The Art of Stealing Cars by Kara Tezla

Disclaimer: I do NOT own any of the Acceleracers Characters. although I wish I did And I do not own Trinity Wheeler and Co., those belong to Wings of Speed.

Summary: The Teku and the Metal Maniacs go to LA to race, but what happens when their cars start disappearing?

Author's Note: Ah, volleyball has officially claimed my life. It might be awhile before the next chapter is posted due to minimum time at home. I try to work on it as much as I can, but it isn't enough to get a chapter done in one night as I usually did before volleyball. I have a tourney Saturday; I'm gonna be gone all day then, and going shopping on Sunday. So, I'll try to update, but I cannot promise a thing!

Chapter Eight: Calling Dr. Tezla

Once the mess in the hallway had been cleaned up, and Mark had been put back in bed, where he belonged, Alex headed to the nearest phone.

Picking it up, he suddenly realized that he didn't know his uncle's phone number. Alex frowned; he was always good with remembering stuff! He sighed and headed to Kara's room.

"Kara?" He asked softly, entering the room.

"What?" Came the irritated reply from the far side of the room.

"Do you know what Uncle Peter's number is?"

"No,"

"You don't?

"No, not right off the top of my head."

"Oh,"

"Ask Mark; and if he doesn't know, call Joe's cell."

"What if he doesn't know?"

"Then... then come back to my room and I'll have to look for it. I have it somewhere,"

Alex shot a confused look into the dark. "Why don't you get it now?"

"Because I'm kinda laying on a bed with a couple broken ribs at the moment!" She said harshly. "If nobody knows it, then come back and I can tell you where to find it in here... wait, no, we'll just have to remember it ourselves." Kara's voice faded into the darkness, cracking from effort of talking so loudly.

Alex released a breath he didn't even know that he was holding. You didn't want to be on Kara's bad side, even if she was bedridden. He started to exit the room when he realized something else.

"Um... Kara?" He asked nervously.

"Yes?" She answered calmly.

"Do you have Mark's cell number?"

VVVVVVVVVV

Alex pressed the phone to his ear; it rang once, then twice. He had exited Kara's room as quickly as he could after getting Mark's cell to avoid injury. If he hadn't had gotten out of there, a flying shoe might have found his face. He was lucky enough to get Uncle Peter's number from Mark, who had it in his phone for emergencies. Kara had asked why he was going to call Mark's cell when he was just in a room down the hall. Alex didn't know, really, but at any rate, he suddenly felt lazy and walked to Mark's room anyway.

The phone rang once more before a female voice answered it.

"Hello?"

"Is... Dr. Tezla there?"

"Yeah, can I ask who this is?"

"This is Alex,"

"Alex?"

"His nephew,"

"Oh," She paused awkwardly. "Okay then, just a second," There was a long silence as, he assumed, she was fetching his Uncle from where ever he was.

"Alex?" His uncle greeted him excitedly.

"Yeah?"

"What happened?"

Alex pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it before putting it back by his ear. "How did you--I mean, nothing! Can't a boy just call his uncle for no reason?" Alex said, lying through his teeth.

"Not when that boy is you," Tezla answered. "You are a terrible liar, Alexander."

Alex sighed, why did everybody say that? "Um... right. But there are more important matters to be attended to at the moment."

"I will ask again: What happened? I am beginning to suspect that this has something to do with Kara, am I right?"

"Yes, Uncle."

"Did she put you up to this? How much money does she want now?"

"Hey! We're gonna pay you back! And that was one time! One time!"

"Yeah, yeah, what does she want?"

"We need room and board, and we can pay you for it too, along with the rest of the cash that we owe you."

"Ah, don't bother with paying for staying here. But I do want that money that you owe. How many are coming?"

Alex's forehead wrinkled as he counted all the people that were now 'traveling' with he and his sister. "Well, there's Kara and I, and Mark, Whit, Adrianna, James... Tyce and... Red. Along with the fifteen others that are tagging along."

"How many is that?"

"Twenty... three, including Kara and I,"

There was silence on the other end. "Twenty-three?"

"Yeah, I can shave off a few if you want."

"Please do," Said Tezla. Alex could just imagine the stressed look on his uncle's face. Just like the time when he and his three siblings ran around the house pulling the toilet paper off the rolls in the bathrooms. It was like somebody had teepeed the whole house, which they did. A smile crossed Alex's face as he remembered the good ol' times. That was fun.

"Ah... Whit, Red, and James can stay. We need Mark; and James and Tyce give us support. So... twenty,"

"Fine. Can I talk to your sister?"

Alex's eyes grew wide. "I'm afraid that's not possible at the moment."

"May I ask why?"

"Well, she kinda broke five ribs... and is sleeping at the moment."

"Five ribs!" Tezla exclaimed.

"Um, yeah, five,"

Static came across the phone line as his Uncle sighed loudly. "What next?" He asked. "Wait, don't answer that. I don't want to know."

Alex smirked quietly. "Yeah, we'll be over in a bit,"

"Fine--"

"Bye." Alex said, hanging up the phone. He always hated talking to his uncle indirectly.

"What'd he say?" Asked a voice behind him.

Alex spun to see his sister leaning on the doorway. "What...? What the--?"

"I'm fine. And I could have talked to him!"

"I thought you were sleeping! Why are you out of bed?"

"Because. Now when are we going over there?"

"Why are you out of bed?"

"When, Alex, tell me a time. You're not my mother!" She scolded, but not before she realized the harshness of her words.

Alex's head sunk to his chest. "No, I'm not," He said sullenly.

Kara closed her eyes, regretting bringing up their late parents. "Alex--"

"No," He objected. "You never take my advice, either. You're selfish, arrogant, and all you ever think about is money and cars, money and cars." He looked up, knowing that he had hit a sore spot, but he couldn't help but go on. "Who are you? I don't know you any more. Every since Luke died, you've been so serious... like there is no way to make you happy again. Maybe if there was someone else that you actually, truely cared about, they could make you see what you really have become, because I know that I can't." Alex stood and brushed past his sister into the hallway.

"And we leave tomorrow morning," He added before disappearing around a corner.

Kara just stared after her brother. She knew that he was right, and the only way to keep her emotions in check was to concentrait on other things, like making money and stealing cars. Things that she was good at.

This time, it was impossible to hold it all in. She walked into the room, which had been previously occupied by her brother, and sat on the bed where Alex had sat. The tears were flowing down her face unchecked; unchallenged by Kara's enormous ego and reputation. She laid back on the bed, not making a sound, but letting all the anger and emotion out from years past out. Each tear landed on the bed, shattering into a million other droplets before soaking into the blankets. Each tear representing a single mistake... and she had millions of them.

There's the eighth chapter with a tiny bit of sadness! Alex is mad; Kara might have a change of heart from someone not totally unexpected, but someone who cares; new characters; Dr. Tezla comes into the picture officially for the first time, and all coming up in the ninth chapter! Now to my loyal reviewers:

Kawaii: I absolutely LOVE Seto Kaiba! He is my absolute favorite character on Yugioh! followed by Joey, Tristan, and Duke I will take that complement, thank you! That's awesome that your 23 year old brother likes my story! And you're right, no humor not cool. Besides, laughing is good for the body and the soul... and let's just say I do quite a bit of it. ;-p Can't wait for your next review!

Nikki: Wow. Lots o' reviews! Thanks. How did you do on that piano exam of yours?