(Later that afternoon)
All in all, the last remaining hours of school turned out to be some of the most fun the group had spent at the institute. Aside from watching Gohan utterly dominate in the martial arts department when trying out for the assorted clubs, they were also able to go out and have a great time checking out the clubs around the warehouse and the swimming pool. In the end, the young Saiyan didn't end up picking a club right away, but he did put his name down for three; swimming, automotive, and boxing. Needless to say, the teen walked out of the school much more excited and invigorated than when he entered.
His exit from the stage was made that much more significant when he left the grounds with his friends.
Lime, who'd joined the group following her tryout at the muay thai club, breathed a sigh in relief, "Ugh. I'm pooped."
"Yeah. Man that was one hell of an afternoon," Touya groaned, stretching his arms over his head. "I could go for some tea right about now."
"Well, you're going to have to enjoy it without me. I'm heading home," Gohan exclaimed, pulling to a stop by the front gates and turning around to face the rest of his team.
Almost immediately he was met with disappointment.
"Aww. You can't hang out with us for a little while longer, Gohan?" Erasa asked, putting on a feigned look of hurt. She even willed her bottom lip to quiver slightly in the cutest way imaginable. "Don't you like us anymore?"
Chuckling when the blonde girl stepped towards him, the young warrior waved her down and looked back at her, "Come on, Erasa. Of course I like you guys. It's just that I made a promise to my little brother that I would play with him as soon as I'd finished all of my homework. Since I've got quite a bit of reading and writing to catch up on, the sooner I get back to Mount Paozu the better." He then grinned heartily at her. "I promise to hang out with you guys tomorrow though."
This drew a warm smile from the ever-excitable girl, "I'll hold you to it."
It was when he was sure he had his friend's undivided attention he then brought up his wrist and showed her the band of stones he was wearing. When the blonde girl spotted it, the warrior smiled. "And thanks so much for the gift, Erasa. I love it."
Surprised to see he was wearing it so soon and hearing his words of gratitude, Erasa blushed and looked away bashfully. "You're welcome…"
Nodding to the cheerful beauty when she glanced back at him, Gohan then clapped hands with Touya in a bro-like manner and bumped fists with Sharpener, the latter of who placed his hands on his hips and smiled at the newcomer. "It was nice meeting you, man. Hope the school wasn't too overbearing for yah."
The young Saiyan grinned, "I had a great time. And thanks so much for showing me around."
"No problem," the jock nodded, smiling respectfully at his fellow sportsman. "Looking forward to seeing which club you pick in the end. It better be a good one."
"Oh. It will be," the hybrid answered with a confident gleam in his eyes. He then turned his attention to Lime, whom he could see was beaming up at him as if he were the most interesting person in the world. Her expression earned a grin from the boy. "I'll see you tomorrow then?"
"Uh-huh," the brown haired girl nodded, wasting no time in throwing her arms around him in a hug and pulling away slowly. "Recess?"
"Table under the tree. In the quad. Right after the bell."
"Cool," the teenager chirped while stepping away, hands behind her back. "Say hi to your mum and Goten for me."
"I will," Gohan nodded, adjusting his bag and turning his attention to the raven haired girl standing next to him. When he saw her eyes snap to him intently, the hybrid grinned. "You were right. This is a great school."
"Right?" Videl chuckled, looking genuinely pleased with her assessment. "I know you're going to love it here. The teachers are great and so are the students."
"Yeah. I can already tell it's going to be a good year."
"It'll be even better if absolutely no apocalyptic threats come knocking on our front doors."
"You can say that again. Speaking of which… no calls today?"
The crime fighter shook her head and held up her wrist, which she used to flash her watch-slash-communicator, "Nope."
"Good. That means nothing bad happened while we were fooling around at the clubs. You'd be surprised how many messages you can miss while you're having so much fun."
"Or it could mean the police didn't need us jumping in to save the day. I'm not the only cop in the city you know… and neither is tall, dark, and ridiculously handsome alter ego," Videl winked, at the same time throwing the boy a mischievous smile. "Quite the interesting change, huh?"
Laughing a little at the girl's quip, the boy nodded. "Honestly, I think it's better if we don't get too involved. The rest of this city has gotta work too, yah know. They won't be able to rely on us all the time, especially when things get really busy," Gohan continued, seeing the girl snicker and scratch her nose bashfully. "At least a lot of other exciting things happened today."
"Let's just hope we can keep those 'exciting things' on the down-low from now on," the raven haired girl added. It was a response that had the young warrior in front of her nod his head in agreement. "Don't worry. If anything bad happens or if things get out of hand, I'll be sure to step in and help you out."
"Thanks a lot, Videl. Well…" Tugging at his strap, the half-Saiyan stepped forward and gave the raven haired young girl a warm smile, surprising her at how close he came. "I'd better head off. See you soon?"
Videl nodded, swallowing nervously under his charming smile, "Yeah. Real soon." It was at that moment, without any warning whatsoever, the two stepped towards each other and shared a kiss, with the taller of the two martial artists having to lean down slightly to meet his girlfriend halfway.
The show of affection was chaste and tender all in one. By the time the two separated seconds later, they were unaware of the stumped expressions on the faces of the teenagers standing around them. Before any of them could say anything or fully recover from the shock, Gohan waved them all goodbye and jogged down the road. Moments later, he was gone, turning a corner and disappearing from sight.
Cheeks red and a happy smile on her face, Videl sighed joyfully, brought her hands up, stretched, and began to walk. "I'll see you guys tomorrow," she said while waving over her shoulder.
As the girl walked away, a currently gaping Sharpener raised a hand and pointed in the two directions the young fighters had broken off in. "Did she jus-… are they…?"
"It certainly seems that way," Touya murmured, appearing just as stunned as the blonde.
Completely caught off guard by what she'd just witnessed, Erasa stared after Videl for several long seconds in disbelief. When her mind eventually processed the sight of the two raven haired teenagers kissing, the blonde recoiled, frowned, and gripped one of her arms tightly.
Biting her bottom lip, the blonde stared long and hard at her feet. "What was that just now?" For some reason, watching her best friend and crush kiss each other right in front of her made her feel restless and uncomfortable inside. It was almost like her heart had twisted and caused the rest of her body to shudder and freeze on its own accord.
Shaking her head to rid herself of that feeling, Erasa resolved to figure this out later as she then watched her childhood friend of many years amble away.
Lime meanwhile, out of view of the other teenagers, huffed slightly and allowed a smirk to form on her lips. Though she'd responded in a similar manner to the others following the pair's show of affection, her rate of recovery from said gesture was far more in tune.
"You'd better watch out, Videl… because I'm comin' for him as well."
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