While the kids were coming down the stairs, they had noticed that among their guardians was someone that they don't see very often coming and someone was very happy to see him as that person even began to blush lightly.
"Hey, looks like Optimus is here to pick you up again, Ems." Miko said as she nudged Emily with her elbow.
"Yeah." Emily said softly while blushing a little more.
"Someone here is blushing." Miko teased but Emily just rolled her eyes in amusement at her.
"So what? You're the one who got distracted by mister Tai during the Pop Quiz. What do you say to that missy?" Emily teased back Miko blushed.
"Just shut up." Miko blushed while pushing Emily playfully which she returned and causing the two to laugh.
The group was enjoying the fun after a hard day at school when suddenly they were stopped by someone who was waiting for them and it was the last person that they ever wanted to bump into.
"Hey." It was Vince, he had surprised everyone to the core.
And none of them were very thrilled to see him since his presence would always mean and spell trouble for the four. The bots, who were still parked in different spots, saw the kids who had come out
"Hey, look, it's the kids. And… hold on. Is that Vince?" Bulkhead perked up but he instantly got a bad feeling when he saw the ginger oranged haired teen.
Bumblebee beeps an uh oh sound since he knew what it meant for their friends.
"This is bad." Arcee said with a frown as Optimus was confused.
"Who is this Vince kid you speak of?" Optimus asked curiously.
"He's the kid you once saved from Knock Out. Back when we had that street racing situation." Bulkhead explained.
Optimus starts recalling the night he saved a human that Knock Out had in his possession and realized that it was the same kid the kids are being confronted.
"So that's Vince. Why do you say that this is bad, Arcee?" Optimus asked curiously.
"Because he's a well known bully around these parts." Arcee said but the word confused Optimus.
"What is a bully?" Optimus asked in confusion.
"Basically trouble." Bulkhead said.
Bumblebee beeps to say that they should do something before their friends get hurt.
"Negative, Bumblebee, we must stay hidden. If someone sees us in our true form, our cover will be blown. I'm sure the kids will take care of him properly without our support." Optimus said as the three were a bit tense right now.
"I hope you're right, Optimus." Arcee whispered.
Back at the stairs, Emily and the others were still surprised to see Vince and they were wondering what he wanted now.
"What do you want, Vince? More trouble?" Emily asked while crossing her arms.
"No, not at all. I felt really bad about the way I acted today. And I wanted to tell you how sorry I am for being such a jerk." Vince said as Jack scoffed.
"Ha, that's a good one. You, feeling so bad to the point of apologizing? As if." Jack said with a suspicious look.
"We appreciate your apologies. Now if you'll excuse us, we have work to do." Emily tells him as the group tries to keep going but they stop when Vince grabs Emily's wrist all of a sudden.
"Hey, hey, wait a minute. I believe that since I said I was sorry. You can do something for me in return." Vince said as Emily looked at their hands and back at him with a slight annoyed look.
The group started to wonder what Vince wanted. The Autobots were watching how the situation was going. Optimus felt a bit worried at how Vince grabbed Emily's hand without her agreement and he couldn't help but feel the protective instinct in him.
"What is this young man doing?" Optimus question as it almost sounded like a growl.
"Oh scrap, here he goes again. Vince has started to drag Emily, poor girl." Bulkhead explained. This has been going on and Bulkhead always feel worried for Emily.
"That's the fifth time he has done that. She always says no and yet he keeps doing it." Arcee said as she was also feeling angry at Vince but protective of Emily.
"Are you saying that this young man has been bothering Emily?" Optimus asked in shock.
"More or less." Bulkhead said.
"Perhaps, I should assist her." Optimus said as he was ready to give Vince a little warning.
"Don't, Optimus, Emily can handle him. She's a big girl after all." Arcee said.
She was taken aback at what Optimus was doing. Didn't he say that they should let the kids deal with this?
Back at the stairs, Emily was getting annoyed as she tried to get her wrist free.
"Hey, what gives? Let go of my hand." Emily said with an angry look.
"Slow down, girl, no need to be rough. All I want is for you to go out with me." Vince said with a smirk and that grossed the four out.
"Eww, not again." Miko gagged in disgust.
"I think we've already had this conversation already." Emily said with a small sneer.
"We did." Vince said.
"And you already know that my direct answer to your request is no. I won't go out with you." Emily said as she was getting angry.
"Why wouldn't you go out with me? I know why but the reason you always give me gets a bit old don't you think? Unless you have a new reason for saying no, I'm afraid I won't stop." Vince said as he tightened his grip on her wrist.
"Well, I don't care how old it gets. I'm not going out with you because I'm way older than you. And here's your new reason. You're not a good guy. So you can forget about us going because it's never gonna happen. There's no way I'll ever go out with a guy like you. I deserve better." Emily explained to him.
"Right." Miko nodded in agreement.
The group tried to leave but Vince wouldn't let go of Emily's wrist.
"Come on, girl, you wanna try and have some fun. Just say yes and I'll make sure you never forget this night." Vince offered and that disgusted them all.
"Stop it, Vince. This has gone far enough." Jack said as he was feeling angry right now.
"Let go of my hand, Vince. I don't want any trouble." Emily warned him.
"I know you say you don't wanna get in trouble. But come on, girl, try and have some fun. I promise that you won't regret it." Vince said and Emily was feeling more angry and disgusted right now.
"Let go, Vince." Emily said with a small growl.
Back at the parking spot, Optimus didn't like how things were going. Emily had politely asked Vince to leave but he didn't listen. He felt very concerned and wanted to help Emily now.
"It seems that this young man is not listening to Emily's request of leaving calmly. Perhaps I should assist her." Optimus said as he was feeling himself become protective right now.
"You can't, Optimus. You just said it earlier. We must maintain our cover at all costs." Arcee said as she tried to get him to stop.
"She's right, Prime. I'm sure Emily will find a way to make this bully leave. But for that to happen we must let her handle this on her own. Which is something that a certain Miss person here should try to understand when it comes to his special friend." Bulkhead said as he pointed out a certain someone.
"Well, I think that a certain mister big lug should mind his own business and let others handle things their way." Arcee said with a roll of her optics.
"You know what mister big lug says to you? Let that special person try and figure things his own way." Bulkhead retorted.
"Enough, you two, Bumblebee is in charge. I'll be right back." Optimus said but Bumblebee beeps to tell him not to go.
"The kids need our help, Bumblebee. Stay here, it won't be long." Optimus said before he turned on his engine and drove back a little bit fast yet carefully not to hit something.
When he's out of his parking spot, he starts driving to where the kids are to help his friends.
"Scrap. This is your fault, Bulkhead." Arcee said with a grumble.
"My fault? More like your fault." Bulkhead argued back.
Bumblebee beeps angrily for both Arcee and Bulkhead to stop arguing and that they should go with Optimus.
"Bee, Optimus specifically told us to stay here." Arcee said.
Bumblebee beeps to both Arcee and Bulkhead that his orders were to keep their disguise on and if he goes there rushing in like that, he might ruin things. With that said, Bumblebee started going in reverse and when he was out of his parking spot, he started driving to where Optimus was going.
"Argh… come on, Bulkhead." Arcee says and ignites her engine and turns on her holoform driver, Sadie.
"We gotta go get there fast. Move it, slowpoke." Arcee said as she started going reversed.
When she's out of her parking spot, she drove to join the others.
"I'm not slow." Bulkhead said as he followed Arcee
Back at the stairs, the situation was escalating very badly.
"Let go of my hand, Vince. You don't wanna do that." Emily warned her with a glare.
"Now, now, no need to get overdramatic." Vince said as he tightened his grip more and Emily was sure that it was gonna leave a bruise.
"That's enough, Vince." Jack said angrily.
"Let go of our friend." Raf said angrily. He didn't like how Vince was treating his friend and big sister figure.
"Didn't you have enough for one day, four eyes?" Vince taunted Raf.
That was the last straw. Emily was able to free her wrist and push back Vince to make him stop as she glared at him.
"You can bother me all you want. But leave my friends alone." Emily said angrily with her eyes glowing slightly.
"Okay, but for that you'll have to go out with me. That's the deal." Vince said with a smug smile.
Everyone was shocked at what Vince did. Offering Emily a deal in which she would have no choice but to go out with him in order for him to leave her friends alone.
But suddenly they heard a loud roar of an engine. Vince looked around and saw that the loud engine noise came from a huge semi truck that was parked behind him. Optimus started to rev out his engine to make the noise coming out of it louder. He didn't like how the young man was treating Emily and he made sure to give him a warning by revving up his engine.
Vince took a cautious step back while Emily stood beside the semi truck while crossing her arms.
"You should go now before my truck driver friend starts getting mad." Emily warned him.
"Hmph, whatever. I'll see you losers some other time. If you get tired of your truck driver friend, call me." Vince said as he went to his car.
Vince got inside his car and drove off, much to everyone's relief.
"Selfish jerk." Jack huffed.
"Are you kids okay?" Optimus asked in concern as he stopped revving up his engine as the kids turned to him.
"We're fine but what was that, Optimus?" Jack asked in confusion.
They have never seen that side of Optimus before. What was that all about?
"Yeah what gives? Good thing that Emily made up a cover for you." Miko said as she punched Emily lightly on the arm as she let out a small smile.
Bumblebee along with Arcee and Bulkhead arrived and the three wasted no time to ask Optimus what he was thinking.
"Optimus, with all due respect, what were you thinking?" Arcee asked in confusion.
"You almost blew our cover, boss." Bulkhead said as Bumblebee agreed with him.
"I'm… sorry. I don't know what came over me. I was just afraid that young man might hurt someone." Optimus apologizes. Even he was confused about what he did.
"Who, Vince? Nah, he acts as if he's all of that but deep down he's just a selfish jerk." Jack said as he went to Arcee.
"Thanks for the help, Optimus. One more second and I would've been forced to go out with him. You really took a huge risk to help us." Emily said as she smiled sweetly at him and Optimus felt his spark warm at her smile.
"As members of Team Prime, your safety is the top priority of all Autobots." Optimus said warmly.