Chapter Three: Go!
I followed the pit crew as they rolled the Mazda onto the raceway. It never got old; the thrill of hearing all those excited fans, screaming, yelling and cheering for their favorite racer. Though I was still new to the circuit I could occasionally hear the chant of "Speed Force" from the stands. From behind the safety of my dark visor, a grin had plastered itself to my face. It was moments like this that I remembered why I loved racing. I did it for them, the millions of fans who loved the sport almost as much as I did and who followed it loyaly. We reached the pits and everyone fell silent as the announcer began to speak.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Golden Tournament Qualifying Rally." he began grandly. "Please rise for the national anthem."
I heard the rumble of thousands of people getting to their feet. Placing my hand over my heart, I stood silently as I listened to the woman who was singing the anthem. Next to the actual start of the race, this was my absolute favorite part of the event.
"Drivers, please get into your cars."
Taking a deep breath I climbed into the car and buckled in. My crew chief, Matt put a hand on my shoulder.
"Don't tear yourself up out there, okay kid?" He asked.
I nodded and suppressed a shiver of excitement from sliding up my spine. Placing the net back across the window I went through a couple pre-race checks to calm my nerves. With everything checking out in the clear, I waited for the command to start the engine.
"Drivers, Start. Your. Engines!"
The sound of over fifty car engines sparking to life raised goosebumps down my arms. My heart skipped a beat when my own engine roared with them. I quickly bottled my excitement and put it on a shelf as the race started. All sense of time fell away from my mind as the rally got underway, I barely remembered any of the pit stops I made. My only thought was to keep a good position so I'd at least have a chance to go to the Golden Tournament itself. Faster than I could blink the race was over, I took a slow lap back around to the pits and parked in my slot. As I climbed out, I was absolutely exhausted, but my team obviously had other ideas, If their rowdy welcome was any indication.
"Good Job kid!"
"You made us proud. Good race."
"Ha ha, Clutch thinks he's gonna win the Tournament does he? Well, he's got another thing coming!"
The rest of their voices fell to a dull roar as the crew chief walked up. He smiled at me and put a hand on my shoulder, in his eyes I could see emotions of pride, and worry. Why was he worried? Also, why was the world suddenly going…
"I think he's coming around now."
My mouth was dry and my head felt fuzzy. I tried to sit up but a pair of hands firmly pushed me back down.
"Easy kid. Hey, can we have a minute?"
"Sure."
Footsteps and the sound of a door opening and closing. I finally managed to convince my eyes to open and found the faces of Matt, Ryan and Cameron looking down at me.
"Normally, I'd be yelling at you all to beat it. But I'm going to assume that's not gonna happen this time is it?" I rasped.
Ryan shook his head and Cam looked like he was gonna cry. Matt stood there with an unreadable expression on his face.
"You scared us bad, kid." he said.
"Yeah well, I blame the race."
"You mean the one that you managed to not only beat your personal record but beat the entire field by a lap and a half?" asked Cameron, who had apparently recovered enough that his usual impish air had returned.
"I did what now?" I asked as I sat up.
"You won."
"By a lap and a half."
"Yeah, ya did good kiddo."
I fell back onto the pillow and stared up at the ceiling. I won. I would finally get the chance to go to the Golden Tournament and see it in person. Oh sure, watching it on the T.V. was cool, but to actually go there, and race! It was the best feeling in the world.
"Feeling good enough to attend the trophy ceremony?" Matt asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"Are you kidding?" I squeaked as I threw off the blanket and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. "Of course I'm going, why wouldn't I?"
"I have somewhere I should be, but, they can wait. I want to see Knight's face." If glee was a tangible substance, it was pouring forth from Ryan's mouth in great quantities.
Half an hour later, we found ourselves backstage in the post-race rush. The general clamour of people talking was pierced by a rather shrill shriek. Out of curiosity I wandered in the general direction from where the sound originated. Ryan shot me a weird look and I stuck my tongue out at him as I walked away. My curiosity was sated and I found myself amused by the scene before me. Two girls, one in a grey sweater and jeans with a messenger bag and her nose in a book, the other with a sweatshirt that had the distinctive logo of Knight's fans displayed prominently who apparently was having some sort of stroke as she dragged her friend along and maneuvered herself to be closer or in front of the very long line of people who were hoping to get an autograph from Clutch Knight himself.
"Hannah!" she squealed, "It's him, Clutch Knight! Racing legend and basically the greatest human being in existence ever!"
"Yeah, he's so great Cassius." replied her companion dryly.
"Don't be like that, come on." Said the fangirl in a huff as she shifted from foot to foot impatiently.
"What? Look, if I was as into this whole racing thing as much as you are I'd probably pick someone else to be excited over."
"Like who? Clutch is the king of this sport." The girl wearing the sweatshirt with Knight's logo.
"I dunno, maybe that Speed Force guy. He's pretty mysterious, I mean, why does he wear that helmet when he's on camera all the time?"
I smirked at that. Since I'd been in a rush this morning, I hadn't had the time to properly disguise myself. The bindings had a dual purpose; firstly, it hid the most obvious signs of my gender well and gave the impression that I was a pretty buff dude, secondly, prior to my racing career I had been a demolition derby driver. The bandage helped with keeping a sore back in check, which, while it didn't always serve that purpose, it was always nice to have it on when it was needed.
"Well, maybe he knows he's not as good looking as Clutch Knight and keeps it on so other people don't have to see how ugly he is."
"Ouch. That's brutal."
I chuckled to myself and continued to walk towards the two. I hadn't changed out of my suit yet so it was the equivalent of wearing a V.I.P pass as I approached the two girls.
"Hey ladies." I said.
Both girls spun around, startled by my silent approach. The girl with the book squeaked and her friend yelped.
"Oh, hi there." Responded the reader.
"Who are you?" Asked her friend bluntly, raising an eyebrow at me.
"Number 83, Jesse Cervera." I said with a bow.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Hannah Morts and the obsessive fangirl here is my friend Cassidy Lessur." said the girl whom I'd seen reading.
"Yeah, hi. Oh! Hannah look, only five more people then it's our turn!" Exclaimed Cassidy.
"Joy." The sarcasm was tangible.
"Say, why don't I get you girls in a V.I.P line?" I offered.
Cassidy looked as if I'd offered her candy.
"You could do that?" she said softly, I could feel her excitement.
"Please do, the sooner we're done here, the sooner I can get back to my books." Said Hannah.
I laughed and gestured for the two to follow me, we passed the few people who had been ahead of them and walked up to where Clutch was just finishing signing a t-shirt for a fan.
"There you go man, welcome to the Round Table." He said flashing a grin at the starstruck teen who dashed off to show his prize to his friends. Clutch looked up again, his grin vanished when he saw me. "Oh, it's you." he growled. "Whaddya want kid?"
"Me? Nothing, beating you was enough. I was just lending these two ladies here a hand so they could meet the "Golden King" himself." I replied.
"Well then," Knight smiled at Cassidy and Hannah, "I couldn't let my loveliest fan's down now could I?"
Hannah looked as if she could care less; Cassidy on the other hand looked like she was going to explode. I chuckled and backed off to let them do their thing.
"So, what would you like? A selfie? Autograph? Tell you what, I'd even do both for you." Knight said to Hannah.
"Selfie please!" said Cassidy enthusiastically.
"Neither, thanks." Hannah replied.
"Here, if you give me your number I'll send our picture to you." Said Knight as he put an arm around Hannah and took a selfie with her.
"Get off me you creep." snapped Hannah, soundly smacking Knight upside the head.
I started laughing at the dazed look in Knight's eyes and applauded Hannah.
"Yes! Thank you, oh you have no idea how beautiful that was."
"Deserved it, the weirdo."
"Hannah! How could you?" Raged Cassidy as she stood rooted to the ground.
Knight had apparently regained himself enough to glare at me.
"Watch it kid."
Something told me this whole Golden Tournament was gonna be a whole lot less golden and a lot more tournament…