Just a girl

Mikaela stood at the doorway, looking in at the huge mass of reporters, cameras and microphones. They had come in from all around the world to be squished into the pressroom of the White House, just to see the newly-proclaimed saviours of humankind and hear prescreened questions and answers.

She looked around, amazed that she was even in this building, it was fucking ridiculous. After all, she was just the juvenile delinquent daughter of a convict, if not for the unforeseen events of the past few weeks, she would have been thrown out by the very guards stationed not ten feet from where she was.

She turned her attention back to the pressroom as the murmuring grew louder and then exploded into shouting at the appearance of the guests of honour. Security came out first, eyes scanning the area, and then the press secretaries, then the generals and finally the President himself. He held up his hands and the audience quieted enough that the press secretary could make the introductions.

Then the President stepped up to the microphone. The room suddenly went eerily quiet, everyone wanting to know what was going on. "Ladies and gentlemen of the press, I did not call this press conference to talk to you. I called you all here to introduce you to the real hero. It wasn't the US Army, Navy, Air Force, or even government that saved the day. It was a teenaged young man. A young man that defied the odds, fought for what he believed in and, in doing so, saved us all. Ladies and Gentlemen, Sam Witwicky." He gestured to the side of the stage and a wall of Secret Service agents parted and allowed Sam to walk up to shake the president's hand. The crowd went wild.

Mikaela smiled slightly, happy that Sam would finally get recognition for what he had done, not just strange looks and disbelieving listeners. He was the hero. Everyone knew his name. She watched as Sam brought Major Lennox, Sergeant Epps, and the newly re-instated Agent Simmons. She watched as the men she had stood alongside with received the accolades and congratulations. She was self-aware enough to know that she was jealous.

People looked at her and just assumed she was a pretty face, that she couldn't have had something to do with the firefight in the middle of the desert. They wouldn't believe that she had been the second person to know about the Autobots. They wouldn't believe that she had saved Sam's life more than once. She wasn't a heroine, she was just girl.

Sam had tried at first to tell people of her role, but they wouldn't listen, so he had eventually given up. She had told him that she was fine, that she didn't want the fame. And she didn't, not really. She just wished that someone other than those who were there knew, someone other than Sam and Lennox and Epps. But that apparently wasn't in the cards. Mikaela was used to getting the short end of the stick, she would deal. She would smile politely, say the right things and fade away back into her old life.

She took one last long glance at Sam standing up on the stage, hair combed and wearing a suit. She smiled, turned away and walked down the hall to the exit. She would have to remember what it was like to be a normal girl. She wasn't sure she could ever be normal again.

She just wished that people knew she wasn't just a girl. She was the girl.