A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

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An Ordinary Friday

Beep Beep Beep

Lilly O'Connor turned over in her bed that seemed to be the nicest and cuddliest place in the world……… she didn't want to get up. A slight smile settled on her lips.

When do I ever want to get up?

Beep Beep Beep

She groaned while pulling the cover over her ears.

Beep Beep Beep

"Oh, shut up!" She raised her left arm with all the power she was able to gather in it and hit the tiny bottom on her alarm clock. The noise stopped and the small room was silent once more.

The girl sat up in her bed, wearing nothing but an over-sized sleeveless blue shirt and some gray boxers. Her long blond hair was all tousled and gleamed in the light of the morning sun which was coming straight through the only window of her room.

She knew why she had chosen this room out of the three which their apartment offered. It was all due to Brian having to race at night to get some money in, so that he needed to sleep during daytime. Lilly knew all of her brother's habits. She knew how he shaved, how he ate his breakfast, how he drove and, of course, how he slept.

If Brian felt comfortable and safe, he would sleep like a rock, no noise would be able to wake him up, but there were few things which still could, like light for example. So when they had moved in, Lilly had made sure that her brother had taken the room with the window that was directed south-west, so that the rays of sunlight wouldn't reach and wake him before the early afternoon.

"I hate getting up, I hate getting up", Lilly murmured in a sing-song voice while leaving the warmth of her bed, walking over the wooden floor to her wardrobe. After having opened it, she grabbed a pair of worn-out blue jeans that were ripped and drove her brother insane because of that. I just don't want you to………………get cold, that's all, he had said when seeing her wearing them for the first time. She could still laugh over his choice of words. As if you could get cold in Miami, typical 'brother must protect little sister'- ,or how Lilly called it, big bro- mode.

Actually, it hadn't been her idea to rip them but Tej's. Working for him as a sprayer, she had once slipped on some oil and scratched her leg. The wound hadn't been very deep but nevertheless, it had bled and her jeans had been teared. Suki had seen it and demanded to clean the wound. They had gone into the tiny washroom, while Lilly's jeans had been left outside where they could dry out. So when the girls had been coming back from the washroom, they had found nothing but a pair of totally ripped jeans and Tej who was about to put some scissors back into one of the drawers in the small office.

"Hey, I just want my number one sprayer to look as great as her designs", he had tried to defend himself, but in the end, he had taken advantage of Lilly not being able to be mad at anybody for a long time.

After having showered, the teenager dried her hair and got dressed.White socks, black panties, ripped jeans, black bra, and a black sleeveless shirt that was way too tight in her brother's opinion.

She made her way into the small kitchen, opened the door of the fridge, took out the apple juice and poured the liquid into a glass. Looking out of the window of their kitchen, Lilly took another sip from her glass and enjoyed the sight of a cloudless sky and a city that was slowly waking up by now.

They had moved into the apartment a few months ago, after having gotten faked papers, of course. Brian had insisted on her going to school and getting a life that was as ordinary as possible. Now, the name which stood on their bills was Masterson and Brian's first name had been changed into Jesse, in memory of their lost friend. In peaceful moments like this, Lilly would always think of him and his nervous babbling about cars and everything that went with them, it had been his way of flirting, Letty had told her. The girl missed the old gang and often caught herself wondering, where they might be.

"Stop brooding girl, it's too early for that."

Lilly took the last remaining sip of her juice and put the glass into the sink. She then grabbed a pencil and a sheet of paper from the memo pad that laid in one corner of their kitchen, right next to the phone, to write down what needed to be bought.

"Hmmm, let's see…….milk, margarine, raspberry or strawberry jam, some water……..oh, eggs! We need eggs. What else? Yeah, things for dinner. Peas, carrots and corn mixed up with rice and, of course, one, no, better two cups of cream. Yummy! Some turkey or chicken and…………pasta! We didn't have any pasta for over two weeks by now. So pasta and………think, think, think………lasagne, some meat and some granola for Brian………hmmm, sugar, too. Bananas and strawberries, he likes mixing them with his granola. Anything forgotten? Apples and maybe pears. That's enough, I guess."

She folded the paper and put it into her pocket, before taking another sheet and beginning to write again.

Dear Bro,

GOOD EARLY AFTERNOON!!!

Time to get up and smile!

Stop scowling at me, I'm not the one who sleeps until 2 p.m.. Okay, I'm also not the one who drives races in the evening and celebrates his victories till deep into the night, but that's only because somebody won't let me. But I don't wanna argue right now, you've just woken up so your brain doesn't work all that well and it wouldn't be any fun beating you. I'm just telling you that I'll go fetch a few things after school. We really do need some food!

Oh, you're snoring!

Love you, *kiss on your unshaven cheek*

Lilly

The girl put the pencil back at its place and sneaked into her brother's room as silent as possible. The room was dark because of the curtens which were shut, but she could see Brian lying on his back, all sprawled over the bed with his cover not even covering half of his body. Lilly smiled and was careful not to wake her big brother, he was too cute when he slept. She put the letter on his nightstand next to a small lamp and left the room silently. While putting on her pair of white sneakers, which had become slightly gray during the last six months, she hobbled into te bathroom and started brushing her teeth and afterwards her hair.

Her school wasn't that far away from their apartment, she merely needed twenty minutes if she walked slowly but that didn't change the fact that it was school. Heading for a green apple from the dish in the kitchen, Lilly took her black "Fishbone" bag over her shoulder and picked up a sheet of paper that sailed down to the floor. It was a letter from Brian. Opening the door of their apartment, and shutting it right behind her back, she went down the few stairs and was out on the streets in no time. From outside, she looked up to their kitchen window and Brian's with the shut curtens. They lived on the third floor of a ten-floor building, including an underground garage, where Brian's most loved toy was sleeping right now.

After having crossed a traffic light, she started reading the letter in her hand.

Good morning honey,

Did you know that you look cute when you're sleeping? Well, you do. I hope you had some nice dreams, while I've been winning a couple of thousands, so that we will be able to survive for several months. I wish you lots of fun at school – you can't kill me, you need me as your legal guardian, remember? – and want you to know that I love you.

Hug you,

Brian

"Ya know, big bro", Lilly sighed smiling,"I can't help it, but I love you, too."

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Finally, the bell rang and a sigh of relief filled the classroom. It was weekend. No school for two days. Two nights of racing and parties for Lilly because Brian didn't allow her to go when there was school the next day. Typical big bro-mode.

The girl went out of the door, right behind three of the cheerleaders, who were talking about the big difference between wearing a light blue blouse together with an orange or a red skirt. Of course, the sprayer could have told them that orange would appear a lot stronger, if they wore it with blue due to these two colours forming the greatest contrast, it was basic knowlegde for every painter, but she wasn't interested in giving fashion tips.

"Hey", a dark-haired head appeared in her sight and brown eyes twinkled.

"'S up, Crash?" Lilly saw her friend glaring at her. He did so not like this nickname she had given him when they had first met. Actually, his name was Shane and he was Suki's younger half-brother from their father's second marriage, but you couldn't see much of his Asian heritage until you looked at him for a really long time. On their first meeting at Tej's garage, Shane had sat in Suki's brand new Honda S2000 and accidently taken the reverse, so that this beautiful car had crashed into the nearest wall. That's why Lilly called him "Crash" and Shane didn't like being reminded of  his own stupidity

"Nothin' special, but did ya hear The one and only talking 'bout comin' tonight?" Shane liked the fact that he wasn't a loner anymore. Of course, he had several friends and even few groupies due to him being a quite successful member of the swimming-team, but he had never had anyone before who actually knew about cars and racing, so Lilly and he had become best friends soon after her arrival. The one and only, also known as Mike Anders, was the captain of their football-team and the perfect stereotype as well. He was arrogant,unfortunately good-looking, every girl that was either a cheerleader or somebody strange who wished to be cool was in love with him, his parents were rich and he wasn't the brightest person alive, but he was the team-captain, so everybody loved him, with a few exceptions, of course.

"Yer kiddin', right? Cause this is, like, not funny", Lilly blinked several times. It had to be a lie that The one and only wanted to take part in a race, though, seeing him lose would be quite amusing.

"No kidding. He was sitting behind me last lesson and being The one and only ,he told his friends that he would be racing tonight and that all the hot babes would fall for him as soon as he got out of his new car and this and that and bla bla bla", Shane and Lilly rolled their eyes skywards and sighed. "But you haven't heard the best part yet. He meant that he would have connections to the one who runs all of the races that they would be like brothers, so I started thinking, like, Tej would never ever make friends with The one and only. Then, Mike became all mysterious and said that they shouldn't tell everybody his buddy's name. Believe me, Lil, he actually told them that T.J. would be such a great guy and all cool and easy, while I had to suppress my laughter!"

The blond girl started laughing, she couldn't keep a straight face at this. The one and only seeing himself winnig against professionel racers was funny enough, but him calling Tej T.J. was the joke of the year. Tears came into her eyes and the people around them looked somewhat strangely at Shane and her, but she didn't care.

"I have to see this, Crash", she gasped for air,"I could never survive the idea of me missing the face of The one and only having just lost his first race. We have to be there tonight!"

"Well, Suki's in one of the first groups, so I'll be there from the beginning. How 'bout Brian?"

"Dunno, but we won't be coming that late, I guess. Just make sure that The one and only is there, will ya?"

"No prob", Shane's eyes focused on something that was standing right on the street in front of the school. It was a car and Mike Anders was proudly leaning against its side while being surrounded by half the football-team and several cheerleaders.

"Seems like our lucky boy has just gotten a new toy from Daddy", Lilly whispered as she checked the car with trained eyes. A '97 Renault Spider, not bad if tuned correctly, but she doubted that Mike was bright enough to do so. The car seemed to be second-hand, though, Lilly saw the scratches on the hubcaps and it appeared to her, as if there was a slight dent in the right door and the design………… she shook her head no, this wasn't a design, this was pure rape. She wondered, if Anders had done the spraying himself or a four-year-old child. The main colour was a bad mixture between peach and cherry, the car looked like it was patched and there were bizarre brown and gray ornaments on the hood and heck which were possibly meant to be lightnings or something.

"Ya know", Shane crossed his arms,"it's fucking unfair that he gets such a car!"

"Whom are ya talking to? But I don't think that he's able to beat somebody with it. Bet, he's gotten a non-tuned version, so he can't get more than 140 or 170 out of it and I don't' think that he knows 'bout Noz either", the girl shook her head again. She could use a car like that, Mike Anders didn't have the proper knowledge how to treat such treasure correctly.

"And his design is pure torture", the boy, who was half a head taller than her, smiled.

"Oh, I completely fortgot!" Lilly opened her bag and searched for something, while Shane couldn't take his eyes off the Renault. Finally, the girl got his attention by waving a few sheets of paper in front of his face. He took them and looked at  the cars that were drawn on them. Well, actually, it was just one car, Suki's Honda, but with different designs.

"Could you give them to yer sis', please? She wanted somethin' new for her baby, but wasn't quite sure what exactly, so I've done more than one. Tell her to look them through, so that she can tell me tonight, if she likes one or wants any different colours or anything else, okay?"

"Sure", he put the papers in his backpack and the two walked down the few stairs in front of the school, not being able to avoid The one and only and his little community. The captain smiled his arrogant "look at the losers"-smile and the two friends could already foresee the unavoidable.

"Like my new car?" The self-announced king of the Highschool asked in his usual vain attitude.

Lilly regarded him with a raised eyebrow. She really did not like this guy, but she still remembered her first day at this school and how he had tried to flirt with her, he never fully recovered from the fact that she had ignored him and had eaten lunch together with Shane instead, whom she had already met the weekend before at Tej's. So on every possible occasion, The one and only tried to show off with his coolness and his popularity just to make Lilly regret her choice of friends.

She heard Shane snort and wanted to prove her friend that she had been right about Mike's knowledge of racers.

"So tell me: how much Noz flows in your veins?"She stifled the snicker that built up in her stomach when she saw blank faces looking at her, while Shane was about to burst out in laughter. Lilly grabbed his arm and turned them to leave and after having gone several yards, they heard The one and only's voice calling after them.

"Hey! Wait a minute! What do ya know about Noz?!Hey!"

But they didn't stop. They walked straight ahead over the street and laughed.

"Let me tell you, he doesn't even know a damn thing about tuning or Noz!"Lilly laughed and Shane wiped away a tiny tear from his right eye. He had to go into another direction.

"See ya tonight, Lil?"

"See ya tonight, Crash."

Each of them went his own way home, but after the next corner, Lilly stopped when an all too familiar '01 Nissan Skyline appeared in her sight with a grinning Brian O'Connor sitting in it.

"You couldn't have picked me up directly?"She plopped down on the passenger's seat and fastened her seat belt, while giving her brother a kiss on his left cheek and receiving a hair ruffling from him.

"Hello big bro', it's really nice of you to pick me up, otherwise I would have had to walk the whole way. By the way, your letter was sweet and I love you, too, because you're the best big brother in the whole wide world", Brian's eyes gleamed as he waited for his sister's answer.

"When you're quite done", Lilly stuck her tongue out at him and they laughed, while Brian started the engine. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her mind and the girl eyed her brother somewhat unsure. "No kidding, bro, it's really cool to pick me up, but you don't have to drive me to work, ya know?"

"Oh, that", Brian stopped at a red traffic light,"did I forget to tell you? You're off for today. The guy whose car ya should do has crashed into a wall yesterday evening, he's fine but his car will need few days to be repaired."

"No work? I'm totally pleased with no work, but I'm sorry for Jimmy. Bet he's fixing the damage right now."

"It's his job and he has fun doing it", the man shrugged,"so, how about we go shopping? I remember a letter in which it was mentioned that we needed food."

"Yup", Lilly sat back in her seat and stretched her arms and legs a little,"still got the list in my pocket."

"Wonder it didn't get lost in these jeans. Ya should neither wear them nor the shirt anymore, ya seem to feel uncomfortable in them."

Here we go again, Lilly thought to herself. "But I don't feel uncomfortable, bro. I'm fine. We already talked about this, remember?"

"Yeah, but you haven't listened to me correctly, if you're still wearing these things."

The traffic light went green and Brian turned the car to the left, still arguing with his sister about her clothes……………

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Please review because I tried really hard to write this chapter as good as possible!!!

Hope you had fun reading it!!