Chapter 2 - Projects
Mikaela fought back a yawn as she listened to another of Tranquility High's students fill her in on their family history. As she tried to pay attention and listen, she found herself thinking two things; first up Mr Hosney's History class was the worst class ever for last period, it just made you want to sleep, and secondly how in hell's name she could blow out of said class next week as there was no way she wished to share any of her family history with anyone. As she ran a few different scenarios through her head, Mikaela heard Mr Hosney's voice call out, "Mr Witwicky, you're up".
Snapping out of her thoughts, Mikaela watched as Sam collected all his belongings and walked slowly to the front of the class, thinking to herself, 'He looks like he's about to face a firing squad. Calm it down and you'll be fine'. As Sam walked past her, Mikaela gave him a small but encouraging smile, which he tried to return but failed miserably.
As Sam reached the front of the class, he began unpacking his rucksack and as he turned to unfold his presentation board, Mikaela was aware of Trent De Marco muttering "Watch this" in her ear. Mikaela managed to pull off an interested look at Trent's words, which was completely fake as it had been for weeks, but she was unable to shown any interest in the action of him firing an elastic band at Sam.
Wincing as the elastic band hit him, Sam rubbed at his neck as where it had hit him whilst Mr Hosney asking the class who it was that had fired it. Sam also scanned the class to try and find the culprit, and was unsurprised to see Trent smiling back at him with what he thought was an innocent look. However as his glance slid over to Mikaela, Sam found a small smile creep across his lips as he saw the disgusted look she was bestowing on Trent and his actions, before she gazed back at Sam, shrugging apologetically. As Mr Hosney finished his lecture with the word responsibility, Sam felt the 'responsibility' of making this project as success settle back on his shoulders and sharing one last look with Mikaela, bravely began his much rehearsed speech on 'Captain Archibald Witwicky'.
oOoOo
Meanwhile in a deserted warehouse on the outskirts of Tranquility, Bumblebee had spent most of the day on his own 'Witwicky' family project.
He'd arrived at the warehouse late last night and had allowed himself a quick scan of the area before transforming back to his more comfortable bi-pedal mode, as a new alt-mode always took some getting used to. He'd quickly scanned through the local information lists the earthlings kept listed on the web, thinking concernedly, 'They make it so easy for us', before locating a local family that fit the information Bumblebee already had. Once he knew he was in the right area give or take a few miles, he'd transformed back down to his Camaro shape and settled in for a quick recharge.
So it was an alert and ready to go Bumblebee that had searched through the last of the information he'd collected on the 'Witwicky' boy, who he'd now found out was called Sam, 'Gotta remember that', he thought to himself. Bee had quickly located Sam at a position called 'Tranquility High', but had up until recently still been at a loss about how he was going to introduce himself. 'Yeah hi Sam, I'm Bumblebee. Wanna hang out?'. Bumblebee had gazed down at himself at this point and shook his head, 'Not going to happen, I need to find something that's not gonna scare him to death, or at least not straightaway'.
Bee had then quickly scanned through Sam's phone records which he'd found earlier when searching, and when he heard a conversation about a new car, his blue optics had glowed excitedly, 'Guess who's gonna be that new car'. Collecting the co-ordinates for the high school, Bumblebee reverted back to his Camaro form thinking to himself that it was definitely getting easier, before heading out of the warehouse with an excited rev of his engine.
oOoOo
"Are you going to try and sell me his liver Mr Witwicky. This is not show and sell, this is eleventh grade". As Mr Hosney continued to berate Sam, Mikaela felt a twinge of concern. She knew how much Sam needed this to go well or the car dream really was over, as without that all important A, Sam's dad would refuse to keep to his half of the bargain. However that was why most of Sam's project came with a price tag, Mikaela chuckled to herself as Sam continued on by listing his accepted payment methods. Mr Hosney just glared at Sam, who lost his selling confidence a little and then finally managed to lose the whole classes attention by telling them about his great-grandfather going crazy after finding a giant ice man. Mikaela looked at Sam, before sinking her head to the table as she heard the sniggering coming from beside her, 'Way to go Sam, just add more fuel to Trent's ammunition bank why don't you'.
But both Sam and Mikaela were saved by the loud ringing of a bell that signalled the end of the day. Mr Hosney dismissed the class with a warning about a pop quiz but as Mikaela pushed her chair back from the table, she would have been very surprised if anyone had heard him. Before she left the classroom, Mikaela winked at Sam who was clearing away his stuff, whispering "You did great, see you in a minute with that A", before walking out into the hallway where she ran into Trent who was already laughing with his friends about Sam's 'crazy branch' on his family tree.
"Hey babe, you never told me your little friend was related to the crazy people, though it kind of explains a lot". Mikaela looked up at Trent and somehow managed to smile sweetly at him, "Neither did I baby. Look why don't you go on ahead and I'll catch you up, I have some girl stuff I have to do". As she saw the panicked look on Trent's face as he registered the words 'girl stuff', Mikaela had to bite back the laugh she felt bubbling in her throat as he quickly kissed her cheek and hurried off. Once Trent was out of sight, Mikaela allowed a small snort of laughter out before she peeked through the window of their classroom to see how Sam was doing, muttering to herself, "Come on, give him that A. There's a car out there somewhere that's got his name on it".
oOoOo
Little did Mikaela know but the car that not only had Sam's name on it, but already knew Sam's name, was already waiting outside for him. Bumblebee had arrived at the school just before the students had started pouring out of the school, and had parked under a few trees just back from the school entrance. As he watched all the students pouring out, Bumblebee felt a momentary flicker of panic in his spark as he worried he wouldn't be able to recognise his charge from all the hundreds of of other students. As Bumblebee thought about this, he could almost see Ironhide looking at him, one eyebrow raised and Bee could definitely hear Ironhide's words, almost as clearly as if they'd come over the comm-link, 'Stop it sparkling, you've made it this far. Optimus wouldn't have entrusted you with this mission if he didn't think you could do this'. As he inhaled a breath through his vents, Bumblebee calmed slightly as he saw a dark-haired boy race out of the school, clutching a piece of paper which he waved excitedly at the man in the car parked just ahead of where Bee had parked. As Bumblebee watched, he saw Sam turn back and wave at a dark-haired girl who was standing watching Sam with a smile on her face. As the car containing Sam and his dad pulled away from the kerb, Bumblebee continued to stay under the trees as he didn't want it to make it too obvious he was following them. After a few minutes, Bee decided he couldn't stall any longer, and fired up his engine and rolled down the road after them. However as he was concentrating on Sam, Bumblebee was unaware of the dark-haired girl he would soon come to know as Mikaela giving what she thought was just an ordinary Camaro an admiring glance.
Bumblebee sighed with relief as the car containing Sam and his dad finally pulled into a car lot called Bolivia's Auto Resale. He'd felt the panic in his spark again when the car he'd been following had pulled into the Porsche garage, fearing he'd have to quickly change alt-modes and that always hurt. However when they'd come straight back out again, Bee had relaxed as he was beginning to become quite fond of his new alt-mode, and as he quickly scanned round this car lot, he was going to fit right in. Quickly pulling into a space by a small VW beetle, Bumblebee cut the engine and tried to quiet his nerves as he saw Sam walking towards him, 'Well here goes nothing'.
"At least this ones got racing stripes". Bumblebee fought to stay still as Sam trailed his fingers along the roof, not only because it tickled but also as he saw the confusion on the car lot owners face as he tried to work out where the Camaro had come from. 'No where you'd know', thought Bee as Sam continued to look round him. Bee then felt him try the door, and climb in. Instantly Bumblebee felt a connection to the boy and knew without a doubt he'd protect him to the end of his spark if need be. As Sam brushed his hand across the steering wheel, a glint of light caught Bee's Autobot symbol. Sam's eyes were drawn to it and for the first time since he got the A that had got him to this point, he felt a smile on his face which only increased as he heard his dad ask 'Uncle' Bobby B for the price. However the smile began to fade as he heard the spiel Bobby was giving his father. 'But the paint's custom faded', Sam shouted from inside the car, but at the price Bobby had given his dad, Sam's smile faded completely as he knew $4000 was their limit. Sam tried one last time by repeating Bobby's words back at him, "But you said cars pick their drivers?'
"Yeah well sometimes they pick a driver with a cheap ass father'. As he heard his dad encouraging him to get out of the car, Sam reluctantly patted the dashboard, "Sorry buddy" before exiting the car.
Bumblebee knew he could not let Sam walk away, he had indeed picked Sam. Watching the salesman climb into the VW beside him, Bee waited until Sam closed the driver's door before flinging open the passenger door as hard as he could, knocking into the VW. As he heard Sam's muffled laughter, Bee fought his own urge to laugh especially when he saw the worried look on the salesman's face. However Bobby was not to be discouraged, and tried to steer Sam away from the Camaro. Bumblebee however had had enough, 'Okay, you asked for this'. Bee tuned his radio into a frequency that was fairly strong, before hitting the volume to as loud as he could make it. The resulting wave of sound was too much for the glass in every single windscreen on the entire lot, Bee made sure of that, so that when he finally killed the sound, his windscreen was the only one intact. As he saw the salesman glance over at his alt-mode, before calling out "$4000", Bumblebee was almost as pleased as the boy who had almost instantly climbed back into his interior to claim his car. Sam looked round at the car, before leaning towards the steering wheel, "Don't know what happened there but I'm really glad you made it through", before quickly climbing out to go and collect the keys. Bumblebee watched as Sam jogged across the car lot, 'So am I Sam, so am I'.
oOoOo
A/N: So this chapters a bit longer, and a bit more Bee based as I really wanted to have that first scene where he and Sam meet in here. Hope you all enjoy :)
Any reviews are gratefully accepted!