Andy
For two years now, my life has changed completely.
For one, I've fallen head over heels in love with a giant alien robot from outer space. Not to mention that said alien is my sworn protector and advisor, who is nowhere near in a position to accept my feelings.
Oh, did I forget to mention I was named queen of their planet? Yeah, hence the advisor part.
The good news is that I became close with the Autobots and could even volunteer at N.E.S.T.'s base of operations for the summer after I graduated; Diego Garcia is where I'm rooming for one more week before I have to go back home; Unfortunately.
"Witwicky!" Lennox shouted from the other side of my door, banging on the metal door with his knuckles. "You got mail, kid."
Rushing to the door, I swung the door open with urgency. "Nice, did anything from UPenn come in?"
Lennox could only smirk before handing me the stack of envelopes. "Anything about college was given directly to Optimus."
"What?" I asked with a raised brow. "Why?"
"He wanted to be the one to give it to you." Lennox jerked his head down the hallway. "He's outside waiting for you." A warmth spread through my chest at the thought of being with Optimus. It was like a school girl crush, and I, for one, was not in high school anymore. Due to my time in N.E.S.T. I learned about all of the past lives the Autobots once had. I hadn't seen Bumblebee all summer, so I still needed to get the whirly recounts of his story when I got back home.
It seemed that one past from Optimus' life resurfaced, and she goes by the name, Elita-One and her sisters Chroma and Arcee. Chroma, the brave purple motorcycle, seemed to find little interest in anything that had to do with humans. She was calculated, quiet, and mostly kept to herself and helped Ratchet with anything he needed. I don't blame her, but she did take inquisitiveness in how a human was crowned queen of her planet.
Arcee was a bit bubblier. She reminded me a lot of Mikaela, which explains why I like her more than the other two. She wanted to share her experiences of her time in Cybertron and found humans fascinating. She was a mix between Optimus and Bumblebee, and I had no idea how to comprehend that combination. If I needed any girl time, Arcee was in my bunk watching whatever movie that we got from Netflix.
Here's my take on Elita-One, something I will never tell Optimus. I cannot, and I mean CANNOT, stand her. She's one cold-hearted Autobot, and I don't understand how she and Optimus work. She's constantly by Optimus's side and glares at me whenever I get too close. Childish behavior if you ask me. Yet, I couldn't deny she was a phenomenal fighter and an even greater teammate... when she liked you. The entire summer, I did my best to avoid Optimus so as not to cause a problem in their relationship. It seemed I already had without knowing it.
Walking down the hallways of the base, I pushed a strand of long hair behind my ear while tucking my mail into my back pocket. "Chief?" I called out once I made it outside. "Do you have my mail?" I stopped just short of Optimus's human form. He was wearing traditional military clothing. The camo cargo pants, the beige boots, and the beige short-sleeved shirt that seemed way too tight for him. He turned around, a head of curly hair covering his vibrant blue eyes and a massive smile.
"Do you mean this mail?" He asked, holding it up in the sun. "I suppose this is what you've been so anxious for all summer, Athena?"
I rolled my eyes. "Stop playing Optimus." I reached out to grab it, fingers brushing over the paper before he yanked away. "Come on, that's important!"
A deep laugh escaped his lips as we twirled around in a circle. "I know you can do better than that, Athena."
I jumped into the air, grabbed the envelope, and crashed back onto my feet. "Jerk face..." I grumbled under my breath before I tore open the top of the envelope. I felt Optimus's eyes watching my move while I read the letter. My face dropped for a second, startling him.
"Athena?" He asked. "What is it?"
"I..." A huge smile spread across my face. "Got in!" I jumped up and down in excitement. "I got in!"
Optimus scooped me up into his arms, twirling me around in a circle. "I told you they would accept you!" He placed me down on the floor. "You are a special human; I know you will do right."
Yeah... if only I believed that.
____________
The vast silence of time spread through the house in exchange for my constant thoughts running wild. It was calm for just five seconds. I had been back two weeks and came home to find my room was halfway packed. Taking in a deep breath, I taped up another box.
"Come on, let's go! All hands-on deck!" The dogs ran in front of dad's legs. "Frankie, Mojo, out!" Dad shouted, kicking the dogs out of the house. "Come on, kiddos; we're on a schedule!" I walked down my stairs with a box of my miscellaneous stuff. Dad immediately took the box I was holding out of my hands.
I blinked at how fast he was moving. He only does that when he's eager about something. "Slow down, Dad. Why are you in such a hurry to get rid of us? Did you rent the rooms out?" I asked with a smirk. The new scar on my top lip stretched with it, giving it more depth.
My dad snorted. "No, I got other ideas for your rooms, which rhyme with home theater." He gave an evil chuckle under his breath. I only rolled my eyes at my father and his need for a theater room.
We had an excellent theater three blocks down from the house. I don't understand what was wrong with it.
I know what it is; he's cheap.
I helped dad finish loading my box into the car and walked back inside. I went to grab another box with SAM in jumbo letters on the side when I heard the string of sniffles falling from my mother's nose. Oh no... she found them. I slowly turned my sight to my mother; she was holding twin pairs of white baby shoes.
"L-Look what I found..." She hiccupped. "It's your little baby booties."
"Oh, Sam...~" I sang, motioning for my brother to come to the kitchen.
Sam walked out right behind me with gummy bears in his hand. "What?" He asked with his lip sucked in between his teeth.
I nodded my head towards our mother, who was busy pouting her lip. Sam mentally cursed himself for walking in at the wrong time. We both sucked in a deep breath and walked over to our mother. "Oh, ma." We said in unison, going to wrap our arms around our petite mother quickly.
Seriously, when I have a kid, I want her figure. Mom viciously pulled us into her bear hug, her arm choking me while Sam almost suffocated against her stomach. "My little baby-bootie boy and girl, you can't go!" She wailed dramatically.
Dad stopped in the middle of the entryway to see how our predicament would end. "You see this, Dad?" I called out with my voice straining against her grip. "This is how you're supposed to react when the fruit of your loins goes out into the cruel world to fend for themselves, okay?"
Sam visibly flinched when he was smacked in the face by baby booties. "What she said, Pop!"
"Yeah, my heart bleeds for you, pal. College, bummer!" Dad says with a sarcastic voice, dramatically putting his hand over his heart.
Mom pulled away from us again, hitting Sam in the face with the booties again. On the other hand, I made sure my windpipe wasn't broken. "You have to come home e-every holiday, not just big ones. You have to come home for Halloween."
I squeezed my eyes shut. I knew this was going to happen. "Well, we can't come home for Halloween, Mom."
Mom began to wipe the tears from the bottom of her eyes. "Well, then we'll come to you!"
Now, it was dad's turn to try and help us out. "No, we're not going anywhere."
She ignored him and just kept wiping her eyes. "We'll dress up; we'll be in costumes. You'll never know it's us."
I placed my hand on her shoulder. "You can't do that, Mom."
Dad turned around, looking at us three. "Would you let the kids breathe, for crying out loud?" Dad sighed, pushing the suitcases into the hallway. He began to clap his hands together, motioning for mom to get a move on. "Come on, go pack. There's no way you're packed for a month-long trip." When mom went to move up the stairs to finish packing, Dad smacked her in her behind. "March, young lady."
I visibly flinched at the sound, and Sam just gagged. "Dad!"
Mom smiled and grabbed his hand. "I love it when you call me young lady, you dirty old man."
He smirked at her comment. "You ain't seen nothing yet."
"Dad, Dad, Dad..." I repeated, trying to cover my poor ears.
Dad blinked towards the both of us as if he completely forgot we were there. "What?"
"Whoa!" Sam finished, something we've been doing more of lately. Dad still seemed confused about what was happening. Sam motioned between him and Mom. "I'm watching what you're doing, Dad. It's not a rap video."
Dad looked at the stairs and then back to us two. "It's just like a coach thing." He shrugged, walking past us.
I shivered in disgust at the thought. "That was a really creepy move just now, Dad," I grumbled, rubbing my forehead to try and see if it was possible to rub away what I just saw.
Now that mom was upstairs, Dad stepped in front of us. "Look, your mother and I are really proud of you two." He smiled. "You're the first Witwicky's ever to go to college...-"
As if she had super hearing, the woman shouted from upstairs. "Now I'm crying again!" Dad blinked at how horribly she was taking this. "This sucks!"
I bit my lip to bite back the laugh I wanted to release so bad. "You're gonna be okay, Ma!"
"You know, it's just going to be hard for her to accept that her twins' are all grown up." Dad sighed. "Going out to handle the world on their own," Dad says, choking back his words a bit.
"You okay, Pop?" Sam smirked, patting him on the back.
He shook his head to try and regain himself again. "Yeah, just had something in my..." My two idiot dogs ruined the sweet moment. "Mojo!" Dad shouted. "No dominating Frankie! Get the hell off the couch, you filthy beasts!" He grumbled in annoyance.
I seriously think Mojo might be gay. I mean, you do, you buddy. It's 2009, after all.
"You'll see a lot of that in college, too," Dad grumbled. When he began moving, he instantly stopped in his tracks. "Except for you, stay away! Boys cloud the mind, even your brother."
"I've been known that." I shrugged.
Dad sighed in relief. "What did I do to deserve you?"
"Sacrifice to the sun god." I joked with a chuckle escaping my lips. Dad rolled his eyes at my joke. I picked my water bottle up, drinking the contents inside.
"Oh yes, that Autobot leader would be perfect for you." I choked mid-swallow, spitting the water out onto the grass. I grew into a loud coughing fit as Dad rushed to put the rest of the stuff in the car.
Sam and I followed after him, despite my loud coughing rage. "Woah! Woah! Where did that come from?" Sam asked with raised brows. "What happened to someone taking Andy out on a date and you slamming the door in their face?"
"What?" He asked. "I didn't say anything." He lied. I took a stray piece of my hair and tried to hide my face underneath it. He's so embarrassing. "See, she's doing that weird hair thing she does when she's blushing."
"Stop it!" I whined. Sam looked at me and dragged me back towards dad, where he was now playing Tetris with the boxes in the car.
Sam stood behind him with his arms crossed. "The whole 'see that a lot in college' conversation. What are you talking about, Dad?"
"There's gonna be a lot of women there," Dad said while shoving another box into the trunk.
Sam shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, well, I'm a one-woman kind of guy."
I felt my phone buzz, knowing Circuit was getting annoyed with the arguing. "Look, Mikaela's the greatest, but you gotta give each other room to grow, okay? You're no different than any other couple your age." Dad lectured.
Sam raised an eyebrow. "Except we discovered an alien race together!"
Dad snorted at his only line of defense. "Yeah, how long are you gonna be riding that scooter?" Sam shook his head and tapped his finger on my forehead.
What the hell was that for?
"Dad, listen, I know what the odds are. We're the exception, okay?" Sam's phone started to ring. "Oh, wait a second. Oh! Who could that be?" He smirked, wiggling his cellphone.
Dad turned around with a bored face. "In two weeks, it could be Muffy."
He wasn't wrong.