The sun rose up above the city of Sydney as the gang arranged to group together at a seaside restaurant just outside the hotel for breakfast. Nobody in the gang were really morning people, so when it was the actual time for everyone to group together, only two people were awake and walking towards the restaurant.
"Great, everyone overslept again. I really don't get what's the point of making them set alarm clocks when they're just gonna ignore them." Ali told Sky.
"I know, normally I have to hit Hui Hua on the head with a pillow ten times before she decides to wake up...then she starts chasing me around the room with death threats." Sky grinned.
"Yeah...Tiffany didn't look so great as she fell asleep. I mean, she took forever in the bathroom and she stayed up at least one hour until dozing off." Ali told Sky.
"Hui Hua didn't look too good either...it's probably because Jake's leaving. That's why nobody can concentrate anymore." Sky said.
"True...but what can we do to get their minds off it?" Ali asked, worried about her friends. Suddenly, she crashed into a wall. Sky started laughing hysterically and stopped as Ali glared at her. She looked at the wall again and saw a poster.
"That's it!" She exclaimed.
"What's it?" Sky asked.
"That!" Ali shouted, turning Sky's head to look at the poster.
"Wha...oh, that'll do." Sky smirked.
Half an hour later, everyone else groggily came up to the restaurant and sat down at a table. Sky and Ali then waited for everyone to wake up
before telling their friends of their discovery.
"Guys, check this out - I think you'll enjoy it." Ali told the gang.
"Enjoy the little waffle-muffins running around on ponies." Insane said, dizzily before slamming his head against the table. Sky rolled her eyes as she grabbed the poster from Ali and showed the group its details.
"The Battle of the Bands, it'll be fun!" Sky told her friends. Everyone just looked at her with dull expressions. "What? Ali - I know that you can play the drums, Hui Hua - you're awesome on the keyboard, Danny - you're great on the electric guitar, Jake - you sure know how to play bass and Tif, you can sing. See? It's perfect."
"While we're practicing, you guys can go help Tom out in his tournament. Train him to win!" Ali cheered. Everyone else just sleepily nodded in agreement.
After breakfast, everyone was enthusiastic and hyper once again. As they talked about the two events, the battle of the bands and Tom's tournament, almost the whole restaurant could hear the chattering from their table.
"Well, speaking of the tournament, I better qualify right now...I'll see you guys later." Tom told them.
"Oh...well, good luck!" Tiffany called after him.
"It's ok, I'm an awesome driver, I don't need luck!" Tom exclaimed proudly.
Later at the sign-up...
Tom drove to the drag strip with the directions he printed online. He got to the track and proceeded to a tale with a sign labeled "Australian Outback 1/4 Mile Tourney sign-ups here". Tom signed the list and labeled his vehicle entry as "'Shadow' 1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Z34". He put it in the box labeled "sign-ups only". 5 minutes later, an man in his 40's came, picked up the box and stated "The sign-ups are closed, Qualifying begins in 20 minutes," and with that, the man walked of with the box.
Tom looked up at the leaderboard they were using to tell who was going up against who in the qualifying rounds 15 minutes later. Tom looked and saw he was going up against someone named 'Bruno Von Stickle' and going before someone named 'Claude Gilbert' (A/N "Herbie goes to Monte Carlo" movie reference) in Heat number 2. Tom looked and saw two drivers walking up to him as he sat on Shadow's hood.
"You must be Tom. I'm Bruno Von Stickle and this is Claude Gilbert." said a man with in his early 30's with messy dark brown hair, a mustache, and green eyes, and a French accent. The man, Bruno, took a look at Shadow and grimaced.
"You're seriously going to enter in that 'grandma car'?" asked Claude in a French accent.
Tom got mad as he looked at their cars, Bruno's orange and yellow Laser 917 (A/N a Laser 917 is a kit car based on the Porsche 917 race car), and Claude's black and white 1974 DeTomaso Pantera. Shadow, sensing a brewing argument, turned on the radio. (A/N I do not own "Real Gone" by Sheryl Crow)
I'm American-made, bought a large Chevrolet
My momma taught me wrong from right
I was born in the South
Sometimes I have a big mouth
when I see something that I don't like
I gotta say it
"At least I'm entering with a real car, and not with some stupid European accent and an ugly-as-sin kit car!" Tom said. Bruno and Claude's faces turned red as they had just been insulted majorly by a teenager, and walked away in a huff.
Well we've been driving this road for a mighty long time
Payin' no mind to the signs
Well this neighborhood's changed
It's all been rearranged
We left that change somewhere behind
Tom watched the qualifying heat 1 cars make their trips down the track, judging how hard the other competitors would be to beat. So far none seemed too hard. Tom headed to Shadow as they called qualifying heat 2 cars to the inspection area.
Slow down, you're gonna crash
Baby you were screamin'
It's a blast blast blast
Well look out babe, you got your blinders on
Everybody's lookin' for a way to get real gone, real gone
Real gone
Shadow sat there as they finished the inspection. Miraculously, he passed with flying colors. Tom then drove shadow to the line of Heat 2 cars behind the starting grid. Tom looked at Bruno's Laser next to him. Bruno brought his hand up to his throat and pretended to cut his head off with it.
But there's a new cat in town
He's got high-paid friends
thinks he's gonna change history
You think you know him so well
Yeah you think he's so swell
But he's just perpetuatin' prophecy
Come on now
Finally, it was Tom and Bruno's turn to qualify. They started their burnouts, Bruno's Laser lighting up his rear tires while Shadow's front tires screeched leaving a cloud of tire smoke. They staged their cars and watched the staging light.
Slow down, you're gonna crash
Baby you were screamin'
It's a blast blast blast
Well look out, you got your blinders on
Everybody's lookin' for a way
to get real gone
Real gone
Real gone
Real gone
They watched the lights change. Red, yellow, yellow, yellow, Green. GO! Both cars leapt off the starting line, tires screeching for traction, while the car's front ends leapt in the air from the sudden power rush.
Well, you can say what you want
but you can't say it round here
'cause they'll catch you and give you a whippin'
Well I believe I was right
When I said you were wrong
You didn't like the sound of that
Now didja?
Bruno's Laser shot ahead off the starting line. Tom floored the gas pedal and Shadow started creeping up on the Laser 917 as the black Chevy caught traction.
Slow down, you're gonna crash
Baby you were screamin'
It's a blast blast blast
Well look out, you got your blinders on
Everybody's lookin' for a way to get real gone
Shadow slowly crept up to the kit car until they were neck and neck. Shadow slowly pulled ahead, turbocharger whistling away.
Well here I come and I'm so not scared
Got my pedal to the metal
Got my hands in the air
Well look out, you take your blinders off
Everybody's lookin' for a way to get real gone, real gone
Real gone
Real gone
Real gone
The song ended as Shadow crossed the finish line, beating the orange Laser by a whole second. Tom slammed on the brakes and returned to the inspection booth to see if he qualified. He looked at the leaderboard to check his 1/4 mile time. "11.65 seconds 115MPH". "That's the fastest you've ever moved Shadow. I guess those recent tune-ups paid off" Tom told the black coupe, dumbfounded by his time.
"That's it, kid. You've gone too far!" Bruno exclaimed, walking up to Tom and glaring at him. Tom's expression didn't change, he didn't say a word. Bruno turned around, fuming in anger."What a jerk. We showed him anyway!""Tell me about it, but if we want to compete, we have to ignore all distractions." Tom said, walking off beside Shadow. Suddenly, somebody bumped into him, he turned around in frustration."Watch where you're going, you...you..." Tom exclaimed angrily, before looking at the person he had bumped into."Ignore all distractions, eh?" Shadow sighed.
Tom looked at who he bumped into. She was about his age with short dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes. She was wearing a light green "Spice Girls" T-shirt and hip-hugging blue jeans. Her hairstyle reminded Tom of apples for some reason. Tom's heart skipped a beat for the first time since he saw Jessica.
She shyly replied, "I'm so sorry. I really should know where I'm going. Are you okay?"
Tom was the shy one now. "Uhhh... oh! yeah, I'm okay. Sorry about that. I'm Tom by the way." Tom managed to get out.
She smiled, "I'm Ally. I just got here a few hours ago and I don't know where anything is." Ally looked at Shadow, "Nice car,"
"Uhh... thanks. It's name is 'Shadow'." Tom got nervous as he popped the question, "Soo... ummm... would you like to go out with me sometime? I could show you around, get you used to the surroundings, and we could hang out with my friends."
Ally rubbed her chin as she considered going out with a boy she barely knew. "Sure, Well since qualifying's pretty much over, do you wanna hang out? Show me around a bit and maybe meet those friends of yours?"
"Sure. Just hop in." Tom said motioning to Shadow as he walked to the driver's side.
"Um...is it safe?" Ally asked.
"Oh please, girl. You're sounding like a Disney movie about now."
"Who said that?" Ally jumped as she looked around for the source of the voice. Tom laughed as he waited for Ally to enter the car.
"I'll explain on the way. Now come on." Tom told her. She shrugged as she hopped into the car and took off along with Tom. This boy seemed different than any other guy she had met, it was a sure feeling.
Meanwhile, back at the hotel...
"Are you ready?" Jake asked his friends.
"Yeah, let's see it!" Everybody exclaimed. Jake had lugged everyone up to the top floor of the hotel, everyone waited impatiently for Jake to open the door that they were standing in front of.
Jake smirked as he pushed the door open. Everybody gasped as they laid eyes on a giant stage, Tiffany turned to Jake in amazement.
"What the? Jake - how did you find this?" Tiffany asked.
"I explore in my spare time." Jake smirked. He heard Shadow's engine rev from below the hotel. Everyone gathered up to the roof side to see Tom crawl out of the car.
"Tom's back! Tom's back!" Cubby exclaimed.
"Wait a second, who's that with him?" Ali asked.
"I sense a disturbance in the force..." Hui Hua muttered as they watched Tom help Ally out Shadow.