Chapter 1

"Silver, come on." Katherine calls in front of my garage door.

It has been 10 years since the first day of kindergarten. I hade seen Kallee again but I kept ignoring her. Kyle was right. She had stolen cigars and went to jail. She was a bad influence. Good thing I listened to him. Now, Kyle is 16 years of age and he had left home for the military with my father. I had told him not to go but he insisted. I cried when he left and did not come back for months on end. I felt vulnerable without him. That was when I met Katherine a purple-green ?. She had been there for me for those months. My mom had been placed in hospital for her ailment. She got very sick. Did I mentioned that we moved? Well, we did. To Las Angeles, California. I was home alone.

Katherine sat outside banging her wheel on my garage door. "I know you are in there. You can't mope around because your brother is in the military. He will be back soon, I promise." Katherine was trying to coax me out of my lonely room. Kyle and I shared a room with one another since I like sticking by his side so much.

I sat there as tears streamed down my sides. I was thinking of all the horrible things that could happen to him. I was scared he was going to get killed. Dad had forced him to go into the military. I had been sitting in my room for days on end, waiting for Kyle to get back. I even ditched school because of it. I did not want the others to see me crying. I liked to sit in the dark room.

"Silver, c'mon!" Katherine called. "You promised you would go with me Jake and Brad to the DRH band. Are you going to bale on us again? You said you wanted to try out a concert."

She was right. When she told me about a band, I had agreed at the time. But this was when Kyle was around. He said he would go too. But he didn't. The military had called him back into service. I sniffed and did my best not to cry. I pressed a button to open the garage door. Sure enough, Jake and Brad were sitting beside the curb ready to leave.

"You look awful!" Katherine fretted. "You can't go to your first concert looking like that." She looks around. "Let's take you to one of those nicer drive in washers. I know a good forklift who does an awesome job. He will get you sparkly clean." She gestures, with a wheel, to the street. I left my comfy dark solitude and went to the street; Katherine follows. "Boys, we are going to a drive in washer. We need to get this sad looking pony back to being a strong mustang."

"Nice pun." Jake grinned.

"To John's?" Asked Brad.

"You betcha!" Katherine smiles as jake took the lead, I followed in second, Katherine in third, and Brad in last.

At John's Car Wash, there was a gray forklift who was washing a car. Katherine honks in greeting. The forklift whips around to see us. He smiles as turns off the hose. "All finished." The forklift told his customer. The customer tipped the forklift then drives off. The forklift then drives up to us. "Hello, fellas." He smiles. "What can I do for my best customers?"

"It's for Silver." Katherine points to me. "We are going to her first concert and I don't want want her looking like a mess."

The forklift, John, looks me over. His grinned died away. "How long till the concert?"

"About 5 hours from now. I just figured we should leave early. I had gotten us back stage passes. I wanted to meet my favorite band member." Katherine was about to squeal.

"Good. It can take me a while to fix this one to proper concert standards." John chuckles. "Follow me, honey. You will go into the garage for a wash." I followed John to his garage. I was riding low. As we entered, John closed the garage door. "Okay, honey, you sit tight. I need to get you looking pretty. Don't want you looking all dusty in front of the others." He leaves the room and let's me sit there alone to ponder on Kyle. I had closed my eyes with a sigh of disappointment. "Okay, hold still. I need to get all that dirt and grime off." I felt a sudden cold chill sprayed over me. I shivered and opened my eyes to see John with his water hose. As he finished spraying water, he grabbed a soft soapy rag and rubbed all the dirt and grime off. It kind of felt as if I was getting a spa treatment. I relaxed as he washed me. He then sprays me with the water again to get rid of the soap. After that, he fan dried me.

"Why aren't you at one of those spas?" I quietly asked.

"What?" John asked stopping momentarily but continues to dry me off. "Uh... I tried." He simply says before getting the wax. "Lots of cars have said this is like a spa to them. They wanted me to try for one of those resorts." He turns a waxing machine in. It was a waxer that a forklift has to handle. "They kicked me out. I have complained that they did not let a low income car in. Came back here and did cheap spas, though, I call it a car wash." He chuckles.

I looked at John. "Well, I am glad." I faintly smiled.

John had finished waxing me. He sets the machine aside and gave me a good look. "That looks a lot better." John compliments. "How long have you not washed yourself? You were filthy."

"I don't know." I grimly said. "Ever sine Kyle went into the military."

"Sweetheart, you can't dwell on Kyle. He will always return. I give you my word." John said.

"I hope your right." I solemnly said.

"Now, go have fun at that concert of yours. Who knows, maybe you might find someone who will watch over you like Kyle does." He gestures with his eyes outside. I look to see Katherine and the guys joking around. "If I have anything to say, I would thank them for the watching over you." John picked up the stuff and took it all to the back again. He came back and opened the garage door. We both exited. Katherine and the boys stared at me with astonishment.

"She looks like her old self." Katherine smiled. "Thank you so much, John. How much was it?"

"Don't worry about it." John smiles. "It's on me. You all just have your fun at the concert."

"We will tell you how it went on our way home." Katherine promised as we drove off John's property toward the concert.

We got to the concert on time. I had driven low the whole way. I followed Katherine and the others into the surrounding. The car folk were slowly filing in. We found a good spot in the front. As we parked, Katherine looks to me excitedly. "Isn't this fun?" She laughed do with excitement. "I've always wanted to go and see one there concerts live."

"If you consider a loud environment exciting." I whispered half to myself.

"Oh quit your mopping." Katherine nudged. "It will be a lot more fun when it starts. And after the concert, we can go to the back. I want to meet my favorite band member." I looked at her to see her eyes sparkling with excitement. I sighed. Just as I thought everything was going to get worse, the lights dimmed. A car drives out.

"Ladies and gentle-cars. Welcome to DRH band concert." He greeted. "Let's get this started." The car drives out of view. The stage darkened and I noticed four black shapes. The music started with a bit of drums. I tried to look for the car on the stage who was doing that. Then some electric piano started following some guitar. Nothing was lit. But I could tell the outline of the playing vehicles. The crowd started to cheer.

I sighed. 'I can't believe I was towed to this place. I probably won't even like it.' I thought to myself. Suddenly, there was a lead vocalist singing and the lights flashed on. This shocked me and I looked up. A purple/silver car was sining near the front stage. The others were doing their thing. An orange muscle car was playing the drums, a blue Scion xB was playing the electric piano, and a purple and green car with stacked spoilers was play guitar. I looked to my left to see Katherine screaming her hood off. I looked back up to the band playing. They all looked like tuners. The reason why is because they had extra stuff added. Like their neon lights. For a moment, the purple and green tuner looked familiar. I shook the thought away thinking I was crazy. I noticed the car look at me and smile. 'Okay, do I know this car?' I thought. I looked surprised.

Katherine noticed and she grinned. "You know him?" She had to get close to me and raise her voice so I could hear her.

I looked to the car. 'He kinda looks familiar but not at the same time.' I thought. I decided to shake a no answer.

"He seems to know you." Katherine pointed out.

'But I don't think I know him.' I thought watching the purple and green car play his guitar. I felt as if he was keeping an eye on me. I thought it was my imagination. "I gotta go." I told Katherine.

"To where?" Katherine asked.

"To the ladies room." I lied.

"Hurry back." Katherine ordered.

"I will." I back up out of my place and drove down the narrow pathway of the two rows of cars. They were cheering their hoods off. A car backed up and hit me.

"Watch where you're parking!" Yelled the car.

"Sorry." I apologized. With panic, I raced out of the narrow pathway and onto the ramp on my way out. Just as I got halfway, a light from above flashed onto me. I froze with fear. I tried to look up but it blinded my eyes. I realized the whirring of the rotors of a helicopter. The sound was faint from the roaring cars. I not dare look around, only straight to my exit.

A red car drove up to me with a smile. "Meet me after the concert." He notices the VIP symbol. "And after you met the band members." He turned and drove out of the concert. The helicopter's light still shun on me.

"Turn around." The helicopter instructed.

Nervously, I listened. I backed up and turned to face the stage again. Everyone was staring at me. I don't know why this purple and green car bothers. But he was sitting right in front of me. "Why did you stop the performance?" I silently asked not wanting the cars to overhear us. The surrounding was dead silent.

"Why are you leaving?" Wingo asked.

I looked somewhat shocked. 'How does he know I was about to leave?' I thought wide eyed. "How do you know I am not just going to the ladies' room?"

"Because I know how you drive just when you want to get away." He explained.

"Do I know you?" I asked.

"Let's say I am a friend." The car smiled. The car backed up and turned to head back to the stage; I stared after him.

'Could that have been Wingo?' I thought with confusion.