Street Racers

The cars revved, four impatient drivers waiting, getting more and more edgy, anxious by the moment. Finally when the hand dropped, so did the gas pedals. All you could see for that single moment was nitro exhaust and moisture flung up into the air. After that moment, to the viewer, the race was all over.

For the drivers, it was totally different; as if they weren't going fast enough, like an eternity, it was painfully slow. Once they were signaled, the four raced down the street. It was a fast paced, risky business, but the drivers didn't care. They got their adrenaline rush and a cash prize or something else valuable.

Servek had a good head start, but some newbie driver who called himself Kommet, (Ryan immediately renamed him Vomit) began bumping and nudging him which resulted him crashing into a brick wall. Nothing was seriously damaged, but his car's body was pretty banged up. Kommet tried to pass Ryan, who'd slipped past while the two others had been bumping, but it was too late. The race was over; they'd tied. In this case of the street racers, the two who'd tie would fight for their spot, the place behind them immediately forfeiting their spot. Pulling Kommet off his feet, Ryan easily gave him a few blows to the face before he could at all react. The street racer was surprisingly shorter than He'd first realized which made his job all that much easier.

"Ryan, drop that little shit. He's mine!" Servek said storming towards the two. Ryan turned to look at the oncoming racer, and saw he was pissed off. He shrugged, dropping Kommet and took the cash he was given by the ref who ran over.

"Whatever, I have to go pick up the squirt any who." He said giving another passive shrug. Servek nodded, grabbing Kommet by the back of his jacket, just as he tried to escape.

"While you're doing that, do you mind picking Daffodil up too?" He asked, putting one arm around the short one's neck. Ryan nodded, waving slightly and easily slipped into his car, driving off.

"RYAN YOU FREAKING PIG! You're not the only one who is hungry here! Leave some for everyone else for Christ sakes!" Servek snapped. Ryan looked up at his fellow racer, munching on a piece of bacon. Sono looked over her shoulder languidly, a few precious coffee grinds falling to the counter. She sighed, pouring the last scoop into the machine, flicking the switch and pulled out a mug. She shook her head, sighing again as she turned to look at the three at the table, Khris being characteristically quiet as always.

"Bro, relax. It's no big deal. I'm getting my paycheck tomorrow and Ryan got us some extra cash with the race last night." She stated flatly. She then stopped her brother from arguing by adding to what she'd said.

"I say if you have a hunger, satiate it. A thirst, quench it. You should eat as much as you need. But, on the other hand…" She then looked to Ryan.

"We must understand that we don't have money to spare, especially after brother's incident, and everyone does need to eat. Cut back a bit on the food consumption." She muttered. Ryan shrugged, munching on another piece of bacon slowly.

"You're just being nice to Ryan because you two are fuck buddies." Khris grumbled suddenly as he chewed on a piece of toast. Daphne, or Daffodil, looked shocked, and flicked him in the head rather hard, the two men seated close to him standing; ready to beat him into a groveling pulp. Sono shook her head, turning back to the coffee machine, watching the brown liquid she almost depended on trickle into the pot. From behind her, she could hear Daffodil trying to calm the three down, Ryan and Servek yelling about how Khris, who was yelling in complaint, deserved this. Sono turned to watch, her gold brown eyes fixed on the scene lazily.

Everyone had a job to do, even her, the fourteen year old. Sono, as she was known, (In daily public and in 'reality' her name was Raechyl) worked at a café, doing odd end jobs and working at the cash register; sometimes making the customers their coffees and such. The teachers at her school, which she regularly attended, didn't approve of her living habits. They didn't like that she lived with four men and had a job already. No matter how much she explained one was her brother and that there was another woman in the house, they still didn't approve and continually tried to send her to a foster home, or try to find their parents.

Daffodil, or Daphne as she was known in the public eye, worked at a prestigious bar in the centre of the rich part of town. It was a very high paying job, but it was known to use its employees rather than respect them for the human beings they were. The uniforms were an example of this treatment, but Daphne got lucky and wore the more covering version. The only real reasons she stayed at that job was that they needed the money so badly, and the people who came to the bar knew to leave her alone if they knew what was good for them. Her boyfriend, Servek wasn't too keen on the idea of other men touching or talking to his beautiful flower in an inappropriate manner.

Both Servek and Ryan did street racing to bring in the money. They would race against each other to avoid the suspicion of being a team, or would both cover separate races. When times got tough, Servek was often the one going off to find himself a temporary job.

Khris did racing too, but only by late night. During the day he worked at a small body shop on the east end of town, specializing in wiring and fixing the body of the car. If he really wanted to, he could probably build his own car with little help. By evening, Khris sang in a 'home made' band. Sometimes he'd do a show at the Nightly Brew and drive Sono home, or sing at The Hook-up and Buzz, bringing home Daffodil. He'd do this on occasion if Servek or Ryan had multiple races or a race during the time that the girls got off of work.

Sono watched Daphne calm down the three, Ryan brushing blonde hair from his naturally bright blue eyes which were still fixated on Khris and his bleeding nose.

"I hope that damn thing is broken." He growled. Luckily enough for Khris, that was when Garret decided to come downstairs for breakfast.

Garret was also a hardcore racer, taking much more pride in his car than the other three. He also worked in the car shop Khris worked in, specializing in body work, though he could do the basics for everything he was asked to do. He preferred and flourished in painting the cars, rather than smoothing out dents or playing with technical and fiddly wires.

Garret was the oldest of the group, but not the leader. Everyone was their own boss here except for Sono who was too young. He enjoyed pretending to be, but even he knew he wasn't. Walking over to the table, he took one look around the room and sneered.

"Are you having a bad day already Khris? Is Christ having a bad day?" He asked in a taunting manner as he sat. Khris was very hardcore religion and Garret enjoyed mocking him about it. Getting a murderous glare, he turned his attention to Sono.

"Morning squirt, mind popping me some toast?" he asked winking with brotherly love. Sono nodded and turned to make him some toast. Daphne walked over unnoticed to go make more breakfast as Garret looked at the almost empty plates and smirked.

"So Ryan's stomach strikes again eh?" he asked. Servek nodded, making a sound of agreement, and Ryan shrugged.

"I'm just hungry. That's all; I didn't quite catch dinner last night." He explained. Garret's toast sprung up and Sono jumped, spinning around in shock and surprise. Snickering quietly at Sono's reaction, Khris sipped at his own coffee, Ryan rolling his eyes with a small smirk.

"Seriously Sono, when will you ever get used to the sound of the toaster popping?" He laughed, turning to look at the small girl. Through soundless swears Sono stuck her tongue out at him childishly, quickly handing Garret his toast.

Daffodil smiled serenely; glad to be a part of this family like group. Everyone looked out for each other, keeping an extra eye out more so for the girls. The guys taunted both of them, as well as each other, but seemed to enjoy bothering the youngest the most, but it was only a brotherly love thing. They cared for the girls that much she knew, even though Sono seemed to disagree sometimes. Sono, being the youngest seemed to take it more seriously than what was intended, but it could have just been her age. Daphne knew at that age, all girls were rather sensitive. It was never anything too big, only a poke here, a prod there, being called squirt from her short stature or taunting about the boys at school. This seemed to piss her off beyond all belief since they were only 1-3 years older than she was.

Looking around again after putting more sausage and fried eggs on a plate, Daphne's eyes rested on Sono's and they smiled to each other. She then glanced at the clock above her head and sighed.

"Sono, you'd better get going or you'll be late for school." She noted, going to the fridge and pulling out a sack lunch. Sono sighed disdainfully, looking down at her chipped and empty cup, but pushed herself off the counter from where she was leaning and grabbed her lunch. Ryan too got up, placed his dishes in the sink and smiled.

"Hey Sono, I'll drive you to school today. Looks pretty disgusting out there." He offered. Sono's eyes immediately lit up, a smile breaking through the annoyed and bored looking mask she'd been wearing. His offer had obviously caught her attention. Ryan knew exactly what she was thinking. She knew he drove fast. She knew he couldn't stand to drive slowly. Ryan smiled as he watched Sono skip off to get her shoes and jacket on. She was waiting at the door for him, entirely ready as Ryan walked out of the kitchen wiping his mouth slightly.

"Okay, okay, relax. Gimme two seconds." He laughed, seeing Sono's anxious eyes watching him with such excitement it was if she'd never been in his car.

"Sono, can you come in the kitchen for a moment? Servek wants to talk to you about something in private." Daffodil said quietly. Some of the colour drained out of Sono's face, but she nodded, walking into the kitchen. The rest of her pallor showed up once she saw what was spread across the table in front of her older brother.

"What are with these marks Raechyl?" Servek asked in a sharp and serious tone. She could hear the agitation in his voice, and had to sit down in fear of collapsing.

"Sis…" he now sounded exhausted. "I found these in the trash. Why are your marks so low? Do you not understand things? Ask a teacher, ask Garret, ask… Ryan even. You know you can ask anyone anything you need help with. Or is it work making you miss important stuff?" He didn't wait for replies. He knew when she was in trouble, Sono kept very quiet only shaking and nodding her head if need be, biting her lip. He remembered their father yelling at her and remembered when she was demanded to reply verbally, how her voice broke and she'd begin to cry. He didn't plan on turning into their father.

"I'm sorry, I know that we really need your support too, but if this continues, we're going to have to make you quit your job. School's more important at the moment. I know it isn't right or fair to you, but I really feel strongly about you continuing your education. Even if it be until the end of this school year then get Garret to teach you." Servek explained. He could see that shocked and hurt expression hiding behind her eyes, slowly making its way to the surface. The same one he so badly hated tried to avoid. He shook his head, hugging his small sister apologetically.

"I'm sorry, but it will have to be the way unless your marks improve sis. Now you'd better get going or else you'll be late even with Ryan driving like the mad man he is." Servek smirked, finally releasing his little sibling from a vice like grip. She nodded getting up abruptly, and walking away quickly, her arms tucked in tight, obviously showing her trying not to cry. This made him wonder aloud,

"I did the right thing, right? So why do I feel like I've done such wrong? Why do I feel like I'm turning into dad?" Daffodil heard this and sighed sadly, shaking her head and wrapped her arms around Servek's shoulders, hugging him lovingly.

"Everything will be just fine. She's just really sensitive. You should know this by now. After all, you've known her since she was born. Don't worry about it. She'll be fine." Daffodil said reassuringly. She gave him another hug, walking away to go wash the dishes quickly before having to go to work.

Sono quickly flew down the front steps and walked over to Ryan who was waiting in his car. This car went straight from street races to public eye without anyone knowing any wiser. No one would guess that he'd just been battling against friction and competitors to get the number one spot. Sono had found a special paint that if used on black, would show up under fluorescent lights in the dark. On the back was "loser" and on the front and hood was written "whim to win". She'd helped paint it on one night, elated to be working on a car that would race down the streets. Even if it were just making a small mark that was easily covered up or scratched off.

Sliding in, she threw her bag into the back of the car, quickly fastening her seatbelt and looking out the passenger window all without giving her close friend a single glance. Ryan looked at her curiously, a subtle edge of worry to his features.

"What happened just now Raechyl?" it was the second time today she'd been called by her real name today, which obviously meant that they were serious about what they said.

"He found my school tests. Brother saw the marks… 40... 50… 67 percent-"

"WHHAAAAATTTT!" Ryan interrupted, yelling. Sono winced; glad that he'd sound proofed his car. Rubbing her left ear, she scowled, sighing slightly.

"Raechyl, what the fuck is going on! I thought you were smarter than that!" He exclaimed in a complainant manner, leaning back so he looked at the ceiling with a sigh. Raechyl scowled more, her eyes darkening. Seeing this, Ryan lifted his hands in an act of defense of sorts.

"Okay, okay, let's forget about this, Kay? Do you have any tests today?" A familiar smirk crept its way onto his face.

"No." Raechyl said flatly.

"Anything important? Don't you dare try to lie to me Raechyl." He warned her. Again she gave the negative response, still staring out the window. Ryan scoled and reached over with one hand, turning her head to face him. He tried to read the bitter expression on her face, wondering why she hadn't looked at him when she'd spoke.

"I'm serious and telling the truth Ryan. I don't have anything today until eight, until I need to go to work. My turn to ask a question now." She said, being released. "Why do you want to know?" Sono asked, looking from the windshield, to Ryan, then back to the passenger window. Ryan laughed, shaking his head as he regained his 'devil-may-care' smile, tapping his finger to his nose.

"It's a surprise." He stated as he turned on the ignition. Sono scowled, but Ryan could see the smile she attempted at hiding. He knew she hated surprises, but knew as well:
A) She was glad to be skipping school not just to have to go to work,

B) Maybe, he didn't know for sure, but just maybe she enjoyed being with him. Of course, he could just be mixing up her like for him and her like for him because he drove fast. He didn't really know which one it was and didn't want to know. He'd rather be always guessing and confused than hurt.

Ryan had to take the long way out of town, driving all the way to the school before doubling back. Servek seemed to have eyes on the back of his head, as well as everywhere else in this god forsaken town, but he didn't care. At least for the moment he thought to himself. He'd deal with the problem when the problem arose.