I don't own Transformers or the Riordanverse; they belong to their owners.

Chapter 11: The Dreaded Parents Night.

Hey, remember how much fun it was to research all those Greek myths for King of Sparta?

Part of me was starting to resent it retroactively.

When the poster for the movie was released, me, Dad, and Thundercracker had a good laugh at first. It was an utterly dumb fanservice poster with my dad in the stupidest outfit ever.

And then King of Sparta made a bajillion dollars at the box office.

Now I couldn't get away from that movie. Everywhere I went, people were talking about that film—how amazing the lead character was, how good the action was, the cinematography, and the accuracy to Greek mythology! Tristan McLean was bigger than ever.

And it also meant he was busier than ever, leaving his poor daughter, Piper, in the cold.

Going to school had become an exercise in torture. By now everyone at Palm Valley School for Fine Arts had found out who my dad was, so during the height of the King of Sparta hype, the kids either teased me, asked if I was a princess, or wanted to get to know me so they could meet my dad, which in some ways was even worse than if they had just made fun of me and been done with it.

At least the ones who tried to make fun of me were honest about what they thought of me.

And things were only going to get worse.

March was shaping up to be one of the worst months ever. My school's parent's night was coming up soon. The time when parents come to the school to talk to the teachers about their child's progress.

Dad, as usual, was going to be too busy to come to the night, which meant I was going to be stuck with Jane, who, as a reminder, hated my guts.

Again.

One day, some girls at school thought it was funny to steal my clothes while I was in the school shower and put an outfit based on one of the female King of Sparta characters in my gym locker. I had to walk out of the locker room in a classic Greek tunic in front of half the class, who, of course, thought my situation was hilarious.

It was one of the most humiliating experiences in my life and when I got home, I just... felt all of it: Dad being gone, the stress of school, and the fact that I was about to be put through another terrible Parents Night.

I held it in until I got to one of the trees in the backyard. I sat underneath it and burst into tears.

I was vaguely aware of the sounds of a jet plane flying in and the thud of a Transformer landing.

"Hey, Piper! I got my next chapter of The Trident Robber done." Thundercracker said happily, "It's the introduction of Piper Analog's love interest!"

I growled. I was not in the mood to deal with Thundercracker's dumb story.

"He's going to be a son of Ares, and his name is gonna be Anderson Peace! You see, it's funny because he's the son of the God of War, and peace-"

"SHUT UP!" I yelled.

Thundercracker was stunned into silence; he just stared at me.

"Like. Seriously, Thundercracker, not now! Just please, not now!"

"Did- Are you okay?" Thundercracker asked.

I groaned and laid down face first on the grass with my hands holding my head. "No." I said muffled.

"Why?"

I turned over on my back and looked up into the sky.

"School's been getting to me," I admitted. "Everyone knows I'm Tristan's daughter now, so they're all making fun of me because of King of Sparta."

"But that movie was great!" Thundercracker pointed out with a confused look on his face, "It was a huge success! They should be proud of you!"

"Proud of my dad, maybe," I said bitterly. "But here's the thing about human kids, Thundercracker: they go for the cheap shots. And a vulnerable, easy-to-provoke girl whose dad was in a big movie wearing a stupid costume?"

Thundercracker's expression changed; he looked down. "Oh," he said quietly. It was the kind of "Oh" that gave me the impression he knew exactly what I was talking about. I remembered what he told me about not fitting in with the other Autobots. They must have teased him too.

"And I just can't get away from it!" I continued, "Everywhere I go, that stupid poster is there, or someone's talking about the film; it's embarrassing!"

"So, of course, this is when parents' night comes up!"

"What does parent's night have to do with this?" Thundercracker asked.

"What do you think? Dad can't be here, so that means Jane has to!"

Thundercracker was silent. "I'm sorry, Piper," he said.

"Yeah well... Not much you can do." I said sadly, "All I can do is get it over with."

I sat up and started walking back to the house. "Look, Thundercracker, I'll look at your script later; just- now is not a good time."

"I understand." Thundercracker nodded.

I went back into my house and up into my room.

I locked the door, wrapped myself in my blankets, and went back to sobbing. Just getting it all out...

The next day was Parent's Night. I stayed after school with most of the other kids. I sat there, waiting in one of the office rooms for Jane to show up, and tried to prepare myself for the inevitable badmouthing.

"Piper McLean, can you come to the front, please?" the secretary finally asked.

I got up, braced myself internally, and walked into the office.

"Okay, Jane, let's-" I stopped talking and froze. Jane wasn't the one who showed up.

It was Thundercracker, using his holomatter avatar. It stood there in the office, modified to have a suit and tie.

"Hey, Pipes." Thundercracker greeted.

"Miss McLean, this man is claiming to be your representative in your father's absence." The secretary claimed, "Is this true? I was under the impression his personal assistant was coming."

I just stood there like an idiot until I finally remembered to speak. "Um, yes. He is. He works with my dad. He's- He's..."

"I'm a screenplay writer." Thundercracker said, "A close family and work friend. I talked with him, and he said it was okay."

The secretary sighed, "Very well."

I couldn't believe this was happening. For once, Parents Night might actually be tolerable.

Thundercracker's avatar sat down with me in Principal Barnett's office. He was there, along with a few of my other teachers.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr..."

"Cracker, Theo Cracker." Thundercracker—or rather, Theo, I guess introduced.

"Okay then. So, Mr. Cracker. We wanted to talk to you about Ms. McLean's education."

"I'm aware."

"Then you should also be aware that Piper has gotten into several verbal arguments over the past year; not only that, but she's been constantly distracted, and her grades are firmly in the Cs and Ds."

My face turned red. Not my fault that I was born with ADHD and dyslexia.

"And there's the matter of prior behavior before coming to this school." Principal Barnett noted, "Such as shoplifting and getting into physical fights. The reason for her expulsion from her last school."

My face turned even redder.

"Do you have anything to say to that?" he asked.

Theo thought about it for a minute.

"I assume you know who her dad is?" he finally asked.

"Yes." Principal Barnett confirmed.

"Well, then you should know how hard it is for Piper to be Tristan's daughter." Theo mentioned, "It makes her a target for bullies; people are always comparing her to him, and the worst part is that sometimes he can't be there for his little girl when she needs it."

"Yes, he does seem to be absent most of the time." The principal noted.

He didn't know the half of it.

"But Piper's a good kid." Theo assured, "She's just desperate for attention. As most of you- all of us humans are around that age."

"I'm aware that shouldn't be an excuse for her behavior," he continued. "But she has been getting better."

"Hmm yes. Some of her reports from earlier schools seem a lot worse."

"I like to think I've been a positive influence on her." Theo bragged.

I laughed a little, but he was right. I think Thundercracker's positive attitude and friendship was helping me a lot.

The talk went on a bit longer after that. Discussing my grades, attitude, and future plans.

It was actually good. For once, Parent's Night went well.

Theo walked me out of the building, and we headed to a secret spot in a large field where, sure enough, Thundercracker in his jet mode was waiting.

I laughed and hopped in. Theo vanished as Thundercracker dismissed his avatar.

"This is way better than riding in Jane's SUV." I giggled.

"I bet," Thundercracker said.

"Hey. Thanks. You have no idea how much this means to be."

"I wanted to get your dad here, but he was too swamped." Thundercracker explained, "But I wasn't lying when I mentioned your dad said I could take Jane's place."

I smiled, and Thundercracker took off.

Maybe it was my imagination, but as we were flying home, I think I saw that Thunderbird again, just hovering over us and watching...

A few days later, Dad still wasn't back yet. I decided to take a walk through the city on my own, just taking the time to get some fresh air and exercise in.

My good mood was ruined when I saw a King of Sparta poster, and I had to see Dad in his stupid outfit again.

Just looking at it was enough to rile me up and I found myself huffing and groaning down the sidewalk.

I missed him so much, and Thundercracker wasn't there to help me see him again this time. My heart ached.

Eventually, I ended up walking past a car dealership. In the middle of the rows of cars sat a brand-new BMW.

The dealer noticed me. "Well, hello there, little lady," he said in that slimy car salesman voice. "May I help you?"

For a moment, a brief thought crossed my mind: my ability to get people to do what I want—I could use it right now. Just take that car right now. It would be the best and biggest heist ever! Dad couldn't ignore that!

But then I thought about Thundercracker and how proud he was when he told Principal Barnett how much better I was doing and all the ways he'd helped me feel closer to Dad since we met him.

I looked at the dealer, and then I looked back at the BMW.

"...No," I said.

I turned and walked away.

Dad came home for a surprise early visit the next day.

He took me to a beach in Big Sur at one of his private properties.

Thundercracker couldn't be there, but we still had a good day.

No paparazzi, no Jane, and nothing at all to distract us for once.

Just me, Dad, and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Say WHA?! Piper didn't steal the BMW?! What's happening?!

Well, my friends, you'll just have to stay tuned to find out.

As always, thanks for reading, and don't forget to leave a review.