Fast and Furious: Future (editing and adding to)

Chapter 1: 1327

'Nah,you know I can't,' I reminded him.

Andréturned to me from checking my engine. Why not? There's a slot andyour driving is more than perfect.'

Foldingmy arms, I told him why. 'I can't afford another hit. Not afterlast month.' Indeed, my last race cost me a whole front end to fixand my car account was running low.

'ThenI'll lend you the cash,' he offered.

Keepingmy instant frustration at bay, I looked for an escape route and soonfound one. Heading off through the crowd, I found one of the raceorganisers. Of course, this was street racing so he was one of thelow-key guys. 'Ed! Hold up.'

Hewas accompanied by an overly pretty girl in tight denim shorts and atank top that showed the tops of her boobs a little too much. 'Ella,what can I do you for? There's a race slot free,' he suggested inhis slightly Mexican accent.

'Yeh,I know. Listen, do you have a lookout position that needs filling?'

Seeminglydisappointed, he bowed his head. 'Ella, Ella. You should race. Ican fit you in, it's no big deal.'

'Nothanks,' I said hastily. 'I'm low on funds.'

Iliked Ed. He was more of an acquaintance but he knew my family,especially my dad. They used to race together before things got bad.'It's not a big race. Three thousand dollars but no worries.'He went to walk away but turned back. 'Although, I hear there's arookie who's high on the odds.'

Ilaughed. 'Ha, you know as well as I that rookies always lose firsttime. Especially round here,' I added, remembering a story fromtwenty-five years ago.

'Notthis one. He's been in town a couple of months now and his car hassome serious shit in it.'

'Hmm,what's he got?' I was merely curious.

'Athree seventy zee.' That was a Nissan model.

'André,how quickly can you get me three thousand dollars?'

'Gotit on me right now.' And he handed me a roll of bills.

Kissinghim on the cheek, I shut my hood before getting to the start line(which was also the finish line). As I had the last slot, I wasfourth in the line of sports cars. The one next to me was a Toyota.It was customary in this neighbourhood to shake hands with each ofthe other drivers. So I did, noting car two as another Ford (thoughnot a Mustang) and car one as the Nissan 370Z. The driver was leantagainst the front passenger wing and his look of shock amused me.

'Yourace?' he asked, taking my outstretched hand.

'Suredo. So, how does a rookie afford a Honda anda Nissan?' I asked, knowing they were both modified and one ran onNos tanks.

'Smallfortune.' I almost didn't believe him but his eyes held nothingbut truth in them.

Thecrowd began to split. 'Alright, alright,' came Ed's voice overthe spectators. 'Let's do this!'

Hemust be the race starter, I thought to myself as I shut my car door.Ed spoke some more but I had to get 'into the zone', as it were.'See the win. See the win,' I repeated to myself, imagining mycar crossing the line ahead of the others. 'See the win.' Istopped and watched Ed.

Mywindow was down so I could hear. 'On my mark.' I shifted intofirst and held the clutch with my right foot over the gas pedal.'Three... Two... One... GO!'

Myfoot instantly went down and the rev needle spun round. Just beforeit hit the redline, I shifted up. The jolt of acceleration hit me andI began to buzz in tune with my five point five litre, twin turbo, V6engine. I had missed this feeling more than I thought.