Tranquility in Fresno, California, has a frightening total of only 799 people, a bleak number that scared the hell out of most teenagers. Given what Mikaela and I had been through, though, you could say we had a new definition of the word "scary."
As in; big, giant, evil, alien robot warrior scary.
Yeah, that had (mostly) happened in a little place with only 799 people. Beware, all.
You'd think after something like Mission City (especially Mission City), or something like getting abducted by Sector Seven, or something like almost getting run over by a Decepticon cop in a parking garage would be enough to leave most people in a psych award, or PTS therapy, or in a room with ten dead bolts on the door and a night light. Or dead.
But not us.
Not us by a long shot.
Maybe it was because teenagers aren't supposed to have any grip on reality or because "young and fearless" go hand in hand. Maybe it was because I knew my slick, shiny Camaro would vaporize anyone who tried to load Mojo into a government-issue vehicle again. Maybe it was knowing the Autobots were out there, watching over us; maybe it was knowing Optimus Prime had my back. Or maybe it was knowing that, somehow, against all the overwhelming and impossible odds, I, Sam Witwicky (me) had dealt the final blow that ended all the conflict.
I had saved the world.
I tried not to dwell on that little fact too much. On how scared and angry and totally fearless I was, all at the same time. On how the Allspark vibrated in my hands as it disintegrated to dust, Megatron's wild optics burning over me. My low self esteem was at an all-time high, but other than that, I tried to move on with my life. True, I now had the hottest girl friend in Tranquility's (only) high school, and the hottest, fastest car, and for some reason I had got taken out of school to go on "vacation" while Nevada was invaded by aliens, which also set my parents in high standards.
But more than that, something was different about me. Me. I didn't know if it was the Autobots or Mikaela rubbing off on me, or maybe I'd had it there all along, but I was a lot more confident and…at home with myself that I could ever remember feeling before. Still kind of awkward. Still extremely clumsy when nervous. And I still made stupid mistakes. A lot. But other than that, I felt like I was still Sam, just…better, I guess, than before. More daring, and a lot more confident.
It felt good.
But life wasn't done throwing us curveballs yet. Maybe I had been stupid to think it wouldn't. But either way, though Decepticon activity was pretty quite on our end for a while, I still shouldn't have expected things to be anything but wild over the summer. I wasn't expecting boring, not with all that had changed during the year, but…
We had aliens, Mikaela's auto-kleptomaniac father, mom and dad's remodeling plans (more dangerous than you realize), and me, trouble magnet for the world, all in one tiny space in California.
Looking back, if I should have known that summer would be unlike any that came before it. I would have been crazy to think otherwise.