Senior Year, Three Years Ago
"Would you look at that," Taffetta practically purred as Son Goten strolled past them, "Between him and your brother, I don't know which one gets me hotter."
Bulla grimaced, "Please don't. I just ate."
"Seriously, I'm so bummed out that Trunks graduated. I miss staring at him. What's he been up to? Is he still with that blonde girl?"
"Yes, Taffetta, my brother is still dating Marron."
Her best friend let out a disappointed little sigh. "Does he have a girlfriend?" Taffetta nodded toward her brother's cheeky friend who was currently leaned back in his seat, fingers laced behind his head engaged in what Bulla could only assume was a deep meaningful conversation with a red-haired girl who's push-up bra was working overtime. Bulla rolled her eyes. Nothing out of the ordinary there.
"I don't know, and I don't care."
Bulla's gaze flicked to the boy sitting in front of Goten and a swarm of butterflies thrummed to life in her chest and her palms warmed.
Madras Shirt.
He was so gorgeous, she nearly forgot to breathe every time she snuck a glance in his direction.
He had a lean, muscular body courtesy of his spot on the school swim team. A perfect, chiseled jaw, pink pillowy lips and messy golden blonde hair that he was always brushing out of his dreamy blue eyes and when he smiled, he had the cutest little dimple that would reduce any girl to jello.
He'd held her heart in his hands ever since he'd asked to borrow her purple crayon on the first day of kindergarten.
A fact he was utterly oblivious to.
In fact, he seemed to be completely unaware of her existence period.
Well, today that is going to change, for better or worse.
"Yes, I suppose your mind is elsewhere… speaking of which, are you actually going to do it or are you going to chicken out?"
"I'm doing it." Bulla said with as much confidence as she could muster.
"Well, there he is. Shoot your shot." Taffetta smirked, waggling her perfectly shaped brows.
"Not yet." Bulla whispered.
"Chicken." Taffetta hissed, letting out a slew of exaggerated clucks.
"Shh! Cut it out! I am not a chicken!-"
The loud ring of the bell interrupted Bulla. A hush fell over the classroom and students scrambled into their seats as their professor entered, her heels clicking over the tile floor as she made her way to her desk and retrieved a thick stack of test booklets.
"Alright, I hope everyone studied because today is the big day, a pre-sharpened number two pencil should already be on your desk, and I'd like to remind everyone that if I see any cell phones out during the test, that will result in an automatic fail. So if you haven't already, put them away…"
The hour crawled by at the pace of a snail but Bulla finished her test first, as usual.
She'd agonized over the perfect way to approach this situation for weeks. If he would not ask her out, fine, she'd ask him. She would make him notice her.
Bulla had never asked a guy out before. She hadn't realized how terrifying such a venture would be until she stood in front of him flanked by the rest of the swim team and her throat had promptly frozen shut. What if he said no? She'd die of embarrassment.
That's when the idea came to her, a note.
It was perfect. Discreet. And with any luck, he'd think it was adorable, and then she could stop doodling 'Mrs. Madras Shirt' every time she touched pen to paper and be well on her way to securing the title and having his beautiful blonde babies.
This was the longest hour in history.
Bulla's hands grew clammy as the long hand on the clock crept closer and closer to the six. The note in her pocket felt heavier and heavier by the second. Unable to help herself, she discreetly peered over at her crush. He was leafing through his test booklet, carefully checking over his answers, pausing from time to time to chew thoughtfully on his eraser.
The click of the door opening momentarily snagged Bulla's attention. Mrs. Penn's TA peeked in, motioning for the older woman to join her in the hallway. Bulla's heart quivered in her chest as the door snicked shut. This was her chance.
Now or never.
Bulla sucked in a breath, fishing the lovingly folded piece of notebook paper out of her pocket and tapped Taffetta on the shoulder with it. The brunette gave her a wink before handing it off to the girl in front of her, who slipped it to the boy in front of her.
From one hand to another, it made its way down the row until at last it reached the boy beside Madras and he reached out to place it on her crush's desk.
Before it was snatched away from him...
By Goten.
"Oh, that's mine, thanks man."
The youngest Son turned, flashing her a grin as he moved to sit atop his desk and slowly, deliberately unfolded her carefully constructed love letter.
"Well, well, well, this is… interesting."
No! Nononononononono.
Pure fury replaced the jittery nervousness that had been coursing through her body all day. Refusing to sit and watch whatever horror was about to transpire, Bulla hissed. "Goten, don't you dare!"
"Bulla, I am trying to read." He tsked.
Bulla jumped up from her seat, frantically eating up the distance between them. Goten all but danced away from her, holding the object of her outrage just out of reach. When she got her hands on him, she was going to kill him, slowly. "Give it back right now, Goten!"
"Settle down, Princess."
"Give it back and I will!" She swiped a hand to grasp at the paper but he just lifted it higher, knowing she couldn't use her powers in public to get it away from him, and then he laughed at her.
"But I'm not done with it yet!"
Everyone was looking at her now, she felt all of their eyes burning into her. This was the very thing she'd been hoping to avoid. No, actually, it was a thousand times worse.
"Oh, you're going to be done alright!" Bulla's cheeks burned with hot anger as he smirked down at her. "Give it back to me or I'll-"
"What is going on here?!"
Bulla whirled around to find herself almost face to face with Mrs. Penn, her stern, beady-eyed gaze skewering the two demi-saiyans in place.
"Goten, what is that in your hand?"
"Nothing." Goten replied, nonchalantly folding the paper and stuffing it into his back pocket.
"I don't think it is nothing. Clearly it's something that needs to be shared with the rest of the class if it's worth disrupting this exam. Hand it over."
Bulla's blood ran cold at her words and her breath stilled. Her gaze flicked back to Goten, silently pleading with him not to do as she asked, but he wasn't looking at her.
Her life was over, and it had just barely begun, she was going to fly home and program one of the cleaning bots to bury her alive, because if Goten let Mrs. Penn read that note to the entire class there was no way she could show her face in public again.
"No."
"'No'?" Mrs. Penn repeated, raising a brow.
"No." Goten reiterated with a grin, unbothered by the animosity rolling off the older woman in waves.
"Well… then I suppose you and Ms. Briefs will spend your afternoon in detention for disrupting my class time. In addition to that, you've both earned yourselves failing grades on your midterm."
Present
"Did you do this?"
Bulla slowly turned away from the now vacant space the ornately carved door once occupied, her sharp aqua gaze zeroing in on the youngest Son, pinning him with an icy glare. "Because if you did, that's really pathetic."
Goten's bewildered expression melted away immediately, and his brows raised, clearly insulted. "Are you seriously asking me that? You really think I'm that desperate to be alone with you I'd trap you in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber with me, against your will, for months?"
"Maybe you are, I wouldn't presume to- did you just say months?"
"Based on the amount of sand in the hourglass… a few months is probably an accurate guess."
Bulla's eyes flicked to the hourglass. A small amount of glittering blue sand occupied the top bulb that hadn't even begun to trickle down. This was not happening. She could barely stomach being around Goten for a few minutes, let alone a few months.
No, not happening.
Bulla's first instinct was to reach for her cell phone, but as her fingers brushed over the denim of her shorts and she didn't feel its familiar outline, she realized to her horror that it was in her purse, that was now outside the chamber door. A wave of panic rolled through her, quickly replaced by cloying frustration as she realized it probably wouldn't work even if she had it.
Her mind raced. She was the daughter of the greatest scientist on earth. There had to be some way for them to bend the rules and escape. She suddenly wished she'd taken Beerus up on his many offers to train on his world, instead of burying herself in her work. Perhaps then she'd have learned something that would be of use in this situation.
Wait.
Bulla whirled back toward Goten, who was looking uncharacteristically stoic, his thick, muscled arms crossed over his chest as he observed the floating hourglass.
"Can't you just… Instant Transmission us out of here?"
"Nope." He clipped.
"Why the hell not!?"
"It won't work."
"Try." she hissed, wanting nothing more than to reach out and shake him.
"I. Can't."
She scowled, putting a hand on her hip. "Your father can move from one planet to another easily enough."
"It's not the same thing. The Hyperbolic Time Chamber exists in another dimension. I need a Ki signature to lock onto for it to work, and the only one I can sense right now is yours." He raked a hand through his short raven spikes. "If I could, I would."
Unbelievable. They were really going to be stuck in here until the time ran out.
"What the hell am I going to do?" Bulla mumbled, more to herself than to him. She was going to go mad in here.
Beyond the less-than-ideal companion she'd been unceremoniously shoved into forced proximity with, she had absolutely no desire to be shut away in this place.
This place that was designed not only to test its occupants physically, but mentally as well. That endless void of silent white, curiously fascinating only moments ago, now a suffocating weight pressing in on her from all sides.
Entering this room was not a choice made lightly.
Overwhelmed, she took a seat on one of the two canopy beds occupying the space.
Goten shrugged. "Eat, sleep, train,
"How are you being so calm about this!? We're going to be trapped in here, together, for months!"
"Because there's nothing to be done about it. Panicking won't change our circumstances. You'll be fine. The chamber provides all the necessities. You'll just have to learn to live without posting selfies and scrolling Instagram for a few months."
"You think that's what I'm worried about? Has it occurred to you I have no interest in spending the foreseeable future alone with you?" She snapped.
Something indiscernible flickered in his eyes at her words as he considered his response, and for the briefest moment, she almost regretted her sharp words.
And then the corner of his mouth ticked up slightly. "If you say so. I seem to recall a time when you didn't mind my company one bit."
Bulla's cheeks burned at his words. She wouldn't allow herself to breathe further life into those memories by discussing them.
"Do me a favor for the next couple of months and stay away from me."
Without waiting for his response, she pulled the curtains of the canopy bed shut, her only means of isolating herself from him, and flung herself face-first into the pillow.