Chapter 9: Why So Reckless?
Ali walked into the gym while fixing the ponytail that sat on top of her head. As Ali pulled at her curly locks, she heard someone say her name. The black haired girl looked up and saw Veronica and Betty smiling at her. Ali made her way over to the pair.
"Hi." Ali gave the pair a small smile.
"Hey Ali! How are your classes going so far?" Betty asked the new girl.
"They're okay. There's nothing challenging me though, so I'm slightly bored." Ali explained to the blonde haired girl.
"What about chemistry?" Veronica asked Ali while a smirk played on her lips.
"There's nothing special about chemistry." Ali answered.
"Oh, you can talk about it, Ali." Betty placed her hand on Ali's shoulder. "Veronica told me about Reggie, so don't worry." Ali felt her eyes roll at Betty's sentence.
"There's nothing to speak about." Ali explained. The gym doors opened and in walked the janitor with his mop bucket. Ali took no notice of the man as Veronica and Betty began to look around.
"Don't we have practice today?" Veronica asked out loud. Ali began to look around and even she noticed that there was a lack of individuals in the gym.
"I'll go ask." Betty quickly jogged over to the janitor and began to ask him the question while Veronica and Ali watched. Betty smiled and thanked the janitor before jogging back over to her friends. "Apparently it was cancelled."
"So you're telling me I could've been home right now?" Ali asked.
"I bet Cheryl didn't tell us on purpose." Veronica accused the red headed girl who wasn't around to defend herself.
"I don't care. I'm going to change and go home." Ali sighed as she turned on her heel and began to walk away. She grabbed her hair-tie from her hair and pulled it out. She felt the curls cascade down her back and sway as she walked towards the change room. Ali walked over to her locker and opened it. She pulled off her shirt and her shorts before placing her jeans on her legs.
"Woah…Ali…" The black haired girl looked over her shoulder to see Betty and Veronica staring at her with wide and concerned eyes. However, it didn't take Ali long to figure out that they were looking at her back and not directly at her. She quickly grabbed her shirt and flung it on, so she could place her uniform back in her bag. "Ali…what was that?" Betty asked the mysterious girl in front of her. Ali swung her leather jacket on her arms and placed her backpack on her back.
"Tattoos." Ali answered. She quickly shut her locker door before walking past the two girls in front of her.
"But what about-"Ali cut off Veronica as she pushed open the change room door and yelled back,
"I'll see you tow tomorrow!" As the metal door shut behind the mysterious girl, a new one opened for Veronica and Betty. They saw the intricate lines that were tattooed into her back as words were etched into certain places, jewels were dangling from chains and how they all met with the main centre piece in the middle of her back. However, it was what was underneath those tattoos that the pair was concerned about – the scars that seemed to be never-ending were all the pair could think about.
Ali couldn't hear out of her ears properly. Her mind was racing as her heart pumped in her chest. Sweat began to gather on the girls' forehead as she walked further away from school. The last thing she wanted was to explain herself to anyone in this god-forsaken town where all their lives seemed to be perfect to her. She just wanted to go home and hide in the sanctity that was her bedroom, but Ali's heart jumped out of her chest when she heard the sound of a car horn.
"I've been yelling her name for three minutes! Didn't you hear me?" Ali looked over to her right and saw Reggie in the drivers' seat of his car. He had the window down with his left arm hanging over the edge.
"Sorry, I was just off in my own little world." Ali's words came out so small and quiet. Reggie knew that the girl in front of him didn't sound like the feisty girl that he was attracted to.
"Hey, do you want a ride?" Ali looked at Reggie with wide eyes. She almost looked fragile. "I can take you home." Ali decided she didn't want to go home. She needed to get her mind off of what had just happened. She needed to do something reckless.
"Don't take me home. Let's go somewhere else." Ali told Reggie. Reggie's smile grew at her answer. He was now going to spend even more time with her. Ali quickly walked around the car and sat inside. Ali released a sigh as she placed her head on the headrest. Reggie took in the sight of Ali in his passenger seat. His eyes started at her calves and scanned up her legs. He saw how thick her thighs looked in her jeans. He wanted to reach over and place his hand on the thigh that was closest to him, but he resisted the urge. Reggie's gaze continued upwards as it travelled past her stomach and towards her chest. While Ali had her head tilted back onto the headrest Reggie saw as her chest would rise and then fall with every breath. She had closed her eyes and Reggie could only stare at her plump lips. "Are you going to drive or are you going to just stare at me?" Reggie's head snapped back tot eh road before placing his car in drive and pulling away from the curb.
"I wasn't staring at you." Reggie said. Ali opened her eyes and looked at the boy who was driving. Reggie kept his eyes glued to the road as he also tried to keep his mind from wandering back to the image of Ali's body.
"What car is this?" Ali continued to look around at the leather interior.
"1969 Chevrolet Chevelle." Reggie proudly said. This car was his pride and joy. He had spent a lot of time saving his money in order to buy this car and to fix it up just the way he wanted it. "Do you drive manual?" Ali asked.
"Of course I do." Reggie answered.
"That's a random question." Reggie laughed to himself.
"My mother always said that if he doesn't drive manual then he's not a real man." Ali answered. Reggie smirked to himself.
"There are other ways to see if I'm a man or not." Reggie stopped at a red light and looked at Ali. She looked at him and smirked before smiling.
"You've got backbone, I'll give you that." Ali said. Reggie continued to drive forward once the light went green.
"So where do you want to go?" Reggie asked.
"Let me drive." Ali said boldly. Reggie's head snapped towards Ali. She pointed her index finger back to the road and Reggie quickly turned his head back to the road.
"You're joking, right?" Reggie couldn't believe what had just come out of Ali's mouth. She couldn't be serious.
"You think I can't drive?" Ali raised an eyebrow at the black haired boy beside her.
"No, I know you can, but-"
"Then let me drive." Ali appeared confident to Reggie as she continued to push to let her drive.
"Take me to an open parking lot."
"Fine, but don't throw my car into a ditch, okay? It's my baby." Reggie drove to an empty parking lot and got out of the car. He threw the keys over to Ali and she caught them in one hand. "Woah there, you're catching keys with one hand? Do you think you're cool or something?" Reggie teased as he walked around the car and towards Ali.
"I'm not cool. I'm an experience." Ali said as she walked past him. Reggie turned around to see her spin on her heels, so she could walk backwards. She flashed Reggie a smile and a wink while she showed off his keys before walking to the drivers' door and getting inside.
"Okay, have you ever driven on the right side of the road?" Reggie asked Ali as she started up the car and adjusted the seat, so she was comfortable.
"You know we drive on the right side in France, right?" Ali explained as she put her seatbelt on.
"Wait…you've driven in France? Aren't you from England?" Reggie asked.
"I spent my summers in France with my cousins." Ali answered as she placed the car in drive and took her foot off the brake and began to press the accelerator. Reggie held onto his seatbelt as he prayed to God. He's letting a girl, whom he barely converses with, drive his car all because he finds her incredibly irresistible. Reggie was losing his mind like he was about to lose his life. Ali noticed how tense Reggie was, so she took it slow. She slowly went around the parking lot. She watched Reggie through the corner of her eye. When Reggie began to loosen up and was no longer fearful of his life, Ali stopped the car. "See, now was that so bad?" Her smile seemed so pure and innocent. Reggie could look at her all day.
"No, it wasn't." He said.
"Good. Now let's do this." With that, Ali went full blast. She did donuts around the parking lot. She would drift the car around when she wanted to make some turns. Every time Reggie saw her flick the handbrake up just to flick it back down when she was read, he felt his heart jump to his stomach. His heart was beating as fast as a marching band would hit their snare drum. When Ali had had enough, she gently stopped the car and put it in park.
"What the hell, Ali?" Reggie yelled at her. Ali took the keys out of the ignition and shrugged her shoulders.
"No! Don't give me that 'I don't care' attitude right now! What the fuck was that?" Ali looked Reggie dead in the eye and said,
"I was doing donuts."
"I can see that! Why did you do that?" Reggie asked.
"Because I wanted to." "What if you had smashed into something?"
"But I didn't." Ali seemed so calm as she answered all of Reggie's questions.
"Okay, but you can't just go driving someone else's car so recklessly!"
"I'm sorry." Ali blatantly said.
"And another thing…wait…did you apologize?" Reggie's brain was about to malfunction today. First, Ali is throwing his car around in donuts and then she's apologizing for doing so. This day just kept getting weirder and weirder.
"You're genuinely upset, so I'll apologize and you have every right to be upset." Ali saw the confusion and surprise in Reggie's eyes.
"I'm anti-social, but I'm not a bitch." Ali laughed. With that, she got out of the car and Reggie quickly stumbled out of his side. They met at the front of his car as Ali handed him the keys."If you want me to walk then I understand." As Reggie grabbed the keys from Ali, he held onto her hand.
"I was upset, it doesn't mean that I won't drive you home." Reggie chuckled. "Just give me some warning, next time you want to do donuts."
"Deal." With that, the pair walked to their sides of the car and got inside. Ali told Reggie her address before grabbing her phone and tapping away at the screen while Reggie began to drive out of the parking lot.
"Where did you learn to drive like that?" After the shock, Reggie realized that her donuts were borderline professional and that he was slightly turned on.
"I used to street race." Ali said it so calmly that it surprised Reggie even more. A laugh erupted from his mouth as he took in the information.
"What's so funny? You don't think a girl can street race?"
"Oh no, I'm not laughing at that. I'm laughing at the fact that you always say things so calmly. Like…I should already know that you sued to street race. It's so interesting." Reggie explained.
"I see. Well, I used to street race in England and in France." Ali placed her phone back in her bag before resting against the leather seat again.
"Why?" Reggie asked as he turned onto Ali's street.
"I didn't have a choice to be honest." Ali said. Reggie had pulled up in front of Ali's house. Reggie looked at her with a confused look as she opened the door and placed one foot onto the curb.
"Wait, what do you mean you 'didn't have a choice'?" Ali's back stiffened at the question. She sat there for a few seconds before getting out of the car and placing her hand on the top of the door while smiling at Reggie.
"Thanks for the ride, Reggie. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Wait, Ali-" She shut the door on him and turned around, so she could walk up the stairs and into her house. Reggie watched her walk into her house before sighing and placing his head onto the headrest. "Fuck, Ali. You are an experience."
DAMNNNNN ALI! What is she playing at?! Leave me some comments and what you guys are thinking? We have a bit more to unpack in this chapter, first the scars and now the street racing? And what's with her wanting to let off steam in a dangerous way?