Eighty-two missed calls, one-hundred seventy texts, and fifty emails, all from Jack, Miko, and Raf. Exactly forty hours had passed since Torryn was a witness to giant transforming cars that her friends were so keenly involved with.
Torryn herself had been terrified to leave her house the rest of the weekend, opting to keep her home under severe lockdown and ignore anything to do with her phone. To pass the time, she watched the rest of the Twilight Saga along with most of the Harry Potter films and took six different baths just to clear her thoughts.
She truly was not sure what to do. She had already tried the police, and that ended in failure. Because of that, Torryn realized that no other person would believe her about this situation which left her completely isolated. She was stuck dealing with it herself.
After hours of contemplating, she finally decided if Jack, Miko, and Raf were hanging around the robots then they must not have been too dangerous. Not to mention from the short conversation she did hear of them, they did not seem exceptionally dangerous.
It was now Monday morning, and if Torryn wanted to make it to school on time, she had to leave within the next five minutes. Torryn had gone back and forth between considering whether she wanted to go or ditch; she even thought as far as skipping the entire week. However, with more inner debate, Torryn found that she actually wanted answers. And the only way that was going to happen would be if she went to school and listened to what her friends had to tell her.
From the texts and emails she had seen, it was just them begging to meet in person so they could explain. Standing in front of her bedroom mirror with her phone in hand, Torryn cringed at her own appearance.
She was a mess.
Even after trying to pull herself together that morning, it simply could not take away her sleepless eyes or paranoid gaze. Sighing, Torryn shoved her phone into her pocket, turning to where her backpack sat at the edge of her bed.
It was now or never.
Gripping her backpack, Torryn trudged her ways downstairs. "Alexa, take the house out of lockdown," Per her command, the virtual assistant immediately got to work in lifting the metal barriers along with raising the curtains.
Walking to the Mercedes parked messily in the garage, Torryn grunted at all the dirt splayed across it. She would need to take it to a carwash. Slowly, Torryn turned her gaze away from the Mercedes and to the silver Range Rover sitting ideally next to it.
It had been awhile since Torryn had driven the Range Rover, but it was cleaner than the Mercedes. Plus, if Torryn had to make a quick getaway from her friends, they would not recognize the Range Rover as being her car. Grabbing the keys to the Range Rover off the rack, Torryn jogged over to it, opening the door.
The car smelled of lemon and soap, a clear sign that it was still brand new with how little it had been driven. Hopping inside, Torryn quickly opened the garage door before peeling out.
Throughout the entire drive, her hands shook, and her eyes constantly darted about, her mind sure that one of the transforming vehicles was going to pop out of nowhere. Luckily, that did not happen.
Sooner than she would have liked, Torryn was pulling up to school. Usually, Torryn was parking just as the bell was ringing, today she had ten minutes before the bell for the first period went off.
How fast had she been driving?
For Torryn, her first period was cheerleading practice, something she was not looking forward to today. Stepping out of the car, Torryn made sure to lock the doors as she walked to the front of the small high school. Right away, Torryn noticed Vince and Sierra standing by the doors chatting.
At least Vince and Sierra weren't involved in any robot crap.
Right?
Breathing in, Torryn made futile attemptes to stop her shaking hands as she walked to the front of the school hoping to avoid Sierra and Vince all together. Perhaps they would not notice her. But, of course, they did.
"Where do you think you're going, Wilde?" Vince grinned as Sierra grabbed Torryn's arm dragging her to stand next to them.
A small quirk between Sierra, Vince, and Torryn was the fact that all three of them had red hair. Because of this small fact, Torryn had taken to calling themselves the 'ginger crew', something that Vince and Sierra pretended to despise, but in reality actually liked.
"Hey guys," Torryn smiled weakly, Sierra raising a brow and Vince giving her an odd look.
"You look like crap, what's wrong with you?" Vince asked bluntly, his eyes racking over Torryn's twitchy eyes and shaky form.
"Geez, thanks," Torryn rolled her eyes but came up with a phony excuse. "I'm not feeling too well, pretty sure I'm sick," Both Vince and Sierra took a noticeable step back, them not wanting to get sick.
"Aww, sorry to hear that, I'm sure Coach Haynes will let you mark tumbling if you tell her." Sierra shrugged, feeling genuinely bad that her friend came to school under the weather.
"Maybe," Torryn hoped that the coach would let her mark tumbling as she was definitely not in the mood to be flipping all over the place today.
Vince awkwardly patted Torryn on the shoulder, his pale freckled cheeks gaining an almost invisible blush from the awkwardness of it. Coughing, trying to play it off, Vince began telling the story of how his race went Friday night. Apparently, he got second to some flashy red sports car.
Torryn eagerly listened, the conversation getting her mind off of the subject of the alien cars she had been freaking out about all weekend. As Torryn listened to his story, she could not help but notice his slightly open backpack. Squinting her eyes, the girl focused on the inside of his bag noticing it was filled not with notebooks, but multiple cardboard boxes.
"What the hell, Vince?" Torryn interrupted his story, making Vince scrunch his nose at her.
"What?"
Sierra following Torryn's gaze also noticed the boxes, her jaw-dropping when she saw exactly what the boxes were.
"Why the hell are you carrying around all these boxes of condoms?" Torryn reached faster than light itself, gripping a condom box and pulling it out. "Are you planning on killing yourself via sex?"
Sierra shook her head, looking to Vince accusingly. "Vince, what the hell?" She whispered a yell at him, Vince shrugging while plucking the box back from Torryn.
"Planning on blowing them up and putting them on as many of the teacher's desks as I can." Both red-haired teenage girls gaped at Vince, before Torryn's lips slowly tugged up into a smirk, the girl holding up her hand in a high-five.
"Ha! That's actually really funny!" Torryn barked a laugh, Vince sniggering as they high-fived, Sierra shaking her head at her two friends.
"You are both idiots." Sierra tugged her books closer to her chest, Torryn shrugging while fixing her bun.
"Well..." Vince placed the box of condoms back into his bag. "I think I am going to start my mission. See you, ladies, later." Vince winked before walking into the school leaving Torryn and Sierra.
More people had begun pulling into the school lot, and Torryn suspected Jack, Miko, and Raf were going to be there soon. Sierra shook her head watching the only male in their trio leave with his bag full of condoms.
"If there is one thing Vince has, it's balls." Torryn stated, Sierra, laughing before turning to her friend in a worried manner.
Vince was right, Torryn really did look like crap. Her usual pin-straight auburn hair was tossed into a half done a wild looking bun. Sierra knew right away the girl was wearing a pair of pajama shorts with a tank top and sporty jacket to cover it up in case a teacher was to try and dress code her. She was willing to bet that Torryn had just rolled out of bed and put on converse with a jacket.
However, what really made Torryn look for the worst was the sleep-deprived look in her eye.
"Seriously, let the coach know you're not feeling too well, she'll let you mark tumble," Sierra placed a comforting hand on Torryn's shoulder, assuming the other red-head girl was simply sick.
Torryn smiled at Sierra's compassion, opening her mouth to say something but was cut off by the sound of a certain engine. Glancing to her left, Torryn caught the sight of Jack pulling up with his (alive) motorcycle, Miko in the big green (also alive) monster truck, and Raf in the yellow muscle car (which was alive).
Sierra followed Torryn's gaze and smiled knowingly. She knew Torryn liked spending time with Jack, Miko, and Raf in school and because of that, Sierra respected her friendship with them and usually left her during school hours.
"I am going to go find Abigail," Sierra said, beginning to back off, turning toward the doors. "I'll see you in a few minutes."
Torryn watched Sierra leave, fear suddenly raining down on her. The small amount of courage she previously had to face her friends washed away in an instant leaving a jelly-legged Torryn in its wake. Her eyes were wide and frightful as her three friends exited their vehicles.
This was ridiculous, she knew those three would never hurt her, so why was she so scared? Probably because just behind Miko, pretending to be a monster truck was a huge robot who could crush her with his bare hand.
Turning back to Sierra, Torryn was disappointed to find her gone. As she was looking for the other red-head, Jack had taken off his helmet, placing it on Arcee.
"Don't worry, Arcee. We'll talk to her today, in fact, she'll probably come back to base with us so Optimus can give her 'the talk'." They all knew 'the talk' meant Optimus's speech of Cybertron and why the Autobots and Decepticons were here, on Earth.
"Please do, Jack. The last thing we need is a witness who isn't under our protection." Arcee spoke as quietly as she could, not wanting to alert any of the students around them.
Jack opened his mouth ready to say something, patting Arcee's seat in a comforting gesture, but he was cut off by Miko. Miko had hopped out of Bulkhead, and immediately her eyes had caught sight of Torryn looking like hell standing by the doors of the school.
"TORRYN!" Miko shouted, Torryn snapping her head, only to see Miko approaching her with Jack and Raf in tow.
Swallowing, Torryn was locked in place at her fast approaching friends. Breathing in, Torryn calmed herself as much as she could, Miko being the first of the three to stop in front of her.
"Torryn," Miko started, Torryn nodding numbly in reply. "Why haven't you replied to any of our texts?"
It was like those words caused a damn to break within Torryn. Over the past forty hours, Torryn had dealt with the stress of the transforming cars along with her usual banshee drama concerning her visions. She wasn't sure how she got through it, but she did, and now she had questions she expected to be answered.
Jack and Raf stood next to Miko a few seconds later, all of them looking to Torryn nervously. Raf gulped, pushing his glasses up seeing Torryn's eyes wide with her right one twitching crazily. They knew Torryn well enough to know when she hit her breaking point, and this was it.
"Torryn..." Jack started calmly, placing a hand up, but he was cut off by Torryn's shrill shriek.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE THOSE THINGS!" Jack, Miko, and Raf all jumped, a few students looking over trying to see what it was Torryn Wilde was yelling about. "I mean, they just turned into giant robots and they were talking and arguing, and, and, and..." Torryn was talking a mile a minute, her hand running through her hair while her eyes darted back and forth to her friends and the cars, something the three noticed.
Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Arcee could easily hear the voice of the girl their charges had called 'Torryn' from where they sat on the curb. They all subconsciously cringed, small amounts of guilt pushing its way into their spark chambers.
Arcee cursed Smokescreen in her head, blaming him for transforming and revealing themselves to a human. In her mind, it was the rookie's fault that another human was now endangered by knowing about them. Smokescreen was still new, and Arcee along with the rest of the team knew he needed serious training. The training was not for his battle capabilities, because he was more than formidable on the battlefield, but rather for discipline purposes.
Smokescreen was still young, roughly the same age as Bee, but while Bee had spent hundreds of years with team Prime, Smokescreen had been frozen in stasis.
"Are they dangerous? Who built them? OH MY GOD, ARE THEY FROM JAPAN! Miko, did you bring them with you from Japan?" By now, Torryn was hyperventilating.
"Torryn, Torryn..." Jack gripped her shoulders, shaking her trying to push some sense into her. "Calm down, deep breaths, deep breaths," Jack breathed in and out with Torryn, doing as his mom had taught him when it came to people panicking.
Torryn breathed in with Jack, her once speeding heart slowly going back to normal. Nodding to Jack, signaling that she was okay, he let go of her shoulders.
"First off, no, I did not bring them with me from Japan," Miko frowned with crossed arms. "Second, we can't tell you much yet, all we can say is that they are absolutely not dangerous, the opposite, in fact. After school, we want you to come with us to where we usually go and it will all be explained."
Torryn nodded slowly, breathing deeply while looking between Miko, Raf, and Jack.
"Please, we swear if you come with us, everything will be explained, and you'll get to see what we do in our spare time," Raf added, his gaze hopeful.
Looking into his eyes, Torryn found herself unable to refuse. As she gazed at them all, she could see their trustful looks, these were her friends, and she knew she could trust them. Plus, how long had Torryn wanted to see what they were up to after school?
"Okay," Torryn agreed, nodding her head, deciding to try and be open about this for their sake.
Miko squealed in excitement, pushing her body forward and pulling Torryn into a tight hug. "Don't worry," She whispered in her ear. "You won't regret it... and Smokescreen's really excited to meet you."
Torryn furrowed her brows, frowning in confusion. "Who is Smokescreen again?"
The school day seemed to drag on even more than usual for the quartet. In order to cover up their nerves, Miko was more rambunctious than typical, Jack remained silent in all his classes, Raf busied himself with even more work, and Torryn simply ignored everyone. Of course, this did not go well with her teachers, as every time they addressed her all they got was a sour look in reply.
However, Torryn was happy to say that Sierra told the cheer coach that she was sick, and Torryn was able to sit out all of practice, watching the routine from the sidelines.
At lunch, there was a small amount of awkwardness as each of them seemed to tiptoe around the elephant of a subject that was consuming their minds. Tapping her nails against the cafeteria lunch table, Torryn was practically bursting from the seams with a question that stuck out more than the other hundred she had.
Puckering her lips, Torryn glanced at Jack. Jack noticed her questioning look, raising an eyebrow.
"So are you and your motorcycle a thing?"
It was an honest question, one that Torryn found herself pondering on more than once. Jack's expression immediately turned disgruntled, a flustered look appearing in his eyes. Miko coughed a laugh, Raf's jaw falling open at the blunt insinuation.
"What? No!" Jack shouted, covering his face with his hands. "Arcee and I are definitely not a 'thing' as you so gracefully put it."
The rest of the day dragged on, with more of Torryn's questions going unanswered, the trio stating she would find out at the base later. Torryn was still unsure whether this was a good idea or not. Of course, she trusted her friends, but at the same time, she was going with them to an undisclosed location with potentially dangerous robots.
When the bell rang, Torryn's heart hammered, her eyes flaring. Both fear and excitement raced through her veins, the girl exhilarated to finally, after all these months, see where her friends disappeared to after school. Not to mention she was about to meet giant robots. Terrifying and exciting all at once.
It wasn't until she was leaving her final class, that she saw Vince get called up to the teacher's desk. Walking out of the door, Vince threw her a cocky smirk as he was in the midst of getting yelled at for leaving multiple blown up condoms around school property. Bringing up her hand to cover the smile blossoming upon her lips, Torryn waltzed out of class catching sight of Jack waiting patiently a few feet away from the door for her.
"Are you ready for this?" Jack and Torryn walked toward the front door, Torryn nodding her head.
"As ready as I'll ever be,"