CHAPTER TWO

You don't want to hear about the boring things that happened afterwards, so I won't tell you. All you need to know is that we got out at about 1:00…and school was cancelled!

"School's been blown to pieces!" A group of boys sung an Alice Cooper song, and I smiled as I walked past them, and towards the car park. I might hit the arcade for a little while, and then head up to the racetrack.

I arrived in the car park and quickly located my car.

It was not where I had left it.

I frowned, staring at my white baby which had once been parked across two bays, but was now neatly lined up in just one bay.

"I should have locked you," I declared, as I climbed in and drove out of the car park so fast people actually stared. I grinned. Going fast was great.

Driving to the shops near the school, I decided to fill up on petrol at the station before I went to the arcade, and so I drove in and began filling 'er up.

As I did, I noticed two men standing by the entrance to the station, talking in loud voices. They appeared to be arguing about something. Unknowingly, I started listening even harder, and was able to hear what they were saying.

"You had her right there and you let her get away!" The first man, who was right up in the other guy's face, was saying.

"She has her guns on me and, besides, you remember what he said!" The other man, who seemed to be about my age, replied, just as loudly and just as angrily. He also sounded…well, I dunno, pissed off might be the right words, especially on that last part.

"Are you admitting that she beat you?" The first man smirked.

"Say that again." The second man suddenly seemed very terrifying just then. Even I shrank back, as I put the petrol hose back on the hook, and just then the two men turned to stare at me.

Their eyes were blood red.

I didn't gasp, or anything weird like that. I just stood there, staring at them…no, wait, I was just staring at the second man, who was staring at me with a sudden fierceness in his eyes that I didn't like. But…I didn't fear it, either. It was a strange mix of apprehension and understanding – although I had no idea what was going on at the moment.

I took a step forward, and another one.

He stepped forward to, as if we were doing some strange kind of precision dance…

And my car's headlights came on, high beam and all, blinding as all for a second. I shut my eyes and, when I opened them again, the two men were gone. And so was the strange feeling I'd had. I was both relieved and disappointed to see it go, at the same time. I leaned against my car's hood, not caring who watched, and near on lay down across it, feeling the warmth of the day radiating off of Bianca's hood.

"What a weird day Bianc…" I felt a strange thing under my left hand. "What's tha…"

"Hey there pretty lady…" A sleezy voice began, taking advantage of a high school girl sprawled across a car like this, but I was already up. I marched past him, punching him on the side of the face as I did

A bunch of people laughed, and my car's headlights flickered on and off, as if she were laughing too.

I really have to get that checked.

After playing video games for a few hours and spending all my money, I drove up to the racetrack and was pleased to see that it was a good turn out.

The racetrack, I should add, is actually on old man-made river, about five miles long, and all the water has long dried up from within it.

It makes a perfect racetrack.

As soon as everyone saw me, they began crowding around my car.

"Hey there girl, you gonna win for us today!?" Someone I knew pretty well – and yet we didn't know each other's names – asked me.

I grinned at him. "That's the plan, bro!"

"Okay, I want a nice clean race from…oh, forget it." This forty year old guy said, as the cars lined up on the starting line (painted on with Wattle On Paint). "One lap around, cuz that's all we've got time for! Okay ladies, take your marks…"

We weren't all ladies.

"Get set…"

I was so ready for this. I revved the engine. Then, I just happened to glance into the car next to me.

It was a Lamborghini – whoa… - and the driver was a young, black-haired male with a backwards-facing red cap.

He glanced at me, with green-jewelled eyes, and flashed me a grin.

I blinked.

"GO!!"

With a squealing of tires and a roar of engines, the cars lined up on the racetrack took off.

The Lamborghini shot forward, racing away from the pack, and my eyes widened in surprise, before I gritted my teeth and accelerated – hard.

In no time at all, I'd caught up to him as we were approaching the first bend. I managed to catch another glimpse of him – somehow, he was looking at me too…and then our cars scraped against each other on the turn.

We both screamed at each other at the same time, as we hit a narrow stretch of straight. "YOU STUPID SLAGGIN GLITCH!!"

"Eat my dust." I added silently, as I accelerated again – and so did he. We drew up alongside each other – I really couldn't say how fast we were both going by this stage – but we turned to look at each other again.

There was a fair amount of anger in his eyes, as he shouted: "YOU RUINED MY PAINTJOB, GLITCH!!"

"OH GET OVER IT, YOU WUSS!!" You gotta be aggressive on these tracks. "WHAT ABOUT MY BABY!!??" His response was to accelerate – so I did too.

We went around the next few turns on two wheels, it seemed (which equals four all up, so there you go!), and by the time we'd reached the home stretch, we were neck and neck.

I was going all out by this stage – I couldn't believe that I had just allowed myself to be angered by this random person!

I gritted my teeth as the finish line loomed…

And we crossed it at exactly the same time! I kid you not!

The crowd was silent, and then they began screaming.

They began screaming even more though, a few seconds later when the boy and I each hopped out of our respective vehicles.

"THIS WAS A BEAUTIFUL PAINTJOB AND YOU RUINED IT!!" He yelled at me.

"TELL SOMEONE WHO CARES!!" I yelled back, coming around the front of the car to examine the damage. "WHAT ABOUT MY WHITE FIRE!!??" A strip of paint had been torn off, but that wasn't what had worried me. It was the thing I was feeling again, on the front near the licence plate.

I stooped down to take a look, and my heart stopped. A huge scratch in the car's undercoat. No way that boy could have done this.

So then..?

"Is she okay?" The boy had suddenly come around to the front of my car as well, and was peering at her in almost…well, concern.

"I don't think so…" I replied. "Oh Bianca, if only you could tell me how this happened…" I rested my head on the car's hood.

"I've got a friend who fixes things like this," Now the boy looked really concerned, as I straightened up, keeping one hand on Bianca at all times. "It might be worth having him take a l…"

"I'LL DO IT!!" I interrupted him, and snatched the prize money and coupon away from the forty year old guy. "Let's go – lead the way my friend." I added.

"At least you're not biting my head off now." He said, smirking as he climbed back into his car.

"I'm so grateful I could kiss you." I told him, not realising that I had sprained the forty year old guy's hand when I'd snatched the prizes away from him.

That happens sometimes.

"As it is, I'm debating whether or not to give you this money so that you can get your car fixed." His had suffered a little worse then mine in our mini-collision.

"Nah, s'kay," He replied, in a way that meant 'it's not'. Then, he brightened, and I mean really brightened. "What's your name, by the way!?" We were driving side-by-side down a dual carriageway by then, and we had to shout to be heard.

I laughed. "Isn't it customary to introduce oneself first, before asking for a lady's name?"

He laughed too. "You're one strange femme," He told me. (Femme?). "But I like you." He added. "The name's Sunstreaker."

"Weird name," I told him, but then I smiled. "My name's Emma." Right now, I'm wishing it was, like, Esmeralda or Celestial or something cool-sounding.

Little did I know, that I was about to meet a whole bunch of people with cooler sounding names then mine. _

Sunstreaker:

When I looked into her eyes, they were the colour you'd imagine a shiny metallic green to be. I could see her emotions portrayed so clearly through them…I could scan them too.

She was grateful to me for what I was about to do, which understandable…although I knew that she had no idea what she was really saving…

A/N – Okay, I also do not know what Sunstreaker just happened to be doing at a racetrack. He wasn't supposed to be there. Opti's gonna have a fit…well, as much of a fit as Mr. Mellow can have!