Chapter 5: Zane's Victory

Rikki and Zane stayed rooted in the shop once Henry had left. Neither of them knew what to say. Rikki wondered why Zane was staying behind with her. Zane wondered that himself. Rikki wondered what his intentions were, if she would have to start running now.

"I won't stay if you don't want me to." Zane finally told her.

"What?" Rikki asked.

"I know Henry would like for me to stay to make sure you're all right," Zane started. "But I won't if you don't want me to. I get it."

"No, it's all right." Rikki said. "Well, unless you don't want to..."

Zane laughed. "We'll never make a decision this way. Tell you what, I'll go wait for you by the tracks and you come tell me what you want me to do then."

"Why are you helping me?" Rikki asked. She didn't understand why Zane was doing this. If their roles were reversed, she'd leave in an instant.

"You look like you've had a hell of a day." Zane shrugged. "I don't want to make it worse."

"Yeah," Rikki laughed and sniffed her stuffy nose at the same time. "Well, thanks. Speaking of that, I'm going to go get washed up."

"Yeah, all right." Zane said as he made his way to the door and she walked into the bathroom.

In retrospect, Rikki was glad she went to the bathroom. If they had been outside, she probably would have hosed her face down with a bottle of water or the tap outside of her stall. She had splashed her face with water from the bathroom sink and had just enough time to check her reflection in the mirror when she collapsed on the ground, forgetting about her new mermaid tail.

"Rikki?" She heard Zane ask. He hadn't left yet? Or had he and she just made so much noise he came in to check on her? "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Rikki said before she saw the doorknob jiggling. "Don't come in!"

"All right." Zane said, confused. "I'll meet you by the track."

Rikki huffed as she dried herself off with the air dryer. She hoped she had splashed enough water on her face to clear her puffy eyes and tear stains because she couldn't splash herself again. She was sure Zane would walk in on her at that moment.

Once Rikki had dried off, she went to her stall to change into her suit and get her bike. As she exited, she took a look at her empty second stall. She had no use for that stall. She had thought maybe when her dad started making more money, she'd be able to get more equipment and store it in that stall. He was unemployed now so that seemed unlikely at least in the near future. She had no use for it, aside from annoying Zane. He had done something nice for her tonight, maybe she could do something nice for him.

"Where's your bike?" She asked him once she reached him near the bottom of the track.

"Still up top." He told her motioning to where he left it before they had entered the shop to check the security footage with Henry. She wondered how she had missed that.

"You're not going to ride?" She asked.

"You want me to?" Zane asked back.

"Well, I thought it was nice of you to stay out here with me." Rikki told him. "I thought I might give you a chance to win your stall back."

Zane scoffed at her. "Really?"

"I'm not kidding." Rikki said. "I don't have any use for it anymore."

"You had a use for it?" Zane asked. Rikki felt like she said too much.

"Well, annoying the hell out of you." She was pleased when she earned a smile from him. "I don't really care to do that at the moment. You should take advantage of this opportunity while I'm feeling nice."

"All right," Zane said as he went to get his bike. "But don't go easy on me, I want to win fair and square."

"I wouldn't dream of it!" Rikki shouted back.

They had raced four laps, all of which Rikki had won before Zane removed his helmet and grabbed one of the bottles of water he brought down.

"How do you do it?" Zane asked. "I haven't lost this many races... well, ever."

"I can show you some tricks if you want." Rikki told him.

Zane raised his eyebrows before he nodded at her. Five, six laps she had won before she told him to tighten his abs when he was making turns, that way he could stay upright on his bike and take the inside track. Seven, eight laps, she told him to slow down just before a jump so he wouldn't catch as much air. Nine, ten laps, she told him to use his brain. It seemed like the worst trick she had told him so far.

On the eleventh lap, Zane was trailing Rikki on the final stretch yet again. He remembered trying to toss her off her bike during their first race. Maybe he could try that again, but quicker, less forceful. If he could just catch her tire enough to make her loose her balance a bit, he could zoom past her. He sped up and did as he thought. Rikki lost her balance, slowing down just a bit and Zane sped ahead of her, finally, finally winning a race. He screamed out in excitement, having accomplished the feat he had been trying to do for months.

"Great race!" Rikki told him once she herself had crossed the finish line and taken off her helmet.

"Thanks." Zane said. "Gosh, I haven't felt that great after a race in...in forever!"

"Probably because it took forever to get the result you wanted." Rikki told him.

"Well, all thanks to you." Zane said.

Rikki smiled and looked at the ground and back up before responding. "I don't know about that. Hey, let's go put your name back on the stall."

"All right." Zane said as they hopped back on their bikes and rode them up to the top of the hill. They went into the shop and found a step stool and a screwdriver, simply deciding to remove Rikki's plaque and use Zane's old one beneath it.

"Home, sweet, home." Zane said as he stepped off the latter to admire his name back on the stall.

"Don't get too cocky now," Rikki warned him. "I could kick your ass if I wanted to."

Zane laughed at her. "Do you want to have a drink before we head out?"

"Sure." Rikki replied. "That sounds great."

Zane brought out two lemon flavored sports drinks from a fridge inside the shop. He knew he was supposed to pay for them but Henry wouldn't miss anything. If he was really that pressed, Zane would give him four dollars the next time they were at the track.

Zane joined Rikki on one of the large bumps heading down to the track. He handed her a drink and they both took a few sips before either said anything.

"Thanks for tonight," Rikki told him. "I had fun."

"Yeah, me too." Zane replied.

"You know, you're really good at motocross." Rikki told him.

"Not as good as you." He countered.

"Me?" Rikki laughed. "I guess I'm all right but I have to work really hard. You're a natural."

"Maybe." Zane said. "But I guess if I've learned anything from you it's that being a natural is the worst when you come across someone who works five times as hard as you. It's impossible to counter it."

"Maybe." Rikki sighed. "I've just never had a choice, you know. It's either work hard or come in fifth place or something like that. It's not fun when you lose all the time. Especially when you're a girl."

"When did you get into motocross?" Zane asked.

"When I was seven." Rikki told him. "My dad's a... well, he used to work on this old Harley in his free time and, I'm not sure why, but I really loved helping him, passing him tools and that sort of stuff. I asked for a bike of my own for forever and he finally gave me one for my seventh birthday. I started racing shortly after. It was fun, but I realized pretty quickly I was going to need to work hard to do well, so I did.

"What about you?" Rikki asked after she took another sip of her drink. "When did you start?"

"I was seven, too." Zane told her. "You know my family's rich but I'm not sure they know me, you know?"

Rikki wanted to tell him that wasn't just rich families but she let him continue.

"My mum also got me a bike for my birthday." Zane continued. "I never asked for it, I think she just thought most boys my age wanted one. I guess it turned out to be a good gift. Like you said, I was a natural. Until you came along, I hadn't lost a race since I was eight. I don't know, recently I've been thinking I like the idea of winning more than motocross itself."

"You weren't thinking of quitting, were you?" Rikki asked.

"I don't know, maybe." Zane said.

"Zane... I'm sorry." Rikki said. "I never wanted to make you quit I just-"

"No, Rikki, it's okay." Zane told her. "Really, it's not a big deal. I don't want to quit anymore."

"Since when?" Rikki asked.

"Since about...twenty minutes ago." Zane told her.

"Since you won your stall back?" Rikki asked. "I told you not to get cocky, I'll take it back in a heartbeat."

"No, that's not it." Zane laughed. "Not completely anyway. I guess I just... never had that much fun training before."

"I'm glad." Rikki finally told him.

Zane smiled at her with a silly, crooked grin. It made her heart skip a beat and she couldn't help from smiling back. Since when had he been so... handsome? They were both covered in sweat, his bangs were plastered to his forehead but he still looked as good looking as any guy she'd ever seen.

Rikki cleared her throat and stood from the ground before her thoughts could take her any further.

"We should probably head home." Rikki told him. "It's getting late."

"Yeah, you're right." Zane said standing up and walking back to the stalls with her, discarding their empty bottles. They were silent until they reached the top of the hill.

"Hey, Rikki?" Zane asked before they went their separate ways.

"What is it?" She responded.

"You know the city tournament is coming up in a few months." Zane started. "Would you like to train together until then?"

"Yeah," Rikki said. "Yeah, I'd like that."

Zane smiled at her before turning around and walking in the opposite direction of her trailer. If Rikki didn't know any better, she'd stay there was a certain swagger in his walk that hadn't been there before. She shook her head and walked back to her trailer, knowing her dad was probably worried sick about her. She didn't think about that as much as she did the raven haired boy she had just spent the evening with. The boy who had taken her horrible, terrible no good, very bad day and planted at the very least, a very good memory at the end.

Rikki shook her head so many times on her walk back to her trailer, if anyone saw her they probably would have thought she was going crazy. She couldn't feel this way, all boys in motocross were dicks. No way she was falling for one of them.