Chapter 13: Failing to Ignore Certain Feelings

Anya's POV

"Hey, babe." Vince says as he leans against my locker trying to act charming. That doesn't work on me.

I just ignore him as I put my books away and close my locker and walk away from him. However, he just follows me and cuts me from walking any further.

"What do you want?" I ask emotionless as I put my satchel in a more comfortable position.

"A date. You and me. Somewhere no one will interrupt us." He states confidently as he moves his eyebrows suggestively.

"No." I deadpan as I move around him, but he grabs my wrist in a tight hold. I could easily get out of it, but I have to keep up appearances. "Let me go." I say emotionless as I use very minimal force to struggle.

The majority of the students ignore us, but only a handful stop to watch us.

"Not until you say yes. Is that really hard to say? I promise you won't regret it." He says in a huskier voice as he pulls me closer to him, which I again, use minimal force to get away.

Ugh, boys like him disgust me. I wish I could just punch him, but I can't.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" I hear Miko exclaim from the hallway. I look where the voice came from and I see a running Miko who stops to stand next to me. "I warn you. I am trained in karate and I'm not afraid to use it!" She growls as she does a karate stance that I taught her a few days ago.

"Stay away from this! This is between us only." Vince states as he points at himself and me.

"What is the meaning of this?" I hear the strict math teacher say as he comes walking towards us.

At that, Vince immediately let go of me and acts innocent. Miko is glaring daggers at Vince, while I just look at him dully before looking at the teacher looking at us.

"It's nothing professor. Just a friendly dispute." I state as I grab Miko's hand and drag her away. The teacher just nods and I wave back. Calling a high school teacher 'professor' makes their day, I guess. I mean, they let it slide when something like this happens.

I look behind me and see Vince growling at us, but he didn't make a move towards us. Good grief.

"Why don't you defend yourself?" Miko asks from the blue as she stands in front of me. The hallway is empty. It was lunch time at the moment so not many students or teachers are near here.

"What do you mean?" I ask pretending not to know what she is talking about.

"You know what I mean. You fought against, 'Cons and terrorists. A regular boy like Vince is a piece of cake. You'll totally make him cry! So why don't you defend yourself?" Miko asks earnestly.

I was silent for a few seconds. "I don't defend myself because that is what is protecting me." I say with a bitter smile. I see Miko's lost expression so I elaborate. "If people know what I am capable of, teachers and students will start observing me. I can't have people know what I am capable of, physically wise. I mean, I don't look like I could carry around a thousand pounds or even throw a punch. People are going to point out when they see that. You could say that acting 'weak' is part of my secret identity if you want to look at it that way." I say, seeing that the last sentence resonated more to her.

"Oh." She says as she shapes her mouth as an 'o' shape. "I get it." She nods as she starts walking and I follow her. "You know what's cool?"

"What?"

"I get to defend you against the bullies during school, while you protect us from 'Cons." Miko says while a smile. I respond with a small smile at my own.

Miko really is a good girl with good intentions, despite her thick skull and brusque actions. I'm glad that I have her as a friend.

"Jack, you coming?" I ask as I walk towards him. He was in his locker getting some stuff. The bell already rang indicating school is over.

"Later, you all go on ahead without me. I just need to return some work. I'll catch up later." He says as he closes his locker.

"Let me guess, history?" I ask.

"Yep. See you at base." He says as he walks away. I shrug and walk towards the place where I meet up with Raf and Miko usually.

He and Miko are there already.

"Where's Jack?" He asks.

"Turning in some work. He said that we go on ahead without him." I answer.

They nod and we all walk outside together. We all made an agreement that our guardians should wait outside of the street when there are many people around. We don't want anyone to find out that we have cool rides. That will have unwanted attention for us.

However, Jack is the special case. He's sixteen already and his mother knows that he takes Arcee to school. So she's allowed to park at the front of the school.

"Hey 'Bee." Raf says as we got near him.

Miko had already got in Bulkhead.

"Hey guys." He says as he opens the door for us. When we go into our seats, the seatbelt buckled in for us, just like always. "How was school?" He asks as he drives away.

"It's was normal." Raf answers. However he looks at me expectantly. "I heard that Vince was asking you to go on a date with him, again." He sounds almost scolding, but I could not help that he sounds adorable to me. But I know that if I say that to him, he'll get mad at me.

"Wait, isn't Vince that bully that you talked about before? And what's a date?" Bumblebee asks confused.

"Yes, he is." I sigh. "A date is when a person asks other to a romantic social engagement." I inform as I remember the definition I read in a dictionary.

"Romantic social engagement?" 'Bee asks confused.

"What Anya means is that Vince wanted Anya to go out with him. Just the two of them." Raf elaborates.

"Alone?!" 'Bee exclaims.

"That is what he wanted, but I refused as I always do." I huff. "That boy can't take a hint. He even tried to force me to accept his offer by threatening me." I growl.

"He threatened you!" 'Bee growls angrily.

"Nothing too serious." I answer quickly as I pat his dashboard to calm him down. "He just grabbed my wrist and 'threatened' that he will not let me go until I accepted."

Weeks ago I had told 'Bee about my weak appearance act when I'm in public. Raf already knew years before.

"Then how did you get out of that situation?" 'Bee asks after calming down in a few seconds.

"Miko intervened and stalled long enough for a teacher to come. That made Vince get his hand off me and he didn't bother me for the rest of the day." I explain.

"That's good." 'Bee sighs as I feel the belt tighten a bit around me before getting normal again.

Raf, Miko and I are in the catwalk sitting on the couch. Raf is watching Miko and I play the video-game.

Bulkhead and Bumblebee are watching us, cheering on their human.

My hands are expertly moving on the control, without breaking a sweat while I see Miko in the corner of my eye struggling as she moves around a bit.

We'll you see why we are in this situation is because I told Miko to do her homework, but she said that she'll do it later. However, I said that it is better that she do it now so I don't nag her later. Seeing that I couldn't force her, I suggested that we do a bet. That caught her interest and she immediately asks what I was thinking. I told her that I bet that I could win her at any video-game in less than seven minutes. She asked me what was on stake and I told her that she will have to do her homework immediately for one week as soon as we get to base. She, of course didn't like it, but then ask what was in for her. I told her that I could give her three more lessons in karate.

I had my hand out saying if we had a deal. She thought for a bit before shaking on it. The deal was sealed.

So that is how we are now playing this fighting video-game that in my opinion resembles a lot like Street Fighter but it was still different. This is one of Miko's favorite games that is here in base and she seemed pretty confident in winning when I told her she can pick any game for the bet.

However, a minute later, I can tell she was getting frustrated.

Raf is the designated time man. He set his laptop to time us.

Now it was close to six minutes since we started and Miko's character is almost out of life.

After a few more presses of buttons, the screen shows that Miko is KO while I am left the winner.

Raf and 'Bee cheered for me while Bulkhead consoled Miko who had shock on her face, but then she pouts at her defeat.

She puffs her cheeks before grumpily walks to the desk and starts doing her homework.

I look at Raf and gave him a knowing smile. "You want to go against me?"

"Naw. I think I'll pass for now. Maybe later." Raf says as he also walks towards an empty desk and takes out his homework.

I hum in response and I continue sitting on the couch but I got my satchel and pulled out my book and start reading.

Time passed as we all are silent however, our phones went off almost all at the same time.

Curious, we get them out and my eyes widen what I see. It is a text from one of the cheerleaders from school saying that Jack Darby won against Vince in a street race.

Jack winning against Vince in a race did not surprise me. Arcee is a lot faster than any car in Jasper. What surprised me is that Jack actually raced against Vince.

Looking over the text again, I realized that the text was from Sierra, the cheerleader captain. Jack has made it obvious that he likes her with that dopey look on his face and when he stutters a bit and tries to keep eye contact.

My heart clenched a bit in thinking of Jack's crush.

I mean, why should I care if Jack likes any girl? We are just friends, right?

I like the friendship we have. So that means we are just friends. Plus I doubt Jack would ever think of me like that.

I am abnormal.

Jack probably likes Sierra because of her normal hair color, even though she dyed it red, but at least it a normal hair color. I could dye my hair, but somehow after a few days, the ink disappears completely and my hair is back to it's silver gray color.

Then she has normal eye color: green. Mine are an abnormal yellow. I could wear eye contacts, but they are such a hassle.

Then there is her simple tanned skin complexion. Her skin at least has a healthy skin color. I am pale despite being in the desert sun for long periods of time and still no luck with getting tanned. I stopped trying after three years. I would get sun burns, but none of them left a tan.

Yeah, I'm totally not in Jack's interest.

Thinking of that, just made my heart clench once again. I ignore what that is supposed to mean in favor of reading my book.

I stand up just as I hear Arcee arriving. Miko had already jumped out of her seat and running towards them.

Raf and I just calmly walk towards Jack who had taken off his helmet and Arcee is walking away.

"Dude!" Miko says as she is near Jack and then goes into a motorcycle driving positions as she says. "Vroom, vroom, vroom! And the winner is…" Miko then points at Jack.

Jack's face totally became surprised. "Miko, who told you?"

"You kidding? It's all over school!" Miko states like it was obvious.

Jack's face now became worried.

"You beat the pants off that blowhard bully, Vince." Raf says happily as he is finally near him, with me behind him.

Jack pulls Miko and Raf closer to him while I just stand in front of him as the three of them huddle close.

"You guys have to keep this on the D.L., especially from Optimus." Jack says as he looks around making sure that no one else is overhearing us.

Miko is totally excited at the idea keeping this from the Autobot leader while Raf and I share uneasy expressions but in the end we all promised.

It was just this once, right?

The next day, Raf and I are sitting on the couch playing the racing video-game with 'Bee watching us from behind the catwalk.

"Raf? Anya?" I hear Jack voice from behind us. Raf lost concentration and that gave me opportunity to crash his car, making it a win for me.

"Uh, is there any way I could borrow Bumblebee for an hour?" Jack asks. At that I slowly put my control down and stare at Jack with calculating eyes.

"Whoa, what's the deal?" 'Bee asks a bit excitedly as he knows about the race that Jack had yesterday.

"Jack, you know racing's against the rules. What if Optimus finds out?" Raf reminds. I just continue to look at Jack emotionless.

"Aww, that's a bummer." 'Bee says as he lowers his head in disappointment while Jack just sighs.

"But, Raf, Anya, he's got to get the girl." Miko says as she walks towards us. I continue have my unemotional mask on as to not betray what I feel.

I look at Raf and I see that he just raises his eyebrow in response, not budging a bit. You're a good boy, Raf. I'll treat him something later.

Now, Bulkhead walks near 'Bee to hear the discussion between all of us. "And beat the bully." Miko adds.

At that, Raf face softens as he looks at me while I just shrug looking away. That treat is starting to disappear. "Well…" Raf says unsure.

"Come on, Raf, Anya. Just this once?" Jack pleads. I refuse to look at him.

"Anya, what do you think?" Raf asks me. I look at him, still not looking at Jack.

"I think that it is a bad idea." I say monotonously as I stand up and looking forward. "However, I will not have any part of this. So, Raf it is up to you and Bumblebee if you want to help Jack." I say as I start walking away and towards the elevator.

I press the button and the doors open immediately and I get in and see the faces of everyone. "Don't let my opinion affect your decision, Raf." I state evenly as the door closes and leads me up top.

When the doors opened, I quickly ran and stand on the edge of the cliff. Taking a few breathers, I relaxed and sat down, my legs dangling in the air.

I look up and see the stars shining brightly. Silently I pray to the stars that nothing very bad happens to them.

By the time I came down, it was only Raf and Miko on the couch playing video-games. Bulkhead is nearby watching them.

As I walked towards them, Arcee is also coming by.

I have to see what they are going to say.

"Anyone seen Jack?" Arcee asks as she stops next to them.

At that Raf and Miko visible stiffen. They are horrible in acting. That's good, well for me. I would know if they are hiding something from me.

"Not since… we last saw him." Miko replies as she looks at Arcee, while Raf tries to smiles innocently which Miko mimics.

At that Arcee narrows her eyes while saying knowingly, "They're racing, aren't they?"

"Just this once." Raf says a bit an octave higher.

"Did you know about this?" Arcee accuses to Bulkhead.

At that Bulkhead tries to act calm. "No." He hesitates. "Maybe." More hesitation. "A little."

Arcee sighs at that but my attention went to the screen which shows an incoming call from Bumblebee.

"Um, guys I need some back up. Knockout is chasing my tailpipe and I can't do anything with Jack along." 'Bee says a bit hurriedly and I can faintly hear some background noise of squealing tires.

"You're being chased by Knockout?" Raf asks in disbelief.

"Yeah, can someone hurry to my coordinates? Now would be nice." 'Bee replies just as quickly.

"That sounds like a Decepticon." Miko says as she stands up with a fist raised.

"'Bee, do not engage." Arcee orders. "Your first priority is to keep Jack safe…" She starts before leaving and hear her mumble, "Until I get my hands on him." She sounds a lot like an angry mother hen.

"Bulkhead you should go with Arcee." I advised as I make my presence known.

Bulkhead nods as he follows Arcee out.

When both 'Bots are gone, I look at Raf and Miko with crossed arms. "You guys are terrible in acting." I deadpan.

"Hey! I can do better, just wait for another chance." Miko defends as she puffs her cheeks.

"Alright. I guess I will have to wait until Optimus comes back." I taunt as I sit in one of the chairs, in a relaxed position.

At that both of them looked at each other nervously.

"You jinxed us!" Miko accuses before getting quiet and looks again at Raf.

"Maybe the 'Bots will come before Optimus comes by here?" Raf asks innocently.

"Ah! Don't say it. You'll jinx us!" Miko exclaims as she covers his mouth with one hand while covering her own with another.

As the two of them are bickering with one another I move towards the controls and sit in one of the seats where I'm monitoring communications.

I tap my fingers against the table top, waiting for their incoming call.

Soon, Raf and Miko join, wordlessly waiting with me.

About fifteen minutes later, Raf couldn't take the silence any longer. "They should have called by now. You think Bumblebee's okay?" He asks worriedly.

I put my hand on his knee as I pat it a few times, trying to calm him.

"Don't worry, Raf. Bulkhead won't let anything happen to Jack or 'Bee." Miko says confidently.

I feel Raf relax a bit before getting tense again as we hear footsteps coming to our direction.

We turn around and see the one and only Optimus Prime. In the corner of my eye, I see both of them tense up.

"We should just tell Optimus the truth." Raf whispers to Miko. It has been wordlessly established that I have no part in this.

"Absolutely not! We made a deal. Just act completely normal." Miko whispers back.

"Raf, Miko, Anya." Optimus starts as he stops in front of us. "Do any of you know where the others have gone?"

"Why no, sir, we do not know." Miko says in a weird polite tone.

"Miko is correct. We do not know." Raf replies a bit robotic.

"Why would we know?" Miko asks as her voice gets an octave higher.

I really wanted to face palm at that. It is so painfully obvious that they do know.

Optimus hums as he raises an eyebrow at them, but then looks at me.

"Anya, by any chance do you know?" Optimus asks.

I am silent as I look at my two companions with accusing eyes before taking a deep inhale. Just as my mouth opens, Miko spoke quickly. "Bulk and Arcee went to get Jack and 'Bee who was at the time being chase by some 'Con and we haven't heard of them since." She says all in one breath.

"What she said." I say. "I'm actually getting worried. They should have contacted us by now." I inform.

"Anya, you shall accompany me and direct me where I should be going. Bring in your weapon, just in case it comes to that." Optimus orders.

I nod and I quickly collect Dolores in her grenade launcher form and my black shawl.

I jump down from the railing and land next to a transformed Optimus. "Stay put and behave, both of you." I say to Raf and Miko before jumping inside Optimus' cab.

Soon, when I'm seated, Optimus speeds away as the seat belt snakes around me and buckles for me.

When we are out in the desert I would tell which roads to take as I put on my shawl properly. He had inform the other 'Bots that he was on the case and looking for Knockout. No one commented or questioned that.

Minutes later, we see the red slick sports car that is Knockout.

"That's the 'Con, 'Bee was talking about." I inform him. I prepare Dolores and adjust it to the level 24.

"Hold on." I hear him say as he drives a bit faster and gets closer to Knockout. He honks twice and soon, he rams into Knockout which makes him serve uncontrollably and get struck in a ditch.

Thankfully the seat beat around me tighten when Optimus decided to ram into him.

Optimus serves to stop and unbuckles my seatbelt and opens the door for me. I quickly got out and take a few steps back as Optimus transforms into his bipedal mode and walks towards Knockout.

I follow behind him, with Dolores ready to shoot.

Optimus must have communicated with a 'Bot because Optimus says to thin air, "Understood".

The leader of the Autobots grabs Knockout's bumper and picks him up effortlessly. Then with one head he rips open the driver's door, which causes a shout of pain from Knockout, and grabs something inside. To my utter surprise, it's none other than Vince. An unconscious Vince.

Knockout then moves as he transforms to his bipedal mode and looks at Optimus angrily. "Do you know how hard that is to replace?"

I hear the sound of engines running coming near and I just point Dolores at Knockout's direction. It seems that he never pays attention what is closer to the ground.

When he sees the incoming 'Bots, he opens his mouth in surprise and runs away while transforming back and drives away at top speed.

Optimus turns away and sees Arcee and Bulkhead walking towards him, while 'Bee just drives close by and rolls down his driver's window which reveals that it is Jack.

"Optimus, this was my fault." Jack states.

"We must get this boy to safety immediately." Optimus states as he removes his battle mask. "Explanations can come later… from all of you." He orders.

At that everyone had looks of guilt.

"This is going to suck." 'Bee says in defeat.

I'm in my home, in my room, where everyone else in the household is sleeping. I'm so glad that my relatives were too tired to notice that Raf and I came back at such a late hour.

'Bee, Bulkhead, Arcee and Jack were 'scolded' by Optimus when we came to base. I don't know what is their 'punishment' was, but I decided not to butt in. It is none of my business.

However, before we went back to base. Jack asked me for a favor that surprised me.

He asked me if I could hit Vince in the head. I didn't protest, but just merely asked why. He said that is was to make Vince believe that he was jumped by some guys and knocked him out. However, he restricted me to land one punch and use only a weak punch so that it would show a bruise.

It was a bit disappointing, but at least I had one punch at Vince and made sure that it would bruise.

That made my night. I just hope that it would hurt him when he woke up. I punched the left side of his head and I saw it swell immediately.

I wonder what Vince is going to do at school this morning.

"Yeah, it was a bit ruff, but those guys had nothing against me. They all had to work together to just land one hit on me. A few strong punches and kicks, I sent those losers running." Vince brags to the group that was listening in to his tale.

I scoff and roll my eyes as I walk away with a textbook held against my chest.

Just as I open the exit doors, I see Sierra approaching Jack.

I quickly hide as I press myself against the wall, listening in to their conversation and watching them without them noticing.

"So Jack? Do you have time for that ride?" She asks sweetly.

Jack smiles a bit before it disappears. "Uh… Look, I-I'm sorry, Sierra. I-I can't right now."

"No problem. I guess I'll just see you around." Sierra says as she walks away, disappointed. Is it bad of me to feel happy about that?

Just as I'm about to approach Jack, Arcee moves to be next to a sulking Jack. "Hop on." She says.

"Whoa. Really?" Jack asks hopefully.

"Just this once." Arcee says as Jack immediately jumps on Arcee and speeds away to catch up to Sierra.

I walk away from my hiding place and look at the retreating form of Jack. I ignore the crushing of my heart as I get back inside with my head downcast.

I'm just Jack's friend. I'm happy with being just that. If he's happy about giving that ride with Sierra, then I should not be bother by it. It doesn't concern me.

Jack's POV

"Bye Jack!" Sierra waves as I drop her off at her place. I wave back before Arcee lurches forward and heads to base.

"Thanks Arcee. It means a lot to me." I say to her.

"I know." She replies and it was a silent ride to base.

The silence got me thinking. The ride along the block with Sierra felt… empty. Sure, it was nice of having her hold on to me, but it just didn't feel what I thought it would.

I thought that it would be awesome, but it wasn't. It didn't feel special. I guess, this means that my crush with Sierra is over. I have no feelings for her. It's was just an illusion.

To tell the truth, I'm indifferent about it now.

However, in the back of my mind, my thoughts go back to a certain silver haired and golden eyed girl. I have to be honest with myself. I now know have a crush on Anya, again.

But, I guess, it's going to be different this time. I will talk to her, and I won't be my shy kiddie self from years ago. Talking with her is so easy and I don't stutter like I used to do. She probably won't suspect a thing.

But, still, something is going to bother me. Am I going to risk our friendship by telling her that I like her or ask her on a date?

I just hope not.

I better start planning on how to break the ice with her, though slowly.

Deep inside, I know that waiting for Anya will be worth it, no matter how long it takes. I just hope she feels the same by the time I tell her.

AN: I would like to thank AllSpark Princess, Stumpy-Star-Wars-Rebel-girl, unicron1000, Guest, anunexpectedjourney, and Catlover4536 for reviewing! You guys are awesome. :D

I hope that I didn't sound a rushed a bit, even though I did for some parts.

Please don't forget to review! :D

PS: This goes for the rest of the story, sorry for any typos, spelling or grammar errors.