CHAPTER TWO- MEETINGS

I woke up hearing voices.

No, not 'crazy inside your head' voices, but people voices. There were two I'd didn't recognize, and Sam's.

Wait. Why was Sam here? Oh, yah… He had driven me to the Lennox house…then my arm started bleeding…then his car-

Holy car, er, cow.

Had all that really happened? Jeez. Where was I? It was freezing! Or maybe that was a side effect of almost bleeding to death. Who knows?

The voices started talking again.

"Hey, Ratchet? She gonna be ok?" That name. Sam had spoken of somebody with that name earlier. The voice sounded so gruff, almost robotic.

"My scans show significant blood loss, along with high levels of stress and fatigue. Her medical records are sketchy. It is quite possible that the wound could become infected. I need to finish the medical interrogation when she awakes. Bumblebee, don't touch that!" This voice was even more gruff and metallic than the other one.

A loud crash could be heard. I flinched. Wait. Wasn't Bumblebee the name of Sam's car? Ok. It was official. Either I was completely insane, or… that's was it. I had to be completely insane.

Alright. Let's think about this. I was lying down after having passed out. I was probably suffering from loss of blood, but I didn't think it was bad enough that I'd be hallucinating… and hearing robot voices.

So that was it. Sam was friends with giant robots…as if summer wasn't exciting enough already. I sighed, snuggling into the covers some more.

Robots could wait. To tell you the truth, I didn't want to open my eyes. That would make my insanity official.

"Oh my gosh!" That was definitely Sam's voice. "Did you see that? She moved!"

Something blocked the light that had been hitting my eyelids. I could feel somebody shaking me.

"Hang in there, Cher! Don't die!"

My eyes flew open. "Jeez, Sam. Shut up! You're giving me a head ache! I passed out, I'm not dying!"

Sam looked embarrassed. "Sorry… I was just worried."

I rolled my eyes and sat up. "Crap. Hey, do you know if the Lennox house has any food?"

I looked around, letting my eyes take in my surroundings. I was in the living room, facing a humongous open window wall. There were two giant robots standing outside. The couch was comfortable, but my head was feeling dizzy from when Sam had been shaking me.

Wait. Two giant robots? I looked back at them. One was shorter than the other. Both were yellow and had vibrant blue eye looking things. They looked tense.

I looked at Sam, but he was just staring at me. "Well? Are you going to get me something to eat, or do you want me to get up?"

Sam was still staring. "Um… Cher? I hate to mention it if you haven't noticed, but do you know there's two giant robots standing outside the window."

I yawned and stretched my arms a bit, wincing at the pain in my arm. "Yes. I did notice, thank you very much. I told you. Just cuz I passed out doesn't mean I'm blind. I swear; if I missed that, then I'd allow you to cart me off to the hospital."

"And you're not, uh, freaked out?"

"Should I be?"

Sam shifted from foot to foot. "Well, yes, I mean no! Uh…"

I rolled my eyes. "You really have a way with words, Sam."

I looked over to the window. The shorter one looked amused.

"Hey. My name is Bumblebee. We kind of met earlier, but…"

I nodded. "Nice to meetcha."

The other one looked hesitant. "My name is Ratchet. Medical officer."

"Ok…now can I get something to eat?" I started to get up but Sam stopped me.

"No! you can't get up! Ratchet says you need rest."

I raised an eyebrow. "Does Ratchet always speak through vertically challenge adolescent boys?"

Sam blushed. It was a cheap shot, but I couldn't help it that I was taller than him.

"No, but-"

"Sam, just be quiet. I'm hungry. I haven't eaten since yesterday at lunch. Gosh. How long was I out?"

"It's about 7. Why didn't you eat anything?"

"Well, I didn't exactly leave under the best of circumstances."

Sam looked awkward. "Oh. Well, you still can't get up."

My eyes narrowed. "Don't you tell me what I can't do."

I got up, despite protests from Sam. Ratchet was adamant as well. "I must insist that you not get up. It would be very bad for your injury."

"um, not to be rude or anything, but no. I'm hungry and if memory serves correctly, Sam isn't exactly capable of fixing a decent breakfast."

"That is irrelevant. It is impertinent that you rest."

I got up anyways. Just because some robot told me to sit down while Sam made an inedible meal that I would have to choke down didn't mean I was gonna listen.

"Sam, you want something? I think there's enough here for French toast."

Sam nodded "Yah, sure-"

He was cut off with a glare from Ratchet. "I mean, uh… no. You should rest."

I looked at Ratchet. "A little pushy, aren't we?"

As I walked into the kitchen I heard Bumblebee talking to Sam.

"Sam, are all human females this… stubborn?"

Sam laughed "Yep… ow!" He rubbed his head where a cup had hit it. "What was that for?"

I peaked my head out of the kitchen. "Why, I have no idea what you're talking about!"

In a few minutes, I had enough breakfast for me and Sam. "Hey, Sam. Here you go."

I gave him a plate filled with French toast. "Sweet! I mean, you shouldn't have."

I rolled my eyes. "Just shut up before the French toast attacks you as well."

Sam quickly finished off his French Toast. I was done before him. I cleaned up before going back to the living room. The two robots were still there. Sam followed me and sat in the chair while I sat in the couch.

"Ok… I think somebody's gonna need to give me some answers…"

Ratchet and Bumblebee nodded. "Oh, yeah. Um… maybe Optimus would be able to explain this better, eh, Ratchet."

Ratchet looked annoyed. I wondered how far Bumblebee would have to push him before he snapped.

I chuckled silently to myself. It was gonna be a crazy summer.

BUMBLEBEE'S POV

I was sitting there with Ratchet. He was pretty mad that that girl hadn't listened to him. Even Optimus knew to listen to Ratchet when it had to do with medical stuff. I tried thinkin of someway to distract him. I remembered something that girl had said earlier.

"Hey, Ratchet?"

"Yes?"

"I was wondering. The girl said something earlier. What does it mean when two people 'split'?"

Ratchet looked at him. "In the medical sense, or…"

"I'm not sure. She just said her parents decided to 'split'."

"Here on earth, couples separate. Permanently."

"Like, even though they're married?"

"Yes."

"So… it doesn't have anything to do with their sparklings?"

Ratchet shook his head. "No, of course not. Why would you think that?"

I was confused. "But, the girl said that her mother blamed her… could she have done something?"

Ratchet seemed to think about it for a while. "No. She doesn't seem to be someone that would be capable of that evil."

Woah. Usually Ratchet was super suspicious of everyone…what was up with him?

"Why do you think that? You just met her."

He shrugged. "I don't know. I just do."

We sat there in silence for a while. Then ratchet spoke. "It irks me that she didn't listen. Is she so thick headed that she would rather die than rest?"

I chuckled. Ratchet glared at me. I quickly shut up. I of all people knew how… temperamental Ratchet could get about a patient. I shuddered as I remembered when he'd had to reattach my legs after that battle with Megatron. He's definitely not the best guy to hang out with during free time.

"I'm pretty sure she wouldn't go that far, Ratchet."

Ratchet glared at me again. Finally, they got done with their breakfast and came back to the living room.

The girl spoke first. "Ok… I think somebody's gonna need to give me some answers…"

RATCHET'S POV

I nodded. Bumblebee spoke up. "Oh, yeah. Um… maybe Optimus would be able to explain this better, eh, Ratchet."

I glared at me and the girl looked amused. I stood. "Fine. But, in turn you must rest and answer my questions regarding your medical history."

She shrugged. "Kay, fine. Shoot."

I hesitated. What did she mean? Bumblebee leaned over to me. "She means to ask your questions."

I nodded. I felt foolish. I quickly changed topic "Ok. Why is there a large portion of your medical record missing?"

She looked up. For the first time I saw her optics, er, eyes. They were brown, unlike her hair, which was a pale blonde color. Her face looked startled.

"It is? I didn't know. You'd have to ask my parents. Oh… I think I remember them saying something about a fire… this was before everything was computerized. Part of my record got burned up."

I frowned. That was definitely a drawback. How was I to have a proper medical examination when part of the data was missing? "So, you don't know what was on that portion of your medical record?"

"It might have something to do when I got hospitalized when I was in first grade… you remember that Sam?"

Sam nodded. "Yah, and we snuck you in ice cream because that hospital food sucked."

I looked at him. Why would he have jeopardized his friend? "You should have never done that. Ice Cream is not healthy and could have seriously hurt her healing process."

After Sam looked sufficiently scared, I turned my attention back to the girl. "Why were you hospitalized?"

She looked down. "Well…it probably was when I got hurt falling off the swing set…"

Sam scowled. "You didn't fall. You were pushed. Did you ever remember who did it?"

The girl hesitated. I could sense her stress. "N-no. I don't." I could tell she was lying, but I didn't say anything. I'd learned that sometimes humans lie for many reasons, whether to hurt or protect someone. I didn't sense any evil within her, so I supposed it was the latter.

She shook her head. "Anyways, it wasn't a big deal. Just a couple of bruises…"

Sam jumped up. "Are you serious? You broke your back and almost had a concussion! How's that not a big deal? If I ever find out who pushed you, I swear I'll kill them."

The girl's head ducked down. She mumbled something so quietly I was sure Sam couldn't hear it, but Bumblebee and I could.

"Not if you knew…" Me and Bumblebee looked at each other. It was obvious she didn't want Sam to know about this… but we would definitely find out.

I looked at her. She looked sad. I didn't understand how somebody so small could be so stubborn.

"Do you know if you are up to date on all vaccinations?"

Her little head bobbed up and down. "Yes…"

"Even tetanus?"

"Yes."

I felt relieved. That meant she couldn't get too bad, but there was still a great chance that it could get infected.

"I'll need to stitch it up, along with disinfecting it. There is still the chance that it could become infected."

She looked at her bandaged arm. Sam had done a poor job, but it was sufficient. I would need my holo program to do anything of further help.

"If you say so, but are you gonna answer my questions?" I heard a rustling noise below. Me and Bumblebee looked down to see another human girl. She was knocking on the back door.

The injured girl saw her and ran over. "Hey!" She opened the door.

"What are you doing here?"

The girl outside shifted a bundle in her arms. "I came home early. I decided to check up on you. I didn't know you had company. Hey, the next time you have giant alien robots over, call me."

I looked at the girl. Who the slag was this?