Note- Nothing belongs to me, expect for Carli and the plot.

Note Again- Sorry it is so "block"-like but while fanfiction was down I wrote ten chapters that way. Then I went away for the weekend. Super sorry.

I could have slapped myself. Why did I walk out? Now where? I hated myself at that moment. It was cold, raining and I was in the middle of nowhere without my bike. My bike. My bike. What if something is wrong with my bike? What if I can't afford to fix it? My bike was the only thing I let myself get attached to. Now I might lose it. My bike! I want my bike. I felt myself whining, as if I were a little kid wanting there mommy. Your sixteen, I told myself, pull yourself together. I took a few calm breathes and was ok. Now there was a bigger problem at stake, first things first. My bike. I could talk my way to getting it for free. To late now, Carli! Stupid me. I couldn't steal the money. But I could earn it. So I have to get myself a job. I'm sort of one-track minded. So, all that mattered to me right then was getting a job and that same day I had gotten one. I started tomorrow. I now worked at Dingo's, as a cook.

Note- I know you have to have a degree or do something in training to work with food but for now, let's just leave it as it is.

That night I slept under a tree in a park close to Dingo. That way I wouldn't get lost. When I woke up it was still early and a clock in a window said 7:30. I had thirty minutes before I had to go to work. I thought about a more reliable time source but I realized this would not be permanent. Just until I have earned enough to get my bike back. I walked around aimlessly for a while, getting to know the town- before heading to work. I got there just on time. Everyone seemed generally nice but I didn't really take the time to get to know them. I already hated them. Because I was forced to be with them for the soul reason that I didn't have my bike. I had a bad temper. I knew it. The whole day went by and all I could think about was my bike. At one point of time I thought of the beautiful boy, Soda. But immediately cursed myself for doing that. I had never liked guys. I knew what things could go wrong with them. I refused to go out with anyone. Even at the age sixteen. I have never had a boyfriend. I don't care. I don't really care. I think its better that way. Besides, Im ugly, guys don't like ugly girls. I had uneven brown hair and green eyes. I looked normal expect, I don't know, maybe it's just the attitude. The way I carry myself and then this perfectly plain look just don't go together. It's ugly. I have willed myself not to care. It was while I was thinking this that I burnt my hand on the stove. I quickly ran cold water over it but it stung like crazy. It was a pretty bad burn. Im not really the one to be a good doctor so I just threw some tape on it. It still hurt though. I tried not to use it but whenever something touched it- it stung like crazy. Great! Now I have a burnt hand! All the fun in the world! I put some of that white-medical tape stuff on it and called it good. I got off at 5. I figured I would only have to be there a week or so and then I could get my bike back, considering all my money would go to the bike. Who knows? I might even have some extra money for the road. As soon as I got off I went to the DX. I got there it was pretty crowed. Mostly by girly cars and there girly now all drooling over Soda. I hate guys who always have girls drooling over them. I have never been so relieved to see someone like Steve. I wanted to know about my bike and get out. Steve took me over to it and once we got there Soda came. I felt like jumping on it and riding away, away, away. I always had that feeling. It was sheer will control keeping me back from doing so. Steve was flipping threw his clipboard and "hm"ing a lot. Very annoying. Finally, when I thought he would be done- a red mustang showed up, smoking threw the hood. "Soda, take care of her- Im going to go see what's with the mustang" he said hurriedly. "Oh yeah, you go to the tuff mustang and leave me with a beat up bike" Soda said playfully. I have never met anyone so happy in my life. "Well let's see, Cara, right?" "Carli" "Oh yeah, that's right…" he flipped threw the papers and then looked up at me. "Carli, Im afraid we have some bad news, your bikes in a coma right now" he said. "WHAT?!?" "Hey, don't freak out, Im just kidding. But really- your bike is in bad shape. It needs some adjustments and a lot of new parts" he said, starting to list off the problems. I had no idea what he was talking about but by the length- I knew it wasn't good. "You have no idea what Im talking about, do you?" I shook my head. "Well, the whole thing should cost about $500" $500! I thought, well, maybe two weeks "expect this little part right here… see, its going to cost you another $500". What?!? Another $500! I don't want to be here for a month. I decided to speak up. "What little part could cost me $500?!?" "Well, see this little thing" he said, touching a part towards the front. "When your bike turns on" he turned it on "it should get warm, if not hot, but right now it is dead cold. Dead. Here, feel it". He said. I wasn't going to check and see if the part was cold or not but he reached out his hand, taking me by the wrist and pushed my hand against it. I yelped in pain, remembering the burn, and jumped back. "Ok, it's not that cold… what's with your hand?" "Nothing, I just had an accident" I mumbled. But he had already reached out and took it looking it over. His hand was warm over mine. It felt nice. "Yikes, baby, who tried to fix your hand? You can't put medical-tape on a burn! That isn't going to fix it!" I had sort of thought that but I didn't really care. "And the tape isn't even on right, it will probably fall off in a while" I had figured that too but I didn't really care. I would live. It was just my hand. It would heal. But he was making a big production of it. "You do want it to heal right?" he questioned. I just stared at him with my cold green eyes. "I get off in about 10 minutes, when Im off you can come over to my place. My brother keeps all this medical stuff and Im sure between me and him we could fix it up in a minute." I did not want to go to beautiful house. I didn't. I didn't even want to see him; he was making me feel all… weird… sort of nice. I wasn't used to it and I'm not sure if I liked it. "No really, that's ok-" "Don't tell me your curfew is at 6" he said. I took that as a challenge. He challenged me to not have my curfew at 6. I wouldn't put down a challenge. "I guess" I mumbled. Still evilly glaring. I was hoping it would scare him off but it wasn't. And in ten minutes I was beginning the walk to Soda's house with him and Steve. Without my bike. And no hope of getting it back anytime soon.