22

Adelaide

What is up with Sara?! She's already a corrupt competitor! Poor Leah, she had to go through so much. How is she being a good friend to Sara?! She's a manipulator and a liar! Leah could never agree.

If Leah was in my place, she could stand up to her. However, Sara made Leah crash Caleb. Poor Leah, the racing world made her believe Leah hated Caleb. However, she was just protecting herself. I see.

My family and I deserve what's best. The Hudson Hornet Legacy deserved to live on. What a good idea, right? My family can't let grief affect them. They can't move on without his worth and value.

Here I am now on this racetrack in the New York Five Hundred. I'm on my own. How was my win honest, Sara?! I hurt Caleb! I deserve to forfeit that win. I'll never take your praise, Sara! I never will!

Leah doesn't deserve the blame. Good thing Dad told me about Leah. Poor Leah, Sara mistreated her. I had everything. What good thing have I done? Leah will not take the fall. Leah is a great racer, but she was Sara's puppet. Sara was pulling the strings.

"Hey, Desert Peasant! Where's little Caleb?!" Sara says in a baby voice, "Oh wait, wasn't he sidelined because he crashed?!"

"Stop it!" I say.

"Stop what?! Talking about how much of a peasant you are?! You think your family's rich?! They live in a desert town infested with peasants, and they're friends with you?! Shouldn't your family leave Radiation Stinks and settle in luxury?!"

I stay silent. I should go deaf from Sara's rants. I shouldn't go draft at all, but I'm not hearing anything from Sara. She's probably going to say horrible things towards us. It's not even mean. It's just sickening.

No wonder Sara's unbearable compared to the other competitors. All she did was hurt my family, and she tore everything apart. The other competitors can't compare. They don't go far playing dirty. I take it back. Dad told me about the story Storm slammed Cruz to a wall. How delightful. Not!

It's not delightful when everyone suffers in a race or funny. It's sad, just sad, and no one would even care. No one would care about one crash. The press quit on Doc Hudson, and how long he did hide from the racing world? It only took Dad being at home, and they got along until…

Sara took this farther than that. Blame Leah for "cheating" and put me on the track only?! Is this how racing works? Wasn't it whoever crosses the finish line wins? How did Leah cheat while I didn't? We crossed that finish line at Charleston. Well, Leah won the race. This was…a mess, a mess in which I ran away from and forfeited and a mess in which Caleb crashed and deserved nothing else but shame and humiliation.

Sara will get her desserts once I win! I'll be living life like my father for eternity! I'll be a better racer just like Doc, Dad, and Cruz. They weren't great, but they became better. They became better as in someone different. They were fools, but they overcame their demons. Sara won't stand a chance.

"Then there's your brother! Isn't he such a wuss?! He looks like a wimp: small, but he sounds so young! He's pathetic!" Sara says.

That's my home, Sara! How dare you, Sara! How dare you insult the place I lived for eighteen years: my whole life! My brothers have been there for seventeen years. My family friends raised me, Caleb, and Zachary! Curse you, Sara! Try to destroy me and Caleb! Just try!

Just try and ruin the things I love! Just try and destroy my family's reputation, but I won't stop. I won't stop racing, and I won't stop racing for myself, my family, and the Fabulous Hudson Hornet racing Legacy until I'm old and great.

It's awful for you for saying those things, Sara! You shouldn't put my family to this much shame. You shouldn't look down on us for living in Radiator Springs. We just happen to live there.

"Addy, you alright?" Cruz says through the speaker.

"Yeah," I say.

"Don't listen to Sara."

"I know."

I follow Sara. Sara's probably not going to stand a chance for long. She'll just have to lose, and Caleb and I can keep on racing for good. I can't lose to Sara and lose the racing world. It was my world, my paradise, and the press liked me a lot.

Would you want to take that away? This was my dream, and it came true. Why ban my family from this? Why ban them? This isn't fair! The rules didn't say anything about banning pit crew members and friends from seeing their friends race! What is this mockery?

No one should be mocked like this. No one deserves it…except for Storm. He's getting what he deserves, and although he's done with racing, he'll still get what he gets. That's what he gets for messing with my family, and Sara will learn as well.

"Listen here, you snake! My family friends are great. I'm glad I have them. I'm also glad that Leah is a part of it. You just don't get it? Don't you? You just think mistreating anyone for being different will make you feel any better?" I say.

"Let's not jump to conclusions! I'm not mistreating anyone. It's you, your peasants, and my friend: that traitor! You're causing problems! You don't know it!" Sara says.

"Yeah right, since when was Leah ever happy being around you? And who was the real culprit behind Leah being forced to crash Caleb? Who was it? Was it Leah herself? Did she force herself to do it? Was it Henry Moore? Who was it? Who fired Mademoiselle Renault behind Aunt Cruz's back? Someone must've done it!"

Sara's eyes narrow, and I dodge the snake. Away I go! I'm free! Well…maybe for a while. I'm already having enough of Sara! She's definitely going to lose and go home. I'm not a pawn as well, Sara! Don't treat me like Leah!

I'll not submit to your demands, I'll not be a puppet for your stupid entertainment, and I'll not be a winner in Charleston! How could you say Leah cheated?! She didn't! You did! You had to blame someone else, and it had to be Leah?! You had to fire Mademoiselle Renault and get us out of your way?! That's not how things work, and I'll not be treated like trash!

I'll not be treated like trash just like Doc Hudson. Poor Doc. I pity him. His crash affected him for so long. Dad must've felt that way when he crashed. Did Caleb feel this way? He probably was confused. I wouldn't have known since I ran away from the Charleston Five Hundred.

"Are you sure I did those things? You haven't learned anything!" Sara says.

The track stops facing me, and everything spins. This is making me dizzy. Well, I haven't blacked out yet. I should be fine. It's kind of like the aftermath of the racing simulator. How long will this take?

The twirling stops, but everything tilts and becomes more chaotic. When will this be over? I can't lose and be banned from racing. I have to keep going. I can't give up and let Sara ruin my life.

I can't let Sara do any of this! Ruining my family name like this is unacceptable! What if the tables turned, and I did the same things you did to me?! Wouldn't it make a difference? No? Don't! Just don't do this my family.

"How was your spin?" Cruz's voice says.

I continue back on track. At least, I'm not dizzy anymore. I gotta beat Sara. I gotta do something about it, and Sara shouldn't get back at me. She already made me dizzy, and everything spinned forever.

Sara will make me crash and suffer the same fate as Doc, Dad, the King, and Caleb. They didn't deserve it, but they got it anyway. Wasn't Dad against this? Wouldn't he be mad at me for hurting Caleb? However, he wasn't mad at me. It happens. It's just a mistake. It happens to many racers.

Suffering a crash wasn't shameful. They were just accidents, accidents from other racers not accepting good sportsmanship or accidents from themselves. Most of the time, other racers make them suffer. Chick Hicks crashed the King in the LA race thirty-two years ago, Storm crashed Dad in LA twenty-two years ago, and Sara made Caleb crash at the Charleston 500 last season. How unfair can things be?

Doc Hudson had it unfair too, one crash became an end to racing, an end to racing became isolation from the racing world, and isolation from the world became resentment to a reminder of the racing world. That reminder became a friend and protege, that reminder lost Doc and was on his own but had his other friends along the way, that reminder couldn't race anymore and found himself a protege of his own, and that reminder has three little blessings and curses, one is me.

"Not funny! Also, I gotta make the last ten laps," I say.

"Sorry about that. Good luck, but be careful," Cruz's voice says.