It would have been a peaceful night . . . if the sky hadn't exploded.

But my story actually begins exactly a day and a half before then, on the last day of school, five minutes into my walk home.

I had just started my walk when I noticed there was someone trailing a few paces behind me, three someone's I came to realize. Now granted, a lot of kids walk in this general area, so this could just be normal. But what had me worried was the three kids in just happened to be.

Three boys, Antonio, Marcus and Liam. The names sound like your everyday teens, but you know how they say anyone can be an everyday hero? Well FYI, people can be everyday villains as well. And that is what the trio was, everyday villains. But no one ever believed me, because these boys got good grades, had a lot of friends, looked friendly. On top of that, they were all athletes and they all dressed nicely. They would pay attention in class and be respectful to the teachers, they weren't perverts, and to most people there weren't nicer boys you could find.

But they hated me, for some reason they just did. I might have a lot of friends, I might even make the track team or be favored by teachers as well, if it weren't for them.

See, if someone is disliked by some of the most popular people in school, you instantly become the least popular person in school. Again, their reasons for disliking me are unclear. It might be because they think I'm strange. I sometimes say the wrong things, or things that just don't make any sense, but I never really know what to say, I don't get a lot of social practice. You see, I've been in the same classes as them since day-care, along with everyone else in our school. And the social positions have always been clear to me, them at the top, me at the bottom. It's really the people in the middle who are lucky. The ones that think they have problems.

I'm sure there are kids like me everywhere, they don't get in fights, or think about suicide, or take drugs, they just don't have friends. And they stand there, right at the bottom, holding their head as high as they can while certain kids just try to push it lower. Maybe that isn't you, maybe you're that lucky kid in the middle, normal life, normal parents, normal friends. Or maybe you do struggle socially, and all you really need is a fresh start.

Those were my thoughts as the trio began to catch up. If only I had a fresh start, then maybe they wouldn't hate me so much. They might even like me. My thoughts were interrupted by Antonio's shout.

"Hey, Sage!"

I gritted my teeth, but I wheeled around anyways.

"Hey Antonio. Glad it's finally summer, aren't you?" I tried. But he just smirked. Marcus answered me.

"No more school rules, am I right?" He sneered, but it wasn't a question, it was a partial threat.

"Too bad there are still actual laws." I said as a reminder, and warning.

"Oh we aren't planning on anything illegal, just reminding some pasty white girls to remember where their line is." Liam shot. Antonio and Marcus snickered.

Maybe I forgot to mention, I live in New Mexico, around the border, most of the citizens here are Mexicans, so their skin is dark or tan. Mine is a fair white, so I attract looks. And recently there have been illegal border crossings. So a lot of white policeman have been stationed here, and life has been a lot harder for citizens. So that's been another thing they have used against me lately.

"Maybe you forgot our last message." Antonio growled stepping closer.

"Come on guys, why can't you just leave me alone." I complained.

"Were at the top of the school right now, we've always been, for someone to be at the top, someone else has to be on the bottom, you just make it easy." Marcus drawled.

"Plus, it's easier to single out dirty whites rather than another one of our kind." Liam explained with mock sincerity.

"You know, you'd be cleaner if you spread mud on your face, least it would get rid of that ghoul colored skin." Antonio sneered. I felt my eyes grow hot.

"Maybe you have some mud you need to wipe off." I growled back.

This only drew their laughter.

"She's a little bit of racist scum now ain't she." Liam jeered. That was uncalled for, I bent down and scooped up a pebble.

"Oh, you gonna throw it little girly." Marcus taunted. And I did.

I hit Marcus hard in the temple and a line of blood immediately began to drip.

"Three of us tough boys versus one little girl that wants to play nasty. Fair warning Sage. We can play nastier." Antonio hissed taking another warning step towards me. I swallowed and my eyes flew back to Marcus who was wiping blood from his forehead. Liam was smiling like he just got permission to do whatever he wanted. Which was somewhat true since they could attack me, now that I've thrown a rock at them.

Pushing back tears I turned and ran. I heard a shout, and then three running feet behind me. Remember when I said I could've made the track team, well it's not for no good reason. When I run I really run.

I could hear their angry shouts and running feet slowly get quieter. But I kept powering onward. Through streets and neighborhoods. I kept running until I ran up to a fence of a junkyard. I hadn't noticed, but tears were streaming down my face. I collapsed onto the ground in exertion. My breaths came in a bit more ragged than usual. The sun was slowly getting lower in the sky. Nothing broke the silence except my slowing breaths. But then my ears picked up a strange ticking background noise. I frowned, not being able to quite place what it was. But it seemed to be coming from the junkyard.

Curiosity pushing through my pain, I stood and swung open the big silver gate, which creaked and whined in protest. I stepped into the junkyard and was instantly surrounded by mountains of trash. I mean really trash, not what you think a junkyard would be, full of treasure and hidden items. Mostly it was random bits of plastic and food wrappers with the occasional tire or random metal part. But mostly it was just trash. I strained my ears for the ticking noise and began to follow it once I picked it up. I wound corners and then backtracked and went in circles, then finally I found its source, coming from deep within one of the junk piles. I sighed, it had better not be some old watch. I began removing items and trash, I kept pulling out objects and making the hole bigger. At last removed this really big tire and was able to see into the dark little whole I made. A soft blue light and a ticking noise emitted from it. I took a breath and plunged my hand inside, praying it didn't fall and crush my arm.

My hand slipped in, grabbed something disk-like, and shot back out. The disk was bigger than I anticipated and was only a little smaller than I was, but far heavier. It fell to the ground with a little crash and lay still, the blue still glowing around it. It began making the ticking noise again and some pieces lifted, as if it were trying to. . . open.

More ticking and straining, and then suddenly it sprang open with such a surprising force that I jumped back with a yelp.

Whatever it was, began to move. My heartrate began to quicken. It slowly stood and its silhouette was humanoid. I swallowed quietly as it slowly turned towards me. I let out a tiny breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. The figure was a head shorter than me. The glowing blue was its eyes. Which were bright, and would have been the cutest things I ever saw, were it not for how terrifying the whole ordeal was.

The metal figure cocked its head at me and made clicking and whirring noises. I just stared. My throat went dry and I stopped breathing. I could feel my heart pounding faster and faster and adrenaline coursed through me.

Terror was pouring through me, I had never been this scared, and yet so curious. I hadn't even been this scared when the trio chased me for the first time. I wanted to say something, but I forgot how to talk.

The robot made more clicking noises, and a little whistle at the end. I made a little noise, but it wasn't really words. Then finally my thoughts caught up with me and I began scooting slowly back. The metal figure remained where it was. I continued moving backwards, then I slowly began to stand up. The moment I made that move, it moved. All it did was shift positions but I froze until it stopped and was completely still again. Then I continued standing. Once I had stood up fully, the robot thing was shorter than me, which was slightly more reassuring. Slowing my breathing down I began to slowly approach, reaching my hand out first. Yeah, real smart decision. But it was just one of those times where you didn't get that bad 'run for your life' feeling.

From what I saw so far, it didn't look intent on hurting me. It looked curiously at my fingers and held out its own metal hand. The fingers were covered in silver plating and held together with circular joint. Grease and dirt were stuck in the crevices, making it squeak when it moved. That made me a little sad, it was broken in a way. It must have been stuck in this junkyard for a long time. Now that I've finally freed it, it all dirty and rusty.

I hadn't noticed but it's metal fingers were now right next to my hand as if comparing it. It blinked a few times, then drew it back with another click and whistle.

"You're all dirty." I said quietly, with a small sadness to my voice. It just tilted its head again. I reached forward again to point at some of the rust on his front. It looked down and made a sad noise.

"Can you talk?" I asked. When it sounded sad, it also sounded sentient. It clicked at me.

"That must be how you talk." I realized out loud. The terror was ebbing away, and curiosity was now taking over.

"Where are you from, did someone make you?" I asked, not expecting an answer. The little robot looked at me for a second and then shook his head. I blinked.

"You can understand me. You just don't speak English." I noticed. The robot nodded.

"So if no one made you, where are you from." I asked. The robot looked straight up and made a small whistle.

"You're not from Earth, are you. You're a little robot alien." I whispered. The thought was incredible. I wondered fleetingly how far away he lived. If there were others like him.

"I bet your planet is so cool, I bet you're all treated the same. No matter what you look like." I mostly muttered this to myself but the robot stamped its little foot. I looked up to see it angrily shake its head.

Then he stood straight and tall and threw a few punches at the air, then running around to the opposite side of where he was standing he threw punches in the opposite direction.

"Your species had a fight?" I asked sadly. He stretched his arms really big.

"A big fight?... a war?" I asked. He nodded. Then he pretended to die and then jumped up and stretched his arms wide again.

"A lot of your kind died huh. Our planet fights a lot to. And your species is fighting because not everyone is treated fair?" I asked. He nodded and the pointed to a symbol on his arm. It was orange or red, it was shaped like a metallic face. Then after pointing at that he began sketching something in the dirt. It looked like another face, but it was sharp, and looked mean and cold.

"That's who you're fighting. What are you called?" I asked him. He began sketching in the dirt again, but it was just odd symbols I couldn't read.

"I'm sorry, I can't read that." I explained. He frowned and then wrote something else. It was strange looking but I made out an M and a C.

"Ok, I'll just call you MC. I'm Sage." I told him. He gave a little nod and more creaks emitted.

"Hmm, I could get you all cleaned up, why don't you come over to my home, I can get those gears working properly." I suggested. He tilted his head then with a smile nodded rapidly. I beckoned for him and began walking towards the gate. I heard his little feet as he appeared beside me.

As we walked to my house I learned that he was here for something, and so were the robots with the pointed symbol.

I led him to my room and grabbed some wipes from the bathroom. Then I ran down to the garage and grabbed our old car buffer. I turned it on and a small explosion of dust shot forth. After a series of coughing I ran back up to my room where MC was admiring all my trinkets.

"Do you like them?" I asked him with a small smile. He nodded absent-mindedly.

"I used to collect anything I could get my hands on." I told him, remembering. He turned wide curious eyes and then suddenly his hand switched back and came out again with a shiny object, then it kept flipping in an out revealing more objects of all shapes and sizes.

"You collect things to huh?" I asked. He smiled and nodded as his hand replaced itself.

"Here come on over here so I can get you fixed up." He came over and sat down. I turned on the buffer and began buffing away all the rust and scratch marks, with the wipes I cleaned away the dirt and grease. I started at his head worked all the way down to his feet. When I got there, MC would not sit still, it was then that I realized he was being tickled. I laughed and then turned the buffer off. He let out some air like a sigh.

"Well there you go MC, all new and shiny again." I told him. He looked down at himself and smiled. Then he looked up at me gave me a happy nod.

Just then, I heard the front door swing open down the hall and then slam. MC looked up at me with curious, and slightly fearful eyes.

"Don't worry, it's just my mom. She always gets home late. But she'll freak if she sees you, quick hide in here." I told him ushering him into my closet. He clicked confusedly and blinked a few times as I slowly closed the closet door.

"Stay here until I come back." I whispered before clicking the door shut.

"Darling! Are you home?" My mother's shout came from the kitchen.

"I'm home mom!" I called back racing into the kitchen.

"Oh good, you wouldn't mind making dinner again tonight, I'm exhausted." She said sitting down tiredly on the couch.

"Sure mom." I answered and began heating the stove.

"How was school darling?" She asked absent-mindedly.

"It was fun, we mostly had one big social hour. Today was the last day." I reminded her.

"Oh was it, well what am I going to do with you tomorrow then?" She asked.

"I help at the boys' home, remember?" I said.

"Oh yes. Well are any of your friends going to come with you this summer to do that?" She asked.

"Oh yeah, Lisa said she could come." I lied. Lisa is my imaginary friend, I made her up so my mom doesn't have to worry about me. She has enough to worry about with dad gone off to war and her job.

She works at a high-paying security company, and she sometimes doesn't get home until eleven. Just then my mom's phone rang loudly.

"Oh, sorry dear. I've got to take this." She apologized and stood up and left. I heard her distant hello to the person on the line. I sighed as I finished up cooking the pasta. I served some for myself and left the rest steaming in the pot. When I finished eating I walked down the hall to my room. I pressed my ear against my mother's study room and heard her still talking. I decided not opening the door, I would see her tomorrow night. Instead I walked all the way down the hall to my room. I opened my door and went straight to my closet. The moment I opened the door MC darted out.

"Are you ok?" I asked him. He just gave a little shiver and threw a hostile glance at my closet.

"Sorry MC, I won't make you go back in there. But MC listen, tomorrow I have to go to a boys' home to help, so you can come if you want. But, you'll have to pretend to be a real robot. People don't like the idea of aliens too much." I explained. MC processed this for a moment and then nodded.

"Ok, why don't you sleep here in my room tonight?" I offered. He gave a little happy nod and curled up on the floor. I climbed into my bed. I glanced and MC and my mind began whirling. How on earth did this happen? I have a alien robot sleeping on my floor. He's fighting a war for crying out loud. Somehow I knew that unless I got rid of him, I would be mixed up in this deeper than I wanted to be. I sat up and then lay back down; there was no way I would be sleeping tonight. My brain needed to get used to this idea. I was still half sure I was going to wake up with another week of school left with no tiny robot on my floor. But the other half of me wanted this tiny robot to stay. When he explained that he was fighting because not everyone was treated correctly, I felt a quick connection. I could easily relate to his position, sure makes me want to fight sometimes.

Deciding that if the robot was there in the morning, I would need to be well rested. So I turned over and pulled the covers over my head. Even if my brain kept me awake by running all night, at least I would be somewhat less tired.

The last few thoughts I actually remember from that were, 'my life just got a whole lot stranger.' And boy was I right.

Me: Well, there it is the first chapter.

Sage: wait Prowlers wasn't in it?

Me: No, he's coming in the next chapter.

Sage: Yeeeeessssss!

MC: Makes excited clicking noises.

Me: Don't get too excited, next chapter gets really wild.

Sage: [In the background dancing to the song I'm so Excited]

Well, since currently my OC's are busy, I'll do the usual ending note.

Nova, (that's me) does not own transformers in any way shape or form, only my OC's and the plot. Please review with anything but flames, they keep me encouraged. If you're an author you probably know how a nice review can make your day.

As always, Keep writing Keep reading Nova out ; )