South Gate, California
A nice hot sunny day in South Gate...but unfortunately today was a school day, no time to go relax and chill at the beach.
Isaac Newton High was one of the best schools in town, and right now it was bustling.
Geleel Barlett sat atop one of the benches clad in a black T-Shirt and some black cargo pants to match, his outfit was topped off with some retro Jordan ones.
"Come on Witwicky, where the hell are you?" Geleel questioned to himself as he awaited his best friend, Sam Witwicky.
The two had planned to go buy their first cars together today.
Ever since they met 9 years ago and figured out they only lived about 20 minutes from eachother, it was set in stone...the boys had done everything together, if one of them was trying something, the other was stuck in the mix too, a package deal.
As Geleel thought over the many things they did together to get to this moment, he couldn't help but smile.
The two boys who were seen next to eachother on every school trip, who begged their parents to let one another sleep over everytime one of them was visiting, were now growing into men who were ready to buy their first cars.
Geleel could've bought his car way earlier than now, as he had raised over 6,000 dollars over the Summer, but he wasn't going to do it until his brother had the means of getting his own car as well.
Today was that day, Sam had to get an A on his exam for his father to be able to purchase a car for him, Geleel knew he could do it.
Sam was a junior at 16 years old while Geleel was about 17 in his senior year, but they still made their best friendship work.
Geleel was brought out of his thoughts when a paper was slammed down on the bench next to him.
He looked up at the culprit to notice it was his none other than his best friend clad in a brown flannel shirt.
"You did it?" Geleel questioned as he stood up and Sam began filing through the papers.
"You bet your ass I did! Three As in a row!" Sam shouted as he showed Geleel all the papers.
"Oh yes sir!" Geleel exclaimed as they locked a handshake in and began jumping around in excitement.
"Wait, how did you get Mr. Krasinski to give you a A dude? Everyone in my class last year finished that shit with a B." Geleel said as he and Sam settled a bit.
"I guess he just appreciated my superior intellect." Sam said with as he began gathering his papers up.
"All aboard! The bullshit train is leaving the station!" Geleel exclaimed as Sam sighed.
"Okay, okay fine, I pressured him to give me one, look it doesn't matter how I got the A but I got it, alright? Now let's go get our first cars." Sam said as he put his hand out.
Geleel smiled as he instantly took Sam's hand and they embraced eachother one more time, he couldn't agree more with this sentiment.
The familiar honk of Sam's father, Ron Witwicky, car drew both of their attentions as they snapped towards it.
"Let's go ladies!" Ron shouted as he beckoned the teens over to the car.
Sam entered the front seat as Geleel hopped into the back seat.
"So?" Ron questioned his son.
"A-, it's an A though!" Sam affirmed to his father.
"Hey, woah, woah, wait I can't see..." Ron trailed off as he read the papers to see that they all in fact had As on them.
"I'm good?" Sam questioned his father.
"You're good." Ron confirmed as Sam and Geleel twiddled their fingers with eachother and made incoherent noises of masculine excitement.
"You boys ready? Buying your first car is the first step to achieving your full manhood." Ron said as he pulled off from the school.
"Well in that case, let's not waste too much time." Geleel said as he brandished his money, all 6,000 dollars was clad in a sealed paper bag.
A Short Drive later
Ron's car had driven smoothly throughout the city as the boys continuously bantered in excitement, they couldn't wait to get their first cars.
When they looked to see the Porsche facility coming up ahead, they began to get excited.
"I gotta little surprise for you son." Ron said with a smirk pulling at his lips.
"Dad no...you're kidding!" Sam shouted in disbelief.
"Yea you're right, I am kiddin, I'm not getting you a Porsche." Ron assured his son as he drove by the facility.
"You see this guy? Thinks he's a real comedian." Sam said to his best friend who was in the backseat shaking his head.
"To be honest, what we were trying to get from a Porsche facility for less than 10,000 dollars." Geleel said as Ron nodded at his son.
"Well atleast one of you boys is a realist." Ron said as the car continued driving.
"Yea whatever, what dealership are we going to?" Sam questioned his father.
"You'll see." Ron responded with another smirk as Sam deadpanned.
And sure enough...they did see.
Now Geleel knew they didn't have enough money to start buying super cars and expensive ones at that...but he didn't expect the dealership that Ron picked out to be this...tacky.
The dreadhead read the sign of the dealership, 'Bobby Bolivia's Finest Quality Used Cars and Petting Zoo.'
He instantly shared a look with Sam as Ron pulled into the dealership.
"Huh? What do ya boys think?" Ron questioned them.
"I don't think you wanna know." Geleel said as he shook his head and the numerous broken at battered cars in the lot...this was certainly not a good survey of vehicles.
"Come on now, who gets a Porsche as their first car?" Ron questioned with a chuckle.
"I don't wanna talk to you for the rest of the day." Sam said as they continued driving through the lot.
They failed to notice a yellow 1976 Camaro Z28 with black stripes on it trailing them...the car had been tailing them unnoticeably ever since they left the school.
Inside the lot of itself most of the cars were really not that good, like...safety wise and aesthetically.
One car that stood out, all the way to the end so that the trio of Ron, Geleel and Sam couldn't see when they got out of the green car, was a blue 1978 BMW M1 Coupe as it rested there patiently, it had only arrived their 39 seconds before they did...
"Nice scoutin Bee...now get in position." The coupe's radio seemingly sent out a message to the yellow camaro as it then parked itself three cars down from the coupe.
"Alright boys, I want you to meet somebody." Ron said as he ushered the two boys by their shoulders towards the dealership owner, who was unaware of their presence.
"Benny!" The African-American male shouted as one of his workers called back at the mention of his name.
"What?" The man dubbed as Benny shouted back.
"Get ya cousin outta that damn clown costume! He finna have a heat stroke again! Don't you know that scare white folk away?" The man questioned as Ron, Geleel and Sam stood in one place and took note of the clown in the middle of the lot twirling a sign.
"I'm hot and my makeup is melting! It's burning my eyes!" He shouted back as the dealer sighed.
"You seein this? I don't believe I'm seeing this." Sam said to his friend as Geleel shook his head.
"I really wish I wasn't." Geleel replied.
"You kids these days are ungrateful, when I was your age I was happy with four wheels and an engine." Ron said to them as they stopped in front of a old rusted Volkswagen.
"Okay dad, lemme explain something to you, you ever said seen 40 year old Virgin?" Sam questioned his father who affirmed yes.
"That's what this is." Sam said as he gestured to the Volkswagen.
"And this is 50 year old virgin." Sam then pointed to the equally old and rusted Honda civic next to it.
"50 year old is a stretch, that's going to the GRAVE as a virgin right there." Geleel said as he could see the springs in the car's seats popping out.
"Hey, no sacrifice no victory baby, you boys gon have to make this work." Ron said with a shrug.
"Yea that's even if any of these scrap metal experiments CAN work." Sam said in annoyance as he shook his head.
"Gentleman!" They all turned to the voice as they saw the car dealer walking up to them with a cunning smile on his face.
"Bobby Bolivia! Like the country except without the runs." Bobby introduced himself as he roughly shook Geleel and Sam's hands.
"How can I help ya?" He then questioned.
"Well my son and his best friend here, are both looking to purchase their first cars." Ron announced as Bobby's eyes immediately lit up, two people purchasing equals double the money he makes today.
"You come to see me?" Bobby questioned them dramatically.
"Had to." Sam said dryly.
"We had options?" Geleel questioned.
"Ya know...this practically makes us family." Bobby said with a feigned sincerity, the man just cared about the money.
"Uncle Bobby B baby...Uncle Bobby B, lemme talk to yall." Bobby said as he brought both boys into half hugs and began walking.
"Sam." Sam introduced himself to the man first.
"Geleel." Geleel then introduced himself as well.
"Well boys, your first enchilada of freedom awaits under one of those hoods." Bobby stated as he gestured to the cars.
"Remember, the driver don't pick the car, the car pick the driver." Bobby continued as the boys seemingly absorbed this information.
"Mystical bond between man and machine...boys, I'm a lot of things, a liar's not one of em, especially not in front of my mami." Bobby said as he directed their attention to his mother sitting in the lawn of the house next to the dealership.
"That's my mami, hey mami!" He shouted with a large smile.
The boys arched a brow when the woman's response to this was to throw her middle finger up at her son.
"Ohhh, don't be like that, if I had a rock I'd buss yo head bitch!" Bobby exclaimed as the boys once again scrunched their faces up; what the hell was happening right now?
"See, she deaf, ya know, get to say whatever I want without gettin popped upside my head." Bobby said with an estranged laugh before roughly slapping Geleel's shoulder, much to the latter's dismay.
"Well over here...every piece of car a man might need." Bobby said as he walked up to the Z28 from before.
"Now go explore your options!" Bobby shouted as Sam had seemingly already found his.
"This ain't bad, this ain't bad at all." Sam said as he began examining the Z28.
Geleel however wasn't too impressed with his options as he scanned the cars in the lot...there was literally nothing here that looked good.
'Come on kid.. please have good taste.' The blue coupe thought to itself as Geleel neared it.
Fortunately, as Geleel locked his eyes on the coupe...the car's hopes were in great taste, because the dreadhead had fell in love.
The paint job wasn't too shabby, the rims were nice and black, the car looked sleek.
"Now this is noice." Geleel said with an expressive accent.
Suddenly the driver door of the coupe popped open...it was as if the car was basically calling his name.
Geleel soon found himself seated behind the wheel of the coupe as he felt the steering wheel...the grip was very firm, he liked it, the car had a pretty nice interior too.
It was only a two seater but, there was atleast some space behind the seats to store things.
"What is this...?" Geleel questioned to himself as he noticed a weird symbol on the horn of the car...the BMW symbol should've been here but it wasn't...probably just a custom design.
"Looks like I found my first ride." Geleel said to himself as he fished his cash out and prepared to pay Bobby.
What happened next was so sudden Geleel almost jumped...every car in the lot had their windows shattered as their alarms went off.
Every car except the Z28 and the coupe he was in...strange.
"What the hell was that?" Geleel questioned Ron and Sam as he peaked out of the window.
"Destiny?" Sam said in a shaky tone as Geleel shook his head.
"4,000! I'll sell it for 4,000!" Bobby shouted in an exasperated tone...Geleel was confused by the man's distraughtness...I mean sure every car in his lot was practically worthless now until they were repaired but the dude looked like he was about to pass out.
Geleel didn't pay it much mind, once he saw the smile on Sam's face he knew his friend had found his first ride much like him.
"I gotta 'nother 4 grand for the coupe Bobby B!" Geleel shouted as he held the money up.
"Sold! Sold! Just get the hell out of my dealership!" Bobby shouted as the boys turned to eachother with a smile.
They had done it, they had secured their first vehicles.
Later
Geleel has separated from the Witwicky pair as he pulled into his mom's driveway.
The woman he loved most had just texted him to get home faster as her picture appeared on his lockscreen, it was his mother, Stacia Barlett.
Fortunately, she didn't drive so he had an easy parking spot.
He saw his mom exit the house as she came up to the coupe with a shocked expression..
Geleel couldn't help but smile, she looked so shocked it was oddly adorable, ya know, as far as mothers go.
"Baby what is this? There is no way you got this car for 6 grand." She said as she examined the coupe before her.
"4 grand actually mama." Geleel said as they hugged.
She immediately gasped and backed away from him at the mention of the low price.
"Geleel...did you steal this car?" Stacia questioned her son as he scrunched his face up and backed away from her.
"No ma! Sam and I went to get our first cars together and the guy gave us both of them for 4 grand, I promise you." Geleel assured her.
"He ain't no scam artist is he?" She questioned her son with squinted eyes.
"Wellllll..." Geleel trailed off as Stacia blanched at him.
"I'm kidding, I think he's good for it, so, what do you think?" Geleel questioned her.
"It's nice, I think it's great for your first car, but remember, drive carefully." Stacia began as Geleel repeatedly told her that he knew all of her road warnings already.
"Don't drive too fast tryna impress one of these lil girls, okay? And you're filling this thing up with gas, don't come tryna run down my pockets when you runnin on E." Stacia made herself clear.
"You got it ma!" Geleel almost shouted.
"Okay good, now come wash up and get ready for dinner." Stacia said as she placed a kiss on his cheek before entering the house.
Geleel smiled at her, that woman was the best thing in his life.
He turned back to the coupe...it was up there too on that list of best things.
Geleel gave his new car one last look before entering the house.
He couldn't wait for tomorrow, he and Sam weren't going for a spin.
Despite himself, he excitedly peaked out the window, ONE last time for the night to admire and look at his coupe.
Little did he know...the coupe was looking right back at him, whether he could see that or not.
Chapter Fin