A/N: Sorry guys, for the late chapter. I tried to type it as soon as I could, but this dragged out for days and days and days. I don't even know when I started typing this chapter. It's a pretty light chapter, a filler, if you will. I didn't have any flashbacks in this chapter because I couldn't find a good place to put it in. Anyways, thanks to all of you who reviewed, favorited and/or followed. Thank you for the motivation.
Also, I will be doing one-shots for this story, so you can look forward to that as well.
Please read and review. I would love to hear feedback from you people. Thanks!
Reviews:
Smokescreen The Femme: Thanks! I always love your encouragement.
spock is awesome14: Glad you like it.
Sunny Sides: Avery is really bad at improvising.
Amy Greene: Thank you. :)
Naomi-chan: I will consider what you said, and I may just add that in. ;)
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The Stars We Choose
Chapter 2: High School Drama
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:|: Cold Springs High, Georgia :|:
The first bell rang, meaning five minutes to class, and like a herd of elephants, people were pushing and shoving around to get to their classes, filling up the hallways. Clio and Avery stood by Stella's locker; watching the crowd go by. That is, until Clio spit the one thing out that had been on her mind all morning: "Stella got a date to the prom."
Avery leans against the lockers, "Of course she did."
Clio looks around hesitantly before replying, "...I did too." At that, Avery shoots Clio a quick glare as Clio tries to defend herself. "Look, what I'm trying to say is that you should get one too. We're both going to the prom, so why shouldn't you?"
Avery sighs. "Clio you know that I don't-"
"-Like to go parties or proms. I know. But, it's our senior prom. Don't you want to be some hot guy's fondest memory?"
Avery was mulling over how to best answer that question when Clio elbowed her side and cut her eyes towards Rihanna James; another brat from Tiffany's posse. She sauntered over to the pair as Avery straightened up and crossed her arms over her chest. Rihanna put one hand on her hip as she eyed Avery up and down before vehemently spitting out her remark. "You bitch! Do you have any idea what you've done?"
Avery rolled her eyes. How dramatic. "Well, I would if you would tell me what I did."
That one comment must have been the last straw because the next thing she knew, Avery was being slammed into the lockers. Rihanna got into Avery's personal space. "Jase dumped me because of you! If you hadn't taken footage of Chuck and me making out in the storage room then none of this would have happened! Mark my words, Avery Hill, you will regret doing this. I will make the last week of high school your biggest nightmare ever!" Rihanna hissed as she slashed her nails across Avery's right cheek for good measure before she took a step back and motioned for her posse to start leaving.
"Hey! Why you little-" Clio's protest was cut off as she was slammed into the lockers by Cassie Woodland; another brat from Tiffany's posse as well.
"Why don't you and your little friend go crawl into whatever hole you came from and die! Nobody wants to see you. And, if you know what's good for you, you'll keep your mouth shut about this." With that threat, Cassie left to join the others as they sauntered off to bully some other helpless person.
As soon as Rihanna and her posse was gone, Clio turned back to Avery and examined the scratches Rihanna's nails had made on her cheek. "Damn... Those are some pretty deep scratch marks. If she keeps this up, she'll make the Guinness Book of World Records in no time at all."
Avery laughed, but that soon turned into a wince as she realized her cheek hurt from laughing. Her wince not going unnoticed by her friend, Clio started to ramble. "Are you okay? Is it hurting too much. Let's get to the nurse. You know what? Let's just call 911 and report-"
Avery sighed, "-Clio. Stop."
Clio looks over and meets Avery's eyes. "What do you mean stop? Look at what she did to you!" Clio motions to Avery's wounded cheek, "She ought to be put in jail for this!"
"Clio. I'm fine. I swear." Avery got up from the ground. "It's just three little scratches, I'll just wash it with water and dab it with some alcohol."
Clio looked unconvinced as she stared into Avery's eyes, "You sure?"
"I swear."
Satisfied with the answer, Clio took Avery's hand and marched down the hall. "Good. Now let's get you cleaned up."
"Thanks." Avery replied as she grabbed her backpack and let herself be dragged by her best friend.
"No problem." Just then, an idea struck her. Clio gave a sly smile. "By the way, can't you go to the prom with Dan? You two have been best friends since kindergarten. I'm sure he won't mind.
Behind her, Avery groaned. "Clio..."
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:|: Atlanta, Georgia; 9:00 a.m. :|:
Electric blue eyes blinked blearily as a figure got up from the bed and gave a stifled yawn. Surprised by the sound he had made, Optimus looked at himself again to see if this wasn't a dream. Is this what humans do when they are tired? He had once seen Jack made a similar noise and had heard him state that he was tired. But that cannot be right. I just woke up from my recharge. Optimus stuffed that thought into the back of his mind and decided he would ask Avery. Speaking of Avery, he couldn't see her anywhere. There was no noise to be heard... No shuffling around... No nothing. The apartment was eerily quiet.
As Optimus regained his equilibrium, he walked into the kitchen and noticed a piece of paper that was placed on the table:
"Hey, Optimus. Sorry, I forgot to tell you that I have school in the morning. I'll be back by 4:00 p.m. Breakfast is in the microwave so you don't need to worrying about your lack of human culinary skills. Oh, and for lunch, you can just warm up the pizza that's in the freezer. It says how to do it on the back of the box."
-Avery
Optimus put the note back on the table as he shuffled over to said microwave. He opened it up and took out the food items. It seemed to be a beverage of some sorts with a circular looking food item. It had a hole in the middle and you could see countless blueberries scattered in it. Optimus knew he was supposed to drink the beverage so he took a small sip of it. It tasted like chocolate and was sweet. He hesitantly picked up the circular food item as he examined it. There was only one thought in his mind as he was scrutinizing the bagel: What in Primus' name is this? And how am I supposed to eat it?
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Optimus wandered over to the couch and sat down. He bounced on it for a little bit, and felt the texture of it. That was, until, a picture caught his eye. It was in a nice black frame, the picture showed a little girl standing next to a boy older than her. Both of them were standing in front of a man and a woman, the woman had her arms draped around the man's neck. They all seemed to be happy and content.
Must be her parental units, Optimus mused. Oh well, another thing he could ask her when she got home.
He carefully put that picture back on the table as he wandered to another one. This one was of the girl smashing the boy's face into a cake. You could see the people behind them laughing; all having a great time.
Optimus carefully studied the picture, noting all the features. A hand ghosted over the frame before he put that one down and moved onto the next one.
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:|: Café Flipper's Brasserie; 2:00 p.m. :|:
"He is so sexy! How old is he?" Clio asked Avery as she typed something on her laptop.
Avery rolled her eyes. The thought of Optimus Prime being sexy was making her stomach churn. "He's in his mid-thirties, Clio. And, he's married." she stressed on the last part because the last thing Avery wanted, was for her best friend to be making out with an alien from outer space. I think... he was married. At least, I think that's what Zoe said. Something about sparkmating... Sparkbirthing... Oh well. Who the hell cares anyways?
Clio slumped her shoulders as she sighed in defeat. "Damn. And, I was just beginning to like him." She straightened up, "I mean, if he wasn't your uncle, then I would so make out with him!"
Avery flinched. She wanted nothing more than to get rid of him. He was driving her nuts. Oh, how she would give him away if she could. She would practically push him towards Clio. God knows why she even left a note stating where she had gone. Oh and she just had to leave breakfast for him. It had only been two days and Avery was starting to warm up to him. But then again, there always had been something about the Autobot Commander that no matter how you tried to hate him, he would not let you...unless you were one of the Decepticons. Avery felt that she had fallen right into his trap.
Really, she had found no reason to hate him, except for her brother, but that had been a long time ago. She had gotten over it...somewhat. All Optimus did on the first day was just sit on the couch and stare away at the traffic through the window. He didn't really talk unless spoken to, which really made both of them an awkward pair. The second day was slightly better. Optimus had made a little improvement in the field of not-being-socially-awkward. Avery concluded it was probably because he had just needed some time to think after what she had told him. To tell the truth, Avery felt a little ounce of pity for him, but not that she'd ever show it.
Avery gripped her Expresso as she gave tiny little sips. Sitting in front of her was Clio was was too "enthralled" in her research to notice that Avery was staring (more like glaring) at her. Of course, that didn't stop Clio from mentioning one more thing: "Gentle giant, behind you." Avery whipped her head around as her eyes focused on a tall, lean teenager; Daniel Jacobsen, otherwise known as Dan. He was wearing dark jeans, running shoes and a brown sweatshirt. He had cropped brown hair and a slight tan that gave away that he was from somewhere down in the south. Texas to be exact. His parents had moved to Georgia right before kindergarten had started and had enrolled him in the same elementary school that Avery had attended. She had been the first friend he had ever made.
"Uhh—h-hi Dan. What brings you here." Avery stuttered. She could just feel him glaring at the three nail marks on her cheek.
"What. The. Hell." Those were the only words Dan could manage to grind out as he saw the three long gashes.
Having a feeling where this was going, Avery tried to pretend as if nothing had happened. "What do you mean?" That, earned a snort from Clio who was "too busy looking for something." Avery gave a pointed glare in her friend's direction before moving over to the side and motioning for Dan to take a seat.
"You want to me to act like nothing happened? Avery, don't try hiding it. Clio filled me in on everything." Dan threw his hands up in exasperation, "Look at your cheek, Avery! How can you wave this off as nothing?"
Avery winced as her fingers went up to touch the three long nail marks. Yep, that was definitely going to scar. "Is it really that obvious?" she asked.
Dan gave an irritated huff before he slid in the booth next to Avery. "You look like you had a claw fight with a tiger!"
Avery bit her lip in contemplation. She turned her head towards Dan and asked the very question churning in her mind. "Hey, did you take the footage of Rihanna and Chuck making out?"
Dan looked over to Avery as he raised an eyebrow, "Uh—No. Why would I do that. I didn't even know that she was cheating Jase for Chuck." He narrowed his eyes in contemplation, "But, I think I might know who can help."
Avery bounced in her seat looking expectantly at Dan, "Who?"
"Landon Castillo; our senior techie."
Avery slumped in her seat. Of course. Out of all the people, it just had to be Landon. Avery and Landon didn't exactly see eye-to-eye ever since the clown face incident. Avery did get him back by making his car smell like catfish guts for a week, but that hadn't been enough. Ever since then, the two of them were always trying to get each other in trouble. Dan, being the naive human that he was, didn't know the relationship between the two. "What wrong?" he asked as he adjusted in his seat to face Avery.
Clio gives a loud guffaw as she makes a show of spilling her latte over her keyboard. Avery settles Clio with a glare and decides to remain quiet and let her friend do the explaining. "Let's just say, those two have quite a history." Clio says slyly.
Dan, clearly confused by the cryptic message, interprets it incorrectly. "Are you saying that they used to date, and they broke up?" At that question, Avery snaps her neck towards Dan and shoot him a horrified look.
"No way! Are you crazy? Why the hell would I date that snob?"
"Oh. Well, I just thought—I mean, isn't that what Clio was trying to say?"
At this, Clio bursts out laughing. "Of course not..." She tries to contain her laughter, but fails as a new wave comes out again. She clears her throat, "I was just saying that they hate each other."
Dan looks back and forth between Clio and Avery. "What do you mean?"
By this time, Clio has sobered down. "Do you remember when we were in the computer lab and all of the sudden, a clown came up on all of our screens?" Dan slowly nods, starting to realize the gist of it. "Well, apparently, Avery was typing her paper for History and was about to save it when the face came up." Clio takes a deep breath, "So, she had to type the five-page paper all over again."
Dan shoot a glance at Avery who has her head down on the table, both arms folded across. He sends her a pitied look. "Oh wow. That's gotta suck."
After a few moments of an unnerving silence, Clio powered down her laptop and put it to the side. She looked over to Avery as a question sprung to her mind, "Hey, dude." Avery lifts her head up from the table and adjusts her hair, "How are you going to explain this to your uncle?" For a split second, Clio's gaze flitted to Avery's right arm, "Oh, by the way, why is your wrist red?" Avery stared at Clio for a moment before burying her head back into her hands and letting out a loud groan. Fate was definitely not on her side today.
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:|: 7 Eleven; 5:00 p.m. :|:
"Why the hell is your cheek marred by three long gashes?"
"Not you too..." Avery groaned. She was on her way home and had stopped by the gas station to fill up her car. There, she had met a long time friend as well as her past neighbor; Heather Towns. Heather was a very interesting girl. Her lack of physical fitness made up for her smarts in academics. Currently, Heather was attending the Georgia Institute of Technology on a huge scholarship. She was plenty smart.
"Oh yes, me too. Girl, you better have a damn good explanation, otherwise I am going to find the bitch who did this and I will teach her a lesson that she will never forget."
Avery looked over to Heather as she took the pump out of the car. "How did you know it was a girl?"
Heather rolled her eyes. "Honey, have you ever heard of a guy slashing a girl's cheek with his nails?"
Avery slumped her shoulders. "Point taken. That was a stupid question."
Heather crossed her arms. "Explanation. Give. Now."
Avery rolled her head back and looked up to the sky. She closed her eyes and gave a loud sigh. "Look, I explained it to Dan already. I don't want to have to explain it to anyone else again."
Heather gave Avery a sarcastic look. "You should have thought about that before you went around and let yourself get injured."
"Well, I wasn't walking around with a sign that says 'give me three scars on my cheek. Today is a good day."
"Girls girls, I know I'm sexy, but you don't have to fight over me."
Both women jumped from their spot as they turned around to find the source of the voice. "What the hell?" shouted Heather.
"Sean! Don't scare us like that!" Avery had one hand over heart. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Sean gave a full-fledged smile and an innocent shrug.
Heather put both of her hands on her hips as she fixed Sean with an angry look. "Yeah, me too. Now what do you want? Can't you see that Avery and I were have a girl to girl conver-"
"-Whoa, hey, chill." Sean said as he held up both of his hands as a sign of surrender. "I was just gonna ask if any of you guys wanted to join us for a game of laser tag. I know that Rihanna James is going to be there with Chuck, and she totally deserves to get slagged after what she did to Avery, so...?" he trailed off, not knowing if it was a good idea to continue on.
Avery and Heather looked at each other and gave a vengeful smile. It was time to teach Rihanna and her posse a lesson. Both of the girls looked back to Sean and responded in unison, "You're on."
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:|: Outside in the Poifect Roadhouse parking lot; 6:00 p.m. :|:
"Okay, so we are going to start the game at eight o'clock. So figure out who's gonna be on our team." Sean said as he crossed his arms and leaned on his car. They were currently outside a restaurant, trying to figure out who they were going to recruit for their team. Today was a Friday so they didn't have to worry about school.
Clio's eyes widened as a sudden idea sprung to mind. "Hey, Avery." Avery looked over to her in response. "Why don't you get your uncle to come? You did say that he used to be a military commander, so wouldn't he know some stuff about strategies and such?"
Avery's face adopted a thoughtful look as she considered what her fried had just said. 'Hmm... Optimus was a military commander... For an alien species... But that doesn't matter. He would be a valuable asset and we would so win against Rihanna... As much as I'm gonna hate to do this, it's necessary to win.' Avery looked up, "That might just give us the edge we need."
Sean's eyes widened as his face adopted a mock-offended look. "What do you mean by 'that might be just the edge we need?' Am I not good enough for you? I'm one of the best of the best of the best. I'm a legend of the legend of the legen-"
Heather held her hand up. "-That's enough, brat. The only thing you're good enough for is your rag-tag designer clothes and your hunk of a junk car."
" Rag-tag designer clothes?! They are not rag-tag!" Sean yelled indignantly as he motioned to his person. " And what do you mean my 'hunk of a junk' car?! IT'S A CORVETTE STINGRAY. IT IS ANYTHING BUT A HUNK OF A JUNK! And, I'm NOT a brat!" Sean huffed.
Avery rolled her eyes. It looks like it was time to play mother hen, again. "Alright you two, break it up." She got in between them to stop a fight from breaking out. "Sean, you know Heather's just joking. We all just love your car and clothes." Avery looked to Heather, "Heather, at least act like a grown-up for once and not a five-year-old. Jesus, both of you are worse than Zoe, and she's eight."
Clio looked up from the ground, and brought the group back on track. "So, what do we do?"
Sean gave a sly smile and rubbed his hands together. "We start planning."
Oh yes, he was going to have a field day with this.