♕Harley Anderson♕

I wasn't expecting Cameron to request my presence at six in the morning. However, I didn't really complain and rather complied with him. After all, he doesn't have to do this. I'm not going to lie; I'm not entirely impressed with his ridiculous time but it wasn't like I was sleeping anyway.

As I make my way down to the parking lot, the sky is only a soft blue with the golden hues of the rising sun illuminating it and demonstrating a new day; a new beginning. When I'm exposed to the chilly morning air, I tighten the drawstrings of my hoodie and spot Cameron leaning against his car. Only this time his car isn't my favorite masterpiece but rather the same Chevrolet he races in. I would be lying if I said that  not exited to get my hands on the car but I'm still a little disappointed because, well, it isn't his Mustang.

"Morning," I smile when I reach the black-haired boy. His pointy nose is red from the morning crispiness and his freckles remind me of my own. However, I seem to have quite a lot more than him.

"Morning. Ready to get started?" He asks from leaning against his car.

I nod. "Yep. But could you tell me why exactly we needed to meet up so early?"

"Your shift is at eleven. This way we'll have a decent amount of time."

I kiss my teeth. "Oh, okay."

"Or is there a problem?" He asks, cocking his head to the side as if he's daring me to say yes.

I roll my eyes at him. "Stop jumping to conclusions."

His lips twitch into an amused smile before he goes around to climb into his side of the car and I roll my eyes at him again. I follow him suit and breathe the air of the car in deeply. The smell of lemongrass and leather is present and it's a heavenly smell.

"Where are we planning on doing this?" I raise an eyebrow at him as he backs out of the parking lot.

He shrugs. "I know a place or two."

"Wow." I roll my eyes "That tells me so much."

Cameron returns my gesture. "There's an open road a few kilometers away. We're heading there."

I nod and don't say anything else.

"How long have you been driving for?" He asks me and I shrug.

"Since I was seventeen."

He nods and I watch him curiously.

"You?" I inquire curiously. He looks at me briefly.

"Since I was fourteen."

My mouth falls agape. "Woah. You learnt early."

"Yeah, well racing has always being a part of my life."

I smile at that, wishing I could say the same because, in fact, it did play a big role at one stage before Cyrus left. Everything went with that, including my aspirations to race. However, I guess you can say that I've never stopped loving cars and races nor have I ever really stopped dreaming of actually getting behind the wheel.

The rest of the ride is silent with Cameron's music playing in the background. We drive further out of town and into the open fields where there are hardly any houses. Or any form of civilisation, for that matter. He eventually stops his car beside an open road that seems to stretch for miles and miles without an end with clumps of trees here and there and I'm suddenly nervous. What ifI crash into one?

He turns to face me with a blank look. "Lets swap."

I nod and and we both climb out the car before we switch over seats. Now that I'm finally behind the wheel, my heart begins to pound and my hands begin to tremble. This is all on me now; I'm actually going to do this.

I shakily put my hands on the smooth steering wheel.

"This is your car right?" I ask quickly and he lets out a breath of a laugh.

"Obviously."

"And you're trusting me with it?"

He sobers up, licking his lips briefly. "First lesson; you're the one in control. You are the one behind the wheel which means you have the power to crash the car or not. It's up to you to make that decision."

"What if I lose control?" I ask with a frown.

"You still had control at one stage. You just got to keep reminding yourself that it's in your power to prevent it."

I nod and look straight ahead. "How many cars do you own?" I
continue, stalling, before looking back at him. Cameron rolls his eyes.

"Start the car and stop stalling, Harley."

I kiss my teeth.

"Stop the car near that tree." He says, pointing to a tree a few meters away. I do as he says and move the car there, it feeling strange to be driving such a beautiful car. When I'm in line with the tree, I stop the car on the road and wait for his next instruction expectantly.

"Step on it."

I gawk at him. "What?"

He gives me an annoyed glance. "Put your accelerator in and hit a hundred miles an hour."

I gulp and look ahead before following his instructions and moving the car forward. I clutch the wheel tightly, the feeling all but exhilarating. I try and keep control of my clutch so as to not stall the car and change the gears when needed.

"How will I know to change gears?" I ask him nervously.

"Listen to the car and you'll know." He responds and if I wasn't so nervous but ecstatic from driving the car, I would probably roll my eyes at his awfully ambiguous answer. Soon enough, I'm not able to focus on anything else but the road and how it feels to finally be in control of something.

"You're over a hundred, drop it down." Cameron instructs me and I lift my foot up off the accelerator slightly to drop my speed and change gears.

As the odd trees zooms pass us and everything becomes a blur, my nervousness is long forgotten. However, when I notice that we're approaching a sharp curve I begin to panic. It approaches faster and faster and I fumble with the steering wheel.

"Cameron." I grit out in panic.

"Listen to the car, Harley, it will tell you what you need to do. Drop your speed, lift your foot off the accelerator , change gears and when we're back on the straight road, press back on the gas."

I try and do what he says, lifting my foot off the accelerator as I twist the steering wheel and change the gear so that we can go along with the curve. However, I turn too sharp and the sound of the wheels squealing as the car twists onto the sandy pavements is heard. I cringe and immediately step on the brakes, sending me lurching forward so that I knock my head on the windscreen. I look in the review mirror to see a storm of sand behind us and I let out a relieved sigh before sheepishly turning to Cameron who is watching me with a raised eyebrow.

"Why did you do that?" He asks calmly and I sigh, swallowing thickly.

"I panicked, I'm sorry."

He shakes his head to himself. "You're going to get yourself killed if you panic, Harley." He scolds me and I purse my lips. "Get your head out of the clouds and put your focus into controlling the car."

I frown at his bitter tone before dropping my hands into my lap. I notice how much more serious he is when it comes to racing. I mean, he isn't the sweetest person in general but he's a lot colder as a teacher.

"I'm trying." I mutter. 

He ignores my words. "Reverse and lets do it again." He instructs me and I obediently do as he says.

****

I run a hand over my face and I look at Cameron.

"Let's take a break." He suggests and I let out a relieved sigh before nodding and taking my safety belt off. He climbs out of the car and I follow suit, standing beside him as he leans against it. The wind blows his hair back and I watch the movement before looking down at my feet.

"Thank you for agreeing to do this." I say rather softly and he squints from the sun, looking straight ahead. He nods at me in acknowledgment and I sigh.
"How are you so good at it?" I mumble and he finally looks at me. "The racing, I mean." I clarify.

He smiles to himself. "I give it my all. When I'm in that car; I pretend like it's my last moment to live. And I make it count."

"Does it scare you?"

He shakes his head. "I've known cars my whole life Harley. Fear has long since passed."

"Did your parents support you?" I ask and he snaps his head to mine, his eyes narrowing.

"You like to ask questions, don't you?" He responds rather defensively and I frown, my eyebrows drawing together.

"Excuse me for taking an interest in your life." I exhale.

"Well I don't need your interest." He snaps and I'm left speechless at his tone of voice. One minute he's civil with me and the next he's acting like a total dick. What's up with that? I scowl at him and shake my head with an irritated sigh. The least I can do is actually try and form a decent relationship with him and the least he can do is cooperate. It's not like I was asking him to kill someone for me or to put his life on the line, I just asked a simple question.

"My shift starts in an hour." I say after checking my watch. "I think we should head back."

Cameron nods, getting up off of the car and walking back to the driver's side. I climb in my designated seat and put my seatbelt on before we return the drive home. I take note of his change in moods- he was a lot more relaxed before where he's extremely tense and rigid now. Is he really that pissed that I asked him a simple question about his life? Or is he really that private about it?

By the time we return back to my apartment, there is a permanent scowl etched onto my face as I drown in annoyance. I grab my bag from the front of my feet.

"Thanks Cameron." I mumble, gazing at him to see him give me a nod in response. I sigh and open the door before walking to the elevator and heading back to my room. When I open the door to it, I am immediately greeted by the smell of fresh pancakes.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" A teasing voice asks and I let out a chuckle as I make my way into our open plan kitchen.

"What's the occasion that you need to make pancakes?" I tease and Audrey chuckles.

"Does there have to be an occasion to make pancakes?" Audrey asks me and I roll my eyes as she flips a pancake expertly.

"It still amuses me that you went into architecture rather than something got to do with food. You're amazing at cooking." I pull out a bar stool and take a seat at our kitchen island.

"Puh-lease. If I did that my dad would always want me home so that I can cook for him."

At the mention of her father, I feel disappointment flood my system. My father wouldn't give a shit about what I was doing, even if I was busy dying on the side of the street.

"Here you go." She wakes me up from my thoughts as she places two hot pancakes in front of me.

I smile up at her. "Thank you."

She grins just as I cut into the chocolate chip pancakes and swallow the heavenly goodness. She pulls a seat out opposite me and raises an eyebrow.

"So where were you?"

I shrug. "I was with... Cameron." I say unsurely and her eyebrows raise in surprise.

"Cameron, huh?" She smirks before taking a bite of her pancake that she has drenched in syrup. "Why is that?"

I chew on my lip in thought, considering whether I should tell her or not. Cameron told me not to say anything to anyone, excluding Audrey. And since she was out the night I met with Cameron at the restaurant, she has no idea about our arrangement.

"He's, erm, teaching me." I shrug before taking another bite of my breakfast.

She raises an amused eyebrow at me. "Teaching you? What exactly? The inner workings of your body?"

I splutter, joking on the piece of food in my mouth. "Of course not, Audrey. What the hell? He's teaching me how to race."

She laughs loudly at my reaction, throwing her head back. I blush brightly at her words before I shake my head to myself. Once she recovers from her laughing fit, she takes a sip of her water.

"Since when did this arrangement come about?"

I shrug. "I spoke to him yesterday morning."

"And he actually agreed to do it?" She asks in surprise, leaning back in her seat. I nod, watching her eyebrows raise higher up on her forehead. "Wow."

I eye her curiously as she continues eating again. "What do you mean 'wow'?"

She shrugs, looking back up at me. "I'm just surprised; Cameron isn't really one to do people favours."

I cock my head to the side, curious about her words despite already knowing that they're true. "Well he's made that incredibly obvious." I mutter and she laughs.

"If he agreed to teach you, he must find you somewhat capable of what you're asking him. Perhaps you two could even go a little further..." she ends off with a wink and I roll my eyes as I stand up and head to the kitchen, placing my dirty plate in the sink.

What boy would be stupid enough to get involved with a girl like me? A girl that has scars on her body from the monsters that once used to claw at them? A girl who has no control of her emotions? I don't want to hold anyone back from achieving their goals because of my own issues which means staying alone is the better option; the wiser and much more considerate one.

And I've come to accept that. I need to love myself and be there for me- because nobody else is going to do it for me.

I sigh softly, looking through the window in the kitchen that looks at a park across the street.

"I'm not looking to go further with him."

She scoffs. "Fate has a way of changing things."

Boy, did I know that already.

•••

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So this was the first racing lesson! What did you guys think of it? And what about Cameron becoming so defensive whenever Harley asks questions?
I hope you're all enjoying the story so far because things will begin picking up soon...
Also, if you haven't noticed, I update every Saturday.

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