Chapter 3 - "Little Secrets"

by Passion Pit

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Brrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!

Usually when the final bell rang, I would take my time and watch with faint amusement as the other students leapt out of their seats as if a fire had just been lit beneath them.

Yesterday had been anything but usual and today was following a similar path.

I squeezed my way through the sea of high schoolers, cutting into any gap I could find to make it out quicker. I'd just made it to the front of the wave when I spotted a familiar face framed by blonde hair.

I had nowhere to hide.

We locked gazes.

She smiled and called out to me.

Despite the panic I felt at possibly missing the two boys from yesterday, a genuine yet defeated smile formed on my lips.

"Hey... Miss Winters..."

The tide of teens flowed past us as we stood off to the side. She raised a brow at me. "Miss Winters? Gosh, you haven't called me that in at least a year. Did I do something wrong?"

My smile turned sheepish and i mumbled out a "No, Jen, sorry. Guess I was lost in thought and defaulted back."

"All good, all good. Now, where were you off to in such a hurry?"

I fumbled over my words, telling her a half-truth about meeting up with some new friends to hang out. Her kind smile never left her face, in fact it only seemed to grow and beam brighter.

"That's great! I'm glad you're putting yourself out there and making new friends."

I laughed abashedly, rubbing the inside of my wrist. "You make it seem like I have no friends, Jen."

It was her turn to look a little sheepish, eyes wide as she waved her hands "Oh my goodness, no, you know I didn't mean that-"

"No, I know you didn't-" I panicked, not wanting her to worry and think she's offended me.

"I-" she let out a laugh and put a hand on her chest. "-I'm sorry. All I meant was that you usually just stick to your friend group - which is absolutely fine of course! - but I was just excited for you." She gave a little fist pump to the air which I had to smile at.

"Thanks, Jen."

I threw a look outside, hoping that I might catch a glimpse of one of the boys. Jen noticed and let me leave, saying she looked forward to having brunch with us on Sunday. I thanked her, already half-way out the front doors, with a "same here, bye!" thrown over my shoulder. As the doors clanged shut behind me, my eyes frantically scanned over the few students still milling about. Group of 8th graders, Kelly from Bio, a couple kids unlocking bikes, a girl with black and pink hair- wait! There, standing next to the old oak tree on the corner, I saw Jack and the kid with spiky hair chatting to one another.

Looks like I wasn't the only one who thought to meet up.

I raced down the steps and slowed to a stop behind them. "Hey!"

They jumped and turned to look at me.

"Uh...hey?"

I quickly glanced around and, once I was sure no one was in hearing range, let the words rush out of my mouth: "I saw everything."

The boys exchanged a tense look.

"W-What are you talking about?" Jack questioned warily.

"The robots, the- the giant, frickin' robots in the stormwater drain yesterday." I whisper-shouted at them. Their eyes widened but I didn't give them time to say anything as I tried to explain myself. "I was on the freeway and I pulled over after those two-... evil-car-robot-things and- and I saw them fighting and then this- this yellow car turned into one-"

"Guys, look!"

At the young boy's interruption, Jack and I both looked over to see a black and yellow muscle car pulling up beside us. The exact one I had just been talking about.

It made a strange noise like a bunch of beeps smoothly melding from one note to the next before its door swung open and up. The image of that door and its double flashed into my mind: sticking out of its back imposingly.

I shook the memory away- it had helped the boys, it wasn't dangerous…

"I-It wants us to get in."

...right?

"No, just me and her." came the upbeat voice of the kid. Jack and I just looked at him in befuddlement.

"How do you know that?"

"It said so."

"What?"

But Raf ignored our questions and turned Jack towards the car park.

"Yours is over there."

Whilst Jack was distracted, Raf looked up to me and smiled before facing the not-so-ordinary car again. "How's it going?" and he hopped in. Just like that!

"Raf?" Jack questioned.

Always trust your gut, kid.

With my Dad's words running through my head, I made a split second decision and quickly clambered in as well. The door shut itself behind me and we were moving before I had even sat up properly so I hurriedly fastened my seat belt. The strange beeps suddenly filled the cabin of the car and I flicked my gaze to the young boy.

"It's nice to meet you, Bumblebee. I'm Raf!"

I'm pretty sure I looked like a deer in the headlights when he looked at me expectantly. "Uh... Carmen." I tried to shake off my nerves. "I'm- I'm Carmen, nice to meet you too, uh, Bumblebee." Another glance at the kid, "And you too, of course. I didn't get to introduce myself earlier."

Raf just smiled. "Same here." He looked around and his gaze finally settled on the radio up front. "Where are you taking us, Bumblebee?"

A different combination of beeps responded to him and I noticed that we were about to pass the outskirts of town. Leaning over, I whispered to Raf, "What did it say?"

"He said he's taking us to his base so we can meet up with his team."

"He- wait, base? He is taking us to his base?"

It made sense that they would have to be hiding out somewhere but there was this tiny voice inside my head that was making me second guess my choices. The car - Bumblebee, his name is Bumblebee - beeped at us again but somehow it sounded... soothing, like it was trying to calm me down. I took a deep breath. In... and out.

"Okay... take us to your leader then, I guess."

Raf snorted at my words and covered his mouth with his hands. I was confused for a moment before I realised what I'd said and let out a little laugh of my own, burying my face in my hands.

"Oh my god, sorry, I just, I can't believe I just said that! Ohhhhhh my god." Raf shook his head at my groaning. I cleared my throat as the nerves flared up again. "Seriously though, Bumblebee. I'm putting a lot of trust in you right now. From what I saw yesterday, you seem to be a good, uh, good guy so... yeah." I trailed off awkwardly and Bumblebee beeped at me in response. I looked at Raf.

"He says thank you, for trusting him."

I smiled bashfully.

Seems like my gut might've been right after all.

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My heart was pumping faster than usual. I'd only just gotten comfortable with the whole situation when Bumblebee drove straight towards the cliff face. He didn't stop. He ignored my frantic pleas and right when I thought we were about to crash, the rock split apart to reveal a hidden entrance. I didn't have time to be angry at him for not warning us though; as we exited the tunnel, all I felt was awe. The ceiling stretched up so high and it created a large, open cavern. Staircases and railings lined the right hand side beneath a few sets of gigantic screens and standing in front of them was another one of the robotic beings. Its orange and white metal gleamed in the fluorescent lights as it shifted to gaze down upon us. Raf climbed over to my side to get a better look up at the giant and I'm sure we both had the same starstruck look on our faces.

Bumblebee came to a halt and opened his doors, Raf and I hopping out and getting a better view of everything. I heard the sound of metal sliding and scraping behind me and I turned, catching Bumblebee and the blue robot from yesterday at the end of their transformation. Whilst I'd already seen them do it, seeing it up close was another matter entirely and it took my breath away.

"I thought there were three of them?"

I turned back around at the question, and saw not only the orange and white robot but the green one from yesterday was now there as well.

"Haven't you heard? Humans multiply." came the blue robot's sarcastic reply and I had to blink a few times at the distinctly feminine quality of it. Now that I looked at it, it did appear to be shaped differently than the others…

"I'm Raf!"

"I'm Miko! Who are you?"

It was the girl with the pink and black hair I'd seen sitting on the stairs at school! What was she doing here?

"Bulkhead."

I didn't get to dwell on that though as she went off on a spiel, asking Bulkhead a barrage of questions. It looked so confused and I felt for it... him?. Once again, I was struck by how human they seemed.

"If you guys are robots then who made you?"

Raf's question was something I hadn't even thought about but I was curious to know the answer.

"Pfft! Oh please..."

The irritated scoff from the orange and white robot was not what I was expecting though. I was still a bit overwhelmed and had trouble finding my tongue and getting the words out. There was no need though as thundering footsteps grew louder from one of the tunnels up the back. I had to tilt my head back further and further so I could see the face of the red and blue giant. It was huge! Definitely the tallest so far. And hopefully the tallest of them all…

It stopped in front of us and spoke in a powerful, baritone voice. "We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron, also known as Autobots."

The planet Cybertron... then that means…

My eyes widened.

Aliens. They were frickin' aliens.

Bueno estare.

Didn't see that coming.

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Spanish Translation:

bueno estare = well I'll be