A month passed since Beatrice's first day of High School. Aside from a few isolated incidents with school projects and a few unpleasant school mates, the experience was a pleasurable one for Beatrice. One morning before school started, Beatrice was smiling to her friends Jenny and Daniel. "Well you seem to be in a good mood this morning, don't you lass?" Jessie said noticing the enormous smile on Beatrice's face... and the blemish's on it.
"I got my first pimples! I got my first facial blemish's!" Beatrice said excitedly.
"Bea, you're probably the first teenager who was ever excited about getting zits," Daniel said sardonically. "I'm not even really that! But this... there painful, but it's another step closer to being completely Human!" Beatrice said as she and her friends entered the school.
"Is that even really possible?" Daniel asked.
"Well, Dad says that it might be possible. But... well with his work he doesn't really have the time to invent anything that could turn me into a flesh and blood human. Most he can work on in a reasonable amount of time is upgrades that let me experience things like puberty and taste." Beatrice explained as she and her friends entered the class.
"All right class, before we begin the day. We've got a new student today, now... Terry was it?" The teacher asked.
"It's actually Mathew," Mathew said meekly.
"My mistake, class Mathew, Mathew class. Now that we got basic introductions over with, there's an empty chair right about... there." The teacher said, and Mathew went down to sit... right where Beatrice, Daniel, and Jenny were sitting.
"Hi, I'm Beatrice," Beatrice said as she offered a friendly handshake to Mathew.
"I... I think you already heard my name." Mathew said shyly.
"Well my friends and I make a point of befriending new people," Beatrice said.
"Beatrice, I thought we talked about this. No talking when I'm teaching." The teacher said in annoyance.
"Sorry Miss Barclay," Beatrice said, and then Beatrice scrawled something down on a tiny sheet of paper.
"That includes notes, to be passed along through the class." Miss Barclay said, writing at the whiteboard and not even glancing back.
"Bea, Miss Barclay has the ears of a hare." A flashcard said that Jessie showed to Beatrice. At the end of class, Beatrice caught up with Mathew.
"Excuse me, Mathew I'm Beatrice Flynn and my friends and want to hang out with you for lunch?" Beatrice asked, Mathew looked bewildered and kind of scared.
"I... I don't know... I've had bad experiences with people at my last high school and-"
"Don't worry about it. My friends and I are a good bunch, though Daniel does tend to be cranky, and Jessie can be a bit in your face at times. But if you need help with homework, or someone to have lunch with, please don't hesitate to ask... or just me." Beatrice said.
"I'm... I'm not sure, I'm just going to be by myself for a while... I like my me time if you don't mind." Mathew said as he walked off.
"Darn it..." Beatrice said dejectedly. Several hours later, Beatrice heard something. She followed a noise and found Jennifer Amberwall, and her cronies holding Mathew in a closet.
"New kid... you embarrassed me in Art Class, and ruined my favorite coat, and sunglasses," Jenny said, covered in assorted paints.
"IT WAS AN ACCID-" Mathew pleaded, but his mouth was covered by one of Jennifer's minions.
"Now... I'm going to leave a lasting impression on you for-"
"Jennifer, what is going on here?!" Beatrice asked, seeing what was happening.
"This... twerp spilled paint on me during Art Class. Now stay out of this Robo-dork." Jennifer said.
"So you don't remember the incident with the Baklava Boar last week?" Beatrice said threateningly.
"Oh I do, now hold still twerp, I've got a wet willy to deliver," Jennifer said as she put her right index finger into her mouth, and pulled it our covered in saliva. Beatrice grabbed her right arm.
"Listen to me you little meat bag! I don't care if Mathew spilled paint on you on purpose or not! This is unacceptable and you should feel ashamed of yourself!" Beatrice ranted as she forced Jennifer to look her in the face.
"My... let go of my arm! PLEASE!" Jennifer said as she looked scared.
"No! I'm giving you my two-cents here! Jessie and Daniel told me about all the stuff you got away with because of your father's money and-"
Beatrice's line of ranting was cut off as Jennifer's right arm started to spark and fell off from the strain of Beatrice's grip. It was a cybernetic prosthetic. "MY ARM!" Jennifer screamed as she fell out of the closet. There was a crowd of people who saw everything, as Jennifer started screaming for people to look away from her as she stumbled away in pain.
"What the-? Mathew! Are you okay?" Beatrice said to the traumatized Mathew.
"You... you saved my life," Mathew said as he inhaled from shock.
"Well I wouldn't go that far, I mean as far as I know wet willies aren't lethal... I'll take the gratitude." Beatrice said, and unexpectedly Mathew gave her a tight hug. "And I thought Jessie had a tight hug," Beatrice said sheepishly.
It wasn't long before school was over and the four of them met up outside. "So... you want to exchange phone numbers?" Beatrice asked.
"Well... yes!" Mathew said as the two did just that. However, there was something fairly unusual, a pair of black boots beneath a bush entering a limo.
"Think that was Jennifer?" Daniel asked.
"One way to find out... don't look, it's kind of gross." Beatrice said as she removed one of her eyes, and threw it towards the limo.
"Is that strictly necessary?" Mathew asked.
"Probably not, but I'm curious," Beatrice said, she then saw Jennifer remove the bush, and speak severely of Beatrice. Then the limo driver asked why she sought to harm Mathew over a paint spill if it was an accident. Then Jennifer removed the remains of her destroyed cybernetic arm and starred at her stump.
"Oh... I feel so sorry for her." Beatrice said regretfully.
"To be fair you did destroy her arm... though to be unfair she did try to give me a wet willy over an honest mistake," Mathew said.
"I'm going to find a way to make this up to her," Beatrice said determinedly. The next day Beatrice found Jennifer.
"Oh... come to break my other arm?" Jennifer said bitterly.
"No, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for hurting your feelings, and I want to offer you one of my spare arms," Beatrice said as she pulled out a nonfunctioning arm.
"You keep spare parts?" Jennifer asked in confusion.
"It's a long and personal story why. But I want you to have this to replace the arm I destroyed... especially since it looks like you haven't gotten a replacement of your own." Beatrice said, noting that Jennifer's right arm was still missing.
"And why would you give me one of your arms after all the mocking I've put you through? You think I'm just going to be your friend and not act out my frustration about being born with only one arm on everyone else I deem a freak in some capacity?" Jennifer blurted out.
"...just the first thing, I didn't even think that you were insecure about being born with one arm," Beatrice said honestly, Jennifer looked surprised.
"So... how does this arm work?" Jennifer asked as she took the spare arm and tried to jab it into her right stump.
"Leave that to me," Beatrice said as she donned the specialized goggles that let her manipulate her nanobots.
"Now bite down on something... this may hurt a little," Beatrice said as she manipulated the arm to grow cybernetic tendrils into Jennifer's stump, and in turn merging with her nervous system.
"That... was the most... painful experience I've ever had," Jennifer said.
"Well, I said that it would hurt," Beatrice said, readying herself for Jennifer to say or otherwise do something to make her regret her kindness.
"This... this is awesome! It's almost like an issue of the Silver Automaton! I always wanted an arm like this!" Jennifer said with childlike glee.
"So... you're a fan of Silver Automaton?" Beatrice asked, referring to her secret superhero identity.
"Since I was like five! Granted I never liked his standoffish personality however, I just know that deep down he's a pretty nice guy." Jennifer said.
"Then why would you have regarded me as a simple commercial robot when we first met?" Beatrice asked.
"Well the Silver Automaton is a superhero, and you're not... though in hindsight I doubt he'd approve of treating robots poorly just for its own sake," Jennifer said in realization.
"So… friends?" Beatrice asked, Jennifer, looked puzzled for a moment, then hugged Beatrice.
"Sure, why not?" Jennifer said.
"Good... now about your lackeys-"
"Their names are Tracy and Georgia, and I'm more than certain they don't mind... you two don't mind do you?" Jennifer asked.
"Nope, what you say goes," Tracy said.
"Well with any luck, Daniel and Jessie won't mind me... and Mathew will forgive me, or at least not hold a grudge," Jennifer said, and soon enough Daniel and Jessie did welcome her into their group... Mathew took time to forgive being assaulted. Though the experience was slightly soiled when Beatrice remembered the bet she made with her mother Isabella... though she was more dreading playing with her sister. Then being a more friendly and personable superhero.
