The Animal Room

*This is Mrs. Genera, the teacher of the Animal Room. Expect to see more of her in the chapters to come with her new class!*

Oh this is so nervewrecking! I-I-I hope I can c-c-control these kids!

So you must be the audience Penny told me about. My name is Phylla Genera, the Animal Room teacher for second grade. This will be the fourth year teaching and I haven't had students like this before. The fact that my best friend has children now is surprising indeed. But this takes things to a whole new level when she tells me they were robots! Can you even teach robots? But I hope I do a good job with them! My best friend is counting on me!

Oh here they are now! Wish me luck!

Mrs. Genera wiped the board down of all substances from the last school year. Her long magenta hair cascaded down her back as the door opened to reveal Optimus, Starscream, Ratchet, Bulkhead, and Dreadwing. All of them looked at her with curious optics, holding their backpacks in their servos. They all had hoodies on with different colors and patterns on them. The one in front had a smile on his face that reminded her of the smile her father would give her to comfort her at night. Behind him was one face that a grandfather would relate to, grumpy and irritable. The green one gave her a big dopey smile as he ran up and gave her hug on her leg. She momentarily freaked out inside at the child touching her, shivering a bit inside. The other two with the red eyes was looking around the classroom with interest, the snobbish looking one with a look of pure excitement.

Mrs. Genera's class was often called the "Dead Animal" room by many of the students. It was a fact that she loved animals so much that she kept them around the classroom. A bear pelt was hung on the ceiling, it's maw wide and open. The wallpaper had different ecosystems on them, ranging from African savanna to Artic tundra. Each desktop had a name tag with a different animal pattern on them. Stuffed animals littered the cabinet tops, their beady eyes peering at all the students. Posters of the animal kingdom classifications were put up around the room. But the crown jewel was the science station in the back of the room. A bookshelf containing only books relating to animals were neatly placed and organized by category. Massive empty tanks were placed back there as well, ready to be filled with Mrs. Genera's class pets.

"Um....can you please let go of my leg?" The timid teacher asked Bulkhead quietly. The green bot obliged after seeing her scared face. He cocked his head to the side, curious at why his teacher had a redden face.

"You have no reason to fear us Mrs...?" Optimus reassured her, making her calm down a bit.

"My, you talk well for someone of your age!" Genera exclaimed, her face flushing quite scarlet now. "Do you read a lot of books?"

"Does he?" Starscream answered sarcastically, finally finding his desk and sitting in it. "He always has his helm in a book! He probably brought some to class today as well!"

Optimus gave a sheepish look before stuffing the eight books he had brought from home in his backpack.

"I don't mind if you have books out dear. I love a good reader! You will do well in my class!" Genera said, making him take a book out. "What about you others? Miss Drake has talked great things about you all!"

"I am Starscream and I will enjoy having this class!"

"Dreadwing ma'am and you shall get no trouble from me."

"Nice to meet you! My name's Bulkhead!"

"I'm Ratchet, I like being a medic."

"Wow! She wasn't kidding about you guys being blunt either." Genera said, sweat dropping. "Well it will be nice to see you interacting with the rest of the students. Some of them usually come early in days like this, but you should adjust rather quickly. I am also to warn you about class policies and behavior, but I'm sure most of you know that Miss a Drake will get messages from me regarding any misconduct."

Before either of them could reply, a familiar African-American girl walked in the door with a rather loud BANG! Tanya looked around the room with awe and wonder before her eyes rested on the startled teacher and new students. A certain student in particular caught her eye as she ran over to where he was standing.

"Well if it isn't my knight in shining armor!" She hugged Optimus, causing him to topple over with her on top of him. "Remember me Optimus?"

"Tanya? The girl I met at the library?" Optimus recalled, his face still holding bewilderment. He hadn't expected her to be here at all. "What ar you doing here?"

"Duh! We have the same class apparently!" She got off him and picked him up from the floor. "I can finally have intelligent conversations with a normal person this year!"

"Optimus, aren't you going to introduce you to your friend?" Ratchet said, eyeing Tanya suspiciously.

"Oh yes! This is Tanya Carson, the girl who recommended those cool medical books for us!"

"Wait...this is the strange girl you met?" Dreadwing came from the back of the room to see her closely. "She sure is dressing funnily."

"Hey! My mommy picked this outfit for me!" Tanya said, placing her hands on her hips. "I wouldn't be talking like that to me hoodie boy!"

"Already causing trouble, huh Tanya?" Another girl walked in and waved at her. She had shoulder-length naturally blonde with brown highlights hair that's curly at the end, cerulean blue eyes with gold ring around pupil and a fair skin tone. She wore a royal blue shirt with beige skirt, black leggings, and blue flats with golden roses. On her back was her blue, gold, and black plaid backpack. "The school year hasn't even started yet!"

"Yo Nadia! I see you have new highlights! They look so cute!" Tanya commented, making the girl blush slightly.

"Thanks, my mom let me get them over the summer." Nadia then noticed the newer students standing by Mrs. Genera. "Are they new? I've never seen them before."

"Yeah, we just got here today!" Bulkhead said from his seat.

"I like those strange markings in your head follicles as well." Starscream leaned closer to see them. "Cool..."

Nadia twirled her hair on her finger. "I just added highlights and now everyone keeps giving me compliments!"

"Ah girls, can you go find your seats?" Mrs Genera asked, her face a bit worried for not talking in awhile. "This classroom fills up fast."

They both nodded and went to hunt for their seats. Tanya smiled as her chair was placed by Optimus. Nadia sighed happily, getting the back window seat away from the front. Nice place to relax and work, just as Che liked it.

The door opened again to reveal another blonde haired, blue eyed girl. She wore a red sundress that complimented her tanned skin, white flats, and a red handband in her hair. On her back was a red backpack decorated with glitter. She looked extremely uncomfortable, making the bots worry.

Mrs Genera leaned down to her level and smiled. "And what is your name sweetie?"

"Alexandra..." She muttered quietly, shying away from her teacher's gaze. "You can call me Alex if you want to."

"Alex..." Ratchet heard her along with the others. "Wonder why she is so scared."

"Go ahead and find your seat." Mrs. Genera instructed her gently, lest making her more frightened. Poor Alex nodded as she walked quietly around to find her chair, which was on the far right side of the room.

The bots thought it was sort of strange for her to be so scared. Tanya leaned over to whisper at Optimus.

"That's Alexandra Hopes, one of the shyest girls in our grade. A cutie to the boys, but so shy that she's practically invisible to society. Luckily she gets out of being bullied because of her looks."

"That sounds horrible! What made her like this?" Optimus asked her.

"No one knows, some say she had something scary happen to her."

The creak of the door opening caused them to look up at the strangest sight. It was a...female? Or was it a male? Either way, another blonde haired person walked in with brown eyes this time. It wore a white shirt and black leggings with shoes and a biege cardigan. The person had cut its hair so short that it was unrecognizable! Mrs. Genera was shocked to see the bored look on the student's face and looked at her chart. Then looked back at the person. Then back at the chart.

"You are Louis Holmes aren't you?" She asked the student, who gave her a sharp nod. "They said you were a...what gender are you sweetheart?"

"Why don't you figure it out? It isn't that hard to see!" Louis exclaimed, looking annoyed. Why was it that hard to figure out Louis? With a name like that, clothing like that, and hair so short, no one could identify the gender!

"Okay, you seem a bit sensitive about this. Why don't you sit next to Starscream? His seat is right by yours!"

"Whatever..." Louis walked to the seat and gave Starscream a look. "Why are you wearing a hoodie?"

Starscream started to panic a bit before coming up with a solution. "Why is your hair so short?"

"Nice comeback, but you will tell me eventually." Louis said, eyes glaring at him.

Starscream gulped at this, wondering if it was too late to go home.

A loud bump made its way from the door as it opened slightly to reveal another girl. Her shoulder-length black hair was in two ponytails tied with purple ribbons. Her eyes were dark blue, looking almost purple. She wore a purple top, black skirt, and black buckled shoes. She looked to be in a daze, trying to soak up everything and anything. She wasn't watching where she was going and ended up falling in the trash can, her legs sticking up. Squeals of shock came from the bin as she started to squirm. Tanya had to hold in her giggles while Louis scoffed at her. Alex peaked curiously at the commotion while Nadia sighed and got up out her chair to help. Before she could, Bulkhead beat her to the top, yanking the girl from the trash.

"Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself?" He wiped some of the grime and sludge from her skirt and shirt. "What happened? It's like you zoned out!"

"Who are you? Where am I?" The girl looked around in the unfamiliar place. "Why am I not at home?"

"You do realize you're in school right?" Ratchet asked the wide eyed girl politely.

"When did I get to school?" The girl looked at Bulkhead and smiled. "Are you a new student? Nice to meet you! My name is Violet Tiffs!"

"Bulkhead, nice to meet you too!" He shook her hand as she looked down at it. "What's wrong Violet?"

"I'm sorry, but can you tell me where I am? I think I may be lost!"

Mrs. Genera sat down at her desk and rubbed her forehead. This was going to be a long school year.