Theme= Courage

He had been kidnapped at the age of four; fought evil aliens at the age of five; and faced an evil space tyrant with ambitions of immortality at the age of six. He even defeated one of the most evil creations to walk the planet by the time he was eleven and through all of that, he had shown courage, determination, and kindness.

To overcome such obstacles, one had to forgo the ever present urge to scream and run away. Gohan had done such, even though he had screamed and run away once. Not one of his proudest moments but he was sure he had made up for it later in the battle.

Yet all of those major events in his life didn't ready him for his greatest challenge; something that filled his gut with fear unlike any other.

His task: ask Videl Satan to the school dance.

Ever since the declaration of this school event, the Son boy had been trying to ask the daughter of Hercule Satan to it but had yet to summon the courage to do so. In fact, every time he had worked himself into enough confidence, it would flee his system just as he was about to ask.

Two weeks worth of fretting, build-up, and chickening out; yep, that described the last two weeks for Gohan all too well. At least he had another week to ask her though. That was one positive out of the whole mess.

Another was Videl's constant shooting gallery of would-be suitors.

Now, though Gohan had been at fault for some of his cowardliness, there had been a few time…make that several times where another boy would interrupt him and ask the Satan girl to the dance.

To make a long story short, Videl nearly tore the boys a new butt hole for interrupting the Son boy and would then promptly turn her attention back to him, waiting for the boy to continue. Due to the viciousness of the Satan girl's rejections though, Gohan would change the subject to something less volatile.

However, today was the day; the day Gohan would ask Videl Satan to the school dance. Nothing would stand in his way. Not one thing.

"Hey Videl?" Gohan asked as the two walked the halls of Orange Star High. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure," the Satan girl replied.

"Uhh, well, I was wondering if—"

"Hey Videl," a masculine voice interrupted, causing both dark haired teens to look behind them. Standing in a white suit, Sharpner held a bouquet flowers to the Satan girl. Using his most charming voice possible, the blond said "Videl, would you go to the school dance with me?"

There it was…again! Another boy had beaten him to the punch and now fate was in the short girl's hands as to whether she'd accept or not. Looking at her, Gohan had a feeling he knew just what her answer would be.

"Buzz off, Sharpner," Videl replied. "I have better things to do than go to some stupid dance with you."

Opposite looks covered both boys' faces; one of relief for Gohan's and a deflated one for Sharpner. However, the blond jock was not one to give up so easily.

"You know you don't mean that, babe," he said as suave as he could. "You know that anyone would give anything to be going to a dance with me."

"Well I'm not everyone. Now beat it. I was talking to Gohan before you interrupted."

"You're talking to me now, so forget the country bumpkin."

The next thing anyone knew, Sharpner was imbedded in a wall, a black eye forming on his face and a few teeth were missing. There was no way anyone would mistake Videl's thoughts of being around the blond.

Scowling, the Satan girl took in a deep breath before settling down. Turning, she faced the Son boy once more and asked "So what did you want to ask me?"

Panic filled the Son boy's body. There was no way he could ask Videl to the dance now! Not after the way she dealt with Sharpner's attempt.

"I, uhh, umm…was wondering…if…you'd…"

Videl cocked an eyebrow. "Wondering if I'd what?"

"If…you'd…go…get a soda with me," the Son boy sputtered, feeling a bit disappointed with himself. Although this was better than all the other times where he'd ask something completely different; some of those being about the weather to haircuts to Videl's locker combination. Don't even ask what he was thinking when he asked about the locker combination.

The Satan girl blinked at the boy for a couple seconds before giving a small smile. "Sure, I'd like a soda. Let's go."

Though not exactly what he wanted to ask her, Gohan couldn't help but feel relief welling within him. He was a small step closer to asking the girl of every boy's dreams and wet dreams to the upcoming dance. He just needed to play this smoothly and things would go his way.

Well, things always didn't go smooth when you were a Son. Once the two teens had reached a soda shop, they had done nothing but sip at their drinks, looking everywhere but at themselves for something interesting.

Gohan couldn't help the feeling of misery within him. Here he was, with Videl, and no distractions. The prime opportunity to get his question out in the open and see what would happen.

Wait, maybe he was going at this the wrong way. Perhaps he needed to think like other people he knew to find the right mindset to solve his quandary. Hmm…what would Dad do?

'Hey Chichi, what's for dinner?'

Hmm…perhaps that was the wrong person to think about. What would Piccolo do?

'I've got more important things to do than hanging around despicable humans.'

That didn't work either, not in this situation anyways. What about Vegeta?

'Woman! I broke the Gravity Room again! Fix it now!'

Definitely the wrong thing to say, especially to Videl. He'd be lucky to only be put in a body cast if he said such a thing.

"What 'cha thinking about?" the girl in questions suddenly said, shocking the Son boy out of his thoughts.

"Oh, nothing," he responded, scratching the back of his head.

"That's not what I'd call it," Videl said with a smirk. "You were obviously thinking about something with the way you were making faces. So spill; what were you thinking about?"

Well, at least they had some kind of conversation going, might as well keep it going. "Well, I've been having this problem. You see, I need to ask…uhh…my mom! Yeah, my mom something and I don't know how to go about asking it."

Videl cocked her eyebrow. "That's it? That shouldn't be too hard. What do you need to ask?"

"Well, I was wondering about learning how to dance. After hearing about the school dance and all, I started thinking that it would be a good idea to learn how to."

"The school dance, huh?" Videl inquired, looking interested. "So you're planning on going?"

"Yeah, I am."

"Asked anyone to it yet?"

"No…not yet. Haven't quite gathered the courage to ask someone yet."

"Not yet, huh? Need my help?"

Gohan could feel his palms starting to sweat. Was Videl going to help him ask her out to the dance? Could that really be what was happening? Or was he just seeing things the way he wanted to see them?

"Well, that's nice of—"

Suddenly, a loud beeping caught both teens off guard. Looking to the watch on Videl's wrist, they both waited for the voice of the police chief to inform them of the next crime in Satan City.

"Microwave went off!" one of the employees at the soda counter shouted, taking the attention off Videl's watch. Apparently the microwave had a similar bell to the Satan girl's watch.

"Uhh…perhaps we should get going," Gohan suggested.

"Yeah, good idea," Videl agreed.

It had been a half hour and both teens found themselves outside Satan Manor, the house of Hercule Satan and subsequently Videl.

Silence had reigned over the dark haired couple, leaving Gohan to wallow in despair. Nothing seemed to be going his way. Already, any chance he had of finally popping the question seemed far away. Perhaps he'd just have to ask tomorrow.

"Thanks for walking me home, Gohan," Videl said as she looked to him.

"You're welcome," the Son boy replied.

Watching as the Satan girl began her trip towards her front door, something just seemed to snap within the boy. Who cared if he got rejected or not? As long as he tried his hand at taking Videl, that was all that mattered. Might as well get it over with already and hope for the best.

"Hey Videl?" Gohan called out, catching the girl's attention. "Can I ask you something?"

Videl looked at the boy. "Sure, shoot."

"Would you go to the school dance with me?"

The Satan girl just stared at the boy for what felt like five seconds…definitely five seconds. Any longer and Gohan would've thought Videl wanted to pretend he had never asked the question.

That was when she let a small smile crawl onto her face.

I must say, this last scene actually comes from personal experience. Though in my case, it wasn't a school dance, more like asking a girl out. Funny how things work out, don't they?