Midterms and Parties

A shorter post, I know, but the next scene that I wrote has a gaping huge hole in it that desperately needs fixed. (Seriously. I made note of it while I was writing). But I shall post the next bit that is ready. One thing that I like about this book is the chance I get to unleash my frustrations about being a commuter at college. I’ve never felt like I went to college. Oh, I went to class, studied, presented, took tests, all that stuff, but I was a commuter. No one wanted to do things with commuters nor could I do things like other college students because I had to work. I’ve transferred many of those frustrated feelings to Amy. Poor girl. To the story!
********
A month had passed since her first win and Amy knew that the next race was coming up that weekend, but she couldn’t fully concentrate on that.

“Why did they have to plan midterms the week of the next Race,” she muttered as she drove Maxx to school. “It’s completely unfair!”

Maxx snorted. As usual, he wasn’t too happy about going to school. While he was no long bored all day as he listened to her classes through her, he was still transformed into a clunker of a car, complete with rust and squeaking wheels. He often expressed his disgust for the disguise at every chance he got.

“Well,” he said, “most Racers don’t go to college. Ever. As far as I understand, you’re the only one. Everyone else thinks your nuts…” He then sighed. “And the other programs make fun of me! I’ll never live this form down.”

“Oh, shush,” she told him. “You’re just fine. I gave you an engine of a sports car under the hood. It doesn’t matter what you look on the outside.”

“Beauty is only skin deep?” he suggested. “My ‘skin’ is ugly!”

“But you’re a fantastic car,” she praised.

He sighed. “Its no use talking to you.”

Chuckling, she parked him. It was the day before their next race and the day she had her last midterm. She focused on the final as much as she could, though she and Maxx went through extra training as well. This race was going to be different from the others. It was the first in the next series. The first where the Racers get to decide what type of vehicle that they would be racing in. Maxx suggested that she should stay with the normal car form, since she was most familiar with that.

“Wish me luck!” she said as she grabbed her backpack and rushed to class.

“Why?” he asked her, his voice coming from her head. “You’ve studied enough.”

“Thanks for the support,” she grumbled. “I’ll see you after the test.”

It wasn’t long before she was already at her classroom, the rest of the students waiting outside for the door to open. Most of them sat on the floor in silence, going over notes and silently mouthing the things that they had memorized. Amy quickly found Natalie and Aaron also sitting on the floor. Natalie was pouring over her notes while Aaron lounged with the sort of confident assurance that he would be fine.

Well. He was a Chemistry Talented. Of course he would pass.

“Hi,” she said breathlessly, sitting down next to them. “Feel ready?”

“No,” Natalie answered truthfully, frowning as she looked something up again. “You?”

“As prepared as I can get,” she grumbled. In the month and a half that the three of them had first sat together in lab, they quickly became good friends and study buddies. It wasn’t uncommon to see them going to lunch together or studying in the library.

“Professor Longhirst’s tests aren’t bad,” Aaron said, idly scratching his nose. “Multiple choice… a few math questions…”

“You’re Talented,” Natalie grumbled. “You don’t count!”

“Oh,” he said, mocking to be hurt. “You wound me.”

Amy rolled her eyes, pulling out her own notes and quickly going over them. Her grades were pretty good, but she had to keep them up if she wanted to stay in school. It was yet another requirement the Circuit placed on her when they agreed to let her attend college. Her grades had to keep a B or better or else they’d pull her out and she’d stay in the RCC.

She wasn’t going to let that happen if she could help it.

The professor arrived a few minutes later, unlocking the room so that they could file in. Amy actually dreaded this part. Yet another requirement that she had to endure so she could attend classes.

However, this requirement had been placed by the academy itself. Since she was a Talented Speeder, they feared that she might use that Talent to cheat her way through tests and take a quick look at her notes. As the other students placed their bags at the front of the room, such as all the teachers required, she took her backpack directly to the teacher, letting him lock it up under his desk. She’d only get it back when she turned in her test.

They worry about me cheating, she thought as she took her seat. I don’t need my notes to cheat. I could look at anyone else’s notes to do that. However, they were more worried about her notes than anyone else’s. And she was the one with the Talent to do things quickly.

However, the bitter thoughts didn’t linger as she was handed her test and she began to pour over it. Just as she suspected, the test wasn’t too bad, but there were a couple questions that she was certain that she had missed. A half hour after being given the test, she turned it in and retrieved her bag. The other students had noticed that her pack was locked up during each test. While no one had actually come up and asked her why that was, Amy had heard the rumors about why her things needed to be locked up during a test. Each rumor was more ridiculous than the last.

Letting out a sigh of relief as she left the class, she found Aaron waiting. She smiled and joined him as they both waited for Natalie to finish her test. She came out, looking much better than before the test.

“Alright,” she said, joining them. “That wasn’t too bad. Should we go to lunch?”

“I actually have to go,” Amy admitted. Both she and Maxx wanted to get a bit of extra training in before the race the next day. “Work…”

“You work a lot,” Aaron noted. “Most people who get into this school have scholarships. They couldn’t afford it otherwise.”

“But she doesn’t live on campus,” Natalie pointed out. “Didn’t you say that your relatives expect you to pay for some of your expenses?”

“Thus why I need to work,” she sighed. “I’ll catch you next week then.” She turned to go.

“Hey,” Aaron said, “do you work tomorrow?”

“Why?” she asked, wondering why he would ask.

“Well,” he said, glancing at Natalie. “We’re both planning on going to the big Race tomorrow. We have an extra ticket. You want to come?”

Amy froze. They were going to go to the Race? What if… What if they recognized her?

They don’t need to, she thought. It was her strategy to get into the top five. That would get her into the Final Races. If she could just win one of those spots, she would be fine. No one paid attention to the third, forth, and fifth places. First and second always got the attention.

“I can’t,” she turned down. “Work still. I always work weekends.”

They both sighed.

“Sorry to hear that,” Aaron said. “We’ll see you Monday then.”

“Monday. Bye!” She dashed off, suddenly feeling a pit in her stomach.

If they recognized her at the Races, then her simple life at school wouldn’t be so simple anymore.
**********
Jay attended the party the night before the Race. As usual, the Racers wore their clean jumpsuits, mingling among their Sponsors. This party was reserved for them with no reporters or fans to clutter the scene. It was a friendly atmosphere that permitted the sense of good sportsmanship and no ill will.

That would quickly change the next day.

Jay stayed a bit aloof of the party goes, preferring to people watch instead. While he was used to parties, and interacted in them all the time, there were a few parties when he just enjoyed watching instead.

His dad was on one side of the room, talking with his business partners and their Racers. He pointedly ignored those ‘lesser’ businessmen who tried to get his attention. Jay shook his head. When would they learn that his dad was only interested in the powerful? However, he couldn’t blame them either. The only way to get ahead sometimes was by linking with a stronger ally.

He watched that for a bit before becoming bored with it. He had seen this scene a hundred times in his life. Been part of it himself as well. It was getting repetitive, and he was only twenty-one.

He couldn’t stop himself from switching his gaze to the most fascinating person in the room.

Racer Aims, as usual, looked annoyed. She also stayed aloof of the party attendees, glaring a bit at anyone who tried to talk to her. Even her own Sponsor and fellow Racers avoided her. She often stalked into corners or around the wall, making sure that she was always on the move so that no one would be able to pin her down.

Jay smiled. It would be entertaining to pin her down.

Decided, he went to try to get her. He planned it just right so that when he finally crossed the room of people, she had stalked into a corner. The perfect place to keep her while they talked.

“Hello, there, Aims,” he said cheerfully from behind her. Aims whipped around, giving him one of her characteristic glares.

“What do you want?” she asked bluntly. Jay smiled. This girl was brutally honest and straightforward. There was much to appreciate in that.

“Just a nice friendly conversation,” he replied. “Would you like something to drink?” Even as he said it, he waved over one of the servers with drinks.

“I’m underage,” she pointed out as the server got to them.

“Don’t worry,” Jay said, taking two drinks from the server, allowing him to serve others. “There are fruit drinks with nothing in them.” He handed one to her. She held it, not taking a drink.

“It’s not poisoned,” he assured her, sipping from his own drink.

“This place is poison,” she rebutted. “What do you want?”

“I told you,” he said, “just a nice friendly conversation. Don’t you have those?”

“Not here,” she snorted.

He raised an eyebrow. “How are classes? You’re going to the Chemistry Academy, aren’t you?”

She stiffened, her bright blue eyes wide with shock. “How did you know that I’m going to the Academy?” she asked.

“All the Sponsors were told about that agreement between you and the school,” he informed her. “Whoever got you had to agree to that as well.”

She scoffed. “And here I thought that Williams approved it.”

“I don’t doubt that he did,” Jay said, waving his hand. “Williams has always liked the underdog and the hard worker. You were the perfect prize to grab to him. There were a few Sponsors who were disappointed that they didn’t win your contract.”

“So sad for them,” she said sarcastically.

“You’re classes?” he asked again. “How are they going?”

She sighed, consigning herself to having a conversation with him. “They’re going really great. I just finished my midterms today.”

He nodded. “Midterms and races do go together. I hated that when I was in college.”

She frowned, eyeing him with surprise. “You went to college? Aren’t you the ‘heir’ of the business?”

“I am,” he answered, grinning. “But just because I’m the heir doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t get my education. I graduated in Business Management from the State University here. One of the top of my class, truthfully. I could compete with Talented, if needs be.”

“I didn’t know that there were business management Talented,” she said, her tone revealing that she wasn’t convinced.

“There aren’t,” he corrected. “But if there were, I would be able to compete with them.”

“You have a high opinion of yourself,” she noted, scowling again. “You know that, right?”

“Of course,” he chuckled. “When you’re in my sort of position, you learn to fake confidence until you have it. Otherwise, you’ll be eaten alive.”

She frowned again. She did that a lot. Jay had only seen her smile a few times and he liked that look on her face. Though her scowl had a certain charm to it, the way her face lit up in a smile was worth so much more.

Suddenly, she glanced over his shoulder.

“Someone is coming to talk to me,” she said, side stepping him. “Excuse me.” She quickly walked away from him and towards Silver Fox. The mature Racer had been talking with their Sponsor’s associate, Roger. They both seemed a bit surprised when Aims joined them. Jay chuckled. So, she wasn’t above lying to get away from him.

It would be interesting to see how long that would last with him.

“Jay, what are you doing?”

Jay momentarily froze. Had his dad noticed that he was talking to Aims? He turned, finding his father staring him down disappointedly.

“Doing what?” he asked innocently.

Ford nearly scowled. “You know what. You were talking to that Racer Aims again. I thought I told you to stay away from her.”

“I’m just having a nice conversation with her,” Jay argued. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Ford sighed. “My boy,” he said sternly, “someday, you’ll learn to stay away from people like her.” His father then walked away, glancing briefly at the young Racer. Jay thought that he saw his father glare at her. Jay frowned. What was that about?
*********
Another hint of a more dangerous plot ahead. Next time, the revision of Amy’s next race. Enjoy the journey!