Life in the Fast Lane

Chapter 2: Remember the Name

A/N: As promised, I deliver the third real chapter of Life on the Fast Lane. I want to thank my beta-readers for working with me to fix up these chapters. I just realized that I had forgotten to mention and thank them in the last two chapters. I also want to thank the readers the reviewed, they were greatly appreciated. Also, to my old readers, you won't have to be looking at old material for to long, so hang in there. Thanks and enjoy the chapter. Also for those who are confused with the tidbits at the end, it will come together pretty soon, but send me any questions you have and I will answer them as soon as I can.

Disclaimer: Own nothing but my own two hands. My brain belongs to the Department of Education 'till I pay them back. Darn Government! Remember the Name belongs to Fort Minor, who just is really Mike having the need to call himself Fort Minor. It kind of makes me laugh.

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June 1994

Los Angeles, California

This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill
Fifteen percent concentrated power of will
Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain
And a hundred percent reason to remember the name!

Nathan woke up to the sound of a scream, immediately knowing they were coming from Brooke. Without thinking, he quickly tried to scramble out of bed, soon regretting the decision as his vision blurred a little when he attempted to sit up in bed. Putting his left hand to his head and using his right hand to grip the bed stand, he attempted to stabilize himself. Panic soon rose through him as he heard Brooke's cries again.

On sheer instinct, forgetting about his blurred vision, Nathan jumped out of his bed, without thinking to put some clothes on. The feel of his feet hitting the cold floor was enough to wake him up as Brooke screamed again, the panic continued to overtake his body and Nathan bolted out of the room grabbing the wooden bat by his door on the way out. His mind processing that the screams seemed to have come from the main floor, Nathan quickly ran down the stairs taking two steps at a time and soon realized that the kitchen lights were on. Nathan entered the kitchen cautiously, the white light blinding him temporarily. He closed his eyes momentarily, and opened them slowly, helping them adjust to the light better. As soon as his eyes adjusted to the bright light, he noticed that Brooke was holding her hand over her mouth and looking towards a dark-haired girl, knife in hand –with a tinge of some red substance- in her hands, a collection of golden hair around her feet. It took Nathan a couple of seconds to recognize the face behind the hair.

"Haley?" Nathan asked, confused as to what was going on.

Haley just looked up at him, and without answering his question, she sprinted out the back door, the metal knife clamoring loudly to the ground. Going on pure instinct Nathan followed her out, bolting out the now open back door, reaching Haley before she reached the street. Nathan had managed to grab her right under the street light that stood between her old house and his house. Nathan turned her around to face him, and was finally able to get a good look at her. It seemed some of the hair dye had gotten on her forehead; the dark brown smudges now encompassed the surface of the tan skin. Under the yellow street light, her brown doe eyes began to glisten, and Nathan knew that she was going to start crying. .

He pulled her towards him, allowing her to cry for a moment and let out whatever she was dealing with. Soon her shoulders started to shake, and Nathan just held her tighter. After a while, Nathan felt her breathing even out a bit and gently pulled her away from him upon hearing her muffle something into his shirt.

"What did you say?" He didn't want to ask her to repeat herself, but he couldn't help her if he didn't know what the problem was.

"I said, I just wanted to stop looking like her." Haley said to him in a low voice.

"Like who?" He was thoroughly confused by this point.

"Like my mother." Haley spoke, saddened by the truth behind her words. A young girl was supposed to idolize her mother, look up to her. Nathan noticed that she had kept her head down, tugging the hem of her shirt, as if embarrassed by the whole situation. At first Nathan was confused by her statement, but after thinking about it for a moment he realized that she had meant it in reference to her new hair color. She had dyed it a dark shade of brown, something completely different to the color of her mother's hair. Not only that, but Haley seemed to have been in the middle of trying to chop of her long locks. The front portion of her newly dyed mane was much shorter than the rest and as the pieces clicked into place he understood that she probably had accidentally cut herself with the knife, since it seemed the top of ear was bleeding a little. Before Nathan could point this fact out, Haley pulled away from him abruptly.

"God, you must think I'm an idiot, well don't worry, I won't be crying anymore. I've got to get out of here."

Nathan decided that it was best to let Haley go, not that he had much of a choice, and she would do what she wanted anyway. The sun was creeping into the sky, the dark cover of the night changing into a pale blue, and the golden rays of the sun cutting through it. The sound of a car driving by broke him out of his reverie and he looked down at his current attire, and knew that he had not made a wise choice. Not only was he not exactly dressed to be running down the street after her, but he also knew that might end up only making the situation worse. He turned back around and headed inside, deciding to get ready for the work that awaited him at the garage.

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Taking a big bite out of his ham and cheese sandwich, Nathan took his seat on the sidewalk outside of the garage next to his friends; their bodies leaning against the outside wall. Nathan looked over to Tim, who was talking to the new kid that was working in the garage. He had talked to the kid earlier and had learned that even though his name was Marvin McFadden, he went by Mouth; a nickname given to him by his friends at his old school. Mouth had moved from San Francisco, after his mother decided that they should move back to Los Angles; wanting to be closer to friends and family because his father had recently joined the army and was away at training. Jake, who had introduced them all to Mouth three days ago, assured them that he was an amazing technician. When Nathan first saw the wiry pale kid, with mousy short brown hair and huge mouth, the boy's complexion and physique had Nathan thinking that he had never worked in a garage before. This morning however, he had been proved wrong; there was no denying that the kid was good, even if he was a little impulsive and jumpy.

The midday sun was high in the sky and creating quite the heat wave again today, soon Nathan began to feel the effects as the blaring rays of sun made him slightly drowsy. Nathan soon lost focus on Tim and Mouth's conversation and his mind began to wander before he realized that he still did not know where Haley had run off to. He also realized that Jake had not been by all morning even though Mouth said Jake had promised to be here for his first day. The raven haired boy finished his sandwich and got up to enter the garage when he noticed Jake's red beat up Nissan pull up. They had started to work on Jake's car two days ago, and had only had time to replace the windows and install the red tint to them. As soon as the car came to a stop Nathan noticed someone was coming out of the passenger side, it didn't take him long to figure out that someone was Haley.

He noted that Haley didn't seem too happy, as if the scowl she was currently sporting on her face didn't give it away, the fact that she had just slammed the passenger door did. Nathan watched her as she got closer to the garage. He noticed that she now had bangs, with a few strands of hair falling around the circumference of her face. The rest of her hair was held back in a ponytail. As Haley moved her head to the side, obviously trying to remove the bangs from in front of her face, he saw that Haley was sporting a nice little shiner on her right eye, and had a few cuts on her left cheek. If the scowl on her face was not enough, he noticed that Haley's eyes were full of pure hatred. As Haley passed by him, Nathan grabbed her and brought her up for closer inspection.

"What the hell happened to you?"

"None of your business now leave me alone!" Haley spoke with fury as she tore her hand out of his grip. Nathan looked over at Jake, who just shook his head and went in after her. Nathan looked down at Mouth and Tim, motioning for them to get back to work, not letting that little incident get to him.

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Later that day, as Nathan put the finishing touches on his car, his ears perked up as he heard Mouth talking about some underground street races and from what he had managed to over hear, there was one going on tonight. The seemingly most important detail that grabbed Nathan's attention was that it also happened to be the annual amateur week, for racers 16-18. This meant that they would do the races at the track, and those racers who won would be allowed to race at the daily street races. Knowing this would be the only time to test out his car, since his father wouldn't allow him to race at the track, he cut into the conversation.

"When and where?" Nathan asked as he rolled out from under the car and walked over to the stainless steel sink, pumping some liquid soup onto his hand. The orange, fragrance soon hit his nostrils and the grainy texture in the soap made it easier for him to clean off the oil and grime from his hands.

"It's tonight at eleven by the old race track near the docks. They cut the entrance fee by half but it's still a pretty dime, so it is usually rich kids racing their daddy's Bentley. I suspect that you'll show them riches what home grown can do!"

Nathan laughed at Mouth because of both his excitement and use of the term 'home-grown'. It was an old term referring to cars built up from scratch rather than bought. For someone who seemed to know so much about street races and how they ran, it was an antiquated term to use. Looking at the rest of the guys, who were all waiting for a confirmation that he would in fact be participating, Nathan answered with a quick, "We'll see," and walked away from the crew.

Walking over to his car, he hoped that something would come to him to fix his problem. Earlier that day, Mouth had looked over his car, amazed at the work Nathan had done, but there was something that was missing. According to Nathan, on its own, his car could probably smoke a lot of the competition. But a lot of the rich kids that went to these races had one thing that put them over the edge, Nitrous. Nathan tried calculating in his head the amount it would take to get both the Nitrous tanks and pay the buy-in cost. Not only did he not have that kind of money, but he also doubted his father would give up that kind of cash, especially with them having another mouth to feed, and it being kind of a dry spell around the garage. He sighed, deciding it wouldn't even be worth it at the moment, no matter how much he wanted to and shook his head.

"I'd love to, but I can't. Don't really have that kind of cash on me right now. God only knows I wish I did."

Mouth gave him a knowing look before turning around, but before he walked off they heard a rattle and turned around to see what the source of the noise had been. Nathan watched as Haley emerged from the corner of the garage and didn't know whether to be angry with her for listening in on the boys' conversation or because she had been ignoring him all day. He had no time to dwell on the subject as Haley walked straight up to him, a black book bag hanging from one shoulder, her darker locks, no longer held back in a ponytail and completely framing her face. When she was finally in front of him, she stood up straight and looked him in the eye.

"Do you know you will win?"

Nathan was confused at first, not entirely sure what she was referring to at first. He then realized that she was talking about the race, but was still confused as to what that had to do with anything. From the stern look on her face, Nathan knew he had to answer her soon.

"That's not the problem." Nathan answered her the best way he could.

"That wasn't my question."

"If I had the money, yes, of course I would." Nathan rolled his eyes, knowing that this conversation was going no where. What was the point in thinking about what could have happened, if the possibilities were no where near possible. Nathan watched as Haley pulled the book bag in front of her and start to rummage through it. After a minute or two, her hand emerged with ten hundred dollar bills and stuffed them into her hand. Nathan was completely confused as to where this money had come from, and as soon as he opened his mouth to ask the question, Haley spoke up again.

"I stole it back from my dad. I think its part of what my grandfather left me. The rest I know is in a bank somewhere. I guess this is the reason they kept me around. Call it an investment, so you have to accept it." Haley face was extremely stern, as if telling him there was no way he could force her to take it back. He thanked her with a hug, with only one thought crossing through his mind at the moment.

"I guess I have to win tonight!"

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Haley sat on the hood of Mouth's car, her jean clad legs stretched out in front of her, her idle fingers playing with the hem of black tank top. They had decided to go in Mouth's car since it was the nicest of the crew – except for Nathan's that is. She smiled as she thought back to the ride over here. Nathan had allowed her to ride with him over to races, after lying to Dan about going to the movies. He had held her hand all the way there, saying that she was his good luck charm, and Haley had loved every second of it. She was glad that she had given him the money for the race, the knowledge that it had been used to pay for something that made Nathan happy instead of fueling her parents' addictions. She blushed as she remembered how sad she felt when he let her hand go as soon as they arrived. Now she waited with the rest of the crew as the race-coordinator from the regular street races announced the rules. From what Mouth had told them, there was a much bigger turnout than they had expected, there was going to be three heats, five cars per heat, and the winners from each heat facing off in the final race.

Haley watched as Nathan walked over to them, informing them that he was in the second heat. As Nathan walked over to his car, she decided to follow, the other guys deciding to get extra gas for Nathan. Haley was not blind to the icy glares that she was getting as she joined Nathan by the front of his car, or was she blind to the lustful stares those same girls seemed to be giving Nathan. For some reason, they made her feel completely self-conscious. There they were flaunting their beauty and bodies to everyone at the track, something she felt she could never compete with. Albeit, Haley was probably a better mechanic and racer than any of them, and on any other day that would have been enough to make her feel better, but today it didn't seem to be enough.

Haley looked down at her overalls, covered in oil stains and the dirty white boys muscle shirt she wore that looked more like a grungy gray, feeling even worse about her appearance. She passed her hands over her hair and pulled off the rubber band that was holding it in place. Haley shook her head and was about to readjust it into a decent ponytail when she felt a hand on hers.

"Leave it down, it looks better." Nathan smiled at her while slightly ruffling her hair a bit more. Haley smiled back, fully aware that this one little gesture had caused her mood to brighten and her heart to start thumping in her chest a mile a minute. Nathan's hand then moved to the pin that was holding back her bangs, removing it and letting them fall where they sat just above her eye.

"That's much better. Hides you lil' shiner so the rest of us don't have to revel in its horror!"

Haley gasped and began to chase Nathan after he ran off, laughing, towards the direction of their friends, who were patiently waiting the beginning of the first race. As Haley got close, she hit Nathan on the back and then proceeded to hide behind Jake, who only shook his head at her with a smile on her face. The first race went by quickly. A kid in a black Jaguar smoked the competition, not that there seemed to be much. Haley watched as they motioned for the second heat to get ready. Nathan got up and was shaking everyone's hand, and when he got to her, Haley did something that surprised herself. She jumped up and kissed Nathan on the cheek. When Nathan gave her a questioning look, Haley quickly responded.

"For good luck! And you better win, because I don't just kiss anybody's cheek!"

Nathan laughed and ruffled her hair once more before walking away towards his car. He drove up to the starting line and she gave him two thumbs up. Anxiousness filled her body as she heard the roar of the cars as all the guys started to rev up their engines, in what she knew was in effort to try to intimidate the others. She couldn't hear the girl who started the races, but she knew that once she saw the bra in the air that the girl had commenced counting. In a blur, the girl's hand and bra dropped and the cars where off. There was a boy with a Mustang who obviously didn't know how to drive a stick when his car stopped not 3 seconds into the race and let off a huge cloud of black smoke.

Haley continued to watch as Nathan flew past the guy in front of her and welcomed the strong wind and sound that came when Nathan flew past them and won his first heat. She jumped up with the rest of the crew in victory. Nathan drove around and parked the car, Jake, Tim and her quickly inspecting the car in order to make sure it was ready for the next race. As Haley finished her part of the inspection, she tried to go over to Nathan to congratulate him but she noticed that Mouth was still giving him tips on what to do differently for the next race, and she didn't want to interrupt.

Haley walked over to Mouth's car and waited for the rest to return. Soon it was time for the final race. Haley and the rest of the crew held hands as the starter-girl counted off, and watched the drop of her bra be accompanied by the rush of the cars.

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Nathan clutched the wheel tightly, taking in jagged breath before he could finally relax. There were a million thoughts running through his head right now. He looked to his left at the other three racers. The two in the middle had finished in slower times that him, it was the one at the end he was worried about. It was the guy that owned the jaguar, and according to Mouth, had stocked it with two dry tanks of Nitrous.

Reminding him that he had to prep the tank, Nathan picked up the seat of passenger seat and prepped the nitrous tank that Mouth had installed earlier that day. He pushed back the seat of the car and tired to relax a little before he psyched himself out. Nathan put his hand around the cold metal key and turned the ignition, the car roaring to life, the roar flowing down the line as the others followed suit. He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel slightly as he waited for the girl to situate herself in the middle of the track. Nathan put his foot on the peddle, making sure not to go to heavy, but just enough to burn some rubber off the tires; a trick Mouth had given him, it would be tricky for turning, but he wouldn't be loosing speed like the rest.

Nathan watched the girl's arm drop slightly and pressed the gas pedal a little more, the roar of the engine ringing loudly in his ear. As the girl's arm dropped down signaling the start of the race, Nathan stepped hard on the pedal, quickly feeling the hard tug of the quick start. Paying attention as they kept pretty much even for the straightaway only meant one thing. Thinking fast, he hit the break a little, falling behind the pack. He could see that from the back of their cars they seemed to be laughing at him, but Nathan just followed them from a short distance.

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Haley squeezed Tim's hand hard and screamed in frustration. She could not believe what she just saw. Did Nathan just purposefully fall behind the pack? Apparently she was not the only one that noticed this.

"What the hell is he doing?" Jake yelled, shaking his head in apparent disgust to Nathan's actions. Jake turned around and covered his eyes, screaming at the same time, "I can't watch this."

Haley couldn't blame him; this would probably cost him the race. How could Nathan be so stupid? Out of the corner of her eye, amongst two pissed off faces, she saw the smirk planted firmly on the face of the new kid.

"What are you so smug about?" Haley asked angrily, infuriated that this so call 'genius' was not worried about the fact that Nathan just took himself out of the possibility of coming in first. Mouth just looked over at her and shook his head at them.

"You'll see…" He spoke slyly, maintaining the smirk.

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Nathan, remembering what Mouth had told him, watched as the three in front of him swerved into each other, the car that had been in the lane closet to the middle, Felix, swerving into the two middle cars, making them knock each other off course. Nathan, having moved to the inner lane had taken the turn smoother than the rest and speed up to straighten out the car at the straightaway. He smiled, silently thanking Mouth for the information he had provided beforehand.

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Haley's mouth dropped, her brain unable to process the image that her eyes had just captured. What in all things speedy had just occurred? She wasn't the only one that was amazed as the once rowdy crowd had suddenly become mute, the only sounds being emitted from the area was Mouth laugh along with high chorus of something to the tune of 'I told you so'. Not that Haley could really just believe what happened. How the hell did three cars just crash on the first turn? Haley looked towards Tim and Jake, both who were looking at her with seemingly similar expressions; the three of them totally awestruck from the fact that Nathan had foreseen that; amazement that he had gotten the leg up, and total confusion as to how it had all transpired.

"They were all too cocky."

It was Mouth who had spoken. It appeared he had stopped laughing and gloating long enough to answer their questions. Haley, still confused, looked at Mouth, waiting for him to elaborate.

"They, the other guys, won their races 'cause they were faster than the rest. Now that they were equally fast coming off the line, they all turned into each other. I realized this before, which is why I told Nathan to drop back at the turn. " Mouth said smugly.

Haley would usually not accept that type of attitude out of anyone, especially not today, what, with her various mood swings and all, but she had to admit, genius boy was really one smart person. Suddenly there was an outburst in the crowd, and Haley looked away from Mouth onto the track to check out what the commotion was all about. She quickly spotted what had caused the sudden outburst in the crowd, the black Jaguar, seemed to have straightened itself out of the mess and was quickly catching up to Nathan. This couldn't be good. Mouth put his hand on her shoulder and Haley turned towards him.

"Well one good thing is that he seems to have used up one of his Nitrous tanks, which means he only has one left. Bad thing, I don't think Nathan is paying attention and the Jaguar is closing in quick."

Haley shook her head. This was definitely not good.

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Nathan tried to concentrate. There was one lap left, and the Jaguar was in front of him, and they only had the straightaway left and one more turn. Nathan had no time to consider how this had occurred, though he knew it happened because he got careless and let the guy overtake him in the second lap. Nathan noticed that they were now halfway through the straightaway and approaching the curve quickly. Out of nowhere Nathan got an idea, speeding up a little and placing himself so that he was right behind the Jaguar, he lightly bumped the car.

With the turn approaching faster, Nathan bumped the Jaguar once more, and just as expected, in order to avoid being bumped once again, the Jaguar took the wider turn. Nathan knew that at this speed, he couldn't exactly cleanly shave the curve, and he in a quick burst of inspiration, grabbed the handbrake, feeling the quick jerk of the decrease in speed. The wheel turned furiously in his hands and the back of his car cleared the turn, leaving black trail in their paths. The front end, having the smaller distance quickly caught up to the back and Nathan noticed that the Jaguar had made it around and he was sure that it would use Nitrous to secure the end.

Acting quickly, Nathan grabbed the wheel and jerked in the other direction, stepping harder onto the pedal, using the speed to help him straighten out. As soon as the Jaguar passed by him, Nathan hit the Nitrous button, praying that the wet shot would be enough to surpass the Jaguar. The sudden burst of speed pushed Nathan even farther back in his seat, the sudden rush giving him an even stronger burst of adrenaline. Soon Nathan closed in on the black Jaguar. Everything else was a blur around him, his skin was crawling and his ears were popping slightly but Nathan didn't care, he was in heaven. Suddenly the Jaguar next to him disappeared and Nathan crossed the finish line. He quickly stepped on the pedal, swerving the car, as it spun into a perfect circle, and stopping suddenly. His head was swimming from the sudden rush of everything.

Nathan realized the crowd that was gathering and knew that only meant on thing, he had won!

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Haley jumped up with the rest in her excitement and ran towards Nathan's car wanting to be the first to congratulate him when someone pushed past her. All she saw was blond curls, a leather jacket, long boots, and a skirt. Haley saw as Nathan enveloped the girl in a hug and kissed her. Then reality hit her. Peyton. How could she forget that he had a girlfriend, that he was 16 years old, and that she was only thirteen? Of course, he did not have feelings for her. She beat herself for being such a girl. She then felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see Jake, and then over to Nathan as they both watched the crowd grow around him.

"Heartbreak, remember the word, you will have to greet it many times in your lifetime. Grim I know, but true. "

Jake looked down at her and gave her a sad smile. Haley dropped her head, holding back her stubborn tears. She then heard Peyton's voice over the crowd.

"Nathan Scott, you guys remember that name, it's whose dust you'll be eating from now on!"

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June 1994

Long Island City, NY

He could feel the blood running down from the side of his mouth. He took off his helmet completely and exited the arena, the taste of paint and blood overtaking his senses. He threw his gun and helmet on the floor near the entrance and ran his hand through his sweaty hair, his hands trying to pry apart the knotted locks. He sat down, and put his face in his hands frustrated.

"You look like hell."

He looked up, noticing an African-American girl with short black hair offering him a towel. He took, giving her a grateful smile and wiped the blood and paint off of his face. The girl then spoke again.

"How'd that happen?"

"I ran out of bullets, and put my gun up in surrender. As I was trying to get out, someone shot my helmet and my goggles where already foggy, so I lifted up my helmet a little to spot the exit and some bastard shot me. Hit me right in the mouth."

"I feel like you get more bruises every day." The girl said worriedly.

"Better this than actual bullet wounds. At least this way I can practice my aim and my technique so that I can become a cop."

"I guess." The girl said quietly.

He noticed her change in demeanor and sought a quick way to make her smile.

"How about we get on the 7 and get you some good-old home-cooked Italian cooking and then some ice cream."

The girl's face lit up quickly and she grabbed his hand quickly shoved him into the locker room area.

"You have 15 minutes before I come in there and change you my self."

He laughed and rushed into the shower.