Chapter 20

Keiichi, we aren't at Nekomi Tech anymore!

Will: "Regina?"

Regina: "Hey Will."

Will: "Pa-paw said hi."

Regina: "Ooooh. Is he here?"

Will: "Yeah he'll be here in a bit. He's going to help me today, Jay too."

Regina: "Good. I haven't seen them since the funeral."

Will: "I know. It's been a while since I've been involved in the races."

Regina: "Yeah. They're really nice folks too. Oh. Skuld said she was going to check on Kei and Bell, and get Megumi so she could see your stuff. Hehe."

Will: "What's so funny about that?"

Regina: "I just think it's sooo cute that she really likes what you do. And that she likes you period. You better be good to her, else I'll disown you as a brother."

Will: "Like I'm just stringing her along, yeah right."

Regina: "I didn't say that. I like her, she makes a good friend. And her sisters too. They DO seem a little strange though. Have you noticed?"

Will: "Yeah, like when we met them."

Regina: "I guess you're saying I'm slow? Figures."

Will: "No. I just figured you were keeping it to yourself."

Pro Stock Qualifiers, attention. Pro Stock Qualifiers, to the staging area in 15 minutes. Again, Pro Stock Qualifiers to the Staging lanes in 15 Minutes.

Will: "Looks like I don't have much time."

Regina: "Come on, I'll help you."

Will: "Thanks."

Will and Regina went to the trailer and rolled the car out underneath the awning, then Regina hoped on the 4 wheeler and brought it around to the front of the car. Skuld, Sora, and Megumi walked up just as Will was loosening the tie downs on the back of the car cover and laid out the tire protectors.

Skuld: "Hi Will."

Will: "Hey, Skuld. Hi Sora, Megumi."

Regina: "So you guys ready to see it?"

Skuld: "Yep."

Megumi: "Oooo, yes please."

Regina folded the cover back until it was completely off the car, while Will was changing into his fire suit and grabbing his helmet and collar.

Sora: "OH WOW! That's so pretty. I love the paint. H-Hey look SKULD!"

Skuld: "Huh? What Sora?"

Megumi: "OH MY GOD! That is just so COOL!"

Skuld: "What!" Skuld walked to the back of the car.

Skuld: "AHH! Oh wow. I didn't know he did that. Regina, did you know?"

Regina: Well, yeah. He made me promise not to say anything."

On the rear of the car was lettered in Paint, "Special Thanks to…. N-Step Angels Regina and Skuld, Paint Graphics by Robert Killian, Associate Sponsor RPT Performance, Main Sponsor RockBend Aggregates, In loving Memory of My Father.

Skuld: "Aw. I don't know what to say..hehe."

Will: "Well your welcome. So don't worry." Will snuck up behind her and startled her before she knew he behind her.

Skuld: "OH! Will. Thank you." She turned and gave him a kiss.

Will: "Aww. It's nothing really."

Megumi: "Your car is so cool. It's the nicest one I've seen."

Sora: "Yeah but it's a Pro Stock car, right?"
Will: "Yep. Wow you really know your race cars Sora."
Megumi: "Uh-oh."

Regina: "Uh-oh what Megumi?"

Skuld just stood there with wide eyes.

Megumi: "That means..you have to race Kei today!"

Sora: "Yeah, that would be right."

Skuld just looked at Will with a confused look on her face.

Will: "What do you mean Kei? How did that happen?"

Skuld: "Bell and Kei have been here most of the week but they didn't say what for until today."

Will: "HAHAHA! Never mind I remember now. Rick was sick with food poisoning. SO they must have convinced Kei to drive it in his place. HAHAHA!"

Skuld: "Why is that funny? I don't think it's too funny."

Will: "Why Skuld? I was laughing because I should have known Tom was up to something. He must have had to drive A LOT. You have to be licensed to drive certain categories of NHRA."

Skuld: "But that means you have to compete against him. Will, Kei is really amazing when it comes to racing."

Will: "I'm sure he is. I've heard about some of his racing stories at college."

Megumi: "Kei has a strange way of things working to his advantage."
Will: "I'm not worried. I think he'll do Juuuust fine."

Skuld: "That's what I'm afraid of."

Will: "Aww, come on you guys. It's just racing. If I win I win, if he wins, that's even better. Make a big mark in RPT history. He's the first engineer that's ever stepped foot in their race program for real. I figured they'd have him do this at one point."

Skuld: "I know. But I want you to win."

Regina: "Aww..that's so sweet. Now she has to root for you against her own sister. Hehehe!"

Megumi: "I don't care I'll root for both of you! Haha!"
Sora: "Me too."
Skuld gave Will a hug as Regina jumped on the bike and Will opened the door to slip inside the car.

All Pro Stock Cars to the Staging area now. Attention, All Pro Stock Cars to the Staging lanes immediately.

Skuld: "Good luck Will."

Will: "I'll do ok. It's only Qualifying in this round. Next round will matter, from there on out."

Megumi and Sora: "Good Luck Will!"

Regina gassed the 4 wheeler and the car rolled quietly behind her, as they made their way to the staging area, racers and spectators were stopping to admire his car, and Regina on that 4 wheeler too, as it went by. Many of them knew Will from racing in the series last year, but then he went on hiatus for a year. Today marked the day he was officially back into racing professionally. Skuld, Sora and Megumi were walking toward the crew viewing area, when she picked up the program she found on the bleacher seat. She quietly read the front cover and the first few pages, as Megumi and Sora talked.

Skuld: "Hey."

Megumi: "What Skuld?"

Skuld just thrust the book at Megumi and gave her a strange look.

Skuld: "Read."

Megumi read the cover and the first two pages of the program.

Megumi: "Wow. That's amazing. I had no idea."

Skuld: "Kei has his work cut out for him. I wondered why everybody was so friendly with Will here."

Sora: "To break track records like that, and finish in points and position like he did, he really is very good."

Megumi: "What do you expect. His father was even better, and he raced for many years according to the book. He almost died in that crash that one year, then came back almost undefeated the whole season the very next year. It's in his blood Skuld."

Skuld: "Look, there's KEI!"

Megumi: "And Bell! Haha! She gets to guide him up there? That's so cool."

Regina ran huffing and panting as she screamed at Skuld.

Regina: "SKULD! What the hell are you doing! You're supposed to be down here with me!"

Skuld: "OH, I'm sorry. I didn't know."
Regina: "THAT's (pointing at Bell) what you're supposed to do for Will."

Skuld: "REALLY! I gotta go for a bit Megumi, Sora!"

Megumi: "Go ahead, we'll be right here!"
Sora: "Tell Will good luck for us!"

Skuld: "Okay!" Skuld said as she ran behind Regina to the staging area.

Regina: "Skuld all you have to do is exactly what Bell is doing, ok?"

Skuld:"Ok."

Regina put the big headphones with the radio in it on her head.

Regina: "The car is very loud. You have to wear these. It has a built in radio. If he happens to not respond to you when you talk to him, don't be upset, he focuses so much on what he's doing sometimes, he won't answer he just listens, okay?"
Skuld: "Got it."

They stood by Will in his car as Kei prepared for his qualifying run. Skuld observed Bell as she showed Kei just past the water box, he stopped and Bell blew him a kiss. Then the crew chief Tom, took over and Bell came back toward them.

Bell: "Skuld? Why are you here?"

Skuld: "Ahhh..well. You See..um."

Regina: "Oh tell her already..Will is right here."

Bell: "WILL! (Bell Waved at the car and Will waved back.) I didn't know he was racing in this class."

Skuld: "I know. I didn't either till a little bit ago."

Bell: "This is great! Now they get to compete against each other. Hehehe!"

Skuld shoved the program in her hand.

Skuld: "Read."

Bell: "Okay, I will."

Regina: "Come on Skuld, it's Will's turn."

Skuld: "Okay. Coming."

They left Bell to thumb through the program book.

Bell: "OH MY. I didn't know any of this." She continued to read, and became engrossed with what she was reading, she looked at the back of Wills car as it was being pushed to the start box.

Bell: "Ohh. That's so sweet of him to put her name on the back, I bet Skuld really liked that."

Driver: "Mrs. Morrisato? Come on Kei is at the end of the track."

Bell: "Thank you." (she stepped into the transport van).

"oh my" she thought. "I just missed his entire run" She giggled at herself for loosing her concentration.

Skuld motioned for Will to do something, actually she was motioning for Will to start the car up. But she was only doing exactly what Bell had done, so she really wasn't sure what she was doing. The car roared to life, it was loud like Regina said, the headphones really helped, but she could actually "feel" the sound pressure from standing not two feet from the car. It actually made her insides tickle a little and the hair stood up an the back of her neck. She walked slowly to the point where Bell had stopped, and she turned to look at Will, but he was only focused on the end of the track. She spoke to him and wished him luck, she kissed her hand and softly touched the car. Will never looked, but she wasn't upset. She told him "okay, ready" and rolled forward about ten feet to the water, Skuld had just stepped back when Will blipped the throttle and wet the tires and did a spectacular burnout. The crowd cheered as he almost went half track with the burnout. Jay acted as his track assistant, and ran out to his car to guide him to the staging lights as he backed up. Skuld ran back to Regina as they both held their hands on the cuffs of the headsets.

Will staged the car, lit both amber lights. The lights Flashed as the car shot from the starting line, the sound of the run was steady and rhythmic as the rowed through the gears of the Lenco. Before he knew it the end of the run was over, everyone had they're eyes focused on the timer board as it flashed the time and mph on it.

When it did everyone cheered. The fastest time of the day so far. It wasn't his track record, but his car was still new and all the bugs not worked out yet. Still it was a fitting accomplishment for his initial return to the circuit.

Skuld had walked back to the bleacher area to Sora and Megumi, when she ran into someone familiar.

Taka: "HEY SKULD!"

Skuld: "Oh. OH. Hi Taka."

Taka: "WOW. You look hot today."

Skuld only blushed. Unable to comment.

Taka: "I thought that was you out there with that car. Who is that?"

Skuld: "His name is Will. He's a friend."

Taka: " A friend huh? You umm.. don't mean boyfriend do you?"

Skuld: "Well. Actually, yes."

Taka: "oh. I should have figured that."

Skuld could tell Taka was very disappointed in what he just heard.

Skuld: "I'm sorry Taka. I hope we can be friends. I think you'd make a great friend."

Taka: "You really think so?"

Skuld: "Sure. You seem like a really nice guy. I'm not just saying that."

Taka: "Well. Okay then."

Skuld: "Come on, I want to introduce you to everyone. You have time?"

Taka: "Yeah. I got nothing else to do."

Skuld took Taka's hand and lead him to where Megumi and Sora were sitting. Taka was surprised to find Skuld's friends looked as nice as she did.

Skuld: "Megumi? This is Taka. Taka this is Megumi, she's my. What do you call it?"

Megumi: "I'm her sister in law. Haha!"

Sora: "Nice to met you Taka. I'm Sora. I went to school with Megumi and her brother."

Taka could only stare at Megumi at first. He was hooked on her as soon as she spoke. Her voice was heaven to him.

Taka: "Ah..nice to met you Megumi. Hello Sora."

Megumi: "So Taka. You got a girlfriend?"

Skuld: "MEGUMI! That's kind of rude. Hahaha!"

Sora's eyes got large as she looked at Megumi.

Megumi: "I was just wondering. I think he's hot."

Taka stood there speechless, and turning red. He's never had a girl talk to him as bold as Megumi.

Taka: "Well. Um. No I don't."

Megumi: "Cool. Then that means we can go out if you want to of course."

Skuld: "Megumi!"

Megumi: "What Skuld? You have Will. It's my turn to have a cool boyfriend."

Skuld: "Ahh..well. You're embarrassing Taka."

Taka's eyes were practically popping out of his head. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Megumi: "So you wanna go out or what Taka?"

Taka: "U-umm. Why um. Sure I do!"

Megumi: "Good. (she took him by the arm) Let's go meet my brother!"

Skuld just looked at Sora as they both shook their heads in disbelief at how Megumi was acting.

Sora: "I guess she took advantage of that."

Skuld wasn't upset, but more relieved that she wouldn't have Taka interested in her for the mean time. She didn't want anything to hurt her growing relationship with Will for anything.

Skuld: "Let's go meet with everybody else."

Sora: "Okay."

Bell was talking with Kei back at the corral, where he'd removed his fire suit and other garb to relax before the next round. All the crew members were buzzing around the car, getting it ready for first elimination rounds.

Bell: "Hey Kei, I was thinking."

Kei: "What Bell?"

Bell: "I think we should have a house warming party and invite everyone over that we can tomorrow."

Kei: "I love that idea. We can have an American cookout too."

Bell: "Yes! That sounds even more fun!"

Kei: "When we're done here for the day, let's make sure we get with everyone to come over tomorrow."

Bell: "Ok. I'll make sure everyone knows, sweetheart."

Kei kissed Bell on the cheek.
Kei: "I'll be back in a few minutes ok?"

Bell: "Ok dear. I'll be over at Will's trailer."

Kei: "Ok. I'll meet you over there in a bit."

Regina, Bell and Megumi and the others were all at the trailer when Bell asked them to make sure they invited everyone to their new home for a cookout and a house warming party. Regina assured Urd that Shane would be there, where there's free beer and drinks, he's there. Megumi introduced Taka to everyone and invited him to the party too. Will sat quietly at the table as young race fans and a few old alike came by for free 8 X 10 photos of his new car and autographs.

Skuld: "I never knew he was liked so much in the race community."

Regina: "Yeah. He just wants to carry on what our father did for a living. It's just gotten difficult running the business and this."

Bell: "I'm very impressed with all he does. It's very nice to interact with fans like he does."

Will: "Regina?"

Regina: "Yes brother."

Will: "Be nice and let these boys have their picture taken with you two."

Regina: "Okay."

Regina and Skuld lined up with three teenage boys, their arms around them, as the photographer took the shot.

Regina embarrassed one of the boys that wouldn't stop staring at her breasts.

She simply giggled and whispered in his ear something they couldn't hear, he left with a giant smile and a red face, waving goodbye.

Will: "What the hell did you tell that poor boy?"

Regina: "Just that, yes baby these are real. If you get into racing you could find a girfriend like me pretty easy."

Skuld: "Hahaha!"

Will: "Now he's gonna go home and make a mess out of that picture! HAHA!"

Skuld and Bell and the others didn't know what he meant by that.

But Regina sure did.

Regina: "Very Funny Will. You're sick."

Everybody else just looked on in total confusion.

Will: "Nevermind. We won't go there today."

The rest of the day was something that many of them would remember for some time to come. Although Will did well all the way to the semi- final round. He was plagued with tire shake in the semi, and he lost the round to a fellow racer that was ranked in the top five in the nation. Kei? Well, Kei made it all the way to the final round. Only to be shot down by none other than Warren Johnson himself. Kei was honored to race a man of his stature, and the race was no contest. Kei red-lighted against the veteran Pro Stocker. Kei realized that, racing is really as much of an intimidation and mind game as much as it is skill. He learned valuable lessons over the course of the week he's raced and practiced, and he would be grateful to all those that taught him these lessons too.

With the close of the race day, everyone was tired but still energetic enough to get together after they had arrived home. Will spent some time putting away his equipment and he returned to the house, where everyone was talking. They got quiet as he came in, he didn't know why.

Will: "Don't let me disturb you guys. I'll just go sit in the den."

Regina: "NO! wait."
Bell came out from the other room with Kei, holding a cake with the candles lit.

Will: "Who's birthday is it?"

Regina: "It's no one's birthday stupid. Read the cake."
The cake read. "Congratulations from the NHRA and your friends"

Will: "Aww, man you guys didn't have to do that."

Regina: "It was Bell's idea."
Bell: "Congratulations Will."

Will: "Thank you Bell, I really appreciate the gesture."

Will let her put down the cake as everybody dived in. Will gave Bell a hug and kissed her cheek.

Bell: "Oh my. Your Welcome Will."

Will: "Thank you again for all you've done."

Skuld wrapped her arm around Will's and looked up and smiled at him. Will just smiled back and gave her a little kiss.

Bell: "So is everybody sure they want to come over tomorrow for a cookout and a party. It's an all day thing, now. Till everybody decides to go home."

Everybody cheered and said yes, they all couldn't wait for a full day of Bell's hospitality and The antics that usually ensue. Tomorrow promised to be a day of food, fun, drinks and hijinks, but things could prove to get a little out of hand when some unexpected guests show up for the party. Stay tuned for..

Chapter 21 Let the good Times Roll