Rebel With A Cause (12 page)

“Everything ok?” he’d asked.
She’d smiled briefly at him and
gone back to watching the rugby, and when the boys finally
went home to prepare for the race later that night, she’d made him dinner.

Just before
midnight
they
left
to go
to the races. T-Man
had originally wanted to drive
his ugly Skyline. Kaitlyn
had
complain
ed
about the interior.

“Seriously,” she
’d
whined, “could your car be any messier?” Empty chip packets littered the front passenger wheel well, along with empty condom wrappers and squished beer cans.

T-Man
had
rolled his eyes. “Don’t be such a princess.”

She
’d
eyed the car distastefully. “Is it even safe to sit? I won’t catch a nasty STD or anything will I?”

T-Man
had
frowned. “Girl, stop hating on my car. If it’s that bad
, why don’t we take
your
car?”

She
’d
hesitated, looking between T-Man’s ugly black and blue Skyline and her own Hatchback Impreza. Her car was definitely the nicer option.

“I don’t know…” she
had
said, chewing her bottom lip. “Carter bought me that car. It’s not mine, it’s his.”

T-Man
had
shrugged. “So? As you so sweetly pointed out, my car is the pits. Yours is new. I vote we take yours.”

Kaitlyn
had
looked at it and shrugged. “Ok, but you’re driving. I
don’t know where we’re going.”

It was a half an hour drive away, in Auckland’s CBD. The race was to begin at the intersection of
Karangahape
Road and West Terrace
, where it was usually pretty quiet
. Racers would drive along
Karangahape
Road, or K’Road as it was more commonly known, until they reached
the
Queen Street
intersection
.
Then, they would turn a sharp left, and drive
one point six
kilometres
downhill
, most likely speeding, until they reached the ferry building
.
They’d take a sharp right and drive until they reached
a short one-way street
. They’d go up
that street
and turn right onto Beach Road
, which was ironically, nowhere near the beach
.
They’d take a slow turn onto the winding Anzac Avenue
, a street famed for its cheap student accommodation,
and then merge into
one of the busiest roads in Auckland
. They would continue up Symonds Street until they reached
the other end
K’Road, which they would turn right onto and continue along until they rea
c
hed the start
line
again.

If someone was driving normally, at fifty kilometres an hour the whole way, and didn’t mind illegally cutting through the bus only part of Queen Street, it would take about fifteen minutes to drive the whole track. However, at the speeds the racers went,
it was estimated that it would only take five.

As T-Man and Kaitlyn arrived at the starting p
oint, Kaitlyn grew silent. Carter would be at the race tonight
, and after her mum’s shocking revelation this afternoon, she wasn’t sure that she could take seeing him.

Luckily,
looking good was her best defenc
e
, and looking at Kaitlyn now,
you couldn’t tell that she was hurting inside. Before coming out tonight, she’d changed into her leather hot pants that Carter said
made her ass look hot.
She’d teamed them
with a plain black tank top and an off-the-shoulder t-shirt in blue. She had a giant pink heart in it, with a slightly smaller gold heart poking out from under it. Instead of her usual high tops, she’d chosen black military style high heel boots.

She
looked
sexy, but on the inside,
she
was hurting. Carter had dumped her, her parents had split, and she had no one. T-Man didn’t count, because he was Carter’s friend, first and foremost.
He had to be, because Carter was a racer, and he was one of the best.

As she got out of the car – she refused to think of it as her car – she noticed that news of her split from Carter had spread quickly.
Many new racers, up and coming racers, and even some of the older racers were eying her up. She was glad that she’d dressed up for this.

Her eyes scanned the crowd for the one guy she
didn’t
want to see. She subtly searched for Carter, and found herself disappointed when she didn’t find him. Her disappointment was short-lived however, when his car pulled up
and he stepped out. He looked just like he always did, and her heart did a little flip. She wanted to run up to him and wrap her arms around him, never
to
let go.

She couldn’t, however, and she looked away.

She walked over to T-Man, who was collecting the bets for
tonight’s
race.

“What’s the stakes?” she asked, purposefully avoiding Carter, who was standing with T-Man.

T-Man looked at her and smiled.
“Fifty thou.
It’s a little more than usual
, but this race is longer than usual.”

She nodded. “Cool. Want me to start?”

It was T-Man’s turn to nod. “Sure. We’ll start in half an hour
. Feel free to mingle, or whatever it is you girls do.”

Kaitlyn cracked a half-smile, although she felt like she was dying inside.
She turned around and walked away
, not knowing where exactly she was going, but wanting to get as far away from Carte
r
as possible.
She meandered up K’Road, looking in shop windows at the unique sights of the op-shops, wishing that it was daytime and that she could go shopping.

She turned around and begun to walk back to the start line with her head down low and drooping shoulders. She stopped when she heard
hurried footsteps approaching her.
Familiar high-top sneakers came into view and she closed her eyes.

“Katie,” Carter said worriedly. “How are you?”

She lifted his head and looked him dead in the eye. “I’m just fine.”

His expression softened. “Katie, you don’t have to lie to me. I still want to be your friend.”
It was true. Carter loved Katie, but although he wasn’t good enough for her, he still cared. He wanted to make sure that she was ok.

Kaitlyn rolled her eyes. “Oh please. You’re an arrogant jerk
. You do what you want, when you want. I’m so over your bullshit.
You cheated, you lied, and you bet me like a toy…I’m so over you, Carter. Just leave me alone.”

She made to push past him and head back to T-Man. Carter grabbed her arm as she passed and pulled her into a hug.
She pushed him away.

“Leave me alone, Carter! I am
so
sick of you! Just piss off, leave me alone!” she cried. She
jogged
away before he could grab a hold of her again.

Deciding to give Carter a show, Kaitlyn walked purposefully up to Deangelo, the third hottest street racer, who was standing near his car. When she reached him, she pushed him until his back was against his car
and hooked her index fingers into the belt loops of his jeans.
She pressed her face close to his, until their lips were almost touching, and eyed them as if she was hungry for his kiss.

“So, Deangelo,” she purred seductively, “are you going to win for me tonight?” She looked up at him with her big hazel eyes, the picture of innocence.

She saw him swallow nervously. He was nervous at the proximity of their bodies – she was pressed right up against him, her legs on either side of his, pinning him to the car.

Luckily for him, he quickly recovered. “Yeah, sure,” he smirked.

She gave him a small smile and leaned in further, almost brushing his lips with her own. He bent his head forward
, but at the last second, Kaitlyn pulled away. He looked up, disappointed. She gave him a sexy, teasing grin.

“Now, you know I don’t come cheap,” she husked. “You’ll have to win tonight, if you really want me.”

His eyes darkened as he lusted for her. “I’ll win,” he promised, “and then you’re mine.”

She smiled at him. “We’ll see.”

With that, she walked away and over to T-Man, her heels clicking and hips swaying. She was putting on a show. News of her break-up with Carter had spread like wildfire, as she was the
hottest girl in t
he circuit. The act was her way of showing that she was available, and that she didn’t care.

As she reached T-Man, she saw him grinning.

“Man,” he said, amused. “I’ve never seen you like this before. Look what you did to Carter!”

She laughed. “Don’t know, don’t care. He’s not worth my time.”

T-Man looked at her. “Are you sure? He looks like he wants to crush De.”

Indeed, he d
id, for when Kaitlyn snuck a glance at him, Carter was scowling. If looks could kill, Deangelo would be dead. That puzzled Kaitlyn. Why should Carter care? He was scum, and scum didn’t care about anything.

She sighed. “He’s pathetic. Anyway, is it time yet?”

T-Man nodded at Kaitlyn
. “Yeah, go and do your thing Katie.”

She grinned and danced over to the starting line
, secretly proud of herself.
So far, she’d been doi
ng an ok job at concealing the hurt.

She stood in her usual position, and the racers got into their cars. She lifted her arms and they started their engines.

“Ready!”
she yelled.

The boys revved their engines.

“Set!”

They activated their special effects. Carter’s car blew
steam;
Deangelo turned his pulsating strobe lights
on;
Marcus
’s car spurted flames from the modified exhaust.

“Go!” she yelled, bringing her arms down in one fluid motion
.

The boys revved their
cars and shifted from first gear into third, almost
immediately
shifting into fifth after that. After the boys rounded the corner, they’d be straight into sixth. On the home stretch, they’d be using their nitro.

She wandered back over to T-Man, who was leaning against her –
Carter’s
, she reminded herself – car.
She jumped on top of the bonnet and lay back, closing her eyes.

“Going to sleep already?”

Her eyes flew open and
she looked straight at Bekah, who was leaning over her like a stalker
. Bekah laughed.

She pulled Kaitlyn
into a sitting position and sat down next to her.

“So I see
Carter
bought you a car,” she said casually. “Nice.”

Kaitlyn shrugged. “I guess.”

Bekah eyed her suspiciously. “Is everything ok with you two? I noticed you messing with De earlier. What’s up?”

Kaitlyn sighed. Obviously
Carter had failed to tell his cousin what exactly it was that he’d done.

“Carter broke up with me,” she said bitterly. “He wrote me a note and dumped me like I was trash.”

Bekah sighed. “That sucks, Katie.
”

She shrugged.

“Do you know why he did it?”

Kaitlyn shook her head. “No, and I really don’t care. Being dumped isn’t the be all and end all of my life.”

Bekah was sceptical. “Sure it isn’t. But look, for what it’s worth, I don’t think
Carter’s too happy about your break up either.”

Kai
tlyn snorted. “Yeah, right, that’s why he dumped me.”

Bekah looked at Kaitlyn like she knew something that Kaitlyn didn’t.

Kaitlyn saw the look. “What?” she snapped. “You know something, don’t you?”

Bekah faked a look of innocence. “I don’t know what
you’re talking about.”

Kaitlyn scowled. “You do! You
do
know something. So come on, spill. What’s going on? Why’d he dump me?”

Bekah sighed. “
Look, Katie, ask
him
. He’s the one who dumped you, so he needs to explain it. It’s not my place to tell.”

Kaitlyn groaned in frustration. She slumped back onto the car. “Yeah, right, like he’d ever tell me. He never tells me anything. He proposes and then dumps me. I know what he thinks of me.”