AN: I'm trying my best to get everything up to speed and so far I'm succeeding! Don't forget to vote and comment or else I will NOT update Bionic Showdown. I know how much you guys can't wait for that one so...hope that's motive!
After Chase took me to my mother’s grave site, I was eternally happy the rest of the night. It didn’t matter that my father didn’t want to come with me to the cemetery and that he was a freaking workaholic. Nothing could take me down from this high that I was on. The next night, even though it was a school night, I was allowed to sleep over at the Davenport’s house. And you know how Adam, Bree and Chase sleep standing up in their capsules? Well, Bree and I slept in the living room. We ended up having a popcorn contest to see who could catch the most popcorn in their mouth without dropping one. I hadn’t laughed this hard since Leo got his head stuck in coke machine at school. Don’t ask why, you’ll only bust out laughing.
When we finally got to sleep, someone outside was making a bunch of noise with his car and wouldn’t stop. Leo came downstairs while Chase and Adam came upstairs to see what all the fuss was about.
Bree opened the door to find their next door neighbor doing wheelies around the block “Ugh, this new neighbor has got to go.”
“Why does he keep racing his car up and down our street every night?” Chase asked.
“You mean he does this often?” I asked shocked “Someone should phone the cops for a noise complaint.”
“Oh! I know this one,” Adam said “to get to the other side.”
“Not even close Adam,” I said.
The car engine revved up even louder this time “He clearly doesn’t have respect for my beauty sleep. It takes at least eight hours to look this good; ten if you want that Leo glow.”
Davenport came down in his weird looking pajamas and a black eye mask on his forehead “I cannot believe I have to wake up to this,” Mr. Davenport said.
“I can’t believe I have to wake up to that,” Leo said motioning to Davenport’s outfit.
“This is Italian silk,” Mr. Davenport tried to tell Leo “A cheetah wishes he looked this good.”
My eyes were getting tired and a yawn escaped my mouth as I leaned my head against the next shoulder to my right…which happened to be Chase. I felt him lean down and kiss the top of my head and wrap an arm around my waist in comfort.
“A cheetah would have the decency to cover that up with a robe,” Bree retorted.
The car engine revved up even louder and Mr. Davenport went outside. We all followed him, some more sleepy then others, as he yelled out the door “Hey Pierce! Get your car off my lawn!” Mr. Davenport took out a remote from his pocket and pressed a few buttons “Let’s see how he likes my pressure sprinkler system.”
He walked outside as we stood back in the house, watching from a distance. I had a feeling this wasn’t going to end up right.
Mr. Davenport kept pushing buttons “Okay set to Monsoon,” the car got stuck in the mud and Mr. Davenport started to laugh “Ha! He got stuck in the mud.”
Just as he said those words, a flood of mud came rushing at him and drenched Mr. Davenport in mud. It wasn’t the most graceful thing in the world.
“Not anymore,” Leo said before going further in the house.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I lazily walked down the road to school with Bree and Chase as I rubbed my eyes. I only got a little bit of sleep after Mr. Davenport started yelling about his Italian silk pajamas that were completely ruined. Even when it quieted down, Bree and I could hear a faint sob coming from upstairs. Now and then we would giggle at his misfortune.
When we walked into school there was a line waiting for locker reassignments. Leo was first in line.
“Leo how did you get first in line for locker reassignments?”
“Oh, since I couldn’t get any sleep, I’ve been here since dawn. FYI you do not want to see the lunch ladies without make-up.”
“Wait, they wear make-up?”
Leo nodded his head as Adam caught up to us “But since I’m first in line I’ll finally get the corner locker.”
“Wait a second. I thought this line was for lice check?” Adam said.
As Adam walked away and by Leo’s ideal locker, Leo continued to talk about it “There she is: locker one oh six. Away from the traffic , near the cheerleaders and I can see Principal Perry before anyone else. And a two second head start can save a life.”
Chase agreed with him before taking my hand and walking away to the gym.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When school was over I didn’t want to go home and face my dad. Ever since yesterday, I have been trying to avoid any confrontation with him; I know it is a silly thing to do but he’s the one who puts work before his own family. What does that tell you?
I waited in the living room with the others when the doorbell rang “Okay that’s Pierce. Now watch as I handle this like an adult.”
“Okay but what do you want us to do when you start crying?” I wanted to laugh remembering his sob fest from last night…or should I say this morning?
Mr. Davenport opened the door and some rich boy stepped through the threshold.
“Clayton?” Leo asked “What are you doing here?”
Leo knew this kid?
“Looking good and smelling great,” Clayton replied and in an instant I hated the guy “Oh my dad came to talk to your dad.”
“Wait, Pierce is your dad?” Chase asked.
“Hmm, makes sense. Rich jerk; rich jerk’s son,” Clayton took a step closer as if it was to intimidate Adam. Yeah right! Adam leaned in and sniffed him which was weird “He does smell good.”
“Hello?” Clayton held out his coat “Is anyone gonna take my coat?”
“Heck yeah I’ll take it!” Adam put on his coat and it ripped at the seams “It’s got a lot of give.”
Another guys, who I assumed was Pierce, walked in and threw his car keys to Chase “Two coats; light wax and shampoo the carpets and don’t touch the radio. I’m an easy listener.” Was that supposed to be funny? Cause all I heard was rich jerk talk.
“I’m not washing your car,” Chase told him.
“Yeah,” Adam said “Me either. But may I take your coat?”
“Could we move this along?” Peirce said “I’ve got golf in the A.M and I like to show up early to scream during other people’s swings. AHHH!” Adam jumped sideways “Drives them crazy.”
“Look, I’ll get right to the point. You have been driving your car across my yard at night and it needs to stop.” Mr. Davenport reasoned.
“Not gonna happen but I will pay you to stop talking. What’s your price?”
Mr. Davenport laughed “Are you trying to pay me off? I’m a billionaire.”
“Wow,” Pierce mocked “just a billionaire; must be rough. Well if you ever need a loan you know where I live. It’s the castle at the top of the hill that casts a shadow over your entire existents.”
“Please,” Mr. Davenport said “You do not have more money than I do.”
Peirce took out his phone “That’s my net worth.” Mr. Davenport scoffed and Peirce turned the phone sideways “Well not all the zeros fit on my screen.” Peirce kept moving the bar and more zeros came on. Each time he moved it, we muttered a ‘whoa’ and Mr. Davenport looked scared.
“Oh yeah? Well I see one zero that’s not on this screen. Ha! Take that!”
I just shook my head at Mr. Davenport’s attempt at being funny. While this was happening I could feel eyes on me and I found Clayton checking me out. I didn’t like his stare at all. It was like he was claiming me or something. I moved behind Chase and interlocked our hands together to show him that I was with Chase. His look didn’t falter.
“Someone’s about to start crying,” Bree sang.
“Look, okay, enough is enough,” Mr. Davenport said “What is it going to take for you to stop driving on my lawn?”
“I can’t think of a thing. Goodnight.”
Mr. Davenport stopped him “No! You are not leaving until we resolve this,”
“Fine. How about a contest,” Pierce suggested “We can settle this on the racetrack. My stock car against yours. You do own a stock car, don’t you?”
Davenport scoffed “Of course I own a stock car,” just from his words you could tell he was lying. He didn’t own one. Heck I don’t think he knows what a stock car is “and when I win it, you stop driving your car on my lawn.”
“Oh no,” Pierce disagreed “I think we should play for much bigger stakes like the deeds to each other’s houses,” Clayton nudged his father and whispered in his ear “Oh and when I win, that girl hiding behind the short boy in the plaid shirt becomes my son’s girlfriend…for life.” I stood frozen in my spot as Clayton smirked at me. I held onto Chase’s hand tighter and I could feel him move closer to me “The winner stays, the loser goes.”
Mr. Davenport isn’t going to sell me out “Deal,” Wait, what?!
“See you on the track,” Peirce said before going for the door “Or later tonight when I tear up the rest of your lawn.”
As Clayton passed by me, he touched my cheek “See ya later babe,” I cringed.
“Hey! Back off my girlfriend.”
“She won’t be yours for long short stack,” Clayton smirked before laughing and walking out the door.
“Mr. Davenport are you sure about this?” Bree asked him. I didn’t even want to look at him for what he did. I don’t want to be that jerk’s girlfriend!
“Yeah if you don’t win, we’ll lose our house,” Leo said.
“And Katie will have to date that jerk Clayton forever,” Adam said.
“Guys I got this,” He said and Chase interrupted.
“You better. Katie’s not going to date THAT.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Mr. Davenport continued “I just have one question though: What exactly is a stock car?”
“We’re so doomed!” I muttered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We waited in the racing pit and Mr. Davenport finally understood what a stock car was. When he rolled up in a blue and white racing car with the Davenport Industries logo on the hood, everyone was in surprise at how cool it looked.
“Sweet ride Big D,” Leo commented “For a second there I forgot you weren’t cool.”
“Yeah, a guy with a huge ego and a sport where they put your name and face on everything,” Bree said “It’s a perfect match.”
Still a little tired from not getting enough sleep, I rested my head against my boyfriend’s shoulder while I listened to everyone talk “Are you sure you gonna be able to beat Pierce?” Chase asked and my head snapped up from his shoulder “I mean, you have no stock car experience. Not to mention you get car sick going to the store.”
“Please,” Mr. Davenport scoffed “Look at this track. Even Adam can drive in a circle.”
“But this is an oval and those terrify me,” Adam replied.
“Driving in a circle gets exponentially harder at two hundred miles per hour,” Chase continued.
“Plus no bathroom breaks,” Adam said. Where they trying to force Mr. Davenport to chicken out of the race and lose their home and my dignity?
Adam got out a bucket “You’re gonna need this,” he said I shuttered at the thought.
“Guys don’t worry about this,” Mr. Davenport tried to reassure us. He’s been doing a lot of that today “I have spent hundreds of hours training in a stock car simulator, I hired the best pit crew in town; I got this.”
Pierce and his son Clayton, let me gag for a second…okay a little better, came strolling towards us and I couldn’t bring myself to look at the guy claiming me for his own “Well Davenport we just wanted to wish you luck,” Pierce said. I highly doubt that. They just came here to gloat.
“You’ll need it against our driver,” Clayton said. Does anyone else notice how slow these rick jerks talk? It’s like snail pace…so annoying. Both Clayton and his dad started chuckling.
“Driver?” Davenport asked.
“Yeah,” Pierce said “I said we’d race. I never said I would be the one driving. Joey!” He called and his driver made his way over to us. I was so mad.
“Oh you little piece of…” Chase’s hand covered my mouth.
“Don’t,” he whispered “there not worth it love.”
Holy mother! That’s Joey Logano! How in the heck did they get him?!
“That’s your driver!” Davenport yelled “When does he get his learner’s permit.”
“Uh, Mr. Davenport,” I got his attention “Joey Logano is a pro racecar driver.”
Chase went through his internal hard drive “Katie’s right. That is Joey Logano! He’s been racing since he was six. He’s the youngest Nascar driver to win on the pro circuit ever.”
Mr. Davenport’s face paled considerably and I found it a little hard to breath. We’re all doomed!
“Oh,”
“We’re gonna need a bigger bucket,” Adam said.
“We’re gonna need a miracle,” I muttered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While we waited, Adam kept messing around with some of the equipment that was hanging around. He picked up a large metal can with a tube connected to it as he talked into it like a microphone.
Chase saw this “Really?” And took it away from him like taking away a toy from a child.
“I can believe Big D has to race against Joey Logano,” Leo said and my stomach started to turn.
“Guys I can win this,” Davenport said confidently “You forget I hired the best pit crew in town. Right…pit crew guy number one?”
He didn’t even know their names? Really?
“Yeah, nothing motivates a team like a boss that doesn’t know your name.”
“Whatever. Look, I’m ready. Bring on the checkered flag.”
“Morning grease monkeys,”
Oh good Lord. What have I done to offend you now??
“I take that back,” Davenport said as he saw her too.
“Principal Perry,” Leo asked her “What are you doing here?”
“Working,” Perry said like it was the most obvious thing in the world “I moonlight as an announcer slash flag waver slash hot rod calendar girl,” she started to pose and I covered my eyes before they burned out of my eye sockets “No one sells lug nuts like me,” Perry bragged.
“Principal Perry,” Bree said “Doesn’t all of these side jobs you have take away your focus from being a school Principal?
“Oh absolutely,” she said before getting right down to it “Now let’s go over some ground rules. Hey Logano, rich guy! Get your sassy chassis over here and let’s talk some track,” What kind of language does she speak? Is she even from this planet? So many questions.
“In each of my precious paws is the deed to your house,” Perry continued “which makes your bet a square deal. Its two hundred laps around, whoever crosses the finish line first wins.”
“Well good luck out there,” Joey shook hands with Mr. Davenport and Principal Perry stepped closer to him.
“Thanks,” she flirted “I’ll do my best.”
I shuttered “Gross,”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chase held my hand in his as Mr. Davenport got into his racecar and drove it down to the starting line. He put on headset that connected him to Mr. Davenport as he was racing. We watched as Principal thrown down the flag and Joey took off while Mr. Davenport was still sitting at the starting line.
I could hear Mr. Davenport checking his car before saying “Ooh he’s gone already.” There was some more noise from his end as he tried to move the gear shift “This is very different from my simulator.”
“Go!” We all yelled hoping Mr. Davenport would move his butt already! Logano was way ahead of him by this point!
Later we continued to watch Mr. Davenport drive his laps but Logano kept passing by him “You’re doing great Mr. Davenport.”
“Really?”
“No,” Chase replied “You’re twenty eight laps behind.”
“Please tell him he doesn’t have to wave every time he passes us,” Bree complained.
Clayton walked over to our side of the pit “So,” he said “where are you guys thinking of moving?”
“Well my gut says Cleveland but I’m an Indiana man at heart.”
“We’re not gonna lose Clayton,” Leo told him.
“Keep telling yourself that Junior,” he said patting Leo’s arm.
“I’m the same age as you.”
“Your wallets not,” Clayton snapped and I had to laugh.
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Leo replied.
Clayton brought out his wallet “My wallet makes sense,” he said “it talks to me all the time and right now it’s saying: ‘Can I have Leo’s bedroom?’” He’s insane. He’s talking to his wallet! “Yes you can!” Clayton kissed his wallet before turning to me “Oh and by the way, when we win sweet cheeks,” he said to me and I silently growled at him “I’ll make sure you receive your own personal diamond necklace that I know short stack could never give you.” He smirked and walked away.
“A diamond necklace,” Bree squealed and I gave her a glare.
“Which would end up breaking his garbage disposal! Ugh! I hate that guy!”
“You and me both babe,” Chase kissed my cheek before we turned our attention to the race.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mr. Davenport came in for a pit stop and as his pit crew was working, we piled near the window to talk to him “I can believe I’m losing this badly.”
“But you do know that stepping on the gas pedal makes it go faster, right?”
“There must be something wrong with the car,” Davenport said.
Adam spoke up “Okay let’s be smart about this and eliminate variables. Are we sure the car is not in reverse?”
“Wait,” Chase interrupted “It’s been almost a minute. Shouldn’t your pit crew be done by now?”
“Well, yeah and where’s your crew chief?”
We all looked around and saw Davenport’s pit crew chief talking to Peirce and Clayton “What is he doing down there?”
Chase leaned down next to the window “Peirce is cheating! He paid your pit crew to sabotage your car.”
Well that’s really low!
“I knew it!’ Davenport got out of his car and told the crew “You guys are fired. Get out of here Ken. Ken! That was it.”
His pit crew left and the tires were not changed on the car “Probably should have waited until they put those back on.”
“Wait, Mr. Davenport, what if we replaced your pit crew with a bionic pit crew?”
“Or we can root for Joey Logano,” Adam said and we all looked at him crazy “Hey just throwing out options.”
“Hold on. Isn’t using bionics technically cheating?”
“Look,” Davenport said “they cheated first. Technically I’m just leveling out the playing field.”
“Okay,” Chase said “I’ll tap into the car’s central computer and optimize it for peak performance.” Chase pointed to Bree “You use your super speed to change these tires and gas it up,” he turned to Adam who was at the front of the car “And Adam…”
“Can do this,” he said lifting the front of the car off its wheels “Pretty cool, huh?” His hands ended up burning as he tried to cool them off by blowing on them. He was idiotic enough to place his hands back where they were.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mr. Davenport supplied us all with really cool matching jump suits that had the logo on it in red lettering and a matching had to go with it. Bree and I had it on backwards so we could see what was going on around us. Chase was looking into the binoculars checking Davenport’s progress.
“Fifty laps to go,” Perry announced “Logano’s lead is shrinking. Davenport is actually catching up and don’t forget your lug nut calendars are available at the concession stand. Keep an eye out for April. I’m wearing tires.”
“My ears!”
Suddenly Davenport and Logano were head to head “Great job Chase! This car is flying now!”
Davenport came into the pit and Leo and Bree hopped over the barrier “Okay! We need to change these tires in under ten seconds…” By then Bree was already flying.
She stopped with grease smears over her face “Done!”
Davenport waved and took off causing Leo’s hat to fly off his head. I picked it up and put it back on his head.
From a distance I could Principal Perry eating a bag of popcorn watching the race intently “This is incredible,” she announced “Davenport has evened it up! I’m almost beginning to care who wins!”
Logano pulled in for a pit stop but I couldn’t keep my eyes away from the track. Suddenly Logano was on our side of the pit “So it looks like my afternoon just freed up,” he said “you need any help?”
We all muttered words “Please say yes. I want to hide from that flag lady.”
Principal Perry whistled “Joey! Wanna go halfsies on a hoagie?” She took a big bite and I almost threw up a little.
Joey hid behind the barrier when he saw that and laid on his back.
The race continued “Two laps to go in the rich jerk five hundred. Davenport and Pierce are neck in neck. It’s anybody’s race and I think we’re all wondering the same question; is there a Mrs. Logano?”
I shuttered and instantly felt sorry for Joey “Davenport you’re doing great. Just please stop saying Vroom Vroom every time you make a turn.”
Davenport was right behind him when his driving wheel came off and he started to swerve back and forth “You do know it pops back on, right?” Joey said.
Davenport put the wheel back on and continued to drive but started to slow down.
“What is Mr. Davenport doing? Why is he slowing down?”
“He’s gonna lose,” Bree said.
Adam interrupted “No, he’s obviously giving up. It’s the honorable thing to do.”
“No, he’s just drafting,” Joey told him.
“Something I learned from my racing simulator. I’m reducing my weight and resistance by hiding behind Peirce’s car and then I’m gonna sling shot past him in the straight away. On my controller its red, red, green, up arrow. I’m pretty sure I can make it work.”
For the love of everything good in this world, please let this work. If it doesn’t, we’re all screwed.
Soon Davenport ended up passing Pierce’s car and I could hear Mr. Davenport having his own fun in the background.
Principal Perry waved the flag “And Davenport crosses the finish line!”
Yes I don’t have to date that jerk!
“Hey Clayton,” I called and soon as he was looking I pulled Chase into a kiss. I felt Chase grin which caused me to smile back “I love you.”
“I love you too. Always,” he kissed me again before Bree cleared her throat.
“Great job guys,” Joey Logano said taking off his headset “Now it’s time for the real race; getting away from that flag lady.”
“You forgot your calendars!” Perry was running with the checkered flag at Logano and he took off like a freaking rocket.
We all cheered when Mr. Davenport got out of the car but was concerned when he fell out of the window. He hopped back up and we continued to cheer.
“Man, nice work Mr. Davenport. You totally showed those guys who’s boss!”
“Yes, yes I did.” Davenport gloated “But it’s important to remember always win with dignity.” Once Davenport saw the crestfallen face of Peirce and Clayton, he jumped and gloated in their face. It was awesome!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chase and Adam were talking and I was talking to Bree “I really like your hair up Bree. It’s pretty.”
“Thanks! Thought I’d switch it up.”
We walked over to Leo who was admiring his corner locker.
“So, how does it feel having the best locker in school?”
“Oh I’m not the only one with a good locker,” Leo replied “I got primo upgrades for you four too; any locker until we graduate.”
“No way!” Adam said “I get that locker for six more years?”
Or longer at this rate.
“Maybe more,” Bree said and Adam cheered.
“Well how did you pull that off Leo?”
Leo shrugged “I don’t know,” he said “Principal Perry is just in a really good mood.”
Principal Perry came out smiling “Hey Dooley.”
“Where’d you get that?”
“Joey Logano left his racing suit behind and I customized it in all the right places.” Principal Perry started to flex.
“And some of the wrong ones,” Chase said as she left in the other direction.
AN: As you read in the Author's Note at the top, I will NOT update Bionic Showdown unless I receive the right amount of comments AND votes that I think deserve and update. And also, please don't demand I update. It only makes me right slower. Please and thank you!