Chapter 7- Face in the Crowd
"The guy is doing it on purpose I swear." Vegeta said to Goku. Once again, they were sitting on top of the bleachers.
Mr. Dilloir had given the class a 10,000 word report due Monday on 'the importance of respecting your elders'.
It was Friday now and the first football game was that night.
Vegeta was literally worn out. He had slept only two and a half hours a night for the past week and barely eaten anything. Anyone within thirty feet of him could see the dark rings under his eyes.
"How the hell am I supposed to write a 10,000 word report on anything in two days, much less 'the importance of respecting you elders'?!"
"Maybe you could ask Gee for a day off." Goku suggested.
"No." Vegeta said trying to stifle a yawn. "I just asked him to change my hours a few days ago. I don't want to keep asking for stuff."
"Oh." Goku said. "Well I can't help you there."
"Obviously."
"Hey! Why don't we go down and talk to ChiChi and all."
"What does that have to do with anything I just said?" Vegeta asked.
"Huh?...Well nothing really, but talking to ChiChi always cheers me up." Goku said happily.
Vegeta just sweatdropped. "No thanks." he said he said, this time not able to stifle the yawn. "I'll just sit up here 'till the bell rings."
"Suit yourself." Goku said getting to his feet and walking down the steps.
After Goku was gone, Vegeta decided to take a little nap. But just before he closed his eyes, he spotted some movement on the other side of the field. Vegeta did a double take but he couldn't find what he had seen before. It had looked like a person.
I'm getting delirious. Vegeta decided.
It was strange, though. Since Monday, he had felt like someone was watching him. Most of the time, people were, like girls and teachers and stuff. But even when he was alone on the bleachers, he felt someone's eyes on him. He decided that he was getting paranoid too.
With that settled, he drifted off to sleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The same man that had been at the football field every day for the past week cursed out loud as he pulled his 'partner' Locke back behind the bleachers. He had come to this same spot and watched Vegeta every day and not once had he been seen.
"Be careful!" He whispered crudely.
"Do you think he saw us, Rehtaf?" Shadow whispered eying his lifelong friend Locke balefully.
"No." The shadowy man, now dubbed Rehtaf said peeking his head around the bleachers to see his target now sleeping. Rehtaf, of course, was not his real name. It was just code.
Rehtaf had seen that the job of capturing, torturing, and killing Vegeta was a bit out of his hands, so he had hired two supposedly experienced gunmen. Shadow was proving to be pretty talented in the job, but Locke, although he was said to be a good shot, had a bit of trouble with common sense.
"So that's our target? A kid?" Shadow asked skeptically.
"Is there a problem with that?" Rehtaf asked heatedly for being questioned. "You said you'd kill anybody right?"
"Well yeah, but what could a kid like that have possibly done to you?"
"That's for me to know! Not you! You're just supposed to help me kill him. Understand?" Rehtaf said trying not to yell, but not very successfully.
"Yes sir." Shadow said. "We understand."
"Good."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Vegeta woke up to what he thought was a person's voice yelling.
I must be more delirious than I thought. He mused, and decided to start heading in.
Giving one last glance to where he thought he had seen a person by the bleachers, he took off towards the main building.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It was now Five-forty, and Bulma was rushing to get ready for the game.
ChiChi, Juuanchi, Yamcha, and Krillin were all waiting downstairs for her to come. Meanwhile, Mrs. Briefs was giving them all some tea and cakes.
"Okay! I'm ready!" Bulma yelled running down the stairs.
"Finally." Juuanchi mumbled.
"Who's driving?" Krillin asked.
"I am." Yamcha answered.
They all walked out of Capsule Corp. and piled into Yamcha's car, all the while listening to Mrs. Briefs telling Bulma to have fun and be back by ten.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
'Come on! We're going to miss the kick off." Yamcha yelled from the ticket line.
Finally they got into the game, which had already started, and managed to find some seats. The entire stadium was packed.
"What number is Goku?" Bulma yelled to CiChi over the roar of the crowd.
"35." She answered just as loud. "Look there he is right there!" She pointed to someone, who Bulma assumed to be Goku, who was running in zigzags across the field.
Bulma tried to get comfortable, which wasn't easy because she was squashed between Yamcha and ChiChi. She didn't know a thing about football (and neither do I) and so just settled on trying to figure out whom, of the players, she knew.
She was kind of puzzled that she didn't see Vegeta on the field. If he was supposed to be the best player, why wasn't he playing.
"Yamcha." She said nudging him. "What's going on? Why isn't Vegeta playing?"
"Hm?" Yamcha said tearing his eyes away from the game for a few seconds to look at her. "We're playing defense right now. I think he plays offense."
"What? Yamcha what are you talking about?"
"Well offense is when we have the ball and are trying to make a touchdown. Defense is when the other team has the ball. Get it?"
"Oh. Yeah. So... the other team has the ball. Why don't we have it? We're playing at our school." Bulma stated.
"Well...It doesn't work like that. They decide with a coin toss."
"Oh." Bulma decided to shut up lest she make herself look more stupid. She was a genius, but she knew nothing about sports.
After identifying everyone she knew, which wasn't many people so it didn't take long, she decided to just sit there and watch the little people run around the field.
After running through the knowledge that she had just gotten from Yamcha, she concluded that neither team had made a touchdown and that the other team still had the ball. Bulma was proud of herself for figuring this out. She was starting to understand this whole football thing.
Union tackled the other team only fifteen yards before the touchdown and the coaches was getting nervous.
Just when Bulma had stored the whole offense/defense thing into her brain the Union decided to make a substitution.
Bulma was completely baffled when the announcer stated that Union was bringing number 21, Vegeta Ouji, into the game.
"Wait." Bulma said turning back to Yamcha. "The other team still has the ball. I thought Vegeta played offense"
"Well he can still play." Yamcha said not really sure how to explain it to her.
"If he could play defense, then why didn't they put him in at the beginning?"
"I don't know. It wasn't my decision." Yamcha said defensively.
Bulma decided to turn back and watch the game since Yamcha wasn't giving her any information. She was confused once again.
She watched as a guy on the other team passed the ball through his legs to a second guy. Then the second guy backed up a couple steps and threw the ball to a third guy that was waiting in the touchdown zone.
Right before the ball reached the third person, a guy in red caught it and started running toward the opposite side of the field.
The crowd went wild as the announcer screamed INTERCEPTION BY NUMBER 21, VEGETA OUJI!!!
"What just happened?" Bulma yelled to Yamcha.
"We have the ball now and we're running it." Yamcha answered without taking his eyes off the game.
"Is that good?" Bulma asked.
"YES!" Yamcha yelled but it wasn't in answer to her question.
Then the announcer yelled. TOUCHDOWN FOR UNION!!!!
If possible, the crowd's yells had gotten even louder.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Vegeta was standing in the touchdown zone with all his teammates patting him on the back and stuff.
Just for the fun of it, he decided to look at the other team's crowd. His eyes scanned all of the pissed off people's faces until they rested on one person. He was sitting in the second row, smirking at him.
Even though, he was kind of far away Vegeta could tell who it was. He'd never forget that face, especially the smirk.
A look of shock, anger, and most of all fear spread across Vegeta's face.
Could it be...?
Goku saw the look on Vegeta's face. "What's wrong?" he asked.
Vegeta snapped out of his stare at hearing Goku's voice. He looked at Goku and then back towards the man. To his surprise, he wasn't there anymore. Just an empty space where he had been sitting.
Vegeta shook his head trying to rid himself of the image and all the memories that it had caused to resurface.
"Nothing." He said quietly, and walked away.