First Crush

Years passed, and Harmony never forgot her adventure. However, today she seemed to be forgetting everything.

"Harmony, aren't you supposed to be doing your schoolwork?" Soundwave asked, eyeing her from across the counter. Harmony blinked, remembering the accumulation of worksheets on her data tablet. Now thirteen years old, she had started attending the new school in Centralis. At first, she had been one of only a handful of students. Over the past few months, however, more and more had been arriving. Including one in particular…

"I was just thinking." She murmured, scrolling to the next question.

Soundwave didn't say anything more. Audrey appeared in the hallway with Ezekiel.

"Thinking about what, dear?" She inquired, Zeke bounced over to her.

"I wanna know too!" He demanded, staring up at his sister. Harmony gave him an annoyed look.

"It's nothing." She mumbled, turning back to her data tablet.

Her parents looked at each other. Soundwave shrugged.

"Harmony…" Audrey started carefully, Harmony stood up.

"It's nothing, stop asking!" She snapped, taking her tablet and retreating to her room.

xxx

"... It sounds like you had a pretty good day," Orion concluded. "Why are you so upset?"

Harmony frowned, glancing at the door. "My parents are just being annoying, that's all. They keep bugging me and asking what's wrong."

"Is something wrong?"

"No."

Orion didn't seem convinced. He gave her a skeptical look through the screen.

"I don't believe you."

Harmony sighed. Somehow, talking to Orion was different from talking to her parents.

"Promise you won't tell anyone if I tell you?"

"Maybe." He replied. "It depends on what it's about."

Harmony decided that would have to be good enough. She couldn't keep this to herself.

"You know that new kid that came to school today?"

"Which one? There's been hundreds in the past week."

"I know, but he's different. You probably saw him, I think he's in your grade. I think he might be a Predacon…"

Orion thought for a moment, then slowly nodded. "Yeah, I think I met him. Kind of strange for a Predacon to show up. I thought they didn't want anything to do with us."

Harmony nodded. "Anyway, I saw him at lunch and all I did was say he looked kind of cute and Jia started ranting that I had a crush on him!"

Orion laughed a little. "Is that it? That's what you're so upset about?"

Harmony felt her faceplate heat up. "'Rion, you're supposed to be on my side!"

"I know, I'm sorry." He said, though he was still smiling. "Jia can be a little… dramatic, sometimes. But crushes are normal. Have you seen all the femmes that come after me?"

Harmony rolled her eyes. "That's because you're the firstchild," She told him. "Everyone wants to be your friend. But a Predacon…"

"You make it sound like a bad thing." He noticed, turning serious again. "The Predacons aren't just beasts, Harmony. They're people, too."

"I know, it's just not… normal, I guess. I thought we weren't supposed to like each other."

"Not necessarily."

"Well, now Jia's all worked up about it." She sighed, falling back on her berth. "I'll never hear the end of it!"

Orion looked at her for a minute, then shook his head.

"You really need to learn to stop letting her influence you." He told her. "I'll talk to Jia tomorrow. In the meantime, stop overthinking it, okay?"

"Okay."

"I'll talk to you later, then."

"See you tomorrow."

With that, the screen went blank. Harmony sighed again, tossing the tablet aide.

"I don't have a crush on him." She said to herself, as if trying to confirm it.

It didn't work.

xxx

The next day, Harmony couldn't seem to keep her eyes off the newcomer. It didn't take long to find out his name.

Zephyr

As mechs went, he was gorgeous. Though, Harmony didn't dare say it out loud. His armor was jet black and dark grey, with striking turquoise accents.

Once, he caught her staring. She quickly looked away, blushing.

"I don't have a crush on him." She murmured, though it was becoming less convincing every time she said it.

xxx

Orion, being the good example he was, decided to break the trend and sit with the predacon. Zephyr looked up, a bit surprised. Since he had arrived at the school the other day, everyone seemed to be avoiding him.

"Hi," Orion smiled kindly. Behind him, a group of femmes watched in shock. Why was the firstchild, of all people, talking to the Predacon?

"Hello," Zephyr replied, relaxing a little. "Are you Orion?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

Zephyr chuckled, nodding to the small crowd behind him. "Your fans."

Orion glanced back at them, hoping they would go away. "Yeah…"

"Orion, what are you doing?" Whispered one of the girls. "We were going to go to the library, remember?"

"You go without me," He said. "I'll catch up with you."

The girls looked at each other, then slowly drifted away, not sure what to do now that their beloved firstchild was preoccupied.

"Sorry," Orion sighed, turning back to Zephyr. ":They follow me everywhere."
"You're pretty popular, aren't' you?" Zephyr took a sip of the energon in front of him. Orion nodded a little.

"I couldn't say the same for you, though. I'm really sorry how everyone's been treating you."

Zephyr shrugged. "I don't mind. I'm just here to learn. You wouldn't believe some of the things they teach us out in Predacon territory."

"What do you mean?"

"The leaders are really superstitious. I don't believe a word of those stories they make up. I'd rather be learning something important, even if it's not that interesting."

Orion laughed a little. "Well, you came to the right place, then."

Zephyr smiled.

"Hey," Orion lowered his voice, glancing over at his cousin. She had been staring, and quickly turned away. "You see that fem over there?"

Zephyr followed his gaze. "That one? Yeah. She stares at me a lot, does she think I'm weird or something?"

Orion shook his head. "No, it's the opposite. She'll probably kill me if she finds out I'm telling you this, but she likes you."

Zephyr was quiet for a moment, looking at Harmony.

"That's interesting…" he said quietly.

xxx

It was the end of the day. Harmony glanced up at the clock.

Ten more minutes. She thought. Carefully, she looked over at Zephyr again. What were the chances that he'd be placed right next to her? It was frustrating. He was even more handsome up close, and she was still in denial.

The bell finally rang, and Harmony was the first one out. Zephyr followed close behind.

"Hey, Harmony, right?" He said, catching up to her. She slowed to a stop, looking at him.

"... Yeah?"

Zephyr hesitated, not sure how to say what he was thinking.

"Um… I figured out that you have a crush on me," He told her. Harmony fidgeted uncomfortably. Was it that obvious? Zephyr was the last person she had hoped would find out.

"Orion told me," He explained.

"Oh..?" She tapped her fingers against her leg, not sure what else to say. In her head, though, she was imagineing what she would be saying to Orion once she hunted him down.

"I thought I should tell you I'm already… with someone." Zephyr looked just as uncomfortable as her. It wasn't news that anyone wanted to hear, much less tell.

Harmony turned her gaze down. What had she expected?

"I understand." She said quietly, beyond embarrassed. Zephyr was quiet for a few moments, touching the back of his neck, he glanced away.

"So… I guess I'll see you around, then…"

"Yeah… see you."

As he walked away, Harmony stared after him, the feeling disappointment too overpowering to ignore.

Maybe I did have a crush on him.

xxx

Audrey could tell something was wrong. Harmony was silent. After finishing her homework, she had gone to her room and hadn't made a sound for the past hour.

"What do you think is wrong?" Soundwave asked, concerned.

"My guess is she got rejected." Audrey sighed. "She had a crush. Did you see how she was so defensive about it? And now that she lost her chance, she's isolated herself."

Soundwave looked at her, surprised. "How do you do that?"

"I'm a girl, I just know these things."

Soundwave nodded, deciding that made sense. If anyone could understand a teenage girl at all, it was another female.

"So, what do we do?" He asked.

"Nothing," She replied, "Just wait for it to blow over. She's a teen, now. This is just the first of her troubles." Audrey chuckled. "Who knows, maybe she'll even turn into a human."

"Mooom?!" Harmony called, her voice twisted with confusion.

Audrey's expression went blank.

"Something tells me that's not a completely inaccurate prediction." Soundwave said.