Woo! March Break for the win!
Please enjoy.
When the school days returned to normal and the new semester began, Jack did his best to avoid everyone. He knew it was foolish but he did sincerely hope that all of his friends would leave him alone at least until his mother calmed down.
Of course, he was friends with Miko, so that hope was shattered by lunch.
"Yo! Steady-Jackrabbit!" Miko greeted as she walked up to him.
"H-hey Miko." Jack replied meekly.
"So, how've your classes been? Mine have been pretty great but they're lacking some serious friends. Catch my drift?" Miko continued.
"Yeah, yeah." Jack spoke hurriedly.
Miko knit her eyebrows. "Hey, what's up with you?"
"Nothing." Jack replied.
"No, there's something up with you. Hey, Steadfast what is up?" Miko pressed.
"Miko-Impulse. Don't call me that." Jack shut his locker and pushed past Miko.
"What? Why not? Jack. Jack, hey!" Miko caught up to her friend and took hold of his arm, but Jack snapped it away.
"I...I can't be an Autobot. Not right now at least." Jack answered cryptically before quickly taking off. He left a dumbfounded Miko in his wake.
Jack ran off, unsure where, but he continued on turning corners and running down stairs through the large building. Of course it was just his luck that he would run into Arcee.
"Jack!" she exclaimed happily with an uncharacteristic smile. "I never did get to thank you for that save the other day. By the way, what was up with your mother's reaction?"
Jack held back his tongue. "It's nothing Arcee, I just, uh...nothing."
Jack shook his head and tried to leave but Arcee stopped.
"Woah woah. Jac-Steadfast. Are you alright? You look pretty shaken up. You're not in trouble are you?" Arcee demanded.
Jack kept his eyes low.
"Steadfast. Are you in trouble?" Arcee asked again.
Jack shook his head. "Please, I can't go by that name anymore Arcee."
Arcee frowned in confusion. "What are you talking about? What do you mean you can't go by that name anymore?"
Jack shut his eyes. "My mom."
"Your...mom? She doesn't want you going by another name?"
"She doesn't want me to be an Autobot!" Jack exclaimed suddenly. Arcee stepped back in surprise.
"She...she doesn't want me to be an Autobot. She doesn't want me to participate in the faction war." Jack spoke again.
"But, why?" Arcee wondered.
"Because she thinks it's dangerous. I mean it is dangerous but, you know. I just...want to." Jack continued.
"Okay, you joined. I'm sure you got her to understand, right?"
Jack hung his head in shame. "That's the thing. Before a lot of scrap went down, I promised her that I wouldn't join in on the faction war. Then all of that scrap did happen and I felt weirdly compelled to join. I made friends and saw some things. I wanted to help. I wanted to be a part of this whole thing."
Arcee furrowed her brows in disappointment.
"Jack...listen. The faction war is strictly a school thing. Home, family, parental wishes. That should be what comes first." Arcee said.
"Arcee, I know, I just-"
"Jack. I get it. Trust me, I really do. It took over half of my very first semester to convince my parents to let me be an Autobot. Of course, things weren't as bad back then but, the point is that if your parent says that you can't participate-then you don't fragging participate. We aren't Decepticons. We're the role models. We function differently from them." Arcee explained.
Jack sighed.
"When he created the faction Optimus made this very clear." Arcee continued. "Respecting your parents means a lot to him, like, it really hits home with him."
Jack raised an eyebrow at this.
"Really? Why?" Jack wondered.
"Oh, do you not know? Optimus lives alone. Elita's parents are legally his foster parents, but he supports himself." Arcee answered.
"What? I didn't know. What happened to his birth parents?"
"No one knows. He doesn't like talking about it. Trust me, I was one of the nosy kind of freshman. I've tried asking him. Look, lesson is listen to your parents dammit. No lyin'! You're grounded aren't you Jack."
Jack nodded.
"Exactly. She probably didn't specify for how long either. Sheesh. Seriously Jack. Learn from this. I'm gonna have to report this to Magnus. Who'll then tell Optimus. I don't know what he'll do but he won't be too happy about it I can assure you."
Jack nodded. Arcee then hit the side of his head for good measure before several students around them began running in the same direction.
"What's going on?" Jack wondered aloud.
"I dunno." Arcee replied.
"Did you hear?" someone spoke frantically.
"I heard he's back." "My friend saw him walk through the front doors." "I think he's in the head office right now." "Serious question. He's not a ghost right?"
Arcee and Jack looked at each other before going off to follow the moving sea of students. They ended up in a continuously growing crowd surround the head office.
"What the hell? Is someone handing out money or something? What's up with everyone?" Arcee demanded to no one in particular.
"Didn't you guys hear the news?" It was Ratchet who spoke. His arms were crossed and on his face was an expression of pure despair.
"No. We didn't." Arcee replied.
Ratchet turned back towards the head office, where the door opened. Out stepped a teenage boy. He wore what looked to be a black lab coat, over a purple shirt, with dark jeans and brown boots. His slightly waved black hair fell in locks over his pale face, particularly over the right side of his face that bore a thick leather eyepatch.
The mysterious boy had stepped out of the office and his striking scarlet eye seemed to scan the crowd around him.
"Shockwave is back at Cybertron Academy."
Okay, so many things goin' on here! What are you guys excited to see come?
Let me know what you think! Comment and review!