Taffyta couldn't think straight. Somehow, she had gone from thinking about the next race to sitting in a candy cane tree. Vanellope seemed to go into them whenever she needed to think, so Taffyta took it to mean something. Now, sitting up in the top branches of the peppermint scented plant, Taffyta understood. Taffyta could see almost the whole game map from up there. The ice cream cone mountains, the cotton candy clouds, even the vanilla frosting castle, it all made for a beautiful view.
Of course, the view had to be earned. Getting up into the tree was incredibly difficult, especially since a good chunk of the branches were double striped. Taffyta hated double stripes. They were awful when they were on a tree, they were awful when they were part of a road, they were awful when someone tried to build something out of them, there were no good uses for them. And of course, Taffyta had almost plummeted fifty feet because of them. Whatever developer decided that the second to highest branch on this tree needed to be double striped deserved to be kicked to the curb, if for no other reason than it would allow Taffyta to run the loser over.
Then again, there were a few people that Taffyta actually did have a chance at running over. At the top of the list today was Crumbelina. The snooty little rich girl had been tearing up the track all day. For some reason, she was the one the players chose to use as avatar, so she was the one who obliterated everyone else. Sure Taffyta was able to pull out a win on a few laps, but she still only came in second place overall at best.
The worst part was, Crumbelina was so relaxed about it all. Usually, she was serious and stern, taking no nonsense and getting to the point. During races though, Crumbelina seemed to completely mellow out. At least if she was always like that the way Swizzle was, it would just be her personality. The way it was though, Crumbelina's cool collection felt like some kind of subconscious gloating.
In fact, Taffyta could see that jerk's huge estate from the tree. There was Crumeblina's perfect little car, parked in her perfect little driveway, with her perfect little hat in the cockpit. Wait, the hat just shook. It was hard to tell from up in the tree, but the hat definitely seemed to be moving. Taffyta watched it for several minutes, and was absolutely positive that Crumbelina was sitting in her car doing… something. This warranted a closer look.
Taffyta jumped down from the tree and into the plush seat of her car. It was a good thing her aim was good or that would have hurt. Shaking the thought from her mind, Taffyta took off for the Caramello estate. The drive over didn't take too long, though having a racecar probably helped. For Taffyta though, it seemed to drag on forever. She had so many questions that she couldn't think of just one. What was going on? Was Crumbelina really in her car? If not, why did she leave her hat in the car? Why did Taffyta care? Did this have to do with winning the races today? What exactly would Taffyta say once she got there? That last question gave Taffyta pause. What would she say? She was going over more for curiosity's sake than anything else. She didn't even know what was going on. Before Taffyta could think of a reason to abandon going to Crumbelina, she had arrived.
Taffyta pulled into the long driveway and walked up to Crumbelina's car. Taffyta had been right, Crumbelina was sitting in her car, curled up in a little ball. Taffyta could hear faint sniffling coming from her fellow racer.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Taffyta asked. Crumbelina looked up and Taffyta saw what was going on. Crumbelina's eyes were red, her makeup was smeared, and she looked disheveled. Crumbelina had been crying.
"What do you want?" Crumbelina asked in a mix of sorrow and anger.
"I wanna know what you're doing. I thought I made that obvious." Taffyta said.
"Go away." Crumbelina instructed as she turned away from the pink racer.
"Yeah, good luck with that. Why are you upset? I thought you'd be happy about winning." Taffyta said.
"I don't want to talk to you." Crumbelina said.
"Why not?" Taffyta asked.
"Because you hate me!" Crumbelina shouted, turning back to face Taffyta, "I try and I try to get you guys to like me, but the closest I get is Candlehead and Jubileena, and they already like everybody."
"Oh come on, I don't hate you." Taffyta said.
"Oh yeah? Name one time you did something nice for me." Crumbelina challenged, her voice starting to falter. Taffyta simply stood there, trying to think of something.
"That's what I thought." Crumbelina said before sinking back into her car.
"But I don't hate you. I just… I mean, we aren't best friends, but it doesn't mean… I guess, I guess I messed up huh?" Taffyta sighed.
"Yes. You did." Crumbelina said. Taffyta walked over to sit down on the edge of Crumbelina's car. They both sat in silence for a long while. Eventually, Taffyta broke the silence.
"Do you feel any better?" She asked.
"A little bit." Crumbelina said.
"Good, because I think I figured out how I want to make it up to you." Taffyta said before jumping up and running to her car, "Follow me."
Crumbelina was surprised. Not so surprised that she didn't follow, but still surprised. Taffyta jumped into her own car and led Crumbelina far out, away from the estate. Thankfully, it was a quick drive to their destination. For some reason, Taffyta had driven out into the middle of the candy cane forest. Then she did something even stranger. She started climbing it.
Some views need to be earned. Seeing the sun set behind a giant ice cream cone mountain was one of those views. Crumbelina's look of absolute wonder as she sat next to Taffyta in a candy cane tree was even more one of them. Taffyta watched her fellow racer stare at the beautiful sky and couldn't help but feel happy. After all, this was a girl that had spent the better part of an hour crying her eyes out before getting to see this.
"So, do you still think I hate you?" Taffyta asked. It was unusual for her, but Taffyta was completely sincere. It was almost as alarming for Crumbelina as the cake themed racers action was for Taffyta. Before she could get an answer, Taffyta was wrapped in a hug by her new friend.
"Thanks Taffyta." Crumbelina said.
With all of the events that had happened that day, between the racing, hate, attempts of redemption, and now this, Taffyta couldn't even think straight.
