A Mute Friendship

Strange Sights

Orion Tegan Crodly made his way out of the high school, avoiding large groups of kids and keeping an eye out for Vince, the school bully.

He had been named Orion by his single mother, who thought a unique name would make him more self-confident. She was wrong. No one knew he real name, as he always told others that his name was Tegan.

"Tegan! Tegan, wait!"

Tegan didn't hear his name being called for one simple fact... he was mute and deaf. His eye sight was terrible.

The boy felt someone grab his shoulder and spun around, fear assaulting him with images of Vince and some of the bigger boys ready to tease him. Instead, he found Jack Darby, who held up his hands as he spoke.

Tegan could lip read, and he also understood sign language, but had forced himself to learn how to lip read since not many people could use sign language.

"Hey, Tegan." Jack said, smiling at him. "I was wondering if you wanted to come and play some video games with Raf and I."

Tegan shook his head silently. He didn't trust anyone to not make fun of him when they weren't near teachers or others. He was able to make out the blurry figure of Vince approaching and shook his head more rapidly, turning and running away from the two boys.

Jack POV:

Jack's shoulders slumped. He felt sorry for the new boy. He had no idea what it would be like to not be able to speak, hear and barely see. Tegan's arrival had averted Vince's attention from himself to the little special needs boy.

"That's right! You run you little freak!" Vince shouted after the black haired boy.

Jack turned around to face the bully. "Maybe you should leave Tegan alone, Vince." He said, anger lightly raining his tone.

Vince looked at him and laughed. "Why would I do that, geek?" He demanded haughtily, turning to look after the kid. "Maybe I'll see if I can have a friendly conversation with him. Oh, yeah, he can't even hear!"

Jack glared after the orange haired boy as he walked off, and for a moment, he wished Optimus Prime had allowed the kid to be taken by the decepticons.

He sighed as Miko and Raf arrived.

"Hey Jack!" Miko greeted him enthusiastically. "Still gonna play try to beat me?" She asked, pointing her finger closely to his face.

"I don't know, Miko. Vince was after Tegan again." Jack answered, staring at the place where the boy had disappeared, something the new kid was adapt at doing.

"Poor Tegan." Raf shook his head sympathetically, knowing all too well how cruel Vince could be.

"Well then, why don't we go after him?" Miko asked, excited. "It'd be fun to try to find him!"

Jack looked over his shoulder at the place where Arcee would be any moment.

"Aw, come on, Jack!" Miko appeared in front of him. "Don't you want to help him?"

Jack sighed. "Fine. But we have to leave him alone if he doesn't want us around." He answered, Miko jumping in the air. "Yes! Come on! He's already got a head start!"

Sighing again at the never ending energy of the young asian girl, Jack ran after her in an attempt to catch up.

Tegan's POV

Tegan made his way down the back streets of the small town, trying to make his way to his grandmother's home without unwanted attention or detection by Vince and his gang.

He liked the back streets a lot because of how quiet they were... less chance of being hit by a car because you're a near-blind freak, right?

Tegan brushed the black hair out of his strange purple eyes that had begun to tear up. Sniffing, he used the sleeve of his black shirt to wipe away the sign of weakness as he stepped out into another alley... without looking.

Out of nowhere, a dark purple car squealed around the corner, striking him in the left side. Tegan had seen the blurred purple shape and jumped, but still struck the windshield painfully, rolling over the top of the car to fall off the back, winded and bruised. He had a slight suspicion that he had cracked a rib, or broken an arm.

Regardless of the pain, Tegan was still unable to make any noise to express it, rolling up onto one arm to stare at the car, that had stopped a few meters away.

Fear crushed the boy's emotionally distraught soul as the car began to shift and twist into a large humanoid robot.

Tegan stared up in fear at the tall robot, but the fear began to fade. His cursed eyesight was messing with him again... It couldn't be a ...

Movement in the corner of his eye caused the boy to turn, making out the blurry form of Jack Darby, Miko and Rafael, the only three kids that ever said hi to him.

Their mouths were moving rapidly as they shouted at him, pointing at the large robotic humanoid, thingy.

Looking back up at it, Tegan saw a bright pink light getting brighter. Squinting he realized it was some sort of gun. And it was aimed right for him...