Disclaimer: I don't own transformers! But Ink, Rojo, Rose & Ms. Lovett are my own creations!
Chapter 1
I do love my students, I truly do. Especially Integra, Alice and Rosalyn. That's why I'm with them, in a junkyard, looking for Rosalyn's new car. She had used one of her father's old pick-up truck to get around in high-school. But now she's a freshman in college and she needs something else.
She has been saving up for this. She and her father made a deal. If she could raise half the money needed to buy a car, he would pay for the other half. And she was ready to buy when she got the bad news from her father, Friday. Her father had just lost his job and he couldn't afford to give her the promised money.
She was devastated. And it all happened in my class! From the very beginning she told me what was happening. For the past few weeks she has been telling me about how close she was to owning a car and how badly she wanted one. Can you imagine hearing how happy she was and then seeing her dream smashed into a million bits?
Heart crushing. And in my classroom, nonetheless! So I told her I would pay for the rest of her car. The look on her face was enough to satisfy me. But she thanked me, practically on her knees. I told her it was no big deal.
And money wise, it wasn't. I teach at a university. Teachers get paid thousands of dollars each year. From pre-school all the way up to the collage level, we get paid a lot. Even though all the schools in the district decide to get a pay-cut, I'm doing fine. Finial, anyway.
And that's why I am here, spending my money and free time, because I love my students so very much. I look at the cars Rosalyn has to choose from. All trash in my mind. But it makes Rosalyn very happy, so I shall endure.
"Hey Rose, what'ta ya think about this car?" Alice asked.
Rose turns her head towards the area that Alice's voice had come from.
"Nice, Rojo," Rose replied.
"What about this smooth ride?" Integra asked.
They both look at the car Integra is at.
"No way, Ink," Rojo said.
Even though they're names are Rosalyn, Alice, and Integra, they call each other Rose, Rojo and Ink. I don't know why though, but I call them that by request. I believe I'm the only who actually calls those girls by their nicknames. At least, on the campus.
They keep on looking for a car. I think about the three girls. Rose and Rojo are so very close to one another. They have known each other since childhood. The same elementary, intermediate, high school and university. It's plain to see that they are meant to stay with one another.
Ink is way older than Rojo and Rose. She's in her mid twenties, with a full-time job. She had already gone to collage for almost a full year before she quit and became a tattoo artist.
They all had met on campus and shared a class with me. Ink had been kind to them and had given them some tips on the teacher, for she came to the same collage she quit, when some of the other students picked on them for being a freshman.
They had become like sisters. As thick as thieves. They are almost inseparable. It is meant by fate that these girls shan't separate. It's their destiny to be together.
"So, how can I help you fine ladies this day?" the salesman asked.
"I'll be the one paying, do you have any cars in relatively good shape?" I asked.
The man gives me a confused look. Obviously he didn't go to college. Oh god, I hate it when this happens. Now I have to use little words and sentences. I feel like I'm talking to someone from another planet.
"Is there a car that hasn't been used too much?" I asked.
He tells me yes, and takes me to a car that looks fine. But I know better than that. Looks are very, very, deceiving. Especially with cars now a days.
Rose looks at the car and nods her head "no". We look again, I have to follow the salesman around but the other girls don't. I signal them and they race off. So they look out for a good car while I distract the man.
Rojo finds something. We turn our attention to a beat up old car. We walk to the beat-up thing known as "car." Rojo can't be serious. This thing is so beat-up; there's only two pieces of its former paint job left! It's yellow and black.
But I see the hood is up. Rojo is in the car. I see. Rojo had inspected the engine when she got to this car. Then she must have tried hot-wiring the car and tried to start it. It must have rolled-over, or else we wouldn't be standing here. Clever girl.
I do teach all my students not to judge base upon appearances. Like the old saying goes, never judge a book by it's cover. It looks like I succeed with these three girls. But, sadly, I have not taken to heart my own teachings. I shall try hard to practice what I preach.
"What is this?" Rose asked.
"A Hummer," replied Rojo.
A Hummer, I couldn't tell. It's such an old car. Probable from the beginning of the 21st century. Which, in comparison to what some of the history teachers teach, is relatively new.
"A Hummer?" Rose replied.
Rojo slides over and lets Rose sit in the driver seat. Ink looks at the engine while Rose feels it out. I turn to the salesman and distract him with demands on information on the car.
He racks his brains for information on the vehicle. He wasn't planning on selling the car. He was planning on scrapping it. I can tell. The car is near the crane that operates the assembly line.
I look at Rose when the man asks if I'm interest in buying the vehicle. She looks so happy, with her hand on the steering wheel and foot on the gas pedal. Her famous smile is pulling at her lips. She wants that car.
"How much is this vehicle?" I asked.
"I'll tell you what, since you're a lady and a fine one at that, I'll sell it to you for 360,000," he said.
I can't afford that! Outrageous! If Rose had more money, maybe. But the total sum of the money we got won't even pay for the moorage. This car is out of our price rage. Besides, he knows all too well that the car isn't worth that much. He has a beef with it and wants it crushed.
"I'm sorry, I can't afford that," I told.
He gives me a pseudo-hurt look and Rose gives me a real disappointed look. My heart falls at her sadness. She really wants this car. I wish I could do more for her. We move on from the car. I wrap my arm around Rose and gently rub her arm. I try to comfort her the best I can.
Then something happens. A loud, too high pitched to be humanly possible, sound rips across the air and destroys all the other cars. A car that was dangling from the crane even drops onto the floor.
Ink and Rojo inspect the car. I look at all the cars. They have gone from bad to worse. None of them are reusable. None. Not after what just happened. I look at the Hummer, it manage to survive the attack. I smile.
"It looks like the only savable car here is that Hummer," I commented.
But he wasn't ready to sell. The girls yell to get my attention. I look towards them. They mouth the word "please" with crossed hands. So, they want a car too. I go and see the car they are talking about.
A truck. And not the type Rose use to drive in high school. No. A real truck used to transport food and other goods back in the early 21st century. My, this is quite a find.
I ask the man how much he wants for both cars. He cuts me a rational deal of 250 thousand dollars. The girls rejoice at this. Rose gets the car of her dreams and her friends get a vehicle too. I'm just happy to see Rose smiling.
Rose gives me her half of the money and goes to her car. I do all the paperwork as Rose evaluates her new used car. I pay and sign the documents. The salesman reluctantly gives me the keys to both of the vehicles. I go back into the junkyard and hand Rose the keys to her car.
She smiles one more time and hugs me out of pure joy.
"Now, now. I just paid for half of the car. Nothing to celebrate," I said.
"Thank you, Ms. Lovett," Rose said.
I'm back at my home. The stars are bright and the moon is high in the sky. I'm snuggle seated on my armchair in my living room. Reading a mystery novel. A romantic one, at that.
The only thing my mystery novels lack are intelligence. The simple use of deduction and reason. Firguring things out based upon your own wit than on technology. Give me a good Sherloc Homes book!
I hear my doorbell ring, who would come to me at such an hour at night? I place my bookmark into the book, close it, get up and look through the peephole. I see Rojo, Rose and Ink.
I unlock my door and let them in.
"What on earth are you doing here at such an hour?" I asked.
I close the door behind them. They go into my living room and make themselves comfortable.
"We have a surprize for you," Rose said.
They reluctantly get up and take me outside of the house. Then I see it. The semi-truck. The one I bought the girls from the junkyard. Now I am genuinely comfused. Why are the girls showing me this?
"Take a wild guess at when this truck was made?" Rose said.
"I can't begin to fathome the year of this vehicle," I said.
"2007, ruffle," Rojo said.
That's the perfect age for my… sabbatical. But that won't happen until the end of the year. Oh, my. These girls, they got me to buy it for them. So they could take a look at it and see how old it is. Then fixed it up so it could work. Or they had it toded here.
"Thank you all," I said.
I would have never bought the thing for my own self. Never. It's impractical. It's ilrational. To buy a truck when I could borrow one from the musuem. I would have never done it. Not for myself. But I did do it for them.
I gently wrap my arms around the three girls and we all smile.
note from author to reader: I just barely made this. i don't know if it's worth finishing. if you want me to go on, review it! if i don't get many, i'm not finishing it!