CHAPTER TEN

A Change Of Alliances

***

Meg: I have a problem – people reviewed Revenge Of The Fallen badly. The said it had more (plot) holes then the Titanic, and the funny parts weren't funny.

The Fallen: I SHALL RIP APART THEIR MEASLY HUMAN BODIES, AND…

Optimus Prime: Didn't I kill you before?

The Fallen: BUT NOW I AM BACK, TO TAKE REVENGE!!!!

Bumblebee: You already did, once before, and they made a movie about it…now, come to think of it, that's probably why the movie got such bad reviews because YOU were in it…aurgh!

The Fallen: I SHALL KILL YOU!!!! *Chases Bumblebee out of the room*

Arcee: I'll save you!! *Tackles The Fallen*

Starscream: I am not involved with any of this.

Meg: Yes you are!!

***

The next day, after I had recovered (nobody knew we had left the dance, by the way!), everyone had a day off from school, for obvious reasons. I had slept over at the base (as far as Nenona knew, I was staying at a friend's house).

"Let's go and see a movie." Bee suggested. He was in his robot form and sitting next to me on the couch. He had stayed pretty much glued to me since last night, although he had been kicked out of the medical bay by Ratchet.

"That like a good idea," Bianca said, and smiled at out newest member. "What do you think, Andrea?"

Backdraft, of Andrea, as she liked to be called, was standing by the west wall, leaning against it. She looked up and smiled. "That sounds fun." She agreed. She had a quiet way of speaking, but I noticed that when she smiled, it was genuine. That made me even more sure of my decision, and I knew I wouldn't regret it.

"What movie should we see?" Sunny was all for it now that Andy (as I called her) was in.

"How about we see that movie again…" Zikya suddenly said, grinning.

"Yeah!" Bianca, Arcee, Elita1 and I all cheered.

*

"Wow," Bee said to me, as we came out of the movie theatre. "I can't believe Snape killed Dumbledore!"

"Oh, thanks a lot Mr. ruin the movie for us!" Said someone waiting in line to buy a ticket.

I hurried Bee out of there, and over to where everyone was waiting. Bee had told me about Sunny's reaction to Andy last night, and now I noticed he seemed even more taken by her holoform.

Andy was about 5'7", with short jet black hair that covered one of her moonlight blue eyes (like Zikya, she had amazing eyes!). She was wearing a blue top, black jeans and a black leather jacket.

I had seen her other form before – she transformed into a black Ducati 1098s, she was as cool as Arcee and Elita1.

"Ring ring ring, ring ring ring, phone call, phone call!"

Bee and I exchanged a look, blushing as we both remembered the last time my phone had rung.

"Hello? Nenona?" I said, answering the phone. "Okay, I'll come right away…Leveret?" I called.

Leveret, who had barely left my side since last night, appeared out of nowhere, and jumped onto my shoulders.

Bee looked unhappy. "Do you have to go?" He asked me, as I returned my phone to my pocket.

"Fraid' so," I replied, as we walked around behind another building, and Bia transformed. "Nenona's relatives are coming over – I've never met them before, so I have to get ready. I'll see you guys later," I said, getting into my Bia. "By Bee-Bee." I added, as Bia and I drove away.

If I'd only known what the evening was going to be like.

*

I stood in the hallway at exactly five o'clock, wearing a new blue and white dress. Leveret, who had stuck to me like glue all evening, was on my shoulder.

Nenona and Jerome answered the door.

"Hello sister." The woman at the door had short blonde hair, and a beautiful face. Her eyes were grey, and she was wearing a salmon-coloured cocktail dress.

With her was a tall dark-haired man in a suit, and two girls about my age, maybe a bit younger. They were blonde, like their mother, and wearing matching red dresses.

We eyed each other.

"Now," Nenona said, putting her hand on my other shoulder. "This is my daughter, Emma. Emma, this is my sister Coralina and her husband, Theodore. And these are their daughters, Sara and Cassandra."

"Nice to meet you." I said, in what I hoped was a friendly voice.

Sara looked at me. "How old are you?" She asked.

"Seventeen." I replied, smiling.

They didn't smile back. Neither did Coralina or her husband. So far, none of them were winning any popularity votes with me. I saw Coralina whisper something to her husband, and they both shook their heads.

"Well," Nenona said, cheerfully either ignoring what had just happened or not noticing it at all. "Emma, why don't you show Sara and Cassie your room?"

"Okay," I said, turning to lead the way upstairs. The girls followed me.

"What's your cat's name?" Sara wanted to know.

"Leveret." I replied. "Because of his big ears."

"Weird name." Cassie stated.

Leveret turned his head away from her, and I just rolled my eyes.

*

My room is my sanctuary at times, and it says a lot about me. The walls are purple, and there's a picture that I took in Bali that matches the wall exactly. My bedspread is blue, and my pillow is yellow with black stars on it. Nothing really matches. There are pictures of cats and cars all over my walls now.

"You like cars?" Sara asked, standing in the doorway.

"Yes." I replied, feeling slightly tingly inside just thinking about the kinds of cars I liked.

Cassie was examining the pictures on my walls. A lot of them are new, and are photos of me and the Autobots – in holoform, mostly, and sometimes in their car form. There's plenty of pictures of everyone. There were the new pictures I had put up today, of the ball and of Andy. There's a picture of the twins, right next to a picture of the twins getting chased by an angry Ratchet (again, all in holoforms). There's tons of pictures of Zikya and Wheeljack, and of Bia too. Jazz enjoys posing for pictures – he looks like a movie star.

But the majority of the pictures were of Bee, or of me and Bee. There's one of me and Bee with our arms around each other, pretending to gaze endearingly into each others' eyes (well, maybe not pretending…). There's one of me and Bee in our school uniforms, and I'm strangling him with the tie that he's supposed to wear. There's one of Leveret attacking Bee (there's a Ratchet version of that photo, too). There's even one that we took for a laugh – basically it's Bee in his car form, and me looking and acting like one of those girls you see in those magazines. Zikya, Bia and I just about died laughing after that one.

But, my favourite one of me and Bee is a group shot of all of us, set up with a self-timer on the camera. We'd taken it just that day, because I'd wanted to print them out in a certain way, but needed one more photo to do it with.

All fifteen of us are in the picture. Bia and Opti are standing side by side. Zikya and 'Jack are standing near to them, with their arms around each others shoulders. Sunny, 'Sides and Andy are kneeling on the floor at the front, with her in between the two of them (she hadn't protested to it, either). Ironhide and Arcee was standing behind Zikya and 'Jack, and Ratchet and Elita1 behind Opti and Bia. Jazz is in between those two groups. And Bee and I are in the middle of the photo, holding hands because that's all Leveret, who's sitting on my shoulder, will allow us to do.

Cassie examined each picture critically. I saw her eyebrows go up at the smutty one of me and Bee (I guess not everyone finds that comical). She examined it, and then said: "Whose car is that?"

"Uh…a friend…" I said, vaguely.

"Him?" Cassie guessed, pointing to Bee in the group shot.

"Yes." I nodded.

"He your boyfriend?" She wanted to know.

"Umm…" I didn't know how to answer that.

Cassie was reading the caption on the photo out loud, the caption that Bia had written in her flawless handwriting (mine's atrocious). "Ratchet (The Hatchet), Elita1, Jazz, Arcee, Ironhide, Optimus Prime (Opti), White Fire (Bianca/Bia), Bumblebee (Bee/Bee-Bee), Leveret, Emma (The Princess/Em), Zikya, Wheeljack, Sunstreaker (Sunny), Backdraft (Andrea/Andy) and Sideswipe (Sides')." She looked at me. "These are nicknames, aren't they?" She glanced back at the picture. A young man with a kind face, a beautiful blonde, a stylish twenty year old, a pretty red-head, a tanned muscular man, a handsome dark-haired man, a beautiful white-haired girl, the most adorable boy on the face of this planet, an intelligent cat, me, a cute girl with her hair dyed three different colours, a hot blonde-haired guy, two gorgeous twins, and an attractive dark-haired girl.

What was she thinking?

I bristled. "Yes." I said. What did she think they were – giant alien robots or something?

"Hmm…" Cassie examined the picture again. "He's cute…" She said, looking directly at Bee in the picture.

My heart began to pound. "He's mine." I said quietly, through gritted teeth.

Cassie glanced at me. "Excuse me?" She said, snootily.

"Hey," Sara interrupted us. "Where'd you get this stuff from?"

I glanced up, and realised that she was referring to my 'precious things'.

They are the gifts I got from my friends for my adoption day, the ones Zikya and Bia had helped everyone to get:

The blue butterfly sketchbook from Zikya and Wheeljack (yes, I like drawing).

The antique jewellery box from Bia and Opti.

The perfume from Jazz and Elita1 (I'll bet he came up with the idea, and he picked it out).

The beautiful brush and comb set from Arcee and the twins.

The butterfly earrings from Ironhide (he'd mumbled something about 'finding them by chance' when I'd exclaimed my thank yous).

The Linkin Park CD from Ratchet (I'd SCREAMED, and hugged him a gazillion times).

And, in dual pride of place in the centre, was the silver necklace Bee had found in my wardrobe, and the bracelet he had bought to match it. I'd cried when I'd opened the present, and Bee had looked all embarrassed.

Now, I watched as Sara reached out to pick up the bracelet or the necklace, and I dashed across the room, grabbing her hand and stopping her just in time.

"Please, don't," I said, gently pushing her away from the dressing table. "They were gifts from my friends – and that necklace I very old. You understand, don't you?"

They just gave me snooty looks.

*

Dinner was even worse. Nenona had made all my favourites, but even that wasn't enough to distract me from how mean Sara and Cassie were now being to me.

At last, Cassie said: "Mum, you should see Emma's room – it's so messy!"

"Cluttered," I said to the roasted potato.

"And there's this one picture of her sprawled out all over a car like a slut!" Sara added.

"Bitch," I muttered to my glass of apple juice. "And there is a difference…at least as far as Jazz is concerned…"

"And her boyfriend…" Sara went on.

"Ring ring ring, ring ring ring! Phone call, phone call!" Saved by the phone, I thought with a smile, as I dug it out of my pocket and stood up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, how's it hanging lil' bitch!?" I recognized Jazz's voice instantly.

"Hi Jazz," I said, as I walked in to the living room. "What's up?"

"What do you know, there really is a Jazz…" I heard Sara mutter.

It turned out that Jazz seemed to know that I wanted to get away from the house, so he was calling to ask if I could pick Zikya up from the base and drop her off at her home.

"Just lemme ask Nenona and Jerome," I told him, and I walked in to the dining room again. "Nenona, Jerome," I said, covering up the phone's mouthpiece with my hand. "My friend Zikya is stranded and needs a lift back to her place – Jazz can't take her home, so could I do it?"

"How rude," Coralina sniffed.

Nenona and Jerome exchanged a glance. I turned on the smile. "Please?"

"Of course." Nenona said quickly. "Just come straight home…"

"Can we go with her!?" Sara suddenly asked, standing up.

I watched, horrified, as Coralina nodded. "A fine idea, don't you agree, sister dear?"

"Well…" Nenona paused. "I don't see why not."

I hoped nobody heard me groan, as I ran to get my keys. "Jazz," I whispered. "Did you hear that?"

"Sure did," He didn't sound particularly happy. "We'll meet you at the movies where we were today, princess…"

"Can you bring Bee?" Suddenly, I just had to see him. I also wanted him to be aware of the situation at hand, and I ran upstairs to get my locket and bracelet. "Please?"

"Sure thing, bitch, catch ya soon." Same old Jazz.

*

Outside, I hurried up to Bia and said: "Do you know what's going on?"

"Yes." She replied softly, just as Cassie and Sara came outside.

They both called shotgun, and Cassie 'won'.

I put the keys in, turned the ignition on, and drove down the street.

Bia suddenly turned the radio on. "Maybe if I act like that, flipping my blonde hair back, push up my bra like that, I don't want to be a stupid girl…"

"What the hell is wrong with this thing?" Cassie asked, fiddling with the radio dials. "Can you fix this piece of shit?"

I blinked. "Umm, no…" She continued to fiddle.

All she succeeded in doing was changing the stations to this: "I'll be glad to explain it
If it's too hard to comprehend
So tell me what part of no
Don't you understand…"

"What the hell is wrong with this!?" Cassie yelled, frustrated.

"I dunno, she just does this sometimes," I said, as I turned left at the T-junction (I love that word – junction).

"I hate this bloody thing!" Cassie yelled.

"So I'll drive so fucking far away that I'll never cross your mind
And do whatever it takes in your heart to leave me behind
Hate me today
Hate me tomorrow
Hate me for all the things I didn't do for you…"

"Aurgh!" Cassie suddenly slammed her hand down hard on the dashboard.

I slammed my foot down on the brakes at the same time that Bia applied her own brakes, and we swerved, narrowly missing hitting another car.

Cassie and Sara screamed as we screeched to a stop on the wrong side of the road.

I didn't care what happened now, I was seething angry. "Get out," I told them both, and they just looked at me. "NOW!!" I shouted, and Bia made the decision for them. She opened her doors, and tipped Cassie out onto the street. Sara scrambled after her, and they both watched as Bia slammed her doors shut and we drove away quickly.

"Are you okay?" I asked Bia.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." She replied quietly.

And that was when Leveret popped up from behind the seat, and said: "Meow?"

"I know, I'll probably get in to trouble for that one," I sighed.

"Meow?"
"Oh, I know it wasn't very nice, I replied, taking my hands off the wheel and letting Bianca do the driving. Then I grinned and rubbed my hands together. "But it was extremely funny."

*

Jazz brought not only Bee, but Ratchet and Wheeljack too.

Here's what happened.

"Hey princess, where're those other two femmes you said you were bringing!?" Jazz called to me as Bia and I walked towards them.

"Bia dumped them out on the side of the road." I explained.

Jazz found that extremely funny also, and started laughing.

'Jack handed Zikya her overnight bag, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. My eyes just about bugged out of my head as I watched this, stepping in to Bee's hug at the same time. His eyes widened as well at the display of affection from Wheeljack towards Zikya.

"Nice one there with the ditching, Bia-bitch!" Jazz told Bia.

She grinned. "Thank, Jazz-Man." She replied.

And Leveret suddenly attacked Ratchet, springing up at him and digging his sharp little claws into his face.

"What the…get this slagging cat off me!" Ratchet cried. "Ow, he got my eye! Emma, help! Don't just stand there, do something!"

I couldn't help it. As I watched Ratchet attempt to free himself without hurting my cat, I started laughing, and the others soon joined in.

As the others attempted to rescue the poor medic, Bee looked at me and whispered: "Are you okay? You didn't like Nenona's family?"

"Well…let's just say that I cannot believe that they're related." I replied.

Bee hugged me close to him.

*

On the way home, after dropping Zikya off, I was fiddling around with my locket. We were cruising the backstreets, not really hurrying to get home, when I suddenly succeeded in opening my locket.

"Oh!" I cried out in surprise.

Bia swerved slightly. "What!?" She wanted to know.

"Oh, nothing, never mind…" I replied, as she continued on a now straighter course.

But, I looked down at the locket.

There were two pictures in there, both of unfamiliar people – one man and one woman. The woman had my eyes and the man looked a lot like me. Could they be my parents?

A small slip of paper suddenly fell out of the locket, and I read it in the dim street lights.

Lisa and Brendan Pendanto…

My last name is Pendanto. These two people in the pictures…must be my parents…

I squinted at the pictures again, and saw a sign in the background of the picture of the woman, and leaned in even closer.

The sign said: Albany District Hall.

I began wondering all sorts of thing then – were my parents alive? If so, then did Nenona and Jerome know about it? Should I try to find them?

I knew the answer to the last question.

***

Meg: I drew a great picture of Emma and Bee last night, but I can't scan it, and I can't find my camera so no picture! Wahhhh!!!!

Ratchet: Calm down, you're going to give yourself a panic attack…

Jazz: Aww, is 'the hatchet' worried about his cute lil' bitch now?

Bumblebee: Ah, okay, a long chapter, so please read and review… *Ducks flying wrench*

Sideswipe: OW!!!!

Ratchet: Sorry…oh, wait, no I'm not…