Lightning groaned quietly into her pillow, the light streaming into her room woke the young racer, she yawned while stretching and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Blearily she glared at the sunlight peaking through her curtains, groggily she sat up and threw her legs to the side of the bed. Her feet dangled inches away from the floor and she got out of bed.
Shivering from the lack of warmth her bed provided she quickly made a beeline straight for her bathroom for a much needed hot shower. She barely glanced at her reflection, she didn't need the mirror to see how exhausted she was. Nearly a half hour later she left her bathroom dressed with clean clothes and damp hair, feeling more refreshed and awake Lightning left her room to go into the kitchen, it was downstairs through the foyer and down the hall into her glamorous dining hall/kitchen.
She paid it no attention and simply peeked around until she caught sight of the fresh red apples in a bowl, she picked up one and looked it over before taking a bite. Having breakfast was never her thing, but she was feeling a bit hungry so this would do.
Today she would be leaving with Mac, her personal driver and a mother hen, they would be traveling over night to Lightning's next race in California. She went past her foyer again to found her living room filled with lavish furniture. She plopped down on the couch and turned on her T.v. she till had a little bit of time to kill until Mac came to pick her up. She continued nibbling on her apple while flipping through channels trying to find something decent to watch.
She paused when a popular show came on, the words that were being said had caught her attention so she waited to hear more.
"Of course we care about you, you're our friend."
"But...I lied, I kept secrets from you. I don't deserve to be your friend."
"Please, everyone has a few secrets but what matters is that you cared enough to tell the truth."
She turned off the T.v. once again, she felt a bit hollow after hearing that. She didn't have any friends, it stung a bit but she couldn't keep mulling over it when the doorbell chimed loudly in her ears. Lightning quickly threw the apple away in the trash and she stood in the foyer. A mirror next to the door reflected her mask, she looked to see if everything looked normal, after deeming everything was fine she pulled open her door and smiled brightly at Mac. Mac was a tall man with brown hair and brown eyes. He looked menacing but he was very kind and happened to be a big mother hen to Lightning.
"Hey Mac, ready to go?" Mac nodded.
"Yup, we got your car in the back and all of your suit cases are packed and ready too." Lightning pulled her door close behind her and locked it behind her when Mac began asking her concerned questions. "Did you eat breakfast? Did you get a full night's sleep, I don't want you staying up all night and being too tired to even stay awake again. Lightning laughed softly rolling her eyes.
"Yes I ate a very big breakfast and I got a full night's sleep." He gazed at her critically and Lightning sighed in amusement. "I'm alright, really. I'm ready to go and win some trophies." Mac kept a watchful eye on her for a bit after that but after Lightning's reassurances that she is fine he stopped, for a few minutes at least.
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The first race was starting in fifteen minutes and the racers were hovering near the track and socializing with each other until then. Lightning was hanging around away from the other racers to cool down her nerves. If she won this race she'll get to the finals at a different location farther up in California and it'll take a whole night and morning to get there, she felt like a nervous wreck with anxiety and high hopes she'll win.
"Hey there rookie, you nervous?" The King said, he was DinoCo's best sponsor and Lightning wanted to stay on his good side for when he retired. He was older than Lightning, taller too with platinum white blond hair. He had a calm and collected expression and an air of confidence radiating from him, Lightning noted that he had ocean blue eyes. His voice was deep which Lightning envied a bit. Her voice was forced to be lower and on a few occasions it led to her losing her voice.
"A little bit, just hoping I can make it to the finals y'know." Lightning shrugged. "Trying to get some fresh air before the race." King nodded in agreement.
"Ah, I get what you mean, can be a bit crowded down here." King spoke, "Don't worry kid, I know you've got what it takes. You're one of the best and skilled rookies we've had on these tracks in a long time." Lightning's face tinged pink at the compliment.
"Y-yeah, although Chick Hicks seems to think otherwise." King grinned.
"Don't let him get to you, he's all bark with no bite." Lightning laughed at that. Silence fell over the two and King opened his mouth to speak again but a group of pit crew came rushing by and stumbled into the two of them. The crew continued moving and a member sheepishly yelled, "Sorry."
Lightning was pushed into King and the two fell ungracefully to the floor with Lightning on top of him. She flushed red with embarrassment and scrambled to her feet, her eyes avoided looking at King when he offered her hand to pull him up. King however, stared in amazement at Lightning, unknown to Lightning she had yelped and her real voice broke through revealing her true self to him.
"I'm sorry. I- didn't realize that you were- that you're a woman." Her blue eyes snapped open and she watched King with fear flooding through her veins.
"P-please tell no one! I didn't- I-" Panic seeped through her soft feminine voice and her breath seemed to leave her gasping for air.
"Hey- hey. You're okay, I'm not going to tell anyone. I swear." King said slowly, he stood up and hoped he wouldn't scare off the frightened woman in front of him. "Just breathe, I promise I won't say a word about this." Lightning struggled to catch her breath and she took slow agonizing breaths. Her eyes were pooled with tears and her mask broke again.
"I'm sorry." King blinked.
"It's fine, are you okay?" Lightning gave a sharp nod, she wiped her tears away and felt angry at herself for crying. King reached out and squeezed her shoulder gently. Lightning tensed but she shakily relaxed.
"King?" His wife called out suddenly, "Where are you, the race is starting in a few minutes!" King debated between staying to make sure Lightning was okay or get back to his wife. Lightning could sense this.
"I'm fine, go. I'll be okay." King stared for a few seconds before disappearing to get back to his wife and she let out a sigh. She rubbed at her eyes once more and took a few deep breaths. Then she perfected her mask of confidence and walked back to the track with false confidence. Not that anyone could tell.
She made it to her car's spot and leaned against it, she felt eyes watching her and knew that King was staring at her in a new light. She ignored his watchful gaze and she instead looked around taking in her surroundings. The entire arena was filled with people watching her and she can tell who her fans were with the sea of red and yellow jersey's and fan made souvenirs.
"Don't cry too much when you lose, McQueen." Chick Hicks mocked, he had black hair buzzed cut and a large mustache. He was quite an arrogant and cocky racer who's hated Lightning the moment she stepped into the track. His crew hovering near him started laughing raucously and so did a few of the other racers as well.
"You shouldn't be so confident, I've managed to beat you in every race we've been in and I'll keep winning." She smirked at the angry glare Hicks gave her, he seemed to be at a lost of words and the other racer's who've watched them started laughing hard.
"Kid's right you know." King added in, Hick's looked murderous at this point, because this only made everyone around laugh harder. Because what King said was like the laws. And knowing that King supported Lightning in this little battle left everyone in stitches. Everyone knew that Hicks was trying to become DinoCo's newest sponsor.
"Shut up, he's just a kid who got lucky. His luck will leave him eventually." Lightning scoffed, that's the thing he's ever said about Lightning when he knew he was losing an argument. She couldn't make a retort in time when the warning whistles sounded through and all the racers got into their cars. Lightning felt confident she'll beat Hicks in this race as well. She'll prove that she is just as a good racer as him, in fact she'll be even better than him.
. . . . . .
"Breaking News, young racer Lightning McQueen has gone missing on his overnight trip. Currently the police are taking in people who were seen with McQueen the same day. More news coming in after this break.
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