Author's Note: Okay so this was a review request from someone that their daughter gets caught ditching school freshman year to go racing. After some thinking I decided to have Letty be the parent who yelled at her for this. I sort of go back and forth between which parent is stricter, but I think it really depends on the situation. They can both be chill; they can both lay down the law. Enjoy!

A Ditch Day

It was the first day back to school after winter break. So of course, no one really wanted to be there. And the teachers knew it, as did the administrators and all the parents. Aside from a few irritants (ie: Maggie Liu) freshman year was shaping up just fine. She was doing well in her classes without working overly hard (except for in history class where the memorization of dates eluded her and the thought of doing research made her cringe).

So she'd been planning to go to class like a dutiful student and child when she was intercepted on her way to first period. She heard her name echo down the hall and turned slightly to see her friend Sammi running down the hall, her long black hair flying out behind her. She looked excited, and skittered to a halt beside her, bouncing from one foot to the other.

"Come on! We're going to drive down to the beach road and drag race with some of the senior guys!"

"What?" She blinked at her. "Are you kidding? We can't even drive yet."

"It's okay! Theresa is going and she said I could drive her car. I'm sure she'll let you too! I mean, you already know how to drive, right?"

"Well yeah…" Theresa was Sammi's older sister and she was pretty chill. It always made her a little jealous that she didn't have a cool older sibling. But she did have her cousin Vince, and her parents were already way more laid back than most of the other kids'.

"Then come on!" Sammi tugged at her sleeve and she looked torn for a moment before nodding and hurrying with her back out to the parking lot.

Theresa was waiting in her car, a black and silver Subaru Impreza. It was a nice car, fast and decently affordable. She'd seen them come into the shop sometimes. She slid into the back while Sammi climbed into the passenger seat and the car sped out of the parking lot and away from the school.

When they arrived at the beach road a half hour later she could see that there were lots of pretty cars lined up along the side of the road, pulled off into the sand. Theresa pulled up alongside them and they climbed out. Someone in a Nissan had a crazy stereo system and it was pumping out music. Someone else was organizing a race, collecting payments as the first two cars peeled down the drag.

This time of day there was no traffic down near the beach, especially in the winter time. She supposed that was why they were doing it in the middle of a school day instead of at night. But it still seemed like they might get caught.

Sammi led her over to a group of guys standing around a black Toyota, making introductions. "This is Carlos, Alex and Jaden," she said. The guys were all familiar in that she knew they were seniors and they had really sweet rides. She could tie people to their cars but remembering their names was a whole 'nother thing.

"Hey," she said, nodding to them.

They looked her over briefly. She wasn't tall or curvy as she hadn't really filled out; being that she was only 14. She was wearing a pair of cargo pants cinched around her hips with a studded belt and a black tank top under a grey hoodie with DT on the back.

"Hey, you're that Toretto kid, right?" one of the boys, she thought it was Alex, asked.

She nodded, one brow raised.

"I heard that back in the day your Dad used to be a real racing legend around here. A real bad ass."

She scoffed. "Well he can race," she said.

"So, can you?"

She smirked. "Want to find out?"

He looked dubious and one of the other guys shook his head. "Come on man, easy money. She's only 14! She probably can't even drive!"

"She can too," Sammi put in, looking annoyed on her behalf.

"Fine," Alex said. "You're on. Two hundred dollar buy-in."

She frowned. "I don't have-"

"Deal," Theresa said, putting the stack of cash in his hand, and then tossing her the keys. "Be nice to my baby, girl."

Grinning, she nodded and ran over to the Impreza and slid into the driver's seat. She was pretty much done growing height wise. And though she'd never be tall, her feet reached the pedals, thank you very much. She started up the car and pulled up to the spray painted starting line.

0000

When Theresa dropped her off after 3 at her house she was totally floating on cloud nine. Not only had she kicked some senior's ass in a race before she even had her license, but she was two-hundred dollars richer. Not a bad way to spend her first day back to school after break, as far as she was concerned.

She waved to her friends and unlocked the front door, heading inside happily. Another benefit, she thought as she nudged the door closed with her hip, was that she didn't have any homework. Humming she wandered towards the stairs, only to be stopped in her tracks when she spotted her mother standing in the doorway to the kitchen, arms crossed over her chest. She blinked at her.

"Mami… why aren't you at the garage?"

"You know…" her mother replied. "It's probably interesting to note that if you don't show up to school… they call your parents to find out if you're sick or excused. Imagine my surprise… when I got that call this morning?"

The girl bit down on her lower lip, eyes wide. She couldn't even think of anything to say.

"And I thought to myself… where would my daughter be if not at school?"

"Uh…" she shifted uneasily on her feet.

Letty narrowed her eyes. "You're in serious trouble. Do you know how worried about you we were?"

The girl hunched guiltily, hands shoved in the pockets of her hoodie. "I'm sorry Mami."

"You're grounded. For the next month. I'm not even kidding. No parties, no hanging out with friends after school. Just home and the garage and going to class."

"Mom! Harsh," the girl muttered, kicking at the ground.

"Yeah that's right," Letty replied. "Harsh is what you get when you ditch school to go joyriding all day." She shook her head when her daughter opened her mouth to say something. "I don't want to hear it. Get your ass to your room. Your homework from your lovely ditch day is up there waiting for you to do so I know you won't be bored when I say no television and no computer."

"Mom," she whined, then turned to sulk up the stairs.

"Oh, and one more thing," her mother said, stopping her in her dramatic exit. "Hand over the money."

"What?" the girl cried. "How did you know?" She pouted, tugging the cash out of her back pocket.

"Mothers know everything."