"Good orn, class," Bluefable said from the front of the room. "I have the scores for the previous test. I'm sending them out to you now. Please look at them briefly and then put them away."

I looked down as a file downloaded itself onto my datapad. Hesitantly, I opened it, not expecting much.

64%

Worse than I'd expected. I closed the file quickly.

But I was too late.

"Wow, Soundwave. Sixty-four," Jazz said. "That's pretty bad."

The whole class heard and I was suddenly bombarded with a mixture of pity and mecha either trying to pretend they hadn't heard, or suddenly feeling better about their own scores.

"Please don't discuss your scores," Bluefable said, glaring at Jazz. "Or especially the scores of the other students. She hadn't been able to find any evidence I had been cheating. That was a step, at least. But I must have been too busy concentrating on not borrowing answers from the processors around me to actually pay attention to the questions.

She went back to lecturing.

"Hey, Jazz," Searchlight whispered.

Jazz kept his optics on the teacher and ignored Searchlight. I'm not going to get in trouble on account of him.

Searchlight was struck with a sudden lack of what to say. I hoped for a breem or so that he'd just decide not to say anything.

"You always pick on mechs who won't fight back?"

Jazz tilted his helm to the side, annoyed now. Think he just called me a coward…

No, Searchlight…

"Class," Bluefable said, with a warning look at Searchlight.

Searchlight looked down at his desk.

When she'd gone back to lecturing, Jazz spoke quietly. "Ain't picking on him. He don't have feelings ta pick on."

It was intended to make Searchlight angry, and it worked. Some of the others around were listening, tense and expectant, worried for Searchlight, or excited to hear what would happen next.

"You're the one with no spark."

Jazz shrugged. Lame comeback, mech. "Took ya this long to figure that out, huh? Even dumber than ya look." He's gonna snap.

"Just…"

"Searchlight," Bluefable said. "Do I need to assign you another decaorn of detention?"

Searchlight froze, then let out a vent. "No, Bluefable."

"Then please stop talking and pay attention."


Searchlight still had some time in his detention sentence, but after I was done with classes for the orn, I got Ravage and took him with me to Searchlight's room. The door was open and Ratchet was sitting at his desk, working on an essay for his ancient philosophy class. Ravage wasted no time in jumping off of my shoulders to land right in front of the orange and white youngling.

Ratchet started with a little screech, and Ravage hissed a laugh.

"You!" Ratchet said. "Get off my desk you big ugly cat."

"Sure," Ravage said, and jumped onto Ratchet's chair instead, burying Ratchet.

"Get off!" Ratchet shoved him off and he crawled under the chair and curled up there, flicking his tail.

He'd better not try anything from down there, Ratchet thought, then realized that where Ravage was, I was too. He froze.

It's Soundwave… scrap, I mean…

Searchlight had told him my secret. And he was afraid of me again.

"So-o-orry," I said. "I can go-o if you li-ike."

Ratchet considered that, "Can you really….hear what I'm thinking?" Or is this some sort of practical joke? Searchlight would think something like that was funny.

"No-o joke," I said.

I don't believe this. This isn't possible. This is like… magic or something. There is no such thing as magic. And if it is true, then yes, I want him to go away and never ever come near me again.

I shrugged. "Ok." Well, there went all the progress I'd made. I shouldn't have told Searchlight he could tell Ratchet.

"Don't do that! Don't answer my thoughts. Just go away. That's…"

Ravage came out from under Ratchet's chair. "Soundwave doesn't ever use it to hurt anyone."

I was surprised that Ravage had picked up on the conversation and thought about it enough to give such a complex answer.

"Soundwave's good," he continued.

Ratchet wavered. I guess that's true. He hasn't given any evidence that he'd hurt anyone. But that's still creepy. He can hear this, can't he? He can probably pick through my processor and learn anything he wants about…

"I can't," I said.

He glared at me.

"I ju-ust hear wha-at you think whi-ile I'm i-in the-e same room."

"Oh, is that all," Ratchet said. Nothing's safe. He could know anything, about anyone.

Yep. I knew lots of things I didn't want to know too. It wasn't my fault, though.

Then again… Ratchet skimmed through his memories of me.

"That time… the first time, before Searchlight ever brought you here, when Verdict and his friends had cornered me. They left with no explanation, and you showed up. You scared them off, didn't you?"

I nodded.

"And you knew about it… because you heard it happening."

I nodded again

"And that's how you're so good at avoiding the bullies. You can tell where they are and what they're doing."

"Yes."

"Hmmm…" Ratchet said. Now that I think about it, maybe I want this mech on my side. "Ok," I suppose I can't really trust you... I also don't understand why you go to this school. If everyone found out what you could do, they'd kick you out or worse.

"I kno-ow."

Ratchet sighed. "I… I won't tell anyone, of course… I promise."

"Tha-anks."

"And I guess I don't care if you keep showing up here. Is there a way for you to stop hearing everyone's thoughts?"

I shook my helm.

Well… actually, that sounds like it would be kind of unpleasant.

No kidding.

"Whatever," Ratchet said. "I don't care. You don't have to leave."

I sat at Searchlight's desk and started doing homework. Ratchet had been working on an assignment as well, but he was too distracted now. He tried annoyingly hard not to think about anything he didn't want me to know, which inevitably led to me knowing everything that he was trying to hide from me. Eventually, though, he seemed to realize that and decided to come up with questions for me about my abilities instead, which was just as distracting, and only slightly less unpleasant for me.

Only half a joor later, Searchlight came down the hall …was awesome… I can't believe that actually just happened. I love this school…

He came in the doorway, looking a little… singed.

"What did you do?" Ratchet asked. And why is he out of detention so early?

"You always assume it was me who did something."

"Why are you out of detention already?"

"There was kind of an accident," Searchlight said. I caught an image from his processor of one of the cabinets at the side of the room going up in flames.

"What did you do?" Ratchet demanded again.

"Nothing!" Searchlight insisted.

I don't believe you… Soundwave probably knows. "Soundwave, what did he do?"

"Whoa," Searchlight said. You sneaky little… "Not cool, Ratchet. Misuse of power."

I shrugged.

Ratchet huffed and turned his back to us.

So touchy, Searchlight though, Is he really annoyed or is most of it posturing? He looked at me for an answer.

I shrugged.

"I didn't do anything," Searchlight said. "Though it was probably still my fault." He said if I ever needed to get out early he could make it happen. Of course if I'd known how awesome it would be, I'd have asked him to do it before.

"I don't care anymore," Ratchet said.

I was still curious, but Searchlight was thinking about me again.

I didn't know the test-taking thing was that bad. "Soundwave, how hard is it for you to take tests?" Searchlight asked.

What? Ratchet wondered. What about taking tests.. oh, wow, he can hear everymech else's answers. That's cheating.

I looked down. "Whe-en other mecha a-a-are fo-ocused on somethi-i-ing, I can he-e-e… hear them lo-ouder."

"And you said that gives you a processor ache, and makes it hard to focus?" Searchlight asked.

Slag, Ratchet thought.

"We've got to do something about that," Searchlight said.

Like what exactly? "It's fi-ine."

"It's not fine," Searchlight said.

"What would be fair," Ratchet said. "Is if you took the tests by yourself with no one else nearby. And it sounds like that would help too."

Yes, that was true, but they'd never let me do that without a good reason and while I did have a good reason, I couldn't tell it to any of them. I shook my helm and typed on my datapad. [There's no way I'd be able to convince them to let me do that. Not without them asking questions I don't want to answer.] I showed them what I'd written.

"Well, I was thinking," Searchlight said. "'Wave, are there any teachers you can trust?"

Cablereach came to mind, but it wasn't so much that I trusted him. He was just more friendly than the others.

"I understand why you have to keep this a secret," Searchlight said. "But there's got to be someone you can tell who can help you. Someone who'd understand and not freak out."

I shook my helm. I could not tell any adults. I probably shouldn't have told Searchlight and Ratchet. Crescent would be so mad if she found out.

"I mean, what happens if you fail a class because you can't take tests?" What if they kick you out of the school?

I shrugged. Crescent would find me another school. Entrance exams were usually easy because I could take them alone. I wouldn't have a problem getting into another school.

In any case, it was time to change the subject. "So-o what did ha-appen in dete-ention?"

"Oh," Searchlight said. Are you just trying to get me to drop this issue? It's not over, Soundwave. But the detention thing was awesome so… "Well, it's kind of weird, actually. My first orn in detention, I was sitting next to this other fledgling and we started talking. He'd heard somewhere I'd stood up to Verdict or something like that and I guess he thought that was pretty cool. He told me if I ever needed to get out of detention early, he could make it happen. I wasn't really sure how he intended to pull that off. He wouldn't tell me what had landed him there, but he did admit he'd been in detention since the second decaorn of the term. Double detention, actually. Poor mech. In any case, I wanted to get out early this orn, cuz I wanted to talk to you, Soundwave, about the whole testing thing and I figured with what I said to Jazz in history… they'd probably be waiting to ambush me at the end of detention…"

"Wait," Ratchet narrowed his optics. "What did you say to Jazz?"

"Eh," Searchlight said. "Not much really. He was being a glitch."

"You can't just antagonize them!" Ratchet said. "The more you do that, the more they'll come after you. They won't stop until you're dead or…"

"Don't be ridiculous," Searchlight said. "Nomech's going to offline."

"The-ey might try-y-y to get you e-expe-elled," I said quietly. They'd done that once before, apparently. It had been before I'd come to the school, but some of the students remembered it. It would be even easier with Searchlight because he was only lower middle-class. They'd kick him out for almost anything.

"Yeah, whatever," Searchlight said. "In any case, I asked my friend in detention this orn if he was serious about the whole getting out early thing. He told me to watch and warn him if the teacher on duty looked up from his datapad. So I didn't even see what he did, but then half a breem later, the nearest cabinet… well, it caught on fire, then after everyone had freaked out and rushed to the other side of the room, it exploded. It was epic. The teacher told everyone we could leave, but said we all had detention the next orn instead." The teacher said if he found out anyone had done this on purpose, they'd be in serious trouble. I hope that mech doesn't get in trouble on my account. Then again, what can they do, give him more detention?

Ratchet's optics narrowed further, strongly reminded of something that had happened to him in his chemistry class earlier in the term.

"What?" Searchlight asked.

"Nothing."

"Well, in any case," Searchlight said. "Soundwave, you really should consider telling a teacher about your problems with taking tests. I'll keep an optic out for one we can trust. On another subject, why did the bullies ever pick on you if you can evade them so easily?"

I shrugged.

"It doesn't make sense. I know they picked on you before I showed up."

I pointed at Ratchet. He had it figured out, and I didn't want to explain.

Because of Ratchet?

"Obviously, he doesn't want anyone to realize he can do things he shouldn't be able to. Besides, it's easier to just let them pick on you sometimes. If you fight back they hurt you worse."

There's something wrong with that, Searchlight thought. Things shouldn't work that way. "That's wrong."

"No, it's true," Ratchet said. "Which is why you should stop provoking them."

"I didn't say it was false, I said it was wrong."

"What? That's exactly the same thing!"

"No it isn't." You have to stand up and do something when there's a problem like this. "If you just let them walk all over you, they're never going to stop."

I looked down. That was a good point, but…

"Well," Ratchet said. "Sorry, Searchlight, but some of us would like to survive the term thank you very much." He turned away and went back to his homework.

It wasn't going to change Searchlight's mind, though.


As I had worried, the next orn in history, I heard Jazz thinking about how to best get rid of Searchlight. He was wavering between plans to get him expelled and plans to catch him alone somewhere so Verdict and Motormaster could teach him to be sorry for standing up to them.

It was enough to make me reconsider the seriousness of the situation, and by the time I was out of my class after history, I had decided what my next step would be.

Since his classes were done for the orn, Cablereach was in his office. He looked up when I knocked and remotely signaled the door to open. He didn't try to hide his surprise at seeing me. "Soundwave?"

I nodded. I couldn't tell him about my abilities, but I could tell him about the bullies.

"Come in." I wonder what he wants. I'm glad he's finally here to talk to me, though.

I stepped forward and he gestured for me to sit down. "So," he said. "Can I help you with something?"

"I-I…"

He shook his helm and reached into his desk for a datapad. "This might work better than talking out loud." He opened up a blank document and a keyboard at the bottom of the screen.

I accepted it. [yes, thanks] I typed, then turned it around so he could read it.

He nodded. "All right. So, how are you doing? I heard about your project from Bluefable. Clever idea, though I don't think she appreciated it."

[It was Searchlight's idea] I typed. [and he got in trouble for it. Is there a way you can help him out? He doesn't deserve to be in detention when he was only trying to help me.]

A memory of Bluefable explaining what had happened flashed through Cablereach's processor "I have never been spoken to like that in all my vorns as a teacher…"

"No," he said, "I don't think the detention was because of the way you did the project." I'm kind of interested to know what Searchlight said to her. "Is that what you came here to talk to me about?"

[No], I typed. [I just want to tell you something. There are some students. Verdict, Jazz, and Motormaster. They have devices that let them know when a teacher is nearby.]

Cablereach raised both optic ridges. "Really?"

[They use them to break the rules, but stay out of trouble.]

I wasn't sure how much longer their trick was going to work in my favor. Jazz was suspicious. They'd changed tactics from leaving when a teacher was coming to letting their quarry go and waiting for the teacher to show up. I figured pretending to be a teacher would only work one or two more times at the most, so I might as well do this. I didn't feel remotely guilty about telling on them either. In fact, I ought to have done so a long time ago.

"I see," Cablereach said. "That's not good at all. Do you have evidence of this?" I think I might actually be able to get them in trouble for something like that.

[I don't have any actual evidence.]

Cablereach nodded. "All right." Too bad. "Is there anything else you can tell me about this? How did you find out?" I can't do much with only speculation.

[I overheard them talking about it.] I lied.

"Did you happen to record that conversation?"

I shook my helm. Then wrote [They do get away with a lot of things they shouldn't. Don't any of you notice?]

Shame, and a touch of frustration filled Cablereach's core. He looked up from the datapad. "Yes, we do notice."

I held out my hand for the datapad. He gave it back. [Why don't you do something?]

I should not be discussing this with a student… "It's hard," he said. "As of yet, we haven't been able to pin anything on them, since they haven't done anything bad enough to be considered technically criminal… at least nothing that I've been able to catch. And even if they did, Verdict's creators would probably get him out of it." If we ever had proof he did do something… solid proof… "I mean, according to the other students, they Tease, extort, threaten, occasionally steal things or break things or get into fights. But though we have some evidence, it isn't enough to get them in serious trouble." It might be enough to get other students in trouble, but Verdict's got a layer of immunity because his creators are powerful, and donate generously to the school. It's unfortunate. That shouldn't be the way things work. That should never be the way things work… I wish I could… "Soundwave," he said. "I will look into this teacher warning thing. If you find out more about it, would you let me know? Or if you have proof of anything they've done."

I thought about all the files I had from the security cameras. But Cablereach had access to those too. If he was looking for evidence, why didn't he just check those? [If I find evidence, will you use it?]

He read what I had written. I do not want this fledgling to get in trouble because of something I said. "I don't want you digging around, trying to unearth someone else's misdeeds. Or breaking any rules yourself, or putting yourself in danger of any sort. But yes. If you do see anything, bring it to me and I'll do what I can."

I nodded.

"Ok," he said. "Well, was there anything else you wanted to talk about?"

I shook my helm.

"You're always free to come talk to me. Thank you for bringing me some information about Verdict and his friends. I'll see what I can do."

I stood and walked to the door. That had been less productive than I'd hoped. There were plenty of things I could tell him about the bullies, but all of the solid evidence I had was either connected to my secret, or connected to hacking into the school computer system.

And as much as Searchlight wanted me to, I wasn't going to tell Cablereach or any other teachers that I could read minds. An adult would understand exactly what that meant. It was too dangerous.


"Hey, Soundwave?"

I looked in Searchlight's direction.

There's a holiday coming up. "Going home for Memorial Orn?"

I shrugged.

"Only two decaorns away," Searchlight said. And I've only got three more orns in detention… Then I'm free.

Oh, no! Ratchet thought. The term's almost over. "Yes," he snapped. "And then after that, only three decaorns until final exams." I'm so doomed.

"What do you have to sound so panicked about?" Searchlight said. "You're acing every class."

Ratchet took a deep vent. "I… Oh, you wouldn't understand."

"Smart mecha are crazy," Searchlight said. "Right, Soundwave?"

"E-e-every-yone's crazy."

Searchlight grinned. "I guess you'd know wouldn't you? Oh, hey, 'Wave, I was thinking. You could find other ways to talk. If you record enough things, you can always spit them back out. I mean, it'd be hard to stick words together to make new sentences, but if there's something you have to say a lot, you could record it…" And then you wouldn't have to stutter through it again… oops, that sounded kind of mean.

"I doubt that would work," Ratchet said.

"It was just an idea."

"And last time you came up with an idea like that, you got two decaorns of detention for it."

Searchlight rolled his optics. "Ratchet…" I'm not really in the mood to be lectured.

Ravage, who'd been recharging at the foot of Ratchet's berth woke and leaped down to the floor with a yawn.

Ratchet seemed to miss the tone in Searchlight's voice. "I mean, you're lucky Soundwave didn't get in trouble too…"

Ravage tilted his head and ducked a little. His pedes dangle off the edge of that chair. I wonder…

"…And it would have been your fault. You didn't think through that veryaaaah!"

Searchlight looked up. Ravage had grabbed Ratchet's pede in his mouth and pulled the youngling forward off of the chair.

Big ugly… "Leggo my pede you stupid cat!"

Ravage dragged him out from under the desk and over to Searchlight, where he dropped him.

"Brought you something," Ravage said to Searchlight, grinning.

"Oh, thanks," Searchlight said. "But I don't really need one of those."

Ratchet got up. That is it! He jumped on Ravage, who was taken by surprise, and actually stumbled to the side a little. Then he knocked Ratchet off and pinned him to the ground.

"Hey! Ow! Get off!"

Ravage considered for a moment, then backed off. Hey, Soundwave, can we keep him?

Ratchet brushed himself off and glared at Ravage. Looks at me like he wants to eat me half the time. He stormed back over to his chair.

Ravage came over and leaped up on my shoulders. Really, he thought with another yawn. Can you get another symbiot?

For him to jump on? Probably not a good idea.

I mean, I know Ratchet's not a symbiot, so we can't keep him...

Was he lonely? I supposed now I had another best friend he might be. But he'd been coming with me most orns to Searchlight's room, so he'd actually had more company than he had before I was friends with Searchlight. Then again, I wasn't giving him my undivided attention anymore.

I was a little worried that if I got him another symbiot, he wouldn't need me anymore. But that was selfish of me. I reached up and stroked behind Ravage's audios. If Crescent would let me, maybe I'd get a friend for him… one large enough he wouldn't just use it as something to play-hunt.

"Also, you didn't answer my original question," Searchlight said. "Both of you. Are you going home for Memorial Orn?"

"Probably not," Ratchet said. "I live all the way in Stanix. I'd have to take a groundbridge if I wanted to be there and back in time."

Searchlight looked at me.

I shook my helm.

"Where do you live anyway?" Searchlight asked.

I shrugged.

Come on, that's not a weird question is it?

"Kalis."

What? "You live here?"

I nodded. Ravage sensed my discomfort and wrapped himself tighter around my shoulders. His engine growled in a low, threatening sort of way.

Ratchet looked up from his reading. He lives in this city? "Then why do you board at the school?"

Do they not want him at home? Searchlight wondered. He doesn't have creators, right? They died in an accident or something…

I didn't really feel like explaining.

Fortunately, Ravage would sometimes do it for me. "His caretaker's a glitch," my cat said matter-of-factly.

Of course, Ravage often worded things a little differently than I would have.

Ok? Searchlight thought.

Caretaker? Not creator? Ratchet set the datapad he'd been reading on the desk.

Silence fell, because neither of them wanted to ask the questions that were queuing up in their processors. But that was ridiculous. I could hear their questions already.

Ratchet realized that first and asked. "Uh… what happened to your creators?"

"They died when he was a sparkling," Ravage said. "He doesn't remember them very well. But one of their friends offered to take him in and raise him. But she's a glitch. She doesn't actually take care of him." That's why I have to.

And then of course both of them felt sorry for me. I didn't want to go to the trouble of telling them that I didn't care, and that I was used to it.

"Ok," Searchlight said. "Yikes. Well… I'm going home for the holiday, and my creators said I could bring some friends with me. So do either of you want to come?"

"No," Ratchet said. "I have to study."

"Come on," Searchlight said. "You never do anything but study." What is his problem? Soundwave, surely you can come.

"I ca-a-an't," I said. "I'd have to ge-et per-ermission."

"Ok," Searchlight said. But if you want to come… permission from your caretaker? What would happen if you just asked her?

It would depend entirely on her mood at the time.

"I'll come ask her for you."

That was a very bad idea. I shook my helm.

"You sure?"

"Yes."

Searchlight sighed. "Ok. But it'd be cool if you could come. Besides, I want to introduce Ravage to my creators." They'll think he's awesome.

I shrugged. I'd ask Crescent. Maybe she'd say yes.


The next few decaorns passed quickly. The bullies even seemed to lose interest in us. Jazz still wondered how we were evading them, but he didn't do anything about it. He was just watching, waiting for us to slip up. They started tormenting the other students again, worse than before. It seemed they had to take their frustration out on someone. I felt bad for not trying to help everyone the way I helped Searchlight and Ratchet, but there was no way I could. And with the end of the term drawing near, tests were more numerous.

As Memorial Orn got closer, I found I really did want to go with Searchlight. I thought I'd get along with his creators—he'd told me a little about them and I'd picked up other things from his thoughts.

So the orn before the holiday, after classes were over, I left Ravage in my room and went to talk to Crescent.

The streets of Kalis were unusually crowded and everyone was thinking excitedly about the coming holiday. Memorial Orn was a day to remember the quintesson wars and honor the mecha who'd fought in them. Of course, the wars had been centuries and centuries ago, and there weren't many mecha still alive who'd fought in them. It was more of a cultural celebration now than anything else. There would be parades and carnivals. Friends who hadn't seen each other for vorns would get together.

I didn't mind the noise so much for once. Normally this much excitement jarred against my typical mood. But I was almost inclined to feel celebratory myself. And it distracted me from the fact that I had to go talk to Crescent.

All things taken into account, when I got to her house, I did have the beginnings of a processor ache. Something about moving through a crowd was even worse than standing still in one.

I knew the code for the front door and I had a room here, but I didn't really feel like this was my home. And for some reason that was even more true now. This place did not hold many good memories for me-none that didn't involve Ravage in some way. I stepped in, looking around as if this was the first time I'd been here. She'd had the walls repainted. Everything was pale blue.

What does he want? Her thoughts came from the sitting room where she was writing a letter at the main table. Is he going to be here next orn? Why can't he stay at the school? They aren't that awful to him there, are they? Soundwave, get in here and talk to me. I haven't got all orn.

I walked over to the sitting room. Often, she had friends here. Or what she called friends. Most of them didn't really care about her, though. They all just liked to pretend, and then spread nasty rumors behind each others' backs.

"Soundwave," she said, looking up and scooting her datapad off to the side a little. "Shouldn't you be in school?"

I suddenly wished I'd brought Ravage, just because I always felt a little more confident with him around.

"Well?" What the frag does he want? He's going to ask me for something, isn't he? Either that or he's finally snapped and he's come to kill me. She shuddered a little. "Don't stare at me like that."

I looked down. "Crescent."

"What?"

"A… a-a frie-end invi-i-ited me-e ove-er for Me-emoria-al Orn."

He has a friend? "A friend?"

I nodded.

Who would want to be his friend? I don't believe this. But what does he want from me, exactly? Permission to go? Pit, I don't care what he does for Memorial Orn, so long as he doesn't get in trouble. He can even come here if he wants, since I'll be gone. "You want my permission to go?"

I nodded.

You haven't told this friend of yours about your defect, have you?

I shook my helm.

The mind-reading one, not your general creepiness or your stutter. Everyone can see those.

I shook my helm again. I wished she'd just say out loud that I could go.

She hesitated. I don't want to let him think I'll just give him whatever he wants. Where's that beast of his?

"I-I left Ra-a-avage at school."

"Are you going to leave it at the school all orn if you go to your 'friend's' house, or are you going to dump it on me, because neither of those things is acceptable." You have nowhere to put that creature.

"A-actually, I-I'd ta-a-ake him with me-e."

"Oh, really." And does your 'friend' think that's all right?

"It wa-as his i-idea."

She narrowed her optics. Don't take that tone with me. "Soundwave, I'm busy, please don't bother me with things like this."

"I-I-I just need o-one wo-ord."

"No."

Oops. That had been my fault. I should have been more careful. Now I had two options. I could beg or I could give up. The first would annoy her, the second would mean I had to stay at school.

Or I could try reasoning with her. That almost never worked.

"I-I do-on't see why-y I shouldn't be able to-o-o go-o."

"You don't? Do this poor fledgling's creators know he's inviting you over? And even if they do, do they know what to expect?" No one would want their creation spending time with a freak like you. I know I wouldn't.

She did have a point. Though I was starting to think she was wrong about some of what she told me.

Just go and see and don't complain about it later when they don't want you there. "Fine," Crescent said, "Go then. Or don't go. Or whatever you want. But don't expect this to be any different from the other times someone's tried to be your friend. And don't come crying to me afterward when it falls through."

"Y-you kno-ow I won't," I told her. "Thank yo-ou, Cre-e-escent."

She raised an optic ridge. Thank you? Are you mocking me?

I shook my helm and walked away because that was what she wanted me to do, and I didn't want to give her time to change her processor again. Outside, I let myself feel a little excited. It had been a close call, but I had convinced her to let me go.

The pain in my processor developed on the way back. It wasn't as bad as taking a test, but I knew my stutter was going to be pretty heavy for the next few joors. It had been awful at Crescent's house, but it was always awful when I was talking to her. I stopped by Searchlight's room, and was surprised to see that he had convinced Ratchet to play a board game with him. It was spread out on the floor, and they were about halfway through the game.

Ratchet was winning.

"Hey, Soundwave," Searchlight said. What's up?

"I-I can go-o-o," I said.

"Oh, ok. Great. I'm probably going to leave early in the on-cycle. We're going to have to if we want to get on the mass transit."

"O-o-ok," I said.

"You want me to come and get you when I'm ready to leave?"

"Searchlight, it's your turn," Ratchet said.

"Right," Searchlight looked down at the board. What move did he make…? Oh… I'm dead. "You want to play, Soundwave?" You can totally be on my team.

"I-I-I ha-ave to go ta-alk to Ra-a-avage."

His stutter's pretty bad, Searchlight thought suddenly. You ok, Soundwave?

I nodded and turned to leave. I wanted to thank him for offering to let me go home with him for Memorial Orn, but it wasn't worth the effort at that point. I'd thank him after my processor ache went away.

Ravage perked up when I got into my room. "So, can we go?"

I nodded and slumped into the desk chair.

"Good." Did you stab Crescent for me?

I shook my helm. "Yo-o-ou're hopele-ess."

He tilted his helm to the side. You're tired.

"I-It wa-a-as pretty crow-wde-ed."

"Oh," Ravage said. "Right."

He climbed from the desk to my shoulders and I got out my only piece of homework for the orn. Some teachers did not know when to stop.