Gohan sat on the curb of the road opposite the entrance to his former school, awaiting his friends. Maybe he had been a little hasty when he had thought to himself that he would never have to look at her face again, to gaze into her eyes, to see her smile...Well, he could go on like that for hours.
He had completely forgotten that he had agreed to go out with a few of his best and oldest friends after the last exam, and this ruined his perfect plan of removing this town and the majority of its inhabitants from his mind. He was currently steadying himself for what he hoped truly would be the last time that he would look upon her.
After sitting for an hour, he was more than bored. The principal just couldn't wait to get rid of him, but she wouldn't allow anyone else to leave so he had been waiting completely alone.
As the door suddenly opened, he looked up to see the first ones to be free from forced education. Searching the crowd he saw the familiar faces of his companions through his teenage years. Behind them lurked Videl and her cronies.
They came into view now, the six that seemed to be the 'core' of the group. Videl was in fact wandering behind the other five, her eyes downcast. She looked as beautiful as ever, but he disciplined himself. He could not begin to have those types of thoughts. But she looked so lost and it was tearing him apart. He stood and crossed the quiet street to greet his friends.
As they all walked together along the pavement, he noticed that among the ones going in their direction were those six, who were right behind them, the males refraining from their usual remarks in fear of another beating at the hands of a rampaging Gohan. He heard a quickening of footsteps behind him and instantly knew who it was. He even knew the sound of her foot falls.
"Gohan." Was all he heard from a soft voice. He chose not to respond for the minute. She gave an almost inaudible cry of anguish, as if he had been ignoring her talking to him for days. In a way he had, but he hadn't even given her the chance to see him let alone speak to him. "Would you just talk to me?!" She screamed, turning the heads of those in the immediate surroundings.
He whipped around rapidly but she maintained her ground, despite there being mere inches between them as he bent a little to make easier contact with her eyes. "Yes?" He snapped.
"I'm sorry for what I did." Was all she could say.
"You're sorry? Well, all right. You're forgiven." He replied nonchalantly.
"What?" She was shocked at the ease of his acceptance, and she was hardly about to accept it.
"I said" He spoke in an exasperated tone. "You're forgiven. I mean, it isn't like you did anything that terrible." The look in his eyes hardly agreed with his words. "Plenty more fish in the sea." He whispered, for her ears only. "I'll get over you soon, you were hardly anything special to me anyway."
Those words hurt her, he was being vicious now, trying to purposely hurt her. "I know that that isn't true." She said out loud. He shrugged his shoulders.
"I think that this is goodbye Videl."
"Don't leave things like this between us. At least forgive me properly, you can at least give me that much. I just need to know that you don't hate me."
He honestly felt as though he had never seen a person look so sad and dejected. Maybe he had been a little harsh on her so far. Perhaps he could forgive her. But nothing more. He was still blinded by his powerful emotions and couldn't see the truth. The only reason that he thought she had spent that night with him was because of her friends. It couldn't possibly be because her feelings for him were just as powerful as his own for her.
He sighed and actually smiled down upon her. She took that as a good sign. "I can forgive you, and you should know that I could never hate you. Not truly. But I don't think that I will ever forget you or what you've done to me. The good things as well as the bad things."
"What the hell is going on here?" Matthew had muscled his way onto the scene, grasping Videl tightly by the upper arm. She shrugged him off, feeling disgusted at the contact, and wincing at the physical pain that he caused her. "Stop talking to my girlfriend you freak." Gohan just smiled at the unfortunate fellow, and then down at Videl.
"He is someone that I hate. And I hope that you get away from him soon Videl. Very soon." Gohan was indeed worried, and felt a little badly about leaving her here alone with him, he felt as though he needed to protect her and he was the only one who could. But he had to be strong, she could take care of herself. If she came to any serious harm however, he would be back here in an instant. He would know, he was sure of that.
Matthew began dragging Videl away, back to his own friends. Videl allowed herself to be pulled along, but was slightly surprised at his strength, he had never seemed quite this strong before. But she felt blissfully happy, she was forgiven. All she had to do know was to make him admit his feelings to her, and admit her own. Then all would be resolved, and they could be together. She mouthed a silent 'thank you' to him. He nodded to her and smiled as his friends began asking their questions.