As Alice ran through the streets of Jasper to get to her somewhat out-of-the-way home, she couldn't help but think about how she simply trusted the strange portal and alien tech that she had just seen and ran through it without a second thought. Normally she would have taken time to question such things, but she was so concerned about her father and him finding out about these robots in hiding because of her being late that she had blindly gone through the portal. Little did she know that back at base, they were mentally commending her bravery for running through without a second thought. She knew that they were trustworthy instinctually due to her ability to read their distorted energies, so perhaps that was why she didn't give it a second thought.
Alice had to shake those thoughts from her head as she reached home, seeing her father's car in the driveway. She groaned a little, feeling bad for her father, and now she was going to have to come up with an excuse for where she was on top of rushing to make him something for dinner. As Alice stepped in, she saw her father on the phone, she had felt her phone buzzing for a while, but she had been so focused on running home that she hadn't thought to answer it. Alan would turn to face his daughter and a look of relief would wash over his worried face. "Thank god, where were you? Why weren't you answering your phone? Are you okay?" Alan asked, pulling his daughter into a tight hug as she approached him, putting his phone back in his pocket to stop it from ringing.
Alice had to think on her feet. "Sorry, I was out with a friend." Alice mentally scolded herself, she didn't have many friends, if any, to use as an excuse, they would have to be someone new, someone, that she recently met. Then it hit her, Jack! She could easily use him as an alibi. "You know, that guy I was telling you about yesterday. I was talking to him and just lost track of time. I was running home after realizing what time it was and didn't feel my phone ringing." Alice tried to weasel her way out of her father's grasp, though he would extend his arms out and look down at her sternly, seeming very concerned.
"Alice, you know you can tell me if you have a boyfriend, you don't have to keep calling him a friend, as long as you're being safe, I don't really care what it is you're doing. God knows that I'm not around enough to enforce strict rules anyway." Alan explained. Though Alice would pull away with a look of disgust on her face, shaking her head some as she did. The older man was a little confused but sighed some and sat at the dining room table, gesturing for his daughter to sit with him, though Alice instead walked to the kitchen to talk while she cooked for him.
Alice pulled out a few things, including the meat that she had pulled out and put in the fridge the night before, that way she could cook while they talked about this embarrassing conversation, her cheeks somewhat red as she thought about what to say next. "Dad, I'm not doing anything like that with Jack, he's only sixteen, and you know that I'm turning eighteen soon. It just doesn't feel right for one, and for two, sure, he isn't bad looking, but he's not my type. Besides, I'm taller than him. That's two reasons right there as to why I'm not interested." Alice explained. Maybe using Jack was a bad idea, but she didn't know Miko, and Miko didn't even seem to like her, and as for Raf, she didn't really get the chance to talk to him either. Jack was her only human option.
"So what were you two talking about then?" Alan asked, yawning some as he did his best to stay awake so he could eat and get to the bottom of where his daughter had been. "Surely it must've been something interesting to make you of all people lose track of time. I know not just anything does that for you. Was it your spiritual stuff?" Alan asked, unknowingly giving Alice some ideas of what to lie about next. She felt bad that she had to lie to her father, but something told her that if the general populace didn't know, and that it seemed to be such a big deal with her knowing, that she wasn't supposed to tell anyone what she knew.
"Yeah, he was curious about how I was able to see energies and stuff. So I was explaining a bunch of that to him and some of his friends before they left. Then we got talking about other things." Alice said, her father raising an eyebrow as he waited for his daughter to elaborate, seeming genuinely curious about what she had been up to in her absence. Alan knew that she didn't have many friends, so it was good to see her making some finally, though this was the only interaction he really got with his daughter each day, so he was a little disappointed that it was being cut into. Alice had to think though, what other topics could keep her occupied for a long while? She had to be careful what she said next or her father would clue in that she was lying.
"We talked about... his motorcycle." Alice said slowly. It wasn't a complete lie at least, she was managing to tell him a bit of the truth without being completely honest and open with him about her whereabouts. Her father however would furrow his brows, not liking the fact that he was a motorcycle boy, there were only a few of them in Jasper, and only one that he had seen was just sixteen. He didn't like the fact that his daughter was hanging around someone like that, as his mind went right to the stereotypes of the typical "bad boy" with a motorcycle.
Alan would straighten up some, taking on a more fatherly tone when he spoke, something he didn't do very often with Alice, as she was usually pretty good at regulating herself and her behaviour. He hated that she was so independent, but that was just how she had to be to survive without her mother. "I don't want you hanging around him too much," Alan said seriously, looking his daughter in the eye as she turned to look at him while cooking. "I lost your mother in a car accident, and I'm not going to lose you too. I don't want you hanging around reckless motorcycle boys." Alan clarified as Alice took on a look of shock, shaking her head some.
"Dad, he's not like that! He's actually rather safe about it, he always wears a helmet and he's responsible about how he drives. Besides, we're just friends! I don't plan on going and riding around on his motorcycle all the time, it scares me, you know that. Cars scare me for the gods' sake!" Alice tried to reason, she wanted to just drop the subject, but she had to admit that she was hungry too, and knew that this conversation wasn't even close to over.
The two went back and forth on the matter for a while before Alice was done cooking and decided to just go and eat in her room, leaving her father at the table alone. She couldn't keep up the lie and argue with her father at the same time, considering that they were arguing about a lie. It was better for her father to think that she was going through some kind of defiant stage in her life, safer for him based on what she heard from Optimus. they were fighting a war, and now that they knew about her, it was possible that the other faction, the Decepticons, had seen her hanging around Arcee and Jack too. It was safer for her father not to know and to keep her distance from him. She would make up a better excuse, like that she was in an after-school study group or something, and leave a note for her father the next day before heading to school.
The school day went like any other, Alice woke up after her father had left, made herself breakfast and pulled something out for her father to cook himself for dinner. She wrote out her note, letting him know about her "study group" after school, and took her shower before getting dressed and walking to school on her own. Alice's classes went by in a flash as she couldn't stop thinking about how exactly she was going to explain further to them that her being able to read energies and see them almost constantly wasn't a threat to them. As far as Alice knew, she was the only one who was capable of doing it to such a degree.
After school, Alice went outside to meet up with the others, hoping to get a ride with one of the other two kids when she saw Jack again, this time talking to the younger boy. As she approached she would wave and smile a bit, standing near Jack and the younger boy off to the side of the school's front steps. "Hey, might I be able to catch a ride with you instead? I'm not the biggest fan of motorcycles." Alice explained with an awkward smile, rubbing the back of her head. Her short white hair blowing some in the hot summer breeze as they stood there.
"Usually we all get our own rides, I don't know who's coming to pick you up though, so sure!" The young boy said with a smile, pushing up his glasses as he watched a yellow and black muscle car roll up to pick him up. "Why don't you like motorcycles?" Raf asked as they walked towards the car, the door opening up for the young boy before the car would begin beeping and whirring some. Something told her that this was how he spoke, but she didn't know how she was supposed to understand. She got the impression that it was something important, but she didn't understand.
"Bee says that you're supposed to go with Arcee and Jack. She doesn't like motorcycles though, Bee." The car seemed to whirr something back as the two got in, but Alice seemed ready to explain, as the car wasn't moving as they strapped themselves in, her seatbelt wouldn't clasp, however, as she wasn't supposed to be in there.
Alice would sigh some and lean forwards a bit, looking to the steering wheel that seemed to move and flash some as the alien beeped and whirred in communication. "I lost my mother in a car accident. I'm scared of riding motorcycles, they just don't feel very safe to me. I'm sure Arcee is a great driver, and it's nothing against her or Jack, I just feel too exposed and it scares me." Alice explained as she looked down at her knees. Though before long, the car would begin driving silently, allowing her to buckle up finally. This reason seemed to be enough for Bumblebee, and he understood.
"So his name is Bee?" Alice asked Raf quietly. "I don't think I caught your name either." Alice clarified, keeping her back against the seat as she glanced out the windows here and there to make sure that they were headed the right way, she knew that they were, but she liked knowing where they were.
"His full name is Bumblebee, and my name's Raf. I heard that your name was Alice, sorry for not introducing myself yesterday, you left in a hurry." Raf explained, smiling some as he held his backpack in his hands.
Alice would smile back at the young boy, wondering how he got caught up in this mess. "I won't have to today, I wrote my father a note saying I won't be home until later. Study group, I called it." Alice chuckled, shaking her head a bit, though she felt a pit in her stomach about lying to her father. She didn't like it, but it was safer this way, she had to keep reminding herself that.