Ugh, school. Back to school. Darn you, back to school! I hate 7th grade. There's too much homework, there's so many people, and heck, I already have a crush, which means I will be crushed. I'm scared…

Disclaimer: Cars has yet to be released on DVD. It is not until then that I own the movie Cars. And even then, I won't own the movie.

He couldn't help but be upset. She was almost dead. If she turned that engine of hers on, she was gone.

"Hey, Lightning!" said Mack. "Boy, Flo keeps giving me the same thing without even asking me if I want it! I've been ordering the same thing too much."

"Yeah, that's great, Mack," said Lightning. He kept trying to get his mind off of Sally, but he just couldn't. "Listen, you wouldn't mind going to Phoenix would you?"

"Phoenix? We have to go to Florida!"

"Oh, no we don't. Sally's in trouble."

"But your Piston Cup! At this rate, we won't be there for another five days!"

"Listen, Mack, all we have to do is drop Sally off at the hospital in Phoenix and then speed away to Daytona. That's all."

"Harv's gonna kill me, Lightning!"

"So what? We either save Sally, or die trying."

"Fine, we'll do it, but we have to leave now! And we're taking the interstate."

"The interstate's fine."

The possibilities kept creeping into his mind. What if she forgot she couldn't turn on her engine, and then some huge explosion inside of her would happen? What if she didn't live? What if she actually died? Would he take control of the Cozy Cone and Wheel Well, or would it be given to somebody else, or would they just let them die all over again? Had she even started to write her will yet? He looked over to her as she was smiling and laughing with her friends. She had been so excited to see them when she first came out. And it wasn't like he was eavesdropping or anything, but he could overhear them talk about a "Jason" or whatever. Who was Jason, and why did Sally always seem to change the subject when they talked about him?

"Pit stop!"

"AH!" Lightning jumped and looked over to his right. "Guido! What are you doing?"

"Pit stop, boss."

"No, no, no! No pit stop before the race!"

Guido's smile faded. Lightning felt bad for him as the smile turned into a frown. "Hey, sorry." It was amazing how Guido always was never seen because of his size. Hm… "Hey, Guido?"

"Pit stop?"

"No… but I do need you to do something. Do you speak any English?"

"Eh?"

"I… guess not. Well, I need you to eavesdrop on Sally and her friends. Anything about a "Jason" or something must be important."

"Okay, boss!"

"And I'm not your boss."

"Then pit stop?"

"No!"

"Okay!" Guido sped off with a little smile on his face, as Lightning shook his head. Guido was able to do way too many things to count for the size he was.

"Kid, you alright?"

Lightning turned around, and found that Doc was right behind him, looking a bit worried for him. "Oh, I don't know. I hope Sally's alright, is all."

"That's not it, is it?"

Once again, Doc had found Lightning's mind, looked inside of it, and explained what he was thinking straight to him. "You surprise me, Doc. You really surprise me."

"But what is it?"

Lightning sighed. "Look, I'm just worried that she's not gonna make it. I mean, it's stupid for me to even think that's she'll die but…" Lightning trailed off into silence, wondering why he felt this way. Sure, maybe it was because the Piston Cup might as well be Chick's right now, or maybe it was because of those magazines that had him and Mater on them, or maybe it was just because Sally was too important to lose. "…Doc, I can't lose her. Do you have any idea what it's like to have somebody's life on the chopping block because you let them do a dangerous thing? While I doubt you do, feel free to answer the question."

"Actually, you wouldn't believe that's the reason I crashed in '54." Doc had said that meekly, almost as if he was shy to say it. It suddenly came over Lightning.

Elle.

It was obvious! Elle was dead! No wonder Doc never wanted to talk about her. He was too upset over her death. "She actually died, didn't she?"

Doc's frown, which was already low enough, kept sinking. He was started to turn around and drive away, but I seemed like something stopped him halfway. "No."

"Pit stop!"

"AH!" Not again… Once again, Guido seemed to be impossible to see. "Alright, what did she say?"

"I suoi amici continuano a dire che dovrebbe tranquillo uscire con questo tipo ma non sembra disposta. Dicono che è lei 'ex'."

"Um…" Lightning couldn't understand a single word Guido had just said. It was Italian! Lightning had never heard Italian until he met Luigi and Guido. That was it! Luigi! He could translate! "You!" He turned to Guido. "Go get Luigi!"

"Okay!" Guido kept he stuck smile on his mouth and drove away to Luigi's Casa Della Tires.

Lightning looked over to Doc, who was still a little upset. His facial expression told something, he just couldn't tell what. "Are you willing to tell me what happened?"

"Maybe some other day, son, but not today. Now, about that deal you wanted to make."

"Oh, yeah, right. The deal." Lightning got his sly smile back on his face. "Here's the plan. If I win the Piston Cup, you let Sally and I marry each other."

"And if you lose?"

"Choice is yours, Doc."

"How about if you lose, you never find out about Elle?"

"You know what? That's a great deal Doc."

Lexie was racing down the road, panting at the same time. She seemed like there was trouble. "Lightning! Sally! Somebody!" Everybody turned around to her, wondering what was going on. "Please tell me you've seen Mater!" Everybody shook their head. Since when was Mater apart of their troubles? "NO! Chick was right!"

"Chick? What about Chick?" asked Lightning. "He didn't hurt Mater too, did he?"

"No, worse. He forced him over to the dark side."

"What's that mean?"

"I don't know! But something's going on. When Chick came back to the starting line, he said that the rusty tow-truck was next. He must've thought Sally actually died, but I don't blame him. She fell off a pretty deep cliff."

"So, he's going to do the same thing to Mater?"

"I guess so. But Chick is tricky. We better keep an eye on him."

"We being you. I have to leave for Daytona Beach."

"What about Sally?"

"We're taking Sally to a hospital in Phoenix."

"Why?"

"Have you seen her?"

"Forget Sally! Lightning, for all we know, Mater could be breathing his last breath! You don't want him to die, do you?"

"No, but I don't want Sally to, either! You watch Mater, alright?"

"Fine! I will. But only because…" Lexie was trying to find a reason why she was doing this. "…because…"

"Because what?"

"Because! Well, anyway, see you in Daytona!" Lexie drove off to Tailfin Pass to make sure Mater would be okay, while Lightning shook his head.

"Lightning!" said Mack. "We need to get a move-on!"

Lightning groaned. "Fine." He drove over to Sally and her friends, and yet again, he heard the name Jason.

"Sally, come on! You know Jason still loves you," said Claire.

"Well, I'm in love, too. Only not with him!" said Sally.

"I thought you hated racecars!" said Alex.

"Correction," said Hailey. "I knew you hated racecars!"

"Well, not anymore," said Sally. "Can't you just go past the fact that he's a racecar and see that he's an actual person?"

"But Jason's coming like, right now!" said Alex.

"ALEX!" screamed Claire. "You weren't supposed to say that!"

"Shut up!" said Hailey. "Guys, can't we just respect Sally's decision?"

Claire and Alex thought about this for a moment. It was Sally's choice. On the other hand, she was their friend! They weren't going to let her go with a racecar! "NO!" they screamed spontaneously.

Lightning was struck in awe when he heard this conversation. Were racecars really a living tragedy to some people? Who was this Jason guy? Was Sally lying?

Did she still love him?

He didn't really want to listen to the conversation anymore, but he didn't want to stop it. He wanted to know more, but at the same time, this was too much to handle.

At this point, they were all talking, fighting at the same time. The adlibbing was crazy. How could anybody keep up with it? Lightning rolled his eyes in confusion. What in the name of Chrysler was going on?

So, Jason. You know a little more about him. He he. Good to know about him, isn't it? Well, anyway, you guys have fun at school, too. More fun than me. Hey, guess what? We got Lightning and Sally yogurt drinks. We would've gotten Mater, too, but I don't like Strawberry. Sorry, Mater…

Back to school, back to reviews. Do it.