"But I...I'm sorry...." Bra frowned. She felt that way too. She just couldn't get the words out of her mouth for some reason.
Pan danced over to Bra and hugged her. "You have no idea what this means to me, guys," she sang. "How in the world do you know Nick Carnage?"
Goten went back to looking at his papers.
Bra frowned and looked at Pan. "He's my history tutor."
"The one who's supposed to be living with you?" Pan asked.
Now how did she find out about that? Bra nodded slowly.
Goten looked up from his desk. "He's living with you? How did I miss that part?"
Bra raised her eyebrows. "I thought I told you."
Goten frowned.
Pan grabbed Bra by the hands and grinned. "You are SO lucky. You're living with a rock god. I'm gonna have to start dropping by more often."
"I can't have visitors. I'm grounded," Bra told her.
"Who says I'll be there to visit you?" Pan asked. She let Bra's hands go and danced back to her desk to daydream.
Bra looked at Goten strangely as he sat at his desk in deep thought. Was he threatened by the thought of her living with this new tutor?
--End All You Distrust--
--That's that. Thanks for reading this episode of Versus 3: Eclipse. Also, thanks for the reviews.
--Hey, I know this episode was a little off. I don't know what it was, but it seemed really strange to me. Let me know what you think.
--Stay tuned! There's more to come.