《︎𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳'𝘴 𝘗𝘖𝘝》︎
"Why do you think you're above serving your penalty in Saturday School?"
"I don't think I'm above anyone, sir." Ren starts. "I was just unaware that-" Wes stands up.
"Hey, Eddie? Eddie? He has a job on Saturdays over at Andy's cotton gin." The judge shakes his head.
"Wes. Call me "Judge," would you? And take your hat off." Wes quickly nods and takes his baseball cap off.
"Ok, Judge Eddie. Could you show a little mercy here? He was playing his music too loud. About as loud as you used to play Lynyrd Skynyrd in that old Impala me and you used to roll in. Remember that... Judge?" Eddie huffs.
"You'll have Andy verify his employment?" The sheriff throws his hands up.
"Now hold on..." Wes cuts him off.
"Yes I will!" Wes yells. "Can I go back to the car lot now?"
"Sentence suspended." Wes and Ren head outside.
"Oh, man. Son, you're lucky. Not everyone's got this town on lockdown like I do." Ren huffs.
"Oh, yeah? Since you and the judge are so buddy-buddy, maybe you can have him explain this whole ban-on-dance thing to me. Whatever happened to separation of church and state?" Wes gives him a questioning look.
"What's church got to do with it?" Ren shrugs.
"It seems to have everything to do with everything around here. Let me ask you a question. If there's a football game Sunday and you want to buy a beer, can you?"
Wes shakes his head. "You can't buy beer on Sundays."
"And why not?" Ren asks.
He huffs."'Cause of church."
"You can in Boston, why not in Bomont?" They hop in the truck.
"Look. Sunday is God's day. If you want to drink beer on God's day, you need to buy it on beer's day, which is Saturday. It's right there in the Bible, if you don't believe me.Separation of God and beer. And if God said it, I believe it.That settles it! Now shut up." Ren shakes his head and laughs.
A little while later when Ren was working out at the Cotton Gin one of his coworkers tapped him.
"Hey, McCormack." Ren turns to him. He points down at the ground. He sees someone approaching so he leans over the rail.
"Hey, what's up... Ariel?" He thought it was somebody else so he was taken aback when he saw her.
She takes her sunglasses off and sighs loudly. "Chuck Cranston wants to see you at his daddy's racetrack tomorrow. Be there at two o'clock."
Ren's eyebrows knit together."Ok. What happens at two o'clock?"
Ariel shrugs. "Show up and find out."
"And what if I don't?"
She smirks."You're gonna miss all the fun."
"How come he sent you to tell me?"
She slides her sunglasses back on. "I volunteered." She then walks off, swaying her hips as she goes. Ren gives her a confused look. He takes his phone out and calls Willard.
"What's up man?" He says on the other end of the phone. His southern accent is as strong as ever.
Ren scratches his head. "Hey. Do you know why Chuck wants me to come to the racetrack tomorrow?"
Willard curses on the other side of the phone. "No but that dude is trouble. Inform the gang and we will come with you so you don't get your butt beat." Ren laughs and ends the call.
the next day...
"If that sh!thog tries anything, I'm gonna pound him." Willard says tightening his grip. Chloe rolls her eyes as they enter the racetrack.
"No fighting, Willard." Rusty warns him.
"No promises, Rusty."
Ariel fans the cigarette smoke out of her face. Chuck and his gang were all sitting at his truck in the middle of the track.
"You guys, keep the smoke away from her now. Her daddy smells that, he'll never let her hang out again."
Caroline looks up and sees Ren. "High school field trip's here."
Chuck gets up and hops off his truck. "Twinkle toes. Watching you the other night, that was real entertaining. We thought we'd invite you out here. Maybe you could put on a show for us."
"Chuck, didn't you hear? He's real into gymnastics." Ben says.
Chuck clicks his tongue. "Gymnastics.Well... I thought only fags were into gymnastics." Chloe scoffs at Chuck's comment.
Ren nods."I thought only a$$holes still used the word "fag."
"Touché." Chuck says pointing at Ren. He turns around and walks to the tractor and pulls himself up on it. "Why don't you...try dancing with this?" He starts it up and drives it towards some school buses almost hitting them in the process.
"Now, we race these buses every weekend at the Derby Mash-up. We race them in a figure eight," Chuck makes a 8 in the sand. "Just like this. Two things you gotta worry about. Your corners, and your intersection. You fall behind, you're gonna get hit by the leader. You pull ahead, you just might get slammed by the guy in last place. What do you say, city boy? Ready to race?" Ren nods. Him, Chloe, Willard, and Woody run over to one of the buses.
Woody and Willard start rambling. "Okay, So I drove one of these at a pep rally one time... it ain't easy. All right? If she flips over, crawl out the side window." Ren stares nervously at the wheel.
"If it catches on fire, jump out of it."
"Keep loose."
"Pump your brakes with your foot."
"Pump the brakes. Tell him."
"I just told him."
"Cool. Pump them brakes."
"Guys!" Chloe gives them a look telling the to cut it out.
"All right, man. Good luck." Woody says patting Ren's back.
He turns to him. "Whoa, whoa! Guys, guys. This is pretty dangerous, right? We could get killed?"
Woody laughs."We? What's this "we," white boy? Crazy. Like I'd get my black a** up in here." The two boys leave.
"What'd I get myself into?" Ren says scratching his neck.
Chloe turns to him. "Hey don't worry you'll do great. Just be careful and don't hesitate when it comes to slamming these buses." She says patting his shoulder. "I'm rootin for you, Ren."
Rich walks up the stand with a microphone. "How do you do, all you pissants? Welcome to the Cranston Motor Speedway!"
Chloe looks over and sees Chuck trip going up the steps to his bus. Ariel helps him in but he pushes her away. She nudges Willard. "Hey look. Trouble in paradise."
He nods. "Ooo juicy."
Rich starts yelling in the microphone again. "We got one practice lap before the green flag drops, folks. It's a three-lap race to the finish line, or the last man standing. Gentlemen, start your engines!" They all start their engines. "Let's go! We've got homegrown hero Chuck Cranston in Burn in Hell."
Chuck turns to yell at Ren. "You're in my world now, boy!"
"On the outside, we've got the new kid racing in the Fun Zone, Ren McCormack."
"Whoo!" Chloe and Rusty yell.
Willard laughs and yells. "Go, Fun Zone!"
Rich continues."Caroline and Russell are in the back of the pack, y'all." Ariel who is riding on the back of a truck yells to the driver.
"Hey! Where's the green flag?" He shrugs.
"Improvise." Ariel smirks and rips her green shirt off. Chloe rolls her eyes.
"Now we're coming into turn four, getting ready for the green flag."Ariel starts waving her shirt around.
"And... Go!" Rich yells. The buses pick up speed as the race begins.
"They're coming around turn number one. Fun Zone is loose around the corner." Ren turns his wheel trying to make sure he don't wreck.
"Hang in there! Hang in there!" Rich yells.
"Chuck Cranston takes the lead, with Russell on his a**. Caroline and McCormack are door to door, they're battling for third place!"
Caroline turns to yell at Ren. "You want a little smooch?" She grunts as she slams her bus into the side of Ren's.
"She is tearing him up! Coming out of turn four. Here they come, headed straight for the intersection!" Ren sees that Russell is in front of the intersection.
"Pump the brakes!" Woody yells.
"Somebody better stop. Somebody better do something!" Ren looks at Caroline before slamming on the brakes.
"Watch out, baby!" Rich yells.
Caroline looks in front of her. She curses loudly before she wrecks.
"Caroline is into the wall!
"Sorry, girl." Chuck laughs.
Caroline crawls out of her bus."Russell! You son of a b!tch!" Caroline throws her helmet at Russell's bus.
"Russell and McCormack are duking it out for second place." Russell tries slamming into Ren but Ren knocks him into a light pole. He then runs over the light pole which lights his bus on fire.
"We got fireworks! God bless America!" Rich yells.
"He's gonna die." Rusty says. Chloe nudges Rusty.
"And I'm on fire." Ren huffs.
"Chuck Cranston holds the lead with one lap to go!"
Chuck looks around. "Getting lonely up here!" he yells.
"Oh, we've got us a regular Mexican standoff, folks." Rich says excitedly.
"Don't you play chicken with me, boy." Chuck hisses.
"Who's gonna back down? Who's gonna back down? Somebody's got to back down!" Ren starts driving towards Chuck.
"Oh, what the heck." He says before speeding up and flipping over Chuck's bus.
"No, no, no!" Chuck yells.
"Chuck is down!" Rich says shocked. "McCormack takes the lead!"
Chloe's eyes widen, she slaps Willard's arm. "Guys! Fire! He's on fire!" She says before running down the stairs as fast as she can. She gets to the ground and sees Ren but he isn't slowing down.
"What are you doin?!" She yells.
He then yells back."I got no brakes!" She quickly runs and hops in the bus with Willard and Woody behind her. She grips onto a seat.
"Hey man, did you know your bus is on fire?" Willard asks. M
Ren rolls his eyes as he tries to find a way to slow down. "Yeah, no dip!" He yells back.
"Stop this bus!" Woody yells as he tries to put the fire out with the extinguisher.
"Pump the brakes!" Chloe yells.
"The gas pedal is stuck!" Ren yells as he slams on the brakes.
"Well do something!" Willard yells. They look up and see Chuck's bus.
"Abandon bus! Abandon bus!" Willard yells.
"We need to get off this bus! Ren, you gotta get off, man!" He pulls Ren up and pushes him towards the exit of the bus and he jumps out and yanks Chloe down with him. Willard and Woody jump out behind them. They hit the ground right as the bus runs into Chuck's.
Willard gets up excitedly. "The wheels on the bus go boom, boom, boom!" Chloe groans out in pain. Ren helps her up while Willard continues to shout. "Yes, sir! Get some! Fire it up!" Etta and Rusty yell at their men. Chloe dusts herself off.
"Hey you okay?" Ren asks her.
"I mean for the most part yeah." Chloe looks down at her shin and sees some blood.
Ren looks down and starts to panic. "Holy sh-"
She cuts him off. "Don't freak. It's fine. I didn't even feel it." He nods. He looks down and laughs a little. "What?" She laughs.
"I have never seen a girl run that fast before. Maybe your dad should ask you to try out for the football team." Chloe shakes her head and laughs.
"I'm gonna head home and clean this up. Good job dude." She nudges him with her shoulder. Ren quickly turns around and hugs her from behind.
"Thank you for coming."
Chloe smiles. "See ya, Ren." She says before walking away.
Ren turns to see Willard and Woody winking at him. "Don't start." He laughs.