Eight months passed.

Eight months.

Absolutely no sign Zoey wanted to go back.

Zoey refused to look at the three vehicles in the parking lot. She barely noticed herself walking right by them, the gaze of their optics following her was enough for her to know. Suddenly, she stopped. Zoey looked at the ground, her eyes closing, sighing. She turned to look at the vehicles and her feet started to move, walking towards them. ::What's she doing? She normally doesn't do this....:: Bulkhead commed. ::I don't know, but what if she's going to ask to come back!?:: Bumblebee commed. ::Maybe, but she's stopping, so she's about to talk.:: Arcee commed. Zoey gazed at the three vehicles standing in front of her. A blue motorcycle with pink accents, a yellow Camero with black racing stripes, and an armored, green Hummer. She sighed. "Listen, I'm not asking to come back. I just wanted to tell you school's ending soon, meaning that there will be a lot of free time since summer's about to start. Well, you guys won't be seeing me for the next few years. I'm a senior, meaning that this is my last year at school. I'm also at the top of my class. That means I've been asked to join colleges. And I already sent my application, and it was accepted. I'm not telling where the college is, but know this; I'm spending the summer moving to a small apartment there because it's in a different state. But, please, tell the others goodbye for me," Zoey said, her voice quieting at the end.

With that, she turned around and walked away. Almost as soon as she walked away, the three kids ran up to their guardians. "Zoey talked to you?! What did she want?" Miko asked. "Is she coming back?" Raf asked. "What did she say?" Jack asked. "Whoa, calm down. We'll explain at base," Arcee replied. With that, the kid hopped on/in the vehicles and started driving away towards the base. The 'Bots were strangely quiet on the ride, all the way to the base. After the kids hopped off/out, the 'Bots transformed. "Did something happen?" Optimus asked. He noticed the three's hesitation and silence. "It's something that happened while waiting for Jack, Miko, and Raf. It's something everyone should hear," Bulkhead replied. Optimus nodded and Ratchet walked away. Only one 'Bot had been absent, and I think you can figure out who it is. Ratchet walked back into the main room with Smokescreen following after a few minutes. "Alright, now that we're all here, what happened?" Jazz asked. The three 'Bots looked at each other before the two mechs looked at Arcee. With a sigh, she started.

"We were sitting in the parking lot, waiting for Jack, Miko, and Raf to get out of school. Zoey started to pass by, but she stopped and walked towards us. We all thought she was going to ask us to come back, but she started by saying she wasn't going to. Instead, she explained to us that she was the top of the senior class, meaning that colleges had asked for her to join. She already sent her application and was accepted. Though the college she was accepted to is out of state, and she's spending the whole summer moving out there," Arcee explained. Everyone looked at the ground. Sure, they expected it, but it had come too soon. Jack would go through the same thing by the time school ended for summer next year, as he was now a senior from being a junior. But he would still keep in contact. Zoey, however, had cut off every bit of contact. Going as far as to block Jack, Miko, and Raf's numbers on her phone. And now she was moving to a completely different state for college. "Did she say anything else?" Drift asked. "She said to tell everyone else goodbye...." Arcee replied. Silence filled the base. "We'll never see her again...." Jack whispered.

"Well, we may be able to find her again," Raf said. Instantly everyone turned to look hopefully at the nearly-fourteen-year-old. "Well, if I hack into the databases of all the colleges in the United States, and cross-reference Zoey, I should be able to find out which college she's going to," Raf explained, getting out his laptop and starting to hack. After typing in some information and uploading a picture of Zoey, a small beeping sound came from the laptop, almost like a heart monitor. "Searching...." he muttered. After a few moments, the laptop beeped once before no sound came. "Got it!" Raf said. "Well? What college?" Miko asked. "It says she's been accepted into-" Raf cut off. "What? What is it?" Smokescreen asked. "I-It says she's been accepted into Brooklyn College, located in New York City!" Raf exclaimed. "WHAT?!" some 'Bots and humans exclaimed. "That can't be right!" Arcee said. "I'm not joking, and it isn't some glitch! It says right here: Applicant Zoey Ann Woods. Birthday-December 2, 1999. Current age-18. First-year student, starting in the fall of 2018. It even shows a picture of her!" Raf replied, showing the others the screen of his laptop.

After a closer inspection, the 'Bots realized that it really was Zoey. "B-But why would she even go to that college? It's on the other side of the US!" Jack asked. "Perhaps because it not only had the major she was going to take but also to put distance between her and us...." Ratchet replied. "What are we gonna do? We'll never see her again in years..." Miko whispered. "Optimus?" Smokescreen asked, looking up at the leader. "We will allow Zoey to go to this college of choice. It is her choice, and we have no say over what she does. But, after she settles into her new home, we can send someone there to see her and try talking to her," Optimus replied. After some hesitation, the group nodded. They would wait, and, when it was time, go see their friend.

Summer went by quickly, and school started once again. Miko loathed it, as did Jack and Raf, but not to the same extent as Miko. Raf actually liked school, but he didn't like it because of the bullies and the fact that he didn't have nearly as much time to spend with Bumblebee. Jack didn't particularly like school, he only liked it because he got to spend some time pretending he was a normal kid. But school for Zoey was actually kinda fun.

I know, I know, you must think she's crazy. But she's not. Sure, it consisted of a bunch of lectures and running around to different classes, but she quite enjoyed learning more about being a writer, since her major was in creative writing and her minor was in studio art. Very interesting, don't you think? Well, she did want to be a writer since she was a little girl, hence the fact she was already writing very popular books by the time she met the Autobots. Eventually, November was coming to an end. Though she did have Thanksgiving break to go see family, she didn't take the chance and stayed in her apartment, enjoying a nice Thanksgiving break all to herself. She didn't exactly want to spend hundreds of dollars on plane tickets to go to Jasper then come back, and she couldn't just drive the distance, so she sent handmade cards to her family. But, as December approached, she began to notice someone on campus. He looked to be a few years older than her, but she never did get a good look at him since when she looked at him, he was there for barely a second before disappearing.

But, on December second, she was sitting in her apartment. She didn't have any classes since it was a Sunday. She had slept in until ten in the morning before getting up and brushing her teeth, hair, then changing her pajamas into normal, comfy 'around-the-house' clothing. That consisted of a light purple T-shirt that had 'Jasper High' written in big, fancy lettering on the back. She wore dark gray pajama pants with it, her hair tied up in a messy bun. After cooking herself and eating some brunch, she sat down on the couch and started to sort through some mail. A bill or two, some junk mail, and a bunch of birthday cards and presents. Her family and close friends had sent her some birthday gifts, and they had arrived either slightly earlier than her birthday or on the day itself. With a smile, Zoey put the birthday presents on the coffee table before standing up and walking into the kitchen. She didn't have a dining room, but the kitchen did have a large island that seated three people on one side, on the other was the stove with some cabinets. Zoey grabbed some ingredients, being flour, butter, milk, eggs, vanilla, baking powder, sugar, salt, and a can of whipped frosting. Anyone could tell what she was making.

After mixing together the ingredients, Zoey poured the batter into a pan and put it in the oven, already preheated. She set the timer for a half hour before walking out of the kitchen, about to flop down on the couch, when there was a light knock at the door. Zoey sighed before walking over to the door. After taking a look through the peephole, she gasped. It was the same man she had seen that seemingly stalked her. She unlocked the door and opened it up, getting to see the man. He had pale skin that blended well with his white hair. The hair was slicked up and the color contrasted with the streak of red on each side of his head. There was a small bit of hair going down in front of his ear, like a barely visible sideburn, with two small bits of red hair on his chin. He wore a black shirt underneath his white jacket that had two blue streaks down the area next to the zipper, one of each side, and two small rectangles on each shoulder. The outside of the sleeves had a thick stripe of blue going down all the way to the end of the sleeves. The sleeves had been bunched up at the end a bit, revealing the gray, fingerless gloves he wore. His blue jeans were slightly ripped at the bottom but bunched up to try and hide it. He finished off the look with a pair of red converse and a white smile. His blue eyes were the same shade as Zoey's (Picture above. I found it on Google and I was like, "HOLY SMOKES, SMOKESCREEN LOOKS AWESOME"). Zoey's eyes widened as she uttered a name she never expected to say again.

"Smokescreen?"