CHAPTER 26

"You're working with Sam for your History project?" Finn exclaimed, sliding onto the seat opposite Emily in the dining hall. She looked up at him and smiled.

"Hello to you too." She replied. "And yeah, I'm working with Sam. It's not like I had a choice. The teacher put us in partners. And by the way, what happened to trusting each other?"

"I trust you, baby. It's him who's the problem. God, I hate that guy so much. Every time I see him, I just want to…"

"Break his arm?" Emily asked, raising an eyebrow. Finn blushed.

"You heard about that?" He muttered. Emily nodded.

"Babe, the whole school heard about that!" Emily exclaimed. Finn looked down in shame.

"It wasn't my fault. It was a perfectly legal tackle. He's just… weak." Finn replied. Emily laughed.

"Yeah, right? Something tells me you went a little harder on him than you do everyone else."

Finn shrugged.

"Look, I might have channelled a little bit of anger into the tackle…"

"A little bit?" Emily giggled.

"A little bit." Finn confirmed and he leaned in and kissed his girlfriend. Just as their lips touched, Finn felt a hand hit him on the back. Reluctantly, he turned around. It was Sam, wearing a fire-engine red cast on his left arm.

"Can I help you?" Finn asked, shortly. Sam smirked, widely.

"Hey, Emily?" Sam asked. "Dinner at my house tonight while we work on the project?"

Finn clenched his hand into a fist and prepared to sock Finn in the face. Emily placed a hand in his and squeezed it gently, gesturing for him to calm down.

"Sam…" She started. "First of all, we're working at my house. There's no way in hell I feel comfortable going to your house alone. Second, I'm happy with Finn so if you'd just fuck off, that would be nice."

Finn snickered quietly at Sam's expression of shell-shock. Sam's non-injured hand clenched into a fist and Finn genuinely thought he was going to hit Emily so Finn quickly stood in between them and pushed Sam a couple of feet backwards. Sam put his face a couple of inches from Finn, squaring up to him, rage etched all over.

"Hey, Finn…" Sam murmured quietly but threateningly. "You ruined my life. You took my place on the football team; you took my place in the Glee club; you're dating the girl I should be dating. I swear to God, when I'm healed, I'm going to kill you."

Sam said this in all seriousness but Finn didn't even flinch. He locked eyes with the blonde and spat…

"I'd love to see you try. You know where to find me." Finn responded. Sam started to turn away but Finn grabbed him by the scruff of the collar so Sam would turn back to him. "Hey… one more thing. If you lay a finger on Emily, with God as my witness, you're going to be breathing through a straw for the rest of your life."

Sam stalked away at that point and when he was gone, Finn turned back to Emily, who was watching the whole exchange with an amused expression on her face.

"What?" Finn asked. Emily smirked.

"Sorry, it's just… that was so hot." She remarked. Finn chuckled.

"Thanks. I meant it though. If Sam tries anything, anything at all, please call me." Finn asked. Emily nodded and kissed her boyfriend. She pulled away a moment later with her eyebrow raised.

"Um… Finn?" She said.

"Yeah?"

"What did Sam mean when he said you took his place on the football team?" She asked. Finn sighed.

"Well, when I broke Sam's arm, Coach Beiste kind of blackmailed me into joining the football team." Finn admitted. Emily's eyes widened.

"Blackmailed you?" She asked. Finn nodded.

"Yeah, she said that I could either take 2 months of detention, or I could join the football team."

"And you chose the football?" Emily asked. Finn shrugged.

"Well… yeah. It was the obvious choice."

Emily giggled.

"What?" Finn asked.

"Let me guess… you only picked the football option because you would be stealing Sam's spot on the team." She commented. Finn raised an eyebrow.

"No! Of course not! Why do you say that?"

"Well, football season lasts from the beginning of February - the beginning of June. 4 months. If you truly wanted the easier option, 2 months is much shorter than 4. And playing football could possibly compromise your racing performance. There's no way you would do that just to avoid 2 months of detention."

Finn sighd and chuckled. That girl knew him so well!

"A man can have more than one motivation." Finn responded and Emily giggled.

"You're so funny. I love you." She said. Finn's eyes widened when he realised what she had just said, and Emily's face paled slightly.

"I mean… I… uh… I…" Emily stammered as she attempted to come up with a response. When that failed, she started spiraling. "I've just been feeling like this… you're so amazing… I don't want to pressure you into saying it if you're not…"

Emily was cut off when Finn pressed his lips gently against hers. When they finally detached for oxygen, Finn looked her right in the eye and said…

"I love you too."

Little did they know that their relationship would implode in exactly one week…

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On Thursday night, Finn prepared to leave for his first race of the season. He was leaving that night and coming back on Sunday night so he would only be missing Friday of school. The team had planned to meet at Columbus Airport an hour and a half before the flight so Finn needed to leave for Columbus almost 3 hours before his flight actually departed. Not that he was complaining though. It was going to be his first competitive race in a year and he was a bundle of nerves and excitement. He had packed his bag the night before and was ready to leave for the airport. His family, who were all sitting in the living room, smiled at him.

"All right, guys. I'm going to head out now." Finn announced. His family all hugged him.

"Good luck, Finn!" Neve exclaimed.

"Yeah, we're all rooting for you!" Sarah added. Finn smiled.

"Thanks, guys. You know, no matter what position I come, if I finish the race without crashing, I'm happy. It's my first race back so I'm not expecting much."

"Well, whatever happens, we're so proud of you and you have as long as you need to improve."

"Thanks. See you guys Sunday!"

"See you!" They said. Finn walked out the door and into the waiting Uber. An hour and a half later, Finn arrived at Columbus airport, where the whole team was waiting. Josh walked up to him when he arrived and Finn smiled when he saw him.

"Hey, what's good, man?" Finn asked. The two of them bro-handshaked.

"Dude, I'm so excited! First race of the season!" He exclaimed. Finn nodded and grinned.

"Yeah, man. It's my first race in over a year. I'm kinda nervous, not gonna lie." Finn said.

"Me too, man."

At that moment, their two race engineers walked up to them and informed them it was time to get going…

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"Radio Check. Radio Check."

Finn listened as Dalton, his race engineer's, voice filled his earpiece. It was Saturday and the first qualifying session had just started. Yesterday, Finn had flown through the practise session and had achieved the third fastest time. Josh came 6th in the session so that was a pride and encouragement bonus. Today, Finn needed to stay out of the bottom 5 out of 20 drivers to advance to the second qualifying session. The three qualifying sessions would determine which position Finn would start the race in tomorrow.

"Yup, I'm here. All good." Finn replied. "Is everything okay with the car?"

"Yes. Everything looks good. There's no traffic ahead of you so just full send it this lap."

"Copy that." Finn replied and floored the acceleration. "LET'S GO!" He exclaimed, cheering and howling like a madman as he meticulously took each and every corner with the utmost precision and skill. To his delight, he managed to make second place in the first qualifying session (one position and 0.8 seconds better than practise). Finn's luck only went up from there. He managed to claim first place in the second practise session and then second place in the third - meaning that he would be starting the race second on the grid tomorrow. Unfortunately, Josh's brakes locked up at the most crucial time so he ended up having to start the race from 8th.

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Race day was intense, to say the least. It all started at 8 am when the two racers woke up and ate breakfast in the hotel. The race started at 2 and they were told to arrive on the track at 12 so they had a couple of hours to chill. But they couldn't relax. They were both too nervous about the upcoming race. Last time Finn had been in this kind of situation, he had been in the worst crash of his life and he was determined for it not to happen again. Eventually, before Finn knew it, he was on the track, ready to start the race. Minutes ticked by…

5 minutes left…

The team - engineers, mechanics, etc. - were kicked off the track, leaving just the 20 drivers on the grid

3 minutes left…

Finn adjusted his position in his car, ready to start the formation lap of the race. The race wasn't officially starting as they still had the formation lap, but the drivers were psyching themselves up.

2 minutes left…

Finn revved his engine. Something sounded wrong but Finn couldn't quite put his finger on it. It sounded scarily similar to the sounds his car made right before he crashed last year. Finn put it out of his mind. NO! He couldn't think like that! He needed to be fully focussed if he wanted to get a win here today.

1 minutes left…

The lights turned green and the drivers slowly accelerated off the grid. The purpose of a formation lap was to warm up their tyres and engines right before the actual race start and as Finn drove for the short lap around the circuit and he could definitely hear something wrong with the engine. It didn't sound dangerous, but he knew that his car was probably not firing on all cylinders.

"Yo, is everything okay with the car? It sounds kind of weak." Finn remarked into the radio. Dalton replied almost immediately.

"Um… I'm not going to lie to you, Finn… something's up." Dalton said.

"Do we need to retire?" Finn asked, worried.

"No, we don't right now because there's nothing too threatening about it. Unless the engine dies, that is. But you might be limping to the finish line." Dalton said. Finn sighed. Well that wasn't a good sign. At the end of the formation lap, they all lined up on the grid and prepared for the start of the race. Finn waited impatiently for the lights to go out, indicating the start of the race.

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