This chapter is dedicated to Cassie. Thank you for your support!
The car's autopilot knew the track by now, and it was taking the turns faster than I could even realise which way we needed to go. I kept my attention on Serena, determined to keep her awake in case she needed to intervene in some way. But she looked like she was completely in control; which was more than could be said for me. I'd started to feel the need to pee some time after we started the race, but didn't want to interrupt for something so trivial. It was the sudden jerk to the left that got me, as the car left the crazy maze section amid the old warehouses. I was bracing myself in the wrong direction, inertia slammed me against the side of my seat, and as the harness kept me in place my bladder gave up its fight.
As we pulled away, my embarrassment about the warmth spreading through my diaper somewhat diminished the excitement I got from seeing Todd's car ahead of us, just turning into the woods in the far corner of the track. By the time we reached that point, the flow had stopped. But my excitement for the race redoubled as I saw a flash of colour indicating that Todd was still just taking the first long curve after the woods; he must have been weaving frantically between the trees rather than picking out the one possible path where he could have made a straight line. And that meant he'd had to break in order to change direction once he was back on level ground.
As we zoomed along the inside edge of those curved roads, I would have been on the edge of the seat if the acceleration wasn't holding me down. Todd was in sight now; maybe a dozen car-lengths ahead of us. And then we hit the straight and Serena put her foot down. It felt like we might actually take off, as the speedometer ticked all the way up to 363. We were visibly gaining on Todd in that long straight; his car just couldn't manage the same raw power. Of course, he'd argue that it was just about having a bigger engine if he lost, and didn't reflect on his skill at all. But as he'd started this challenge by betting that she didn't know anything about cars, he would look pretty dumb either way.
Back on the concrete, we were skidding back and forth, taking the corners at odd angles, but Todd's weaving always seemed just sufficient to block any chance of overtaking.
"Right," Serena said , showing a wry grin as we took the last corner with the finish line in sight ahead. I was expecting the sudden burst of acceleration this time, but still had to fight to keep from putting my hands across my face in panic as we lurched towards the nearest building. Our wheels dug a furrow in the mud to one side of the track as we came in to the finish, and I think we actually crossed the line sideways, while I could look across to see Todd's shocked expression. It was so close that I couldn't have said whether we passed him or not; but I did notice that our last energetic maneuver had thrown mud all across his windshield. It was a dirt-splattered car that roared away from us between the buildings, and for a second I wondered just what the results had been.
"Damn," Serena said, tapping the buttons on the console to get some kind of report from the car's computer. She had a map on screen, zoomed right in on the finish line, and was replaying a single second frame by frame. "He hit the line point three seconds before us. For a minute there, I really thought we lapped the bastard."
"Wait..." I said, finally putting the details together. I'd been so unsure if we were going to win or not, and we'd been ahead of Todd the whole way? We'd stopped at the finish line, but Todd was speeding away again because he still had the final lap to do. I couldn't help laughing as I understood just how humiliating that would be for him. Assuming he'd seen us driving away ahead of him at the start, he'd spent the whole race hoping to catch up. And then we'd appeared right behind him, and he'd known that there was no possible chance he would win. He'd tried swiping to prevent us coming past just to avoid the ultimate humiliation, and maybe he'd just about managed that; but it had been so close, and the mud splatter across his findshield as he'd crossed the line would convince most casual observers that we'd been there ahead of him. "That last skid turn, flinging all the mud up... You were just rubbing his nose in it, weren't you?"
"Pretty much," Serena said with a smile, as the car started moving again and found a space to park off the track. "And thanks. I should have been so focused, but whenever I was on a part that the autopilot can handle, I started losing focus. I wasn't sure, but I really needed you today. Thank you."
"Does that mean you're starting to regret hitting Todd?"
"Of course not. He deserved it. And this is such a new experience; having to ask for help, as well as the shame and everything else. I wouldn't change it for anything. But maybe... I might be looking forward to the day this ends. And, well... that's a new feeling as well. I've not had many opportunities to wait for what I want, usually everything happens around my schedule. So..." she gave a shrug, and tapped the door to open it. "Think you can face the crowd now?"
Without Todd's jeering, the car fans seemed a whole lot more welcoming. People were laughing, and congratulating Serena. I got a couple of compliments as well; people telling me I'd done a good job or whatever. I wasn't quite sure what they thought I had contributed to our victory; or what Todd's co-driver would be doing to help him. But when I thought about it, I realised that Serena was probably the only person here with the absolute cutting edge vehicle. For many of them, perhaps, it would need some kind of manual input to teach the navigation computer the route; or to shout out warnings to the driver about which way he would have to turn next. Serena's car was so heavily automated that she could keep the system under control by herself, but that probably wasn't the norm.
So I accepted their congratulations, and realised that this hobby had way more depth than I'd ever imagined. Maybe that was true for everything; there was always something new to learn. Just like with romance; until I got this stupid punishment, I'd always thought that the only 'real' kind of relationship was getting to know somebody, turning friendship into dating, and then getting gradually closer until you wanted to spend your lives together, and after a couple of months you would be close enough that sex seemed like a natural next step. Now my horizons had expanded to understand the existence of all kinds of less-traditional relationship types; although I was sure that once I regained control of my actions, I would be happy to settle for a life that included a whole lot less casual sex. But even if it wasn't for me, I'd understood that it was a thing that made sense to some people, and not just a symptom of somebody with no self-respect.
This really wasn't the way I'd expected my life to turn out; but every new direction I turned in revealed a whole new world of options, understandings, and culture. I was learning, and I was growing as a person. I just needed to channel that into a useful direction, and I was sure I would be so much stronger.
I glanced down at the glass in my hand. Sparkling wine; somebody here was a traditionalist. It was in a plastic tumbler that made it look more like lemonade, but it was still the right beverage to celebrate a win. I wasn't sure who had pushed it into my hand; in fact, I'd drunk half the glass already, without consciously realising that it was there. But it felt like a good time to party, so I raised my glass to Serena and clinked it against hers. She smiled, and we both drank.
"Having a good time?" Serena asked, as the crowd dispersed a little. The focus of their attention now was Todd's car, pulling up at the finish line a lot later than I would have expected. I peered over, and saw that his wipers had managed to smear mud right across the windshield but had little success at removing it, which could have explained why he'd taken so long for his last lap. As he pulled in next to Serena's immaculate vehicle, I could only laugh at the guy's misfortune.
"Not so bad," I said. "Seems like there's nice guys here, and that race was a hell of a thrill. Thank you. But there is something I need to tell you. A plan to get me into college, if it works out right. And I'm not sure if I'll need help."
"Anything I can do," she said. "We can get you the antidote once Daddy returns, but it might take a while to get it through the courts."
"I'll need something before then. See, the problem is the debate certificate. I don't trust myself to do a whole debate without losing my temper right now, any little thing can set me off. So I think I need to... to get another shot. I heard that it might work, and it's the only option I can think of. Don't let me keep putting this off until it's too late, okay?"
"Got you. That's a big risk, but it's probably for the best. If you'll be having the antidote in a month anyhow. Come back to mine tonight; we'll discuss how we can all support you through this. And don't worry, Lorna. We've all got your back."