Bab 114: Chapter 111
" Just thought I'd come by and say hi, " Chase said. There was no reason for me to act weird, I mean, he seemed pretty normal himself. I said hi, and he even went ahead to introduce himself to Kyle as my friend. Which he wasn't. We hardly ever talked and I doubt those few words exchanged between us were enough to earn us the friendship title. But whenever he dared to look me in the eye, I very subtly dared him to say or do anything stupid, but I didn't think he'd try something of the sort, he just didn't come off as the type to do so.
"See you around, " he said afterwards and casually walked away. Kyle got a call, he turned the screen towards me to show me it was his mum before stepping aside and picking it up, and after a while, he came closer and silently asked me the approximate time the race was going to end, I wasn't sure but I said four in the evening. A piece of information which he then passed onto his mum, his eyes narrowed suspiciously. Like he was being very cautious of every word he said because he believed something wasn't right.
" Why?" He asked, grabbing my arm and guiding me towards the truck once more.
" I mean, no offense but why?" He asked again, stopping for two seconds to run a hand over his face before we went on.
" Not really but I'm not completely sure about the time. .....yeah, I think so. Ummm, sure? " he arched a brow. I had never really seen that expression on him before. When he finally cut the call, he immediately turned to me and said,
" My mum just asked me what I want for dinner tonight. Something weird is definitely going on! "
I couldn't challenge him on that. Even I was surprised by the news. But I still believed he ought to think positive because there was no reason not to. She was really trying so the least he could do was acknowledge all her effort. We got the sunscreen and I helped him put it on, then he did the same for me and all that was left was for us to wait. Chelsea, that girl from the store approached us, she was nice, so there was no way to harbor any sort of negativity towards her, and I was glad because Kyle seemed a bit more comfortable to be around her. Even after the race officially began, they found a spot and sat down together. The place smelt like barbeque and beer and only God knows what else. And according to Miles, that particular race had the largest amount of bets ever placed. And I knew that most of the people there were counting on me, especially after the last time. On the starting line, I somehow found myself between Dave and Jay. But if there was one thing I was sure of about them, it was that they never used dirty tricks to win. None of us did. They had been quite careful in their selection.
And when I looked at each racer there, I knew they were all good, but I still believed that I would beat them. And to be honest, within the first half, it really appeared that I would. I started off strong and was in the lead, and all my residing worry disappeared because I could suddenly sense the victory which I believed was mine.
Turns out my belief wasn't all that true.
And I also learnt that despite how great I thought I was, I couldn't always lead since there would always be someone else that was equally good. This time around, it was Trick.
I was blind sighted since I had really not seen it coming, in my head, if I was to lose, I assumed it would be to Jay. He was just the strongest competitor and he must have chosen that location for a reason, so I had thought it was a grand scheme to finally get one over me. But he finished in third, I was second. And not even the close kind of second, Trick surpassed us by a lot. Like an entire five minutes ahead of me. And his smile afterwards proved that although he was a bit surprised, he had actually expected to win. Dave and Chase got into an argument over who was fourth, so June declared it a tie. I couldn't lie, I was disappointed.
I honestly didn't care much for the bets, that was their problem and if anyone of them dared to come at me for it I wouldn't be scared to act, what bothered me was the realization that I perhaps had to be more serious in terms of my practicing. That was what I was relying on for my future. If I messed it up I would officially be lost.
" You did good, don't stress over it, " Kyle assured me as soon as I got back to him. Miles and Will who had showed up did the same.
" Rachel just told me Trick grew up close to here, he'd ride over here with his pals for fun, " Will explained.
" No wonder he looked all smug. That Trickster!" Miles added. There was no hate, they were just casually talking, but I told them I didn't need them to reassure me of anything.
" To be honest, I'm just glad you beat Chip and Dale over there, " Will gestured over to Jay and Dave. I took off my safety gear and placed them on a wooden seat that had been abandoned by someone. The race itself had ended sooner than I had expected it to. Three of the racers offered their bike to another group that wanted to have a turn, and after that an entire cycle began. There was loud music playing from someone's fucking car, and not to mention the overall noise and chaos. I was personally ready to just bail and go, but Miles didn't feel like going yet, and so we had to stay behind as well because it was impossible to go home on the bike.
" Hungry?" I asked Kyle and he nodded. Someone was selling hotdogs, so we went over and bought two, I would have suggested we watch who won in the new rounds but that sun was getting unbearable. It was a wonder how those other guys could withstand it. We decided to go over to the truck, on our way there, some guys approached asking me to lend them my bike. I flatly refused. No way was I taking any chances.
" Is it just me or did those guys have gang tattoos?" Kyle asked me after they walked away full of disappointment. I told him not to worry about it. Sometimes I forgot that that crowd consisted mostly of outlaws and soon to be outlaws. Trick himself had been in and out of jail a few times. And according to what I'd heard, June had come out of Juvie like six months before. Destruction of public property and assaulting an officer, as well as a previous record in theft, mostly clothes and shoes from malls. So in other words, it wasn't the best crowd to be around, but I had been with them for quite some time and I didn't see anything wrong, of course I knew I wasn't better off myself.
" Aren't they drawing too much attention though? With the noise and everything?" Kyle asked me once we were in the car. I agreed with that. This time it wasn't even about the racing, I doubt that was going to be an issue,but as always, that was a meetup point for all kinds of people. Drugs and alcohol plus previously incarcerated teenagers was not a good combination at all! They had been running on luck since way before I joined them and I always wondered what would happen were they to get caught. I was excluding myself because I would never let such a thing happen. Even my dad wasn't that forgiving and I sure as hell wasn't that stupid.
" I don't think they'll be done any time soon, " he told me. I looked out the window and sighed. Miles had asked me to go and race again but I had refused. All the others were doing so but I just didn't feel like it anymore. And if didn't want Kyle to be bored, especially since Chelsea was her boyfriend's friends.
" You're bored, aren't you ?"
" A little," he admitted.
" Wanna play a game, I'll install it on your phone and we can compete, "
" Sure!"
We did that for like fourty minutes, then he rolled down the window and pointed out that the sun had disappeared.
" Let's go for a walk? "
I asked him where and he shrugged and waved his hand around, indicating anywhere. I personally preferred to stay right where we were but he seemed like he wanted to go walk around, and so that's what we did.
" Thanks for coming, " I randomly told him as we walked. It was just bare land, really dusty as well, but there was no wind and I was extremely glad. Otherwise we'd be walking while constantly rubbing sand from our eyes.
He asked me why I was thanking him, saying it sounded weird coming from me. Actually, for the first few minutes, I was at peace and completely okay, but then his mum called him two more times and out of the blue I got this strange feeling. She was just checking in with him and reminding him not to be late for supper. It was sweet and caring, but he still seemed a bit disturbed, and because we were somehow bonded to each other, I couldn't help but feeling as if things were a little bit too perfect.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone