Chapter 1
This is it. The night I’ve been waiting for. I walked over to my AE86 hatchback in the parking lot while admiring it. I’ve put everything into this car, from the Beams engine, the interior and the exterior paint. Everything done by me.
Yes, I’m a girl. Yes, I like cars. It’s that so bad? My father’s job wasn’t being a mechanic, but he loved having fast cars and building them. From big muscle cars to Japanese cars, never European cars though. Thank god, I hate them too.
And that was how we spent our time together and I grew to love it too. We spend it at the drag race, illegal street races or just burning tires randomly on the streets. The AE86 was always his favorite car, he bought one 7 years ago from a junkyard and was slowly restoring it. But then he died three years ago from a heart attack and left my mom and me with just an AE86 on the garage to remember him by.
For the first few months I couldn’t even look at the car, it was his favorite car. But then I thought that he wouldn’t of have liked that I left it to rot in there. So, I decided to finish restoring it and made it my own.
I ran my hand through the body of the car. I decided a year ago to paint it a cement gray color and placed black BBS rims on it while lowering the car a little, it gave it better performance and it definitely gave it a sexy look. “You ready for today, baby?”
“Stop talking to the car, Kayla” My best friend of 9 years rolled his eyes at me as he came to the passenger side of my car, “It’s never going to answer you.”
I stuck my tongue at him while getting into the driver seat, “Shut up, you’re just jealous I treat him better than you.”
“Yeah, tell that to the scratch on the back bumper,” He burst off laughing “And the bump on the panel side.”
“Shut up! That was an accident!” I mumbled while turning the engine on, trying not to remember how I stupidly tried to drift the car and ended up hitting a tree, thank god it was just a bump, “I’m getting it fixed soon.”
“That’s what you said four months ago.”
“Shut up” I stuck my tongue at him “Let’s head over to the spot before the cops decide to ruin it early.”
We arrived at the usual spot a little late because Raf (my best friend) forgot to feed his cat and we had to turn around. The place wasn’t that full, it was a Monday after all, and we usually raced Thursdays and Sundays nights. But I had a reputation to uphold and mostly came everyday they announced an event.
I’ve been mostly unbeatable for two years and I’m not dumb, I know there are faster cars than mine. I guess I’ve had luck at my side all this time. Obviously, there were few times when I lost but I can count them with my hands.
“Did you cut your hair?”
Taking my dark brown hair into a ponytail -so it doesn’t get in the way when I’m speeding- “Dude, is the same as it always been.” I checked myself in the review mirror before getting out.
I was not interesting to look at, and mostly everyone thought of me as a tomboy just because my hobby were cars, but I didn’t care. I had curves, my breast were c-cup but I wore the wrong clothes. I wasn’t going to beg for anyone’s attention, I had my car and that’s all I needed for now.
“Hi pretty lady, you alone?” I leaned against my car and watched in amusement as Raf try to hit on a girl passing by, he didn’t even get a glance, “You do know most of the girls are here because their boyfriends took them, right?” Don’t get me wrong, Raf wasn’t ugly. He stood about 5′8 tall, his dark skin went well with his hazel eyes and short black hair but his humor sucked.
“You know, a 2jz on this car would look great,” A voice whispered next to my ear. “And it just arrived this morning.”
I glanced to my side to see Diego, a friend of ours. “Don’t give her anymore ideas, Diego, please,” Raf groaned while running his hand through his face. “You know how she gets when she hears that engine’s name.”
The 2jz is my dream engine, for me, it’s the best engine in the world. I’ve always wanted one and it’s always been my goal to get one.
How Diego has one? He dedicates to buying engines from Japan and re-selling them here.
Diego laughed “The guy backed off the agreement, and it was too late for me to cancel the order, so I have it and need it gone.” He shrugged, “And I remembered Kaayla wanted one. What do you think? Just give me what it cost me, and it’s yours.” Now that’s what I call a good deal.
“K, I know that look, you don’t need it.”
I stared straight into Diego’s blue eyes “How much?” My car had an 3sge Beams on it with around 300hp I worked my ass off. But having a 2jz? Just by having it on the car I could do 500hp without a problem.
“One thousand.” Dammit, I had $800 right now to spare.
“Danny!” Just my luck to have Danny, the one who’s in charge of the races, pass by at this moment “Find me a racer, two hundred.”
“Well if it isn’t, K.” Danny threw an arm around my shoulder and smirked, “Why am I not surprised you’re here?”
Raf rolled his eyes “She literally lives here, you know it.”
Danny laughed “I got two races for you today, three hundred is what he is asking.” Damn, that’s going to be a risk. “What car?” Danny pointed to a bright red mirage at the corner of the parking lot. “It’s that v6?”
“Nah” Danny shook his head, “One point eight liter, I think it has a turbo on it.” You think? I could see the intercooler from here, dumbass.
Risky for my all-motor beams but I think I could take it.
“2jz wouldn’t be a problem for that junk.” Diego whispered beside me. Raf glared at him “Shut it!”
“And the other one?” I questioned Danny and he grinned, “That one’s for free, he just wants to know who’s the pretty lady on the rare AE86 who’s beaten half of the boys here.”
I raised my eyebrows at that, “What?”
“Hey, Jace!” He waved over a guy who was next to a dark green civic two cars down from us, I think it was a 95 civic? The hood was open and I didn’t know much about Honda, but I could see that was a k24 engine, one of Honda’s best engines.
There is one thing I hated more than European cars. Idespisedthem.
A freaking Honda.
Don’t get me wrong, I knew they were good cars and fast too. But the people in the driver’s seat, were the worst. They thought the world couldn’t live without them and their cars were the best thing in the world. I mean, I loved my car, but I wasn’t going to force anyone to love it like I do.
The guy that Danny called Jace, waved goodbye at the other guy he was talking to and started to walk towards us with his hand in his pocket. I took the chance to look at him.
He looked to be about the same height as Raf maybe a little higher, black hair with blue eyes and a face that many girls will probably drool over, except me of course. He had on a pair of black skinny jeans and a grey t-shirt with ‘Honda’ written on it. A big ass tattoo that run from his wrist up to I imagine his shoulder or maybe more, his shirt hide the rest, but it looked like a dragon. Dammit, I won’t drool over a face, but I can actually drool over tattoos, I freaking love them. My weak spot.
“Danny” Jace shook Danny’s hand while staring at me up and down. “This your sister?” My right eye started to twitch at his question. Forget drooling over a stupid tattoo.
Honda guys I tell you.
“He wishes I was his sister” I grumbled, or maybe I was the one who wished Danny were my sister. Maybe then he will give me the 2jz for free.
Danny laughed “This is Kayla, the girl I talked to you about.”
“Ah,” Jace glanced at my ae86 then back at me “the unbeatable AE86.”
I shrugged my shoulders “I guess so.” Like I said, I know there are fasters cars and I’m not going to be like those idiots saying their car will always be unbeatable. But I really do hate getting my ass beaten by a Honda so I try not to.
“What you got?” I asked already knowing it was the green Honda.
“94 civic,” He grinned “the Corolla beater.”
I glared at him. No one insults my car. “Got a problem with my car, landscaper?”
In the car world we liked to compare Honda’s to lawnmowers because they usually sound like one and had it’s speed limit as well.
“ohhh she’s getting pissed” Diego whispered to Raf behind me.
Jace burst off laughing at the nickname I just gave him “What’s wrong, shortie?” Shortie!? The nerve! I wasn’t short! 5 flat isn’t short at all!... It hasn’t even been 5 minutes since I met him, and I already wanted to strangler him.
“You’re new in this part of town.” Raf eyed him up and down. I guess he was trying to change the subject so I didn’t have to go bury a body this late at night.
Jace glanced at him “Moved back here a few months ago.”
“Jace went to school with me back in the days.” Danny grinned. “Until his parents decided to move across the country in his senior year.”
“I don’t remember you” Raf frowned, and I rolled my eyes while answering “Dude, when Danny was a senior, we were freshmen so obviously we couldn’t have met him if he left during that time.”
“And...” I looked at Jace up and down with a look of fake disinterest “We probably wouldn’t of remembered guys like him”
Diego oh’ed behind us and I mentally smirked ‘take that, landscaper’. And I thought he was going to make a comeback, but he just stared at me with a slight smirk making me shiver.
“You cold?” I shook my head and mumbled that I was fine at Raf. Kill me now.
“Well I’m off to start a couple of races I already got before this gets heated” Danny turned to leave “You’re going to race or not?”
“What do you say, Shortie?” Jace taunted “Or are you afraid of losing to me?”
I gritted my teeth and stared at him dead on “I’m afraid of nothing.”
“Good.”
