New Life, Old Memories

Chapter 9

Andy blinked as she stared out the car's window, "It's ... It's the Fourth of July?"
"Yeah. Why? You didn't know?" Sarah asked as she started to unbuckle Annabelle.
"I... I just.. this isn't... Nevermind." Andy swallowed thickly as she got out of Ron's GMC.
Her black boots crunched against the gravel as she took a step towards the green field filled with people. Kids were running around with sparklers and small cups of juice in their hands, laughing and giggling. Adults gathered around the grills in groups, talking and enjoying a couple of drinks. The sounds of whooping and splashing suggested that there was a lake nearby and several people were enjoying the cool water on the hot summer day.
While she could understand why someone would think that this is a proper Fourth of July celebration, to her it just seemed like a large cookout.
To her, the Fourth of July meant waking up at the break of dawn to the national anthem playing on full blast from the Base's speakers and Agent Fowler yelling at them through a megaphone - as if he wasn't already loud enough on his own. It also meant reenacting several key battles in the Revolutionary war, dressing and eating like 18th-century soldiers and watching the fireworks from the top of a cliff with Jacks, a cube of high-grade in each of their servos.
That's what the Fourth of July is supposed to be. What she was looking at was what movie directors and advertisers made Independence day look like.
"Andy! A little help here!" Will called from the back of the car.
"Yeah?" Andy poked her head around to the back, adjusting the strap of her backpack - the gray backpack in which she kept most of her on-the-go equipment - which she had been taking everywhere with her since her trip to Mission City, which she has yet to tell Will and Sarah about.
"Come get a couple of the coolers, would ya?" Will nodded towards the stack of coolers in the bed of the truck as he picked a couple boxes of fireworks.
"Sure." The brunette climbed up next to him, unlatching the cord that kept the boxes in place.
After her nightmare six days ago, she had explained to Will and Sarah that she was alright, she could function properly, it's just that certain things brought unpleasant memories to the forefront of her mind, which in turn made her react like she had that night. She didn't say anything about the increasing aching in her chest, didn't mention anything of the devouring emptiness in her mind and spark. They wouldn't understand. More than that they couldn't know. If she was to protect them, telling them anything about who - and what - she really was could put them in even more danger.
So with ease, she lowered the coolers to the ground and hopped off of the truck bed, landing comfortably on her feet next to them. She scooped up two of the larger ones in one arm and pushed them slightly onto the edge of the truck bed, just to make sure she can carry more. Pushing four handles of the smaller ones onto her right arm, she picked the other two back up in her arms - shivering at the feeling of the cold plastic against her arm - and headed into the crowd of people.
Andy was barely able to see over the crowd of people but she was able to get through most of it without bumping into any adults; kids occasionally running into her legs as she passed. More than once she had to dance out of the way of a sparkler, nearly dropping a cooler or two.
"Whoa there! You need some help with that?" The larger cooler on top was lifted, leaving her field of vision cleared of any obscurities.
"Thanks." Andy smiled, tossing her head to the side in a failed attempt to get her hair out of her face.
"No problem kid." The African American man who now held one of the large coolers smiled, "Who ya with?"
"I'm Andy, the Lennox kid." she squared her shoulders, a small smirk making its way onto her lips.
The man seemed startled by that, but he did his best not show it, "I've heard a bunch about you. Will talks about you a lot."
"Really?" she raised an eyebrow, setting the coolers down on one of the nearby picnic tables, revealed to have the source of the icy cold that had seeped into her bones off of her, "All good things I hope."
"Well, I wouldn't say all of them. Vast majority seems more accurate." He laughed, putting his container down too.
"Hey! Epps!" Will appeared next to them, arms piled high with boxes, grinning, "I see you meet Andy."
"Yeah, we were just talking 'bout you too." Epps grinned, opening the cooler and brought out a can of soda.
"Oh really? What about me?" the middle-aged man unceremoniously dumped the boxes on the ground, reaching over to the opened cooler and grabbing a drink of his own.
"Oh nothing much, just how you are trying to ruin my good reputation," Andy smirked, tossing her head to the side and propping a hand on her hip.
Will gasped, putting a hand over his heart in mock hurt, "And you believed him? Andy! I thought you trusted me!"
Andy laughed, patting his shoulder, "Oh no, I trust you, but I also know enough about humans to have mostly correct assumptions about them."
"Humans? What are you? An alien?" Epps joked as he raised an eyebrow.
Andy tensed, giggling nervously as she stiffed from foot to foot, "I... I'm gonna go get some more stuff from the car..."
She turned and started to jog back to Ron's car before the other two could object.
That was close! Much too close for comfort. She had gotten too comfortable with the Lennox family, slipping up in ways that she worked so hard to cover up for the past month. Ever since that night six days ago she had found herself slipping up more and more, her whole being distraught at the emptiness she now felt. It had gotten hard to concentrate on being human, old habits and behaviors coming to the forefront of her mind more and more often.
Like three days ago for example when she had been tweaking some of her gear in her room. The obnoxiously loud theme song of some show Annabelle watched had annoyed her to the point where she had stormed downstairs and shut the TV off herself, all while growling about a certain human-wrecker actually doing her job instead of slacking off and watching some ridiculous TV show. She might have also sprinkled in some Cybertronian curse words while she was at it, the clicks and whistles sharp on her glossa.
Annabelle had been staring at her wide-eyed when she snapped back into reality. She had apologized profusely, turning the TV back on and telling the sparkling to come to her if she ever needed anything. Annabelle nodded mutely and went back to watching the TV, though she lowered the volume on the TV.
She even found herself waking up before dawn every morning and making herself three bottles of energon than heading into the woods, where she went over her daily training routine. She spent hours there, going over practiced moves, practicing her aim and improving her gear. If anyone else noticed they didn't say anything and for that she was grateful, not wanting to explain to them just WHAT she was doing and why.
She was broken out of her thoughts by the piercing beeping coming from her belt. She nearly fell over her own pedes when she heard it. Her digits fumbled with the pouch on her belt that held a small square frame, despite to get it out and look at it. If she didn't then her visor would activate and that is one thing she absolutely did NOT want to explain today.
When she finally held the little thing in her hands, she pulled two opposite corners away from each other, a glowing blue screen showing up between them. She expanded it to the size of a phone and looked at the text flashing across the screen. Or at least tried to.
A smaller body slammed into her back, sending her totaling face first into the dirt. On instinct, she twisted to the side so that her shoulder absorbed most of the impact then rolled into a crouch, her palm firmly planted on the ground. Her back tingled with pain from the impact, all of her muscles coiling like that of an asap ready to strike.
In front of her stood two startled looking teens, one with bright neon green hair, the other with rusty red. The green-haired one held a football in his hands and he looked horrified.
Andy stood, her shoulder squared and her face set in a deep scowl. Subconsciously, she had reverted to her officer persona, the one that took forefront when she was dealing with some particularly annoying soldiers or when she walked onto the battlefield with a purpose. She dusted her hands off on her jeans as she approached the two.
They tried to back away from her but they didn't get far before her fingers tangled into their hair. She yanked them back as they yelped, pulling one to either side of her. They barely came up to her chest, which was strange considering she wasn't particularly the tallest teen.
"You twerps better watch where you are going next time, got it?" She hissed at them, eyes blazing with blue fire.
They whimpered and tried to nod, and seemed to instantly regret that decision. But it seemed to be good enough for Andy, who let go of their hair and cast them one more disapproving glare before disappearing into the crowd.
The Chevy twins holoforms looked at each other, gulping. That was one human femme they didn't want to ever encounter again.