Disclaimer: IOWNNOTHING

AN: Axel is modeled after my cousin (when he was fifteen) and I used the same name for him I used for one of the twins in "Koji's Son" because I don't think an Autobot would be named KJ. Also before anybody says anything yes I know Axel is spelled Axle but I like this other spelling better. It's actually the name of an ice skating move.

Chapter 4

"So what's on the agenda this morning?" Koji asked conversationally.

"I have to take you to school, go to the base, face the firing squad and then have my remains shipped back to Cybertron," Axel said nonchalantly. "And you?"

"I have to go through the agonizing experience that humans name school. I think you got the better deal," Koji said.

"It can't be that bad. It's just a bunch of other kids," Axel said.

"Do you remember what I was like in class? Now multiply that by a couple thousand," Koji told his friend.

Axel thought about it for a moment and then smiled. "At least they can jettison our remains together."

Koji anime sweat-dropped. "Thanks for the vote of confidence," he said sarcastically.

For first period Koji found himself in a small room with nine other students. Apparently this class wasn't very popular. He looked at his schedule. AP Quantum Physics. 'Thank you Optimus. I so wanted to take this.' He thought.

Koji got a little nervous when the teacher started taking roll. It had been four years but he knew the media had a field day with his story. It wasn't everyday that the son of a famous scientist was taken in by the leader of a race of giant robots who were sworn enemies of the people who killed his father. There had been a lot of speculation as to why Optimus hadn't been prosecuted for kidnapping. The most accurate theory had been that Optimus had taken Koji to protect him, as there had been a danger of Koji ending up like his father. The least accurate, and most amusing, was that Koji was really an alien test tube baby created on Cybertron by Optimus and that Optimus had just been taking him back.

Either way Koji didn't want any extra attention because of what had happened years ago. Of course humans never forget. The entire room went quiet when his name was read. They looked around trying to figure out who exactly went with the name Onishi.

"Mr. Onishi?" the teacher asked again.

"Present," Koji said somewhat reluctantly.

The class remained silent but the only difference was that every eye was focused on him. He felt a slight blush but managed to fight it back down. He sat up straight and stared straight ahead.

The teacher continued with role so everyone eventually stopped staring at him and focused on the teacher. They all seemed to have forgotten him by the time they started discussing one of the new theories.

Gym, unfortunately, didn't go as well as physics. After seeing that Koji went into a stall to change the guys assumed he was a wimp and decided to pick on him a little. Koji let it slide since it was his first day. Plus he would be in enough trouble with Optimus when he got the bill from last nights outing and figured out where else Koji had gone. There would be time for payback later when he couldn't get in trouble.

When the gym coach announced the day's activity he knew he'd found his payback.

"Ok we're to practice some basic self defense techniques. Who wants to partner with the knew kid?"

One of the boys from the locker room stepped up, grinning annoyingly. Koji recognized as the guy he'd yelled at for walking into his stall before his shirt was completely on. He was still very self-conscious about his back even though he was pretty much over Hao Saka's abuse.

"Ok kid, you do know how to fight, right?" Coach asked. Koji nodded and tried to ignore the cackles coming from some of the boys.

"Begin." Apparently they didn't believe in wasting time because the other boy launched himself at Koji before Coach had finished speaking. He actually almost hit Koji but Koji had years of practice dodging. He managed to avoid everything that was thrown at him by his opponent but unfortunately he didn't expect one of the boys in the crowd to stick his foot out behind him to trip him. The boy he was fighting had obviously told the others about not liking anyone to see his back because as he was falling one of the boys grabbed the bottom of his shirt. His whole back was exposed to the class. Silence, something Koji seemed to inspire everywhere he went, reigned.

Then someone decided to speak. "What the hell happened to you man?" Koji, as usual, didn't answer. He got up, walked straight up to his opponent, pulled his arm back, and punched the other boy solidly on the nose. He heard a satisfying crunch as his fist land. As the boy fell, Koji turned and walked calmly back to the locker room.

After an interesting incident in the principal's office that involved the football coach (the guy who's nose he broke was the star player, go figure), the boy's parents, the principal, and Optimus and Elita (over the phone since they couldn't fit in the building) it was decided that he would play on the football team until the boy's nose healed. How a broken nose could stop someone from playing football was beyond Koji. Last time he checked you didn't need it to run or throw.

The boy's parents had wanted Koji expelled for savagely attacking their poor little Robbie, but Elita had shut them up by threatening to sue for the emotional trauma of his back being shown since it reminded him of his abusive past. After this little piece of information was revealed Robbie's mom ended up bear hugging Koji saying poor baby over and over.

Luckily he managed to get sent back to class shortly after that.

He was just in time for lunch. After getting his lunch he had to face the hardest part of the first day of high school, finding a lunch table. All the tables seemed full and Koji didn't recognize anyone from before he left. So he stood in the middle of the room looking like an idiot until he decided to look for someplace that was unoccupied to sit, preferably away from the football players who looked like they wanted to rip him apart.

"Koji!" He turned around to see a boy his age with brown hair and grayish black eyes smiling at him. It took a minute to realize who the was.

"Karl?"

"Yeah man. How's it going?"

"Alright I guess." At least he had a table to sit at now.

Lunch had gone better than he expected. He and Karl both still loved skateboarding and were going to the skate park on the upcoming weekend. He just had to convince Optimus or Axel to let him go.

His next class was Global Politics. He vaguely wondered if Optimus was trying to give him a hint. Then he saw who taught it. No way. It couldn't be. There was no way anybody would let him teach. Would they?

"Good morning class," the teacher said walking in.

"Good morning Mr. Saka."