AN: I don't own DBZ or anything of worth.

Chapter 1

Autumn: It means leaves changing, cooler temperatures and shorter days. To one group of people though, it means the beginning of something entirely different: School.

A young man lay in bed which was neatly made under him, already fully dressed for his first day of school. He glanced at the clock already aware that he had been up for hours, anxiety making sleep elusive. Today would be his first day of school. Not just of the year, but of his life. He would be joining the ranks at Satan City High as a freshman.

He, had spent a lot of his time studying and learning since the day he was born. He had absorbed things beyond what was normal for a fifteen year old. This, however, would be different. He was going to have to interact with people his own age. He would be going to a place he wasn't familiar with and would have to do so alone. Not only that, but would have to do it while suppressing what he could do and who he really was. He wouldn't be able to reveal much about himself, only very superficial things.

It was his mother's idea. She wanted him to go to school for two reasons. First, she wanted him to get a high school diploma from one of the most prestigious public schools on the planet. Second, she wanted him to make some friends who were his own age and who weren't a part of, as she calls it, a "gang".

He was excited by the prospect of going to school, but confused. If he met anyone at school he might actually want to be friends with, they could never be anything more than an acquaintance to him. Because his mother didn't want him to reveal certain things about himself, those he met could never actually know the real him. As a result, he would never really have any true friends except the "gang".

He heard his mother in the kitchen preparing breakfast, happily humming to herself. She assumed she was helping her son out greatly by sending him to school. He wasn't going to tell her otherwise. He knew his mother had her heart set on it and she thought it would be in his best interests. There was no need for her to know about the frustration she was putting him through. Instead, he would grin and bear it as best as he could. He was going to do his best to make the most of this experience.

He jumped out of bed and put a smile on. 'I might as well put up the facade now,' he thought to himself as he opened his bedroom door. He was instantly hit with the smell of breakfast which was permeating the house. His smile became genuine in an instant. The food his mother cooked was better than anything he had ever had anywhere else. Of course, she also got more practice than any one person he had ever heard of.

The enormous amount of cooking she did started with his father, who in a single meal would eat what 1 or 2 people would eat in an entire week. He and his brother were no different from their father. It didn't make things easy on his mother, but she was happy to care for those she considered hers. If she were to turn her talents on the professional world, she could single handedly run a five-star restaurant.

He sat down at the breakfast table and inhaled deeply. His mother walked over to him with her hands full of dishes, placed them down in front of him and kissed the top of his head. "Good morning sweetheart. Ready for the first day of the rest of your life?"

His smile faltered somewhat before he could recover. He just needed to remind himself of his breakfast in order to make sure the smile stayed on his face and was backed by real emotion. He feigned enthusiasm and said,"Just try and keep me from it!"

He dove into his breakfast at a feverish pace. All anxiety put out of his mind in an instant. His mother waited for him to finished and then said, "Before you go, please wake up your brother, OK Gohan? I won't get a second of peace if he doesn't get to say goodbye to you before you leave. And don't come home after school either. We are going to be having dinner at Bulma's tonight. Bulma wants to hear all about school when you get done so we are going to head there when Goten is done with his school work."

Gohan sighed and got up. He knew what it meant to be stuck at home alone with his mom all day and the amount of studying it would mean for Goten. He was beginning to wonder who had the worse deal.

The young man wasn't the only one facing anxiety at the prospect of the start of the school year. In a mansion over 500 miles away, a young woman was just beginning to rouse herself. From the moment her alarm went off, she knew that today was going to be rough. She had been up late the night before helping the police with a bank robbery. Why they couldn't take care of one crime on their own was beyond her.

She got up, ran through her morning ablutions and then headed downstairs for breakfast. She was grateful her dad wasn't up yet. She wasn't in the mood to hear his "No Dating Anyone Unless They Are Stronger Than Me" speech. Despite the fact that she had it memorized and she had no interest in dating anyone, he insisted on give it to her every year. He would even give her refresher speeches at random points throughout the year, just to make sure she got the point.

She decided to move quickly. She didn't want to press her luck. She had managed to get ready, eat, then crack an energy drink without waking him. She chugged the drink, crushed the can and bolted for the door. She knew she'd regret drinking it when she crashed halfway through the day, but she didn't care. Without it she wouldn't make it through the first class.

As she got in her jetcopter and took off, she got a text message. She looked down and noticed it was from her best friend Erasa. "VIDEL! Just hrd we r getting sum1 new this year." This was immediately followed by a second text, "A NEW BOY! :)"

Videl turned off her phone screen and accelerated. She was going to need to get to class quick and mentally prepare herself. 'Oh great! A new student at school. I am going to have to put up with thousands of questions about my dad. He is going ask me out and then I am going to have to go to the dean's office to explain why I knocked the new kid unconscious. I so don't need this on the first day of school.'

As she landed she looked around and saw she was the first student to arrive. There were a few other administrators and teachers beginning to get there, but most everyone knew to leave her alone. She capsulized her jetcopter, put it in her pocket and walked inside. All students had been sent their class schedules, so she knew where to go for her homeroom. She walked in, took a seat where she always sat, put her hands on either side of her head and began to breathe. She just needed to get herself as calm as possible before the new Hercule Satan fanboy arrived.

Other students began to arrive and slowly filtered into the classroom. The entire student body had learned over the years to avoid Videl Satan. She impressed upon them it would be in their best interests to seek a relationship elsewhere. This was cemented when one of the jocks decided to try to entice Videl to date him by giving her some unwanted physical attention. The jock didn't walk normally for 6 months. When the boy's parents heard what he had done and who he had groped, they decided not to pursue a lawsuit or criminal charges. The last thing they needed was to have the strongest man in the world after them. Even if he didn't lay a finger on them, they would have been the biggest pariahs on the planet.

She sat there, alone, until her two best friends arrived. These were the only people who felt comfortable enough to allow sitting next to her. But even so, the seats around them were usually empty as well. She didn't notice either of them until Erasa put her bag down and, in a near unbearably bubbly way, said "Good morning blue eyes."

Videl looked to either side of herself and noticed Erasa and Sharpner getting themselves situated for their first class of the day. Erasa was looking happy to be back in her kingdom. She was queen at school; She knew everything that happened in its walls and controlled the pawns within it. Sharpner simply had a smirk on his face that Videl knew was meant to look debonair.

They were the "cool" kids, the untouchables as it were. Erasa: considered by most to be the most beautiful girl in school. Sharpner: captain of several school sports teams and self proclaimed ladies man. Finally Videl: the crime fighting daughter of the savior of the world. These were the three that everyone wanted to imitate, date, or be around at all times. The imagined gap in the social status, as well as fear of Videl, kept the other students from getting too close though. This suited the three of them just fine.

Because of the image they maintained, girls felt honored and deeply flattered if Sharpner asked them on dates. He took advantage of this fact as often as possible. And even though neither of them wanted it, Videl and Erasa could have had their pick of guys, single or not. As much as Erasa liked to flirt, she just didn't find anyone at the school interesting enough to want to get to know them further.

By this point the class was nearly full. It was so full that other students ended up sitting next to Sharpner. The only remaining seat in the class was next to Erasa at the end of the row. Anyone who had tried to take the seat, found themselves the target of Videl's glare and found another. The second bell rang signaling the start of the first school day.

The homeroom teacher was also their first period teacher. Mr. Lee didn't see much point in just having the students sit there for 10 minutes until the bell rang for his class to start, so he decided to start it early. He wrote his name on the board and introduced himself.

"Welcome to Orange Star High everybody. I trust you had a good summer and are all excited to start another school year. My name is Mr. Lee and I will be your homeroom and History professor."

Just then he was interrupted by a knock on the classroom door. One of the administrators came in with a note, which he took and read. He looked fairly impressed and then said, "OK. Thank you. You can send him in."

As Gohan entered the classroom there was a collective gasp from a large portion of the girls in attendance. Gohan walked apprehensively further into the room and stood near the professor holding his hand out to shake. Mr. Lee, again, had an impressed look on his face as he took the young man's hand.

He said, "Welcome! I was just introducing myself to the class. I am Mr. Lee. You must be Gohan Son, correct?"

"That's correct, sir. Pleased to meet you."

Mr. Lee turned to address the class, "Ladies and gentlemen," he used these terms loosely. "I want to introduce you to a new student who will be joining us this year. This young gentleman got perfect scores on all his entrance exams. I hope all of you will make him feel welcome. You could all pick up a thing or two from him."

While no one knows who said it, a call of "NERD!" sounded throughout the classroom. That was followed up by laughter which went on until Mr. Lee could restore order to the class.

"Why don't you introduce yourself to the class?" The teacher said stepping back, giving Gohan the floor. Gohan immediately went bright red with embarrassment at being the center of attention.

"My name is Gohan Son. I have never been to a school before since I was home schooled up until now. Um…I live on Mount Paozu with my mother and younger brother…" Gohan paused, unsure of what else to say. He reached up and began rubbing the back of his neck in obvious discomfort.

The teach decided to end this bit of apparent torture. "That'll be enough Mr. Son. Why don't you find a seat? It'll be yours for the rest of the year. Also, because you are new here, I am going to give you a few minutes to get acclimated and for you to introduce yourself to those you'll be sitting next to during the school year."

Before Gohan could even begin to scan the rows for an empty chair, a blonde girl jumped up and said, "Hey, new guy! There's an empty one next to me!"

"Thanks!" Gohan said as he swiftly moved towards the spot, his face flaring up with blush once more.

Erasa had noticed Videl had been staring at the new kid since he walked into the classroom. After inviting Gohan up and while waiting on him to take his seat, Erasa leaned over to Videl and whispered, "The new guy is so hot. What do you think Videl?"

Videl could hear the suggestive tone when Erasa asked her that. She wasn't oblivious to what Erasa was trying to get out of her. It was true that from the moment he walked through the doorway, Videl's brain went nearly blank. There was also a small part of her that could have sworn she recognized him from somewhere and another, bigger, part of her that was screaming at her to try and make herself look presentable. She suppressed that second ridiculous thought though.

Instead of responding with what she actually thought, Videl just scoffed at her best friend before saying, "Why does it matter? I know exactly how this is going to play out. In a few seconds you will introduce the three of us to him. Then you will tell him who my dad is, if genius boy doesn't figure it out from my name. Then he will be just like the rest of them, sputtering and begging for an autograph or for a date. Then, FINALLY, we can ignore him just like we do everyone else."

The ridiculous side of Videl was telling her that she would never be able to entirely ignore this boy. Erasa just shook her head at her friend's stubbornness. From behind her, Erasa could hear Gohan taking his seat, so she quickly turned to him as she said, "Thanks again. I felt like I had already been standing up there for the longest time and really didn't want to have to spend more time looking for an empty seat."

"No problem cutie. By the way my name is Erasa Collins, that is Sharpner Smith and this is Videl Satan," she said pointing at her friends in turn. The trio looked at Gohan anticipating a reaction to Videl's name.

"Pleased to meet you Erasa, Sharpner and Videl." Both Erasa and Videl got tiny shivers running up their spines from the way he smiled while saying their names.

"So Gohan, do you know who Videl's dad is?" Erasa continued slyly.

"No," he said honestly tilting his head inquisitively. "Is he famous or something?"

She moved closer to Gohan and batting her eyes at him said, "Why none other than the Hercule Satan."

Videl listened to this, looking straight forward, and thought, 'I knew this is how it was going to go down! OK. Now he knows, so I will be getting peppered with questions from him in 3…2…'

"Oh." Was Gohan's only response. He felt embarrassed. Obviously, this was someone he should know about. He should have familiarized himself with the most popular musicians and actors to fit in a little better. His three new acquaintances looked at him wondering when the questioning and fawning would start. But it never did.

"You do know who he is right?" asked Sharpner.

"No. I'm sorry." Gohan had barely spoken 10 words to them and they were already looking at him like he was a freak. 'Maybe mom is wrong. I don't even know how to interact with these people. I can't be myself with them. I should have just told her 'no' and stayed home,' he thought as his anxiety started to turn into a bit of depression and his face burned with embarrassment.

"He is only the one who beat Cell and saved the whole world!", Erasa chided. Videl, meanwhile, began to watch him more intensely. She hardened her glare and tried to stare into his very soul. She wanted to make sure this kid wasn't just playing some kind of prank. The only thing she could see was that he looked incredibly confused. She decided to help him out a little bit.

"You know, Cell? Green guy? Destroyed cities and the entire royal military? Is this ringing any bells for you?", Videl said trying to get his memory working.

"No, I remember Cell vividly." Up until this point Gohan's mood had appeared happy and friendly. When he was forced to think about Cell, his voice began to take on more of an edge and his face darkened. This was not something he had been wanting to think about on the first day of school. The change went unnoticed by all but Videl who intensified her glare at him.

So Erasa followed his statement up with, "Well her dad is the one who beat him."

A smile appeared on Gohan's face and he chuckled lightly not sure what kind of a prank they were pulling on him.

Videl's blood instantly started to boil. As ridiculous as she felt her dad was sometimes, he was her dad and she would not tolerate someone mocking him."Is there something funny about my dad?"

Gohan stopped immediately and shook his head, waving his arms vehemently. "No of course not! I didn't mean anything by it."

At this point Gohan decided it would best if he occupied himself with something else. He turned back towards the front of the room and started to dig through his backpack for supplies. He didn't feel like talking about Cell or the man they though killed him any longer. He was feeling more and more like a freak and an outcast for not knowing what they were talking about.

Videl, Erasa and Sharpner all stared in disbelief. Despite what seemed to be him acknowledging Hercules defeat of Cell, Videl got the idea that, not only did Gohan still not know who her dad is, but he also didn't believe what they were saying about the greatest victory in human history.

That didn't go how I thought it would at all. Who is this guy? Where has he been for the last few years that he doesn't know who my dad is? Something doesn't seem right with him.

Before any of them could say anything more though, the bell rang, signaling the end of homeroom and the start of the first class of the day.