A/N: Yes, yes; the plot thickens! Thank you for the reviews. :) This story is shaping up to be incredi-long. Ellie's eyes are blue; sorry that I forgot to mention that!

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or anything affiliated with it.

-MalRev

DEEP - SIX

5 - How To Fit In

Calculus was enormously uncomfortable on Wednesday morning. Yamcha and Tien were utterly at ease, snickering at YouTube videos while the professor droned on at the front of the classroom. They had begun to draw offensive caricatures of Krillin before Chi-Chi pinched Yamcha's ear to make him stop and hissed at both of them to be quiet. They settled down and morosely copied their notes, leading me to smile at Chi-Chi for getting them to be quiet.

She wouldn't even glance at me—her eyes were focused only on her notebook and didn't roam anywhere else for the rest of the class. I nervously wondered if I had already done something to offend her but decided she must have just been especially studious that morning. We'd only known one another for all of three days. It wouldn't have been fair for her to already render a judgment call.

The professor dismissed us a few minutes early and Yamcha turned in his seat to grin at me, finally rousing Chi-Chi's attention. Tien turned as well to regard me with the same beguiling look.

"Heard your brother broke Raditz's arm," Yamcha said breezily, like we were discussing the weather. He shook his head but his smile didn't fade. "Y'know, Tien and I are in the martial arts club but even we wouldn't want to get tangled up with the Saiyans. They're bad news."

"Owen knew what he was doing," Chi-Chi said brusquely. "He's been friends with all of us long enough to know what's right and what's wrong. Maybe he and Goku should stop spending so much time around Bulma, since she's well on her way to being inducted into the gang. Absolutely despicable."

"My brother is in a gang?!" I gasped.

Tien glared at Chi-Chi while he gathered his things.

"Of course not," he said. "The Saiyans aren't a legitimate gang like what you see in the city, just a group of rough guys hanging out together. It's not what you think."

"As if Goku would ever talk to his brother if he was actually in a gang!" Yamcha laughed and stood up, running a hand through his hair. "No, Owen isn't anywhere near being a gang member. He hangs out with all of us. It's just been… different lately because Bulma and Vegeta are kind of a thing, and Goku is trying to make up for lost time with Raditz. Nothing to worry about."

Chi-Chi stood along with them and offered me a cold smile. "That's right, just keep tutoring my boyfriend so he can coast through his classes. I'll make sure everything he actually cares about is taken care of. Thanks a bunch, Amelia."

She proceeded to grab Yamcha by the ear and drag him from the room, followed closely by Tien demanding she let him go. I sat blankly in my chair for a few extra minutes and digested her words. Was she threatened by me tutoring Goku? I didn't even know they were dating. Maybe I had been too distracted by staring at him to consider that an attractive athlete would probably have a girlfriend.

Guilt burned red hot in my cheeks and I quickly left to go to chemistry. Owen knew way too many people for me to get a grasp on them. Krillin was dating Anayte, Tien was dating Launch, Goku was dating Chi-Chi, Bulma was dating Vegeta… Christ, how the hell would I keep up?

Throughout chemistry I was hard at work taking notes and enjoying the peaceful serenity. Learning mattered more to me than worrying about my social life, so I was able to drink in what the professor communicated and felt more than ready for my first lab. Both my biology and chemistry labs were held Thursday mornings so I could have Fridays all to myself. I couldn't wait. I considered visiting home to see how mom and dad were dealing with my absence.

Launch was absent from biology, offering me yet another quiet and productive science class. I reminded myself to review cell structure and the professor dismissed class almost an hour early due to not feeling well. The other students cheered and hurried from their seats to get lunch and I plodded along after them, wondering if I should ask Owen to come home with me.

And on my way out the door, I bumped into a familiar body, nearly spilling my books on the floor.

Goku grasped my shoulder to steady me, laughing at my shellshock. I quickly pulled away and pulled my things closer to my chest while he continued to grin. Krillin was standing beside him with a towel carelessly flung over his shoulder and both of them were wearing athletic shorts with matching orange shirts. I puffed indignantly, feeling a blush coming on. Of course Goku was failing math! Every time I saw him he was coming back from the damn gym.

He tilted his head slightly and set his hands on his hips.

"Are you sure you didn't accidentally bump into my brother in the cafeteria, Ellie?" he teased. "You've always got your face in your phone."

"Shut up," I mumbled, turning my gaze down to my books.

Krillin whistled. "She wasn't like this yesterday! You must've spooked her pretty bad, Goku."

"Guess so," Goku said flippantly. I could feel his eyes on me. It was like a burn.

"Well you never told me you were dating Chi-Chi," I said, becoming defensive. I risked peering up at him to gauge his response and was kind of relieved that his eyes widened. "That would've been nice to know, because now she thinks I'm after you or something."

"You two are still dating?" Krillin asked Goku.

The taller man rubbed the back of his head, frowning deeply. It wasn't really a good look for him but it somehow felt more real than the smile he plastered on his face most of the time. Goku was definitely the most enigmatic of Owen's friends. My pulse raced at the prospect of tutoring him later on.

"We aren't," Goku said. "I'm gonna go talk to her. I'll see you at five, Ellie."

"Sure," I said.

Then he was gone, projecting the same foreboding tight smile he had when we encountered Raditz in the library. I watched Goku disappear down the hall before Krillin chuckled and caught my attention again. Oh, shit. I really needed to pay attention to who I was staring at.

I straightened with regal disdain. "Have a good day, Krillin. Tell Anayte I said hi."

When I hurried off in the other direction I could hear him laughing to himself.

Bulma was waiting outside my door when I arrived back in the residence hall. She smiled broadly; at least someone wasn't upset with me. I smiled back and waved as I approached, brandishing my key. A familiar face. Maybe she knew more about my brother's involvement with the Saiyans. She was dating their ringleader, after all, who I found to be kind of insufferable.

She swept lint off her pretty red blouse while I unlocked my door.

"So, I heard Chi-Chi gave you a hard time earlier," she said.

I raised an eyebrow. "That wasn't even half an hour ago. Does word spread that fast?"

"Yamcha and I dated for a long time. He tells me texts me all the details." She stood politely in the doorframe to hold it open while I put my things away.

"It wasn't a big deal. I'm not mad, if that's what you're suggesting. I don't want to get into any kind of drama or nonsense with her."

"That's fine with me. Chi-Chi and I don't get along—we haven't since she dated Goku and insisted I was sleeping with him. Please, he and I have known each other since we were kids. If I wanted him, I would've had him a long time ago." She paused, smirking. "Then again, Goku isn't the same dopey little brat I met in the middle of the woods."

"You two are friends?" I clarified, trying not to show too much interest.

Bulma cocked her head, still smirking disconcertingly. "Yeah, ever since I met the weird kid from Mt. Paozu when I was eight. We were thick as thieves back then and... nevermind. That's probably a better story for Goku to tell you. Anyway, we met Yamcha and Tien over the years, and Goku began his everlasting bromance with Krillin. Chi-Chi came into the picture in high school."

Huh. So Goku and Bulma met when they were very young and became friends before they met everyone else. I hung my bag off the end of my bed and walked back out of my room to lock it again.

"She can have him," I said. "I don't want to break any relationships up."

"Aww, you're not even gonna try fighting for him?" Bulma asked, pouting her lower lip.

"N-no!" I spluttered. "I met him two days ago! It's… it's none of my business. They both like the whole martial arts thing, and they've known each other for…"

"Six years. Goku just started his junior year."

"Six years," I repeated, walking briskly down the hallway with Bulma trailing behind. "I'm only here to teach him math. I don't want to be involved with him otherwise. I'm too busy watching over my older brother to worry about any other guy right now."

She smiled. "We'll see."

The cafeteria was dense with people. Bulma pulled me around, shoving aside students to help me get the food I wanted, and she sat me down at an empty table when I was cashed out. I glanced around furtively for any sign of the Saiyans or Owen's weird troupe of friends and suddenly, there were a lot of trays sliding across the table as they all sat down with us.

Krillin sat politely beside Anayte and Yamcha was between Tien and Launch. Launch leaned her head on his arm and Tien busied himself with his food, struggling to act as if she didn't affect him. Yamcha looked between the couples before irately kicking Bulma in the ankle.

She hissed. "What the hell!"

Yamcha nibbled on his French fry with narrowed eyes. "You're going to convince him to not go back to her this time, right? Because every time I do he just blows me off."

"Oh no, not more Chi-Chi and Goku fights," Tien groaned. "You two are supposed to keep them apart!"

"Working on it," Bulma said, inclining her head towards me.

Again I was reduced to flustered disagreement. "No, no, I am not getting mixed up in some long, complicated love… thing. You people are not doing this to me."

"That isn't going to stop her, anyway." Krillin sighed and he didn't seem as robust as when I had last seen him. "Goku can move on just fine but Chi-Chi always finds a way to get him to take her back again. What do you guys think it is? We've never really considered it before."

I shrank down in my seat, wishing I could disappear.

"Probably the sex," Yamcha offered in a comically serious tone. "If she screams at him like that in public, imagine how it must be when—"

"Things I do not need to haunt my memory," Bulma interrupted, holding up an index finger. "Number one on that list is definitely my best friend having sex, especially with the woman I detest."

"He's a pushover," Tien suggested.

"I don't think anyone will ever push over Goku," Bulma said.

Yamcha waved them both off, chewing his cheeseburger. "Who cares? Either way, it's bad for everyone. Bulma, you show him the texts she sent the last time they broke up. Krillin, you make sure you listen every time Goku brings Chi-Chi up. Tien… well, you've got enough of your own problems."

"Hey!" Tien said hotly.

"And," Yamcha continued, "we need our new friend Ellie to keep our friend's simple, one-track mind concentrated on his math. And maybe she could, I don't know, distract him with her own feminine wiles. An eye for an eye to intimidate Chi-Chi a little."

I stabbed my broccoli with my fork and threw a piece at Yamcha, eliciting laughter from the whole table. "Stuff it, Jeter. I'm only doing what the school asked and that's it."

We continued our lunch with a relative calmness and I actually got to finish my entire meal. I listened and laughed and smiled while everyone talked, giving me tips on professors and offering to show me around the campus if I so wished. I'd been wrong assuming they were all bad friends if they were weird. That made them all the more interesting and fun to be around.

Yamcha was the clown and Tien balanced him out with cool, collected persona. Launch was giggly and warm; another perfect foil to her boyfriend, while Anayte was withdrawn and perceiving. Krillin was a mixture of amusing and serious and the way he looked at his girlfriend… I kind of wished someone would look at me like that one day. They all meshed together like pieces of a puzzle.

The only real mysteries were Bulma and Goku. Bulma was a bit more transparent: she was the smartest in their group and sat at its head, keeping them all organized and together even if she was involved with Vegeta and the Saiyans. She straddled the line between light and dark in a way but I couldn't see either one really controlling her. Bulma was very much her own, independent person.

I chewed on a Starburst, ruminating over the penetrating black eyes that had gazed down at me the day before in the library. Goku… Goku was the really confusing part.