The Day We Hailed The Heavens

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Painting the Masks

Mikaela Banes pursed her lips and a small frown creased her bronzed face as she watched her boyfriend and his best friend compare their acceptances to the various colleges that they had applied to.

Sam Witwicky and Miles Lancaster had both been in states of perpetual ecstasy for the last hour and a half since the three of them had gathered at Mikaela’s small house, and she was beginning to become very slightly weary of their enthusiasm that they had all been accepted into some of the same colleges.

“It’s gonna be awesome,” Miles predicted for the seventh time in as many minutes. “Absolutely awesome.”

Sam nodded, running his hand through his short brown hair. “I know, man, I know,” he said, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. “I mean, we got accepted into like, all of the ones we applied for. That’s pretty overwhelming.” He glanced over at his girlfriend and tilted his head slightly. “Hey, Mikaela? Are you okay?”

Miles shifted in his position – he was seated cross-legged on Mikaela’s futon, looking slightly awkward as usual in a woollen hat that was pulled over his lank, medium length hair. “Yeah,” he agreed, looking overly concerned for her. “You’ve been really quiet. Aren’t you pleased, girl?”

She shook her head, her chin cupped in the palm of her right hand. “Not really,” she muttered dully, passing her eyes briefly over the pile of envelopes.

The gangly young man shifted towards the edge of the futon, towards where she was perched on a chair beside her old, bulky computer. She bit back a scowl of irritation; she liked Miles a lot, and spent a lot of time with him both in and out of school, but the guy had been hung up on her since Sam had reinstated their friendship, and she knew it. She was not trying to be vain by accepting it, but it was so blindingly obvious that she was shocked that Sam himself had never picked up on it.

“But you got accepted into two!” he reminded her, pointing at her ‘acceptance’ pile of paperwork. “That’s the same as Carlos got accepted into, y’know. He only got into two, given the fact that he managed to spectacularly flunk the entrance exam for those high-class ones he applied to.” He grimaced. “The guy’s gotta stop buffing that bike of his and get studyin’.”

“She ain’t just a bike, Miles,” Sam pointed out, rolling his dark eyes. “She’s an Autobot. I can’t believe, after three years of knowing them, that you still manage to think of them as freaking vehicles… you know they turn into giant alien robots, and you still think she’s a Vespa.”

Miles folded his arms. “She is a Vespa,” he said obstinately.

“Guys, for God’s sake!” Mikaela finally snapped, slamming her acceptance to Allan Hancock College down onto her desk and glaring back at the shocked looks that both boys gave her. “You don’t get it, do you? When we all go to college, we won’t all be going to the same one – we’re going to have to split up.” She paused, and her lip trembled slightly. “All of us.”

There was a short silence.

Then Sam took a deep breath. “Jeez, you’re right,” he said softly, glancing up at Miles. “I… I didn’t think of that.” He put a hand to the back of his head and scratched it, a sure sign that he was uncomfortable. “I mean, I thought of us all going to college together… I guess I was too excited to think of how we’d all go separate ways.”

“Of course we will!” she continued irritably, her expression betraying how upset she truly was. “Rad’s a genius – he will have been accepted by the Ivy League schools, and his parents will want him to go to those. He wants to go to those, and I don’t blame him – I sure would, if I was smart enough!”