Bulma woke up, several strands of her once beautiful, shiny hair stuck to her face in a sticky mess. Thanks Kami it was Saturday and she was going to get some rest from the shit that was her life. She turned around in bed to find a more comfortable position, when she felt a projectile hit her. "What the f-", she didn't even have time to finish her sentence, as something else hit her, this time in the head. The girl finally decided to see what it was. She found a thermos and an apple and looked at the door questioningly, where she saw Raditz standing.
"You're late for detention," he said nonchalantly, but Bulma swore she heard a hint of mockery in his tone. She didn't really like her sister's boyfriend. He was cold and distant, more so than 18, the complete opposite of Goku.
"Detention?" Her eyes widened. She didn't remember that.
"Yes, and you're late," the man repeated and left, closing the bedroom door.
Bulma jumped up and grabbed a pink t-shirt and denim shorts and ran to the bathroom. She did her morning hygiene in less than 10 minutes and ran to the living room, where she found a beaten up and upset Yamcha sitting on the couch.
"Where is everyone?", she asked, taking a sip of the tea that was in the thermos that Raditz threw at her. At least he knew her favorite tea was orange.
"Tight's out; Raditz in the kitchen; the others are asleep," he explained, and then added in a low, spiteful voice, "No one wakes up early on a Saturday without having to." Bulma thought about apologizing again, but honestly she was too tired to bring that topic up again.
The two just walked in silence to Bulma's car, the tension like a thick cloud over them both.
They were late.
Bulma and Yamcha walked to the living room and, unfortunately for them (mostly Yamcha), there were only Vegeta and Mrs. Perkins, that is, it would probably just be the three of them. "Come in," she said in a cheerful tone. At least she's the calmest teacher, Bulma thought. The couple sat at the front, as far away from a certain flame-haired boy as possible. They heard a scoffing sound and Yamcha rolled his eyes.
An hour later and Yamcha was sleeping, Vegeta was staring into nothing with his typical frown on his face, and Bulma was almost dying of boredom. The teacher had given them absolutely nothing to do.
"I'm going to go out for a moment, my loves. Behave yourself, huh", Mrs. Perkins winked and left the room, leaving the three teenagers alone.
"Detentions with Mrs. Perkins are always like this," Vegeta said, as soon as he saw that the old woman had left the room. "We're lucky we didn't end up with Piccolo." Bulma just looked at him, not wanting to deal with Vegeta at the moment.
To her dismay, the boy got up and sat next to her. "Don't you have anything to say to me?" He looked at her with that look of mocking amusement that Bulma hated.
"Fuck you," the girl almost growled, making Vegeta's smile widen.
"Alright, I hope you swallow what little pride you have and admit my superiority." Bulma couldn't believe that a real person was saying such a mean phrase, but even so, she had lost the bet that she had created.
"Okay, you win", the blue haired woman said almost in a whisper. She expected more sarcastic and mean comments, but she heard 'are you going to stay there?'. The girl, who had her head lowered in shame, looked to the side and saw that Vegeta had gone to one of the large windows in the room and was climbing on it. Bulma was pissed that he made her admit that she had lost and not even paid attention, but her curiosity was bigger. "What will you do?!"
"Get out of here," he held out his hand to her. "Well, you can stay there bored for hours or go out for a bit and come back before the teacher shows up if you're so worried about tarnishing your perfect ass reputation. Trust me, she won't be back until the final hour."
Bulma looked at Yamcha sleeping on the table.
"He's not going to wake up anytime soon, if that's what you're worried about," he said with disgust. After that Bulma saw a glimmer of regret in the boy's eyes. "You don't have to come if you don't want to."
Bulma thought about everything she had to lose by skipping detention, but Vegeta seemed to be telling the truth about the teacher not returning until the final hour. Bulma imagined that he had already had so many detentions that he already knew everything that happened there. "I will," she took a deep breath.
She almost had a heart attack when she saw the boy disappear through the window. She went there and looked down; she knew it wasn't that high, but she couldn't help the fear she was feeling.
"You can jump, I'll hold you", he warned from below and Bulma closed her eyes and jumped, trusting absolutely the boy she hated most in the world. She felt a pair of strong arms holding her and opened her eyes to see Vegeta staring at her with an enigmatic look.
They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, until the flame gently placed her on the ground.
"You're crazy," Vegeta heard the murmur and snorted.
"You are too, since you're following me," this time it was Bulma who snorted. She noticed that Vegeta was walking towards something and she was following him.
"Wait!" Shouted. "Where are we going?"
"My home," Vegeta said nonchalantly and Bulma froze. She definitely wouldn't go to his house. I mean, she barely knew him, not to mention all the trouble she had gotten into because of him (some of it was her fault, she would have to admit). "I'm not going to your house!"
Vegeta gave her a strange look and then laughed. It wasn't a laugh of fun, no; It was a mocking laugh. "Don't be stupid, woman. It's not like I have any interest in you," he scoffed.
The blue-haired woman felt deeply offended, for some reason. To her, it didn't make sense that that idiot wasn't interested in her. Damn, she was Bulma Briefs: genius, beautiful, stylish and perfect. Everyone must have had a crush on her. "Then why did you get me out of detention?" she asked smugly, thinking she had caught him.
"Returning favors," the Ouji boy shrugged. When he saw the 'what?' in the girl's face, he explained, "You started this, after all. Taking all that food and hitting on me." The food part was true, but the part about hitting on Vegeta wasn't sure, he only said it because he thought it would irritate the Briefs girl. Was he right.
"Shut up and let's go," she growled. By now she should have turned around and gone back to the room, but damn, there was something about that mysterious idiot that attracted her and she didn't want to think about it too much. "But we should take my car, I don't feel like walking."
"Bad idea. Taking the car could draw someone's attention. We're doing something wrong, remember?", he emphasized the wrong thing and heard Bulma swallow hard. Spoiled little girl who never did anything bad, he thought with a small, discreet smile. Suddenly the girl's look of consternation changed to one of defiance.
She scoffed. "Is the big bad Vegeta Ouji afraid?"
Vegeta looked at her in disbelief. It seems that she was actually more interesting than he imagined. Again he found himself thinking about how such an interesting girl could date such a loser. "I drive," he returned the defiant smile.
Bulma observed the neighborhood through the car window. It was a relatively poor neighborhood and was far from the school. If they hadn't come by car, they would probably have walked for hours; she wondered how Vegeta could handle walking all that twice a day. She looked down an alley where there were two very suspicious guys. Kami, she would never go to a place like that alone.
They stopped in front of a small but adorable house. Bulma couldn't help but notice the contrast of that place with her parents' mansion in Japan or Tights' huge house.
"Not as rich as you," he said as if reading the girl's thoughts, making her blush in embarrassment.
They got out of the car and Vegeta held Bulma's hand, making her eyes widen. She glanced at him sideways and saw that he seemed oblivious to that, so she bit her left cheek and remained silent. His touch was firm, almost protective.
They entered the house and Vegeta looked down at their tangled hands, finally realizing. He let go of Bulma's hand like it was on fire. "S-so," he stuttered, "this is where I live."
Bulma ignored the feeling of loss of Vegeta's hand in hers and looked around. It was even more adorable inside. The floor was carpeted and in the center of the room there were two red couches and a small TV. She couldn't help but notice some toys thrown on the floor and some crayon scribbles on a corner of the wall. She instantly remembered what Goku had said last night about Vegeta's life being a mess. Honestly, it didn't seem like it.
"Do you have brothers?" she asked, crouching down and picking up a small plastic dinosaur from the floor.
"Yes," he replied, a tender smile forming on his lips. That was, without a doubt, Vegeta's smile that Bulma liked the most. "His name is Tarble. He's four years old."
"And where are he and his parents?", she for some reason was eager to meet his family.
Vegeta stared at her, eyebrows furrowed. It was as if Bulma had punched him in the face. Most people at school, who had known him since childhood, knew that Vegeta's mother had died and that Vegeta's father had abandoned him and, honestly, the flame-haired boy thought that Kakarot had already told Bulma too. That was the truth, anyone who didn't hate him felt sorry for him. His stomach turned at the thought of people feeling sorry for him.
Apparently Kakarrot didn't open his mouth this time, as it was obvious that she didn't know.
"No more questions," he cut the subject off quickly and Bulma just shrugged and plopped down on the couch.
"For such a pretty girl, you have no manners, eh," he sneered as he opened the refrigerator in the kitchen, which was practically merged with the living room. Vegeta froze for a second when he realized he had called her pretty, but Bulma didn't seem to notice.
"And you're an idiot, has anyone ever told you that?"
"You would be surprised." Bulma snorted and muttered a 'nah, I know'.
"Here," he pushed a can at Bulma. The girl shivered a little when she felt how cold it was against her fingers. She shivered even more when she saw what it was. "Uh, I don't... I don't drink."
By now Vegeta had already sat down on the other couch and was taking long sips of his drink. He stopped what he was doing and looked at Bulma. "Don't drink or have never drunk?"
"I never drank," she replied shyly.
Honestly, there was no reason for her to feel embarrassed about it. She was clearly right. Bulma had already seen up close what alcohol did to people and she wasn't about to ruin her life.
"Then why don't you try it?", Vegeta raised his own bottle suggestively. "Don't worry, one can won't turn you into an alcoholic."
Bulma heard that last part and wondered if her panic was showing on her face. She looked at the beer and then looked at Vegeta, until she worked up the courage and took a sip. The taste was bitter and the gas stung her mouth, but despite that, it wasn't as bad as she thought. She wondered if her parents knew she was at (practically) a stranger's house and drinking beer. They probably wouldn't even care that much, just give one of their rehearsed sermons and go back to their business, ignoring her again. That thought made her take another sip even bigger than the first. One thing led to another and she downed the can.
"Now, now, take it easy," Vegeta feigned a serious tone, but grabbed another can and gave it to Bulma. The girl noticed a smile on his face.
"I shouldn't be doing this," she took a deep breath. "It is not right."
"Is not right?" Vegeta said in a louder tone than normal, making the girl flinch unconsciously. He noticed this and calmed down a little, getting up and sitting next to her. "That's normal. You're too spoiled to understand."
"I'm not spoiled!" Bulma said, indignant. How dare he insult like that? She was absolutely not spoiled!
"Yes, you are a spoiled brat." He shrugged, indifferent to the girl's indignation. "What's up, do you want to be daddy's girl for the rest of your life?"
Bulma had no arguments against that, so to prove him wrong, she drank even more of the beer. Vegeta just gave a small smirk in response. "So what are we going to do?"
Vegeta's smile widened and he went to the kitchen only to return with more cans of beer. "Keep drinking."
The girl didn't even question it, she just continued drinking the funny-tasting liquid. If she was in the fire, she was supposed to get burned, right?
They spent long minutes enjoying their drinks in comfortable silence - oddly enough - until Bulma decided to break it. "Why are you always so rude?" She asked, light-hearted. "You should be more like that."
"Like that? How?" He looked at her curiously.
"The way you are being now. Nice"
"Not everyone deserves me to treat them well."
Bulma couldn't help but smile at that. Was he saying she deserved this good treatment from him? The girl felt a light blush forming on her cheeks. Well, at least she could lie to herself and say it was the alcohol. "You know, maybe we're not that different after all." Vegeta laughed and Bulma was worried that she was getting addicted to his laugh. He was always so closed off and an asshole, but now that the two of them were alone, she saw a new side to his personality.
Later that day, she returned to the classroom, and as Vegeta had promised, no one found out about their secret exit.
There was something about this strange boy that really captivated her.