Chapter 1:

The strategy


Serena was angry as she hit the rim of the basketball hoop with the basketball again. She failed at getting the ball inside the basketball hoop, but she had other things on her mind. She was angry at herself for still liking Darien even after knowing that he didn't feel the same and that he had a girlfriend.

Why can't she erase her feelings?

She hit the rim of the basketball hoop again. The next class was with Bulma and Milk, and she didn't have the heart to tell them about the result of her declaration. The one she had been anticipating for months.

"I am such a disgrace," Serena said as she held the basketball again in her hands. Her mind was definitely conflicted.

"I don't think so. I just think you need to improve the technique because the strength is there," a male voice said. Serena looked around and found a tall boy with spiky black hair and brown eyes. He didn't wear his school sweater vest and only had the shirt on with the necktie loosened up.

He looked like he just got out of a fight.

"Pardon me?" Serena asked, feeling unsure about the boy that walked towards her.

"You only need to practice more. I think you can make a good shot after you perform the move properly." He was now beside her, and as she looked at him more closely, she noticed a cut on his right cheek.

Maybe he really did just got out of a fight…

"Your cheek…"

"Oh right! I was going to the infirmary to get this cleaned up!"

"But, the infirmary is closed for today. There is a bulletin at the school that says that the nurse will be absent for today."

"Damn it!" The boy panicked now. "I can't enter class like this! The teacher will scold me again."

Serena looked amused at the boy, and for the first time since the weekend, she laughed, catching the boy's attention right away.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing, it's just that I thought I was the one being the most distracted person today, and you just came and took that place," she said as she took from her uniform jacket a little spray bottle and a cotton patch.

"Why do you have thi-" he began before she was on her tiptoes and sprayed him with what looked like a disinfectant antiseptic-

"OW! OW ow! It burns!"

"My little brother is the star of a soccer team, so I need to be prepared when I go to see him at his practices after classes," she said softly, feeling already better after talking about something else. "So I always carry around these two things and some band-aids."

"Oh," he said slowly as he watched her. She was still on her tiptoes as she put the cotton patch softly on his cheek after blowing it a bit with air.

"Done!" She said with a smile, and then the bell rang, marking the end of their recess.

"Than-"

"Oh shoot! I have to go to prepare the tools for the class!" Serena shouted as she remembered that it was her turn to put out the ingredients for her cooking class. She needed to go, NOW! "I have to go now, but I'm thankful for the compliment!"

She blamed her feelings and Darien for her sudden forgetfulness; she always prepared them in advance when it was her turn.

She waved him off as she ran towards the building where her class was held with her jacket in her hands, leaving the basketball and a puzzled boy behind.


"So, did it work? " Serena was placing the bowl and the eggs slowly on the table while Bulma talked to her. "Are you boyfriend and girlfriend now?"

"Nope, he took my declaration as a joke at first," Serena said with a bitter tone.

"You're kidding me! Don't tell me you got nervous and-"

"No, I did it perfectly, and he still thought of it as a joke because my smile was weird."

"But you smile weirdly when you're trying to hide your nervousness," Bulma said in a low voice.

"Yeah, but it seems that he didn't know that."

"Oh, c'mon, Serena! You cannot think that your future boyfriend will know right away your mannerisms as a friend does!"

"But-"

"Not all people are perfect or observant, and you have to accept that."

"I know, but," Serena said, trying to defend her point. "Bulma, let's not forget that he doesn't like me that way…"

"That can be changed with time if you talk to him more."

"And he has a girlfriend."

"Oh?" Bulma was now more interested. "Did he tell you about her before? Because I don't remember you telling me about that."

"No…"

"Then he probably doesn't think about her too seriously, so you may still have a chance!"

"I don't think so," Serena let out a breath and looked at her friend. "Listen, when Darien took my confession as a joke, I got mad, and I wanted to cry."

"Understandable. Did you get mad at him, and scream that he was an idiot for not taking you seriously? Because no matter how handsome he is, I would call him out on it."

"No, I told him I was practicing with him. That the boy I loved was back at my school, and I was nervous about it." Bulma held her breath. "And he pretty much told me that it is difficult for someone to take me seriously as a girlfriend, and that made me angrier. I told him I will have a boyfriend by his stupid Valentine's event at his college."

"SERENA, YOU'RE A GENIUS!"

"What?!"

"Why is Serena a genius now?" Milk asked as she entered the class. Bulma made signs for her to come closer to them. "Oh my god, Serena, what did you tell her? She is in her calculative mode now."

"Listen, Milk! Serena just unconsciously made the perfect strategy to have that boy!"

"To have? Did he reject you?" Milk said, looking at Serena with a bit of worry.

"Yeah, in some way."

"DETAILS!" Bulma shouted. She was in her giddy mode now. "What that idiot needs is to see Serena appreciated by another guy that isn't him! He won't see what he had until he loses it!"

"Idiot? Did he do something stupid to you?" Milk was getting angry now.

"Well, he kind of made me cry, but-"

"He's an idiot, however, he is a HANDSOME IDIOT, MILK!" Bulma said excitedly. "We know he's smart and that Serena likes him a lot even with his errors. He just needs to open his eyes and to leave his girlfriend after he sees Serena being happy with someone else!"

"He has a girlfriend?!" Milk intervened while cracking her knuckles now, "and he didn't tell you?!"

"No…"

"Because she is not that important to him. That is the perfect proof!" Bulma was excited, but Serena and Milk weren't.

But this was Bulma. She will make everything go as she planned when she proposes it. She wasn't one of the smartest people in their school for nothing. Her studying strategies and her curiosity made her a great rival to Amy's.

They can't stop her now.

"Let's find your boyfriend during the ten-minute break!"

"Wait! Bulma, what do you mean by that?!"

She could not be thinking of…

"The pretend boyfriend, of course! You will need someone to date to make him jealous." She said with a big smile. "So Krillin is out because he has Lazuli. The other capable person could be Ten shin han but he has lunch already so tough luck, and we will exclude of course Umeno, the guy with glasses, because he clearly has a crush on you, and we don't want him to fully believe-"

Serena looked at Milk, wanting her to get her out of the mess Bulma was getting Serena into.

Both knew that they couldn't stop her when she had something in mind, but Milk can at least try to change her mind, or at least the plan.

"What about Goku? We know him, and I am pretty sure he can help us." Milk suggested with a smile.

Serena just stared at her, feeling betrayed.

"Are you sure?" It was Bulma's time to look at Milk, surprised. "After all, Goku was your…"

"We were a thing in middle school. It didn't work out, and now we are just good friends, Bulma." Milk said with honesty as she saw the teacher finally entering to begin class. "And I am sure that he will be a great friend to Serena. He is really flexible."


"So, what do you think, Goku?" Bulma said to her old friend. They found him practicing basketball on the school basketball field. "Serena is pretty, and she needs you."

"Hmmm, let me think about it." He threw the basketball ball towards the basketball hoop, scoring a goal.

"It can be a great opportunity!" Milk began with a smile. "You told me how your friends were going in pairs to the amusement park this Sunday. With her, you can have a good reason to convince your friends to go."

"That is a good point." Goku caught the ball in his hands as it bounced back to him.

"And it will only be for a few months!" Bulma added with a convincing smile. Goku knew by then that she was serious about this, and he needed to come up with a good reason to back her off.

"How can I pretend to be her boyfriend if I have never seen her? I've been hearing that Serena is such a good friend since forever, but I haven't met her thanks to our classes being in different buildings."

"For this semester." Bulma had her evil smirk, and Milk and Goku gulped. "Next semester, I will make sure you get transferred to our building."

"How?" Goku didn't know how he managed to ask that.

"Don't worry about that, my dear friend. Leave the preparations to me."

"Alright, creepy scientific girl aside," there was a loud 'Hey!' from Bulma's side, "we will present you, Serena, tomorrow, and you will marvel at her cute blue eyes and her naturally blonde hair! Even her hairstyle is quite endearing-"

"Is her hairstyle a mix of two buns that make her pigtails fall like waterfalls?" Goku asked eagerly.

Bulma was surprised, and Milk only smirked with interest.

"Yes, that's her," Milk said as Goku turned around fully now, and she noticed for the first time the cotton patch on his right cheek.

"I will do it then."