The rest of the week passed quickly. I went to school, still feeling odd that I was back in the halls of secondary education. Most of the day was spent with Pan and Bra in varying amounts (some classes we sat closer than others). The afternoons were spent either wandering around the city alone or with the two girls. I got to know the city quickly; I'd always had a pretty good sense of direction once I'd seen an area once.

The area around the hotel was all shops and restaurants. About 2 blocks on the other side of the school from the hotel was a large park. It was hilly, with a stream running diagonally through. A footpath meandered around the park, hugging the stream at times, turning into a thick patch of trees before emerging on the edge of a small lake. It was a nice effect.

There was a movie theater a few blocks away from the hotel as well. One night I went and caught a late movie, a pretty generic action movie. It was enjoyable enough, but I had to shut my brain off for a little while.

Before I knew it, it was Friday, and the last full day my hotel was booked for. I went through classes distractedly, not able to concentrate for very long at a stretch. By the end of the day I still hadn't thought of anything I could do. As we left the building Pan slipped in front of me and stood facing me, hands on hips. I pulled up short at the look on her face.

"OK, what's going on with you today?"

I tried to put an expression of puzzlement on my face. "What do you mean?"

It was obvious I failed in my efforts. "You know exactly what I mean. You've been distracted all day, haven't taken any notes or anything, and barely talked at lunch. Something's up."

I sighed. Before I could talk Bra poked Pan in the arm. "I'm heading home. You two have fun with your argument."

Pan waved her off before turning her attention back to me. She waved her hand in a 'go on' gesture.

"When I got here I was put up in a hotel for a week. My time's up tomorrow and I'm not sure what I'm gonna do about a place to stay."

Pan stared at me like she was trying to figure out if I was kidding. I guess she came to a conclusion. "What kind of crazy exchange program is this? I'd like to meet the person that set this up and give him a good punch." She sighed in mock exasperation. "Come on, you're coming with me." I opened my mouth to speak, but she had already turned and was striding away. She looked back at me and waved me forward.

I followed her down the street to a parking garage. Inside we stopped at a red sedan sized car. She pulled out a set of keys and opened the door, unlocking mine with the automatic lock. I pulled it open and got in, throwing my bag in the back. She started the car and drove out of the garage. She weaved through the traffic and out of the city. Once we made it out to the outskirts she flipped a switch and the car rose off the ground, heading high into the sky. I looked out, watching the ground pass beneath me. After a bit of silence I looked at Pan.

"So, where exactly are we going?" She glanced at me and smirked.

"You're coming to dinner." I cocked an eyebrow and looked forward.

"Dinner, huh..." I stared out the window. "How far away do you live, anyway?"

"Oh, it'll be a while yet. Here," she reached down and hit a button. The car filled with music. "That'll help pass the time." She fell silent, her head bobbing gently in time with the music, occasionally tapping on the wheel. I put my head back and closed my eyes.

About 40 or so minutes later we started dropping toward the ground. I looked out and saw a pair of houses in the distance, coming rapidly closer. They were sizeable domes, one white and one yellow. They were separated by a small stretch of lawn, with clotheslines hanging across the grass. At the back part of the lawn was a garden that stretched from one house to the other, a small picket fence surrounding it.

Pan set the car down in front of the white house. I opened the door and walked behind Pan toward the door. She hopped up the two steps to the door and pushed it open. "Mom, Dad, I'm home!"

A woman's voice came at us from down a hall in front of us. "I'm in the kitchen."

Pan glanced at me and spoke softly. "Hang back for a second, I'll tell her you're here." Pan walked down the hall and into the kitchen. Her muffled voice came floating down the hallway to me. I looked around the room I was in. It was a perfect example of a living room; couch in the middle of the room flanked by two chairs, a low table in front of the couch, a large TV past that. I was stepping over to the table to look at the small set of magazines arrayed there when a cheery male voice spoke from behind me.

"Well, hello." I jumped guiltily and spun around. A tall, well muscled man was standing at the top of a short set of stairs that led down to what looked like an office. I hadn't even noticed it when I came in. He had short spiky black hair and was wearing black rimmed glasses. A white button up shirt hung on him, not quite covering the muscles in his arms. "Who might you be?"

I gulped slightly, realizing immediately who it was. My throat was suddenly dry, despite the fact that I knew this particular fighter was probably the least violent of the bunch. "Um, I'm a friend of Pans. She invited me to dinner." I held out my hand, feeling kind of foolish as I did it. "Gabriel Gray." He took my hand and shook. Even in that simple grasp I could feel the power he held just under the surface.

"Gohan," he said. "I'm Pans father."

"Dad!" We both turned and saw Pan walking down the hall quickly, her mother following. "I guess you've already met Gabe. I told him he could eat with us, if that's ok?" She looked at her father with hopeful eyes. He nodded, smiling as his daughter grinned. Then the grin fell from her face. She looked at me. "Um, Gabe, could you stay in here for a few minutes. I've got to talk to my parents about something."

I shrugged and moved over to the couch, where I sat and flipped through one of the magazines. I could hear the muffled sounds of their voices coming from the kitchen. I was engrossed enough in the magazine not to realize that ten minutes or more had passed. Suddenly I realized that someone was standing slightly ahead and beside me. My head darted up and I saw Gohan standing with his hands in his pockets, gazing at me. I smiled nervously, getting a more natural one in return.

"So," he began, sitting down in the chair to my left, "Pan tells me you're an exchange student." I nodded. "She also tells me there was a screw up or something with your living arrangements."

"Something like that. I've only got until tomorrow afternoon before I'm out of the hotel I've been staying in. I figure I'll find like a YMCA or something." He looked at me, a slight haze of confusion in his eyes. "Oh, you must not have those here."

Gohan smiled again and leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees. "Well, whatever you were planning can go out the window. We've got an extra room, and I'm going to insist that you take it."

I sat, stunned, letting that sink in. "Um…not that I'm not grateful, but why? It's not like I've known Pan for very long, I'm not even that good of a friend."

"Yes, but you're a friend none the less. And I'm not someone who's in the habit of turning my back on friends. And that extends to friends of my daughter." He shrugged. "Besides, I wouldn't feel right knowing you were out there with no where to live while I had a room going to waste. Anyway, you're staying here, and that's final." He punctuated that statement by standing. "Well, Videl should have dinner ready pretty soon, let's go ahead into the kitchen."

Gohan led me toward the hall. I stopped short when I saw Pan standing just past the doorway, arms folded and chewing her lip nervously. Gohan stopped beside her and smiled. Pan's face broke out into a mirror of that. She threw her arms around his neck and squealed softly. Gohan grinned broader and scratched the back of his head.

Pan let him go and turned to me. Gohan moved off into the kitchen. I looked at Pan, then down at the floor. "Uh, yeah, y'know…" I trailed off.

She smirked. "I know, you're so happy you're speechless. It's ok, I get that a lot. C'mon, you're gonna love mom's cooking." She spun on her heel and strolled off. I stood for a second, and then jogged after her.

About an hour later I was sitting on the bed in the room I had been given. It was on the second floor, along with a bathroom and Pan's room. At the moment my room contained a queen size bed, a dresser, a small table, and not much else. The ceiling was curved to follow the domed shape of the house. I had moved the bed from the middle of the room against the wall under the one window. The ceiling was pleasantly low above my head.

I stood and walked out of the room to the bathroom. A minute or so later I left and hung a left down the hall, stopping in front of Pan's room. I knocked softly.

"Come in," she said from inside. I opened the door and looked in. It looked pretty much like any teenage girls room; a few posters on the walls showing bands or celebrities, a desk with a computer in the corner, a bed with a bright blue cover. Pan was lying on the bed. She looked up at me from the book she was reading. "What's up?"

"Tomorrow I've gotta go get my stuff from the hotel." She nodded.

"Yeah, I figured that. We'll go around 10 or so, if that's ok." I smiled and nodded back. I turned to go, and then stopped in the doorway, one hand on the knob. I looked back at Pan, who was absorbed in her book again. "Pan?"

She looked up at me, a lock of hair falling across her face. She blew air up, floating the hair back into position. "Yeah?"

I stared at her seriously. "Thanks."

She looked back, blinking, and then smiled warmly. "It was nothing, really."

I shook my head. "It wasn't nothing, but I know what you mean. Seriously, I don't know what to say."

She smiled again. "Just keep helping me with that physics and you'll earn your keep." I half-smiled and turned, shutting the door behind me. I went back into my room and lay down, pulling my book over to me and cracking it open to where I had left off. The sun slowly dropped below the horizon, and I glanced up just in time to see the last rays disappear out of the dull red sky.

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The next day the two of us set off at about 10. The plan was to go by the hotel, get my stuff, check out, and then meet up with Bra and her brother for lunch. The hotel went quickly since I didn't have much stuff. We got back in the car after loading it up and drove out to the edge of the city. There was a sprawling complex, several large domes arrayed in a loose circle with a lawn between them. All the buildings had the Capsule Corporation logo stenciled in black across the side.

Pan pulled the car up next to one of the buildings and stepped out. I followed her up to the door. She rang the doorbell and stood back. A few moments later the door swung open. I stepped back a little when the dark-eyed glare fell on me. A short, well muscled man stood in front of us, wearing a muscle shirt and sweats, arms folded across his broad chest. His most striking feature was his jet black spike of hair, standing up like a black flame. He looked back and forth between the two of us.

"Hi Vegeta," Pan said cheerfully. He grunted in return and stepped back, eyes still on me. Pan looked at me, then back at Vegeta. "This is Gabe, a friend of me and Bras." He stared at me a moment longer, then turned and walked back into the house, saying nothing. Pan looked at me, smirking. "Don't mind him. He's not very talkative." I smiled uneasily. Pan led the way inside. "Bra!" she called. An inarticulate shout came as a reply from down the hall. We walked down it into the living room.

Bra was lying sprawled out on a large couch facing a massive TV. She had the remote held slackly in her hand, which was dangling off the edge of the couch. Pan walked up behind the couch, hopped over it, and landed just past Bra's feet. I sat on the arm of the couch on the other end. Bra glanced up at me and waved weakly. I smirked.

"Long night?" Bra grunted. Pan giggled.

"She had to go with her mother to a Capsule Corp. banquet. How long did Bulma insist on staying this time?"

"Until 1 AM," Bra groaned out. "It took another hour just to get home."

"Y'see, this is why I quit that job," came a male voice from behind us. I looked over my shoulder and saw a tall, 30-ish man with purple hair standing in the door. Pan hopped up and over the back of the couch, then hopped over and gave the man a hug.

"Trunks! Long time no see!" Trunks smirked and patted Pan on the back. Pan let go after a second and turned to me. I stood at her look. "Trunks, this is Gabe."

Trunks stepped over, looked me up and down, and held out a hand, which I took. He let go and stepped back. "Well, I guess it's good that Pan's getting friends other than Bra. She's a bit hard to get along with."

"Thanks, dad," Pan grumbled, punching Trunks in the arm. I laughed at the expression on his face. Pan strode to the couch, grabbed Bra's arm and hauled her up. "Well, are we going or what?" We did.

We ate at a small café a few blocks from the large Capsule Corp. building that housed the main offices in the city. Our conversation ranged everywhere from clothes (which me and Trunks stayed out of) to the classic 'which superhero could beat which other' (which Bra stayed out of). I spent a fair amount of the time watching people go by on the street, listening to the conversation and jumping in when I had something to say. After lunch we parted ways, me and Pan going back to the car, Trunks and Bra going home. All in all, not a bad Saturday.