Authors Note:

Thaaaaaaaaaaaank You! Thank you! You're all too kind! Thank you again for Reviewing! What will happen? Nobody knows—that is until you read this! Um, I don't own this except the plot as you all well know, and I think that's all I have to say. Wow. I think this is my shortest Author's Note. Go me! Keep up the good work on reviewing, and I'll keep on updating my story.

Mood: Savin' Me- Nickelback Someday- Nickelback. Did you know that I love Nickelback?

PLEASE READ THE BOLDED SENTANCE BELOW THIS!

Um, uh… it's been brought to my attention that I, um… kind of accidentally disabled the anonymous review thing… but I enabled it so now all of you who aren't members can review too. Sorry!

HIGH SCHOOL BLUES

Chapter 5

Once inside, Vegeta ran to his bedroom and slammed the door. He didn't feel safe anymore. He'd never felt safe for as long as he could remember—only until he was six, when Bruno and Liz came and brought hell down on his life. He put himself in a cradle position and rocked back and forth slowly. This always use to help him when he was younger—he hoped it could help now. He kept replaying the events in the alley over and over again, hoping to find someway to make them fake—he hoped he was hallucinating, and that everything that happened after he left to hospital was a dream.

But he knew it wasn't.

He took off his shirt and looked in his mirror. These scars represented how the state of his heart was. Tattered and broken. Everywhere he went he was turned down! Everywhere he went, nobody understood. That's what he needed. Somebody to understand him—and his predicament. Vegeta's eyes were red and felt heavy. In his heart, he felt a heavy burden, so heavy he felt he might fall over from the weight of it. He walked over to his window, and opened it, looking out. Everyone was chattering and walking on the streets without any troubles. Cars went by quickly, there were traffic jams, and light winds. Leaves blew all over the place, and Vegeta took a deep breath before shutting his window again. He heard his dad walking around downstairs, and thought he should tell him. Maybe he would go judo on Bruno's ass and stop him from hurting him. And Liz's ass too. In reality, his father was very strong, but Vegeta didn't know how strong. He might be as strong, if not stronger than Bruno. Maybe that's why Bruno left without a fight in the hotel room. But Vegeta couldn't shake off Bruno's threat.

"Now I can hurt you with nothing to lose…" Vegeta was heading to the door but stopped as the words came back into his head. "Now I can hurt you..." Bruno and Liz had always hurt him. Why was there something to lose before? Was he referring to a place to stay? Vegeta sat on the floor and put his head in his hands when the door opened. He snapped his head up and immediately acted as if nothing was wrong. He had done this so many times it was natural now.

"Do you want to talk to Bardock's brat?" His father asked softly. Vegeta noticed that he had been speaking softer for a while now; ever sense the big scene in the hospital.

"Sure," Vegeta responded hoping his voice was strong. His father tossed the phone to him and shut the door, heading back downstairs. Vegeta stared at the phone distastefully. He didn't want to talk to anyone at all. Especially not Goku. But he picked up the phone and answered it anyway. "Hi," he said flatly.

"Vegeta? I just wanted to see how you were doing…" Vegeta felt a familiar anger in his chest.

"What? Do you think I'm crazy? Or messed up? If that's the case, you'd better hang up right now, because I'm not going to talk to you."

"Vegeta—you've got me wrong—"

"Do I, Goku? Do I!"

"Vegeta, listen to me! I just wanted to see if you were okay! I called Yamcha, too! That's what friends do!" Vegeta pulled his head back a little as he heard this; it wasn't the reply he expected at all. He didn't say anything. "I'm sorry for what happened tonight. They should have let you just fight me. They were only trying to help you because they didn't know how strong you were—"

"So I'm a pussy now? Is that it?" Vegeta was being an ass now, but he couldn't help it. They had just judged him—the way he had been judged all his life. Short. A jerk. A punk. Weird. Different. In need of Anger Management. Weak. Show off. Well, he was getting sick of it.

"Vegeta! Please! If you don't want to talk to me than say so! I'm sorry I bothered you." Goku was silent, waiting for Vegeta to reply. Vegeta wanted to talk to somebody right now all of a sudden, even though he would never admit it.

"I'm…" he started debating on whether to tell Goku about everything or not… "I'm… fine." He couldn't tell him. He had too much pride. Pride was going to be his downfall someday. He heard someone yelling in the background. "Kakarott, get off the phone!" Vegeta arched his eyebrows.

"Who the hell is Kakarott?" He asked. Goku sighed.

"It's… my name." Vegeta smirked.

"Okay. Bye Kakacarrot!" Goku made a moaning noise on the other end.

"Vegeta… please…"

"Okay, okay. I won't call you Kakacarrot anymore. Bye Kaka-crap!"

"Vegeta—" Vegeta turned off the phone, smiling. Smiling until he remembered his predicament. Vegeta Sr. was coming up the stairs again, and Vegeta heard a voice, another man's come up with him. He crept his door open and looked out. The other man was a sandy blonde, tall, with dark green eyes. He was here to fix the glass door, as Vegeta heard eavesdropping on his father and the man. On his shirt, a logo read Capsule Corps. Wow. Thought Vegeta. Capsule Corporation does everything nowadays, doesn't it? The guy and his father went into the sunroom, hidden from Vegeta's sight. Nothing interesting there. He walked into the sunroom and stood at the door.

"Dad," Vegeta said making his father turn and look at him. "I'm going to the park, okay?" His father nodded and continued talking with the Capsule Corporation man. Vegeta left the house carefully watching everything around him incase Bruno and Liz came out for him again.

……………

Bulma sat on a low swing as other kids ran around laughing. She visited the park all the time. It was her favorite place to think. She saw a spiky haired teenager trudge in her direction, looking down at the ground. He was about to walk into a slide when Bulma stopped him.

"Vegeta, there's a slide in front of you." Vegeta's head snapped up and he stopped in his tracts. When he saw her, he smirked. Good. He was in an arguing mood right now. He sat next to Bulma on a swing and kicked her off hers. Bulma, not expecting this fell face-forward on the ground, giving Vegeta and a full view of her ass. She was wearing a jean mini (MINI) skirt, a black shirt that showed her mid-drift and white tennis shoes. Vegeta opened his eyes wide and stared. He wasn't expecting that to happen. She quickly turned around blushing furiously. She wiped her long blue and shiny hair out of her eyes and stared at Vegeta with pure hate. Vegeta coughed and stated,

"Well… at least I'm the only one who saw that…" Bulma growled slapped him across the face. Vegeta just looked at the ground, embarrassed. He probably deserved that. Bulma growled again and said,

"You deserved that." Vegeta looked up. Did she invent something that could read minds? Bulma gained her composer (very slowly) and sat back down next to Vegeta. Vegeta snorted and muttered,

"Nice ass." Bulma turned and kicked him off his seat. Vegeta hit the sand and slapped himself on the head. He could not believe he fell for that. Excusing the pun. Bulma smiled and said,

"Now we're even. What did you come to the park for?" Vegeta got up and sat back on the swing.

"Because," he stated simply looking at the sky. Bulma frowned. Maybe she could get the real reason out of him.

"Because why?" She inquired turning her swing towards him. A young child ran past them, being chased by a girl. Mothers were talking in the background, and kids were playing everywhere. The park was huge, and popular. They wouldn't be overheard with all the noise. Vegeta looked Bulma in the eyes.

"Because," he said again. He wanted to argue, not talk about Bruno and Liz, and troubles, and—

"I can help you," Bulma said quickly looking away. Vegeta tried to look her in the eyes again.

"What?" He questioned eagerly. Bulma bit her lip and turned around in her swing multiple times.

"I can help you…" She repeated, hoping he didn't get mad. She shut her eyes and looked at the sand below her. Vegeta grew silent then turned her swing around.

"What do you mean?" he asked sharply. Bulma took a breath and replied,

"You were lying."

"Huh?" Vegeta asked, genuinely confused.

"About Death Hill. You lied." Vegeta swiped his bangs to the side of his head again and replied,

"I lied because… I really got those bruises from… a fighting tournament back in Michigan, and I lost—I was too embarrassed to tell everybody—" Vegeta fell silent as he looked up and caught her eye. She looked sad and shook her head. She knew that he was lying. He stopped short and sighed. "It's none of your business," he stated heavily. Bulma knew she was on rocky grounds, and had to tread carefully.

"You didn't have to lie," she said hoping she was saying the right things. Vegeta glanced at her, and she noticed he suddenly looked like a child. A sad child, the one you would find all alone playing with trucks in the sand. It hurt her heart, she felt as if someone was pulling it out slowly. Vegeta looked exactly how she felt. He put his head in his hands, and then looked up.

"You know, don't you?" He asked inhaling deeply. She nodded. Well, he had asked for someone not be so clueless and to put two and two together, and now someone did. He was going to be careful for what he wished for from now on. "Then don't tell any one and we'll be friends." Bulma let her jaw drop. Why didn't he want any help? Why did he have to have so much pride? Bulma almost smiled at the thought, though. He was almost exactly like her—only more of an ass.

"Who does it?" She asked making him sit back down as he stood up to leave. Vegeta shot a look at her.

"My step-mother—no—my uncle—both! Well, no one anymore—I don't think—AHHH!" Vegeta stood up and yelled putting his hands on his ears. He didn't want to talk anymore—he wanted to die, or sleep—or die in his sleep—he thought he was going to cry again—but he couldn't. Not here. Not in front of Bulma. He just stood up hiding his face; happy he wore a big black sweater, even if it had a rip from Bruno in the arm. It was only a small rip. He was wearing dark jeans—the zipper was down and his pants were unbuttoned but Bulma didn't tell him. That wouldn't have been cool. And you couldn't see anything anyways because his sweater covered his pants—Bulma only knew his pants were undone because she saw as he got up. So they really were even, whether Vegeta knew it or not. Bulma messed with her small pigtail on the side of her head, a nervous gesture. She didn't know what to tell Vegeta now, but hoped she had the right words to help calm him down.

"Life sucks," she replied watching Vegeta closely. "I wish there was a way to change it." Vegeta sat back on the swing slowly, breathing lightly. Bulma inwardly smiled. She was doing well so far. Good. Maybe she could help him.

"I'm going home," Vegeta stated getting up from the swing again. Bulma frowned. Okay, so maybe this wasn't going to hot after all. He got up and walked away quickly, exiting the park. Bulma followed him, calling him by his name the whole time. Vegeta didn't turn around or even acknowledge her existence. Halfway to his house, he fell as he hit bumped into another person. It was an older teen, with black hair that was spiked in a Mohawk. He had an earring in his nose and eyebrow. He was tall and very broad. You could tell by looking at him that he had a six-pack. He smiled as he saw Vegeta get up quickly and angrily. Vegeta got up muttering 'bastard' and kept going to his house, Bulma and the other guy behind him. Vegeta either didn't notice, or he didn't care because he kept walking. When he got to his door he turned with rage imprinted on his face.

"STOP FOLLOWING ME!" He shouted slamming his door. Bulma pulled back, but the teen smirked and addressed Bulma.

"Wait until this guy finds out that I'm staying here for the weekend. I'm his cousin," he said and walked up the door. "But I don't know why you were following him. Boyfriend and girlfriend, right? Cute couple." He went knocked on the door and Bulma just blinked, confused. She felt that she ruined any chance she had at helping Vegeta. He probably hated her now. She sighed and took a capsule out revealing a motorcycle. She knew that there was more there than just wanting to help Vegeta. He could be a jerk, but he could be really down to earth. His sadness and anger drew her to him; it was so odd to see someone like that when you hung out with people like Goku, Krillin, Chi Chi… She opened the door to Capsule Corp. feeling like she just gave Vegeta another burden to add on to his list.

…………………

Vegeta slumped upstairs and dropped on his bed. He breathed heavily and slowly. Bulma would probably tell everyone what she knew and he would be pitied; one of the things he hated most. He would prefer to be scorned and avoided rather than receiving pity. Someone knocked on the door and his father went downstairs to answer it. There were voices and then more than one person coming upstairs. Noooooo! Vegeta just wanted to sleep right now. His door opened and the teen that he bumped into and followed him came in. What kind of crappy day was this?

"This is Zorn. He's your uncle Nappa's son. Nappa just got arrested and thrown in jail for arson. And drugs. And trespassing. And destruction of property. I would tell you more but then you would get bored," Vegeta Sr. had said this, turning his head to one side and then another when accounting all things Nappa had done. Nappa was a big idiotic strong mean guy who loved to be above others so he could use them. In a way, he was a bald stupid moronic version of Bruno. Only stupider. Way stupider. Did he mention that? Vegeta hoped Zorn wouldn't be the same way. "I'm going to put another bed in here for Zorn. He's staying with us until the end of the year. He'll get Bruno or Liz's room once everything is cleared out—" Vegeta Sr. coughed, and turned his head. The prospect of seeing Bruno and Liz again wasn't going to be fun. "But in the meanwhile he's going to stay here. Any questions?" Vegeta sneered at Zorn and replied,

"Yeah. When is he leaving again?" His father scowled and shut the door. Zorn and Vegeta just stood in the room glaring at each other. Well, Vegeta was the one doing the most of the glaring; Zorn was staring with a mix between a smirk and smile.

"Are you still going to school?" He asked sitting on a beanbag in the corner of Vegeta's room. Vegeta nodded slowly. "Good. Room to myself when you're gone." Vegeta growled and was about to retort but Zorn interrupted. "Sheesh! I was just kidding, you don't have to get all judo on me!"

"Just—leave me alone. I'm not having a good day," Vegeta snapped flopping onto his bed.

"Can you sing?" Zorn asked, ignoring what Vegeta said. Vegeta lifted his head up and replied,

"Whaaaaaat?" Zorn looked him in the eye and repeated,

"Can you sing?" Vegeta looked at him with his eyebrow arched sitting up on his bed.

"I don't know. I've never tried. I can play the guitar and piano, though." Zorn nodded and said,

"Good. Now see if you can sing." Vegeta made an odd face that clearly read 'You're whacked out of your mind' but said 'do rame ee fas a la' (low to high) with an added 'you are an asshole' in the same beat only saying it high then low. Zorn rolled his eyes, but smiled. Vegeta in fact, had a kind of low but graceful voice, (not all gruff and ruff like in the anime)—kind of like Chester Bennington's—but unfortunately he nor any other Linkin Park band member exists in this story.

"Yesssss," Zorn stated sounding like Smeagol off of Lord of the Rings. "You can sing! That's excellent! Now you can join my band!" Vegeta stared at him as if he asked him to dance on a table singing 'I'm a sexy hoe!'—A/N (don't ask).

"And I have no say in this? If you sing barney songs and crap like that, forget my joining you," Vegeta snapped looking out his window. Zorn rolled his eyes.

"Mix of hard rock and rap. What more could you want?" Vegeta rolled his eyes and said,

"Well I like rock and rap, but I've never heard of a mixture." Zorn sighed and said,

"Well now you have. I'm going down to eat lunch. You staying here?" Vegeta nodded and fell back on his day. He decided he would catch some sleep and eat later, maybe all of today's events could be forgotten tomorrow. Sighing heavily, he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Review?