Having just left the house, Preston was not at all surprised to see his little sister running towards her GTR. He had just asked her what she was capable of and she was surely looking forward to it. In fact, shortly after getting into her car, Faenys started it up and suddenly started honking her horn.
“I’m coming!” he said.
The young man walked towards Faenys’s car, but when he was less than a meter away from it, his little sister rolled down her window and told him to hurry up.
“Kids these days, always in a hurry,” he said again after letting out a deep sigh.
Zero finally got into the teenager’s car and she asked him if he knew they were only eight years apart.
“I’m well aware of that. What are you getting at, Faenys?”
“It means you’re also one of those famous kids today,” she continued.
The two exchanged a long look as the gate to their compound opened. When the way was now clear, Preston just told his little sister to start driving.
“You don’t have to tell me twice.”
Faenys shifted into first gear before releasing the brake pedal and stepping on the gas. With a loud roar from the engine and the screeching of the tires as they scraped the ground, the young teenager began to demonstrate her driving skills.
While it was only a few seconds that they had just left their home, the speedometer of the Nissan GTR was already displaying a speed higher than 100 km/h and it continued to climb. When the needle on the tachometer reached 7, Faenys put the car into fourth gear. She had never felt better. Every time her car accelerated, she felt like her blood was boiling. The adrenaline rush was incredible and it was showing on her face. Preston, on the other hand, seemed to show no particular emotion. In fact, he looked bored, as if he did not want to be there.
Faenys’s GTR had just passed the 200 km/h mark. However, the young teenager now had to slow down as the first turn on Route 44 was coming up. So, Kririah hit the brake pedal before downshifting into third gear. Another series of maneuvers followed, and the teenager’s car skidded around the curve.
“So, what do you think? Not bad, right?” she asked as she exited the curve.
“I’ve seen better,” he replied without a hint of excitement in his tone of voice.
“I’m just getting started.”
With those words, Faenys stepped on the gas. The young teenager’s car sped around the next corner, again causing her to make a series of maneuvers which ended in a spectacular slide.
While Kririah controlled her drift so she did not end up in the scenery, her older brother silently watched her every move. Preston thought her mass transfer and ability to control the vehicle were fine, but her shifting still left something to be desired.
“There’s still room for improvement, but overall it’s good. So, I wouldn’t need to…um.”
As Preston spoke to himself, his attention was drawn to something he saw as problematic.
“Teenagers and their stupid games. I guess it can’t be helped considering the road we’re driving on,” he muttered afterwards.
Faenys did not quite hear what her older brother had said, so he asked him what he was up to.
“Nothing important. Just focus on your driving and show me your best skids.”
“You don’t have to ask me a second time.”
With Zero’s new words of encouragement, the young teenager did not hold back any longer and went for it.
—–*—–
Less than two kilometers from Faenys and Preston’s location were two young teenagers having fun. One was trying to perform a particular trick with his skateboard, resulting in repeated failures, while the other was continuously filming him with his cell phone.
“Dude, you’ve been at it for over twenty minutes now. I’m getting bored. Get over it,” he said, lowering his phone.
“Never! I haven’t done that 360 flip yet, I’m not stopping. Keep filming, we have to immortalize the moment I succeed.”
The young teenager grabbed his skateboard and moved away from his friend while the latter, exasperated, started filming him again. After taking some distance, he ran towards his amateur cameraman and tried once again to perform his trick, and unlike the previous times, it was a success. Proud of what he had just done, he exclaimed with joy, abandoning his means of transport.
“Tell me you got that on camera! Dude, tell me you did it!”
“It’s in the box,” replied the other.
The young teenager immediately asked to see the video. However, as he approached his friend, they both heard the roar of a powerful engine and received a notification on their cell phones.
“A race!” they said at the same time.
“Did you know there would be one at this time?”
“No, did you?”
He nodded “no,” which made the two teenagers realize that this was something totally unexpected. So, they opened the King’s Racers app only to see that the engine noises they were hearing were coming from a car they had never seen before.
“Where that car come from?”
“Don’t know, but it’s making some pretty crazy turns.”
Both teenagers had their eyes glued to the phone screen. They could not help but admire the way this unknown driver was taking on the different corners of the route 44. As the GTR got closer and closer to their position, one of the boys had an idea that he immediately shared with his friend.
“What if we filmed the car as it skidded around the corner and then put it on social media?”
“Oh! Oh! What if we add my 360 flip too?! Imagine the number of views we’ll get,” he retorted right after.
“So cool! Let’s do that.”
With their decision made, the two teenagers grabbed their stuff and started to run the hundred meters that separated them from the turn that the GTR would soon take. Once there, all they had to do was wait and prepare their timing.
The noises of the engine of the Nissan intensified more and more, making the young boys understand that it would soon make its appearance.
“Get ready, it’s coming!”
“Yeah!”
As he held his skateboard with one hand, ready to launch himself at any moment, the young man had only one thing on his mind and that was not to miss his 360 flip. He had only one chance, and he absolutely had to do it. Concentrated to the maximum, he was only waiting for his friend’s signal.
Less than three seconds later, Faenys’s Nissan GTR suddenly appeared. Three hundred meters separated it from the bend where the two teenagers were.
“Go!” the one with the phone exclaimed at that moment.
With the signal given, the young man started to run. Meanwhile, Preston’s little sister pushed the accelerator pedal to gain as much speed as possible in order to take the next corner in the most spectacular way possible. She saw the boy running along the side of the road, but paid no further attention to him. Zero looked at him for a moment and then suddenly smiled.
“Let me give you a hand, kid,” he thought.
Zero abruptly told his sister to reduce her speed to 160 kilometers per hour and to wait for his signal before skidding off. The young teen wondered why he wanted her to do that, but she did not have time to discuss it with him. She slightly lifted her foot and maintained her pace at the agreed-upon speed.
On the young man’s side, he was already on his skateboard and was gaining speed. Not being able to turn around and look behind him to see where the car was, he could only rely on his instinct to perform his trick at the right time.
“Don’t fuck it up. Don’t fuck it up,” he thought at that moment.
Less than two seconds later, Preston gave the signal to his little sister, who then performed a series of maneuvers before beginning her skid. The next second, the teenager finally did his trick. While he was in the air, his skateboard spinning just below his feet, the Nissan GTR passed right behind him, drifting spectacularly.
With his stunt successfully completed, the young man landed on his skateboard as Faenys’s car disappeared around the corner. He then ran over to his friend, excitedly asking him if he had filmed everything.
“It’s in the box, buddy,” he replied.
“Great! Let me see it! Let me see it!”
The two of them then began to watch the video that had been taken, only to be fascinated by its contents.
“It’s crazy!” they said at the same time.
—–*—–
After about 20 minutes of skidding and speeding like crazy on Route 44, Faenys and Preston had pulled into a parking area. The young teenager was crouched in front of one of the tires of her car.
“Damn! I think I went a little too hard. It’s going to cost a fortune to change all four of them,” she said as she saw the state her tire was in.
Indeed, Faenys’s tires were in deplorable condition. They were worn and slightly torn in some places, which was quite normal considering the way she had used her vehicle until now. Fortunately, they were still usable.
“Money is no big deal,” Preston retorted as he leaned against one of the doors.
Kririah straightened up before saying that it was true that her older brother had a phenomenal amount of money at his disposal.
“And I guess you’re still not going to tell me where your money comes from,” she continued.
“You guess it right.”
“Hmm! How do you like my driving style? Also, what were those sudden directives?”
“You still have room for improvement, but you’re doing well overall. So, I could have peace of mind and sleep soundly during your dangerous nighttime activities.”
“My activities…”
The young man interrupted her before she could continue her sentence, telling her that this was something that was bound to happen and that she knew it very well.
“Anyway, as long as you don’t destroy any of my possessions and don’t put me in an uncomfortable position, I’m fine with it…”
At this point, Faenys could not help but think about the house they lived in and his car that was still in the container. He really cared about his stuff.
“Now, as for my sudden directives, let’s just say it was for a brief moment of glory. Anyway, it’s time to go,” he continued.
“Are we going home?”
“Not yet. We have one last place to visit before heading back home.”
“Really? Where?”
“The school where you’re going to learn from now on,” he answered as he got into the car.
The young woman clearly did not like the news, which showed on her face. She would rather spend her time driving her car on Route 40 than sitting in a chair for hours listening to boring stuff.
“Are you getting in or do you want me to drive?”
“Don’t touch my car!” the teenager exclaimed before getting into her car.
Faenys started her car and the two of them headed for East Vormer City High School.
—–*—–
While the brother and sister were on their way to their next destination, in an old warehouse on the eastern edge of the city, many people were reworking or upgrading cars. There were also those who had their eyes glued to their cell phones and were watching a rather peculiar video that was making the buzz on social media. It was nothing less than the video taken by the two teenagers in which one of them was doing his famous 360 flip while a Nissan GTR was skidding in the background.
One of them went to the second floor of the warehouse where there was an office with a white man and a black woman. The man who looked older than Preston was sitting behind a desk and was wearing a white t-shirt, all matched with a brown jacket, black jeans pants, and a pair of shoes of the same color. As for the woman who was sitting on his desk, she was dressed in a blue mechanic’s outfit whose top had been tied around her hips, revealing the white bra she was supposed to wear underneath.
“Mr. D, L, have you seen the video that is circulating online right now, the one of the GTR?!”
“No need to make so much noise. I’ve already seen it. I’ve seen everything that car has done on the route 44 and I have to admit it’s intriguing…”
“I don’t see why that’s intriguing,” said the young woman, interrupting Mr. D. “I don’t even see why everybody is making a big deal out of it.”
“What do you think, Eileen?” he asked, holding up his cell phone.
On the mobile device, there were images of Faenys’s car skidding around the various curves on Route 44. Seeing the different maneuvers, Eileen could not help but be somewhat impressed.
“Honestly, I think it must be another professional race car driver hired by the Carierrs to intimidate us.”
Following her answer, the man who had barged into their office asked her how she knew he was a professional driver and not just a regular racer.
“It’s very simple. The way he attacks the corners tells me so. The mass transfer between each curve is too fluid to be the work of an amateur. Plus, there’s no hesitation in the various maneuvers. Daniel, the person behind the wheel of this car knows exactly what he is doing.”
“I see. It’s always nice to get a driver’s honest opinion,” said Mr. D.
He then turned to the third person in the room and asked him to assemble a small team of up to three men and go investigate.
“I need to know everything there is to know about this GTR and its driver,” he continued.
“I’ll do it right away, sir.”
The man finally left the office, leaving Daniel and Eileen alone. It was at this moment that the young woman came down from Mr. D’s desk, who also told her that this new edition of the King’s racers would be much more competitive than the previous one.
“All the more reason to be prepared. I will soon finish the modifications of my LanEvo. As soon as it’s ready, whether it be this GTR or any other car, no matter who comes against me, it won’t be a match.”
“I’m happy to hear that. I’m counting on you on this one, Eileen.”
The young woman waved her hand in response as she headed for the exit door, which she passed through a few moments later.
—–*—–
Faenys and Preston finally stopped in front of East Vormer City High School. The young teenager, who was initially not thrilled to be there, now wore a completely different expression. She was excited. And for good reason, on their way from the parking area to the front of the school, passersby and other drivers had only looked at her car. However, these were not the same stares they had received when they arrived in town. No, these were different. They were filled with wonder and excitement at the appearance of this new car as it sped down Route 44 in a parade of mind-bending skids.
“Did you see the way people were staring at us?”
“How could I not have noticed? You kept talking about it on the way here,” Zero replied.
Preston did not share the same infatuation as his little sister. In fact, his character had not changed since they left the parking lot.
“Come on! Don’t tell me that having all those eyes on you didn’t do anything to you. Don’t tell me you felt nothing?”
“I didn’t feel a thing. I’m not the person behind the wheel. So, I don’t see why I should feel anything.”
“Too bad for you. I had a blast.”
“Good for you. Anyway, this is where you will continue your studies in parallel with your other activities.”
“What about you? What are you going to do while I’m at school?”
At that moment, Faenys remembered her brother’s reaction on the parking lot of the mall. So, she told him that if he wanted to, he could invite the woman he had seen to get to know her better.
“I don’t have time for that. I have much more important things to do. Also, please don’t make this kind of reference in the future. I already told you that love is not for me. This curse made enough victims,” retorted the young man with coldness.
Kririah found her brother’s words very strange. What did he mean by curse and victims? Had he been disappointed in love in the past? Who was the girl and what had happened between them? These were the kinds of questions that crossed the young teenager’s mind as her older brother told her all this.
“OK! I get it. I won’t bother you with it anymore,” she told him.
Of course, that was a lie. Faenys had no intention of stopping. In fact, she made this promise to him by hiding one of her hands with which she had crossed her fingers.
“Good, then. Let’s go back home now.”
With these words, Kririah started her car and the pair headed for home.
To be continued!!!