Airachnid's wounds were small, but they stung. She hissed, and searched the wreckage of her blown up ship. Nothing. She would survive her injuries, but it would be painful. She just had to hope she didn't get a virus from all the bacteria on Earth getting to her exposed wires.

Airachnid found a good place to take shelter within the ship, and allowed herself to rest. She didn't know when it would be peaceful again, and she couldn't go very far. Not without a better way to travel, or without getting healed first.

She closed her optics, and allowed her processor to shut down.

Elita-1 stared nervously around the classroom. She was new to the school here in Iacon. She had just moved here, and she had no friends. Taking a deep breath, she walked up to the professor.

He merely glanced at her, before turning his optics back to his datapad. "Take the seat between Arcee and Tailgate. Maybe you'll be able to get them to stop talking during class."

Elita-1 nodded shyly, and turned back to the desks that were scattered around the classroom. She saw two younglings waving at her, a seat open between them. She walked over to them, and smiled nervously.

"Hi! I'm Arcee, and this is my best friend, Tailgate! What's your name?" the blue and pink femme grinned, gesturing to the red and green mech.

"Elita-1", the blue and gold femme whispered, ducking her helm as she took her seat. Arcee grinned.

"I like that name! It's very pretty!" 

"T-thanks. I l-like your name t-too", Elita-1 managed to stutter out. Tailgate glared at Arcee.

"Arcee, stop scaring the poor femme."

"I-I'm not sc-scared!" Elita-1 said quietly.

"You're stuttering, and  you're shaking. I'm fairly certain you're scared."

Elita-1 shook her head. "I-I'm just n-nervous. I've n-never been t-to a p-public sc-school b-before and I j-just m-moved here."

"Ooooh, that's why I've never seen you around before!" Arcee said loudly. "I knew I would've noticed a femme as pretty as you."

Elita-1's face flushed blue as she shrunk down in her seat as everyone in the classroom turned to stare at them.

"Arcee, don't tell me you're trying to get the newbie in trouble on your first day", the professor called loudly. Arcee just grinned at him.

"Sorry, Professor. But it's like I said, she's so pretty, I couldn't help but talk to her."

Elita-1 hid her faceplate in her servo to hide how blue it was. She faintly heard Tailgate sigh, causing Elita-1 to peek out from behind her servos. She glanced over at Arcee, who was smiling brightly.

The professor sighed loudly, before talking sternly. "Just stop talking to her, Arcee, and pay attention to the lesson."

Arcee nodded enthusiastically, which most people in the class knew was fake. The professor started drawling on about the lesson, and Elita-1 started trying to pay attention to take notes on her datapad, but a message popped up on her screen. She frowned, squinting her optics before opening the message.

-He never said we couldn't message each other-

Elita-1 giggled and glanced over at Arcee, who was smiling widely at her. Elita-1 ducked her head down and blushed, before typing out a message.

-You're a troublemaker, aren't you?-

-You know it. :P -

Elita-1 giggled again, which drew a few looks from other students in the class and she instantly quieted down and focused on taking notes again.

-Aww, come on, don't let them get to you. If we get in trouble, it means we can skip class.-

-Why would you want to skip class?-

-Cause it's boring! I'd rather be learning how to fight. Like the gladiators in the pits of Kaon!-

-You want to be a gladiator?- Elita-1 glanced at the blue and pink femme who was typing furiously.

-Yeah!! They're so cool. Especially the one who's our age. I think he was a miner at some point because he doesn't have a designation. He's just known as D-16!-

Elita-1's optics widened and she flinched ever so slightly.

-D-16 is a bully.-

-You know him?!-

-I did. He was mean, and ruthless. If you went up against him, you'd die. Besides, he's way taller than both me and you combined.-

-Fair enough.-

Elita-1 was about to type another message when her datapad was snatched from her servos.

"Professor, the newbie and Arcee are messaging each other!" a silver and red seekerling shouted. Elita-1 flinched at the high pitched sound of her? voice.

"Thank you, Starscream", the professor said, and walked over to the two. Elita-1 shrunk down in her seat.

"Arcee and Elita-1, go see the principal. Tailgate, I trust you to make sure they get there."

Tailgate nodded, and stood. Elita-1 followed, slinking out of the classroom. As soon as the door shut behind Arcee, the blue femme startled laughing.

"I can't believe I got you in trouble on your first day! That's great!"

Elita-1 flinched. "You were actively trying to get me in trouble?" There was no stutter in her voice.

"Yeah! Isn't this great?! Now we can skip class!"

"No, it's not great! I actually like learning and being in class! So getting in trouble on my first day is not what I would call great!"

Elita-1 was shouting now, and there was shocked look on Arcee's face. Elita-1 turned and stormed off, walking over to Tailgate.

"Where's the office? So I can talk to the principal about getting in trouble because of someone actively trying to get me in trouble."

Arcee started yelling at her. "Hey! You didn't have to respond to my message! But you did anyway!"

Elita-1 ignored her, fighting back the tears in her optics. If her parental units found out about this... she was going to be in so much trouble... She followed Tailgate to  the office, ignoring Arcee who trailed behind, scowling at the back of Elita-1.

The secretary glanced at the trio, and sighed softly. "Go on back to class, Tailgate. Principal Perceptor will be out in a few minutes to talk to these two."

Elita-1 stood there, hugging herself, while Arcee still scowled at her. The blue and gold femme ignored the looks and waited patiently for the Principal to talk to them. She kept her face blank, as well as her mind, refusing to think about her parental units.

A door opened nearby, and a bot Elita-1 recognized to be the principal walked out. As soon as his optics passed over Arcee, he sighed.

"Again, Arcee? You know if you keep up this behavior, you're going to have to stay in school for a year longer."

Arcee snorted. "I don't see why I need to be in school when I'm just going to be a gladiator!"

Preceptor sighed again. "Not everything is as it seems, Arcee. There are some things about the gladiators that you wouldn't know unless you've experienced it. Like Elita-1 here."

The aforementioned femme flinched, and squeezed her optics shut. That did nothing to block out the images that forced their way into her mind. She started trembling, and nearly jumped out of her armor when a servo was placed on her shoulder.

"I apologize, Elita-1. I did not mean to bring up any painful memories."

"It's okay, Principal Perceptor." She gave a weak smile, glancing down at the floor.

"What happened to you?" Arcee asked bluntly. Elita-1 flinched once more at the tone.

"Something you do not need to concern yourself about", the headbot answered for Elita.

Elita looked away from Arcee, and scuffed a pede against the floor, a feeling of extreme awkwardness overtaking her.

Perceptor sighed. "Go back to class, the both of you. I'll let this one go just because Elita-1 is new. I won't be this kind further on. Am I clear?"

Both Arcee and Elita-1 nodded, and walked back to class. The blue and gold femme was honestly surprised Arcee was coming back, but she mentally shrugged it off.

She sat quietly for the rest of the lecture, taking notes when she could between the intermittent memories. Eventually, class was dismissed and she hurried out of the classroom, and outside, where she started sprinting home. 

Airachnid jolted up, wincing as her injuries began stinging again. She shook her head, trying to get rid of the memories that were flowing into her head. She sighed, and clenched her digits into a fist. "I won't break", she muttered to herself. "I won't tell Arcee who I really am."

This wasn't the first time she had a dream of Arcee, and she knew it wouldn't be the last. She wished they would stop, but she supposed it was just added torture to remind her of everything that they used to have. Before she was changed.

Each time Airachnid had a dream, she had to fight the urge to tell Arcee who she really was. And she had done good thus far, and she felt she was going to succeed again this time. But even as she told herself she wouldn't tell Arcee, the memories of the past kept flitting through her mind, and Airachnid couldn't resist sending an anonymous message to the Autobots.