Chapter 19: A Shocking Act

Tegan, clothed the same way as he was the day before, walked down the streets as he headed back for the school. Normally, he would dread his return there each day, but, today, he was slightly excited and didn't mind at all. He was different now. He could see, hear and speak.

Thinking back over how he had had to be careful to not use his voice around his grandmother, Tegan figured that he would be able to make up an excuse for why he now had the ability to speak after all these years with no voice. However, due to the years of remaining silent, he was still a very quiet person that would barely say a word.

Walking into the school, Tegan noticed that he was catching the attention of several of his peers as they looked over his new clothing choice and the dark sunglasses that hid his optics.

Looking at some of them, he noticed that they seemed to have mixed thoughts at how... confident he seemed now, and his strange new clothes that had rebel all over them.

Tegan smirked slightly to himself, finding it totally amusing. Some of them were looking at him with disgust, others with little care, and the last of them with wide smiles as they seemed to approve his clothing choice... Some of those were Vince and his gang.

Hatred welled up within the youth at the sight of the four, surprising him. Even when they had hurt him the most, he had never felt hatred... Fear, yes, but never hatred.

Shrugging off the feeling and thoughts that accompanied it, Tegan walked to his locker, tossing his backpack inside and pulling out his books for his first class: math.

Being as smart as he was, Tegan was up a grade from his peers, putting him into Jack and Miko's grade. He entered the class confidently, sitting down and putting his book on the desk, sitting back and crossing his arms.

Tegan sighed softly in contentment. Due to his upgrades, he was much taller than he had been before, and much heavier, which drew some attention before his peers just shrugged it off.

Feeling as if someone was staring at him, Tegan turned his head and saw a blonde boy watching him. He glared. "Looking for something, James?" He snapped sharply, surprising the other youth, who quickly shook his head. "Then look at your fragging desk!" Tegan answered, surprising himself at how short his temper seemed.

Tegan stiffened when he realized that he had used a Cybertronian curse word, and looked around to make sure that the only two other people that could identify the word didn't hear. His eyes passed over Jack, who didn't seem to have noticed, then locked with Miko's. The young Japanese girl was staring at him intensely.

Glaring at her, Tegan turned back to his desk just as the teacher walked in to begin the class. He opened the book to the page she directed, looking over the sums and equations silently and with boredom. Usually, math interested him a lot, but right now, it didn't.

Sitting back in his chair, Tegan offlined his optics. Thanks to his new self, he could process and learn the information by just listening, memorizing it in moments.

Listening to the teacher rattle on, the black-haired youth sighed softly, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms as he willed the class to be over.

The day passed fairly quickly, and Tegan was sitting in his final class of the day, History. He sighed loudly as he listened to Mr. Ironstone continue to rant on about the King's Wars and whatnot else.

Turning his head, Tegan saw Miko staring at him again as she had for most of the day. He did what he had done for most of the day... Glared back.

Miko finally looked away from him and Tegan turned his attention back to his history book, sighing in relief when the bell rang.

Tegan stood up and gathered up his books and papers, heading swiftly for the door ahead of the other students and out into the quickly filling halls. He walked to his locker and dumped his books uncerimoniously into his backpack, zipping it up.

Turning back around, Tegan almost ran headlong into Vince and his cronies. Growling softly under his breath, the black-haired youth walked past and out the door.

"Hey Crodly!" Vince shouted after him when he reached the lawn outside.

Sighing loudly, Tegan turned towards them, waiting for them to approach.

"What's with the new get up?" Vince asked, smirking as he approached. "Finally figuring out how to fit in with the cool kids?" He demanded, his three friends, Luke, Aaron and Braden, laughed with him.

Glaring at them, Tegan began to feel anger bubble up in him, but, for now, he kept his mouth shut, refusing to say a word. He clenched his hands into fists, his left one trembling slightly.

"Oh yeah. We forgot you couldn't speak." Luke grinned widely, coming over and draping an arm around his shoulders, roughly pulling him closer.

Angered now, Tegan reacted quickly, elbowing the bully in his ribs hard, causing him to gasp in pain and his hands to go to grip his side.

The other three just stared at him, angry, before Vince spoke. "Let's give it to him!"

Without even thinking, Tegan reacted, moving so that his side was facing Vince, watching him as he waited for him to attack.

Not noticing the other boy's movement, Vince swung at him.

Ducking, Tegan swung his own fist, the upgrades helping his arm to pick up speed before his fist connected with Vince's face. Just as his fist connected, his armour came out and encased his hand with the Cybertronian steel, the claws coming out with it. The moment the punch was completed, the steel vanished again, having only come to the aid of making his punch harder... He didn't quite know how to use his new body yet, and it tended to act involuntarly.

Vince reeled backwards from the blow, blood on his face as he began to fall. In a flash, Tegan grabbed his wrist, twisting his arm around and behind his back, forcing Vince to bend at the waist, crashing his knee into the older boy's stomach.

Vince grunted in pain and surprise, unable to do anything else when Tegan brought his elbow down on the orange-haired boy's neck, knocking him to the ground and barely conscious.

Tegan stared down at him, shocked. Looking at his bloody hand, his hands began to tremble as he realized how he had reacted.

Looking up, Tegan saw that his fight had drawn a crowd, and everyone was staring at him, mouths open in shock.

Recovering quickly, Tegan looked down at Vince. "I can speak!" He shouted. "I just don't waste it on people like you!" He added before he turned and ran, tears streaming down his face, repeating over and over in his mind.

What have I done?