A/N: I haven't seen Cars 2 yet, but here's my first fic for the franchise. Takes place a while after the first film, and before the second one. I haven't been uploading stories recently because of (A) writers' block and (B) I've been focusing on other things (don't ask).

But here I am with a Cars story about a little Chinese car. :) The story is currently under construction, but I'll make it happen. For this chapter and any dialogue between "Chinese characters" (no pun intended there), just assume that they all talk in Chinese. I hope you enjoy!

Oh, yeah, merry Christmas!

Disclaimer: I don't own Cars, it belongs to Pixar; however, all OC's belong to me.

The Misplaced Student

Chapter 1: Departure

Nǐ hǎo (你好)! My name is pronounced Liang Zhifu. It's a Chinese name, since I'm from Beijing. The two parts of my given name mean "wisdom", "knowledge", or "intelligence", and "to comfort or pacify", while "Liang" is my family name. My English name, though, is Jeffrey, and most people I come across who don't speak Chinese use that name.

Like I said, I'm from Beijing. My dad runs the very successful electronics company Lectrix, and my mom stays at home, though she's a very good cook. I have no brothers or sisters at all (which kind of sucks).

I'm a 12-year-old boy who attends middle school. My passions include electronics (especially from Lectrix), and sports (like the ones featured in the Olympics- in fact, I actually attended the 2008 Beijing Olympics!). I hope to share these passions with others and to be one of the best in each of these fields.

I also love languages. In fact, I'm fluent in both Chinese and English, and I hope to learn a few more. And guess what my love of language has gotten me into? The spelling bee.

Yep, of all things a preteen student/athlete /gadget geek could do, it's the Spelling Bee. Most guys my age would think that this kind of activity is for nerds, but it's somewhat cool, because it's the Tripps National Spelling Bee, which takes place in Washington, D.C., and many students from the United States and around the world get to compete there. It's not easy at all (seriously, it's especially hard to spell obscure English words when English is not your first language), but I managed to win the bee for China, and I'll be heading for the United States to go head to head with about a couple hundred other kids my age!

My parents aren't able to come with me at the moment, because Baba has an important meeting with some other business people. Mama is going to stay with him and help him out. So it's all me, and it's my first time ever flying alone.

So I am pretty excited to get to the United States, since it's my first time ever landing my tires in that country. This experience, I guarantee, will be the time of my life.

Gate 26 stood right in front of me at the Beijing International Airport. It's a flight to Washington, D.C., stopping at a city called Albequerque right in the middle of the flight. I was holding my carry-on bag, filled with my phone, my MP3 player, plenty of money, a dictionary, and a few other things.

Both of my parents gave me a kiss as I looked at them.

"Be safe over there, OK, Zhifu?" Mama said to me.

"Don't worry, Ma, I'll be fine." I sort of rolled my eyes in embarrassment from their kiss, but I know it's to show me how much they love me. After all, they care too much for my safety- like I said, it's my first time flying alone.

"And have fun over there, all right?" said Baba, tapping my right tire slightly.

I sighed and smiled. "Yeah, of course, Baba," I answered. "It's a new country. I think it'll be too hard to not enjoy it."

I pulled my bag up with me, and turned around to my parents, who waved their tires enthusiastically. I waved back as I walked up to the ticket collector and handed her my ticket.

"A flight to Washington, D.C., United States of America, wth a stop at Albequerque?" she confirmed. "All by yourself?"

"Uh...yes," I answered. "But my parents will come along sometime soon."

"Okay," the ticket collector said, ripping off the smaller flap of my ticket and handing me back the other part. "You are in an economy seat, 19B. Enjoy your flight, young man."

"Xie xie," I said as I started heading straight through Gate 26 with my bag still latched onto me. I turned around once again to see my parents waving at me again. Their smiles were so endearing, I felt like I would just burst with all the love they were giving me. I waved once again, and continued to wave for what seemed like half a minute. I sometimes feel that way, that I just can't be that much farther away from them, and I that I could just wave forever- or just stay with them forever, to put off any time where I have to leave them.

But I had to go on; the plane would depart in 20 minutes. So I walk down the cold yet decently-lit jet bridge, turning around and seeing my parents just looking at me lovingly. I give one last wave of my tire to them, and I watch them do the same.

I continued walking down the jet bridge until I very quickly arrived at the small airplane door. A flight attendant greeted me very warmly and sweetly as I handed her my ticket.

"Row 19 is past the second set of lavatories," she told me, pointing out the direction of my row among the sea of comfortable, blue seats.

"Xie xie," I said. I headed down, my tires rotating very slowly as I passed through the narrow aisle. Some of the passengers stared at me for a second, then averted their eyes when I look at them. I've noticed people doing that on airline trips- maybe they're so bored that they just stare at the slews of passengers. But I eventually reached my seat- a middle seat, not my favorite type- and carefully placed my bag below, trying to make sure I didn't clutter the small space between my row and the row in front of me.

Now my least favorite part about airplanes- waiting for the other passengers to get seated!

I think I fell asleep- I don't know, maybe I just closed my eyes without really drifting off to sleep. Either way, it made the time pass by much more quickly for me. I looked to my left- there was a college-age student, dressed in a pink paint job. She was talking to someone who seemed to be her boyfriend- another college-age student, this time with a red paint job, who was not much larger than she was. To my right was an elderly man reading a magazine.

A few seconds later, the intercom turned on.

"Hello, and good afternoon. Thank you for flying Red Dragon Air. We are glad that you chose to fly with us. At this moment, we have a safety video for you to watch so that you know how to stay safe on the plane and what to do in case of an emergency. Again, thank you, and enjoy the video." A couple of seconds later, the entire thing was repeated in English.

After the intercom turned off, there were a few seconds of silence, except for the little children laughing some number of seats behind me. Then the lights dimmed; I could still hear the same children oohing at the lighting effect. One of them shouted "It's dark now!" The screens above popped open from the ceiling. I waited patiently for the video to start. I admit to liking these videos- they're somewhat fun to watch, I have no idea why.

There was a hint of static on the screen, then it was totally black again. Then the monitors gradually lightened into the little safety video, its title screen showing the logo of the airline in a heavenly cloud background.

It was the typical safety instructional video- "please fasten your seat belts and put your tray tables in the upright positions", "smoking is prohibited on all flights". "in the unlikely event that we have to make an emergency landing on water, pull on the tab underneath your seat, and you will find a life vest in the compartment." "if you are seated in an exit row, please be aware of the exit row responsibilities, and ask a flight attendant if you would like to be reseated." It was relatively normal in length- after a bit less than 3 minutes, the video closed with the friendly flight attendant thanking the passengers for choosing their airlines and uttering the oft-said cliché phrase "enjoy the flight".

The video ended with an airplane soaring into the sky, with the logo appearing once again. The whole thing faded to black, and then the screens retracted into their original positions. Within a few seconds, I felt the plane moving forward, very slowly at first. Then the whole plane turned to the left for about eleven seconds, and then I could hear the engines starting.

We started to move once again, slowly, and then the pace gradually quickened. The same children in the back were laughing with excitement now. Within a few seconds the engines' roaring was blaring loudly, and we were moving quickly along the runway- I could tell because everything outside the window was just a blur- except for the trees and the control tower far away. As I anticipated the tilt upwards that signified takeoff, I felt a jolt of excitement, not because the plane was taking off, but because I would be heading to a country I had read about, had wanted to visit, and now, that I would be competing in.

The United States of America was a place known for its freedom and diversity- things I didn't know too much about, since not a lot of people in China are non-Chinese, and freedom is severely (I mean severely) restricted. And it wouldn't hurt to enjoy all of the pastimes of the American people- the sport of baseball and the delicacies of hot dogs and apple pie (they have stuff like that in China, but it's very rare and unauthentic. If I touched down in America, I would really know what that stuff tasted like!)

And in just five seconds, we were completely off the ground. I looked outside the window again, and the airport and all the buildings and roads around it began to shrank. Then I looked up at the blue sky abundant with puffy white clouds.

And so began my journey.

A/N: Yeah...good story starter, huh? Like I said, the plot is still under construction, but I'll find a way...somehow...:/

As for food...the cars eat the same things we do :)

EDIT: I accidentally originally wrote Phoenix in the original. I meant Albequerque! (Radiator Springs is somewhere around New Mexico or Arizona, but I should be consistent about it.) I also added an explanation as to why Zhifu's parent's can't come.

So, Merry Christmas! Don't forget the reason for the season!

Até breve!