Chapter Ten ~ "Cars, dresses and races"
•Kade Westin•
It had been around four days since we went to the nightclub, and the most interesting thing any of us had probably had done was call Shawn to inform him that the microwave had exploded and that there were honey stains all over the kitchens. Please don't ask, and yes, my stupid cousin, Kyle, was involved.
Finally on the fourth day, right after we'd finished having breakfast and were sitting in the living room, just when I'd decided to take some initiative to get out of the house, Quinn came bursting into the villa from her daily run. Panting, she fished out a neon pink piece of paper from the back pocket of her shorts.
"Guys, look at this!" She said, exclaiming as she put the paper on the coffee table in the middle of the living room.
Kyra flattened the paper against the clear glass of the table and read the flyer out loud.
"Annual Street Race. To be held on the 25th of June at 5:30PM, with the starting and ending line at Maelyn Park. Those wishing to participate may register at Maelyn Park before 4:45PM." Kyra read in her best announcer voice.
"We should totally go! We've been cooped up in this villa the whole time, so getting out could be something new for us!" Quinn exclaimed, obviously excited at the prospect of finally leaving this boring villa, and for once, I couldn't help but agree with her.
"That doesn't sound too bad actually," Derek shrugged. "We should probably go."
"Great! I can't wait to get there and participate in the race!" Quinn said, excitedly.
"Woah, who said anything about participating?" I demanded. "Do you know how dangerous it would be for you to take part in the race? You don't even know what kind of people are taking part?"
"Oh, silly boy, of course, I didn't mean me, I meant, you to participate, considering you're so good at car racing." Quinn said, in a tone she would use with litle kids, as she waved her hand airily.
"Me participate?" I asked, mildly surprised.
"Yes, you." With one look at my surprised expression, she snottily taunted me, " Oh, come now Kade, surely you're not scared. After all, when we first came here, you were happy to nearly kill me."
"Scared of what? Sinking to your level?" I challenged.
I had honestly had enough of her bitchiness. She reminded me so much of the people that hurt my Francesca, that I wanted nothing more than to throttle her.
"What do you mean by that? If anything, you would be rising to my level." She replied, angrily.
"Oh yeah?" I challenged.
"Yeah. At least my mother taught me not to judge people." she declared.
I saw Ian shoot her a warning look, but it was too late. Words couldn't be taken back.
"I already told Ian this once, and I'll say it once again, you don't know the first fucking thing about me. So, before you decide to insult me some more, let me inform you that my parents died when I was two in a car crash, the same car crash that gave me this," I said venomously, as I pointed to the small scar above my lip.
Quinn gasped, and started to open her mouth to say something, but I walked out the villa, slamming the door loudly behind me in the process.
•••
I'd spent practically the whole afternoon roaming around Crestville, trying to calm myself down. I knew if I was around anyone, I'd definitely pummel them to the ground. The fight with Quinn has pissed me off beyond my limits. I just couldn't stand her and her constant judgemental attitude and bitchy comments.
After I left the villa, I'd taken the first bus, which ended up leading me right to the heart of downtown Crestville, and roamed around in the local museum as long as I reasonably could before the curator would start thinking that I was planning to rob it.
For lunch, I went to a small Italian restaurant, called Mario's. It was a cozy restaurant with some of the best Italian food outside of Rome, of course. It was had a warm, welcoming atmosphere, and constant chatter of the surrounding people calmed me.
Needless to say, the female waitresses at Mario's ogled at me like I was the last piece of food on Earth, but the scrumptious food made up for the head waitress' incessant flirting. She'd even scribbled her number on my hand, just as I had left, which I obviously threw away once she was out of sight.
I had switched my phone off, in order to make sure my friends wouldn't be able to reach me, so when I turned it on for some music after lunch, it wasn't surprising to see how many missed calls and unread messages I had:
17 missed calls and 35 new messages, my phone screen read.
A few of the calls were from my friends and Ian, and Kyra surprisingly, but the majority were from Quinn. Most of them read:
Kade, I'm super sorry :(
I wasn't thinking straight when I said that stuff, I swear.
Come on, dude, everyone's worried here!
Atleast send us one tiny message, so we know you're safe!
I scoffed. As if I was a little kid, who was so unsafe when he was out alone.
I checked one last message from Derek.
Way to be a drama queen, Westin, with the whole door slamming shit and all. I hope you're happy now. That poor girl's worrying herself to death. Anyways, we're still heading to the car race in the park, and I'm counting on you to be there. For her sake, okay?
I rolled my eyes at this, but decided to listen to Derek anyways about going to the car race. He would always be the wisest of us all, though I would never know why. However, let's make it very clear, I was not doing it for Quinn; I was doing it for myself and no one else.
I scrolled through my phone and put my playlist containing bands like Linkin Park and the Fray, before plugging my black Skullcandy headphones in my ears and jamming my phone into my pockets.
For the next two hours, I roamed around town, mouthing the words to songs like Burn It Down and Break Your Little Heart and getting hit on by plenty of girls, of well, various, ages. Various, meaning young enough to be my little sister, and old enough to be my grandmother. Disgusting, I know!
By 3:30, I reached the local car renting shop to rent a car for the race. This shop was obviously found with the use of human kind's greatest creation, a life-saving app called Google Maps.
A teenage boy, with shaggy brown hair, who looked my age stood behind the counter. His nametag read Curt.
"Looking for a race car for tonight?" he asked with a easy grin.
"How'd ya know?" I asked, casually.
Was I really that easy to read?
"The car race is huge. People from all over come to race in it and that's usually the only time we get real business here. Not to mention, you look like a racing kind of guy." he said smiling.
I chuckled. "So, what is your best car?"
"The Ultima GTR probably." Curt said, pointing to a sleek black car in the corner of the shop. "But it's more expensive than the others."
"Sure, I'll take it." I quickly agreed.
As he filled out some paperwork, he politely asked. "Any specific reason you're participating in this race, or you just find of racing in general?"
"Well, I do consider myself to be a pretty damn good racer, but I'm, uhh, doing this for an, ummm, special person." I replied, hesitantly.
"Your girl?" he teased, wiggling his eyebrows.
"Not really mine." I said, shrugging.
"Interesting. Now if you'll just sign here, and pay, I'll hand the keys over."
Quickly I signed and fished the money out of my wallet. Curt walked over to the key rack and grabbed a key.
As he handed it over to me, he asked, "Hey, do you mind if I come with you to Maelyn Park? Couple of my bros are racing them and I'm just about to shut the shop."
"Yeah, totally."
I got into the Ultimate GTR and was immediately awed. This car was completely different from any other car I'd been in, and frankly I loved it.
"She's a beauty, ain't she?" Curt asked as he slid in, after locking down.
"She sure is," I agreed as a put the keys in the ignition.
In no time, we were at Maelyn Park. The scene at the park was a lot like the scene at any 'good' party. The park was crowded with people of all ages and races and loud techno music blasted through the speakers. The current song that was playing was Tremor by Martin Garrix and Dimitri Vegas, and I watched as bunch of half drunk teens dance in sync to it.
Curt informed me the people who organized the race weren't legally allowed to distribute alcohol, so most people had cups of Coke and vodka mixed in their hands.
After Curt helped me with registration, we looked around for sometime, trying to find our friends, which is when I found Derek, Kyle and Ian together.
"Hey guys," I said, bringing their attention to me.
While Derek and Kyle looked thoroughly bored, Ian looked both shocked and slightly relieved at my arrival.
"Missed me, Ian?" I winked.
He narrowed his eyes at me before replying, "Just relieved on Quinn's part. So, who's the new guy?"
I gestured to Curt. "Curt, these are my friends Derek and Ian, and this is my cousin Kyle. Guys, this is Curt. He's a, well, he's a car renty guy."
"Car renty guy? I'm honoured." Curt snorted. "I'm Curt Kauffman, proud local of Crestville, and Kade's new friend."
"You made a new friend? Aww, I'm so proud of you, my little boy. You're growing up so fast, Kade-y." Kyle said, ruffling my hair as if I was five years old.
I simply rolled my eyes and shoved his hand off.
From behind me, a voice called "Curt, there ya are!"
Curt turned to me apologetically. "Looks like my friends are here, so gotta go. See ya around town, boys, and see you at 10 sharp tomorrow, Kade."
"See ya," the boys chorused and I shook his hand, before he walked away.
An awkward silence hung between us.
"So, where did you run off to this time?" Derek asked, for the sake of starting a conversation.
I honestly don't know where we'd be without him.
"Woah, you mean he's done this before?" Ian asked, flabbergasted.
Was the idea of running off to let some steam off really that foreign to him? What kind of a world did he even live in?
Ignoring his comment, I told Derek, "Eh, I just walked around town, visited some museum, and ya know, made friends." I added the last part for my stupid cousin's benefit.
"Amazing." Came his one word reply.
"So, where are the girls?" I asked, glancing around.
"Off to get more alcohol." Kyle replied.
"Of course, why should I expect anything else?" I scoffed, reminded of the night at the nightclub, where both, Quinn and Kyra, were too drunk to even hold themselves upright.
Ian opened his mouth indignantly to reply, probably defending his sister and saying that she was not an alcoholic, but the loudspeaker beat him to it.
"All participants for the race immediately stand by your cars at the starting line. Officials will be coming around to check the cars and give them a final inspection. Any participant not at his or her car will be immediately disqualified." Said a female voice as amplified by the speakers.
"I guess that's me. See you all after the race." I told them.
This finally caught Derek's interest and he looked me, as if studying me.
"Wait, you're actually taking part?" He asked, mildly surprised.
"Yeah." I shrugged.
"Well, good luck, man," Derek said, giving me a smile I couldn't quite decipher.
Ian and Kyle wished me luck as well and I headed off to my rented car. An official came by and poked around a bit, before giving me a thumbs up and telling me to stay by my car until the race starts.
I leaned against the car bored, when I heard a small voice behind me.
"The boys told me to find you here." I turned around to see Quinn in a short pink minidress, which exposed her long lean legs, and showed off a little of her cleavage.
Sue me for noticing it, but let's face it, I'm a guy.
Quinn was completely oblivious to the hungry stares of the horny, drunk men around her but I sure as hell wasn't.
"What the fuck were you even thinking?" I hissed. "Or were you not thinking at all?"
"What do you mean?" Quinn asked, her nose crinkling in confusion.
"Wearing that tiny piece of cloth?"
"Oh, is it distracting you?" She teased, handing me a red plastic cup of the vodka and Coke mix.
"Not me, you stupid blind girl. If you actually looked around you'd notice exactly how many men are ogling at you like you're some kind of prey and they are some kind of predators." I hissed, angry for some apparent reason.
Unfazed, she said, "Are you admitting I'm pretty?"
"I'm admitting that on the days that you clean up properly. However, you dress like a complete slut, as if you enjoy putting yourself out there for pervy old men to ogle at." I said, angrily.
"Excuse me?" Quinn shrieked. "I'm not a slut who 'puts herself out there for pervy old men'! If anyone is putting themselves out, it's you." She grabbed my free hand, where half a dozen girls had etched their numbers, in hopes I'd call them.
"Start being a little mature, and don't turn this on me, Quinn. It's not like I purposely tried to get their numbers, I just walked around being myself." I smirked. "You're the one who is dressed in half of a dress."
"So what if I have a unique sense of fashion?" She asked, defiantly, jutting her chin out, her voice wavering slightly.
"Then please keep your 'unique sense of fashion' to yourself or in private. Now if you'll please leave, I really don't want my good mood to be ruined before the race," I told her, coldly.
"I came here to apologize for this morning, but you just had to ruin it, didn't you?" She huffed, before stomping off. "Typical of you, Kade!"
"Trust me when I say, I wasn't the one who ruined things." I called out to her.
I finished the vodka-coke she'd handed me in one gulp, and flung the red cup on the grass.
"Tough fight with the girl?" The guy next to me asked, sympathetically.
He'd seen the whole of my fight with Quinn, along with a bunch of other onlookers.
"Something like that." I gave him a tight smile.
•••
"Racers, be ready, and only go on my count." Announced the girl.
Like in the clichés stories, the girl was extremely hot, wearing almost no clothes, and flaunting off her perfect curves.
I'd spent the last 45 minutes playing blackjack with some of the other racers and had won $500. I usually played Blackjack the best when I was in a bad mood, so you can really see how much Quinn pissed me off. I was currently sitting in my car, waiting for the race to begin.
"Three, two, one, go!" And off we zoomed in sync.
The race course was pretty simple. Exit the park, drive along a stretch of road, go along some curves, before reaching the beach, which had been cleared off, go to the end of the beach, loop around, go back down the beach, and come back to the park.
I didn't expect to win or anything, considering I was just doing this for fun, but somehow after the first minute of the race, I ended up in the lead. The car behind me, was an aggressive driver, cutting off anyone who tried to get ahead of him, so I was instantly relieved to be ahead of him.
However, it seemed like he wanted to play dirty, because when we started going down the curve that led to the beach, he started pushing me along the edge. There was no way I could stay ahead of him without damaging the nice car Curt had lent me. I tried to maneuver my car so that I was on the other side of him, but he kept pushing me towards the edge of the curved road.
However, in doing so, he failed to notice the sharp turn ahead, and before either of us could brake, we crashed into the stoplight.
My car burst into flames and my whole body began to hurt like hell. The last thing I heard and saw was the sight of flames and burning leather, with a distinctly high pitched voice screaming out my name.
And then, it all went black.
•••
XxThat SummerxX
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XxThat SummerxX
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