Twilight isn't mine, but the idea is. I was inspired to write this after a marathon of Fast and Furious. All the songs on the soundtrack helped me create this, so you should check them if you don't know them.
Many thanks to my dear friends m0t0b33 and TeamAllTwilight for the pre-reader and beta work.
And to you, my readers and followers, thank you! I wish I had the time to answer you, but we can discuss stuff in my facebook group. ;)
Even though the days were still warm in the Arizona desert, the nights were getting colder. The dropping degrees moved the party to Jake's garage, which gave the others a first look at Mach One. Jake had kept the car's repairing progress a secret, not wanting to jinx it.
"Whoa, man!" Paul whistled, circling the car, admiring it from every angle.
It was still missing one seat, the hood and the engine was still out, but all in all it looked powerful and ready to win a real race. Edward was quite proud of his work. He hadn't invested this much time in repairing and upgrading a car in his life, not even when it came to his beloved Betty.
Sam was interested in some parts of the car, and Edward tried to answer as simply as he could, without making them look strange at him again. If he kept making mistakes, they'd figure out he knew more about cars and racing than them, which would get him in heaps of trouble.
After a while, Seth suggested they play something, and when the others started getting ideas on what they should play, he added quickly, "I was thinking about Charades. It used to be fun when we were little."
"Exactly, dude!" Jake groaned, rolling his eyes. "When we were five."
"It sounds cool," Bella admitted. "I haven't played that in ages. It's always fun."
Even Leah, who always scrunched her nose at every proposition for fun, accepted eagerly to do something to combat the boredom which had fallen over them.
Since Seth was the one to suggest they play that game, he was the first to mime in front of his friends. He thought it was an easy one—covering his head with his hands and turning away slightly. That should be easy to guess he was being an ostrich.
"You have a headache?" Paul wondered.
Seth shook his head.
"You're defending yourself from punches?" Jake butted it.
Seth shook his head.
"You're hiding," Bella said, sounding confused.
Seth nodded eagerly, gesturing for her to add more. She shrugged, blushing at the sudden attention.
"Wait, hiding?" Jake asked. "Some animal?"
Seth nodded, grinning.
"A rodent?" Jake tilted his head to the side, making Seth groan in defeat.
"Just tell us. We give up," Edward grumbled.
"Noo!" Jake hissed. "If we give up, he'll have to try again. We'll never guess anything he mimes."
To help his friends, Seth bent his elbows and started moving them as if he was a chicken. Obviously, all his friends thought he was one, which made him annoyed. He tried again, gesturing with his hands, showing them something round and big.
"You're…pregnant?" Jake laughed.
Seth grinned, showing Jake through gestures that he was close to the truth.
"An egg?" Edward frowned. It made Seth jump up and down, showing his thumb ups. "Ah, I know! That bird…. Uh, the name escapes me."
"Ostrich?" Bella asked tentatively.
"YES! At last!" Seth groaned. "You lot are no fun."
"I promise to go easy on you," Bella told them, taking Seth's place.
It didn't take long for the others to guess her word—bunny, especially when she crouched and started hopping around with her hands at her temples.
Though, the game didn't last after that, everyone complaining of how boring it had become. They chose to sit around the garage, eat candy and simply talk about different subjects—from taking over the world, to life on another planet and even plans on what to do after high school.
When Bella checked her phone, she shrieked that James would forever ground her. It was ten minutes to midnight. They'd never make it back before curfew.
"We can do it, if you allow me to drive that car like she hasn't been driven in a long time." Edward winked her, but he was worried of her response.
"Anything to be on Jimmy's good side."
They said goodbye quickly to the others and jumped in the car. She only had time to fasten her seatbelt when Edward spun the car around, screeching the tires, before shooting forward.
"Huh. Decent performance. Six seconds to get from zero to sixty. Could have been worse," Edward commented.
"Can you simply concentrate on driving?" Bella whimpered. "It's dark and you're driving like a maniac!"
He glanced at her, grinning.
Her eyes winded and she immediately pushed his face around so he was looking out the windshield once again. "Edward, please. Don't kill us."
He scoffed. "Have some faith. You're speaking to Speedy." He pointed to himself, then froze. Shit. I've done it again.
"Okay, Speedy Gonzales." Bella giggled, not understanding the true meaning of his words.
Edward drove at nearly one hundred miles per hour which brought them home in nine minutes. He parked near the sidewalk, screeching the tires loudly.
Bella didn't make a move to get out of the car, and Edward thought she expected him to open her door now that they were officially dating. He didn't mind. Rounding the car, he opened the passenger's door and extended his hand.
"My lady?"
"I don't think I can walk. My legs are shaking so badly."
"I brought us back on time, now we're going to be grounded because you won't get out of the car." He leaned inside the car, helping her out. "Come on, Bella."
She sagged into his side, her legs trembling, just like her whole body.
"This is probably adrenaline rush."
"Edward, how can you act so cool? You broke at least three traffic laws?" Even her voice shook.
Before he could answer, they saw a pair of headlights approaching.
"Seriously?" Edward muttered, holding Bella against his side. "I thought he was joking on coming to check on us."
"Jimmy never jokes when it comes to me."
"Hello, kids. I see you're back." James waved to them from his spot next to the cruiser. If he'd cut the headlights off, he wouldn't have seen the tire marks in the asphalt. "In a hurry to get here?" His eyes found Edward's.
"Well, we did promise to be here before midnight."
"I see. Did you speed?"
"James!" Bella gasped, scandalized. "You know I hate speeding. I wouldn't have allowed him."
"Right. Yeah."
James looked intimidating on a daily basis, but wearing his cop uniform and giving Edward that look, made the teenage boy wish he'd decreased the speed earlier, before parking like that. He knew James had ways to know how fast he'd driven, and it scared him.
The young ones went inside, while James went back to patrolling.
"You think he knows?" Bella wondered.
"I hope not, or he'll kill me."
"Great. Well, I'm going to bed." She yawned loudly, opening her room's door.
"No so fast, missy." Edward wrapped his hand around her wrist, turning her around. He towered over her small frame, grinning from ear to ear. "Good night, Bella." He leaned down, kissing her softly. Then he turned around and went into his room.
Bella stood rooted in the hallway, her fingers on her lips, swooning. She was sure Edward had no idea what he was doing to her. Finding her senses, she went to bed as well.
With Halloween behind them, the weeks leading to Christmas seemed to pass faster. Edward surprised everyone with his good grades, making Jake jokingly threaten him with being kicked out of their group. Jake and Paul had the worst grades from their gang, and while Edward was at the garage he put his friends to work—while he was getting closer to finishing the car, they had to raise their grades. It became a challenge of sorts, but the tests before the break showed Edward's efforts weren't in vain.
By the time Thanksgiving rolled by, Mach One was ready to be taken for a ride. Edward and Jake drove around for a while, until Jake took a turn for the highway.
"I should be back before dinner," Edward told him, panic bubbling in his chest. If his friend was about to do what he thought, and they got caught, he feared the consequences.
"I just want to see what this baby can do," Jake said eagerly.
"You'll see that after you drop me back home. Please, Jake."
"Sheesh. James doesn't bite of what I heard."
"Still, better be vigilant and not get on his bad side."
Caving to his friend's insistences, Jake drove toward the Swan residence. It must have been Edward's bad day because James was just pulling in the driveway when Jake stopped behind him. He even honked loudly, calling the cop's name out the window and waving.
"Do you have a death wish?" Edward hissed, getting out of the car and slamming the door shut.
James walked closer to them, looking appreciatively at the car. They had painted it a burgundy red. "Not bad, boys. Not bad at all." He nodded with a smirk.
Jake patted the door with his hand hanging out the open window. "Awesome, isn't she? Edward's an amazing mechanic."
"He is, isn't he?" James said amused, glancing at the boy in question. "Any addition installed?" he added, walking closer and leaning to look inside the car.
"Nope." Jake shook his head, checking inconspicuously with his hand if the jacket was covering the nitro tank. "See? Nothing out of order."
"Hmm." James checked for any additional button or anything to give away any sort of modification for the car, modification to help with racing. He found none, which pleased him. Edward had listened to him. "Do you want to stay for dinner?" Maybe this Jake kid wasn't that bad, and he had a preconceived image about him.
"Nah, Dad's waiting for me. He demands we spend some quality time together…like I'm the one staying after hours at work."
"Well, he's the head of your community there, kid. He's busy. Another time, maybe?" James insisted.
"I'll hold you to that." Jake pushed jokingly at James's hand to have him out of his car. "Bye, man!" He waved to Edward, before revving the engine, spinning the car around and flying away.
"You didn't teach him that by any chance?" James scowled at Edward.
"Not every bad thing others do, means they learned it from me."
"I still think you're a bad influence on Bella."
"I didn't give her the smoke, for the last time! And no, I won't tell you who did it, but for the last time, I tried to stop her. Swear to God."
"Fine, fine. Come along, now." James walked ahead. Edward trailed after him, calling the older man many bad names in his head.
James was speaking of an unfortunate event which happened a couple weeks back when he found Bella in his room with a cigarette. He'd tried to stop her, but eventually caved at her huge, pleading brown eyes. It had gotten him in trouble, too.
Once inside, they found Bella in the kitchen doorway holding a dishtowel, rocking on the heels of her feet, looking troubled.
"What's up, baby sis?"
She didn't look at him, but at Edward. There were tears in her eyes. "Don't hate me, Edward. I think I ruined the pasta dish you made earlier."
"Don't worry. We can salvage it."
"No, we can't. I burnt it."
"How is that possible?" Edward frowned, peeking inside the kitchen. The sprinkles had been on judging by the water everywhere.
"I tried to heat it up but…something happened."
"Isabella," James said in a serious voice, placing a hand on his sister's shoulder. "You're forbidden to step in the kitchen while unsupervised."
"I'm not a child!"
"What exactly happened?" Edward asked, hoping to steer them away from a fight. Both Bella and James were hotheads and it was rare when one of them gave up during a confrontation.
"What do you think?" Bella huffed, narrowing her eyes at him.
"You don't answer a question with another question, Bella. Just answer the boy." James tapped his foot to the floor.
"As I said, I wanted to heat it up…but it started smoking after a while." She explained with a shrug.
"Did you stir it while it was on the stove?"
"No."
"Or, add some water?"
"No."
"That explains it," Edward mumbled. "Oh, well. Do you guys feel like pizza? I'm sure it's still open at Carly's."
"Don't we have leftovers from the turkey? I'll make sandwiches. You two go." James pointed to the door. "Watch TV or something."
As the young ones left the kitchen, James set to work on their dinner.
"I'm so sorry, Edward," Bella whispered, liking their fingers. "Forgive me?"
He turned to her, cupping her cheek. "I'm not upset. It happens." He leaned closer, rubbing his thumb over her cheek. "But maybe your brother is right—you should stay away from the kitchen when you're alone. Or just use the microwave oven like everybody else."
She pouted, giving him the puppy dog eyes. He pursed his lips, but held her closer and kissed her softly.
"I can see you!" James called out. "Why do you think I said watch TV? I wouldn't be able to see through the wall you molesting my sister!"
Edward chuckled, pulling Bella after him to the couch. He fell on it with Bella on his lap, and once they got comfortable they went back to making-out.
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