Holy cow! It's been a bit since I updated this one. So sorry for the wait, guys! Here is the next chapter!

Chapter 4: Back In The Race

Two weeks later…

Celia slipped on her gloves, completing her suiting-up routine. Her uncles had given her a flame-retardant suit just like her gloves and a new helmet. The big day was here and she had agreed to race with Roadbuster in this race to clear his name.

Said Autobot pulled up beside her. "How you doing, Celia?" he asked her.

She smiled a little. "Still wondering if I'm absolutely out of my mind," she admitted. "I'm still having some doubts."

He rolled forward in his racecar form and his front bumper gently nudged her left leg. "With a lead foot like yours, we'll have no trouble."

"Hey!" she said. "It's not lead! It's…,"

"I know, Celia. I'm just teasing you," he said. "Lighten up a bit."

She sighed. "I'm really nervous about this," she admitted. "Seeing that young girl's face before I ran into her with my car. I can't get her scared face out of my mind."

Roadbuster was quiet. "What did the police say?" he asked.

"They called it accidental homicide, so I didn't have to go to jail, but I quit racing that day and swore I'd never come back," she said. "But I'm now here, thanks to you and your team, along with Sam and Bumblebee twisting my arm."

Roadbuster chuckled, gently nudging her leg again and she smiled before seeing someone coming and quickly hiding beside Roadbuster, who stayed quiet as he sensed Celia didn't want to see this young man that came up. "Celia?" the young man called out. "Hmm. I wonder where she is," he said to himself.

He then left and she came out from hiding. "That's Jefferson," she said. "He's the owner's son. I used to date him."

"You don't anymore?" he asked.

"Not since the accident," said Celia.

"What exactly happened?" he asked. "I think your story of her racing with you is a cover story for the truth."

The older girl sighed. "It is," she said. "She actually fell out onto the track and I was coming around the turn at a fast speed. I couldn't slow down in time and I hit her and hit my head as well. I was dazed, but I knew she was dead. For a long time, I relived that nightmare," she said.

Roadbuster quietly analyzed the track. "Where did she fall from?" he asked.

"From the pit area," Celia answered.

Roadbuster was quiet. "How could she have fallen out onto the track if the area is flat?" he asked. "You can't fall onto a flat area unless you trip, but even then you catch yourself. But why would she be in the pit area? Was she part of the pit crew?"

Celia was about to say 'no' when the questions suddenly hit her hard. Claire wasn't part of the crew and her father had often told her not to go down into the pit area, but she could watch from the crew chief's tower as Claire's father had been Celia's crew chief. Even if Claire had fallen from the chair, that wouldn't have put her out in the track. "Roadbuster, I think you've just opened another angle," she said. "How could she fall onto the track from the pit area when she was behind the pit area in the crew chief's seat? Even if she fell from the seat, she would have been behind the wall that sections off the pull-up areas for the cars."

Roadbuster went quiet for a moment. "Jefferson has a record," he said.

"Yeah, he was a racer too. Still is, I think," she said.

"Not a racing record. A criminal record."

Celia looked at him. "Criminal?" she asked. "What do you mean?"

"He was busted for possession of drugs," said Roadbuster. "And for physical abuse."

She was surprised. "When was that?" she asked.

"Six years ago."

Celia was thoughtful. "I was only in racing for a year before the accident," she said. "And I dated him like three months after I started up until I quit three years ago."

She then stood up. "Roadbuster, I remember that Jefferson was jealous of Claire, who was his sister," she said. "He was big into racing, but because he was always getting speeding tickets, his father didn't think he was responsible enough to race. Claire wanted to be a crew chief like her father and he doted on her."

The pieces suddenly came together and Celia gasped. "What if…?"

"Jefferson pushed his little sister onto the track to kill her?" Roadbuster asked. "Let's find out."

Celia got into the driver's seat and took a deep breath as she and the Autobot did a few practice laps and came up on the same turn Celia remembered was the one she came off of and had hit Claire. The Autobot suddenly noticed something on the police report. "If you had hit Claire with your car, how come there was blue paint on your car where she had landed on the vehicle?" he asked.

Before she could ask what he meant, Roadbuster suddenly swerved as a bucket of paint exploded not far from them and to Celia's horror, they saw Jefferson push a girl out onto the tracks. The young woman's eyes widened.

"Roadbuster! That's Claire!" she said sharply.

"I can't stop!" he said as the paint had caused an oil-slick effect and they were going at top speed, too fast to stop and too fast for Claire to recover as Roadbuster struggled to gain back control, but Celia saw Claire's scared face once again and froze.

The past was happening again.

Cliffhanger! What's going to happen next? Only two chapters left, guys! Stay tuned to find out what happens.

And please leave a review, but no flames!

GoldGuardian2418