Chapter Three - Relaxation

The trio of my older cousins chatted and Cody relaxed against the arm of the couch, sprawled out. I smile at this. Cody has to be the only kid that I still find adorable for his age. He, fortunately, is also the only person younger than me that I can communicate with without being too weird. Now, that's quite a feat.

I allow myself to slouch and make myself at home, letting the comfort of vacation wash over me. Oh, how I adored summer. However, something begins to create yet another storm in my brain. What about the other robot-cars? I think with a slight frown, I haven't seen them yet.

Though I'm not very eager to see them, I can't help but wonder what they look like. I've already guessed that my cousins' new vehicles are most likely the robot-cars, but I still ponder about how much money my uncle probably spent on those things. Was it even worth it? Are they really better than any ordinary rescue vehicle?

"Cookies!" I hear Chief Burns cry out from the kitchen doorway. All of our heads turned at the exclamation. I get off the couch and brush back my bangs a little. Cody darts past me and eyes the cookies with excitement, "Yes! Chocolate chip - my favorite!" I'm not going to even try and estimate the amount of cookies he swipes from the tray. I'm just aware it was enough to make the rest of us cast a few amused glances and chuckle.

I take one, mostly because I don't get enough exercise to take much more. I can only guess that that's going to change if I'm going to stay here for my entire summer vacation. After taking about two bites from the chocolate chip cookie I look down at my copper-colored watch. It's already two o'clock, much to my surprise. I guess the saying "Time flies when you're having fun," is true.

Dani approaches me, leaving her two older brothers to try and have a civilized chat.

"Hey, do you want to go and unpack? I'll keep them busy if you would like me to." Dani suggests with a kind smile. I merely smile back and nod once before replying, "Really? That'd be great. Thanks, Dani." She just waves a single hand in the hair at me and says, "Consider it a girl-to-girl favor." I dip my head in thanks again and head off to my temporary room to unpack. Thank everything holy that there is going to be another female with me during this trip. I would basically be royally screwed if there wasn't.

Dani, on the other hand, dropped her smile and placed a hand on her forehead in relief as I walked up the stairs. That had been a close one for her. When Dani heard the sound of the door close she turned to the three rescue vehicles that were completely still, "Clear!"

At the word, all three vehicles shifted and changed their shapes until they were the forms of three high-tech robots. The one I had run into earlier with my little cousin and uncle, the police car Chase, was among them. The mech's yellow optics seemed void of all emotion. The fire truck, a red mech with amber optics folded his arms across his chassis and huffed, "That was the 'cousin' you have been bragging about all this time?" His dull, disapproving expression matched his gruff words. The last one, however, the green bulldozer seemed elated. His light amber eyes were filled with joy, "What is she like? Is she a technician like Graham?" Dani just giggled and quieted him down by using her hand to perform "lower volume" motion, "She may seem shy - well...she is...but if you get Annabel out of her shell she can be a lot of fun. Sorry, Boulder, but Anna is just a civilian," when Boulder slouched a little in disappointment Dani decided to continue, "however, I suppose you can call her an artist. She pretty much draws anything that she sets her mind to."

Boulder perked up in renewed excitement and grinned, "Oh, what does she draw?"

Dani narrowed her eyes and looked down at her shoes, trying to recall what she found her cousin drawing the most, "Um...I think she always drew animals...mostly cats and dogs, but I also caught her drawing a few dragons and people when she visited more recently."

The red mech rolled his optics in boredom, whereas Chase kept his famous poker face, even though he was slightly interested.

In my temporary room, however, things were going smoothly. The bed was finally set up with my favorite light gray, fluffy blanket and pillow (both presents from my father before I left). The bed had been in the corner, so at the side of it lay a fair-sized, wooden dresser that I was currently filling with the clothes I had chose to bring with me. Mentally, I checked off my list of favorite T-shirts, jeans, and hoodies.

Doctor Who shirt? Check.

Comfy, blue hoodie? Check.

Navy blue jeans? Check.

The list goes on.

After about fifteen more minutes of organizing I take a couple of steps back and view my work. I simply nod subconsciously when I am pleased and take out my pitch-black laptop which I had earned by babysitting three ungrateful boys for about four months. The memories of those four months will forever haunt me, as well as my nightmares. I can't help but feel bad for that poor, yet extremely brave mother. Using the laptop's screen as a mirror before I turn it on I check my appearance. My medium-length dirty blonde hair was a bit messy from the countless seats I had slouched against. My gray-blue eyes were a bit tired-looking from waking up so early to catch the ferry.

"Whatever, I'll just brush my hair and sleep." I murmur out loud without much thought. I didn't care much about looking like a doll. I never really wore noticeable makeup like my female peers unless it was Halloween or if it was required for a certain cosplay. The only other time, depending on the person and the occasion, I would wear makeup is when I was going to an important party that required formal wear.

Ah, well, I'm just guessing that this makes me unique. In a good way, of course.

After swiftly running my brush through my hair I decide to send my friend, Holly, who I previously mentioned, a message on Skype. When I realized she wasn't online - probably sleeping the whole day away - I chose to type up the message about my day and wait for her reply. I could only guess that she is going to answer me at midnight, knowing her. Holly always sleeps all day during summer and stays awake all night. When this pattern is interrupted the outcome is definitely not pretty to look at.

Hey, bro. Just wanted 2 update u on wuts goin on. I'm at griffin rock w/ my uncle and his family. The ferry sucked as usual, but i guess that is 2 be expected by now. It is nice 2 be away from all the yellow taxis and tall buildings i guess. Dis place is also dead quiet compared 2 the city. Also...i have a story on my little cuz, Cody, 2 share. When he was looking 4 the lion king he managed 2 make 1 heck of a mess. Do u wanna take a guess on wut he blamed dis mess on? He claimed that a mini earthquake occurred and his father didn't feel it cuz a witch cast a spell on him while he wuz sleeping. Pedo witch much? LOL. Idk, but reply soon plz g'night.

Smirking, I sent the message and closed my laptop without hesitation. I loved using Skype to type quick messages and be lazy with my grammar. It was a good break from all the seriousness in life, but I still looked towards YouTube and Tumblr for relief, as well. Most of all, I looked towards my favorite Swedish gamer, PewDiePie, whenever I was having a bad day.

Well, now we're getting off track, so back to real life and away from the fact/though cloud! I think sarcastically. Why must I always get carried away when I'm thinking?

All of the sudden, I hear someone knock my door, so I set my laptop on my bed and approach the door, hoping it was Dani. Opening the door, my hopes were shattered to see Kade standing there with a water gun.

When he pulls the plastic trigger I jump back with a high-pitched yelp and hug myself in defense. When I realize the dumb thing is empty I scowl at my eldest cousin and exclaim, "What the crap, dude? I haven't even done anything to you, yet!" He drops the plastic water gun and it hits the floor as he bursts out into full-blown laughter, "Oh my God! Hah, your face! You were so scared, Anna!" I huffed and pouted, but not before growling nonsense about what I was going to do for revenge.

I close the door in his face, but I can still hear him softly laughing. The sound of someone climbing up the metal steps alerts me that Kade is about to be scolded so I stay by my door to listen. I vaguely hear Dani shout, "Kade, you jerk! What did you do?"

I pry open my door so Dani can see the furious glint in my eyes, which only causes her to approach slower. Rather than watching in silence, I decided to speak up in a soft tone, "Do you have any pink paint, stickers, markers, makeup...anything pink or perhaps even neon? I want to prank him...soon." Dani shrugged and pretended to stroke a non-existent goatee on her face, "Wait for me. You are not pranking my brother alone."

Kade's quiet laughter quickly transformed into a mortified expression, and he manages to murmur, "Say what now?"

Let the prank wars begin!

CupcakeMaster: I'm so sorry that this is as short as it is, but I'm going on vacation this Monday so I wanted to get this out before I lost Internet. Hope you liked it!

Holly: Eek! You said my name in this chapter! 8D I'll reply to Anna right now! *Starts furiously typing*

Annabel: ...I'm getting used to the insanity by now. I'll just do the disclaimer and get this over with: CupcakeMaster does not own Transformers: Rescue Bots because Hasbro does. Unfortunately, she does own Holly and I.

Holly: Done! *Throws hands up in air* Wait...what exactly do you mean by "unfortunately"?

CupcakeMaster: Special thanks to all our reviewers and followers! I will mention everyone who has stuck with this story in the next chapter! :3