H O P E | o.p

t w o

While Sam went inside to talk with Mikaela, who he had been spending all his time with, I felt my phone buzzing in my back pocket. I pressed the green button and pulled the black flip phone to my ear. "Hello, Optimus?"

The leader gave a chuckle. "You are busy, I presume?" He asked.

I climbed up the steps to my room and grabbed another hanger with my shirt on it. "College packing isn't the easiest, Optimus."

"One would assume so," Optimus started. "Your entire being is being uprooted to further expand your education. I applaud you for it."

I couldn't help the giggle that left me. "Thanks, Chief." I looked at the photo of Sam, Mikaela, and I with Bumblebee, the picture kindly taken by a grumpy Ironhide. "I just wish Sam didn't pull the freshman can't have cars on me. It was too late to say anything when I found out it wasn't true."

A soft sigh was heard through the phone. "Have you told Bumblebee yet?" I stopped what I was doing to mentally smack myself in the face. "Athena..." He asked with authority in it, something that always makes me tingly in all the right spots.

"No, I haven't told Bee yet." I confessed with a scratch to my scar. "Everything has been so hectic lately; it slipped my mind."

Prime sighed on the other end. "Athena, as a future employee to any job you choose, or Cybertrons future ruling monarch, you must be ready to make the hard decisions." Optimus lectured. "You mustn't use that excuse. It does no one any good." I rolled my eyes and made different faces, mocking him in secret. "Stop mocking me."

I instantly stopped. "Sorry."

Optimus gave another deep sigh over the phone; Something he's been doing a lot of lately. "Athena, I know I may sound like I am lecturing you, but... I only want what's best for you."

I felt myself smile at his word. He always knew the right things to say. "I know, Chief, I really appreciate it." I reached into my closet. "Besides my lack of communication skills, how did the mission go?" Optimus didn't answer, meaning he encountered something serious. "Optimus?"

"I..." He took a beat. "There was a problem."

"What problem?" I questioned, stopping what I was doing. "Is it something you can't tell me?"

"Around the military operatives, no." He grumbled. "What I can tell you is I have finally found a rather... grating human like you said I would."

He switched the topic, something I found myself noticing easily. When he first mentioned it, he seemed uncomfortable, and now he's avoiding the question altogether. It was weird and I was not too fond of it.

Now, I had to go along with it or he'd lecture me about pestering. I smirked to myself. "Oh really?"

"Indeed." I could practically hear him smirking. "Mr. Galloway is quite a pleasant individual." He chuckled. "You would like him."