Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ My Friend ❯ All Vegeta's Fault ( Chapter 13 )

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AN: I'd like to take this moment to just say that you guys are the best. Thank you. ^_^.

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Her heart rate skyrocketed as they pulled into the school parking lot. The last two weeks had been a nightmare. She'd spent three horrible days in the hospital. The first few day that followed her release were the worst. Her family and friends had treated her as if at any moment she would explode. Catering to her every whim and dancing around the right words to say. It was all so nerve racking.

Yet as awful as it had been she knew that she never would have made it through without them. As expected Krillin, Juu, and Bulma had visited her everyday. She had been pleasantly surprised by visits from Vegeta, Yamcha, Jay, and even Radditz. Of all of them however, Goku had been her strength. He not only visited her everyday but sometimes twice a day as well. He did everything from keeping her up on school happenings to taking her to the park for an hour or two when her parents smothering became too much to deal with. He even took her to her first session of group therapy, which she had affectionately named `Druggies Anonymous'.

The shame and guilt of what she had almost done to herself wasn't the only thing that had weighed down on her. She had and still did suffer from serious withdrawal from the drug. The most awful thing had been when she started back on solid foods. She had to fight to get even the most meager meals to stay down. It was just so frustrating. Her doctor had warned her that she would have to take baby steps in her recovery but ChiChi wanted her life back now. That's why she had insisted on returning to school when her parents had wanted her take just a few more days off. It had taken some work but eventually she had convinced them that she was ready to jump back into life.

However now that she was here she wasn't so sure. As Goku shut off the engine she began digging in her purse looking for any reason to delay. Goku climbed out of the car while she began running her brush through her hair. Just as she put the brush back into her purse, her door opened.

"Ready?" Goku asked with an encouraging smile.

"As ready as I'm ever going to be," she answered in what she hoped was a cheerful voice as he helped her out of the jeep.

Goku seemed to miss the small hitch until she glanced at the school and quickly lowered her eyes again nervously. Wrapping his arms around her still extremely thin form, he pulled her to him trapping her hands between them.

"Hey what's with the sad face?" he coaxed gently.

ChiChi toyed with the front of his shirt as she spoke softly, "I keep thinking about what people will say."

Goku frowned. This lack of self-esteem was so unlike his ChiChi. It tore him apart to see her this way. Keeping one hand firmly on her waist he placed the other under her chin and titled her face up to his. "Listen Chi. You don't need to worry about these people. I know with it being your first day back and all that it'll be a little hard but just know the whole gang is behind you and somebody will be with you every step of the way. So no worries okay?"

ChiChi let a soft smile touch her lips as she nodded. "Okay, but only if you do me a favor."

"Anything," he said happy to see her smile.

"Kiss me. You know just to give me a good start to my day," she said as she tucked a few ebony strands behind her ear.

"That's a pretty big favor but I think I can handle it," Goku murmured before his lips covered hers. His lips moved over hers lovingly, offering a sense of comfort as they worked their magic. What she'd do without him, she didn't know.

"You'd think they'd be tired of doing that by now," Juu said as she climbed out of Bulma's passenger side. A hint of disgust lurked in her tone but the smile in her eyes as she watched the two told a different story.

Bulma chuckled as she climbed out of the driver's side "I don't think they ever will. This is how I find them almost every morning."

"Lucky you," Juu muttered as she reached into the back of the convertible to grab her bag.

Bulma's smile spread since it was obvious that the two still had not noticed that they had pulled up. Clearing her throat Bulma brought a slow and reluctant end to the tender moment.

"You may want to let her up for air now, Goku," Juu commented as the two girls walked over to the couple.

"Hey guys!" Goku beamed his arm still around her waist.

"Release her this instant," Bulma ordered. "We have places to be."

"I guess that's my cue to get lost," Goku said as he leaned over to give her one last peek on the cheek before letting her go and moving to the back door. He pulled his bag out of the back seat and handed Chichi her notebook before shutting the door again.

Touching his hand to her cheek he smiled warmly before saying, "I'll see you at lunch okay?" After her nod he waved at his friends and threw a quick "See ya," over his shoulder before hurrying off to the school building.

After watching him for a few minutes, ChiChi turned back to the other two girls. She resisted the urge to grit her teeth at what she saw.

"Don't look at me like that," she said causing both sets of blue eyes to widen slightly.

"Like what?" Bulma questioned.

"Like at any moment I'm going to fall to little pieces," she said her voice rising a notch.

"Sorry Chi. We don't mean to stare. We're just glad you're okay that's all."

"Well be glad. Just don't be…well…weird about it. It's really starting to freak me out," ChiChi finished in a calmer, though still irked tone.

"Chill. We didn't mean to weird you out," Juu said. "The last thing you need is more stress. Do you want to skip the meeting today?"

"No," ChiChi said quickly. "If I'm going to jump back into life then I have to do now."

"But you don't have to do it all at once," Bulma pointed out.

"Look can we just go already?" ChiChi asked stubbornly.

Bulma linked her arm with ChiChi's while Juu took the other side. "Don't get mad," she coaxed as the three started towards the building. "We only worry because we love you, that's all."

"I know but you guys can't smother me either. My parents do that enough," ChiChi said as they walked up the front steps of the building.

Juu paused with her hand on the door. "Okay we'll cut a deal with you. We won't smother you as long as you promise not to pass out on us again. Deal?"

ChiChi lowered head a moment before nodding her agreement with their little pact.

Juu opened the door and they entered the havoc known as high school. The scenario was much different from what ChiChi had expected. She'd had nightmares about walking the halls with everyone staring at her. However none of her self-absorbed adolescent peers paid her return to school much attention. Because in reality her meager problems didn't compare to their own. At least not to them anyway.

They were almost to the usually meeting room for the government when a voice behind her told her that somebody did care. At the sound of her name the threesome turned and Bulma quickly adverted her eyes. Yamcha stopped in front of them and looked ChiChi over.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she said giving a smile.

"Well you look great! Glad to see you back," he said sincerely.

"Thanks Yam-"

"Hey Chi you're back!" Jay said as he walked up. He, of course, had already known she was coming back today through his sister but just couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Yeah I am," ChiChi answered.

"Well have a good day. Come on Yamcha. Coach will kill us if we're late for this meeting today," he said pushing the other boy away from the girls.

"All right, all right," Yamcha said. "See ya!"

Juu and ChiChi waved while Bulma turned and moved on to the room.

"You guys coming?" she asked not bothering to hide her irritation as she held the door.

Juu gave ChiChi a little shrug and entered through the open door. After mentally preparing herself for the meeting ahead she followed the other girl in.

* * *

"Juu these are beautiful," Krillin marveled as he looked through the sketchbook.

Juu shrugged off the compliment as she took another bite of her salad. Juu had been drawing for as long as she could remember and was still uncomfortable with the praise that she received from family and friends. That's why only a small group knew about the talent.

"You should enter some of these into Eye," Krillin suggested. The Eye was Orange Star's art and literature publication and it was considered a major honor to be published in it.

"I don't think so," Juu said firmly.

"Oh come on babe. You could enter it anonymously," Krillin coaxed. "Vegeta tell her it's a good idea."

"No," Vegeta said before he continued eating.

"Thanks a lot buddy," Krillin murmured before he turned back to his girlfriend. "Juu will you at least think about it?"

"No."

Krillin sighed.

"Goku I can carry my own plate," ChiChi insisted as they made their way to the table.

"I know but I want to carry it for you, okay?" he said balancing her plate as well as his six in his two hands.

ChiChi sighed in frustration and dropped into a seat next to Vegeta. When Goku had told her that someone would be with her every step of the way she hadn't thought he meant literally. During first hour Krillin had abandoned the basketball buddies he normally sat with to sit with her. He spent most of the hour trying to help her catch up on all she had missed in her absence.

Then when she went to second hour study hall Bulma had joined her. Though the blue eyed heiress had told her she just wanted to keep her company ChiChi suspected there were other reasons behind her skipping Chemistry. She was about to question her on it when her father had entered the library to see how her day was going. He had planning period that hour and didn't leave until the bell rang. In third hour she'd found herself with Bulma once again but it was Latin which wasn't exactly a class one could miss for two weeks then have `girl talk' during your first day back.

The real kicker would have to be Goku. He was there after every class to carry her books and walk her to the next. It wouldn't piss her off so much if it weren't for the fact that he never did it before this whole hospital business. It was like they all thought she was a freakin' invalid. If they didn't stop soon she was going to go nuts.

After Goku sat her plate in front of her, she picked up a roll and tore off a small piece. Hesitantly she put it in her mouth. She sent up her thanks when for the first time in weeks the urge to gag didn't hit her. More confidently now she slipped another piece into her mouth before looking up and practically groaning. All eyes were on her, three pairs holding a hint of a smile. She took a deep breath against the urge to scream at them as Bulma's words came back to her.

`We only worry because we love you…'

After another calming breath she put on a smile. "So what's up for this weekend?" she asked as casually as possible.

They all looked somewhat surprised at her question. Weekend? Did she really think she was ready for that?

Juu, being the only one at the table who had heard ChiChi express just how much she wanted to jump back into life, spoke up. "Well there is my party."

Krillin looked at her in surprise. This was news to him. "What party?"

"My birthday party," she said with a small amount of loathing. "Mom wanted to give us a surprise party but we quickly put an end to that idea. I didn't really want a party at all but Jay thinks the whole world should know he's turning 18."

"I take it you wanted something a little smaller," ChiChi inquired.

Juu shrugged but it was obvious that she did.

"Well you know this Friday is parent teacher conferences so we have the day off. How about we do something special then?" Goku suggested.

"Yeah like go to the movies or something?" Krillin said giving her some ideas to toy with.

"Okay," she said nonchalantly.

"Hey! You know what we haven't done yet? Look for prom dresses. We should do that Friday morning," ChiChi said excitedly.

Juu fought a frown. She hated shopping but if it made ChiChi happy…

"All right," she said.

"Bulma should love this idea. She's been looking through prom magazines forever."

"Speaking of which, where is Bulma?" Krillin asked.

ChiChi shrugged. "She said something about needing to work on some project in the science lab or something."

"She must be pretty down. About her parents and all you know," Goku said.

"Yeah I kind of wish she would have told us sooner but I guess there's nothing we really could have done even if she had," Krillin thought out loud.

Any other thoughts the group may have had on the subject were cut off by the ringing of the forth hour bell. Standing, each gathered their own trash, said their good-byes, and hurried to their next hour.

* * *

"She'll be fine, right?" Goku asked.

The rest of the day passed much like the first half and now that the guys were getting ready for seventh hour athletics, Goku expressed to Krillin and Vegeta just how worried he was about ChiChi.

"Of course she will," Krillin reassured. "With all of us behind her she can't help but be all right."

"I'm not so sure about that."

All three boys glanced at the redhead giant leaning against a locker at the end of their row. Matching frowns graced their features.

"Get lost Spopovich," Krillin said returning his attention to his locker.

The guy, who had never been big in the brains department anyway, stayed where he was as a mischievous sneer touched his lips.

"You know, I saw that druggie girlfriend of yours earlier, Goku. To be honest she doesn't have much to hold onto anymore."

Goku's whole body stiffened with anger before he took a calming breath and snatched his jersey out of his locker.

Spopovich chuckled at the crack in Goku's usually impervious temper. "Then again maybe that little diet was good for her. Her rack looks twice as big now."

Goku slammed his locker shut shaking the whole row with the impact.

"Just let it go, man," Krillin said.

Biting back on his anger Goku put his foot on the bench to tie his shoe. Not knowing when to quit Spopovich decided to press his luck.

"Not that you'll get much use out of them anyway. I hear old man Mau's daughter is as much a prude as she is a bitch."

For the first time since the idiot started talking, Vegeta looked up as Goku lunged at the other boy. Luckily for Spopovich's nose, Krillin jumped in the way holding his friend back.

"Come on, Goku! He's not worth it! If you hit him it's two weeks on the bench. Think about it man," Krillin said quickly.

Goku paused though the fury never left his face. A look of indecision crossed his face before he pushed pass both boys and stalked out of the locker room. Krillin shook his head in disgust at the other boy before following Goku. Spopovich watched them with a smirk until a voice behind him made him turn his attention to the spikey-hared man that was looking down his nose at him.

"You're pathetic, you do know that, right?" Vegeta said before he walked pass the man.

Spopovich's eyes narrowed as he saw a chance for a little revenge. "Hey no disrespect meant to you Vegeta," he told the man's back. "I mean you don't have the same problem Goku does. You hang out with Bulma Briefs after all. There's no doubt that you're getting laid on a regular basis."

This caused Vegeta to pause though he didn't look back.

"As a matter of fact I was thinking of trying a little piece myself. I would have sooner but I usually like a little more of challenge with my women. No matter how big of a whore they are."

The blow to his jaw happened so quickly that by time he shook the stars from his eyes he found his head pillowed in a set of lockers on the other side of the locker room.

From his spot on the other side of the room Vegeta smirked. "You forget, Spopobitch. I don't have a bench to sit." As he turned to leave several of the remaining athletes backed out of his way not wanting to be the next victim.

* * *

Bulma slipped on her shades before she pushed open the door and walked out into the sunlight. The parking lot was practically empty but she barely noticed, she was so caught up in her thoughts. It had been a bad idea to skip second hour and it had taken almost twenty minutes to convince Mr. Davis to let her do the lab after school. After she had finished he refused to give her the notes for the day saying that she needed to get them from her lab partner. She had wanted to scream at the old fart. How exactly did he expect her to get them from her lab partner when she wasn't even speaking to her lab partner?

This was all Vegeta's fault! If it weren't for him she wouldn't have had such a crappy day. When she first decided to avoid him she had never realized how hard it would be. Not only had she had to skip second hour but lunch as well. She also noticed for the first time how many of their classes were near each other making it extremely difficult to miss him in the halls. She didn't understand way he wouldn't just go away.

The fact that he was so dead set on ignoring what was going on between them was driving her nuts and more than a little bit, it hurt. Did he care so little for their relationship that he would rather give up their friendship than deal with these new feelings between them? And if that was so did she really need someone in her life that would run away whenever a problem arose?

She knew the answer was no but every time she thought of losing what was so precious to her she felt a pain like none she had ever felt before rip through her. Moisture began gathering in her eyes as she searched through her purse for her keys. After a frustrating moment she found them and wiped at her eyes before looking at her car.

That's when she saw him.

He seemed so relaxed with the way he was leaning against her car that it looked as if he could have waited all day.

"Shit," she muttered. She swallowed against the tears threatening to fall and walked over to him with her chin held high.

He pushed off the car as she reached him and held her gaze. She was first to break eye contact by pretending to fidget with the strap of her purse before looking back up at him.

"What do you want?" she finally asked breaking the silence.

"We should finish our senior papers," he said.

"That was a lame excuse even when I used it," she said trying to stay angry but she just couldn't. She knew what it had taken for him to attempt to reach out. It was touching.

He looked away then and she caught his cheek with the palm of her hand, gently turning his face back to hers. "We'll take this slow but we'll figure it out okay?"

His eyes probed hers as if he would find all the answers in the ocean of her eyes. Whatever he was looking for he must have found it because he took a deep breath before nodding. "All right," he answered.

Bulma couldn't help but smile her triumph as she dropped her hand. As she continued to smile up at his handsome face she couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to feel his lips on hers. She felt a little ashamed of this considering that she had just promised that they would take it slow but she just couldn't help it.

Backing away before she could make a fool of herself, Bulma gave him a playful punch in the shoulder. "So I was going to go get a soda or something before heading home. Want to come?"

"All right," he said backing away from her.

Bulma frowned. "Where are you going?" she asked in confusion.

"To my car."

"Why? We can just take mine. I'll bring you back."

"I don't think so. Us riding in the same car hasn't been turning out very well lately," he stated. "I'll follow you," he said as he turned and walked across the parking lot.

Bulma smiled as she rolled her eyes then shrugged. He did have a point. As she climbed into her car she couldn't seem to wipe the smile from her face. Her terrible day was looking up and it was all Vegeta's fault.

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Okay guys I really need your help. I need a really good name for Juu and Jay's mom. Please help if you've got anything good. Another Japanese number would be good, though of the few I know I don't really like any of them much. Anyway anything that you've got give it to me. I'd really appreciate it. Thanks in advance. You + Review = Update. Thanks for reading.