Chapter 11: Skipping School
Slade, Rich and Vic had all made it up to the three lane highway. Since sophomore year, they held a race to school every Friday morning, the boys revved their engines Richard in his red Corvette, Slade in his black Mercedes-Benz and Victor in his black Camero SS. Waiting anxiously for the light to turn green. The revved their engines all the more with each passing second. Finally the light hit green, tires squeal and the three racers come barreling off the starting line. In the beginning they were even until Slade and Rich started pulling away from him. Slade was in the lead, but Richard's hot on his tail. Slade darted past a car that was in front of him and increased his lead by two car lengths. Richard went to the inside trying to catch up with leaving Vic in last place.
Slade leads the race going 112 mph thanks to his German-made Kompressor engine. Richard was following behind him on the other side at 108 mph, but Slade was still one car length ahead of him. Victor was still dead last, the road was clear from here on out. Grabbing the stick shift he shifted down going from 80-90. He stepped down harder on the gas till he floored it, taking the mighty black camero from 90-120 in a matter of seconds. The Super Sport Chevrolet flew past Slade as he takes over first place. Then Rich passed him, bumping Slade into third place. Slade accelerated as he chased after them. The three cars came down the turn at 120 miles per hour. Victor is still in the lead Rich was coming up beside him trying to pass him.
"Think again." Vic said as he served his car into Richard's way causing him to back off.
Then Slade was riding up behind Victor. Richard got back beside his friend. He's boxed in! Slade goes outside, way outside as he passed Richard's Vette. Slade shifts up, the speedometer jumps to 140 leaving his buddies in the dust.
"No, you don't." Richard said.
He downshifted and climbs up to 135mph as he takes over second place.
By now Vic's had enough, pressing the red button on his steering wheel; he activated the Nitrous Oxide system he had installed in his car. He was jerked back in his seat as the Camero went from 120-140. A wild black blur came charging up the highway to challenge Slade for the lead.
Slade looked behind him and sees Victor's Camero come up on his right side.
"Too bad," Said Slade as pressed the gas peddle harder taking him up to 150.
Vic cursed and tried going faster. Rich was still in last place with his Corvette. Richard had no choice but to use his Nitrous Oxide button as he jumped from 140-160, ganging the lead over both of them. Victor growled and shook his head as he watched him pass. He fired the second booster to keep himself in the race as he managed to catch up with both Slade and Rich, putting Victor in second place. But unfortunately for both of them Slade's Mercedes was Autobahn tested and has way more power than the both of them put together. He could take it as far as 175mph, but instead of doing that he began to slow down; Slade is pulling away from the race. Why? Well, because city limits was close by Slade continued slowing down.
140, 130, 120, 100, 85...
Richard's Vette began slowing down as well.
160, 140, 120, 100, 90, 80, 70…
The city and traffic getting closer Vic had no choice but to slow down, but slowing down wouldn't be as easy for him since he used double nitrous oxide boost. His tires skidded as he pushed the brake and emergency break. The Camero slid down the road tires squealing all the way.
160, 120, 90, 75…
The three racers came into town, with Slade leading the pack in first, Vic in second and Rich in third. As they came into the next turn Rich edged past Vic, the three of them in tight proximity of each other, Rich's Corvette squeezed past Vic's Camero as he tried to pass Slade's SLK 320. But for whatever reason he isn't able to pass, Slade maintained the lead all the way through. When they got out into the open, Vic goes to the outside and roars past Slade and Rich. They're heading into the final stretch. And now that Richard passed Slade, it's every man for himself, a teenage spotter saw them in the distance
"Here they come!" he yelled.
The three of them whipped into a tight "S" curve, Vic's car slid as it came out of the turn. And the Corvette pulled into the lead. Students were cheering and jumping as they saw the red Corvette. But Slade rockets out of the curve and blow past Vic and caught up to Richard in seconds. With the finish line just a quarter mile away, it's an all out race to the finish. And come flying down the street at 100mph. coming up to a hill, the Chevy and Mercedes fly over the hill in slow motion. When time proceeded the two racers landed at the same time, and raced across the finish line together. They had almost tied for first place, but Richard beat him by just a bumper. Vic finished just a couple of seconds later. The two racers split up and slid across sideways to a stop facing in total opposite directions.
The crowd went wild; people were screaming and jumping as they ran toward the cars. Richard and Slade got out of their vehicles and were immediately surrounded by cheering fans. Kori ran up and hugged Richard she squealed in excitement.
"You won! Man, It was so close I couldn't tell!" she said overjoyed.
Slade leaned against the inside of his open car door arms crossed and he didn't look too happy, Richard turned a bit red and gave a nervous chuckle, as he tried getting her to let go. But Kori didn't relinquish her grip. The crowd continued to cheer. Several guys were giving Slade pats on the back, turning his attention away from Rich.
A couple minutes later in the Rec. Room, a bottle of Coke dropped from the vending machine, Kori handed the drink to Rich.
"Thanks, but you didn't have to buy that for me." He told her.
"Yeah, but I wanted to." She said with a smile.
He smiled back, "You want one?" he asked.
"I can get that." Kori said.
"But you already bought one for me." He said.
"No, that's ok." She said.
"No, put that dollar away. I got it." Rich said taking out his wallet.
"It's the least I can do." He said.
Kori was about to protest but gave in to his insistence.
"What do you want?" he asked as he put the dollar in.
"Cherry Coke," She said.
He pressed the button and the bottle dropped into the pit of the vending machine. She takes the pop.
"Thanks." She said smiling.
"No problem." He said smiled back.
The first period bell rang.
"Well, I better get to class." She said.
"Yeah, I'll catch you later." Rich said.
"Bye." Kori told him.
"See ya." They went their separate ways.
Richard rushed to Mr. Hillsdale's history class and just made it in as the Brit teacher was taking roll call.
"Ah, Mr. Grayson yer right on time as usual." Mr. Hilldale said.
"Sorry, Mr. H," Richard apologized.
"Well, hop a squat class is starting you know." Hilldale said as he ushered the teen in.
"Today, as part of our study of World War II history, we'll learn about the Tuskegee Air Force Men. Called the "Black Squadron" they were the only African-American group of fighter pilots…." Hilldale's voice trailed off as he went into his lecture.
Back at the Logan House, Gar was still in bed. He told his mom that he wasn't feeling well, feigning illness. Taking his temperature it was reading a little high; little did she know the hot water bottle he was laying on.
"I told you not to eat that moldy pizza." She said.
"It looked ok to me. Ooh!" he groaned.
Mariah had already begun dialing the school number. The phone ringed in the school office a woman picked it up.
"Good morning, X High School this is Bianca." The woman said cheerfully.
"Yes, this is Mariah Logan, Garfield's mom. He got sick off some food last night; he's running a bit of a temperature and won't be in school today." She said.
"All right, I'll tell his teachers." Bianca said.
"Thank you. Good bye." Mariah said as she hung up.
"I better call Steve and tell him you're sick." She said as she had started dialing again.
"NO! I mean he's so busy, and you wouldn't want to bother him." Gar reasoned with her.
"You know he's grouchy, first thing in the morning." Hoping she'd reconsider.
"I guess your right." She said.
"Besides, I'll be fine in a couple hours." He told his mom.
Mariah looked at her watch.
"If you think you'll be all right. I got to go to work." She said kissing him on his brow.
"I'll see you this evening Garfield."
"Bye Mom."
And with that He tossed the covers off of him and threw his water bottle aside A while later his Mom pulled out of the drive and went off to work.
Over at Tara's house her brother Brian called the school and told them that his sister is sick, with that in mind that office woman told Tara's teachers that she wouldn't be in today. Brian hung up the phone and smiled at his little sister,
"Thanks." Tara said.
"Hey it's no problem," said Bryan.
"Greg is going to kill us if he found out." She said.
"That's because he won't." Brian smiled.
"So I'll see you downstairs in a couple minutes." He said as he turned to leave her room.
"Cool, thanks Brian." She said as he closed the door.
Tara kicked off the covers and walked over to her closet. A few minutes later she came downstairs wearing a black halter top and a pair of jeans; she walked into the kitchen, it was just her and Bryan.
"You ready?" he asked.
"Yeah!"
"All right. Let's head out. He said.
They walk out the door together, in the garage they climb into Brian's yellow 2002 Nissan X-Terra, the solar yellow SUV pulled out of the drive and headed off to Gar's house.
10 am the Markovs pulled into the Logans driveway Gar looked out his bedroom window and saw the yellow sport utility and went downstairs, he came out the front door and walked up to the driver's side and opened the backdoor. He climbed in and shut the door.
"What's up Terra?" said Gar.
"Hey!" she said cheerfully.
Brian looked at him through the rear view mirror.
"Are you Garfield?" he asked.
"Yeah?" the teen asked.
"My name's Brian, I'm Tara's older brother."
"Oh, well it's good to meet you." Gar said a little nervous.
Brian nodded his head "It's good to meet you too. You two want to stop in for breakfast? It's a long drive to San Francisco." Brain said.
"Can we go to Denny's?" his sister asked.
Brian looked back up at Gar through the rearview mirror.
"Denny's ok with you?" he asked.
"Yeah." He answered.
"All right. Denny's it is." He said as he put the car in reverse and backed out of the drive.
A while later and just a few miles down the road they pulled into the local Denny's after parking the car they walked in.
"Good Morning, welcome to Denny's. How are there?" the waitress asked politely.
"Three." Brian said holding up the number of fingers.
"Will that be booth or table?" the waitress asked.
"Booth." Brian said.
"All right, if you'll follow me I'll take you to your table." She said gathering up the menus.
She led them across the full dining room and got them a window side table. She sat the menus down and allowed them to get in. Tara and Gar sat on one side while Brian sat in the other. The waitress left them for a moment. Gar nervously looked up from his menu at the spiky haired older brother.
"So, uh B-Brian, uh what is it that you do?" he asked in a high-pitched voice.
"I'm a college student at USC. I also own a bar in downtown San Diego." He simply stated.
"Really? How old are you?" Gar asked more relaxed this time.
"I'm 24 and what about you?" Brian asked his friend.
"Well, I'm 16, and I don't really have a job. But I'm looking for one." He said.
"All right, well good luck in that." Brian nodded.
He turned his attention to Tara.
"So, Baby T how long have you know this guy?" he asked tilting his head towards Gar.
"Brian!" she said clearly embarrassed.
Gar turned to her amused.
"Baby T?" as he started to laugh.
Tara could feel her cheeks heating up.
"Well, yeah she's my baby sister and her nickname is T. Baby T." Brian explained.
"Heh heh, Baby T." Gar repeated.
Tara pouted; the waitress came back with their drinks.
"And what would you like for breakfast?" the woman asked taking out her notepad.
They talked amongst themselves for a moment.
"Denny's Grand Slams ™ all around." Brian said.
She scribbled down their orders.
"All right that's 3 Denny's Grand Slams™. Would you like anything else?" she asked kindly.
"I think we're good." Brian said.
"All right, your orders will be ready in a couple minutes." She said and walked away.
"Thank you." Brian said.
A couple of minutes later they were all chowing down on their big breakfasts 3 pancakes, 2 eggs, hash browns, and 2 pieces of toast. For each of them, a half hour later the three of them walked out of the restaurant completely stuffed.
"Oh, wow that was great." Brian said as they walked out.
"Hey, thanks for breakfast Brian." Gar said.
"Any time dude." Brian said nonchalant.
Tara smiled at the two as they walked to the car.
About an hour later, they pulled into the parking lot and walk inside AT&T Ballpark the home of the San Francisco Giants. After a few minutes of walking the make it to the stands, the stadium is beautiful. Outside the park is San Francisco Harbor where fans will watch the game from their boats and sit in wait for the occasional splashdown homerun ball, fans will dive into the bay in order to retrieve the coveted homerun ball. Back inside the stadium our three friends sat down in their bright orange seats. And watched the players warm up for the game, but there was one person in particular they were looking for. Then suddenly they spotted him as Brian pointed out to them and saw him, standing in the white Giants uniform coming up to bat the team's power hitter #25 Barry Bonds.
The trio leaned forward in their seats as they watched him warm up. Since this was practice the pitcher had a protective fence shielding him from the batter. The pitcher threw him the ball like it was the real thing and Barry managed to get in some good hits but nothing that made it past the shortstop. Then when he threw him the next pitch Barry nails it and sent the ball into the stands, the pitcher spun around in time to see it fly. He smiled and gave his teammate an approving nod. Bonds got an ovation from the fans. The slugger smiled at his fans. Tara, Gar and Brian were all applauding him.
A half hour later it was game time as a woman finished singing the Star-Spangled Banner the crowd applauds and the umpire yells those magic words.
"Play Ball!"
The Giants take the field; today they will be playing the San Diego Padres. In their badge colored road uniforms "San Diego" written across the chest in blue and the number, and their blue baseball caps with white overlapping SD logo. The home team was wearing the white jerseys with "Giants" written across in black, and an orange outline with no numbers in the front. They wore their black baseball caps with the orange interlocking SF monogram. The Giants are fielding and the Padres are batting.
Back at the high school, their friends were still in class, it was the last period before lunch. Mr. Hilldale's class let out. As Richard was walking down the hall he saw Roy Harper walking to another class. He seemed to have healed up from their match back on Monday. Wanting to ignore him Richard immersed himself in with the crowd and walked right past him. Roy went up a flight of stairs never seeing him, Richard broke away from the crowd and went to his locker, he put his books away grabbed his jacket and shut the door. Slipping on his jacket he runs out the door got in his car and took off. Dropping by the local Hardee's ™ and got himself a Thickbuger™ combo. Where coincidentally his best buddy Slade was eating, a second later he sits down at a one-person table next to him.
"Hey man." Richard greeted.
"What's up?" his friend said.
After a few minutes of eating, Rich decided to ask his friend a question.
"Hey Slade, uh, you know how you once asked me if you can date Kori?" he asked.
"Yeah, you want to date her?" Slade asked like it didn't really bother him.
Rich rubbed the back of his neck somewhat ashamed.
"Well, you see the thing is…." Richard started but then Slade cut him off.
"Dude, relax Kori likes you. It's cool." He said.
"You knew?" Rich asked.
"She didn't tell me, but she's been showing it for some time." Slade said.
The silver haired teen takes a cigarette from the inside of his jacket and lit his coffin nail, after drawing in a puff he continued.
"I could tell that she liked you, when we went to that race a couple weeks ago." He said.
"So, you're cool with this?" Rich asked.
"Well not at first, I mean I really liked her but… I guess that it just wasn't meant to be." Slade said tapping the ashtray.
"It's all right, she's into you Richard. You should date her." He said.
"Thanks." Rich said and held out his hand.
"Yeah." Slade said shaking his hand.
It's only on rare occasion that the Best Friend Rule is ever used.
When two friends are interested in the same girl and the girlfriend is interested in the best friend. If the two friends come to a mutual agreement the boyfriend will relinquish his girl and let his best friend date her, and the two guys remain friends.
An agreement and a handshake seal the deal. Richard is free to date Kori now.
"All right, thanks man." Richard said.
"Hey, it's no problem." Slade said with a smile.
Richard laughs relieved that he doesn't have to face a confrontation with his friend. They walked out the restaurant got in their cars and drove back to school. Slade put out his cigarette and got in his Benz and drove off.
Kori and Raven were walking to class when Kori said to her.
"I heard that Gar and Tara are sick today."
Raven smiled and nods her head.
"Yeah, I wonder where they really are?" she said knowing him all too well.
Rich and Slade came from around the corner behind them when Richard spoke up.
"Wherever they are, I'm sure that their having fun." He said.
The laughed at the remark Rich was walking behind Kori and Slade walking behind Raven. A group of friend that have been together since their middle school days headed off to their next class.
"You know we should have gone with them." Slade said.
"Yeah, what were we thinking staying here?" Rich joked.
"We're thinking that you guys get in enough trouble as it is." Raven commented.
"I don't know, do you think we get in enough trouble?" Rich asked Slade jokingly.
"Not even close, man." Slade answered.
"Remember that time we glued Flip's butt to the swing at recess?" Rich asked.
"Yeah, ha ha and two of the teachers tried pulling him off, he had to take off his pants to get out of the swing." Slade told them.
"You guys are terrible." Kori said.
"What about that time we put green dye in Gar's shower?" Slade asked.
"Now that was funny!" Rich said.
"Wait a minute that was you guys?" Raven asked.
"Yeah!" said Richard and Slade.
Author's Note: Well, what did you think of this chapter? Any good? The next one is where Gar, Tara & Bryan go to the baseball game. I hope you guys like the next one.