I couldn't wait to get this chapter out! And, based on the reviews I've been getting, I think most of you will be surprised with how this chapter's gonna go...
Chapter 22- Not a Racer
Thankfully, Lightning's wish was Mack's command. Once Fudge had had her cuts and bruises washed and bandaged and she'd been given some painkillers and an icepack, then they'd found Cruz (plus her trophy), they were out of there! Mack sped off as fast as he legally could in order to escape the cars and humans that swarmed the trailer, screaming and shouting.
Also, thankfully, there wasn't much wrong with Fudge. She just had a couple of scrapes and bruises.
"Nothing serious", was what the medic had declared, "but you'll be feeling that tomorrow."
"I'll bet", the human girl agreed.
"You're lucky you didn't do any serious damage", the medic went on. "I've heard about the accident you had a couple years ago."
"Speaking of the accident", Miss Fritter piped up in fangirl mode, "did you get the stuff I sent you?! Of course you did! I got a thank-you letter back!"
"You sent me stuff?" Fudge asked. So many people had sent her stuff while she'd been in hospital that she couldn't remember all of them. In fact, until that moment, she'd forgotten that she'd received a bear in a 95 T-shirt and a card from someone named Cruz Ramirez too! "Thanks!"
"So, how'd you guys like your first time doing Crazy Eight?" Roxy Rocket quizzed Fudge and Lightning teasingly.
"Loved it!" Fudge responded just as jokingly, giving everyone the okay symbol.
Everyone laughed.
"When's the next one?" Fudge continued. "Sign me up!"
"Well", Lightning piped up, sounding kind of annoyed as he scooped Fudge up onto his hood, "we better get going. Where did Cruz go?"
"Cruz?" nearly everyone echoed in confusion.
"Frances Beltline", Fudge clarified.
Fortunately, at that moment, Cruz came racing up to the group. She was over the moon! "Fudge! Mr. McQueen!" she cried, showing off her trophy. "Look!"
"Congratulations, Cruz!" Fudge replied sincerely. "I was just worried about staying alive the whole time! It's impressive that you actually won!"
"Thanks!" Cruz looked to Lightning, expecting him to say something, but he didn't.
"Congratulations, Frances, uh, Cruz!" most of the racers called. "You even beat Miss Fritter! That's impressive!"
Miss Fritter shrugged. "I don't care", she proclaimed with a goofy grin. "This has been the best night of Crazy Eight ever!"
Everyone else agreed.
"Well", Lightning jumped in again, "as much as we would love to stick around" (Not!) "we better get going."
It wasn't easy to get out of there. By then, the press had shown up too and they and the fans were following the three as they made it back to the trailer, snapping pictures and calling out their names along with questions.
"What are you doing at Thunder Hollow?"
"Why aren't you training at the Rust-Eze Racing Center?"
"Is getting your tyres dirty part of your new training regime?"
"Are you planning to retire?"
As the press stalked them, Cruz clutched her trophy like a mother protecting her newborn baby. This was her first- and probably only, she realised- trophy and she didn't want anything to happen to it.
Luckily, Guido and Luigi were nearby to help out.
"Back up!" Luigi barked as he and his best friend shoved the press and the fans back. "Team McQueen will not be answering any questions, thank you! HEY!" he screamed as a man, an orange Mini Cooper with a camera, grabbed Fudge's arm. The Fiat put himself between them and gave Fudge a gentle but firm push forward. "Get your tyres off my daughter! She is just a child! Out the way! All of you! Out the way!"
When they finally made it to the safety of the trailer, all five occupants and Mack were worried that the mob out there were going to burst through.
"Step on it, Mack!" Lightning shouted.
The big truck didn't hesitate to obey. He started up his engine and blazed out of there.
Luigi sighed with relief as he and Guido helped Fudge over to the bed. "They were crazy! This was what I was afraid would happen if we came here!"
"Paparazzi!" Guido added, spitting in disgust.
However, Lightning really wasn't in the mood for the I told you so stuff.
A couple of minutes later, Fudge was lying on her bed, having been changed into her pyjamas. Guido pressed the icepack up against her forehead and Luigi used a damp washcloth to wipe any dirt and mud off of her.
"Are you okay, Fudgie?" Luigi questioned worriedly.
The sixteen-year-old groaned. "My everything hurts!"
"Your everything hurts?" Luigi repeated sympathetically. He gave her a kiss. "Well, we have your painkillers here." He gave her the bottle. "Take two of these and you will feel better."
"(They are drowsy ones)", Guido added, grabbing his daughter a bottle of water to take the pills with, "(but I think that is okay for you. After tonight, you need the rest.)"
"Yeah", Fudge agreed.
Meanwhile, Lightning and Cruz waited in the other section of the trailer, which was blocked off. They'd peered in as Luigi and Guido got Fudge settled, but were now waiting in silence. The only sound coming from that section was the TV; the RSN, to be specific.
"Fans here at Thunder Hollow, still buzzing over tonight's unexpected appearance of Lightning McQueen and his crew chief, Fudge Rossi-Topolino!" the reporter announced.
"They have always been my favourites!" Miss Fritter gushed. "My garage is covered from head to toe in 95 posters!"
"Racing with a legend like Lightning McQueen and someone as awesome as Fudge Rossi-Topolino really is a dream come true!" Roxy Rocket declared. She also appeared to be on cloud nine. "Lightning McQueen is an extremely talented racer and Fudge, she's showing the world- and humans everywhere- that we can play a role in racing too."
"And watching her try to escape was pretty funny!" Wild Wes chimed in, laughing.
They replayed the clip of Fudge trying to squeeze through the gap in the fence.
In the trailer, long story short, Cruz was very happy; Lightning was not.
"So", Cruz began, trying to make conversation, "trophy's kinda nice. Don't you think?"
Lightning didn't say anything.
"I mean", she went on, filling the silence, "I know you got, like, a billion of them, so y- you would know."
The stock car remained silent.
"I still can't believe I won!" Cruz proclaimed, giddy with excitement. "It's pretty shiny. I have never seen one up close. Looks like they spent a lot of money on it. I- I mean, I think it's real metal-"
"Stop!" Lightning cut her off. "Just stop! Okay, Cruz?! You don't even know! You don't even have one clue!"
"Hey!" she cried defensively. "I was just trying to-"
"Do you know what happens if I lose this race?!" he interjected again.
It was Cruz's turn to be silent.
"Every mile of this trip was to get me faster than Jackson Storm!" Lightning reminded her. "Faster! I started off getting nowhere for a week on a simulator..."
Luigi, Guido and Fudge peered in, concerned, for a second before deciding to close the divider up again.
"I lose a whole day with you on Fireball Beach and then, I waste tonight IN THE CROSSHAIRS OF MISS FRITTER! I'm stuck in the same speed I was a month ago! I can't get any faster BECAUSE I'M TOO BUSY TAKING CARE OF MY TRAINER!"
Fudge's heart pounded. She'd never seen Lightning get this angry before and she was afraid. She knew that Lightning just got angry when he was stressed, but Cruz didn't. The yellow car was far too startled to reply, so Fudge slid off her bed, got to her feet unsteadily and what followed would have to be seen to be believed...
"Hey!" the human girl jumped to her friend's defence, stumbling into their section of the trailer and standing between the two cars. "That last one wasn't Cruz's fault!"
She thought she was doing the right thing, standing up for her friend, but unfortunately, Cruz didn't think so.
"What are you saying?" she quizzed Fudge, sounding hurt. "You think the other stuff is my fault?"
Oops.
"I didn't mean-" Fudge began, shrinking back.
"I thought you were my friend!" Cruz interrupted. "But you agree with Mr. McQueen here!"
"I'm sorry I said anything-" the human girl started again fearfully.
"Obviously she doesn't agree with me!" Lightning spoke up, interrupting. "'Cause she's been goofing off with you the whole time I've been getting nowhere!"
"How many times do I have to tell you?!" Fudge's voice was rising too. "I didn't know what was going on with your training! I just assumed Cruz knew what she was doing if she was given the job!"
"Assumed?! Well, I obviously wasn't doing a good job, according to you!" Cruz jumped in.
"I didn't mean it like that!" Fudge shouted. "I was trying to stick up for you here! Lightning was yelling at you and I stuck up for you! I won't bother next time!"
"I don't need you to stick up for me", Cruz informed her coolly.
"Clearly!" Fudge shot back just as coolly as she tried to get back to bed, mainly because she was tired and in pain, but also in order to avoid Cruz and Lightning, who were both mad at her.
"Where are you going?!" Lightning demanded.
"To bed", the sixteen-year-old responded as if the answer were obvious.
"I'm not done talking to you yet!"
"Well, I'm done talking to you!"
Out of nowhere, McQueen, seething with rage, grabbed hold of Fudge's arm and yanked her back into his section of the trailer.
"Hey!" she yelped, only it came out sounding like, "Hee-eyyyyy-uh!"
"Siddown and listen to me!" the race car ordered. "'Cause you're just as part of the problem as Cruz is! Life isn't just writing stories and playing games all the time! This is real stuff, Fudge! You can't just mess around here! And don't even get me started on what you did tonight!"
"What did I do?!" Fudge demanded, tears stinging at her eyes and a lump forming in her throat. She knew she was going to cry. She hoped Luigi, Guido and Mack were enjoying themselves. She, Lightning and Cruz were putting on quite the show.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Fudge, you were in a demolition derby! You know how I feel about you racing! What the hell were you thinking?!"
"First of all", a furious and hurt Fudge began, "I didn't know it was a demolition derby and neither did you!" she added. "Second of all, I wasn't planning on entering! The officials were the ones who made me!"
"I'm sorry, Fudge, but what did you think was gonna happen?! Walking out onto the track like that was just stupid! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" he demanded again. Now, he was beginning to get really angry with Fudge.
Fudge couldn't answer. She was just in shock at his outburst.
So, Lightning kept talking. "You could've been really hurt! You know how I feel about you racing! Let alone, being in demolition derbies!"
"Yes I know how you feel about me racing! You never shut up about it!"
"Well, maybe if you were to just listen to me, I wouldn't have to!" Lightning shot back. "I hate the idea of you racing and you don't seem to care! You're so selfish, Fudge!"
Now, whenever Fudge receives any kind of criticism, one of two things would happen. Either she would get upset or she would blow up. On this occasion, she went for the latter.
"THAT'S BECAUSE I WANNA BE A RACER! That's all I've wanted since I was, like, four! And you don't care about that! You're the selfish one!"
"I do care!" Lightning argued. "I care too much! I don't wanna see you get hurt again! Like you were tonight! If you're just here to goof off with Cruz and try to get yourself killed, then maybe you should just go home! 'Cause I don't have time for this s**t!"
Things were silent for what felt like a long time.
"Hurts, doesn't it?" Cruz broke the silence, sounding very bitter, but also kind of smug. Then she faced her trainee once again. "And don't you worry, Mr. McQueen. Fudge and I won't be goofing off together anymore!"
"Fine!" Fudge shouted. Then, remembering history and what Cruz had said earlier, she added, "It's not like you ever cared about me anyway!"
"What are you talking about?!" Cruz demanded, sounding angry and hurt. "Of course I did! I thought you were my best friend! What? Do you think you're too good for me?!"
"Fine!" Fudge threw her hands in the air in frustration, playing the victim as she often did. "Everything's my fault! I'm the problem here! It's my fault nobody cares about me!"
"Okay, now, you're just being ridiculous!" Lightning was so angry he could barely speak. "Lots of people care about you, Fudge!"
"SHUT UP!" she screamed. "You never cared about me either!"
"No, you shut up, Fudge! How could you say that?! You don't actually believe that, do you?! Because you're an idiot if you do!"
"You know what else you are?!" Cruz piped up, clearly still upset that she thought Fudge thought she was too good for her. She was so angry that she dropped a huge bomb on Fudge, which made her feel like she'd been slapped in the face. "You're a pretentious b**ch! Don't go thinking you're better than me! Your parents didn't even want you and who could blame them?!"
That did it. Fudge started to cry.
McQueen scoffed in disgust. "Fudge, stop it! You're not a baby!"
"Then how come you treat me like one?!" she retorted. "Come on, McQueen, you're giving me conflicting messages here!"
The stock car groaned. "When are you gonna learn to grow up?!"
"SHUT UP!" Fudge screamed again, not wanting to hear it; especially not then. She was tired, she was in pain and she was just over it!
"I'm serious, Fudge! If you wanna keep being my crew chief- if I even win this race, despite you screwing around- you're gonna have to realise that you need to grow up and do what I ask you to do! Like when I asked you to talk to Cruz and you didn't!"
"And only now she tells me that she hates my training methods?!" Cruz, who had been silent for a while, added. "You only had a week, Fudge!"
"I WAS TRYING TO MAKE BOTH OF YOU HAPPY!" Fudge boomed, which made every single other person listening jump in surprise. "WHICH IS OBVIOUSLY AN IMPOSSIBLE THING TO DO!"
Luigi and Guido were listening from the other section of the trailer, occasionally peering in to the other side, concerned and Mack was listening from outside as he pulled the trailer. All three of them were afraid. The other three hadn't just been talking loudly; they'd been really yelling. They'd been yelling so loud, in fact, that the walls had been vibrating. They'd never seen Fudge or Lightning so angry, especially not with each other. Normally, Fudge adored Lightning and Lightning was very gentle and understanding with Fudge.
Lightning let out another groan. "Can we get back to the real issue here?!" he requested angrily.
There had been so much yelling and fighting about so many different things in such a short amount of time, everyone else had forgotten what the "real issue" even was.
"And that would be?" Cruz prompted, clearly annoyed.
Lightning gave her a look as if to say, You really don't know?! Then he glared hard at both her and Fudge. "This is my last chance, guys!" he reminded the two young women. "Last! Final! Finito! If I lose, I never get to do this again! If you were racers, you'd know what I'm talking about, but you're not! So, you don't!"
On the last word, he slammed his tyre against the wall in sheer frustration. This caused another vibration on the walls, but this one was strong enough to knock over Cruz's trophy! It wobbled unsteadily for a couple of seconds before hitting the floor and breaking in two.
Finally, all of the yelling stopped. Cruz gasped. Fudge and Lightning's eyes widened as the former gave out a shocked hiccup in between her sobs. At that moment, all three of them knew that things had gone too far.
After taking a couple of seconds to recover from the shock, Cruz's face hardened. "Mack! Pull over!" she ordered.
"What?" he asked. "Now?"
"Now!" Without waiting for him to do so, Cruz opened the trailer door. Sparks flew off the back of the door as it scraped the road.
Mack gave a surprised yelp. "Okay, okay! Pullin' over, pullin' over!"
So, he did.
"Cruz-" Fudge began, trying to find her voice. Although still hurt and furious, she did feel guilty now.
"NO!" Cruz shouted forcefully. "I'm not gonna spend another minute where I'm obviously not wanted!"
"But-" the sixteen-year-old started to protest.
"Just one thing before I go", she announced bitterly.
"What?" Fudge and Lightning questioned simultaneously.
That was when Mack came to a stop in the woods and Cruz reversed out.
"Ask me if I dreamed of being a trainer, guys, go ahead!" she began.
Neither Lightning nor Fudge knew what to say, but it didn't matter because Cruz kept talking.
"Ask me if I got up in the dark to run laps before school every day! Ask me if I saved every penny to buy a ticket to the races when they came to town! Ask me if I did that, so that I could be a trainer some day! Ask me!"
"Did you-" Lightning started.
"NO!" Cruz shouted. Then she continued, sounding dangerously close to tears herself. "I've wanted to become a racer forever! Because of you, Mr. McQueen!"
Lightning was surprised, but Fudge wasn't. After hearing Cruz talk about how she'd wanted to be a racer and how she'd reacted when Fudge had asked her about it, the human girl wondered if there was some big revelation coming up. Nobody knew what to say, so they all waited for Cruz to keep going.
"I used to watch you on TV, flying through the air", the yellow car continued, facing away from the others. "You seemed so... fearless."
Lightning rolled out of the trailer and Luigi, Guido and Fudge came closer.
"'Dream small, Cruz.' That's what my family used to say. 'Dream small or not at all.'" There was a long pause. "They were just trying to protect me." Another long pause. "But I was the fastest kid in town and I was gonna prove them wrong!"
"What happened?" Lightning ventured.
"When I got to my first race, I figured it out."
"What?"
Cruz looked back at Lightning and Fudge. "That I didn't belong."
"Cruz, you're fast! I saw you go on that simulator!" Fudge pointed out, hardly managing to find her voice. "And you learned so fast on the beach! How could you not belong?"
Cruz gave the sixteen-year-old a sad look. "The other racers looked nothing like me. You know, th- they were bigger a- and stronger and so... confident. And when they started their engines... that was it. I knew I'd never be a racer."
Once again, everyone was silent.
"I just left. It was my one shot and I didn't take it."
"You're not the only one who had dreams of being a racer that didn't work out", Fudge piped up, sniffling.
The yellow car looked her way curiously. "How could they not work out for you?!" she demanded with a small sneer. "You grew up with dozens of racing legends right under your nose and Mr. McQueen trusts- trusted", she couldn't help correcting herself, earning her a glower from her ex-best friend, "-you to be his crew chief!"
"If you'd just shut up and listen, you'd find out!" Fudge snapped, still angry at Cruz. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down a little. "I've always dreamed of being a rider crew chief. I'd been watching races on TV well before I could talk." The human girl gestured to Luigi and Guido. "These guys are die-hard Ferrari fans."
Luigi and Guido couldn't help smiling a little bit.
"Then I found out that our town doctor was the Fabulous Hudson Hornet and a couple years after that, I met Lightning McQueen. And that was it. I knew I wanted to be a racer."
"So, what happened with you?" Cruz wondered.
"Lightning started taking me for laps down by the dirt track where we live, even on some real tracks too, and I loved it. I started going to his races and I learned a lot by doing that. I was so sure that I wanted to do it and that I could do it. Then I had the accident..."
Cruz lowered her hood. She should've known.
"Lightning refused to take me for laps after that." That wasn't supposed to be a dig at him. It was just true.
Lightning tried to speak, reminding Fudge of his reasons for not taking her, but the words just wouldn't come out. One last long pause took over the group.
"Yeah, so, uh... I- I'm gonna head back to the training centre", Cruz announced, looking at Fudge and Lightning again. "I think we all know it's for the best." She started to go, but then she stopped and turned around. "But can I ask you something, Mr. McQueen? What was it like for you? When you showed up to your first race. How did you know you could do it?"
"I don't know", he replied quietly. "I... I just never thought I couldn't."
Cruz thought about that for a moment. "I wish I knew what that felt like", she proclaimed finally. "Good luck, both of you." Then she started driving away again.
"Cruz!" both Fudge and Lightning called out. "Cruz, wait!"
Their calls were ignored. Cruz didn't come back.
Lightning sighed and looked at Fudge.
"You know, I'd be out of here too", she informed him quietly with tears still flowing down her face. "You know, if I wasn't so tired and sore and I... had a place to go."
With that, she slunk back into the trailer and collapsed on the bed, hoping for sleep to take over her. Lightning watched her go, but didn't say anything and didn't follow her. Both of them regretted their fight, but neither one of them was ready to apologise just yet. They each thought that the other one needed some space to cool off before they could do that.
Okay, I had three reasons for writing Fudge's role in the fight the way I did:
1. It seemed appropriate, considering how she's been torn between her duties to McQueen and her friendship with Cruz.
2. It adds to the tension.
3. As I've said before, a lot of the time, I worry that I've made Fudge a Mary Sue and I don't want her to be a Mary Sue. I want her to be an interesting and likable, but believable, flawed character, who sometimes makes the wrong choices because, you know, she's human. I'm sure some of you will know creating a realistic OC can be easier said than done and I think I do a decent job, but maybe not perfect. However, you guys seem to like Fudge and my other OCs, so I must be doing something right. Although, I can't imagine what it is.
The other thing is I know I made Cruz a little mean in this chapter, but I kind of wanted all three of them (that being Lightning, Cruz and Fudge) to say things they'd regret. Plus, like I said in Life Could Be a Dream, real people get OOC when they're angry too.
Oh, and in case you care, I'm currently writing the Cars 3 part of the Cars Origins trilogy. Although, I'm not loving how it's turning out. It just seems the same as this story.
Yeah, so, anyway, I know that was an intense chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway! Please review!