Make It Work: A Dragon Ball Z Story

Chapter 17: Thirteen Day Countdown

13 days to go...

It wasn't normal for Goten to feel so nervous, but the way Shalay eyed him from across the dining table made him nothing but uneasy. He wiggled his toes inside of his tube socks and shifted his eyes from his empty plate to Gohan. By the way Gohan looked, he had a lot eating at his mind as his eyes were glued to the silverware in front him.

Observing his sons on the opposite side of the table, it started to get to Goku. Apparently everyone knew something that he didn't. Goku didn't like that one bit. He tore his eyes away from his children to spare a glance at Shalay, who sat beside him. He sighed internally. She didn't look much better. Maybe everyone was sick? The way she stared longingly at Goten made him shiver.

What had Chi-Chi done to them?!

Speaking of Chi-Chi, the house wife had just finished breakfast and was setting the table. As she set the table, no one rushed for their meals.

'Is something wrong?' Chi-Chi thought worryingly. Like the outspoken woman she was, she voiced her concern. "Gohan, what's the matter?" His body went rigid and involuntarily took a deep breath. That's all Chi-Chi needed to read him like a book. She narrowed her eyes and sat down in the chair beside Shalay. Chi-Chi cleared her throat expectedly at Gohan.

"Tell me what you did, Gohan," she ground out, sweet enough to be poison. Gohan's cheeks flushed as he seemed to have a flashback. Chi-Chi suddenly became full of rage and slammed both fists on the table, rattling the dishes and his teeth. Her right eye twitched slightly and she glared with a sweet smile at Gohan.

"Y-you see, uh, I kind of..." Gohan stuttered over his words, he was usually so put together. At that moment from the way he was looking he reminded her of a nervous Krillin, all sweaty and frantic.

"Come on, son," Goku piped in heartedly. "It couldn't have been that bad, right?" He smiled at Gohan with all the kindness he could muster. Maybe that would help him out, Goku thought.

"V-videl and I, no well, Videl is- UGH!" He slammed his head on the table, knocking a bowl of links over in the process. He never finished his sentence, but apparently Chi-Chi didn't need him to because she jumped up out of her seat and embraced him.

"Oh, Gohan my lovely child!" Chi-Chi bellowed while kissing his cheeks and forehead in a never ending cycle. Gohan struggled a bit in her grasp before giving in and smiling with flushed cheeks. What had he been so worried about? Of course his mom wouldn't care about this.

Shalay looked at the spectacle quizzically. What did Chi-Chi have to be so happy about? She glanced over to Goten, whose eyebrow quirked at her as he nodded his head towards his mom. She shrugged and began gathering the links off the floor and stuffing it in her shirt, making a makeshift basket. She made a 'come on' motion with her hand towards Goten and he didn't move. She did it again and he looked scared to come, but slid off his chair slowly and followed her out the back door.

Shalay turned her head slightly to the right to peep at Goten. He was shuffling along the grass in a hesitant manner. He was never nervous around her before, this wasn't the boy she knew. She turned fully and dropped down on the grass in front of Goten, with her legs crossed. The sausages fell out her shirt and onto the ground as she petted the space in front of her for Goten to sit.

"Goten, we're friends right?" Shalay asked out of nowhere, jarring him faintly where he sat. She swiped a link off the ground and flicked it to get the dirt off. Her eyes danced at how off guard Goten was.

"Yeah, we are, but-" He began just to stop abruptly.

"But what?"

"Why do you keep staring at me with those weird eyes?" Shalay fell over onto her back, giggling hardily. He hated when she laughed at his questions, they were pretty reasonable to him.