Vanellope held her car protectively in her hands as she walked outside. The fall breeze blew against her face and the crisp air seemed to crackle with her excitement. Her kart was bright purple, and was covered in the glitter paint and stickers she'd decorated it with. She and Ralph had spent all day Monday practicing with it in their backyard. It had taken her a little time to get used to it, but soon she had the controls down and was driving as fast as lightning.
The race was originally supposed to be yesterday, but it had rained, so Swizzle said they had to cancel it. But Vanellope had still brought it in to show everybody.
Taffyta had looked angry Tuesday morning when she saw Vanellope walk in with her car, especially when the guys had crowded around her to see it.
"Holy fudge!" Gloyd had exclaimed. "Is that an RV1000? That's the newest kind!"
Rancis looked down at his car forlornly. "Wow, I only have the RV1," he said, looking jealous.
"Vanellope has a good chance of winning with wheels like that!" Swizzle said, a look of excitement filling his face. "This is going to be the best race ever!"
"Big deal," Taffyta had said, sauntering over, Candlehead at her side. "Anyone can win a dumb race. And what happened to your car, Vanellope? Did the Easter Bunny throw up on it?"
Vanellope scowled at her. "You're just jealous that you don't have a car, Taffyta."
Taffyta glared back. "No I'm not-I could get a car if I wanted to, and I could beat all of you!"
The boys had looked at each other incredulously. "No offense, Taffyta, but you don't really seem like a racer." Gloyd had said, looking sheepish.
Taffyta snorted. "Of course I am-anyone can control a car. And we'll just see who's the real racer tomorrow, won't we Vanellope?"
Now it was Wednesday, and Vanellope was ready to race. She ran over to the playground, where she saw the other boys lined up and waiting. "Sorry I'm late," she panted, tucking her bangs out of her eyes.
"It's fine," Rancis said. "Gloyd is just finishing setting the track up."
"And besides, Taffyta isn't even here yet." Swizzle added. "Wait, never mind, here she comes."
They all looked over to see Taffyta walking coolly across the playground. Candlehead held her car carefully, looking at it as if it was made of gold. "Remember Candlehead," They heard Taffyta say as she came closer, "Drop that car, and you die."
"Y-yes Taffyta." Candlehead stammered.
"I'm here everybody!" Taffyta said, smiling. "And I have a car." Everyone crowded around her and came over to see it. Candlehead held it up and smiled like a showgirl. "It's an RV1000, just like yours Vanellope," Taffyta said, smirking at her.
Vanellope felt a prick of nervousness as she saw her previous advantage slip away. Taffyta did have the same car, only it was a bright pink instead of purple. If she had the same one as Vanellope that meant it would be just as fast, which meant it was going to be harder to beat her.
"Well, let's just get this started then," Vanellope said breezily, not going to let Taffyta know how worried she was becoming.
Gloyd ran over. "Okay, we're all here then?" He said, a glint of anticipation in his eyes. A couple more kids walked over with their cars, deciding they wanted to race too. Among them were Snowanna, Minty, Jubileena, and Torvald. The rest of the students began to congregate around the track, getting ready to cheer the others on. "Here's how it's going to go." Gloyd said, pointing to the track he had formed with bright orange string that marked off each side of the road. "You start here, and then you follow the track until we get to the actual structures. You'll weave in and out of the swings, and then head over to the sand pit. You drive through there, and then drive through those cement tunnels. After you've done that you're there's a ramp you have to drive up to land on the merry-go-round. You'll drive on top of that and then once you're off of that you'll drive up the small slide, and then go down the twisty-slide. After that it's just a straight shot to the finish line. Okay, now does everyone get that?"
"Ah, sure?" Vanellope said, trying to remember everything he had said.
"Alright, let's get going then!" Gloyd said.
The 9 kids lined up at the starting line. Vanellope pressed the 'on' button and her heart jolted with excitement as her car revved up. The other kids had begun to cheer and holler, calling out the names of their favorite racers. The sound of the others' cars filled her ears, and she let out a shaky breath.
"Hope you're ready to lose." Taffyta hissed, standing beside her. "This win is mine."
Vanellope ignored her. She wasn't going to let Taffyta mess with her. C'mon Vanellope, you can do this, she thought, mentally coaching herself. Just focus, and concentrate, and make Taffyta eat your sugar dust. Feeling empowered, she clutched her remote control tightly, and turned towards Taffyta. "Good luck to you too, Taffyta."
Taffyta's mouth opened up like a goldfish-she had not been expecting that. "Uh, thanks, but I don't need it." She finally said, flipping her hair.
Sticky walked up with a bright green flag in hand and a whistle around her neck. "Everybody ready?" She called, a loud wave of applause answering her. "Okay! On your marks, get set-GO!" She blew the whistle and waved the flag down.
With a roar, the racers were off. They swerved past each other, each fighting to gain the lead. The kids ran along the side of the track as they followed their cars. Vanellope was in second place, with Gloyd in front and Taffyta trailing behind. Soon they all were nearing the swing set. Vanellope maneuvered around each swing, being careful not to ram into other people's cars. Snowanna quickly lost control of her car, and it swerved off the track and into the bushes. Vanellope gulped but kept going. The sandbox was quickly approaching, and Vanellope accelerated her engine, passing Gloyd. The 8 racers drove right into the sand. It was hard to drive through, and Vanellope found herself pushing as hard as she good on her gas button. Torvald's car got stuck and wouldn't move anymore. "Move it, you idiotic car!" Vanellope heard Taffyta exclaim, sand flying from the wheels of her car that were stuck.
After what seemed like an hour, Vanellope finally got her car out of the sand, everyone but Torvald, who'd had to retrieve her car and dig all the sand out of its wheels, following close behind. She drove her car through the rainbow-colored cement tunnels, running behind it and cheering.
Taffyta scowled and turned her car to hit Minty's, which caused it to be knocked off the track. "Hey!" Minty exclaimed, glaring at her.
"Sorry!" Taffyta said, smiling at her. She pushed her car forward until she was neck-in-neck with Vanellope. Their cars knocked and bumped against each other, both not wanting the other to get ahead.
"Why don't you just give up now?" Taffyta called from the other side of the road, running behind her car. "You're just an accident waiting to happen!"
Vanellope rolled her eyes. "In your dreams, Taffyta!" She hit the accelerator and flew up the ramp, landing with a loud 'clang' on the merry-go-round. Driving over it turned out to be harder than she had anticipated, for as more and more cars got on the merry-go-round, it began to spin, rotating faster and faster.
"Fudge!" Swizzle exclaimed as his car got whipped off the structure and flung upside-down onto the ground.
Vanellope tried to avoid the other cars as she planned a way to get off. Taffyta's car had suddenly managed to escape, and now she was heading over to the slides! Vanellope waited until she was facing the right direction, and pushed down on her gas as hard as she could. With a lurch, her car managed to break away from the merry-go-round and now was right behind Taffyta's!
They headed up the slide together, each determined to win. The cheers of the other children grew louder, and soon half were cheering for Taffyta, and half were cheering on Vanellope. They headed towards the twisted slide and watched as their cars slid down. Once they hit the ground again, they were still right by each other. The crowd let out a shriek as Jubileena's car took a fantastic fall off of the top of the twisty-slide (which was very tall). Fortunately, it didn't break.
"Fail!" Taffyta laughed.
Vanellope glared at her. Her heart was pounding so hard with adrenaline she thought it was going to explode out of her chest. She had to win. Vanellope knew that if she didn't Taffyta would hold it over her forever.
Their cars were nearing the finish line, they were getting closer and closer with every second, the cheers were getting louder and louder it was deafening, and then-
They crossed it.
Together.
"It's a tie!" Sticky called, waving her flag up and down. "Taffyta and Vanellope win!"
The kids broke into a cheer, clapping their hands together and stomping their feet. "What?!" Taffyta exclaimed, looking horrified. "There's no way-I won! I beat her!"
Vanellope gritted her teeth together. While she was glad that she hadn't lost, it didn't really feel like she'd won, either. Gloyd and Rancis zoomed up quickly behind, claiming second and third.
"Congratulations!" Rancis said, giving them both high-fives.
Taffyta still looked angry. "I want a re-match." She said, folding her arms.
"Sorry Taffyta but the bell's about to ring." Gloyd said. "Maybe another time."
"NO!" Taffyta shrieked, stomping up and down. "I get what I want and I don't want to share anything with Vanellope!"
"Jeez, calm down!" Vanellope said, smirking slightly. "It's a draw; you don't have to throw a tantrum over it."
Taffyta glared at her. "I am not throwing a tantrum!" She snapped her fingers and Candlehead ran over obediently. She picked up Taffyta's car and handed her a pink sparkly water bottle. "This isn't over." Taffyta said, glaring at Vanellope as she walked back inside.
"Yeah?" Candlehead said, giving her the stink-eye as she quickly ran after Taffyta.
"Ah, ignore her Vanellope," Minty said, walking up next to her. "She's always mad about something, you guys did great!"
Vanellope smiled as her classmates clapped and cheered for her. Finally, she was starting to feel like she belonged.