Diclaimer - i own nothing.

Fuel

Alan looked between the two older boys slightly confused.

"Like on the race tracks?"

Max and Thom laughed.

"No like street racing, a quarter mile stretch, NOS and pure adrenaline ," Max said pulling out his phone and opened a video "Watch."

He passed the phone to Alan and nodded at him to press play. Alan watched as two cars raced along side each other as people cheered in the background, then the sirens cut through the cheering as a police car rounded the corner as the video cut out.

"your not going to tell right? I mean seriously we could get arrested for this." Thom cut in unsure of what Alan would do.

Alan looked at the phone then back at Thom and Max. His brothers always talked about the rush flying their 'birds gave them. Sure Alan had flown them in the spring break but he was too worried about his family to enjoy the ride. He looked down at the phone again.

"pure adrenaline?"

Max grinned. He knew Alan was curious, why not let the kid have a little fun.

"There's nothing like it. We're gonna fix up our cars, it'll take 2 weeks max, if we work hard then spend the rest of the summer racing. You in?"

Alan looked from the phone back to the boys grinning

"I'm game."

Angus Garrison was one of the youngest teachers at Wharton, only 26. He loved cars and the pay was good so he didn't mind if the rich kids wanted to play boy racers. Hell he even advised them on what NOS system would be best. So long as any mess didn't land at his feet he was happy. He smiled as he watched Alan Tracy look over a rusty Chevy Impala 1967. it was actually in good nick for the Junk Yard. His smile lessened when he saw Max Fenders and Thom Richards walk over and talk to him. Last year he had caught the boys street racing, not that he minded but if Jeff Tracy found out his son was racing Angus would be in a whole world of hurt.

Alan was up bright and early on the 17th he knew his dad would have found out he was still at school and planned to get a head on working on his car before his father or Scott pulled him away to yell at him through the video phone. He smiled as he saw Max's dodge charger and Thom's Skyline with a pair of legs sticking out from under each. He laugh as he looked at the clock it was only 7 am now. What time had they been up at. Max wheeled himself out from under his car.

"The early bird catches the worm my friend. I bet both you and Thommy boy in here today." he said grabbing a spanner pausing to grin at Alan.

"Yeah well the second mouse gets the cheese." Thom called from under his car. Alan just laughed and made short work of pulling apart his engine. He smiled as he realised he hadn't had this much fun in the summer at all in the past 10 years. This was shaping up to be the best summer ever.

Jeff Tracy was angry , no scrap that he was furious. Alan had failed a class. Now he was in summer school and what made it worse was that he had failed Shop. All of Alan's brothers had passed shop with A's or B's, none of them had failed it like Alan. He was meant to be at home, with his family as they went through this hard period. They had the same routine every year. He liked knowing the boys where home and save at this point in the year. Not somewhere where they could be hurt like Lucille. Virgil and Gordon watched quietly as their father turned on the video phone and called the head of Shop at Alan's school. Sometimes they really felt sorry for the kid.

Mr. Garrison walked quickly through the minefields of his auto shop to get to Alan's station. His father had been on the line and he had made no deal about being the one to tell the billionaire Jeff Tracy that his son was lying and didn't want to come home. What surprised him was that he didn't even have to explain to Alan what was happening he just got up and went into his office and closed the door. Boy was that kid going to get ripped a new one.

Alan sat down quietly in front of the screen looking at his father, he could make out Virgil and Gordon in the background and it looked like Scott and John were joining them. He waited for his father to start, all he had to do was remain calm and let his father rant it out.

"We had a deal Alan. First there was the statue and now you failed Shop. Even Virgil managed to pass with a B and he couldn't tell a fuel pump from a brake line."

Alan froze. He didn't do anything to the statue the headmaster said he talked to someone to let them know he hadn't done it.

"Dad the statue wasn't me you've got to believe me the head..."

"ALAN STOP!" Alan saw all of his brothers wince in the background. " It's the same excuses over and over again it wasn't my idea, I didn't do it. Why can't you be more like your brothers for once. Your mother would be so upset with you."

Alan pushed back the tears. He hadn't planned on this happening. He thought his father would just have a go at him. Not tell him that.

"I'm sorry I'm such a disappoint sir. I'll have my grades up by the end of the summer." Alan pushed the end call button and took a minute to gather himself before heading back to his fix the car. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.