Don't own anything from the movie>>

Here's the next chp...

R and R

I pulled up to Toretto's store and parked by car in the first spot I saw, not that there was exactly a shortage of them. I pulled up next to a yellow Skyline, which I knew to be Leon's. Didn't know the guy all the well, but his car what sweet.

"Hey Jairyn," Mia looked up when I came in and smiled. Mia was great. She's always happy and had a smile that was contagious. She was the only one from 'the team' that I really knew that well.

"Sup Mia?"

"Not much. It's a slow afternoon. Barely anyone's been in, besides the guys," she nodded to the guys who were huddles around a rack of magazines with Letty. But she was considered 'one of the guys.' Dominic, Mr. Master street racer, was in the back like always, but looked up when he heard my voice and put down whatever he had in his hand. That was kind of strange...

"Yo, J...did you hear me?" Mia waved a hand in front of my face, pulling me out of my little daze. 'Great...' I thought, as I realized that what I'd been doing could be considered staring at Dom. Now I was probably gonna have Letty on my ass for a while about 'being after her man.' I swear to God she's paranoid.

"Nope, missed it"

"Do you want anything?"

"Nope, just a water, not hungry."

"You came here just for a water? Can't get that at home?" Letty's voice drifted over. We got along well enough but it didn't matter who you were if she thought you were after Dom.

"Well, you get sandwiches here, you too stupid to make you own at home?" I flipped back at her.

The guys snickered at that and even Dom chuckled. Letty rolled her eyes but grinned slyly. Not many people joked with her like that and, according to Mia, she couldn't help by respect me fore it. Mia also seems to think that Letty and me will end up friends. Who knows...

"Hey Jairyn," Dom sat at a stool next to me with a beer in hand. I hate beer.

"Hey"

"You're a senior, right?"

"Uh...yea..."

"Alright, you like school?"

"Who the hell likes school?" I certainly didn't.

"Hah. True, but it's not too bad of a school, right?"

"Sure, it's ok"

"K, lots of things to do?"

"Sure, what's with the 20 questions?"

"Well...my cousin's coming to live with us. She's gonna be a senior, so I was just checking it out. You being 'popular' and all, thought you'd be a good person to ask," he shrugged and took a sip of beer. I rolled my eyes. 'Popular', I hate that word.

"Oh...ok..."

"She's just kind of shy, ya know...so I was just wondering what the school was like..."

"The school sucks, some people suck...it's just like any other high school...wanna tell me what you really want?" I asked, knowing he was trying to get at something.

"Well, think you could come over tomorrow afternoon? Like I said, she's shy...so..."

"Maybe if she knows someone, it won't be so bad?"

"Exactly," he smiled, apparently thinking it was an awkward thing to ask. I didn't think it was.

"Well I would...but our first game is tomorrow night, and it's away. I could stop by for a little bit, but it wouldn't be much..."

"Oh...well whatever you can do is fine."

He looked a little disappointed, but just shrugged.

"K, I'll probably be over around 3:00"

"Ok, that'll work"

"K, so-" my cell phone cut me off from asking her name. I checked the caller ID and it was my brother. Wonderful... "Hello?...now?...well I guess so, yea...why?...damn, yea I'm coming...see ya..." I rolled my eyes and shoved my phone back in my pocket.

"Sup?"

"Nothing, gotta run though. See you tomorrow," I waved over my shoulder and headed home. According to my brother, Jake, my step-mom was drunk somewhere and needed a ride home. His car was in the shop, so that left me to deal with her. Just what I needed...

"Joyce...yo! Joyce!" Opened my car and stood with my hand on the door, calling to the woman sitting on a bench outside some shitty bar.

She looked up and, once she recognized me, got up and made her way over to my car, stumbling the whole way. I didn't move a muscle to help her. Her auburn hair fell messily around her face, and her eyes were glazed over slightly. It amazed me, sometimes, that this happened during the middle of the day, not always in the middle of the night. She liked her beer, and she liked it when she wanted it. Idiot.

She slumped into her seat and buckled up, resting her head on the window. "No throwing up, got it?"

She mumbled something and I sped off, wanting to get home as soon as possible so she didn't puke all over my car. That would just piss me off more.

I got to the house and slammed the door after I got out of the car. Joyce got up and swayed on her feet. Most of me told me to just leave her to stumble her way to the house, but the other part of me won, and I helped her to the door.

I never really understood why people drank so much that they consistently got drunk, when it just resulted in a hang over and a bad headache. My friend's brother told me once that he knew a lot of people who drank to forget. Maybe that's what she did. Maybe she drank to forget my dad, her husband, for a while. But the irony of it, was that the reason she'd probably want to forget him for a while was because he drank. Now there's a perfect example of a vicious cycle for ya.

As I opened the door and led her into the house, I wondered what some of the people at school would say if they could see me at that moment. I couldn't particularly care what they had to say, but it would be interesting to hear all the same...