Anyway, the future Racers also ended up going to the school and being new they had to pick their electives. They all picked baking, wanting to be with the original Racers, and each one picked something else that interested them. Pepsino obviously took dancing with Snowanna...and also had something else planned.

He went up to her after the arcade closed the day before the first school day.

"Hi, I was wondering if you wanted to go somewhere with me tonight. I have a surprise for you." He smiled.

"Sure." Snowanna grinned.

He led her to a secluded place in his kart, with her following in her kart. They stopped at a pretty hill in the park, and he got out of his kart with a boombox and a picnic basket. Snowanna followed him and watched as he spread out the blanket and set some food down.

"Picnic dinner, nice surprise." Snowanna smiled.

"Actually this is just in case we get hungry." Pepsino smiled. "This is the surprise."

He turned on the boombox, and beautiful classical music started to play.

"Not bad music, but you can't really dance to it." Snowanna shrugged.

"Actually you can...just not in the way you're used to." Pepsino took her hand. "Along with the energetic dances I also know how to slow dance. And to thank you for helping me overcome my shyness and stage fright I'm going to teach you how to slow dance."

"Really? Not my thing but I wouldn't mind learning a few steps." Snowanna smiled.

"I think you might enjoy it, it's a good way to continue dancing if you get too tired to dance your way." Pepsino took her other hand.

He then put one of her hands on his shoulder before putting his hand around her waist. He continued to hold on to her other hand and slowly started to lead. Snowanna started to follow, and after a few minutes they both flowed into a waltz. After Snowanna grew more comfortable and even seemed to be enjoying herself Pepsino added spins and a few other moves. They continued to slow dance for a while until the music was over.

Pepsino then finished by dipping Snowanna gently...and froze. He had never noticed how pretty her eyes really were before. They were like purple flowers really, cool and happy. Snowanna froze too, she had never noticed how warm Pepsino's eyes were before. They were kinda like melted milk chocolate, sweet and tempting. Both their hearts started to beat a little faster, and they couldn't look away from each other. Swept up in their new feelings, they closed the gap between them and kissed. 8-bit hearts surrounded them.

Everyone found out about the new relationship in school the next day. Especially since Pepsino and Snowanna couldn't hide their feelings even if they wanted to. The Racers, original and new, were happy for them.

The following day, after the arcade closed, Crumbelina had decided to go shopping for some new school clothes and so headed for her favorite clothing store. Despite Graham working there she couldn't stay away from the store.

Luckily this time Graham was helping a different customer, so she was able to get help from a different employee much to her relief. She grabbed a few items and tried to pick out the best ones. The employee also brought out other selections that were similar to what Crumbelina wanted. However none of the clothes pleased her, and the employee was starting to grow frustrated. Finally she asked him politely to go into the back and see if there was anything else.

The employee did, cursing to himself along the way. Then when he went into the back he started complaining for real.

"I am really sick and tired of her coming in here all the time!" He kicked a few boxes. "Of all the picky, self-possessed..."

"Now calmer calmer Tam." Graham said, also in the back (his previous customer already left). "She is not so bad."

"Oh you don't know what she's really like." Tam frowned (for those who don't get it: his theme is Hot Tamale). "I pity any guy who dates her."

"Hey, I'm dating her and I think she's a merveilleuse femme." Graham frowned.

"You're tougher than her previous boyfriends then." Tam shook his head. "See Crumbelina has a really domineering personality, bossy even. She always has to have things just so and even tried to change her previous boyfriends. They dumped her big time because of it. Trust me Graham, give up on her and find someone more gentle."

Crumbelina, looking for Tam, overheard him talking to Graham in the back. Upset, she started to shed tears and ended up running out of the store.

"That's what you think of her? Well sure she has high standards for herself but she is more than that." Graham frowned. "She is kind, generous, and doesn't become smitten with just any guy. She is the first one I ever met who wasn't affected by my accent. Plus she's confident, she knows what she wants and works hard to get it. Bottom line is: I love her. I love her more than anything and I don't care what other people think."

Graham then left...and saw that Crumbelina was gone. He went to another employee.

"Excusez-moi, but did Crumbelina already make her purchase?" He asked.

"No, instead she ran out looking upset." The employee shrugged.

"Merci." Graham left the store as well.

He realized that Crumbelina had overheard Tam and had been hurt. He figured that she had ran home so he ran over to her house.

When he got there he rang the doorbell. Mr Di Caramello opened it.

"Hello Graham, if you're looking for Crumbelina she's in her bedroom..." Mr. Di Caramello looked surprised. "Did you just come here from work?"

"Oui, an employee told me about her being bossy and I think she overheard." Graham nodded. "So I came her to cheer her up."

"So that's why she seemed so upset..." Mr. Di Caramello realized. "Thank you Graham, you really are a good guy for her."

"Merci." Graham smiled before entering the house.

He then went upstairs into her bedroom and found her crying on her bed. You see she had been dumped so many times that she had gotten scared that Graham was going to dump her again. Even though she didn't love him she just couldn't handle being dumped again, especially since it kept getting more painful each time.

Graham suddenly almost walked into a poodle. The poodle sniffed Graham and wagged her tail.

"Bon chien." Graham petted the poodle a little before going closer to Crumbelina.

Crumbelina stopped crying, somewhat, and looked up to see Graham standing in front of her.

"Graham...you knew I overheard..." She realized.

"Oui." Graham nodded. "Don't let what Tam said get to you, he-"

"No it's not that, it's just..." Crumbelina wiped an eye. "It was you finding out about me being domineering. My past boyfriends...when they found out...they dumped me and...it always hurt." She hung her head. "I just can't be dumped again, by anyone. My heart won't be able to take it."

"I am not going to dump you." Graham sat down next to her. "I can't, I love you too much. These previous boyfriends...they just weren't worthy of you."

"Weren't worthy of me? The opposite actually." Crumbelina scoffed. "They were lords and dukes, and even a few princes. They originally had come to court Vanellope, but she turned them down. First it was because she's a president and wasn't interested, and then it was because she had already chosen Ralph. After each noble gave up I approached them and asked them out. They agreed, but none of them lasted long. If a noble doesn't want to be with me then why would a peasant want to be with me?"

"Because nobles are often shallow and so are only interested in princesses or at least wealthy women." Graham said. "I however just want someone who could love me accent or no accent."

"What are you talking about?"

"Back home all the dames would flirt with me just because of my accent, because of my French background. They just wanted to be courted by a French gentleman. I did enjoy the attention at first, but grew tired of it quickly. I wanted someone who would love me for me and not care about my being French. Later things even got to the point where I wanted a challenge, someone I would actually have to impress." He then smiled. "And that's where you come in. You weren't affected by my accent at all, and you treated me like a person rather than someone who might give them a romantic life forever. You also had more going on in your head than most of the girls I previously knew. You knew what you wanted to do and were doing it, you wanted to work hard to get yourself a good future rather than just marry into one. And then when you turned down my first offer of a date I realized that I had found my challenge. And I completely lost mon coeur to you forever. You are mon défi and I love you for that among many other things. Je t'aime so much that I want you in my life forever. In fact je t'aime more than my own life."

Crumbelina just turned her head away.

"You don't believe me, le faites vous?" Graham realized.

Crumbelina shook her head. Graham originally had kept most of his physical affection at bay due to knowing that she didn't love him back, but now he decided to prove his love to her physically.

"Maybe this will convince you that I am telling the truth." Graham said gently as he turned her head around.

Crumbelina looked at him confusedly...and he kissed her before she could react. She froze, shocked by his boldness. She almost became mad that he had taken advantage of her upset state...but then she started to feel his love. She tried to fight it but she couldn't deny it: his love for her really was strong and true. She now knew that he was telling the truth: he will never dump her, because he really did love her too much to do so. She also found herself starting to feel a little light-headed, and started to feel her heart beating a little faster. She panicked inwardly, realizing that Graham's love was causing her to love him back. She tried to fight it, tried to not fall in love with him, but she couldn't stop her heart from beating faster.

He then ended the kiss and smiled gently at her.

"You believe me now?" He asked.

Crumbelina, speechless from the kiss, could only nod.

"Bonne..." He said with relief. "I will leave you alone to recover now. See you plus tard mon belle princesse."

Crumbelina blushed, realizing that Graham thought of her as a princess. Graham left and Crumbelina collapsed onto her bed, mentally cursing her heart for falling for him.

She ended up spending a couple days trying to fight off her newfound love for Graham. She had recovered enough to join in the Roster Races though, so no one really caught on to the fact that she had a mental conflict. Her heart loved Graham but her head kept telling her to forget him and continue looking for someone from a noble family.

Another Roster Race began. Things went normally at first...until Citrusella found out that her steering wasn't working. She kept trying it but it was no use, so she then tried to hit the brakes. The brakes weren't working either, so she quickly honked her horn to warn the other Racers to get out of the way. Since she honked the horns desperately the Racers in front of her looked around and saw her scared face. They decided to pull over so that she wouldn't be able to crash into anyone. She ended up zooming past them and off the track. Sourward, who was behind her, followed her without thinking.

Citrusella kept crashing into plants and swerving/spinning around until she had crashed against a boulder. Fortunately the only damage was to her kart...and the boulder. The top of the boulder had broken off and was falling towards her! She screamed, but at that moment Sourward caught up to her and pulled her out of the way in time. The rock landed on her kart, crushing it, but Citrusella was safe. She hugged her savior at first before glancing up to see Sourward looking at her worriedly.

"Are you okay?" He said, actually sounding a little scared.

"I-I think so...but...I had never...my kart I..." Citrusella shivered.

"Yeah that was weird...we'd better take it to the mechanic later to see what went wrong." Sourward rubbed her back comfortingly.

Citrusella then looked at where the rock landed. Realizing what a close call she had she started crying.

"Citrusella?" Sourward said concernedly.

Jubileena showed up in her kart.

"Citrusella!" She gasped.

She ran over to them and hugged Citrusella. Kinda hugged Sourward too.

"Thank you for saving her." Jubileena said to Sourward. "I mean she would've regenerated but still..."

"Yeah...oh yeah." Sourward realized that he had forgotten about the regeneration detail, hence why he was scared earlier. "Well, I'm just glad she's okay."

"Same here, at least physically." Jubileena said sympathetically, seeing Citrusella still crying. "She's one of the best Racers here, a lot better than me anyway, and she had never crashed on her own before."

"Never?" Sourward couldn't help but be impressed.

"No...I think it'll take her a while to recover from this." Jubileena then turned towards the wreckage.

The other Racers showed up as well. Ralph did too.

"What happened?" Vanellope asked, really upset that one of her friends almost got badly hurt.

"I think something went wrong with her kart." Jubileena explained. "I don't know what though."

Ralph took the boulder off the kart and examined it.

"Well, lot's of things are wrong with it now that's for sure." He remarked. "I'll carry it to the mechanic so he can look it over and see why she crashed."

And that's what he did, with Vanellope thanking Ralph just before he left.

The other Racers, seeing that Citrusella was okay physically, decided to finish the race and give her some air. Only Jubileena and Sourward stayed behind.

Sourward was relieved that Citrusella hadn't been killed, regeneration or not...and then wondered where that thought came from. This caused him to also wonder why he had been so scared in the first place. After all she would've regenerated anyway, it's not like he almost lost her. Then...then he realized that he was still a bit scared. He couldn't understand why, Citrusella was safe now so there was nothing to scared of. He tried to shrug off his fear but couldn't. Even though he had completely calmed down there was still some fear in him. He looked down at Citrusella's sobbing form, and felt his heart twist painfully a little. That was when he got it: he had also been scared of her getting hurt. And now he was upset that she had been hurt emotionally. He just wanted to make her feel better again, to make her able to get behind the wheel again. He wanted to protect her from getting hurt again...he also wanted her to stay in his arms...he felt warm near her...his heart, despite it still hurting, started to beat a little faster...

"Oh no...I didn't...I couldn't..." He was shocked, it just couldn't be true.

But it was. He had fallen in love with Citrusella.

He couldn't figure out why. He thought he'd never love again, he thought his heart would never recover enough to beat fast for anyone else ever again. Then again his heart hadn't really beat that fast for Thembara, it mostly pounded, but that was beside the point. The point was that he had somehow recovered enough to fall in love again. He got mad at himself at first for being so foolish...

But then he thought about Citrusella. She was sincerely kind and sweet towards him...even after he went too far at rejecting her friendship she was still easily convinced to not give up on him. She stuck by him this whole time, no matter how angry or resentful he became. She went through the trouble to make things for him even if he hadn't accepted her gifts at first. She even shed tears for him when she learned about Thembara, she felt that sorry for him. If...if she wouldn't give up on him even when he was at his worst, then maybe...

No. Not again. He was not going to let his heart be broken again. He will never let love back into his life ever again.

After Citrusella had calmed down somewhat, Sourward walked her and Jubileena back to their home.

"Would you like to come in and help comfort Citrusella?" Jubileena asked as they neared the door. "I think she'd appreciate that."

"I'd...like to but...I think I'd best be getting home." Sourward hesitated. "Factories take longer than houses to build and...I want to see how things are coming along."

"Okay." Jubileena was confused about his hesitation but let him go.

Sourward left, and Jubileena thought things over. Sourward had actually warmed up to two other Racers besides Citrusella: Torvald because of her dating Bitalo...and herself because she's Citrusella's sister. So if he had warmed up to her and was close with Citrusella then why had he hesitated coming inside? More importantly, why had he hesitated continuing to comfort Citrusella? Jubileena just couldn't figure it out...until the possibility of his having fallen in love with Citrusella and being scared about it popped into her head. She shook that thought away, there was no way Sourward would've recovered that much this fast. From what he had told her Thembara had broken his heart so much that it was impossible for him to love now (after accepting Citrusella as a friend Sourward was able to open up to Jubileena enough to admit his past to her).

Jubileena decided to let go of the subject and focus her attention on making Citrusella feel better.

The next day the mechanic arrived with Citrusella's kart, brand new. It turns out she had been concentrating so much on trying to make Sourward feel better that she forgot to give her kart it's monthly tune-up a few days ago. After having repaired her kart overnight the mechanic said that it was good as new.

"Here that Citrusella? You can race again." Jubileena smiled.

"No I can't." Citrusella hung her head. "I can never race again."

Jubileena's smile faded. She realized that the crash traumatized Citrusella so much that it made her scared to race. In fact Citrusella was still so badly affected by the crash that she ended up spending the rest of the day in her bedroom. Jubileena stayed home to comfort her sister, fortunately not being on the Roster anyway.

After the arcade closed Jubileena decided to leave to find Sourward, maybe he'd be more willing to help Citrusella feel better now. Maybe he had only been shaken up last night as well and now had recovered from it.

"Sourward, there you are." Jubileena said with relief after quite a bit of time of searching.

"Is Citrusella okay?" Sourward asked, having been worried about her all day.

"No, she's now too scared to race again." Jubileena admitted. "Her kart's as good as new but...but she stayed in her room almost all day. I think she's sick with fear."

Sourward now looked worried.

"Take me to her." He said.

Jubileena nodded and led the way back to her house. She then led him into Citrusella's bedroom.

Sourward had been trying to deny his feelings, but today he couldn't. He could hide them, but he couldn't deny them. And seeing Citrusella emotionally broken up on her bed confirmed it: he really did love her. He knew because seeing her like that nearly broke his heart all over again.

"Citrusella?" He said.

Citrusella turned and saw Sourward. She got off her bed and ran over to hug him tightly.

"Sourward..." She sobbed.

He hugged her back as she continued sobbing. They ended up staying like that for a little over an hour.

It pained Sourward to see Citrusella this way. If only there was something he could do...then he got an idea. Maybe if he could get her confidence back she would go back to her old self.

"Citrusella, I know you're still scared but you're one of the best Racers." He said. "You can't give it up."

"But that's just it, I'm not. A good Racer wouldn't neglect her kart and let it malfunction on her." Citrusella sobbed.

"Even the best make mistakes. I did, after all, back in Limepool..." Sourward sighed bitterly; he then snapped out of it and went back to comforting her. "I know you can do it, racing...racing is in your code."

Citrusella pulled away from him and walked away.

"I can't, I just..." She collapsed and cried on her bed.

"I should go." Sourward hung his head and walked away.

Jubileena frowned and went over to Citrusella.

"Look sis, I know you had quite a scare yesterday but if you don't get over it now then you might never race again." Jubileena said. "I am not going to let that happen to you, especially since you are a better racer than I am. If anyone should give up racing it's me!"

Citrusella stopped crying and looked at Jubileena with shock.

"No...no you can't. Not after how hard you've been practicing." Citrusella shook her head.

"Well if you give up racing then I'm going to give it up too." Jubileena crossed her arms. "You mean more to me than racing anyway. I just can't race without you sis, it'd feel wrong. I know you can do it too, Sourward is right about racing being in your code."

Citrusella hung her head and thought it over. She really was scared...but deep down she didn't want to give up racing. She then looked back up and saw that Sourward had left. She left her bedroom and ran down the stairs...where she saw Sourward hesitating at the front door. Sourward turned around and pointed to the doorknob.

"Nutsy wouldn't let me leave." He explained.

Sure enough Citrusella's pet flying squirrel Nutsy was on the doorknob.

"Because he doesn't want you to leave...and neither do I." Citrusella continued going downstairs until she was in Sourward's arms. "Please stay, if it hadn't been for you...I mean I know I would've regenerated but..."

Sourward actually smiled.

"I'm not going anywhere." He reassured her. "Please Citrusella, let me help you...like you helped me."

Citrusella now smiled.

"Okay." She gave in.

Sourward hugged her again, and she hugged him back.

Speaking of 'change of hearts', Crumbelina was still trying to fight her feelings for Graham. She was lying on her bed the day after Citrusella's crash. Her pet poodle Tira was there too, unsurprisingly. Dogs after all always knew when their owners were feeling bad.

"How could I have fallen in love with him Tira?" She groaned. "He doesn't come from a noble family, not even a wealthy one! I know that shouldn't be important...but to me it is. I mean if I do give in to my feelings, then I'll definitely never end up with even a lord let alone a prince."

Tira actually growled a little.

"Tira, I taught you better than that." Crumbelina frowned, sitting up.

Tira glared at Crumbelina and put a paw over her heart. Crumbelina looked at Tira with shock.

"You're...you're actually telling me to listen to my heart on this?" She couldn't believe it.

Tira nodded. Even though she was a fashionable poodle she still had quite a few brains underneath her topknot. She was able to make smart choices, and in this case she knew that Graham was Crumbelina's smart choice. She knew that Graham unconditionally loved her owner, and that her owner loved Graham more than she realized.

Crumbelina shook her head and looked away. She thought back to all the times she had hung out with Graham...which led to her remembering what Henreesa had said about noble titles and noble hearts. Tears formed in her eyes as she started to realize how much she really did love Graham.

"I've been a fool." She said to herself before rushing out the door.

Tira just smiled knowingly.

Crumbelina ran through Sugar Rush until she found Graham outside her dad's Italian restaurant. He was having some tiramisu and...looked very sad.

"Is there room for me?" Crumbelina asked.

Graham looked up, startled, and turned to find Crumbelina standing next to him.

"Crumbelina...you came to me?" He sounded surprised. "I thought I lost my friendship with you after I...you know... I know it was wrong of me, but you were so miserable and I wanted to convince you that-"

Crumbelina raised her hand.

"You didn't lose my friendship Graham, I had just been conflicted for a long time." She explained. "My brain still wanted someone with a noble title but...my heart wants you."

Graham dropped his fork and stood up.

"Tu...tu m'aimes?" He asked. "You love me?"

Crumbelina nodded. Graham beamed and hugged her. She hugged him back.

"Your love is so strong and true that it...it made me love you back." Crumbelina explained. "I couldn't help it."

"Ma amour...Ma seul amour..." Graham said happily, sounding as if he was going to cry.

They pulled apart a little, and gazed into each other's eyes. They then slowly kissed. 8-bit hearts surrounded them.

After the kiss Crumbelina joined him for some tiramisu. They then spent the rest of the day together, finally happy and in love. When they separated later that night to go to bed, they kissed again...only this time Graham introduced Crumbelina to the French kiss. He started off slowly, just in case she wasn't ready, but she was. She returned the kiss quickly, until they both were kissing passionately.

When the other original Racers found out they were relieved and happy. They had been hoping that someday Crumbelina would wise up and forget about looking for a guy with a noble title. The new Racers were only happy, not having really known about Crumbelina's previous preference in guys.

By the next day Crumbelina was comfortable enough with her love for Graham to act as if she had always loved him, but she still had one problem with him: his outfit. At the time he was wearing red pants and a red shirt with a green and white swirled pine tree (think of those Christmas tree lollipops), green shoes, a green jacket with walnut colored buttons, and a white hat with a red brim.

"Graham, we have to talk." She said at the end of the day.

"Of course mon amour." Graham smiled. "What is it?"

"Your outfit, you have to change it." Crumbelina looked it over.

"Change it? Why?" Graham said.

"It doesn't fit the high standards I've set for myself."

"But this is my favorite outfit."

"I understand, but I'm going to go up in the world and I want my beau to look the part." She smiled flirtingly.

"Look, if you don't like the way I dress-" Graham ignored her flirting, looking annoyed.

"Oh no your outfit is fine, at least festive if nothing else, it just isn't stylish enough."

"But-"

"Please? At least consider it compensation for having tricked me into dating you in the first place." Crumbelina smirked. "You do owe me for that."

Graham winced. He knew she had a point.

"Okay..." He gave in. "What would you have me wear?"

"First of all those pants have to go." Crumbelina looked him over. "You need pure-white, not pearl-white, colored pants with a pine green stitch. That hat should be a red fedora with an emerald brim and a cream-white band. Loose the jacket. The shirt-"

"Ma grand-mère gave me this shirt!" Graham interrupted, offended.

"Unless you're dating your grandmother you're changing that shirt!" Crumbelina retorted before going back to the task at hand: "You need a red long sleeve dress shirt with a deep green vest, and if you're a good boy I'll embroider that pattern on your vest in white."

Graham groaned. Crumbelina then lifted a leg of his pants to see his socks. They were red and green striped. She sighed.

"I have a lot of work to do." She shook her head.

"Mère de programmeur." Graham grumbled.

"I understood that my sly amour." Crumbelina smirked.

Graham winced again.

"Okay, fine, but changing my outfit will be my only payment for tricking you oui?"

"Don't worry, it's only your outfit I want to change." Crumbelina chuckled. "I love everything else about you."

"And can I at least please keep the shirt my grand-mère gave me even if I can't wear it?" Graham pleaded.

"Well of course you can." Crumbelina laughed. "I said 'change' the shirt, not replace it! You can wear it on family outings, I just want you to look more fashionable around me that's all."

Graham smiled, relieved.

"Well, you do deserve to have a beau who looks as grande classe as you." He admitted.

"I don't know a lot of French, but I think you just complimented me." Crumbelina snuggled up to him.

"But of course." Graham nearly whispered, tracing her cheek with his thumb.

Crumbelina then kissed him on the cheek, and they gazed at each other for a while.

Crumbelina ended up spending the rest of the month putting together Graham's new outfit. Surprisingly she didn't let him be with her whenever she was working on it. He figured that she liked to shop alone, but what he didn't know was that she had a different idea for getting his new outfit...