Authors Note: Wow, a second update just says apart. What can I say, the three day weekend got the wheels turning. There is a big time jump here, so try not to get confused. I'll be doing that a lot since there is a lot of ground to cover. The next two chapters, though, pretty much cover a span of 24 hours. This chapter is happy, it's funny, it's fun. The next one, probably a little more serious. I loved writing this chapter because it shows you the kind of people Ella sees as her friends and a bit more into her personality. There isn't much development here besides that, so don't expect that. It's just supposed to be a lot of fun and humorous. Remember to review when you are finished. Those reviews make the story happen. Muah! Love you guys, my fans rule!

Authors Note 2: Mom still thinks this Transformers phase I'm in is really weird. She says she hated the movie, but I know she's lying. I even caught her actually saying the name of one of the characters when she said she didn't know them. (I can't remember which one.) How about them apples? HA!

Title: Aloha

Two months passed by Ella like a snail trying to make a trail through glue. She finally finished her project Ratchet had harped on about since the day she received it, getting the grade she deserved.

"Ella, this was a very well thought out report. I can see you really learned a lot about the ancient Egyptians." Mr. Foxworth said the final week of school. Ella had to come for the oral presentation.

"Well, I had a little help." She said as she proudly looked at her A+. It was the only one she had been given since she started middle school.

With the paper still displayed on the fridge months later, she still had a sense of accomplishment.

Even though summertime was supposed to be a time of relaxation and fun, it brought new challenges for the unusual pair of friends. With school no longer taking up half of Ellas days, she was spending much more time with Ratchet than he had anticipated. While the arrival of her friends was a welcomed break, he really did enjoy the new stress-free Ella. She was far easier to get along with, but that didn't mean the two didn't fight like enemies sometimes. They just happened a little earlier in the day.

Ella had a brand new problem on her tiny hands. To ensure she would keep practicing on her legs, Celine had taken to locking the wheelchair in the closet while she went to work.

"You rely of ieet too much. You 'ave legs now, and you 'ave 'ad almost a year to heal," She told Ella as the girl watched her place the key on a chain and linked it around her neck.

"But that's not fair!" Ella tugged at the door handle. It didn't budge.

"News flash…life ieesn't always fair, ma cheri. I don't care if you keep skinning yourself up from falling, you're 'ave to learn." She tucked the key under her shirt and walked away, leaving Ella to stare at the locked door.

"Ratchet's got to have a lock pick." She said, stewing in her own anger.

Celine had taken away the one thing that made life without legs bearable. Now, she would have to work at something that should be easy but frustrated her so much, she wanted to avoid it at all costs. Now she didn't have a choice but to send the summer on the metal stilts.

X

Yet, today was one the two friends could throw away their gripes aside and have a great time. It was now July third, Ellas thirteenth birthday. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she was a full-fledged teenager. She no longer had to endure being called a child, being turned away from PG-13 movies, and being offered the kids menu at restaurants. At least, that's what Ella thought being thirteen was about. Whole new world was opening up to her, and she was going to love every minute of it. That is, until she turned sixteen.

On the morning of her party, she slept soundly since she hadn't been able to sleep well in the middle of the night. She spent most of it talking with Ratchet out her window, but decided to stay in her room in case her aunt woke her up that morning. Ella didn't hear the click of her door as it opened. In the light of the sun, Celine crept across the carpet, trying not to hit the creaky spot. With her luck, she stepped right on it.

"Zut!" She watched her niece twitch slightly, but the girl didn't wake up. As Celine tiptoed farther, she brought her hands out from behind her back. In each, she held an air horn she used when her work friends invited her to football games. With earplugs in each ear, she walked up next to Ellas bed. Now in place, she pressed down on each button. Both items screamed into the morning air, soon followed by Ellas own. It was so loud, even Ratchet broke from his stasis cycle in confusion.

"Celine? What the heck?" Ella asked groggily. She bug a finger in her ear in an attempt to get some hearing back. "What was that for?"

Celine jumped onto Ella and kiss her on the forehead, "Joyeux Anniversaire, ma cheri!"

"Ew! Frenchy germs," Ella shrieked, trying in vain to wipe the kiss away.

"I need 'elp setting up for zee party. Come now, up, up, up! You don't want to waste zee day in bed." Celine pulled the covers off of her niece, taking the blankets with her as she practically danced out of the room. Ella remained in her place, staring up at the ceiling. It was strange to wake up on her birthday without her siblings being the ones to scare her awake. It didn't seem natural. She looked over at her family picture.

"Well guys, I guess life really did go on." She said as she pulled herself up. With a bit of blurriness in her eye, she reached for her legs propped up on her bureau. Sitting on the edge of her bed, she proceeded to strap them onto her bruised limbs. Her fake knee let out a little squeak at she put it in place.

"Shut up." Even the little sounds they made caused anger in her. She wanted her chair back.

The room felt too quiet, even with the sounds of her aunt moving around the house like a maniac. She looked around for her CD player remote, but found it wasn't in its place.

"Oh crap, where did I put that?" She looked through her drawers and tore up the covers Celine had left behind. Just as she was beginning to give up, the radio gave a loud start.

Wish I could tell her
You're one in a million
You're going the distance, babe
You're gonna work it out some day

"I love that 'bot." She smiled widely and looked towards the window. As she reached for her crutches, she heard her computer chime with a new message. She looked up to see it was from Ratchet. He knew Celine was close, so he didn't want to alert her to him by speaking with Ella face to face.

FighterMed07: What in Primus's name was that?

Ella stood up on her feet and made it over to the computer desk. She wasn't surprised by his greeting in the slightest. Using only her good hand, she typed in a response.

SquishyAmmoGurl: Just Celine coming in to say good morning. Sorry she woke you up.

FighterMed07: It was the proper time of morning to become active once more. Granted, that is not the way I had anticipated.

Ella laughed at his comment. She couldn't agree with him more.

SquishyAmmoGurl: I'm hiding those things when I see them. Are you ready for the luau today? A ton of people are coming.

Of course, he didn't forget about the party. Ella had been talking about the party at great lengths since the second she found out she was allowed to have one. Even though Ratchet didn't understand why she was having a party like those held traditionally in Hawaii, it made the young girl happy.

FighterMed07: I am as ready as I can be. You do remember the agreement, right?

SquishyAmmoGurl: Of course. I'm not putting anything pink on you, or you're going to break my nerf gun. Ratch, I'm not going to stick streamers on you. That would be bad, and totally clash with your color.

FighterMed07: As long as you remember the pact.

SquishyAmmoGurl: If I could write it on my brain, I would.

FighterMed07: If you could write that on your brain, you would have a lot more problems than the ones you have now.

Ella snorted, not knowing if he was being serious or sarcastic. It was difficult to tell when they were just typing to one another. She liked it better when they could actually talk. As she started to type again, Celine came back to her doorway.

"Come on, you need to get ready! Your party is in four 'ours and zere are no decorations up." She grabbed one of Ellas arms and started to lead her away from the computer.

"Auntie, uh…auntie? Stop pulling me, I can't move that fast." The result was the new teenager ending up on her butt in the middle of her doorway, her fake legs splayed out behind her.

"Well, at least you're up." She walked away from her fallen niece. With a grumble, she used her crutches to get back to her feet.

"I'm coming! I just need to shut my computer off." She walked back to her computer desk, but didn't sit down. Another message had come in. Behind her, her stereo clicked itself off, knowing that the girl would be leaving the room soon.

FighterMed07: We will speak later. Ellas heart dropped a little bit. She loved talking to her best friend, but they both knew that there were things to be done. Instead of typing in a response, she walked over the to window seat and poked her head out the window.

"Midnight drive tonight. We'll have plenty of time then." She called down, but not loud enough to alert Celine. The computer chimed once more as Ella pulled her head in.

FighterMed07: Happy Birthday Ella. The birthday girl couldn't suppress her wide smile. If the well wishing had to come from anyone that day, she was glad it was him. After all, he was the one that made it possible to have the party at all. She almost felt bad when she flipped her computer off. She wouldn't be in need of it today.

X

"Ella! Oh Ella!" The group of screaming girls came running up the decorated walkway. The entire driveway was lined with tiki torches Celine had borrowed from several colleagues and were light even in the midday sun. Each torch had a fake hibiscus flower attached to it, all of them various colors of pink. There was no mistake; this party was definitely for a girly girl. The torches lead up to the corner of the house, making the guest walk right past Ratchet to make it to the backyard luau.

"Hey, you guys made it," Ella waved from beside the disguised Autobot. She had set it up that way so Ratchet could see her friends a little better. Unbeknownst to Ella, he was scanning each of them to make sure they weren't bringing more than gifts to the party.

"Oh course we made it. We wouldn't miss this for the world!" Ratchet recognized the girls voice as belonging to Bethanie. Ella hugged each of the four, careful not to accidentally hit them with a crutch. Every girl was wearing the same shade of pink as Ella, bright and girly. Ella had tied hers up in a knot to make it look like a bikini top, but Celine made her wear a tank top underneath it.

"Head on back guys, we have leis for everyone and you can put the gifts on the table." She said when the greeting was done. In back there was already noises of those that had arrived earlier and music blaring. The advantage of living in the country was that there were no neighbors to make you turn the party down.

"Aren't you coming?" The friend called Kimi asked. Beside her was an identical human. An identical twin named Kiki.

"Not yet. I've got a couple more people coming. I'll be there in a bit." She answered. She waved to her friends and turned back to the road as more people were walking up.

"Ella didn't decorate her ugly car." The one named Maddie whispered to Bethanie. The others stopped to listen.

"I know, we need to fix that."

"Her aunt left the streamers and stuff on the deck, I can see them. Once Ella leaves, we'll make that thing extra special."

Back at Ratchets side, Ella greeted more of her classmates and friends with the same speech as they walked up to her. Many of them hadn't seen her in months and commented on how great she looked. Ella just leaned against Ratchets door and smiled.

"Ella?" A voice came from behind as she guided the next group to the back. She hadn't been paying attention to the front walkway. When she turned back around, she let out a gasp.

"Oh, hi Lewis." Inside her mind, she was really saying "Oh my god, Hottie McBody is here and talking to me!" Ratchet could feel the girls heartbeat increase. This was the boy from many of her hacked phone calls.

"Hey, almost thought my dad had the wrong place." He said, one hand in his front pocket. Ratchet surveyed the gift the boy held. From his scan, he could tell Ella was getting a picture frame.

Ella laughed like a little kid. "Yeah, it's easy to get lost out here. At least you found me…I mean, the party." She blushed a bit. Her hands were starting to sweat.

"Yeah, I'm glad too."

"So, where's your girlfriend? I heard you were bringing her." She knew about the breakup, she just wanted to make sure.

"Who, Shelly? Nah, we're not together anymore. She dumped me before school got out. Said she was distracted with all of the homework Foxworth gave us and cheerleading practice."

Ella was cheering and dancing inside. "Oh, that's too bad."

"You look nice." Lewis was blushing now. Ratchet didn't like the looks of his pheromone levels. Far too high for a human youngling this age.

"Thanks. Celine pick it out for me." She giggled. It wasn't the sort of sound Ratchet had heard Ella make before.

"It's very pretty. Pink is a good color for you."

"It's good you like it. You're going to be seeing a lot of the color when you head in back." She smiled at the ground, becoming very shy. Ratchet didn't like this at all. Ella was far too young to be engaging in a conversation with someone that caused such a bodily reaction. Without warning, he flung his door open with such force, it made Lewis step back. The two were now split by the Autobots action.

"What the?" Lewis asked, walking out from behind it. Ella had a hand clasped over her mouth in shock.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" She was so embarrassed.

"Yeah. Looks like your dads car doesn't like me," He laughed it off. Ella gave Ratchet a dirty look.

"It's just old. Sometimes it does things we don't want it to," she explained. There was a second of silence.

"I better head back. Don't want to miss out on the good food." Lewis ran a hand through his dirty blond hair, making Ella want to melt.

"Yeah, you go do that. I'll be there in a minute." She watched as her crush rounded the next corner before turning back to the stationary Autobot. "What the heck are you doing? He was just being nice! God, you suck." Ratchet couldn't answer. As a warning, Ella hit her fist on the red line on his side. "Be good." With a huff, she walked away to join her party. They needed their guest of honor.

"I must keep an eye on this Lewis boy. I do not like him."

X

Within the half hour, the party was in full swing. The sounds of ukuleles and drums dancing across the air as the big group of almost thirty teenagers danced with them. There was food, drinks, and everything that made a party fun. On a table near the glass sliding door, there were gifts piled up taller than Ella herself. Everything about the backyard had been turned into a paradise. Inflatable palm trees littered the groups, along with tons of pink streamers hanging from lines. Somewhere, Celine had found an inflatable monkey and dressed it in a coconut bra and a grass skirt. The whole place looked as though someone had dumped a bucket of pink on the island of Hawaii. Among it all, Ella was in the thick of the party. She loved being able to talk with those she had been kept from for a long time. She felt good that everyone she had invited made it.

"Where's my grass skirt?" She called over to Celine. In a second, a tan and green object went flying through the air. Ella caught it with her good hand and proceeded to put it on.

"Now you're stylin'." Her friend Joey laughed. He had been the one to give her the replacement nerf gun almost a year before. Little did he know how handy the gift had become.

"Thanks Jojo." She pretended to be a model as she showed it off. To her, Joey was just another one of the girls. Speaking of… "Hey Joey, where did the others go?"

Joey shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe they went to the bathroom. You guys always seem to go in groups. What do you guys do in there anyway?"

Ella nudged her friend. "We talk about you guys and how crappy you look."

"I knew it!" The two started laughing as the rest of the guests looked over. She loved having the attention that wasn't about her injuries. This really was her special day.

"Come on, let's wait for them by the food. I made some fruit kabobs with yogurt dip." She grabbed the bottom of Joey's shirt and pinned it between her hand and crutch before leading him that way.

"Fruit? Yogurt? Since when did you like to eat that healthy stuff? What happened to living off of Cheetos and Twinkes?" She looked back at him with a smile, but she knew she had to lie.

"After you spend six months eating hospital food, you'll know."

As the two first waited for the rest of their group but the long table of goodies, Ella didn't know her squad of four was putting their plan into action. Bethanie had managed to snag as many things of streamers as she could from behind Celines back, while the others were given other items in a gift bag. Hiding the objects in their shirts, they had excused themselves to the bathroom, only to come out through the front door. They crept along the wall, trying to keep from being seen.

"We are so going to get busted!" Kimi said, her nails digging into her palms as she gripped the window marker.

"We are not! Look, nobody is even near here." Bethanie looked around, not sure of her own statement.

"She is either going to love us, or kill us for this." Maddie snickered, a grass skirt dangling in her hand. As they crept up on the car, they didn't know that it was actually watching their every move. He could see the items in their hands and immediately didn't like what he saw.

"Oh, Primus save me now." He thought as Kiki started to unravel the roll of pink. There was nothing he could do as she started wrapping the paper around his left rearview mirror, crossing it over his front and wrapped it around the other. Bethanie, with another armful of the pink stuff, ran around the entire vehicle, leaving a trail behind her before she broke the piece off and threw it over the top. On his fender cage, Maddie had begun tying the grass skirt to him, as well as a coconut bra above it. Kimi, whose job was the toughest, had to climb on top of his hood and write 'Happy Birthday Ella' across his windshield in pink.

"Guys, I'm slipping!" Her knees started to slide down his hood before she tumbled off the side. For a second, Ratchet hoped she wasn't injured. His nature was to keep beings from harm. As the second passed, he hoped she got marker on her face.

"Watch it Kim, you're going to blow it." Her twin helped her up. Just behind them, Bethanie went for the flowers on the torches and brought back a few of the flowers. With a boost from the other three, she stuck them in the light bar just above Ratchets windshield.

"For the love of Primus, some one please scrap me now." Ratchet screamed in his processor. His calls for help would never be answered as the girls continued their work.

Maddie started laughing quietly, "Man, Ella is going to freak! She loves this stupid thing like a pet."

"No kidding. She even threw a crutch at a dog that came near it a while ago. Obsess much?" Bethanie replied. Ratchet didn't like how these girls were talking about his charge. These were supposed to be her friends, and yet they were talking about her when she wasn't there. Gossip, that's what it was called.

"Have you seen that drawing in her room? It looks like this car, but she turned it into a robot. That's a little weird." Kimi put the window marker in her pocket.

"Knock it off you guys. She loves it because it was her dads. You remember how much she talked about him driving her around in this thing." Kiki was always the one to come to the defense of others. Ratchet was starting to like her. She reminded him of someone he knew.

"Whatever." Maddie rolled her eyes before looking up at the vehicle. "You know, I think we're done here." The four girls stood in front of Ratchet to bask in their art.

"If I could run you all over, I would do it now."

"Go get Ella. We have to get a shot of her reaction." Kimi reached into her pocket and pulled out a small digital camera belonging to her mom. She had asked to borrow it for the party. She lined the image up and snapped a few shots before her twin ran off in search of their hostess.

X

She found Ella standing by the big try of fruit, greeting others as they walked by. She surprised the birthday girl a bit when she grabbed her by the arm.

"There you are! Did you guys fall in or something?" She asked with a snicker. Kiki just tugged on her arm.

"I have something to show you." She smiled. She tried not to pull Ella too hard, since she didn't want her to fall down.

"Oh boy, what did you do?" Ella was suspicious of her good friend as she put down her plate on the table.

"Here Ellie, I'll help." Joey walked in front of her and knelt down slightly. "Hop on." Ella wrapped her arms around his neck, handing her crutches to Kiki. Joey stood up, holding Ella the same way Sam had the day she was introduced to Bumblebee.

"Okay, show me." The three walked made their way through the crowd of dancers to the side of the house. At first glance, Ella didn't know what she was seeing. Of course, Joey had to say the first thing that popped in his head.

"Oh my god, they wussified your car." As he walked around Ratchets side, Ella put a hand over her mouth to stop her from laughing. The promise to Ratchet had been broken without her knowledge. Joey set Ella down in front of the Autobot and Kiki handed the crutches back.

"You guys! This is awesome!" She couldn't stop looking at the coconut bra hanging from Ratchets front. She knew she was going to hear about this when all of the guests were gone and Celine was asleep.

"Thanks. We thought it could use the improvement." Bethanie crossed her arms in pride.

"Eleanor Therese Brass, get this stuff off of me." Ratchet was trying to communicate telepathically with her, but he knew it would never work. In the background, Kimi clicked away with the camera.

"He is going to kill me." Ella thought as she looked over the vast amount of pink that was placed on the Cybertronian medical officer. He had been no match for the four teenagers.

"Joey, take a picture of all of us," Kimi ordered as she handed him the camera. With a little help, Ella knelt down in front of Ratchets fender cage with her four friends.

"This is going on my myspace page."

"Okay ladies, say 'Joey's hot!" The teenage boy pressed the button.

"Joey sucks!" The four said in unison. The light flashed just as the vehicle let out a loud, twittering siren. The group jumped and backed away from the car. The lights were flashing.

"What the…" Kimi started, doing a crab walk away from the car before standing up.

"How did it do that?" Bethanie looked at Ella and pointed at Ratchet at the same time. Ella just shrugged.

"Dad got it back in 07. Sometimes cars like these start to malfunction earlier than smaller ones." It was the only thing she could come up with. Around the corner of the house, Celine came running.

"What are you six doing back 'ere? You scared us." Celine didn't look very happy.

"Sorry Auntie, car must have had a misfire or something." Ella answered.

"Or something is right. I wish I had a horn like Optimus, then you would all be deaf." Celine walked around Ratchet to look at the girls work,

"Very funny. Now, get back to zee fun. Where about to open gifts and 'ave some cake." She started to guide the teens toward the back of the house. Ella broke off from the group.

"I'll be right there. I'm going to borrow the coconut thing you put on the car. I like it." She explained, waving her friends off. As they left her sight, she wobbled back over to her metal friend, still trying not to laugh. She walked in front of him and started to untie the grass skirt and bra.

"Look, I know you can't talk to me right now, but I'm really sorry about this. I had no idea this was going on."

"Obviously." He thought. With a little help from her bad hand, she managed to get the offending party wear off of him. The rest would have to wait until later. She then made her way to his window, stepping up on the ledge as he opened the window. She cling to the door to keep from falling backwards.

"I know I promised you wouldn't be wearing pink, but you have to admit it's kinda funny. Am I right?" Instead of a verbal answer, Ratchet moved his steering wheel back and forth.

"This is an embarrassment to my rank." He said to himself. Ella let out a sigh.

"Look, I'll clean you off as soon as the last guest leaves. None of your fellow Autobots will see you like this, deal?" She raised her eyebrows in hope he would agree. The steering wheel went up and down.

"I trust her."

"That's my buddy." She grinned, stepping down. "We still on for tonight?" The steering wheel went up and down again. "Great. I'm looking forward to it. Again, I'm so sorry for this Ratch. I'll make it up to you, I swear." She patted in the middle of the emblem on his door.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." He wanted to say as she limped away. He could hear the cheers as she returned to her party; all of them wait for her to open the gifts they had brought for her.

"I'm coming!" He heard Ella yell. Listening to the pink streamers fluttering in the wind around him, he started to think about the night ahead. The gift was stored away within his body, the spot that turned into his leg when he was back in his original form. He felt a nervous twinge in his spark as he thought about giving them to Ella.

"Those gifts, my dear Eleanor, have nothing compared to what you will receive tonight. It will change your life for the better, my young friend.

(The song playing when Ratchet turned the stereo on was called "One in a Million" by the Backstreet Boys. The album isn't out yet, but I've been listening to leaks of it and I just love it.)