I walked down the street towards the restaurant. As soon as I stepped inside, Mr. Xu marched over to me like I had done something horrible and even hit me. In my shock and surprise I was frozen in place and could only stare at him. "You are late!" he snapped. I gazed at the clock. Five minutes. I am five minutes late. "I am sorry... traffic..." he cut me off by raising his hand and pointed at the kitchen. "Get in there and don't show me your face again!" he snapped. I flinched and quickly walked off. I rubbed my cheek as I made my way over to the kitchen. Maybe Sideswipe was right, maybe this isn't the perfect job, but what am I supposed to do? I wanted to earn money badly so I could look after myself. Despite what happened, I pushed it aside and started working. It was a long busy day and Mr. Xu told me to take the plates off the tables. He didn't want me to show my face to other people but didn't have much choice.

I walked in and was surprised to see the twins. I took their empty plates. "What are you doing here?" I asked. "Trying to see how you're doing and eating," Sunstreaker replied. "Are you coming with me to the base after you're done?" Sideswipe asked. "No, no... I am busy for a couple more hours and— you know, I have to get up early so—" I trailed off. "I need to talk to you anyway," Sideswipe stated. I opened my mouth but Mr. Xu marched over to me. He was not happy. "They're waiting for you in the kitchen." I glanced at the twins before I turned around and walked off. I placed the plates on the counter and started to do the dishes again. "Did I tell you I could talk to them?" Mr. Xu snapped and hit the back of my head. "I am sorry. I know them so—" he hit me again. "I don't care. I don't want you to waste time. I didn't hire you. You can chat with everyone. You stay here in the kitchen from now on!" He snapped. Saddened, I continued working and once I was done it was already past midnight.

I left the restaurant towards the alley where I stayed for the night more often and sat down. "Amethyst, you can't stay here." Sunstreaker halted. "Come on. Let's go to the base. I promise you'll be in time tomorrow," I gave a small nod and hopped in his alt-mode. I was really tired so we didn't say much. Sunstreaker escorted me to my room. "I'll be here half past seven tomorrow, alright?" I nodded and said my goodnight.
The next morning Sunstreaker was in time like he promised and handed me a sandwich he made me. "Thanks!" I started eating while Sunstreaker led me around towards his alt-mode. "We need to talk to you after you finish, okay?" He asked. I swallowed my bite, alright."

As soon as Sunstreaker had dropped me off I started my shift. I was in a good mood today, despite Mr. Xu's hard and mean comments. When I finished, Sunstreaker was there to pick me up.. He leaned against his alt-mode with his arms crossed. "Come on." I hopped in his alt-mode and buckled up. "How didn't you?" He asked. "It was tough. These days it's really busy, but it was fine," I sighed. "I was curious, the restaurant opens around 9? 10? Why do you need to be there so early at 7 in the morning?" He asked. "To unload the truck, do the cleaning, or the laundry. It's a bed and breakfast so behind the restaurant they have a few rooms. It's not too big but people stay there frequently," I explained. He ohh'ed. "Made some friends?" He asked. "Uhm, nog yet. They don't want to talk to me. I do everything alone."

Sunstreaker arched his brow as he looked at me. "They are taking advantage of you, Amethyst," he said. "Sunstreaker, I have not much of a choice. "This is really important to me. I never had a job and after 30 job interviews someone finally wants to hire me. I don't really care what I do. You know how hard living on the streets is and how it feels to be dumped. I was five when I got dumped. I didn't have a brother to fall back on and I survived."
"I know. Sideswipe told me about it," he said. I sucked in a breath and sat back, glancing at Sunstreaker. "It's not always a bad thing to ask for help," he said. "I don't want to ask for help. I want to do it on my own and I know I can do it on my own. I never said it would be easy but I had a rough start in general. Would you? Did you seek help?" I asked. "Not at the beginning but along the way I learned it would help. Optimus saved my life in the arena's and from that moment on, the team I have now took us in and looked after us," he stated. "Yeah, well... humans are cruel. They torture and kill each other or it's all deceit. Especially for parasites or street rats like us. It's okay. I can live with it."

Sunstreaker glanced at me. "The only thing my mother gave me... was this necklace. I can't obvious not afford it but my mom gave it to me before she left at the side of the road and took off. I knew, when she drove off I had to look after myself. I did a very good job, and went into the woods. I had a huge fascination for nature so I had movies and documentaries on the TV about wildlife. I knew what I could eat and not. The nights were scary and I have had bad and good days but I survived. The cops showed up when I was 13 and placed me in foster care which wasn't any better. I have a couple of friends here and there. The only one I see as a brother is Jack. He's 15 years old, drug addicted but I looked after him and saved him so many times. We met years back when I was fourteen and Jack 11 at the time. I shared my food with him and we became close friends."

Sunstreaker smiled a little bit while he rolled into the base. "You don't have to work tomorrow, right?" He asked. "No, luckily not," I sighed relieved. "We need to discuss a few things with you, but get some sleep first," he stated. I nodded and he escorted me back to my room.