Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ High School Desires ❯ Dates of Disaster (Part Two) ( Chapter 4 )

High School Desires

By: Nova Starlight

 

Chapter 3: Dates of Disaster Part II

 

Trunks stormed out of the cafeteria in a huff and hoping like hell that Goten had not followed him out. He was also trying to keep the anger that had come over him suddenly, off of his face. He could not help but wonder at all of the emotions that had bubbled up within him when Goten said he had a date. Granted he had begun to come to terms with the fact that his feelings for his best friend may run deeper than he had ever considered possible, but that did not mean he should be acting this way. It was not like her and Goten were a couple or anything; he had the right to go on as many dates as he wanted to. He should just stop stressing over it because there was obviously no way that Goten would return his feelings, whatever they were.

Just as he was having this inner debate in his mind, arrived at his locker and opened it up to get the books for his next class. As the metal door swung open, he saw something fall to the floor and when he picked it up; he saw that it was another secret admirer note. He had to get one of these damn things now of all times? He put all of his stuff into the locker, except for the note, and headed down the hallway in the opposite direction of his next class. He ducked into the stairwell and made his way up to the roof entrance on the third floor. Going up there to skip class had once been one of Trunks's favorite things to do, making out with girls, and simply escaping from school for an hour at a time had been wonderful. Here he would be able to read the letter in private and have some time to think everything over.

The first thing that he noticed was that this letter was hand written and a little longer than the first. He studied the handwriting trying to determine if he recognized it but unfortunately he did not. It was very neat and in actuality it almost looked like it was forced. “The girl writing this must have tried to disguise her writing,” Trunks commented to himself. Then he began to read.

 

* The Letter *

 

Dear Trunks,

I am writing this letter because I heard that Julie claimed to have written the first secret admirer letter. She is lying. It took a lot of courage for me to write that simple little note for you last time and I do not want anyone else to take the credit. However, I must admit that I am still too terrified to reveal myself to you.

So, I have decided to give you some clues to my identity so that you can discover it for yourself. I have black hair, a nice smile, and I am pictured with you eleven times in the school yearbook last year (seven times in the background). I wish you the best of luck.

Sincerely,

Your Secret Admirer

* End Letter *

 

Trunks could feel his heart pounding wildly in his chest. He might finally be able to really discover who his secret admirer was and he could scarcely believe it. He wanted to rush off and find Goten to ask for his help but he stopped himself. He remembered Goten's date and he decided that he would not bother him with this; he would go home after school today and figure it out on his own.

When Trunks skipped classes for the rest of the day, Goten began to worry. Would Trunks have rushed off to figure out the clues? Could he possibly have figured it out all ready? Was Trunks avoiding him? He wanted to call him or go by Capsule Corp. but he was too scared. If Trunks already knew, he had no intention of going there to see exactly how bothered Trunks was by his feelings. Plus, he still had his date tonight and he was not sure what he was going to wear, do, or say. It was not that he was excited, or anything like that, he just wanted everything to go ok. He looked at the piece of paper with her phone number on it and thought about cancelling but he stopped himself. He would feel terrible if he called and cancelled now.

Hours later he was sitting in a dark movie theater with Paris and he was actually having a good time. He may have not been attracted to her sexually but he could not deny that she was nice and fun to be with. Though at the end of the night he knew he would have to be honest with her, at least in part, and tell her that he could not see her anymore. It did not matter how many girls Trunks had been with, he knew now that he could not move on just because being with Trunks was not an option.

Across town, the object of Goten's affection was training away in the gravity room and he was decimating the training droids one right after another. Suddenly he heard the warning sirens that indicated that the gravity was being turned off from the outside. So he powered down and waited for one of his parents to walk in to the room. A few seconds later his father walked in and gave a curious look at the pile of metal scraps in the corner. “I can see you are in a bad mood,” he commented.

“It's been a bad week,” Trunks responded. “Now, would you mind leaving me alone so I can continue?” Then he turned his back on him and began programming the main controls.

“Why don't you quit beating up those defenseless little droids and spar with me?” Vegeta suggested. “I could really use the exercise.” Normally, Trunks shied away from these kinds of activities because his father was notoriously volatile in his responses to Trunks's competition. If he did not do well his father was disappointed and would encourage him to train even more. Then again if he did well, his father seemed to become enraged and would avoid him for weeks at a time like he was nursing some kind of wounded pride. Well, today he could not care less what his father thought of him.

“Fine,” he bit out. “We can spar for a while.”

“Sounds good,” Vegeta countered calmly. “I suppose even a fight with you would be worth my work out.”

“Quit talking and power up,” Trunks commanded with a tone of primal rage entering his words. Then their fight began and continued at an accelerated pace for over an hour with no signs of stopping. By now, Trunks would have usually thrown in the towel and listened to his father's hurtful comments for about ten minutes but today he was spurred on by his frustration.

“Aren't you sick of this yet?” Vegeta asked. “Though I must say that I amazed you have lasted this long.”

Trunks's response was a little smile much like Vegeta's and then he said. “Yeah, I really am sick of this.” In a flash he connected a hard kick with Vegeta's body and sent him crashing backwards into the gravity room wall. As he stared up at Trunks in shock he watched Trunks turn off the gravity and then walk out without another word or look at Vegeta.

At that time Goten stood on the doorstep of an apartment building with Paris. “I had a really nice time tonight,” she said to break the awkward silence between them.

“Yeah,” he replied, while he looked down at his feet. Then he gathered together his courage and said, “Paris, I have to be honest with you. I had a nice time tonight too, but I don't think it is a good idea for us to date. I am sorry.”

“I figured you would say something like that,” she commented with a sigh. “It's okay; I just got the feeling while we were out together that your mind was on someone else. I bet you just broke up with someone and you are still in love.”

“That's pretty close,” he mused out loud. “But I still feel bad about all of this.”

“Don't” she responded. “I have been in that situation myself and I know what it is like, wanting to move on when you are just not ready yet.” Then she turned away from him and entered her apartment building alone. Goten shoved his hands into his pockets and began walking out of the city. If she had been mean or hateful it would have been much easier for him to say he did not want to see her again, instead she had been thoughtful, pretty, and sweet; and now he was left feeling incredibly guilty. Maybe he should have just called and cancelled after all.

By the time Goten had arrived home that night, he had made a decision. He was tired of running, tired of the deception, and tired of all this stress and anxiety. He would write one last secret admirer note to Trunks and settle all of this, once and for all. He would only have to worry how Trunks would take the discovery. He sat down at the desk and wrote the next note, the same way he had wrote the last one, with the neat handwriting that looked nothing like his own. When he was finished he sealed it in an envelope and hid it away in one of his desk drawers. He crawled into bed feeling better than he had in weeks and slept peacefully until morning.

In the early hours of sunlight, Goten was awoken by a tapping noise at his window. There was Trunks floating outside with a smile on his face. Any normal person would have screamed at such a site but Goten was used to the occurrence. He quickly looked around as he remembered that he had already stashed the secret admirer letter. Then he got out of bed and made his way over to open the window for Trunks. “Good morning, Trunks,” Goten said with a yawn.

“Good morning to you too,” replied Trunks.

“So, what are you doing here this early?” Goten asked as he crawled back into bed and cocooned himself in the blankets once more.

“I thought I would stop by and see how your date went,” he commented. Goten quickly sat up and looked at him strangely. “Okay,” Trunks conceded. “I wanted to know how your date went and I want your help.”

“With what?” asked Goten.

“I am having trouble figuring out my secret admirer from the clue in the last letter.”

Goten went completely still and rationally thought of what his response should be. Finally, he asked, “She gave you a clue?”

“A few clues actually,” Trunks continued. “All of them together is the key to figuring out who she really is. I have tried to figure it out but there is always one element missing.”

Goten breathed a small sigh of relief. Obviously Trunks was not here to discover the identity of the secret admirer because he was still referring to the author as a she, not a he. He decided to continue playing dumb and see just how far Trunks had come in his investigation. “What do you mean?” he asked softly.

“Well, she wrote in the letter that she is pictured with me eleven times in the school yearbook, seven times in the background,” he explained. “She also described herself as having black hair. So, I went through the yearbook and wrote down everyone that was pictured with me and where.”

“What did you find out?” asked Goten.

“Well, there was not one girl that was pictured with me that fits all three criteria. There is always one part that is wrong; either the hair color is wrong, or the position in the pictures, or even the number of time she is pictured with me.” Then before Goten could say anything else he continued, “In fact, the only person who meets all of those criteria is you.” Goten froze once again, waiting for the moment of truth but it did not come. After a few moments of silence, Trunks commented, “Maybe someone is just playing some kind of cruel joke on me.”

Goten was both relieved and overwhelmed with an urge to smack himself in the forehead. Trunks may have been a very intelligent man but something in his mind was obviously blocking this information. Now, he was glad he wrote that new note last night because obviously it was going to have to be direct to get into Trunks's head. “Yeah must just be some kind of joke,” he mumbled. Then he slid back down underneath the covers and feigned sleepiness that he no longer had.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” Trunks said while he shook him. “You still haven't told me how your date went.”

“Not very well,” Goten replied. “I don't think she and I are going to be seeing each other again.”

“Oh, that's too bad,” Trunks commented, in a tone that suspiciously sounded like he did not think it was too bad at all. “Well I tell you what why don't you and I go out to the movies tonight and put all this junk out of our minds.”

“Sounds great,” Goten replied earnestly. Then he turned and looked up at Trunks with a smile on his face. Trunks instantly felt his breath catch in his throat at the site. Goten's smile was beautiful and sweet, his hair was spread out on the pillow and seeing him laying there in bed like that was really affecting him. He needed to get out of here now before he leaned down and kissed him and that would really make a mess of things.

“I should get going I'll see you later.” Then he got up and left through the window to return home. That day and the next passed quickly in a cloud of happiness for both Goten and Trunks. They went to dinner and to the movies on Saturday, spent Sunday sparring and then went to Capsule Corp. so Goten could have dinner with Trunks and his family. Of course, as always, Monday came and Goten stood in the hallway hold his most recent secret admirer letter to Trunks in his hands unsure of what to do. If he put that letter through the slits there would be no way to get it back, Trunks would know everything. Did he really want to take that chance? Everything between them had been perfect all weekend, just like it always was when he did not have a girlfriend. He took a deep breath and then he ripped the letter into pieces. It was not worth losing his friendship with Trunks. Then he threw the pieces into a nearby garbage can and brushed away the tear that had fallen on to his cheek this was just the way it had to be.

 

To Be Continued. . .

 

Author's Notes: Please forgive me for how long it has been since I last updated. I hope there is still some interest in this story and I hope everyone can remain patient with me.