Where to Go: The Start of a New Beginning

Chapter 1: Meetings of a Different Kind

She wanted out. She was tired of it all and all she wanted was her freedom. She curled in on herself and thought that perhaps being mute had its advantages after all as she hid from her abusive parents.

Arcee shook her head at the antics of the Twins. At the moment, they were running away from the Autobots' CMO, Ratchet, after pouring a gallon bucket of ice, cold water on him while he was still sleeping in bed. Nearby, the fast-talker Blurr and special ops Jazz were laughing their heads off at the whole thing.

"Idon'tknowaboutyou,butifIwerethemIwouldgetmysorryaftouttaherebeforeIgetcaught," Blurr said while still laughing.

Jazz laughed even harder and said, "Yeah, but next time, Blurr, slow down when you speak."

Arcee shook her head again and went outside. Upon entering outside of her home, the Autobots' base, Arcee could hear the sizzling and bangs of weaponry. Heading toward the source of the commotion, Arcee wasn't once surprised to find that it was Ironhide doing some training in the shooting range with his cannons and other guns.

Upon seeing Arcee, Ironhide paused and decided to put his gun down for a moment. Once his hands were free, he said, "What ya need, kiddo?"

"Arcee, Ironhide. My name's Arcee," she replied while frowning.

Ironhide shrugged and said, "So what?"

Sighing, Arcee instead said, "I just have a bad feeling, that's all."

Ironhide sent an apprehensive glance Arcee's way before looking away and said, "Ya better get ready for school. Isn't the Academy visiting a public school today?"

Surprised at the change of topic, Arcee responded, "Yeah, why?"

"Just keep a lookout for possible Autobots. You know our team is still missing members."

"I know, I know." With that, Arcee turned around and went inside to save Sunstreaker and Sideswipe from Ratchet so they could get ready for the school day ahead.

Bumblebee looked down at her injured body. The abuse from her parents was getting worse every day and she wasn't sure how much more she could take. One of these days, they were going to kill her with all the abuse. Letting a soundless sigh escape her lips, she pulled down the long sleeves of the warm sweater even though it was more than ninety degrees Fahrenheit outside. She just had to keep it a secret, otherwise the abuse would get worse quicker than the gradual pace that it's taking now. How she wished she could just escape, but she knew she couldn't. This was her life, and was to be forever for a useless and worthless thing like her.

Taking one more look in the mirror to make sure that her makeup was covering the cuts and bruises on her face, Bumblebee grabbed her backpack and left for school.

"Today is going to be absolutely boring," Sideswipe groaned.

"Nonsense,andyouknowwhatelse?Ithinkthattodayisgoingtobefun,'llevenfindanotherAutobottojointheteam," Blurr responded.

Sideswipe snorted as he looked over at Arcee. She was still strangely quite like she has been all morning. That in itself was unusual. "What are you so quiet for?"

Arcee looked at him and said, "What makes you say that?"

"Wellforoneyou'requietandyou'rehardlyeverquiet,'sonyourmind,h-uh,Arcee?"

"Blurr, you're going to have to stop doing that," Sideswipe remarked.

"Stopdoingwhat?"

Sideswipe only sighed with a pained look over his face. Arcee grinned slightly as the attention was taken away from her. Behind her, Hot Rod and Springer laughed.

Hot Rod suddenly stopped laughing and yelled, "Look!"

His friends stopped what they were doing and looked over in the direction that he was pointing. There across the street, some mean-looking guy pushed a young girl, younger than them by the looks of it, out into the middle of the street and right into the path of an eighteen wheeler.

Quickly putting on some speed, Blurr ran out into the street and pulled the young girl out of the way right in the nick of time.

Running over to Blurr, his friends could already hear him talking fast to the young girl.

Bumblebee stood still as she waited for the sign at the crosswalk change to 'Walk.' While waiting, Bumblebee saw a group of older teens across from her on the other side of the street. They looked to be around the age of fifteen and from the way they were laughing, they looked like they were having the time of their lives. Bumblebee felt her spark flutter and wished she could be like them: happy and carefree. Unfortunately, though, she didn't have that luxury, as she didn't deserve it for being the cause of all that went wrong and for simply existing. She was a burden and a mistake to all of those around her.

Bumblebee suddenly felt herself flying through the air and land landed harshly on the hard cement of the street. Looking up, she saw that it was the fifteen-year-old Barricade who pushed her.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!

Bumblebee looked away from Barricade's evil smirking face to what was heading her way. An eighteen-wheeler was coming right at her! As fear gripped her spark, Bumblebee could only watch as death came speeding towards her.

Suddenly, a warm pair of hands grabbed her and she flinched. Both arms encircled her and wrapped themselves around her waist as they pulled her out of harm's way. Looking up to her savior, she saw a teenage boy, older than herself, with blue eyes and blue hair. The boy's hair was short and had a shaggy look to it. He was also wearing a cerulean blue t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. His face bore the expressions of worry and concern.

"Hey,areyoualright?" he asked.

Bumblebee blinked. She had never heard someone talk so fast before. Nodding minutely, the boy helped her up.

"Areyousureyou'realright,Imeanthatmust'vebeenscary,andwhayaren'tyoutalking? Didyouloseyourvoicefromthatfall,didyoubreakanything–"

"Blurr, could you slow down a bit? I think the poor girl's dazed," said another boy as he interrupted the fast talker, only this one had red hair, blue eyes, and a red outfit with flame prints.

Blurr looked over at the girl in his arms. She indeed seemed dazed and confused at what he was saying. But what caught his attention wasn't the dazed or confused look, but rather the fear that lied underneath those expressions.

Arcee must have noticed, too, since a second later she said, "Hey, now, there's nothing to be afraid of." Looking closer, Arcee noticed that the young girl was indeed younger than they by at least a year were or so, give or take. The lass was so small, smaller than Arcee herself even, that she looked like she could easily break, especially with one small push or the brush of the wind. She also had blonde hair that looked to be natural curls and came to just past the bottom of her shoulders. She had clear, crystal blue eyes and was wearing a loose, long-sleeved yellow and black horizontal striped sweater, and a pair of loose black jeans. The outfit was finished off with a pair of white sneakers.

Quickly as if scared, Bumblebee grabbed her notebook that she used to write what she wanted to say in. Tearing a strip of paper out, she wrote a 'Thank you' without even giving her name and left. Looking down at the note that was stuffed into his hand, Blurr read what it said.

Looking over Blurr's shoulder, Sunstreaker snorted and said, "That's it? Why didn't she come right out and say–"

"Chill, Sunshine. A cat must've had her tongue or something," Sideswipe remarked, not paying attention to his twin brother's scowl.

"I don't think so, Sides. She didn't even yell when she was pushed out into the street," ventured Arcee. "I think something is terribly wrong with her. And why was she wearing a warm sweater with the temperature as hot as it is? That's suspicious in itself. It seems that she just might be hiding something underneath.

The group of friends looked at each other with a foreboding feeling before pushing a button on their hidden headsets and calling back home to base to report their findings and suspicions. After getting reassurance that Prowl, Jazz, and Ironhide would come to the public school they were going to, the group continued on their way to the Academy before they had to leave.

The morning that was going by was awful, just awful and terrible, a real living nightmare. Already Barricade cornered her, pulling her to his side and ran his hands roughly down her body, hinting at something much worse that was in store for her made by her parents' latest and most recent decision. That alone terrified her.

At the moment she and her fellow schoolmates were waiting out in the schoolyard for the visiting arrivals from the prestigious Academy. Luckily for her, though, was that the students had to stand with their own grade, which meant that Barricade and his gang of pals weren't in her grade. Unfortunately, they were in the next grade up, and thus standing right behind her. This day just couldn't get any worse. Jumping slightly when she felt a hand grab roughly where she didn't want it, Bumblebee slapped the offending hand away, turning to glare at her torturers before returning her attention to in front of her. Completely surprised, Bumblebee couldn't help but almost gawk at some of the students from the Academy in front of her. There right across from her were the group of older teens that saved her from this morning! And to top that off, they glimpsed her within the sea of student across from them and were now staring at her!