I know someone's following me. Whether it's my sixth sense or just because I'm hearing actual footsteps behind me, I just know.
School's done for the day and everyone is leaving to get home. Jessy and I are parked away from where most kids are, so hearing footsteps following us, gets my suspicions to raise.
"Who's following us?" I ask Jessy when we get to her Ford.
She makes to turn around, but I grab her arm. "No, don't look," I hiss.
"Then how on earth should I know who's following us, Amber? I can't smell them!" she stage-whispers back.
I blink. "Well, that makes sense, I guess," I admit. Jessy rolls her eyes - something I suspect she learned from her dad.
"Okay, I'm going to turn and face you, and pretend I'm talking," I explain.
"Aren't you talking to me now?" she asks.
"Shush, young one," I say and turn to face her. Okay, maybe she's older than me. I still have to turn 18.
"Hahahaha, yes. Hahahaha, I remember that, Jessy. Hahaha, no. Hahaha, that's so funny-"
"Amber, what are you doing?" Jessy interrupts.
I'm talking to her like I'm some cartoon character to make it look like we're talking, but maybe my acting skills need some work.
"Just actually talk to me. Do you see anyone?" she asks.
I laugh like she just said a joke, "Hahahaha, yeah! Someone's staring at us right now," I say with a big-fat smile stuck on my face.
"Who is it?" Jessy asks.
"Hahahaha, that's so true! I don't know them, but they're wearing leather Jackets," I explain.
Jessy's face goes serious. "Describe them to me..." she breathes.
"Hahahaha, no, Jessy! Well, one of them has military-styled short hair and big-ass arms and-"
"That's Liam," Jessy says and the blood is drained from her face.
"Hahahah, your ex?"
"You can stop fake-laughing now."
"That was a real one..."
Jessy sighs, "yes, he's my ex."
Liam and the other guy is still staring at us, so I talk animatedly with Jessy for a few more seconds - exaggerating on my hand gestures.
"Hahahaha, totaly! So, the other guy has like white hair, but also a bit of a tan - which is weird for people with white hair. He's basically the human version of Jack Frost on a holiday trip to Hawaii-"
"That's Jack," Jessy interrupts.
"Hahahaha! Awesome, Jessy! Yeah, that's what I said. Jack frost, " I say a bit irritated. Didn't Jessy hear me say the guy looked like Jack Frost?
"No, Jack Palmer. His name is Jack Palmer," Jessy explains.
"Hahahahaha! Ohhhhh okay, so Jack looks like Jack?"
"Basically"
"Hahaha! That's so weird, Jessy! They're still just staring... I think we should go," I suggest.
"Good idea," Jessy says and we hop into the car.
I notice Liam and Jack getting into their car as well. And then Lynch from Art class comes bouncing to their car - a dark grey Lexus.
Lynch climbs into the Lexus and the other two guys both seem annoyed and say something to him that I obviously can't hear. Lunch laughs before punching their shoulders.
"Lynch is there too," I tell Jessy.
There's a smile that forms on Jessy's face. "He's a nice kid," she says before driving off.
Since Jessy used to date Liam, she ought to know the gang more than most.
Liam is the driver and when we leave the school gates, he follows us. Shit.
If they plan on following us, they'll know I live with Jessy. Two major issues enter my head at the thought of that. One, it'll get Jessy more involved that she deserves. I don't want anything happening to my cousin. And two, I don't want people knowing that I don't live with my actual parents.
I'm not ready to answer any questions surrounding that situation.
"We need to lose our tail," I say - referring to Liam, Jack and Lynch that's following us out of the school's parking lot.
Jessy looks back at me, "I'm not a NASCAR driver, Amber."
"Just drive faster and take a few extra turns," I suggest.
My uncle from my dad's side, Uncle Taminn taught me how to drive. A horrible man really with his snobbish attitude. But my dad taught me how to drive under pressure. Sometimes he'd even order our chauffeur to chase me and see if I can lose him. Considering our chauffeur was basically that guy from Transporter, I guess I did fairly well.
But sitting in a car that is speeding and I'm not the one driving usually makes me nervous. I mean, I trust my own capability, but I'm always doubting others.
When Jessy isn't making much progress and Liam is still on our tail, I say: "go faster and drift when you take that turn."
"This isn't Tokyo Drift, I don't know how!"
"It's basic. You just e-brake, clutch kick, power-over, feint, down-shift and the you're breaking drift," I try to explain. We're getting closer to the turn so I need Jessy to do this if we want to lose the Lexus.
"Amber, this is a Ford. A nineteen-ninety-seven Ford,"
"You have a point," I admit. We'll probably lose half the car if we try to drift.
"If they see us trying to lose them, they'll probably assume we live together. I'm guessing that's what you want to keep hidden right? Where you live?"
"Then what do we do?" I ask, because I can't just give up. It's not who I am.
"There's only one thing we can do..." Jessy says slowly as we're nearing her house.
I'm getting the feeling that I already know what Jessy means, but I ask her in anyway: "What?"
Jessy pulls into her driveway. Liam, Jack and Lynch is parked a few houses away.
"You need to get into your BMW and drive away. I know you got some skills, so if you manage to lose them, you come right back," she suggest.
I don't like the idea of driving in my BMW at all.
"Uhhh... can't I like run away?"
"Run away from a Lexus?" Jessy laughs, "Gurl, the only way you can lose them is of you get in that BMW of yours," she says and God, I know she's right.
This isn't for you. This is for Jessy, I remind myself.
"Okay, let's do it," I say and climb out o the Ford.
"That's my girl," Jessy says and opens the garage door.
I strut over to the garage and with as little grace as humanly possible (because it's me), I grab and fling away the white cover that's over the car. My shiny, dark blue, BMW Nazca M12 stands waiting proud. I grab my key from the hook by the door and press a button that unlocks the doors. It lifts open by itself and the scissor doors make the car look like it has wings.
I slip inside, because one doesn't climb into a car like this.
Hello Blue Jay, I greet my car. Because of her dark blue color and wing-like doors when they open, I think it's appropriate to have named my car after a bad-ass blue bird.
When I start the engine, Blue Jay purrs to life - greeting me in return.
"Let's go show those three guys who they're dealing with," I say before hitting the pedal and reversing out of there. I let the car spin, so that when I'm out in a blur, I'm ready to race away.
"Bye, Jessy!" I great - trying to sell the fact that I don't live here.
I don't wait for her reply before I'm racing away.
The poor Lexus suddenly springs to life and scuffles to follow me. Through my revue mirror, I see the three guys gawking and drooling. Yeah, there's only three BMW Nazca M12 cars in the world and Blue Jay over here is one of them.
I put some pressure on the pedal when I see they're determined to follow. We speed past cars and take turns, but no matter how hard I try, I can't shake the guys.
"They're good," I say to Blue Jay. We take another sharp turn and when I check the revue mirror, I see the Lexus make the turn with me just in time. "Of course these gangs would be great at racing," I mumble.
I zig-zag through traffic, make fast turns, go almost twice the legal speed limit and still these guys are on my ass like flies on shit.
When we near the traffic lights, I put even more pressure on the pedal.
It turns orange.
Don't be scared. Don't be scared. Don't be scared.
It turns red.
Don't be scared. Don't be scared.
The other make to cross the road. .
Don't be scared.
I race over the red light and yell out in victory. "YES! YES! YES! WE DID IT!" I exclaim to Blue Jay. I even go as far as to lean down and kiss Blue Jay's steering wheel. "You were great!" I praise my car. My car.
And then the Lexus emerges through a storm of honks.
"NO! NO! NO!" I cry out in protest, "THESE GUYS DON'T GIVE UP!"
Angry, I decide a different tactic.
"Let's see if they got the balls," I mumble and turn Blue Jay into an alleyway.
We race towards the giant brick wall on the other side - the Lexus following us in, but not driving towards the dead end like me. When it looks like I'm going to crash, I pull at the wheel and grab the clutch and Blue Jay drifts into a turn. She skids for a second before coming to a clean stop.
We're facing the Lexus, but there's a bit of distance between us.
I rev the engine.
If they're going to block my path, I'll just have to go right through them.
Liam that's at the wheel revs their engine right back and the other guys in the car smirks at me. Oh, they think I'll chicken out, do they? These gangs don't know shit about me. I might be the blonde with pretty vintage clothes and paint on everything I own, but there's a side of me that not even I know what to expect of.
I'm Amber Marigold. Daughter of a millionaire. Trained to lose thugs that follow me. I used to get defense classes every Saturday my whole life. My parents were murdered.
I'm not scared.
I floor the gas pedal and speed towards the Lexus.
The guys speed up as well and if one of us don't move within the next second, we'll crash and most likely die.
Their smirks disappear when they see the wild look on my face. The thrill to possibly die right here. Die. Murdered. My parents got murdered. I've seen death. I've had my mother's blood splatter onto me while I hid under her bed. I don't fear dying. I'm not afraid.
The Lexus spins out of the way right before I would've crashed into it.
"Who-hooo!" I yell out and race out of there.
I hear my phone buzz at a new message.
Okay, I have to admit that beneath the wild look and adrenaline, my voice of reason was shitting herself during that. You're a bloody idiot, it whimpers.
I can't argue with that, but I don't want to give Liam any chance of following me again. So, I race back to Jessy with the adrenaline still flooding me.
When I pull up into the driveway and have my car parked, I open the message I got. It's from Mysterious Fucker and the realization sends a chill through me.
WHO THE HELL IS THIS PERSON? They couldn't have possibly known about the racing or my dad that taught me how to drive! It would make sense if Mysterious Fucker is one of the guys that were following me today, but they couldn't possibly know about my Dad... I text back:
As usual, Mysterious Fucker replies instantly.
I've pretty much had it with this person ordering me around.
There's a tiny pause. Still fast for a normal person, but I know Mysterious Fucker had to hesitate, because their messages is usually instant.
Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod.
I try scrambling through my memory for someone that would do something like this. The suspect list has just gone up with like two-hundred people. Couldn't Mysterious Fucker answer me with something that like, you know, doesn't make it harder to figure who they are?
The next message is instant again and sends explosions off in my head, because if I ever figure out who this is, I'm going to kill them for making me break my brain.
The song 'Tell Me More' from Grease gets stuck in my head. Great!
When Mysterious Fucker doesn't answer after a minute, I already know they're not going to answer at all. Angry, frustrated and very much irritated, I violently stuff my phone in my jacked pocked before slipping out of Blue Jay.
"You're back!" Jessy says when I get to the kitchen.
Uncle Anton is trying to figure out the microwave so I grab Jessy's arm and drag her upstairs.
"We need to figure out what to wear for tomorrow nights party," I say.
"We're actually going? Camila is hosting it. Trust me when I say it's going to be wild," Jessy warns.
"Oh I'm ready," I answer.
I've got a mystery to solve.
Hey,
Do you guys know who Mysterious Fucker is yet? And how about Amber's driving skills?! Any suspicions as to why she's so great at driving and fighting?
I was going to thank you guys for getting me 200 reads. But the y'all went ahead and got me 300. And now I have like 400. Thank you so so much for all the support you're showing TGAAGG!
And please remember to vote and comment!
~ Holly Shmit