Chapter 3: Zane & Rikki's Vengeance

Zane and Nate challenged Rikki back for their stalls nearly every day. The two boys had begrudgingly lost every time. It annoyed Zane, especially, to no end. She wasn't even using his stall, why couldn't he just have it back? She also let the officials know if either of the boys took off before 'three' that was considered cheating at they'd forfeit the race. Zane couldn't remember anyone annoying him more.

He stopped going to the race tracks as often, instead opting to ride his bike around town or ride his Zodiac around the sea. Neither were as fun as the race track had been before Rikki had shown up. She wouldn't leave any time soon though.

That was unless he could make her leave. Zane had enough, he didn't care what he had to do. He'd play dirty if he had to. She wouldn't let him cheat in their races but who was she to say what he could do with his off time.

Zane was the first one at the track that morning, he doubted even Henry was there. As he expected, Rikki had left her bike in what was once Nate's stall. It was a simple model and easy to work around. Plus, she left all of her tools. What a silly girl. Zane left the track before the lights came on, feeling confident about his challenge today.

"Will it be the usual, boys?" Rikki asked as she noticed Zane and Nate standing in front of her stalls, ready to race. They didn't say anything in response.

"All right, just let me get ready and I'll meet you down there." Rikki told them. Zane and Nate took off for the tracks, Zane writing his name on the board first.

"Are you sure this will work, mate?" Nate asked.

"I'm positive." Zane said. "She won't notice until she gets out here."

Rikki came down the bumpy hills a moment later. Zane had noticed she never went down that way very fast, it made his plan absolutely perfect. Rikki wrote her name on the board and met him at the starting line.

The official called the race and Zane took off, knowing Rikki was going to be far behind him for the entirety of the race. He cackled as he sped through the track, taking his time around sharp turns and hills knowing he didn't need to get cocky and fall off his bike, giving her an easy win. Zane crossed the finish line first and was joined by Rikki over a minute later.

"What the hell did you do to my bike?!" Rikki exclaimed as she tossed her helmet off.

"Nothing." Zane said. "Maybe it's just time to replace that old clunker."

Rikki huffed at him as she rode up to the stalls. Zane called after her saying she still needed to race Nate. He watched as she pulled into the outermost stall and went into the shop.

"Oh, no." Zane muttered as he threw his helmet back on and sped up to the shop, jumping off his bike and running in as soon as he could.

"Hey, Henry what are you up to?" Zane asked the owner.

"Pulling some security tapes." Henry said. "Rikki thinks you tampered with her bike."

Zane scoffed. "Really, Henry? You think I would do something like that."

"I think you'd do a lot worse to get that stall back, boy." Henry told him.

Not a moment later did the security tapes show Zane going into Rikki's stall and start tampering with her bike. He sighed as he felt both Henry's and Rikki's eyes on him.

"Look, it doesn't show that I did anything to the bike." Zane said. "I could have been protecting it from something else."

"Likely story." Rikki scoffed.

"Zane, I know you want your stall back but you know the rules." Henry told him. "I'm putting you on probation. One more slip up and you'll be banned from the track for a month."

"What?!" Zane exclaimed. He looked at Rikki and saw a smile form on her face. "How is that fair?"

"You tampered with someone else's bike, you're lucky I don't call the cops!" Henry yelled at him. "I don't want to hear another word or your ban starts now. Rikki gets your stall since you cheated."

Zane sighed as he walked out of the shop and slammed the door behind him and then gathered Nate to leave. They'd spend the day doing anything else. For the first time, Zane wondered if he would continue with motocross.

Rikki didn't feel like staying at the tracks much longer either. She packed up and then thought of where she could go. She hadn't seen much of the town, aside from the track and her home. They did live by a beach, maybe she could go on a walk or swim. She couldn't remember the last time she saw the ocean.

Rikki found a beach quickly and walked along the shore observing the others who decided to spend their day there. There were families with young kids, surfers around her age, loved up couples she wished would get a room and many, many more. People were so interesting.

She nearly tripped over a boy who was bent over, inspecting some seaweed. He looked up at her as she let out a cry of surprise.

"Can I help you?" He asked. How rude. She swore she knew him from somewhere though, didn't he go to her school?

"Sorry, I didn't see you there." Rikki said. "Don't you go to my school? You're the science-y kid."

The guy looked annoyed. It was the truth, Rikki wouldn't apologize for that.

"I have a name, you know." He told her.

"Me too." She said, reaching a hand out to him. "I'm Rikki."

"Lewis." He replied, shaking it. At least not all the boys in this town were as sore as Zane.

Speak of the devil, Rikki saw a red boat in the distance that looked like it housed both Zane and Nate. She couldn't be too sure, they were miles away.

"Hey, is that Zane Bennett out there?" Rikki asked Lewis.

"So that's your type?" Lewis asked.

"Not in a million years." Rikki responded as if Lewis had asked her to eat the seaweed in his hand. "I just... he wronged me."

"That's not surprising." Lewis responded, looking out to sea. "Yeah, that does look like his Zodiac."

A sudden thought burst into Rikki's head. Zane was clearly no angel but he'd be in for a surprise if he thought she was one. She wasn't an instigator but she wouldn't back down from a fight if she was provoked.

"Do you know where he parks it?" Rikki asked.

"Why do you ask?" Lewis asked her. "Not wanting to do anything bad, are you?"

"So what if I am?" Rikki responded.

Lewis chuckled at her. "I think it's the north lot in town. That's where all the other rich people in town park their boats."

"Great, thanks." Rikki replied as she made her way to the north docks.

Rikki had hoped there would be no fence or security she would have to get through but today seemed to be her lucky day. Any average person could walk into this dock filled with large boats and small yachts. Rikki wondered where Zane would park his Zodiac. Again, she didn't have to wonder for too long as she saw Zane and Nate walking along the docks. Rikki hid behind a yacht so they wouldn't see her standing in the open. She wondered where they were going and how long they would be gone. She wondered if she had enough time to tamper with his Zodiac. She wondered if she even knew how to tamper with his Zodiac.

Rikki took off in the direction Zane and Nate had come from and quickly found the obnoxious, red boat tied up between two yachts. There was still a case inside the boat so she reckoned they either forgot it or she didn't have much time to work. Rikki hopped in the boat, taking the cover off of the engine. She didn't know too much about this engine, it was different from a bike. Still, she noticed a spark plug near the top. Surely the boat wouldn't run without it. She quickly pulled it out, placed the cover back on the engine and ran off, only barely getting time to hide behind the nearby yacht before both boys showed back up.

She giggled as quietly as she could as Zane quickly become frustrated his boat wouldn't start. Nate was the one to point to the missing spark plug. Rikki was biting her hand to keep from cackling. This was all so hilarious. No, she certainly wasn't an angel.

"I'm getting tired of this thing anyway," Zane started. "I'll just have my dad buy me a new one."

Rikki furrowed her eyebrows. That wasn't the response she wanted.

"Or we could have some fun." Nate said. "Look."

Rikki looked around to see if she could see what Nate was pointing at without exposing herself. She saw the girl that had given her directions to the track walking around the pier. Rikki wondered what she was doing here.

"Cleo." She heard Zane yell. "Hey, Cleo!"

God help the girl, she looked around for someone else. What a pure, innocent soul. Rikki wondered what evil plan Zane was cooking up.

Once he got her over to the boat, he told her the boat wasn't starting and he needed her to pass him some tools. Zane had to have known the boat wouldn't start without a spark plug. He also had to know you didn't need tools, it just popped in.

Rikki needed to see what was going on. She quietly entered the yacht she was hiding behind, hoping the yacht was empty and that she wouldn't draw any attention to herself. She got lucky as she saw Zane untie the ropes and push his boat out to sea with the girl named Cleo still inside. She protested and he told her his dad would just buy him a new one. She huffed and sat down in the boat. Nate had joined Zane and the two walked away from the drifting boat, laughing. Rikki would have to make her move. It would be more embarrassing than anything if she landed in the water. Plus, the spark plug probably wouldn't work anymore. Zane had tampered with her bike but it was fixable, she couldn't destroy his stuff.

Rikki flew off the yacht and thankfully landed in the boat. Cleo let out a loud scream. Rikki was surprised Zane and Nate didn't hear her.

"Is this supposed to be some kind of rescue?" Cleo asked. "I don't mean to state the obvious but we're just drifting out to sea."

Rikki held the spark plug up for Cleo to see. The girl's chocolate, brown eyes widened.

"You took that?" Cleo asked. Rikki smirked at her as she watched Zane and Nate walk down the docks.

"Zane Bennett's a pig." Rikki said. "Anything I can do to get under his skin can't be a bad thing, can it?"

"Cool, thanks Rikki." Cleo said as Rikki inserted the speak plug back to the Zodiac.

"You know my name?" Rikki asked the girl. She wanted to laugh as Cleo started sputtering, trying to come up with excuse after excuse as to why she hadn't spoken to Rikki yet. Frankly, Rikki couldn't care less. She smiled as the engine easily turned over. She saw Zane was still nearby and thought of a perfect parting gift.

"Hold on." Rikki told Cleo as she made a beeline for the docks. She watched with great satisfaction as Zane's face turned bright red. She gave him a shrug as she made a sharp turn, splashing water all over him. He'd be pissed the next time she saw him at the tracks.

Rikki and Cleo rode the Zodiac around the shore for quite a while. Rikki had fun with the girl, maybe she could be friends with her. Rikki was usually so preoccupied with motocross she didn't have a lot of friends. Maybe Cleo would be okay with that.

Cleo spotted her friend, Emma, the other girl Rikki had seen on her first day in town, the one who had told her to put her helmet on. Cleo invited Emma on the boat as they drove by.

"Are you licensed?" Emma had asked Rikki.

"Are you my mother?" Rikki responded, pulling in to the nearest shore to let Emma on the boat.

"How about we take this thing out to sea?" Rikki asked the two girls. They seemed hesitant but they weren't driving. Rikki smiled as the water got darker and the winds became faster. She smiled, thinking how she had gotten the best revenge on Zane today. Oh, how wrong she would turn out to be.