A loud ringing noise sounded and I jolted. What the fuck was waking me up so early. Opening my eyes, I looked straight ahead and found the source of the irritating noise. One of those foldable clocks that people in the Army or the Navy had. And below it hung a pleated black skirt, a white blouse with a tight-ish looking blouse-y jumper, a tie and a pair of small-heeled shoes.
'Do I have time for Coffee?' I asked myself, yawning, grabbing a Satchel bag from the chair that seemed to be labelled with my name. I walked out of the house, not knowing how to lock it up, so I just left it.
I grabbed a map off a near by stand before reaching into my bag and grabbing out a piece of Yen and he gave me some back. My dad had given me money.
I headed down into a tunnel type thing and came across these computers, I typed in the information needed and it spat out my ticket. After finding the train I needed, I was shoved onto it and was basically back to front with half of Japan.
I reached my stop and the horde of people on the train spat me out and I looked at my watch, before realising that it wouldn't have been set back. I ran as fast as I could in the direction the map said and I reached the school, late.
Running through the halls I looked in several classrooms, hoping it was mine till I finally reached it. I walked in and the teacher was already teaching the lesson. I looked around at the back of the classroom searching for a seat and found one. The teacher noticed me and walked over.
'Wrong train', I said loudly, 'I'm new here'.
'O'Conner, san', she smiled, looking at me.
'Yorishuku', she said, bowing at me before looking at my feet, surprised. She started talking in gibberish and I looked at her, confused. Only one word stood out and she kept repeating it.
'Uwabaki', she kept repeating and the girl in the front row smiled, I smiled back a little nervous. I headed outside of the classroom and took off my shoes before finding a white pair of shoes in a slot.
'Uwabaki', I muttered to myself as I slipped them on and walked into class, taking the seat at the back.
It was lunchtime and I was a little worried about what the food was like. I grabbed a tray and walked along the line to find something to eat. People were pushing in everywhere, hoping to get their favourite food before it ran out.
'Japanese food is like the Army', came an American voice from beside me as I was looking down at my plate. I looked up to at least put a face to the voice. 'Don't ask, don't tell', he scoffed, sitting down. 'Names Twinkie, Hey I noticed you ain't have a laptop', he said searching through his bag and pulled out a silver laptop.
'Yeah?' I asked, not interested.
'I'll hook you up, half price', Twinkie smiled.
'No I'm cool', I muttered, picking up something on my plate and eating it.
'60 off, since we're both army brats and everything', Twinkie tried.
'I ain't got no cash, man', Sean replied, 'and I ain't an army brat'.
'All right, all right, well, what about a cell phone, huh?' Twinkie tried again. 'Everybody needs a cell phone'.
'No offence, but I'm, probably not going to be here long enough to remember your name', Sean muttered, taking another bite of something.
'Then your going to need some new shoes to book town with, man', Twinkie smiled.
'You like Michael Jordan?' Twinkie asked with a smirk, 'I love Michael Jordan'.
'Check this out, Brand new Jordan's, not even out yet', Twinkie smiled, 'LeBron James couldn't even get his hands on those'. There, on the table sat a bright red pair of Jordan's. I was fixed. My gaze locked onto this kids bag.
'You selling that Sparco steering wheel?' I asked as Twinkie just shook his head.
'Hell no. That's mine right there', he smirked. 'Man, I even paid retail for it'.
'What you drive?' I asked. I knew where this was going, hence why I asked.
'Oh, my ride?' Twinkie smirked.
'Yeah', I muttered.
'My rides one of a kind', Twinkie said proudly.
'Show me', I ordered.
'Thought you weren't sticking around', Twinkie laughed. 'All right', Twinkie smirked.
An hour or so later found me standing beside Twinkie at a car park, still in my school uniform, I wasn't smart enough to pack spare clothes in my bag. Twinkie with his wheel in hand and me with my arms crossed, we waited.
The doors to the car holder opened and I looked at Twinkie in disbelief that the American muscle car sitting in front of me could be his. Twinkie shook his head and we both looked back to find that a bunch of bikes had gone passed and was now looking at the back end of a Ferrari.
Twinkie shook his head again and I was wondering whether he even had a car. Up popped a green VW Touran. Bright green with the Hulk's hands, trying to come through with bright purple interior.
'Slamming huh?' Twink shouted, excitedly. 'Look at that car, man'.
'At least let me drive', I said snatching Twinkie's steering wheel and headed for the drivers side. 'Ya'll better have some real cars around here'; I said moments later.
'Okay, I see somebody got jokes, huh?' Twinkie laughed, 'Well all right. I don't know if you're ready for them, though. You look a little nervous'. 'What up, Tosh?' Twinkie yelled to the guy leaning against he glass of a building, whom then moved forward and lifted up the boom gate. We drove down into a car park and I couldn't believe my eyes.
Car's galore, and some girls, but the cars, Whoo. I leant forward and looked out from over top of the steering wheel, mouth open looking at all the CARS!
Twinkie threw a box of tissues into my lap and I laughed, knowing why, but I picked it up and looked at him.
'For when you blow your bundle', Twinkie said seriously. We parked up and I got out as soon as possible.
'Hey, twink?' I asked.
'Yo?' he muttered, turning to face me.
'You got a pair of pants around here somewhere?' I asked, opening the back door.
'Behind the seat in a bag, why?' he asked.
'I'm getting out of this flouncy skirt', I muttered, getting up and bending over the backseat.
'Whoo', I heard Twinkie mutter. I grabbed out a pair of baggy jeans from the bag and turned around to find Twinkie staring off into space at me.
'What?' I asked, looking at him. Twinkie shook before turning around. I rolled my eyes before pushing my legs into the legs of the pants and pulling it up underneath my skirt. Undoing the skirt I pulled it off and sat it on the seat of the car before closing the door.
I left Twinkie to his business and wound my way through the lines of people and cars, checking out the stock they had. I had heard so much of this scene from Dominic Torreto, but never in my life did I think I'd see it. I heard tyre's screeching before a car pulled up. I watched the girl from the front row of my first class get out and I smiled. She was going on about a problem with her engine.
'You wouldn't have that problem with a V8', I smirked, walking round in front of her car, looking underneath the hood.
'Americans. All they care about is who has got the biggest engine', she smiled sarcastically.
'Well, I'm American, it's in my DNA', I smiled, looking at her, 'So you all race with these things, huh, cute little toys?'
'You know, I almost didn't recognise you without your slippers on'; she laughed.
'Don't you mean, Uwabaki?' I corrected her. She laughed. 'Neela, right?'
'You're a quick learner', she said, pushing me out of the way so she was able to put the hood down.
'Who's the tourist?' I heard a guy called DK ask.
'What's with you and the school girls, D?' I heard another guy ask. 'You're moving up in the world, you got to elevate your company'.
'Oi!' a guy shouted over to me.
'She was just leaving', Twinkie answered for me as he slowly tried to push me away. I looked around confused, that was until the guy started speaking in Japanese, and then I became more confused.
'I'm sorry, I don't speak Japanese', I said politely, standing strong. The guy had wrapped his arms around Neela, and kissed her neck.
'Understand that, Gaijin?' DK said, obviously trying to insult me. Everybody around us, gasped, shook their head or just looked away, but I just looked confused for a quick moment before turning back to the problem at hand.
'Takashi', Neela snapped, turning around slightly to look at him.
'We were just talking'; I calmed him.
'This isn't your scene', Neela breathed, her face much more stern than the laughter I had seen on it earlier. I was using my cop training to its advantage as I caught the sight of a silver wrench being gripped by a man behind the two guys.
'That word you called me, Gaijin, or something or other, what does that mean exactly?' I asked with genuine interest.
'It means, turn around, keep walking', the guy said sarcastically, smiling the whole time while Neela glanced between the two of us.
'That's exactly what we going to do. Come on, man, let's roll', Twinkie said. He was pushing me away, and managed to push me a fair way away. 'Yo look man, he's yakuza'.
'Now see, that's funny', I smiled. Twinkie growled and threw his hands up in the air as I made my way back. 'Cause, I thought this was, like, a free country, where a girl could talk to whoever she wants, I mean we're girls, what could possibly happen?'
'You know who I am, little girl?' DK asked, stepping right up into my face. For a "man" he sure was short.
'Yeah. You're like the Justin Timberlake of Japan, right?' I suggested, smirking. DK laughed and looked like he was about to punch me, girl or not, but Neela stepped in and pushed him back a little saying something in Japanese.
'Leave', Neela ordered, turning around while DK just did god knows what. I just looked at her and she was serious.
'Damn man', Twinkie muttered, pulling me away. 'You know, Yakuza?The mafia?'
'Look, sorry DK-san. Monkey didn't have her banana today', Twinkie apologised as I just looked angrily at the back of his head.
'Hey D, let's go', suggested a guy that had been watching the whole time. I had watched him sit on the hood of his car, so I watched him get off it. 'It's time to race'.
Some of DK's friends made monkey noises but that didn't bother me. Neela guided them off while looking back at me. That really pushed my buttons. No punch up.
'Good luck, Timberlake', I shouted out as DK turned around and came charging at me. He came right up into my face again and all I could think of was "Tic-Tac".
'You're the one that's lucky, because I'm about to race'; DK sneered as I just smiled.
'Then let's race', I offered and he laughed.
'With what, huh? Your skateboard?' he laughed, as the rest of his mates just smirked. 'Easy to sound cocky when you got no ride'.
'Take mine', called out the guy I had been watching part of the time, throwing his keys at me. I caught them easily, not taking my eyes away from DK's.
'Let's race', DK smiled as I just licked my lips before turning away.
'What?' I heard the guy mumble, 'I wanna see what the kid's got'.
We headed up the floors in the elevator. No body moved, we both stood there silent, and it was killing me.
'Can he drive?' I asked Twinkie.
'Can he drive?' Twinkie scoffed. He looked away from me for a second before deciding to humour me with trivia. 'You know what DK stands for?'
'Donkey Kong?' I suggested, not really caring.
'Drift King', Twinkie said looking rather insulted.
'Drift?' I asked, rather confused. I had heard of it before back L.A when I was with Torreto, but never really discussed further, said there was never really any drift scenes so there was no need for me to learn it. 'What, do you mean, Drift?'
We finally reached our floor and the doors opened to many ear piercing screams and two cars sliding sideways across the track. 'Still need a dictionary?' Twinkie smirked as he led me over to the car whose keys of life I was holding currently.
'You know that real famous painting? The one of the woman who's smiling all the time?' Twinkie asked.
'The Mona Lisa?' I laughed.
'Right, right, right, Mona Lisa', Twinkie muttered, 'Well look, man, this car right here's like the Mona Lisa of the drift world. Han rebuilt this bad boy from ground up. We're talking forged pistons, bigger turbo, new rods, and new crankshaft. Hey, man, Han's labour ain't cheep, man, you feel me?'
'Well', I started nervously, coughing a little to clear my throat, 'If I needed a thirty second lesson on how to drift…' I left the sentence hanging, not sure I wanted to finish that in case Twinkie exploded.
'All right, look, man, there's lots of ways you can do this, all right? Hand-breaking is the easiest, so the first thing I want you to do is rip that e-brake. All right, if you rip that e-brake, then I want you to power over', Twinkie said seriously as I just looked at him confused.
'You know what? Just don't mess up Mona, all right?' Twinkie advised as I just nodded, not sure whether I could make a promise to do that or not.
I clipped my seat belt on slowly, still trying to figure my way out of this, but so far no luck. I looked around outside of the car and watched Neela edge up to DK and take his jacket for him and then walk off.
I can feel the butterfly's in my stomach, and it's not feeling to good either it's like anarchy has broken loose and it's cannibalistic butterflies instead of the cute fluttery ones like it says in their name.
A guy walks up in the middle of our two cars maybe a metre or two in front. He threw his cigarette at the floor and stubbed it out with his shoes before indicating for us to signal that we were ready and willing. DK revved his engine first and I revved Mona's. The guy in the middle stepped closer to the cars, pointing to a girl on each side.
One on DK's side uttered Ready, the one on mine, Setto, and then to signal the beginning of the race, the guy in the middle shouted the most legendary word in the whole of the English dictionary…Go.
We sped off and I shat myself as I came out front. Normally I would be screaming in triumph, but not this time. I had no idea what I was meant to be doing and that frightened me more than running into the Torreto's. I started to get the hang of it, and changed up a gear while smiling wide, that was until I saw the turn. The only thing blocking the watchers was a couple of traffic cones, made out of thick plastic but not thick enough to save their lives.
I pulled on the hand break and swerved towards them and then away from them in hopes it would get me around the middle pillar, away from the one in front and away from the watchers. SMACK. I crashed into the pillar in front. The middle left side of Han's car was totalled. I sat there and watched DK do exactly as I did, but instead of the big crash bang sequence he glided smoothly around the corner and kept on going.
I smacked the steering wheel before putting it in gear again and taking off. I made it around the next corner, but simply for the fact that even a three year old driving this car could've made it around it. I kept on DK's tail for the next straight, and tried not to throw up as I saw the sharp turn I was to make, a 180 and still get around the pillars, yeah right, easy as.
I watched as if in slow motion, as DK went round, his tail end barely making it through, there was probably about a five inch gap between the bumper and the wall. I watched his exact moves and copied everyone, and where did it get me. Smacking up against the wall, this time damaging the right side of the car.
We had another similar one eighty turn but it wasn't that tight of a squeeze so I made it through, with a squeeze. Around another turn and making it, I managed to breathe now, although not to well, but still, it was still breathing.
I came up to another turn and this one I cleared, partially, as I came around it I swerved and came crash bang into somebody else's car, with DK parked in the middle of the track. I looked over at him from my crashed position and he leant his arm out the window and did the over rated matrix thing with two fingers, in other words, waving for me to keep going so he can kick my arse.
I put it in gear just as he reversed rather quickly. He spun around and made his way along the track again me not far behind, still trying my hardest not to kill myself. I pulled around another turn, barely, in time to see DK "drift" up a ramp to the top of the parking lot.
To finish the race I had to make it up there, at first I attempted to drift, but figured that I sucked balls all the way through the easiest part of the track, there was no point tormenting myself by trying anymore. So I just drove up the swirling ramp, but with the amount of crashes through out the course, it wasn't easy.
I made it up the top with the bumper flying off, the engine barely running and people running screaming from the wreck. Twinkie circled the car before walking passed the drivers side door shaking his head. I looked around for the one person that practically got me in this mess, Neela. She was walking away with DK.
'Don't leave town', came a voice out of no-where and I noticed Han's face hovering above the window before he walked off.
I reached for the door and slid it open slowly, poking my head through first to see whether I could see my dad or not. I tensed up.
'Do you know what time it is?' my dad asked, as I stepped in.
'I thought it was seven o'clock, you know, US is a few hours behind', I muttered, taking off my jacket. 'Looks like the party was better here anyway', I muttered, looking at the empty beer bottles on the table.
'Have you been racing, Jude?' he asked stepping closer to me. If I were my dad, I wouldn't fall for my smart-ass answer, either. I didn't say anything and dad just nodded his head.
'Your out of here', he sneered, walking away and snatching the phone up off the table.
'Go ahead', I muttered, heading angrily for my room, but before I could get there; he snatched at my arm and whipped me around.
'You don't get it, do you?' he stated angrily. 'You have nowhere else to go. If it doesn't work out here your going to jail, you get that?'
I ripped my arm away from his grip.
'This isn't a game', he muttered to me which made me stumble, he had anger written all over his features and the last person I had seen look like that had been… 'I'm going to tell you one more time, if your going to live under my roof, your going to go by my rules, or get out…' he left the sentence hanging.
'Understand?' he growled. I just nodded. 'Understand?' he yelled.
'Yes, Sir', I said before heading into the room. I sat on the bed, I couldn't move. I was having flashbacks. Flashbacks of Home, of L.A, of Brian, of Miami, of Rome, it got to me. I didn't even have time to close the door; I just fainted.
This morning was the same as the last. I was awoken by the same alarm clock. Woke up to the same uniform, except it wasn't hung neatly on a coat hanger. The same bag, slung across my floor, and the same pouch of money, maybe a little smaller than the last time.
I headed out, forgetting about coffee, or breakfast, and made my way through the population of Japan to get to school. I was getting stares on the train, and even as I got off it. From fellow students, from random people, probably wondering why all these students were looking at me.
The stares didn't stop as I walked through the halls of the school; in fact, they intensified. I walked passed Twinkie, and a few people I remember from the underground, and they all shook their heads, I couldn't figure out whether it was from sympathy or not.
They continued through out the day, some people smiled, some people pointed as I walked away, some even just growled as I walked passed, but either way, they weren't going to stop.
School finally finished and I made my miserable way out of the gates ready to get mushed into half of Japan in order to get home. But the sight of a car stopped me in my tracks, and the guy leaning on it, didn't help either. More students were staring at me as I made my way slowly over to him. He didn't look happy.
'Get in', he said, indicating with his head to the car.
'I'll get you your money', I stated, just wanting to get home.
'Why you talking like you have a choice?' he asked as he got up and got in, waiting for me to get into the passenger side. We made our way around the corner and then around another to a small little street.
'There's a guy in there with a paw that owes me some money'; Han stated looking at the front door of a rank looking building, before looking at me.
'A Paw?' I asked confused.
'Go get me my money', Han ordered.
'How am I supposed to get in, it's for guys?' I asked him but he just looked away.
'Okay', I muttered, opening the door and getting out. I slowly made my way over as a few people down the street looked at me funny as I walked up the stairs.
I stepped inside, still in my school uniform, and looked around, the outside was golden compared to the inside. All of a sudden I hear a voice yelling at me. I look around worried as I saw a guy holding out his hand for money. I grabbed some out of my pocket and placed it in his hand. In exchange he gave me a towel. This was going to be weird.
Trying my hardest not to puke, I made my way through the half naked old men, and tried to look for what Han meant by a "paw". And then, I saw it. It was a large guy, and when I say large, I mean large guy, with a tattoo of a tiger's arm outstretched over his shoulder.
I looked around once more, before slowly making my way over to him. I noticed the paw on his shoulder and faltered a bit as I noticed his full size.
'Oyasumi Masen', I stated in Japanese. He didn't move. 'Han said…' I paused as he started to move, '…Okane', I finished as he turned around and glared at me. 'Han said, Okane'.
He growled at me. Throwing me into the change room, I got half dressed, back into my skirt, and my under shirt with my school shirt slipped on over top before he threw me out the front door, not forgetting to throw my shoes or my jacket at me.
I grabbed my jacket and slammed it on the ground beside me, before I got up and bolted back up the stairs and into the building again. This time the fat man was in a robe and decided to throw me out harder so that I landed further away before throwing the money he owed at Han. Han smiled, as I huffed angrily looking at the floor then at him. He threw the keys at me.
'Let's go', he said, this time getting into the passenger side. I picked up my stuff, slipped my shoes back on, opened the driver's side door, threw my jacket into the back, and got in. I was to lazy and to annoyed, to do up my shirt, so I just put the keys into the ignition and drove.
We were both silent for ages, it was daylight as we left the bathing building but the more we drove, the darker it got. It was fully dark now before Han spoke.
'You're in the pickup and delivery business now', he said. 'I might call you once a week, or once an hour. I don't care if your sick as a dog or in bed with Beyonce. I call, you show'.
'Only if you teach me how to drift', I said calmly.
'This ain't a negotiation', he stated, not even looking at me.
'I wasn't negotiating', I smirked. Han looked at me and smiled before shaking his head and looking back at the road.
We pulled up outside of a bright pink building, and headed inside. It was full of gaming consoles, and millions of people fiddling with them. We continued through a long line of them before being led by a guy in a bright white suit into a back room. It was dully lit, but you were still able to see around it.
In the middle of the room was a table with bright lights above, and there sat DK and one of the guys I can remember from the race. The other two I have never met before. We walked further in and Han smiled, and DK smirked. He nodded at the two people I had never seen before and they left, along with a girl I hadn't noticed, at the back.
'What's he doing here?' DK said, looking rather annoyed, once everybody had cleared out.
'He's paying me back for the crumpled beer can sitting in my garage', Han said smoothly as I stood there on guard.
'I hope he's not driving', said the guy I had seen holding the wrench. 'Gaijin!' he exclaimed, 'When is your next race? I'd really like to be there'.
I smirked and nodded. 'Why not be in it?'
'You really a bad ass cow girl, or just talk like one?' he asked me angrily, in Japanese.
'Your heard me', I added. DK scoffed, before sitting down again. I hadn't noticed that he had gotten up, but obviously he had.
'Ready to loose another car, Han?' he wondered.
'I'm ready to take that '86 Corolla off your hands', Han suggested.
'All right', DK laughed, 'Put up the '72 Skyline'.
'Done', Han said with ease, which had me shaking on the inside. I just remained quiet through out the negotiating.
'What do you think, Morimoto?' DK said turning to the guy beside him, the one I had dubbed, wrench boy. He just blew a kiss at me as DK laughed. 'Get her out of here. We have business to discuss'.
Han just nodded at me and shrugged and twisted the handle, swung the door open and left, closing the door behind me. Not knowing what I was meant to do, I just stood outside. I stood out there for a little bit, and decided to head over to the phone booth across the road. Grabbing out some Yen, I picked up the receiver, slipped in the money and dialled the number. Dad's number.
It went straight to message bank. 'Hey, Dad, it's me. I had to stay after school for some extracurricular activities', I noticed Neela walking up the path with her hands in the pockets of her jacket. 'So I'll be home a little later', I smirked as she noticed me and slowly walked over, 'Sir', I said finishing the message before hanging up.
'You really need to stop following me around'; I joked.
'What are you doing here?' she laughed.
'I thought I'd stop by and ask your boy friend for some drifting lessons'; I smiled.
'Trust me, you don't want to be apart of this world', she said with a faint smile.
'It's good enough for you', I pointed out.
'You don't know anything about me'; she smirked.
'Well, why don't you think I know?' I asked her, curious as to what her answer was, 'cause I'm a Gaijin, an outsider? Let me guess', I said as I watched the smile slip slowly off of her face. 'You're an army brat that moved around a lot. Your mama and daddy was never home, so you walked around pissed off all the time. And now you've found your family with these drift nuts', I finished.
'Zero for one, cowgirl', she sighed, before walking passed me. I watched her walk off before I noticed Han as she walked passed him. I headed over and around to the drivers side.
'Why can't you go find a nice Japanese guy like the rest of the white girls around here?' Han asked as we got into the car.
'Are you suggesting something is going on?' I asked, curious as to what everybody saw, whenever they saw me talking to her.
Speeding along the highway, I turned to Han.
'Everything okay back there?' I asked.
'I can handle DK', he said simply.
'I thought he's Yakuza?' I said repeating Twinkie's words.
'His uncles, Yakuza', Han laughed. 'He's just playing gangster in his little storage room', he sighed, 'But I need him. He keeps Uncle Kamata from poking around too much'.
'What do you mean?' I asked, curious now.
'Well, his uncle gets a piece of the action from everyone on his turf. We're on his turf. Fifty percent of something is better than one hundred percent of nothing', he informed me.
'So have you raced DK?' I asked him, for a quick change of topic. He shook his head. 'Why not? Is he that good?'
'What's the point of a race?' he asked me.
'To see if I'm better than the other guy', I stated with a smile.
'Just proves your faster, that's all', Han sighed, 'If I were to race, it would have to be for something important, or why else do it at all?'
Those words made me think a little. 'Why are you letting me race?'
'Because your DK's kryptonite', he smirked. I smiled before he turned to me, 'And you owe me a car'.