It had been just one week. One bloody week since Rae picked up her brand new Ford Puma. It was such a lovely car, so shiny and blue with all mod cons. It wasn't something that she would ever be able to afford to buy. But she had a stroke of luck when she entered a prize crossword competition in a TV Guide and won first prize.
She had never been so elated in her life. It was the best thing that happened to her since the day she was discharged from hospital just over a year ago. Even better than when she passed the bloody driving test. It wasn't easy for her to get to know her dad again, but he'd been so guilty for his absence all those years he tried to help her out with lessons. He eventually gave up teaching her like the quitter he was, but he stumped up the cash for her to have lessons with a proper instructor.
After she left the hospital she kept a low profile. At college she chose to spend her break times hiding in the library or at a bench in a quiet corner of the playground listening to her cd Walkman. She would travel to and from classes at speed. She didn't want to bump into anybody from school and fortunately she never had any of the same classes as anyone she knew. She was able to stay quite happily under the radar that way. She also did her homework in the library after the final bell, so most students of the bullying variety would have definitely left by the time she did. Her chosen method to survive college had been quite fortuitous really, she had read a great deal spending all that time in the library and become smart enough to win prize crosswords. She wondered if she could make a sort of living out of it and planned to enter lots more competitions.
There had been a downside to the ownership of her new sexy car, other than the fact she had to find a job to pay to run the thing. It lifted her above the radar and that wasn't something she was comfortable with. And people kept bloody cutting her up every time she drove anywhere. Who would have known people drive differently around you depending on the car you drive? When Rae used to drive her mums car nobody ever tried to race her at traffic lights or make rude gestures at her.
Just one bloody week of Bazza's harassing her was enough to make her want to give the car up. She was always on the alert, she started to drive too close to the car in front to prevent dick-heads from cutting in, she would also position her car right on the centre line to make it hard for anyone that tried to over take her. She had even been forced to gesture the two finger salute on every outing she'd been on so far.
So it wasn't any surprise when she was travelling back from the Morrison's on Uffington Road after buying a load of magazines with competition potential that she finally blew. She admittedly wasn't the best with roundabout's but on this occasion she did nothing wrong. She approached a mini roundabout to turn onto her street and indicated to turn right, the car at the next entrance to the roundabout stopped to give way to her but the moron on the right of her didn't indicate where he wanted to go. If he wanted to go round she would have to stop for him. They were caught In a vicious circle where nobody knew what to do. In the end Rae decided to fuck the shit-head to the right and carry on round. When she looked up to check whether they stopped, the bloke who hadn't indicated was at the give way waving his fists angrily in the air at her.
That was it, she wasn't going to stand for that so stopped the car in the middle of the mini rounabout and pressed the button to open her electric windows. She noticed the car was full of nob-heads from her college but she was too cross to back out. The pretty boy in charge of the wheel just had to be told. "YOU'VE GOT A FUCKING INDICATOR FOR REASON DICK-HEAD". She shouted as she made the universal gesture of a nob coming out of her head. "HOWABOUT YOU STOP LOOKING AT YOUR OWN PRETTY FACE IN THE MIRROR AND START PAYING ATTENTION!" She flicked him the bird and carried on into Elm Park Road.
She was about to pull into her drive when she saw a white Fiesta tearing down her road toward her. Fuck! She dropped herself in it big time; they had followed her. She didn't want to risk them knowing where she lived so she carried on down the road to make loop back onto the main road. She should have reigned in her road rage when abusing one of the coolest blokes at college. Her life wasn't going to be worth living. As soon Fiesta death chase 1997 was over she was going to be publicly humiliated on a daily basis.
Nelson sped up behind breaking more of the Highway Code. He beeped his horn persistently and waved his arms to gain her attention. Rae decided that she might as well pull over. She could see her ex-friend Chloe in the back of his car in her rear view mirror; they hadn't seen each other since before she was admitted. Chloe tried to speak to her after her release but Rae didn't trust her anymore, she accepted her apologies for being a shit friend but always declined any invitations from her. She knew Chloe would have already told him who she was. She stopped her car and put on the bravest face she could muster and she slammed the door or her car shut after she clambered out.
"WHAT NOW?" She fumed as Nelson walked towards her with his hands in the air.
"I, I, I, I, well, I just wanted to say sorry and that, erm for back there." He motioned his thumb back in the direction of the mini roundabout. "I'm not great with roundabouts and Erm, well those lot were mucking about with me stereo trying to play Radio 1 and piss us off." He bit on his thumb.
"Well that would piss anyone off." She smiled at him and raised her eyebrows at him in question. "So can I go now? She pointed back down her road. "Now I know you're not gonna beat me up." She half joked.
"Oh yeah, of course I just wanted to say sorry and, erm, and well and, erm to tell yer how cute yer are when you're angry." He smiled with cheeks tinged pink and looked down at his feet as he kicked at the ground."
"What?" Is this a joke or summet? She looked around to make sure it was her he was talking to.
"No, who'd joke about that and face humiliation from a hot girl in the middle of a road, with their friends watching?" He motioned to his friends that observed intently from the car.
She accidentally looked over too and saw Chloe wave which meant she had to wave back. "Hot girl? Now I know you're joking." She turned to get back in her car but Finn grabbed her by the hand.
"Wait?" He begged and she turned to face him again to ask what his game was, but she soon found out. He lunged forward and pecked her on the lips.
She jumped back in response and contemplated hitting him, but then her tingling lips alerted her that she actually liked it. His lips felt so soft and warm that she pounced toward him to return the kiss with vigour. The embrace turned into a full on making out session leant against her car and only ceased when Mr Johnson needed to exit his drive that they were blocking.
She shouted apologies to Mr J and hurried into her car and sped off leaving Finn in the middle of the road.