Please Friendzone Me!
Chapter 10
Peer Pressure
After dinner, most of the class went outside onto a spacious terrace with a nice beach view. Cushioned benches and chairs were scattered all over the reddish-brown wooden floorboards; the teenagers made themselves comfortable in the seats of their choosing as they turned to the horizon to watch the sunset.
Sharpner glanced over at Gohan and Videl, sharing the bench adjacent to him with content smiles on their faces, as if nothing had happened. It was jarring how close those two had grown over such a short period, even more so when considering Videl's track record at making new friends in the past seven years.
He may have overreacted earlier, and maybe he shouldn't have been so harsh with Gohan, but honestly, Sharpner didn't think he would've acted any differently if given the chance. Gohan may have not deserved his hostility, but it wasn't like he knew the guy all that well. Sharpner reckoned he had every right to be wary of anyone who showed any kind of interest in Videl.
It disgusted him how some people had no scruples about using her to get to her father, somehow failing to realize what an awesome person Videl was in her own right. Sharpner would be damned if he ever let another scumbag play her again. So, okay, he may have judged Gohan too quickly, but he'd rather be safe than sorry; whether Gohan was a decent guy was irrelevant.
A cool breeze rose, and Videl hugged herself. Without missing a beat, Gohan opened his arms and offered to warm her up. Sharpner's jaw tightened as Videl shot the other guy a sheepish look and started scooting closer to him. Then she paused and shot a glance around them, evidently realizing that they weren't alone.
"What's the matter?" Gohan asked with his arms still open, ever the clueless guy. "It's not like it'd be the first time."
Videl flushed, but it only lasted a couple of seconds. Sharpner observed the phenomenon with a raised eyebrow. Had Videl always been that skilled at controlling her facial expressions?
"Wait-what-now?" Erasa bumbled. "It wouldn't be the first time? Wh… When?"
Sharpner squinted as he observed the pigtailed girl. Videl rolled her eyes, not giving away any hint of possible nervousness. Either she was that good, or he misinterpreted her body language just now. He hoped it was the latter – and wished he didn't care regardless.
"Don't start getting ideas. Gohan was upset earlier, remember? I was just comforting him."
Gohan tilted his head to the side and scratched his hair in that annoying habit of his. "Isn't it common for friends to give each other hugs?"
"Well, yeah, sure," Erasa conceded. "But well, you know, it's a bit different when it's a friendship between a boy and a girl."
Gohan frowned slightly in response. Another breeze swooshed in and Videl rubbed her bare arms again. He looked over at her, worry lines creasing his brow further.
"I wish I was wearing my jacket to give it to you."
Videl cracked a smile. "You're sweet."
She scooted closer to him and leaned in, resting her head on his shoulder. His expression softened, and Gohan wrapped his arms around Videl.
"I guess this will have to do instead," she said.
Sharpner dug his fingers in his chair cushion. He hated how natural they acted with each other. He hated how much the sight of Gohan holding Videl close sickened him.
"Is it really that different, the friendship between a boy and a girl?" Gohan questioned. "You three are super close, and there doesn't seem to be an issue, is there?"
Erasa glanced at Sharpner and shot him a sympathetic grimace; the jock rolled his eyes, having no trouble deducing what was on her mind.
"It got a bit complicated a couple years ago," he replied, drawing the other boy's attention. The blond tried to ignore how Videl's head was tucked under Gohan's chin while she made a point to stare at the sunset. "I asked Videl out, but she shot me down."
Gohan gave a long blink of his eyes, then he looked down at Videl, or rather, at the top of her head, since the girl still had her gaze fixated on the horizon. He shifted his sight back onto Sharpner, a slight crease forming on his brow.
"Does that happen often? When boys and girls are friends?" he inquired.
"It's pretty rare when friends of the opposite sex aren't attracted to each other at all," Erasa pitched in. "I mean, you know I think you're hot," Gohan blushed at that, "and obviously, I think Sharpner's hot too, but I value our friendship too much to do anything about it."
"You still hit on Gohan a lot," Videl mumbled without looking away from the sunset. Sharpner raised an eyebrow. She almost sounded like she was pouting.
Erasa laughed good-naturedly in response, waving her off. "That's because Gohan is way too cute when he gets all flustered – sorry, honey," she added to the other boy's benefit, a guilty smile tugging on her glossy lips.
He chuckled awkwardly. "Ah, don't worry about it. You're not the only one who likes to tease me for the fun of it – I'm kinda used to it, and there's no harm in it, really."
Erasa beamed at him. "I knew you understood."
"What about what happened between you and Videl back then?" Gohan asked Sharpner. He sure was curious about the topic, huh. "How did you maintain your friendship after she shot you down?"
"It was awkward for sure," Sharpner replied, being a good sport about it despite the bad memories it brought back.
"It would've been less awkward if you just let it go the first time," Videl muttered.
Sharpner's eye twitched. Did she just snuggle closer to Gohan?
"I had a major crush on you. Can you blame me for trying to fight for you?"
He didn't mean to sound defensive, but seeing Videl and Gohan all snug and cozy together was seriously pissing him off.
"I'm just saying it didn't help," Videl piled on. "I get that you can't choose who you happen to crush on, but I wish we didn't lose all those months–" She finally looked at him, "–because I do care about you a lot, Sharpner, and I seriously couldn't stand you back when you kept hitting on me."
Sharpner crossed his arms. "I was fourteen; what do you want me to say? I already apologized for the way I acted back then, didn't I?"
"I… I'm sorry, you guys," Gohan stumbled in, pulling away from Videl to look between her and the blond; he had his hands on her shoulders. "I didn't mean to dredge it all up; I'm really sorry. I'm just curious about these things because I'm not used to having friends my age, let alone girls." He averted his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck – a variant of his annoying habit.
"Being homeschooled until your junior year will do that to you," Erasa offered with a sympathetic smile. "But it's also part of your charm. It's that childlike innocence that makes you so endearing and makes us want to protect you from the evil in the world – at least I do."
The light in Gohan's coal eyes seemed to dim, and the tug of his smile felt half-hearted. "Is that so?"
"I do too," Videl agreed with a chuckle. "All the time."
The girls then gave Sharpner a pointed look. He grunted, giving in to peer pressure. "Yeah, yeah, me too. Kinda. Sometimes. I mean, you're really like a little kid about some stuff, it's hard not to get protective."
The veil over Gohan's eyes fluttered away as quickly as it had appeared; he gave a sheepish grin and scratched the back of his head.
"I get that a lot, actually."
Sharpner blew a sharp breath, partly in frustration, partly in defeat. That Gohan was practically impossible to dislike. Even with as big of a nerd he was, even with as annoyingly nice as he could get, and even despite his infuriating knack for unknowingly and effortlessly charming any and every girl he seemed to encounter – Sharpner could never find it in him to hate the guy.
Maybe he was too much of a softie inside despite his tough-guy exterior. That side of him was something both Erasa and Videl liked about him, so he supposed it wasn't all bad. Besides, it was best he got along with Gohan considering, much like all the other girls at school, his two best friends were completely under his spell. Sharpner still had trouble believing that even Videl couldn't resist Gohan's natural charisma. Heck, even he wasn't impervious to it. Gohan was just too likable for his own good.
It was annoying – but he did like the kid.
Still, the blond jock wasn't comfortable with how close Videl was to Gohan. Another breeze made her shiver, and the two black-haired teens naturally leaned in to share their body warmth once again.
He looked over at Erasa, who watched the embraced pair with a kind of motherly expression. Sharpner wondered if she'd noticed the same thing about Videl and Gohan or if it was just all in his head.
He wished the thought didn't worry him so much. It wasn't like he had any say in the matter anyway – Videl made that very clear two years ago. So if she ended up liking a guy, it certainly wasn't any of his business.
At least, if the guy turned out to be Gohan, Videl would be with someone decent. More than decent, if Sharpner was honest with himself. There was some comfort in that fact.
When one of his classmates suggested a game of truth or dare, the prospect made Gohan more than a little nervous. They had all snuck out of their hotel rooms after curfew to buy snacks in a convenience store before heading to the beach; going along with that didn't make the straight-A student all-too comfortable either.
Gohan supposed he could've declined the invitation, but his classmates were all in on it – all eighteen of them – and he didn't want to be left out. After all, the point of going to high school was to try to fit in and be a normal kid, right? Or at least as normal as a teenage super-powered alien hybrid could be.
Besides, he couldn't deny that there was a kind of thrill in breaking the rules, in doing something you weren't supposed to, and even, in taking the risk of getting caught. Perhaps that was just his adolescent brain talking – even he must have a few rebellious cells after all. This was just harmless fun anyway; they were just sitting on blankets in the sand and hanging out, so it wasn't like they were causing trouble.
After several rounds of truths and dares, Gohan quickly changed his mind. This game was trouble.
The demi-Saiyan decided he needed to choose "dare" whenever his turn came. All the questions for "truth" were super invasive and downright mortifying. There was no way Gohan would ever be able to show his face in class again if he had to answer any of them.
"What's the strangest dream you've had?"
Gohan rubbed his face, wishing he could disappear. Please don't remind me.
"Have you ever fantasized about someone you know?"
Please, please, PLEASE don't ask me that.
"Who would you like to kiss from the class?"
NOBODY!
Goodness, this one almost made him choke out loud. Why were those questions all reminding him of the one thing he was desperately trying to get out of his head?
And then there were the truths that would have positively outed him and everything he was hiding from everyone.
"What's a secret you've never told anyone?"
"What's the worse thing you've ever done?"
"What's your biggest regret?"
"When was the last time you lied?"
Seriously, Gohan might as well just tell everyone he was half-alien on his father's side, that he fought Cell, forced his dad to sacrifice his life because he was too stupid and disgusting to kill Cell when he had the chance, and that thanks to that, his little brother was growing up without a dad. Granted, the last one wasn't incriminating. Still, he wouldn't want to share something so personal with his peers, and certainly not in such a context.
Not to mention that the last time he lied was just a few hours ago when he apologized to his classmates for being "reckless"; how the heck was he supposed to explain that one?
So, no, Gohan wasn't planning to ever choose "truth." Most definitely not.
Alas, his turn was still unavoidable. Hanging his head, Gohan closed his eyes and replied, "Dare."
"Take off four items of clothing!" exclaimed Casey, causing most of the girls to squeal as though they were in a boyband concert.
The half-Saiyan let out a dismayed sigh. He supposed it could've been much worse, what with some of the dares other kids had had to do so far. Like when Kit was dared to do a lap dance for Ruler, or when Pencil was dared to twerk for two minutes – something Gohan wished he could unlearn and unsee – or when Erasa was dared to do a sexy crawl.
Other dares were a lot simpler, however; all Booker had to do was stuff as many snacks as he could in his mouth. As for Sharpner, he simply did a hundred squats, and Angela was dared to do a handstand – which she failed to, but for Gohan, that would've been a breeze. Heck, he could support and balance all of his classmates' weight as well as his own on his little pinky, and it still wouldn't be a challenge. Not that he should or ever would be dared to do something like that anyway, but his point still stood.
Like, seriously, Booker was dared to eat! How unfair was that?
How he envied those much easier dares.
Angela catcalled at him, "Come on, stand up and strip!"
He did as he was told – and then cursed himself for taking off his shoes and socks when he had settled down on the blanket. Crap, am I even wearing enough items of clothing?
There was his jacket, his polo shirt, his chino pants, and… Oh, thank goodness for his belt! At least he could still keep his underwear on.
Keeping his eyes shut the whole time, he started taking off his jacket – the squeals got louder.
It was still better than choosing "truth" and either out his secrets or his very vivid dream about Videl. Yep, this was better. He was just showing some skin.
That wasn't even what bothered him about his dare. With Son Goku as his father and role model, it was only natural for him to grow up being comfortable in his body. Gohan wouldn't have cared so much about stripping down to his underwear in front of a small, intimate audience, but before his whole classroom? Feeling all eyes on him was making his skin crawl, and the girls' over-enthusiasm wasn't helping one bit.
Still, he wanted to be a team player. Everyone else had taken on their challenge; nobody had backed down, be it the embarrassing questions or the various dares. If he wasn't going to play along, he might've as well stayed in his room and gone to bed.
Next was his belt.
"That's two," he mumbled. He doubted anyone heard him in the ruckus the girls were making. Now they were chanting his name and clapping their hands in rhythm.
And then his polo shirt was off. The girls were going wild. Gohan refused to open his eyes still.
Teenage girls were scary.
Lastly, he lowered his pants and stepped out of them.
Wait, what kind of underwear am I wearing?
Gohan quickly opened his eyes and looked down at himself; amidst the crazy hormonal cheers, his soft sigh of relief went unnoticed. He was wearing plain, white trunks. He hadn't paid much attention to what he grabbed when he got ready earlier, and for a second Gohan feared he'd put on something embarrassing such as close-fitting boxers, which would've revealed way too much of his anatomy – or even worse, his teddy-bear underwear, which he may or may not have packed without noticing. Why would his mom even get him those? He was sixteen – no, seventeen years old, for goodness' sake!
Gohan kept his head lowered, still unwilling to face his classmates as he stood before them half-naked. The squeals and shrieks were quieting down, replaced with awed and excited whispers and comments about his physique.
He was getting light-headed from all the blood gathered in his head.
"Dude, how are you that ripped?" Binder blurted out.
"I'm a martial artist," Gohan muttered, trusting that this one fact explained everything – it was the truth anyway. He hugged himself and rubbed his bare arms. "Can I put my clothes back on now? I'm cold."
"Sure, sure," Casey giggled. "Thanks for the show!"
Gohan quickly got dressed and sat back down. He still couldn't find it in him to raise his head and face his classmates. He brought his legs to his torso and tightened his arms around them. This was one experience he never wanted to repeat.
His ears were burning up. The girls were still gushing over him, and they weren't even trying to be discreet about it.
"My God, he's so hot…"
"Did you see his abs?"
"Girl, that's all I could see."
"If perfection needed a model, Gohan would be it."
Giggles. "I know, right?"
More giggles. "And look, even Videl's all flustered."
"Hey!" retaliated the girl in question. "I am not!"
Gohan couldn't resist the temptation: he peeked over his arms toward Videl to see it for himself. It was hard to tell whether she was red in the face because of him or because she was mad at the curly-haired girl for that comment.
"It's okay, Videl," Pochette went on, notes of amusement in her voice. "I mean, unless you weren't into guys, it'd be weirder if you didn't react at all to the sight of Gohan's gorgeous body."
"Can we please stop discussing my body and move on?" Gohan implored. "This is making me very uncomfortable."
"Well, it's your turn to ask truth or dare," Erasa pointed out. "Who will you choose?"
"Um…" Gohan swept his gaze over his classmates, taking notes of who hadn't played yet.
His sight stopped on Videl, who was still throwing mean glances at Pochette. If he picked her for his turn, he could spare her the kind of embarrassment he just had to go through.
"Videl," he said, drawing her attention. "Truth or dare?"
She blinked at him. "Um, truth?"
"Okay…" Now, what to ask Videl? He did mean to make it easy for her, but this was kind of a golden opportunity to ask her anything he wanted.
Gohan shook his head. He could just ask her when it was just the two of them. There was no need to do that when they had an audience.
"Ask her if she's got anyone she likes!" Penny urged him. Gohan looked over at her and paused, considering the suggestion against his better judgment.
"H-Hey now," Videl stammered, "you're not supposed to influence him. Gohan's got to come up with a question on his own."
"He's taking a while, so I'm just offering my insight," Penny said with a grin. "Why? Are you nervous?"
Videl pursed her lips and clutched the fabric of her pants, her shoulders all tensed up. Her very apparent objection to that question only made Gohan more curious about what her answer might be.
"Ask her, ask her!" Angela chipped in. "I wanna know too!"
More of his classmates encouraged him to ask Videl that question, boys and girls alike.
"Um, maybe let Gohan choose what he wants to ask?" Erasa offered. "You guys had or will have your turn, but this is Gohan's, so he gets to ask Videl what he wants. It's not cool to pressure him to ask Videl what you want when he played along and did his dare without a word of protest."
The others grumbled in response, but Erasa's reasoning must have gotten through because they fell quiet. Videl looked at her best friend with a grateful smile, to which Erasa responded with a wink.
Gohan bit his lip. The more he saw how much Videl obviously didn't want to answer that question, the more he died to ask it. He knew he shouldn't – he picked Videl for his turn because he wanted to make it easy for her, and asking her that would do the opposite.
No, he shouldn't. He really shouldn't. What was it to him anyway, whether Videl had someone she liked? It was none of his business.
A lump rose in his throat as he observed the pigtailed girl.
Did Videl actually have someone she liked?
He shut his eyes tightly, his shoulders all tense. "I'm sorry, Videl, but they got me super curious."
"Wait… What?" she bumbled.
"Do you have someone you like?"
"Atta boy!" Penny cheered.
"Shut up, Penny," Videl snapped.
Oh, geez, she sounded mad. He was in trouble now, wasn't he? He shouldn't have given in to temptation. The whole point of choosing Videl was to ask her something easy. Why did Penny have to get that idea into his head?
Well, it was too late to take it back now. Gohan blew a long breath before opening his eyes to look at Videl.
She was gritting her teeth, glaring daggers at him. Gohan gulped.
"Fine," she spat. "Yes, I do have someone I like. Happy now?"
Gohan felt his breath hitch.
"Oh my gosh!" a few girls exclaimed.
"Who is it?" Casey pried.
Videl sneered. "Wouldn't you like to know? Spoiler alert: you never will."
"Aww, don't be like that," Kit said. "We've all had to reveal or do embarrassing stuff. That's the whole point of the game!"
"And now you get to ask truth or dare," Sharpner reminded her with a smirk. "It's a chance for revenge."
"Is that right…" Videl turned to her target with a feral smile. "Penny. Truth or dare?"
The brown-haired girl gave a nervous chuckle. "Truth."
Videl squinted at her. She took a few moments to think about it before asking: "Are you a virgin?"
Penny's eyes doubled in size, and her face flared up. Sharpner snickered.
"That's what you get for pissing Videl off," he taunted the girl.
Penny cast her eyes down, her cheeks still bright crimson. "I'm… not."
Most of the class went "Ooooohhh…" in response. Penny's blush turned an even deeper shade of red.
While all this happened, Gohan had yet to tear his gaze off Videl. His brain was still stuck on her answer.
She liked someone.
Videl liked someone.
He didn't understand why he had this sinking feeling in his chest.
Who was it? Was it someone he knew? Since when had Videl liked that person? What did she like about them? Who was it?
And why did it bother him so much?
The game went on, and eventually, everyone got their turn. But the teenagers were nowhere done playing, so they started over.
Videl was still seething and throwing dark looks at Gohan, who was avoiding her gaze with his head hanging. How could he put her on the spot like that? She could tell that it hadn't been his intention at first, but he let himself be influenced by that damn Penny, and now everyone knew her secret – or at least part of it.
Well, that nosy annoyance got what she deserved. It had been a low blow; Videl was aware of that. Asking a girl if she was a virgin was a sure way to enable others to judge her no matter what she answered. But Videl was having trouble feeling sorry for Penny when she was the reason why Videl had been forced to admit something she had planned to take to the grave.
Her second turn came a lot faster this time around, but it wasn't surprising considering who picked her.
Penny glared at her with a nasty sneer. "Videl. Truth or dare?"
"Dare." Like she was ever going to choose "truth" again.
The other girl smirked, a glint of triumph in her eyes. She didn't even take some time to think about what to ask; she had obviously already made up her mind – and she was out for blood.
"Make out with Gohan for two minutes."
"NO!"
Videl was shaken out of her own shocked outrage by Gohan's vehement interjection.
He had turned completely red and was making wild hand gestures as he went on. "I-I mean, it's not even my dare – that's not fair! Why do I have to be involved in Videl's dare?"
"I had to do a lap dance for Ruler," Kit reminded. "Sometimes a dare can involve other people; it's not against the rules."
"But, but…!" Gohan trailed off and swallowed audibly. He dug his head into his shoulders, his whole body tensing up.
"Oh, come on, quit complaining," Paper said, rolling his eyes. "You get to make out with one of the hottest girls in the school. Do you know how lucky you are?"
"Shut up, Paper," Videl gritted out.
Why was this happening? Did Penny somehow figure out who her crush was, or did she pick Gohan randomly? Or maybe she blamed him for listening to her suggestion and getting Videl mad at her. She was certainly succeeding in getting back at both of them in one turn with this dare.
"Do… Do we really have to?" Gohan whispered in distress.
Videl clenched her fists. She couldn't help feeling vexed by his fervent protest. Was the thought of kissing her that unappealing to him?
She crawled on the blanket to move closer to Gohan, who tensed up even more.
"There you go," Penny said. The satisfaction in her voice gave Videl the strong urge to punch her in the mouth. "You don't have a choice anyway."
Gohan's lips quivered as he looked back at her, sitting next to him. "This can't be happening," he whispered.
Videl sighed. He really didn't see her that way, huh?
"It's just a game," she said. "No need to make a big deal out of it."
"But…" He trailed off and pursed his lips.
She got on her knees and placed her hands on his shoulders.
"Come on, kiss already!" Pencil shouted.
"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" the class chanted.
Gohan turned on his spot to sit facing her. Her heart pounded as he started leaning in, and Videl let her eyes slide shut. He grazed her cheek with his fingers. Goodness, she was already melting.
It was really happening. Gohan was going to kiss her.
Would it hopefully help her get over him? Maybe there wouldn't be any spark, or it wouldn't be any good, and then surely her feelings for Gohan would change.
Then again, it could very well backfire and make her fall even harder for him. But then, even if the kiss was amazing, Gohan still wouldn't see her as more than a friend, so it wouldn't actually be any different than the current situation.
Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing, this dare. It was her one chance to share her first kiss with the boy she liked without it having to mean anything. Things would probably get somewhat awkward for a bit, but other than that, nothing would change between them.
She got to kiss Gohan, no strings attached. It was kind of perfect.
He paused mere millimeters from contact; she could feel his breath on her lips. Their classmates' chant died down as the tension rose to an all-time height.
"Is… Is it really okay?" he whispered.
"It's just a game," she said again, even though her heart was going crazy with anticipation and excitement. "Let's just get it over with."
Gohan stayed silent. Videl was tempted to just grab his face and kiss him herself – since they didn't have a choice in the matter, she might as well make the most of it. Still, she waited for him to come to her at his own pace. It would likely be his first kiss too.
And then… Gohan pulled back. The other teens booed at them. Videl blinked her eyes open. Gohan turned away, his face redder than a tomato, and covered his mouth and nose with his large hand.
"I-I-I'm sorry. I can't do it," he croaked out.
"Dude, are you serious?" Paper asked in disbelief. "You're passing up on the chance to make out with a girl as hot as Videl?"
"That… That's not the issue." Gohan sighed and ran a hand over the nape of his neck. "Look, it may sound silly to you guys, but… it would've been my first kiss. And I just… I don't want it to happen like that."
Oh.
These words felt like a slap in the face.
He said he didn't want it to happen like that… He meant, with her, didn't he? Well, of course – why would Gohan want to waste his first kiss on a girl he had zero romantic interest in? Why else would he be so against going along with her dare in the first place?
If he hadn't put her in the friendzone earlier, this would've done the job just as well – if not better.
It was embarrassing to admit his inexperience, but Gohan knew he did the right thing. A first kiss shouldn't happen because of a dare.
His confession made a lot of the girls go:
"Aww, how sweet!"
He turned to Penny with pleading eyes. "Can you please give Videl another dare?"
"That's not how it works," she said with a scowl.
"Well, it's not his dare," Erasa reasoned.
"The rules are a little fuzzy on the matter," Ruler went on, arranging his glasses. He shrugged. "But since it wasn't his dare, I guess he should have a say in it?"
A murmur of agreement rose between the teens. Penny crossed her arms and pouted.
"It's so not fair. Videl got her revenge. Why can't I get mine?"
Sharpner rolled his eyes at her. "You're the one who started it. Just let it go, Penny."
"You went too far," Erasa piled on. "You know Videl's never been kissed before. Forcing both her and Gohan to have their first kiss on a dare, that's very uncool."
"Oh…" Gohan glanced over at Videl. She had her head lowered, her bangs hiding her eyes.
"Fine," Penny grunted. "I'll give Videl another dare then."
"I don't want to play anymore," Videl murmured, getting to her feet. "I'm going to bed."
Some of them protested, but most of the class agreed to end the game here and turn in for the night. Gohan felt that same sinking feeling in his chest as he watched Videl hurry off without a look back.
He… He did the right thing, didn't he?
I deprived myself of sleep to write this chapter lol, so I hope you enjoyed it! Please don't forget to review! :D
April 6, 2022
