Hello there, Transformers Fans. I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, but I've been busy getting stuff done at college. It's a real bear, but if you study your hardest, you'll do great. Trust me. Now, with no further ado, chapter 2 of Iacon High (Dread's Version).

Chapter 2: First day (Iacon)

Jack Darby groaned as he was awakened by his alarm, slamming it down. Today was going to be his first day at Iacon High School, a high school his father, Oliver "Prime" Darby, worked at. His father was the principal, strict yet kind. He had no favorites, and treated everyone with respect and integrity, making him one of the best principals in the area. Jack got up, and after doing his daily routine, went to the kitchen to find his mother, June, dressed for work and his aunt, Rachel Carter, lounging on the couch. She had jet-black hair, blue eyes, shapely legs, and overall, a rather nice figure. She preferred to be called "R.C." though. She was a bit tomboyish, but that was fine. She was wearing her black shirt with black pants and black heels. "Morning, sleepyhead," June said. "Oliver had to leave early to prepare for the opening ceremony, and I have to get to the hospital early. Steven will drive you to school since he has to be there as well."

As if on cue, Jack's older brother by one year, Steven "Smokescreen" Darby, came down the stairs wearing his signature yellow shirt with a blue jacket and blue jeans. His jacket had Iacon High's symbol (1) on the back. His eyes and hair was the same color as Jack's except there were two red streaks in his hair, and the hair was slicked up at the front. He always made sure to gel it up before school. "Morning, Jack," Steven said. "Ready for school?"

"I guess so," Jack replied hesitantly.

"Well, I'll see you two after school," June said, kissing them both on the cheek before walking out the door.

"Behave, you two," their aunt said. "Don't forget to stay away from Kaon High and the people who go there," she added as a word of caution.

"We get it, Aunt R.C.," Steven said.

"Yeah, don't worry," Jack replied as he followed Steven out the door. "We'll be careful." He wondered what was so wrong with Kaon High, but figured that there was some reason why there were rumors of particularly … grungy and undesirable people going there. With that, Jack and Steven went to Steven's car (2).

As they got close, a voice piped up. "Out of my way!" a female voice said.

Jack turned just in time for someone to bowl into him. "Ow," the person said as she got up, and Jack saw a Japanese girl with pigtails. He looked up at her face, and then noticed she was staring at him. Their eyes met, and time seemed to stop, as if they were a cheesy teenage movie love scene. They were brought out of their staring contest by the sound of Steven clearing his throat. They turned to look at him, and he opened his mouth to speak.

"Mind getting off my little brother?" Steven asked

The girl immediately got up, and her knee hit Jack right below the belt. "Oh, I'm so sorry about that. Here, let me help you up," she said.

The girl grabbed his hand, and pulled him up so hard, he landed on top of her. His hand almost touched her chest, and after a few moments, he got up, and so did she. "Um…" Jack tried to say something, but nothing came to mind.

"Well, gotta go! Bye!" The girl ran off in a hurry, leaving Jack flabbergasted. He shook his head, and got in the passenger side. He turned to his brother, and his expression was not one he wanted to see. "Don't even start."

"You're lucky. You know where your hand-?"

"Yes, I know. Let's just go before we have to deal with Tim," Jack said, exasperated.

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "Tim Hammer is not someone you wanna tick off, even though Nathaniel somehow manages to get away with it on occasion."

So they went off, and Jack knew he didn't have to worry about Steven driving to Kaon to prank him. Steven had already made the mistake of driving there once, and his car had been keyed, but Jack wasn't thinking about that. He was hoping to see the mystery girl again soon. Jack and Steven soon pulled up to Iacon High, and Jack couldn't get the girl out of his head. He didn't even get her name. Well, maybe next time. They walked in, and after his dad gave the speech, they went to homeroom. Steven had history with their uncle Pax while Jack had science with Matt Southland. Jack was glad to have Matt. He was a really good family friend. As Jack walked in, he saw he was the second student there. It was a boy who looked no older than twelve with glasses and slicked up hair. He looked to the desk, and saw the familiar red-haired man with blue eyes wearing his red shirt and khaki shorts. The teacher looked up, and smiled at the boy. "Ah, so good to see you again, Jack," Matt said.

"Feel the same, Ratchet," Jack said.

"While your father is a good friend of mine, I believe it would be best to address me as Mr. Southland while we're at school. Wouldn't wanna make Tim mad, would we?" Matt asked in a serious voice.

"Oh, no way," Jack agreed.

"Good. Now, please take your seat," Matt said.

Jack sat down next to the young boy, who held a hand out. "Hi, I'm Raphael Esquivel, but I prefer Raf," the young boy said.

"Jack Darby," Jack said, shaking the young boy's hand.

"So, you know Mr. Southland?" Raf asked.

"Yeah, but I sometimes call him Ratchet. He's an old family friend, and I put the emphasis on old," Jack whispered the last part, but that got a grunt from Ratchet.

"I may be in my forties, but my hearing is sharp as ever," Matt said.

"Sorry," Jack said. As more students came in, Jack's mind drifted to the girl again.

Meanwhile, R.C. was thinking about heading to the gym, but she knew that she would have to deal with guys hitting on her. Just about every guy had made an advance of some kind toward her. Some of them were even single. The notable exception was Nathaniel, who simply gave her a nice greeting whenever they met. He wasn't the type to flirt, which R.C. appreciated. (Who knows? Maybe I'll see him and Cliff at the gym,) she thought. She wasn't sure who she liked more: Cliff Evans or Nathaniel Drake. Both were very trustworthy.

Nathaniel was someone she could go to and talk with without getting hit on every two seconds, and she found almost believable the rumor that you could tell him anything short of a plot to commit murder and he'd keep it a secret. Still, she just wasn't sure if he was someone she could have a future with. She'd told him a lot about her past, including the rougher patches (Inheritor's note: She'll get to that in a later chapter), but if she asked him about his past, he would fall silent and look away from her with a very troubled expression on his face, which was quite profound for him. It meant either he didn't trust her or his past was a very sensitive topic for him.

Cliff, on the other hand, was very open about his past. Everyone and their grandmother knew that he'd tried to skip school once, but went to class when he realized playing hooky was even more boring than sitting in a classroom hearing a teacher talking on and on about the significance and strength of hydrogen bonds between a water molecule and a sodium ion, etc.

"Oh, well," R.C. muttered. She grabbed her gym bag and walked to the gym. As she expected, she attracted the attention of lots of guys, but she wouldn't call it cat-calling. The men who usually commented on her looks didn't use indecent language, overall, but she could do with less of it. After a brisk 5-minute walk, she arrived at the gym. She paid the money for the renewal of her annual gym membership, and went into the women's locker room to change. After a few minutes, she walked out wearing a blue sleeveless shirt that showed off her midriff, and blue gym shorts.

The men in the gym were less likely to hit on her than the guys on the street, probably because most of them were trying to get fit so they could impress their girlfriends or wives, and many of the guys were exercising alongside their wives or girlfriends, and Jasper had been voted "Most Faithful City" in the state a few months back. She looked over next to the weightlifting equipment. The new sparring ring was finally complete, and from the looks of it, it was already in use. "Get 'em!" Someone yelled.

"Show no mercy, Jake!" Someone else yelled.

"Nathan all the way!"

Rachel got on a weightlifting bench so she could see above the crowd. She saw some very muscular macho guy wearing full sparring gear fighting against a lithe, nimble Nathaniel Drake. "Hold still!" The macho guy said, swinging wildly in an attempt to hit the Army veteran. Nathan said nothing, dodging attacks with ease. If the macho guy swung any faster, it would look like a Dragonball fight where one guy's dodging and the other's throwing all the punches. After a few minutes, the other man's strikes began to get slower, and Rachel knew why. He'd expended most of his energy trying to hit the moving Nathan.

Ignoring the shouts around him, Nathan started hitting his opponent, every punch coming out with a sharp snap that did not so much resemble punches as they did the fast strikes of a cornered snake. His strikes were focused primarily on the chest, although a couple strikes found their way to the opponent's face. After only a few minutes of taking sharp punches, the muscular man fell on his back. "I'm done," he said.

"It is as I told you. Strength is not everything," Nathan said. He helped his opponent to his feet, and ducked out of the ring. He pulled off his sparring gear, revealing his short hair and well-muscled frame. He wasn't body-builder muscular, but he was certainly muscular. His hair was very short. He had a decent six-pack, developed biceps and triceps, and thin but well-muscled legs.

Rachel could see just about every woman in the gym admiring Nathan's muscles, and she felt a bit possessive, although she didn't know why. She realized that Nathan was walking toward the bench she was standing on, and she quickly got off the bench. "Do you need a spotter?" She asked Nathan as he went to get some weights.

"Yes. I could use a spotter, thank you," Nathan replied in his normal flat tone.

Rachel moved to the side, allowing Nathan to put the weights on the pole. He laid down on the table, grabbed onto the pole, and pushed it off its rest. With a soft grunt of effort, Nathan began bench-pressing the weights. He did thirty reps before putting the pole back on the rests. Rachel took a look at the weights used. She was surprised. The total of the weights was 150 pounds. "Wow," she said out loud. She looked at Nathan. "So, how was your weekend?" She asked.

Nathan shrugged. "I was waiting to start my job at Iacon High," he replied. "I went in today, but they said they did not need me until tomorrow, so I came here to get some extra training done."

"I can see that," Rachel said. "You did well against that guy."

Nathan nodded. "Thank you," he replied. "Guys like him are all about the power of the individual strikes. They are not so good at endurance, and endurance is what helped me out a lot in the Army." Rachel nodded. The town had a few veterans, and Nathaniel was respected by most, if not all, of them because his word was considered better than gold. If he made a promise, you could bet just about anything that he would keep it in a timely manner.

Being a veteran also made Nathaniel very popular with the women of the town. Just about every time Rachel saw him, there were a couple of women around him wearing clothing that showed off a lot of skin, which made Nathaniel visibly uncomfortable. That's why he hung out so much at the gym when he wasn't at work. The women there weren't so interested in flirting as they were in getting or keeping fit, which wasn't hard, considering the area was also known for its physical fitness. Rachel exercised at the gym for a few hours before leaving. She walked home, glad that she'd been able to have a conversation with Nathaniel.

Nathaniel went to his house, allowing himself to breathe a sigh of relief when he closed and locked the door. He didn't like being flirted with. It made him very uncomfortable. He took a moment to look around the living room. It was very bare, having nothing but a couch, a couple chairs, and a TV screen off to the side.

His entire house had the same theme: barren except for the absolute essentials. Even the outside was rather plain, being a plain, uninteresting white. It was a reflection of his nature, and what he'd learned from the Army. He had only what he needed, and he didn't want to bring attention to himself. The war had taught him to keep hidden and not bring attention to himself. He wasn't one of the brash, loud machine gunners in Jeeps. He had been an assassin, and a very effective one, too. There was a rumor going around in the veterans' circles that every inch of Nathaniel's house had a weapon of some kind. No one asked Nathaniel, and he told no one, another trait of his that the Army had strengthened. Sitting down, Nathaniel picked up a book and began reading.

1) The symbol is the same as the Autobot symbol insignia in the G1 show. Can't forget your roots.

2) It's the same as Smokescreen's vehicle mode after the fifth episode of Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters.

I noticed that Hamm-Ram didn't talk too much about Rachel's side of the story too much, so I thought I would personalize the story by giving Rachel more of an active depiction, if that makes any sense. Don't worry, good readers. The next chapter will be out soon.

Also, there will be no lemons in this rendition. If you don't like that, I apologize in advance.