Banging Gears (Book 1)

Chapter 5: The Race

It's been 10 minutes since I first declared that the race will be taking place right away, so I see people running around to get their cars out of the way while others look for the best place to watch the show.

Nat hasn't changed her mind about being my passenger tonight and I can see she's trying to mentally prepare herself for the ride.

The pass lasts approximately 2 or 3 minutes max, depending on the car obviously, but I've always been under the 2 minute mark.

Nat stands in Isaacs arms for a minute or two before kissing his cheek and walks to my side.

"I get that you were planning on doing a couple passes already, but I can't help but worry about your sudden outburst" Nat admits, slightly fidgeting with her hands.

"No need to worry Nat, I was just mad my doors were getting abused, I'm cool now" I try reassuring her before she decides to back out.

Nat nods smiling, seeming more relaxed unlike a second ago when she was starting to look like an anxious toddler.

I see Dante looking at me from his parked car at my left, indicating he's ready to start.

With one last look at my friends, I give them a wink and head to my side.

I get in the drivers seat of my 1994 Toyota Celica, using the key to bring it to life.

It's 2.0L inline 4 cylinder turbocharged engine purrs to life with a satisfied sound and I smile.

The original pearl white stands out in the night, grabbing everyone's attention.

I think about my 4WD 242hp baby,being excited just from the thought of slamming down the gas pedal after all of this time.

Nat gets in and buckles up, looking ready to face her fears and turns to me.

"All the ponies?" She asks, reminiscing about all the races she accompanied me on.

"All the ponies baby" I say back and she grins.

I give my signal to the temporary spotter, and he counts down from five.

...5

...4

Im ready

...3

Let's do this

...2

...1

As soon as he drops his hand, I slam on the gas, making my car tyres spin for a sec before torpedo speeding down the road.

Capping at 6000rpms, I bang my shifter to 2nd, then 3rd, then 4th until I see I'm closing in on the first narrow corner.

I take a glance at my rear view mirror and see Dante closing in on me, tho he's not quite there yet, giving me plenty of space to take on the corner without difficulty.

I quickly drop down from 4th to 3rd and slide inside the corner, thanking the Gods of the 4wd technology and slide out as gracefully as I can.

I see Dante drifting the corner a second later, almost scraping his rear bumper and I laugh.

Time to end this

I slam back to 3rd and press on the gas, hearing my equally excited turbocharger spooling up and giving me the power I so long for.

This last stretch is the only chance Dante has to pass me and when I feel him getting close, I press the gas all the way to the floor, using everything my little japanese boy has to offer.

That sounded so wrong...

Anyway

Dante tries to get in front of me but fails when he sees I'm speeding up, giving me a huge feeling of satisfaction.

I slow down while I pass the makeshift finish line and park right after the red line, Dante stopping next to me not long after.

The usual crowd hollers and cheers along with my - now slightly tipsy - friends, while some of the newcomers whisper amongst themselves, giving me ugly looks of displeasure.

I look at my side to see how Nat is doing and watch her grin like a girl in love, probably savoring the long lost feeling of adrenaline she was missing all this time.

After patting my dashboard and whispering good job to my baby, I get out to meet with a smiling Dante.

"That was fun" He says, offering his hand of me to shake.

"It was interesting, I'm still quite rusty" I say back and he gives me a playful look.

"Didn't know you had such skill, I must admit I thought you were going to spin out on that first corner" Dante admits, making me laugh.

"That could happen to anyone, thankfully you were far behind, giving me plenty of time to recover" I taunt and I watch him chuckle for a bit, rubbing his neck.

"So, Saturday is my day off" He says, reminding me about our little agreement.

"Well I have work in the morning, but I'll find something for you to do" I say and he nods with a smile, turning to leave.

"See you around Kass, can't wait for Saturday" He yells back at me and I laugh, unconsciously staring at his back.

"Kassidy!"

I break away from my trance and look behind me at my friends, calling me over.

"That was awesome!" Gen yells a little too loud.

"Yeah, who knew you still had it in you after all this time" Isaac yells, matching Gens tone.

Great, now they're drunk

Having Isaac drunk is not that much of a problem,but having a drunk Gen along with a drunk Isaac,

Now that's a chore.

Nat tries to keep her boyfriend from puking, while I just follow Gen around, making sure she won't hurt herself.

Or others.

"Genesis! Leave that poor girl alone!" I yell as I try my best to get her to back off from the barely legal looking girl she's trying to flirt with.

Sober Gen is straight, tipsy Gen is bisexual, but drunk Gen...

Drunk Gen is borderline pansexual.

Meaning she has tried to bang everything, from men to women to trees and furniture.

She did say one time that she found a horse attractive, though that got forgotten almost immediately.

Thank f*****g God!

Getting Gen to the car was always a struggle.

It's now 3am and I yawn, deciding its time to leave since my shift starts at 8.

I take one last look around me and watch as Dante has his arm around a beautiful blonde and I feel a small pang of jealousy hit me, but I instantly brush it off.

I'm not jealous, I'm just tired and I have low self esteem.

No!

I'm a bad b***h, bad bitches don't get jealous!

Yeah...Yeah.

Dropping off Gen to her older sister Asleigh in hopes of not getting caught drunk by her parents, I drop Nat and Isaac at Nats place and head on home.

I park my car in front of my house and march up the small stairs to my front door, trying to make as less sound as possible.

I live with just my mum so I don't have to worry about waking up anyone, since she works the night shifts on Sundays as a security guard in a nearby hospital.

Our house is just one floor so there's no need for tiring stairs to get to my room.

After changing clothes and setting my alarm for 7am, I pat the side of my bed so my 9 year old pitbull, Vito, can get on and sleep with me.

"Up up little buddy, I to leave again in a couple of hours" I whisper to him and after a few blanket tags, he falls asleep again.

I try to do the same, slowly drifting to sleep as today's events involuntarily cloud my mind.