The next few weeks were rather dull, really. Mikaela started hanging out with me and Miles openly, and even after she found out about the "evil jock concubine" comment, she just got back at Miles by mixing the ketchup on his burger with hot sauce while he was getting a refill on his soda. One his mouth stopped burning, he laughed it off and gave Mikaela a one arm bear hug. All three of us were getting closer and it felt great, though I did not ask Mikaela about her feelings for me.

After a week, Bumblebee and Barricade actually met up and agreed to a truce between the two of them. And Barricade had started taking Miles to school, instead of making him take the bus or me and Bee swing out there to grab him before getting Mikaela. He'd never admit it, but he was softening up.

We were also getting updates from Optimus and the bots, usually through texts. The government had gotten a contracting company to work with the bots and design the layout of the base; medbay and rec room and main offices, that sort of thing. In the most recent info burst, they'd said that the whole Lennox family would be moving on base, as well as the Epps. That made me glad, since I liked Sarah and Annabelle in the fics, and would like to meet Epps's family, especially Fred.

It was an ordinary school day for me. I just got out of Trig and was putting some things in my locker when a hand slammed the door all the way open. I looked up and saw Trent there. He was looking mad.

"Hi, Trent," I said, trying to be polite.

"Don't 'hi' me, Witwicky," he said. "What'd you do to Mikaela?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said, grabbing the bottom edge of my locker door and pulling on it. Trent didn't move.

"You did something. She hops in your old rusted camaro and then the two of you disappear for three weeks. Then you come back with a brand new car and she's spending more time with you than with her boyfriend."

"You sure you're her boyfriend?" I asked, pulling my locker door free and closing it. "Whenever she mentions you it's as her ex." I turned to walk away, but he spun me around.

"Something happened, Witwicky. You obviously did something to her." He was getting more in my face.

"Yeah, I see her many talents and acknowledge them, even the ones that make you look less masculine." I noticed we were drawing a small crowd. "Look, Trent, I'm not forcing Mikaela to do anything she doesn't want to do, and I don't demand all of her time. If she's not spending any of it with you, it's her choice."

"Oh and what, you think that sweet little attitude is gonna make her fall for you, lesbo?" He laughed. "She's probably only hanging with you to take pity on your stupid little crush."

Now this was making me mad. Not only was he degrading how I felt about Mikaela, but he was also announcing my sexuality to the whole school. My hand tightened to a fist at my side. "I guess you'd know about pity dates."

He got madder. "Even if she is hanging around you, there's no way you'd be able to be with her. She is not a dyke like you."

I'd had it. I pulled my fist back and punched him in the nose. I think I heard a crack, but I don't know, I was that mad.

Trent reeled back, clutching his nose in his hands. "Oh! You bitch!"

"Takes one to know one." I shook out my hand and started walking away, but a teacher caught me by my shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going, young lady?" He didn't give me a chance to answer, just walked over to Trent and took his shoulder too. "Come on, you two. We're taking a trip to the principal's office."

I sighed as we were walked down the hall. I know, I shouldn't have lost my temper like that, but I was just so mad. How dare he insult me and Mikaela. He didn't appreciate her when he had her, and now acted like a kid whose toy was taken away when she started spending time with people who did.

As I sat in the office waiting for Mom or Dad to show up, I texted Mikaela and Miles to let them know what happened. -Trent was saying shit and I punched him in the nose. Explain more later.- He was in the nurse's office, getting his nose looked at and telling his side of the story. By the time the principal came to hear my side, Mom had shown up too.

"Alison, are you alright?" she asked me. "I got a call you were in a fight."

"I'm fine, Mom," I assured her. "It wasn't much of one."

"I've already heard Mr. DeMarco's side of the story," Mr. Darrel, the principal said. "Let's hear yours."

"I was just minding my own business when Trent came up to me and started interrogating me about why Mikaela dumped him to hang out with me after we got back from our absences. I told him I didn't control what Mikaela did, and he accused me of just acting nice to her cause I wanted her to date me, and that she was only hanging out with me from pity. He called me a lesbo and a dyke, as well as announced my sexuality to pretty much the whole school. I got mad and I punched him in the nose. I would have just walked away then, but Mr. Jameson grabbed me and pulled me in here."

Mr. Darrell grabbed his chin in his hand. "I do not agree with the fighting, but bullying like that will not be allowed. Were there witnesses that can match your claims?"

"There was a whole crowd of students, and probably by this afternoon everyone's gonna hear what he called me," I said. "And I think Mr. Jameson was close enough he could hear the insults."

"I'll confirm that. But the matter of your punishment still remains." He sat behind his desk. "Since this is your first offense, and it seems you were provoked, you'll receive a one day suspension, effective now, and you can come back to school on Thursday."

Mom nodded. "We understand, right, Alison?"

I nodded. "I get it. I was the one who got physical, I should have just walked away."

Mr. Darrell nodded. "You may retrieve anything you need from your locker. Have a good day, Mrs. Witwicky, Miss Witwicky."

Mom and I got up and, since I didn't need anything from my locker, walked out of school. I told Mom I was going to drive around with Bee, and gave her a hug before I went to the student lot. I also texted Mikaela and Miles to let them know Barricade would have to bring them to meet up with me and Bumblebee.

Bee was ready when I got out there. "Got suspension?"

"Yup, one day. I'll explain when Miles and Mikaela get out." I buckled in and Bee pulled out of the lot.

"Well, it's kinda good timing," he said. "Optimus just told me the human parts of the base are done and they've started work on the bot part of base this week. He's invited you kids to come and see the progress." We'd told Optimus about Miles knowing the truth a few weeks back, though not how he found out.

"Sweet. We got a three day weekend this week, we could probably even stay over," A thought came to mind. "Is the base gonna have a name or is it just the Autobot base?"

"I think it's just the base. You got any ideas?"

"A couple." Outpost Omega One, for starters, or Ark II was an idea. Oh shit, Sentinel. He's still up on the moon. I gotta figure out how to get him down and convince him to not betray us. And the Fallen's off by Saturn, so I gotta deal with that too.

I push those aside for now. Deal with them when things were settled and we had time to think. Instead, I focused on just chilling with Bee at the lookout until Barricade, Miles and Mikaela showed up. I was sitting on his hood and Bee had his holoavatar up. It was a blonde boy our age, with little black streaks in his hair and blue eyes. He wore a yellow racing jacket, a white shirt with a cartoon bumblebee and black racing pants with matching sneakers. A bit on the nose, but it worked for him. He was actually kinda cute. He also had a set of dog tags, one with his designation in English and Cybertronian, the other with the Autobot symbol.

When they pulled up, Mikaela came to sit next to me while Miles sat on Barricade's hood. Cade's holo materialized next to him, still with the cigarette that we knew by now was generated. Not like real ones would work on him anyway.

"Okay, spill," Miles said. "The school says you punched out Trent and broke his nose cause he called you a lesbian."

"I don't know if I broke it, but he started the fight," I said. "He was interrogating me about why Mikaela was hanging out with us instead of him and was getting in my face. I tried to leave but he stopped me and said Mikaela was only spending time with me cause she had 'pity on my crush'." I air quoted. "Then he said she'd never fall for me cause she wasn't a dyke like me and I punched him. Then he called me a bitch, I said 'takes one to know one' and tried to walk away, but Jameson caught us and took us to the office. Trent was still with the nurse when I left."

"He deserved it," Mikaela said. "He practically just outed you in front of the whole school. I would've done more than that."

"How long are you suspended?" Miles asked.

"Just one day. Mr. Darrell believed me when I said I was provoked, and I think he gave the same to Trent once he confirmed that he'd said that."

"So now the whole school knows about you liking girls," Bee said. "What's gonna happen now?"

I shrugged. "They'll probably talk about it for a couple weeks, then someone else will come out, or a cheerleader get pregnant or something and it'll die out."

"I don't get you humans," Barricade said suddenly. He flicked ash off the cigarette. "You make such a big deal about who you're attracted to, gender-wise. On Cybertron, it never mattered, you could frag every mech and femme in the district and not be called more than easy."

"You guys don't have gender roles the way we do," I said. "The AllSpark makes life for you. Humans need sexual reproduction to survive, and guy and girl couples are the only way to do it. Though, really, it's Christianity and Judaism's fault. They started the whole 'a man shall not lie with another man' thing, while most other cultures really didn't care. I mean, there's an Egyptian carving of a high priest having a gay wedding, and some old Japanese art of a girl totally shipping these two samurai." Everyone kinda blinked at me and I shrugged. "I get bored and research stupid stuff sometimes. Either way, it's led people to only start accepting other sexualities besides heterosexual just now."

"And never in my life did I ever imagine I'd witness a discussion of sexuality between a human and an alien," Mikaela said shaking her head.

"Amen to that, Mikaela," Miles said.

I laughed. "Guys, I think we left any semblance of normal behind once I got that A- in Hosney's class."

After that, we just hung out for another couple hours. Bumblebee had some snacks in his trunk that we munched on, and just hanging out was great. Miles and Barricade left around five-thirty so he could run some errands for his mom. When they were gone, Mikaela hopped off Bee and turned to me. "Could you walk with me a bit, Alison."

"Uh, sure, Mikaela." I hopped down and walked with her toward the bend of the road. Once we were there, she stopped and turned to face me. Before I could ask what she wanted, she was kissing me.

I think I know how she felt when I kissed her at Mission City, stunned and unable to respond. When she pulled away, I just blinked for a minute. "Was that…?"

She nodded. "I've had time to think, and we've been spending so much time together, I'm confident this is real. At least, I'm willing to try."

I smiled. "I'm willing to try too. We can go slow. Build on this." I shuffled my feet a bit and looked down. "Can I… Can I kiss you again."

Mikaela smiled back. "Yes, you can."

My smile grew a fraction and I leaned in to kiss her. This time, she kissed back, and I closed my eyes. It wasn't deep or hot, we weren't hungry for it. It was sweet, and I felt my hands reach out to lace with hers. It was bliss.

When we parted, I kept my eyes closed for a moment, resting my forehead against Mikaela's. When I opened them, she was looking at me with a small smile. I smiled back. "That was…"

"Wow?" she supplied.

I nodded. "Wow."

Suddenly behind us, we heard a fanfare and turned to see Bee sitting there. His holo still sat on the hood, a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Very funny, Bee," I said, then Mikaela and I laughed. We walked back over to him and hopped on the hood again, only I wrapped my arm around Mikaela's waist. We talked for a bit, then we just cuddled. Bee dissipated his holo to give us the illusion of privacy, but we could still tell he was listening in. But it didn't feel awkward. It felt comfortable,even right. I retract my previous statement. This was the greatest day I've had since I arrived here.

Those pictures Alison mention? Those are real. I didn't research them, but my sister and her girlfriend did (cause Ella does stuff like that. "A fount of worthless knowledge," she calls herself). And yeah! The relationship tag is official! Next chapter will be up when it returns from my beta.

Thank you Jkp1291 (on AO3) for the following information, and for catching an error. The most I can say is author/character difference of opinion.
"Whoa bro, don't bring Jews in on the homo hate. The majority are totally cool with LGBT and have actually endorsed it and tried to fight for equal rights. Only the very, very crazy and old school (a very small percentage) are against it and even then they don't usually do or say anything against it."