Chapter 12

Open Eyes

Disclaimer- I own nothing, not the characters or the song

Summer vacation came and went for Bulla and her friends. She spent a week with her grandmother, best week ever. She got back and had to start thinking about her senior year. She nearly cried when she got her schedule on the first day of school. Everything was perfect before home room; she got up bright and early, picked out a cute outfit, fixed her hair, added a little makeup, grabbed her tennis gear and was out the door. She should have known it wasn't good anymore when she realized her homeroom teacher was no longer her homeroom teacher and her effective communication teacher wasn't who it had been for the past several years. Now it was her last year English teacher. Bulla slammed her head on the table, "I suddenly want to go home and crawl under my covers." Pan and Marron looked at her paper, "sweet we have that class together." Bulla lifted her head up and looked at her "Really?" "Yep, see." "Pan shoved her paper in her face. Period 6/7 effective communication, Period 8 Lunch with everyone, Marron, Pan, and Bulla had theater together Period 9 and Period 10 she had theater tech. with Goten. She knew it was with him because there was only one class of it and he wanted her to take it with him since they both needed something like it to graduate. "Okay so I guess I can handle it but you guys can't leave me; if you do I go home…or drop the class whichever is easier."

Bulla made her way to math; this school really was trying to kill her. Math wasn't her friend and she always had it early every year. At least she knew she had an awesome teacher and a few people she got along with were with her. Second period she had chorus again with Pan. She was a little nervous about it this year since she would have a new teacher. The other one she knew since middle school, but she moved out of state during the summer. Pan was all smiles as she walked in, apparently there was some very cute boys in her first period class. The next class went by fast and she knew it would be the easiest. Cooking, almost every senior took it because it was the easiest class offered. Goten was in this class with her too making it easy and entertaining. Soon the class ended and she went to the next class, the one she was scared about all day. What would happen in this class, would it be a repeat of last year or would it be different? Would it be for better or for worse?

Bulla walked in, her teacher smiled and told her she was happy to see her back in her class again. Bulla smiled and quickly found a seat in the back. Luckily for her Pan and Marron weren't far behind, they sat by her and talked about the day so far. Right before the bell rang Goten ran in, Bulla was surprised to see him; she never thought he was a fan of public speaking. "Goten, what are you doing here? Why are you taking this class?"
"It was this or Greek mythology English, and as much as I love Greek gods and all I don't want to read its stuff for a full year."
"When did you decide this class?"
"Last year when I got the class list and saw what I had to take." Bulla mouthed "oh" and fixed herself in the chair. The teacher started class by passing out all the mandatory papers. Sitting there, with her friends around her Bulla realized that maybe she could do, she wasn't alone, and she never had been.

School had been back in session for a few months now. Bulla had pretty high grades; she was pretty sure her teacher in her effective comm. Teacher was pushing her really hard, because Pan wasn't trying half as hard and was doing better when it came to grades but Bulla was putting forth all she had to do each speech right, making each one better than the last. Bulla was enjoying the class a lot more than she thought she would. Bulla sat at her desk really thinking about the next speech. It was a really easy topic but she wasn't sure how she wanted to go about it. It was something you wanted to tell the incoming freshman, it could be about drugs, school, classes, and rumors whatever you wanted so long as it would help the freshman do better in high school. Bulla knew her topic perfectly she just couldn't figure what to say, she had so much to say and had to pick what parts to keep and what parts to get rid of. After class the gang was walking to lunch, Bulla was still thinking about the speech. "Ugh, I hate this; I don't know what to talk about, I didn't do much in high school."
"Well we can't all be boring like you Goten, I'm going to talk about sports and not letting coaches bother you." Pan pushed Goten as she spoke. "Hey Bulla, what are you going to talk about?"
"You'll have to wait and see, I want to surprise everyone." Bulla said smiling, she was really excited about this, and she could tell this was the start of something new. "You don't have any idea either, do you Bulla?"
"I'm not like you Goten; I had a life outside of video games." Pan and Marron started cracking up at that one. "You just got burned Goten."
"Oh ha-ha guys very funny."

That night Bulla pulled out her newest story, the intro to it would be perfect for her introduction to the speech. "Attention grabber, check, three points, check, I'm good to go with this bad boy." Goten was texting her all night but she half ignored him. She told him not to come over, that she wanted to work on the speech tonight, he respected that but he missed hanging out with her so the backlighting on her phone almost never shut off. After she had the rough copy done she looked it over multiple times, was this too much, should she dull it down? Could she say this in front of the class, how would they react to it? Bulla shoved those thought in the back of her mind. She couldn't fuss over it, she wasn't turning back. After getting done with her other homework she called Goten to stop him from thinking something was wrong. After talking to him for a couple of hours she passed out on her bed for the night.

Morning came too soon as it always did. Bulla got dressed and grabbed her things for school. She hated the fact that she didn't have a car yet, because that meant Bulma had to drive her to school still. The day went by pretty fast which was nice, minus the fact that her communications class was coming up and that meant intros were due. Bulla trusted herself to do this but at the same time she wondered what would happen next. The teacher picked randomly for students to go up, the numbers were already cut because only about half of the class was prepared. "Bulla your next if you're ready." "Yea I'm ready, I think." She mumbled under her breath as she walked to the podium. "Remember Bulla you just need to give the intro so we can see if you have the needed material or not. She nodded and took a deep breath. She could do this, she wasn't scared, and she looked at her friends who were waiting for the big secret to be revealed, ready to go she looked straight ahead at the audience and started:

Music blares in the background, a single person stand by the window, the moonlight the rooms only light. Tears fall steadily down her face as a promise is broken not forgotten. A girl's dreams feel shattered a will no longer there. The same question asked every night. "Will anyone care if I'm no longer there? "This is something no one should feel or think but yet, it happens, I ask you why? Well after finding out firsthand, I found my answer. It is from poor motivation, negative comments from family and friends, and it is from the courage that is lost from all of this.

She stopped and fixed her papers, the class clapped and the teacher added her comments. "Strong opener, covers points, and gets the audience's attention, anyone else?" She looked around and a girl raised her hand, Bulla noticed it was a girl she didn't talk too much but always thought wasn't as bad as her friends. "It really painted a picture; you could see the detail in your mind." The rest of the class agreed and Bulla felt relieved. Not only was she done speaking but the class didn't react oddly towards her, now knowing what she was going to talk about. Bulla sat down and exhaled, she had a feeling her breathing got messed up because her heart was pounding in her chest. It was so common for her, anytime she did something in front of people she wouldn't breathe so when she was done she would be gasping for air.

Pan talked about Bulla's intro as they met up again and walked to lunch. "Bulla, I was blown away, but, what you wrote sounded so, so, I don't know how to describe it. How did you create it?" Bulla smiled at her, "Thanks I am happy it was well received, hopefully my speech will be as good as my intro. And I took it from my latest story. See I loved how I started it and it fit perfectly with my speech so I used it."
"Your latest story? I wasn't e-mailed about a new story."
"Well I haven't posted it yet, I'm waiting a little bit before I add it to my profile."
"Why are you waiting?"
"I'm using the speech as a test, if I can do this than I can write the story."
"I can help you if you want."
"Thanks but no, I got it, I'm just making sure I'm strong enough to write it."
"Gotcha?" Pan stated confused a little but understanding what she was trying to get at. They finally got their food and sat down with the others. Talk of the speeches ended and Goten talked about something that happened last night at his house. The rest of the school day went by in a blur for her as she thought of a lot of different things.

When Bulla got home she went to work on her homework. Something told her she wouldn't want to do it later. At dinner she didn't talk much as usual to avoid an argument with her father. He didn't say too much to her either, not anymore, it seemed to happen ever since Vegeta and Goten butted heads. Goten was over for dinner, and Vegeta started making fun of Trunks, but it wasn't funny it was just being cruel. Goten grabbed Bulla's hand under the table and tried to keep her calm because he could sense her breaking down on the inside, trying to be strong. But she exploded, after Vegeta went too far. "Why do you have to make fun of Trunks like that?!"
"Really Vegeta enough, he is your son."
"Oh give me a rest woman, the boy does it to himself."
"Bulla ran out the room, her emotions changing rapidly. Trunks said nothing, he was tired of fighting. Vegeta was Vegeta and things weren't going to change. Goten stood up with the intention of running after Bulla but stopped short of it. "Vegeta, you may be Trunks father but you have no right to say things like that. If you weren't such an ass to everyone in your family and opened your damn eyes you could see how much pain you've brought to Bulla, and probably everyone else! I don't think she can ever forgive you, not that I blame her, you don't deserve it!" With that Goten turned and went to Bulla who was in her room.

When Goten was able to get into her room Bulla was lying on her floor crying. He laid next to her and rubbed her back. "Goten what did you said to him?!" "The truth Bulla, I know I was out of line but I couldn't stand it, soon everyone, his friends, and family will be turned against him." "Let's hope that day comes soon, Goten." She said through the tears.

Bulla had moved on since that night but things never really got better, but they didn't get much worse. She was learning things she never thought she knew, from this speech. Two days before the final copies were due Bulla got back her rough draft and in big bold letter the teacher wrote Strong Speech and even underlined multiple times the word strong. Bulla got a little nervous when she looked above that though. The teacher wrote a note for her that read: Bulla- Let's talk about the heaviness of the content. She showed it to Pan who joked about it, "that's either really good, or really bad." She nodded in agreement then both swapped papers to help each other with teacher's notes before getting called up to her desk so she could help them. Bulla joked with everyone as she was called up. "Bulla sit down please, I just want to go over any questions you might have with my notes. I want you to also know that I really liked what you wrote."
"Thank you," She whispered from embarrassment from the praise.
"What you wrote is a hard topic, and not everyone can talk about it, not everyone can do that."
"It was kind of hard to write but something told me to do it, plus once I started I learned a lot about what was happening to me, I was finally able to accept my problem. This speech really opened my eyes." The two went over the speech for a few minutes, when Bulla had no more questions she thanked her and got up. Bulla a little more work to do before her speech was due, and she was ready. Never before had she been so ready to do something like this.

Bulla and the gang were hanging out in her room. Bulla had YouTube open on her computer. She was addicted to Final Fantasy videos and everyone was watching some parodies and random humor videos. After a while Bulla decided to switch to something lighter so she could go to bed tonight and not be so wound up for hours. She went to her favorite's page; she could not get enough of it. The first few bars had started when Goten asked for her hand. Pan and Marron backed up giving them space to dance. Bulla was so happy; she never would have thought she could feel this way again. She was so loved, so protected. So what if she didn't have Vegeta's support, she had others who would always be there. She found her guardians angel's and they were in the room with her, as they always had been.

When I see your smile
Tears roll down my face I can't replace
And now that I'm strong I have figured out
How this world turns cold and it breaks through my soul
And I know I'll find deep inside me I can be the one

I will never let you fall (let you fall)
I'll stand up with you forever
I'll be there for you through it all (through it all)
Even if saving you sends me to heaven

It's okay. It's okay. It's okay.
Seasons are changing
And waves are crashing
And stars are falling all for us
Days grow longer and nights grow shorter
I can show you I'll be the one

I will never let you fall (let you fall)
I'll stand up with you forever
I'll be there for you through it all (through it all)
Even if saving you sends me to heaven

Cuz you're my, you're my, my, my true love, my whole heart
Please don't throw that away
Cuz I'm here for you
Please don't walk away and
Please tell me you'll stay woah, stay woah

Use me as you will
Pull my strings just for a thrill
And I know I'll be okay
Though my skies are turning gray

I will never let you fall
I'll stand up with you forever
I'll be there for you through it all
Even if saving you sends me to heaven

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Well that's it technically this story is over and done with. Stay tuned in case I add a bonus chapter *hint, hint*. Please review. Also I don't own the song, and if you want to see the fan made video that I fell in love with just ask and I'll send you the link. If you made the video than you know I loved it because I think I commented on it as soon as I saw it. Oh yea this story I'm going to edit, change the names cause I have too and try to create a novel. Most of the story will be different expect the last few chapters I think, but I don't know yet since I haven't started it yet. Love you guys so much.

~Femalefighter~