Two Years After the Accident

"Lily, can you hurry up in there?" Sam was banging his fist on the bathroom door. Lily had spent a good half hour locked away in there, getting dressed. A slight smirk spread across her face at her cousin's irritation.

"I'm almost done, Sammy!" she exclaimed. "Just one more minute!"

"You said that ten minutes ago," he said dryly.

"And I'm saying it again."

Since Lily started living with Ron and his family, things started becoming a bit easier. Lily eventually adapted to her new life—she was able to open up more to her Aunt and Uncle, even managing to develop an almost brother-sister relationship with her cousin. There were moments where Lily felt an overwhelmingly large amount of anxiety and depression wash over her—her parents' death was still fresh in Lily's life, even after two years. There were days where Lily would be confined to her room for days at a time, too depressed to even get out of bed. Ron and Judy had signed Lily up for therapy, and she'd go occasionally, but not enough to make Ron or Judy comfortable. There were other times where Lily would be so overwhelmed at the sight of cars and trucks, she'd have anxiety attacks.

Her therapist, a kind woman named Penelope Hawthorne, gave Lily special exercises to help deal with the anxiety attacks and prescribed antidepressants for when the depression really starts to become overwhelming.

Other than that, though, Lily's life seemed to be as normal as could be. She was in her senior year at high school, she was doing well in her classes, and she even managed to make new friends.

Since Ron and Judy lived in the next town over from where Lily used to live, she had to start at a new school, after waiting a little while for her old school records to be transferred over.

Sam slammed his fist on the bathroom door. "Lily, c'mon!" he exclaimed.

Throwing the door open, Lily looked at her cousin with a smirk and arched a brow at him. "Happy now?" she laughed.

"Took you long enough," he muttered, brushing his way passed her.

Rolling her eyes, Lily grabbed her things before going to her bedroom. Making sure she had everything she needed in her backpack, she threw on some shoes, grabbed her backpack, and headed downstairs.

-0-0-0-0-

Normally, for most people who are seniors in high school, they'd be driving themselves to school and anywhere in-between. Lily had a driver's license, somehow managing to momentarily overcome her anxieties so she wouldn't be having Ron or Judy chauffeur her around all the time. For Sam, he had his license, too. It was just Ron refused to buy him a car.

He bought Lily a car—a very rundown car that only sort of worked. Lily's father taught her the basics of mechanics when she was growing up, saying that when she got a car and something happened—whether it was with the engine or anything else—she'd need to know how to fix it so she wouldn't be stranded on the side of the road.

For Sam, Ron had promised that he'd pay for half of the car, but Sam had to promise to not only scavenger for two-thousand dollars, but also get three A's in his classes.

It only seemed reasonable. Ron made Lily promise that she would maintain good grades for the whole first half of the semester before he bought her car.

But, since Lily's car didn't always work, and Sam didn't have a car, it was up to Ron and Judy to give them a ride to school.

In which Ron had agreed to do the driving.

"Don't you have that genealogy project coming up?" Lily asked, biting her fingernails.

"Yeah," Sam sighed. "If I can get an A on that, I can get a car." He threw a look his father's way.

"You'd better," Ron said firmly. "No A means no car."

"Who're you doing it on?" Lily asked.

"Our great-great-grandfather."

When Sam first mentioned that he was going to do his genealogy presentation on Archibald Witwicky to his parents, Ron had started digging through some old things until he found a pair of cracked, old glasses, saying it belonged to Archibald. Ron wanted Sam to show it to the class, and while Sam said he would, there was a hint in his voice saying he wasn't really sure anyone would care about an old pair of cracked glasses, but he'd make it work.

Lily hummed in response. Her father had told her stories about her great-great-grandfather, Archibald Witwicky. From what her father said, Archibald was a famous explorer who was one of the first to explore the Arctic Circle. It was because of Archibald that there was a, what Ron and her father called it, Witwicky Family Motto.

No sacrifice, no victory.

It was something Ron and Lily's father held close to them.

It was something Sam and Lily never really cared for.

"You'd better make it interesting, then," Lily said, quickly spitting out a torn off piece of fingernail.

"It's going to be."

"Do you need help?" she asked.

"I think I've got it."

Lily nodded. "Just let me know if you need any help," she offered. "Dad used to tell me stories about him all the time."

-0-0-0-0-

After Ron dropped Lily and Sam off, they went their separate directions. Sam's friend, Miles, came over and the two walked off, talking. Lily's friends had called her over the moment she got out of Ron's car.

Sam's and Lily's relationship didn't change just because they were at school. They still talked, they said hi to each other in the halls, but they had their own friends and their own separate lives at school.

So, while Lily briefly saw her cousin walking off with Miles, whom she didn't really care for, she went over to the small group of girls who'd called her name.

(A/N):

Here's the newest chapter! Let me know what you guys think, OK? It'll probably be a little bit until I start writing in the movie. Is that OK with you guys? If I got any of the characters wrong, just let me know and I'll change it the best I can.

I own nothing in the Transformers franchise. All I own are my characters and the shoes on my feet.

What do you guys think of Lily? I just want to know your general thoughts on her so I could maybe improve on her. I know it's only two chapters into the story, but I'd like to know what you guys think early on, just those little things, so I could have something to go on. What're your thoughts on her parents being dead?

I don't want to go bombarding you guys with questions, so I'll just leave those two.

Let me know if there's anything I can improve on.

Many blessings,

Indigo Callahan