Oh sometimes I get a good feeling yeah,
I get a feeling that I never, never, never, never had before no, no (Yeah),
And I just gotta tell you right now that I,
I believe, I really do believe that
-Something's Got A Hold On Me; by Etta James
Nikita Facinelli thought her parents were hilarious. Truly, she did. They were complete opposites, both in personality and upbringing. Yet, somehow, they managed to meet and fall in love. Nikita knew very well her parents' love story was clichéd, but she loved to hear it just for the sake of entertainment. It reminded her just how odd it was, how unlikely the pair were. But, at the same time, they worked well together, having a healthy and stable marriage on top of being outstanding parents. But those were solely Nikita's opinions. An outsider looking in may say the Facinelli family was made up of a bunch of weirdos, but it wouldn't matter. In the end, the only people who mattered were the ones who made the biggest impacts — which, as usual, was family. Plus friends, but Nikita's parents liked to think family had the biggest impact.
"Friends are always important," Vincent, Nikita's father, would say, "but you can never know when they'll become strangers. Family's the one thing that's always there."
Vincent Facinelli was a big, loud, Italian-American. He came from a large family, with some of his relatives still living in Italy. Being the youngest of seven children, with several aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins living in or around his hometown, Vincent grew up with close bonds with nearly everyone in his family. To not have those bonds would mean something was wrong, and it would be addressed immediately. Nikita's Italian family was very confrontational, so any problems that she or her siblings may try and hide were always exposed in some way. There was no point in keeping secrets when her paternal family was around.
"But friends allow us to grow." Nikita's mother, Anna, would always through Vincent a look when he'd start his friends-to-strangers argument, displeased that he'd make such claims. "They give us the opportunity to see ourselves from a different perspective."
Anna Witwicky was a small, slender, usually-to-the-point woman. Her family was very different than Vincent's. Instead of having six siblings, she only had one brother. And she didn't have to worry about having too many cousins to count, since both of her parents had no siblings. And, another difference between her and Vincent, was the fact that she wasn't overwhelmed with nieces and nephews. Her brother and his wife only had one child, a son named Sam. That was it. Now the Witwicky family was close in their own right, not necessarily in the invasive way the Facinellis were.
For Nikita, she found that to be humorous. Vincent was so outgoing, so sociable. Anna was more introverted, content with peace and silence. The couple were an odd match, but, again, they made it work. Nikita couldn't help but wonder if a relationship — a union — like her parents could be possible for her.
-0-0-0-0-
Nikita felt a bubble of irritation form in the pit of her stomach. She had locked herself in her room, for well over two hours, hoping she'd find some kind of momentum — some kind of motivation — to actually start on the project in front of her. And that project, that goddamn project, was on genealogy. Nikita's history teacher thought it'd be a good idea for his students to do a big project, a huge report, on a specific member of their family and share it with the class. The assignment as a whole would count for a majority of their overall grade, and that put an added amount of stress for everyone in the class. Nikita felt like she was about to lose her mind. She was hoping to do her genealogy report on her great-great-grandfather, Archibald Witwicky, but her cousin, Sam, was doing his genealogy report on him. So there goes probably the only credible family member Nikita could think of.
There were a lot of things Nikita found frustrating, when it came to her familial relationship with Sam. For starters, they were the same age. Only a month separated them, though. Which meant, when it came to school, they were always in the same grade. Another thing, though she partly held her mother responsible, was that the cousins lived in the same city, Tranquility. Anna thought it'd be a good idea to relocate the family, having them closer to her brother and his family. Which meant Nikita would start attending the same schools as her cousin. The only reason why Anna had that idea was because her father was in ill-health and wanted to be closer to him. He eventually died, and the Facinelli chose to stay in Tranquility ever since. The last thing was that Sam was not one to really think things through. He typically went in and, occasionally, hoped for the best. It was usually his family — immediate or otherwise — that had to get him out of whatever situation he got himself in. The most recent one was his little football tryout. Nikita had to drive him to the hospital for a concussion. Her aunt and uncle were not pleased.
Now, none of those things should indicate Nikita didn't tolerate or even love her cousin, because she did. It's just, in her eyes, she felt as though there were certain things about her and Sam that were just. . . .annoying, to a certain degree. Or maybe Nikita was allowing her frustrations from the assignment get to her. Sam was a good guy, there was no doubt about that. He had some good qualities, a lot of which outweighed the idiotic things he tended to do. Yeah, trying out for the football team was stupid, Sam wasn't athletically inclined. And of course the only reason he wanted to try out was because of a girl, but he'd never openly admit that to anyone he didn't personally trust. Which happened to be Nikita and Sam's close — and only other — friend, Miles.
Letting out a sigh, Nikita slumped back in her chair, a scowl on her face. Why in the hell did her teacher have to assign a genealogy report? Why did he have to make such a big assignment? Standing up, Nikita let out a huff as she turned to exit her room. If she stayed in there for another minute, she'd go crazy. Opening the door, the teen exited, walking down the hallway and to the stairs leading to the lower level. She could hear her mother and sisters talking, laughing about something. And they were being very loud about it. That was the main reason Nikita closed her door in the first place; she wanted some quiet so she could focus.
Look how well that turned out, she thought bitterly. You couldn't get a single thing done.
Making her way down the stairs, Nikita made her way into the kitchen, where her mother and sisters were located. They were sitting at the table, so engulfed in their discussion they didn't initially notice Nikita enter. It was only after a minute passed that the seventeen year old was acknowledged.
"Oh hey, Nikki." Deborra, the teen's eldest sister, turned to look at her with a bright smile. "I didn't hear you come in."
"I just came in," Nikita responded.
"How's the assignment going?" Deborra asked.
Rolling her eyes, the teen went over to the fridge and opened it. She was picking through the contents, hoping one of them caught her attention.
"Is it really that bad?" The next question came from Nikita's other older sister, Odette.
"Yeah, it's really that bad," Nikita said.
"It's just a genealogy thing, right?" Odette asked. "Why don't you do it on mom's great-grandfather."
"Archibald?" Nikita closed the fridge to look at her sister, whose looked at the teen expectantly. "Sam's doing his report on Archibald."
"That sucks," Deborra murmured. "Then do it out Pops. He's done plenty of cool things."*
"Like what?" The seventeen year old crossed her arms over her chest.
"He helped his father and our father build, and run, a successful wine company," Odette claimed. "Aside from fighting in the Korean war and in the Vietnam war before being medically discharged."
"I know all that," Nikita said, pouting slightly.
"Then do the genealogy report on him," Odette said. "Once dad comes home, get some information on him."
"That's not a bad idea," Anna stated, voicing her opinion for the first time. "And I'm sure you could call your grandfather, as well, for any additional information."
"I guess," Nikita sighed.
"When's it due?" Odette asked.
"In a couple weeks."
"Then you've got plenty of time."
"I know," Nikita said. "Where is dad, anyway?"
"He went out to go get some groceries," Anna said. "He'll be back soon."
Nodding, the teen brushed some of her hair out of her face.
"Did you want to do anything?" Anna asked. "Since you're taking a break?"
"Not really. I was hoping to just relax for the rest of the day."
"No extra homework?" Deborra asked.
"I've finished it already."
"Well, if you're so intent on taking a break," Deborra stated, "then why don't you sit and talk with us?"
Letting out a sigh, Nikita settled with a nod. Maybe having a little time with her mother and sisters would do her some good and help her relax.
(A/N):
Sorry for the wait on this, I got a bit sidetracked; but, here's the first chapter! I don't entirely know how I feel about this chapter, I thought it'd turn out differently, I thought I had this whole thing planned out, but this is what I ended up writing. Hopefully you guys find something good in it. Leave any comments in the reviews on your thoughts; constructive criticism is always welcome.
Do I own anything in the Transformers franchise? No. No I don't. All I own are my OCs, my subplots, and a love for the holidays. If you've got an OC or subplot that you'd like in the story, just PM me or leave a review. I'll add them in as soon as possible.
So my biggest motivation for writing a Transformers fic came from the Bumblebee movie. Now, I personally haven't seen it, but I've heard a lot of good things about it. I've heard it's the best Transformers movie to be released since the first one back in 2007. I don't know, but Bumblebee was a bit of a motivator for me. If you've seen the movie, comment your thoughts. Was it good? Was it bad? Was it meh? Let me know.
On that note, happy holidays, my friends. I'll see you around.
Finley Braxton