"Okay, Scar." Dan rubbed his hands together like an excited kid. "Time to get to work." He led me further near the car.

It didn't seem like any branded car. It was custom made for this particular race. I looked around and most of the cars, which I thought were used in racing tonight, with a hell lot of people surrounding it, was almost same as mine but with different colors.

"This is a racing car and we almost usually use similar cars when we race." Dan said, like a professor on tour, explaining his students about the monuments and its build. "The car might be rented by the game or brought by the racer, like the rules of the race."

I nodded in understanding. Dad's races were like this too. He usually raced illegally, and hence most of the games asked for his own car. I remember how he always complained about not having a nicer technology just for the heck of it.

"This one is theirs and hence the consequences if you put even a small tiny scratch on this baby." He ran a hand on the car's hood. "So, even though you don't win the damned race, just... make sure you don't dent it."

"Will you get to the point?" Robert asked from behind me, crossing his hands carelessly. "You are just scaring her."

Scared? I wanted to punch his face and feed it to the hounds. He acted as if the hell was right next to his house when I wasn't there when he wanted to pick me up. Where was he when I wanted him to be my earpiece with my first local race?

I took a long breath to calm myself.

I saw Dan roll his eyes at him. "And these buttons are mainly for quick access when you come over for change." Dan continued. He told me that one bright button was for loosening the gear parts so that it would be easier when I go to them in between the laps. The other one was for a similar function, but for the hood and then for the brakes, wheels and engine.

I mentally made note of them and because there are so many of them, I didn't want to forget and mess them all up.

"So, ready?" Dan asked with a smile when he had completed the basic course of the introductions. "Since you insisted on Rob to be your earpiece, I'm going to step down and watch you win the thing."

I looked at Rob in confusion. I didn't know I was having an earpiece in the first place, let alone to hire him, out of all people. Rob just gave a shrug in response to my glare - as if he was regretting the decision.

All the butterflies that I was having because of the race, seemed to have settled down. I was now more than prepared to face the race and prove Robert wrong in all the things that he was thinking about me.

He had not only insulted me, but had also questioned my dedication to the race. All my life I had wished to sit behind the wheel, not as a racer but perhaps but like a normal teenage kid to let her hair loose in the blowing wind. But I had been pushed to this career without my consent and this was the last straw to have a roof under my head.

But the sudden push had jostled me and never gave me time to settle. Things were moving very fast, not giving me time to adjust. But tonight, I was ready to make them all align and move according to the script that I was going to write.

I had decided.

I am going to win this thing.

Dan gave me a hug and left telling me how he was there to catch me if I fell, throwing cheesy and flirty lines in the air to ease my tension. Rob took his turn, with a lazy smile on his face.

He had clearly gotten over his bad mood, as if those conversations didn't happen at all. "Ready, babe?" He asked and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. If anyone else was going to ask the same question again, then I was sure I was going to poke the eye out of their face.

I turned around to sit in the car. I put on the helmet Dan had given me before he left, which had the microphone which connected me to my earpiece.

"Look here, Scarlet." He said. He pulled me by my shoulders and made me turn around to face him. "You do as I say, got that? Just like the race we went to last time. We have a deal?"

I pushed the shield of the helmet down so that he couldn't see me past the translucent screen.

"I'm serious, Scarlet." He said, his eyes getting darker by every minute. "Keep your head in the game. No distractions."

That I was sure. I didn't care if I won or lost - I just wanted to make sure that Rob understood that I was not his punch bag. Whatever his deal was, I was not going to be a door mat to get over his bad moods.

"I'm assuming your silence as yes." He tilted his head towards his right.

No, my silence was better than the words that would be coming out if I opened my mouth, probably with a good punch on his already scarred face. But this one would have stayed evident on his face unlike his other ones.

He finally let me go and I promptly got into the vehicle. I pulled my leather jacket tighter as I put the seat belt. The car was so wide that it almost felt as if I was sleeping in it. I adjusted the seat to my height and comfort.

As soon as I was getting familiar with my new surroundings, someone blew a big horn, making the crazy crowd silent. I looked behind and saw that Robert was watching me closely, his eye brows furrowed together as if he was analyzing me, but I could tell that he was not able to crack his answers yet.

I knew it was time. I turned around to face the way ahead of me. It was neatly tarred with white lines carefully drawn on either side of it. The black stones on them glistened as the lights fell on them. The sky was blue black with no clouds letting the stars shine brighter.

I turned on the ignition cautiously. Calculating the accelerator-clutch relation, I pressed on the gas. My edgy mental state had gotten the best out of me and the car suddenly squealed and huffed, and finally stood still.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Came a voice from the helmet I was wearing. My heart jumped in surprise at the sudden voice.

It was Rob, of course. The resentment in his tone was more than enough to encourage me to prove him wrong.

"You have been driving all this time and it's now that you seem to fuck it all up!" I could almost see him put his hands up in the air.

I did not speak a word and held it all in. I slowly tried again and this time, unlike the last time, the car moved further and I was gaining the lost confidence like I found the cure for cancer. I smiled as I stood in line with the other contestants.

I looked towards my left, waiting for the horn to go off to start the race. A guy who drove a similar car to mine, rubbed his lip with his thumb when he saw me.

"What the heck is he doing?" Robert asked from the microphone. "Tell him you can sue him and pluck his front teeth out."

If I was in a good mood, I would have laughed at him and would have probably commented about how he was making himself feel jealous. But now, I just rolled my eyes at Robert.

Seeing this, the guy in the car, kissed the air and winked at me. Disgusted, I kept my face away from the cars and looked forward at the abandoned road.

On either side of the track, crowd had assembled, holding a variety of flags, hoisting it in the air, chanting the name of their favorite racer. Many had radium bracelets and crowns stuck on their head, which did not seem to have any effect since the area was already well lit.

Two girls with mini skirts, too high for their own good, in a school like uniform, walked in front of us holding a black-white checker box flag. They looked slutty with overly done makeup and pointy shoes. They had even cut their hair to a short bob-cut. They seemed as if they were deprived of water, since they were sticking out their tongue internally thinking that it looked sexy.

"So freaking hot." Robert muttered, probably forgetting that I could hear him. "I should have been there, could have gotten the view of those asses at the least."

I regretted the decision of vowing to silence when I could have declined the offer of an earpiece and saved myself from his perverted thoughts.

A minute later after the girls almost showed their panties, they honked the buzzer for us to start. Unlike the last time, I tentatively pushed and released the clutch to get me moving. The race totally had eight laps, each with different directions and different settings. I didn't know if the same area was being reorganized or it was whole new location.

"You are doing good," Robert spoke. "But I think you can press the accelerator a bit though."

I was so mad at him that even when I felt like I needed to go faster, his words with the same thoughts made me halt.

I was not going to do what he was telling me!

I knew I was being childish, but I wasn't going to obey him. When he doesn't respect or even listen to my side of the story, he was definitely getting a hell of a ride from me. I pressed the break and the car stopped in the track.

The crowd which were cheering with different names of their favorite drivers, suddenly stopped and oh-ed at my pathetic state. I couldn't care less. All other cars zoomed past me, giving me a smirk before racing ahead. A better and sane part of me was telling me that I was being crazy. I had prepared so much for this and now I was giving it away for some playboy, all for my ego.

"What the hell?" I heard Dan's voice in the micro. "Whatever you two are playing at, this is not the time!"

Dan was mad. He was shouting with all his lung that my ear started to hurt. "Get you ass up and drive, woman!"

The urgency in his voice was more than enough to bring me back to sanity. I nodded my head at the road ahead of me and pressed the gas. The car obeyed me and ran faster than I had expected it to.

"Great, now you are behind them all." There was sarcasm in Rob's voice.

I seemed unaffected by his low talks and I raced further down the road. It was the first lap and I still had seven more to catch up with the others. As I zoomed past, I saw that it was a normal race. No fire or rocks or cans put in the track to misguide the racers. It was just as Robert had promised.

The crowd went on singing the name 'siren' and I wondered if it was a name of some racer who was racing for the first position. Just as I went further, there was a black car, which seemed easy for me to overtake and go ahead.

"You see that black one?" Robert came back. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "His wheels are aligned to left, so you need to go right."

The way Robert analyzed the situation still mesmerized me, even when I was mad at him. He had so much capability and I felt like he was wasting it all here for nothing.

"Make sure that you are at a good five feet distance from him." Robert continued. "There's no other vehicle behind you, so you are good to over take. When I say right, take right."

He was so authoritative and commanding. That alone made my hairs on my neck stand erect. I was not nodding my head to his orders. Not today.

So when he said take right as I was just behind the black car, I took left just to spite him. I knew the consequences which was probably end up being like Dad or better yet, dead.

Since the car was already lined to take a left, I almost dashed it on its bumper. Even a small touch is more than enough to get the fastest moving vehicles into a zone from which they can never recover.

There were so many times I had seen the same episode of cars pull the same stunt. I had always gritted my teeth together as I saw them topple. But right then, I understood that gritting my teeth alone was never enough to show me how much the racers bared.

It was like a sudden jerk. A roller coaster ride from the highest point to the lowest. Even though I wanted to open my eyes and see where I was headed, I was scared of what I might see. I gripped the wheel tighter.

"God, that license was a bad idea." I could almost hear him face-palm. "Now open your eyes, idiot and get back there."

This one, I didn't hesitate. I opened my eyes and I was taken aback with shock when I saw something hovering above my car. Out of the blue, it came towards my window to scare the hell out of me. I let out a small shriek , my hands already placed above my chest.

I heard a roaring laughter behind the microphone. "That's the camera, honey."

I let out a sigh and started again.

"Aren't you a deadly one?" Robert asked. "What am I going to do with you?"

I rolled my eyes.

"No rolling your eyes at me, darling." Robert cooed. Just as I was thinking how he got to know that, the ball shaped camera was running next to me. It was probably showcasing my face to the world letting them know how good a loser I was. "But it was great move, the black is out now."

I let out a sigh of relief. Now that the game had started and all the crowd got to know me, thanks to stupid Rob-freaking-Bert, I had to make my moves carefully.

But every time I wanted to follow what my earpiece was advising me to, the horrible things Rob said would come back and I would do exact opposite, giving the crowd the right amount of entertainment that was required to cash back their tickets. Other than my hyper moves in the game, the competition pretty much went well.

I realized that the tracks were the same for every lap. I hadn't spotted it on the second lap, but when I saw the same girl with a 'Siren' named cardboard when I was doing my sixth lap, it dawned on me. I felt stupid for not seeing this earlier, but I shooed it away telling that I was in the game and it was supposed to be good.

There was no much change in the tracks except that it was narrowing down by some width for every lap. Since I had practiced it with the almost broken road of our track back home, it seemed like a piece of cake for me.

When I finally went to get a boost-up and get the engines cleaned up in between the laps, making sure that I pushed all the right buttons to get them working soon so that I could not waste anymore time that I had already wasted, Dan glared at me.

"What the fuck were you thinking Stone?" He dangerously spat. "This is not your playground. You would have been killed. Killed with a capitol K."

Dan went on about how I was not only harming myself but my Dad as well. If he had continued for another minute, I would have crashed completely.

"Relax Dan." Robert walked behind him with a easy smile on his face. When he saw me, he just winked at me, as if to assure me that he would take care of it. "I know how to tame the Wild."

The uneasiness in my stomach vanished and for a moment I thought I smiled at the freaking Robert. Though I was glad that he had somehow managed the situation, I glared at him. I could have handled the situation so much better.

In the next laps, Robert had seemed to learn me. Whatever he wanted me to do, he said just the opposite, so that I would do exactly what he wanted me to do in the first place. I let out a groan that he was winning it even when I wasn't following his orders.

He just chuckled and continued. Though there were so many cars in the track, it seemed like I was competing with Robert alone and the fact that he enjoyed it, seemed to tick me off. The urge to prove him wrong seemed to rise like the bile and I had to gulp it down to calm myself.

"Goldie is just ahead of you." Robert said casually. "Don't you dare go and touch her side mirror now."

My palms ticked. I pressed on the accelerator and went ahead to reach Goldie. Just as he had told not to do, I ever so lightly touched the mirror with my own. In an instant the mirror broke apart and Goldie started to sputter and cough.

Robert laughed. "I saw their managing skills when he went for a boost up. They had forgotten about the wires in there."

That was why. I appreciated the fact that even though he was here with me, making snide comments for my every move, he had observed my opponents to strike them at the perfect timing. No wonder he was hired without any background check.

My car, in retrospect seemed unaffected by the commotion behind me.

"Only one more, Scarlet." Robert cooed, when he sobered up. "I don't think you can win though. The Siren's wailing."

I rolled my eyes.

"Now all you have to do is just go behind him. Keep yourself as near as possible, so that he can hit and run you." Robert snorted.

I huffed and went further. But Siren was more powerful and skilled driver than I had anticipated him to be. When I planed to overtake him from right, he went right. When I planed to overtake him from left, he went left. He made sure that I always stayed behind him.

The fact that Robert was winning with me following his orders, doomed on me. It was not a want, it was a need to win and show him that I could do it too, even when he highly doubted my abilities.

"Good girl, just stay behind and enjoy the view." Robert said. "These people are crazy to call out your name rather than Siren's."

I knew he was edging me, pulling me down so that I couldn't win. The crowd was now chanting my name too.

Wild.

If not for me, I wanted to win this to prove the people that the trust that they put in me was worth it all, unlike someone's whose voice was suppressing my resolve.

Just as I tried to overtake from Siren's right, through the side railings, he let me. And suddenly, I remembered the race my Dad took part in - the very one, which cost us everything.

Today, I was not going to repeat the same mistakes my Dad had done. It was time to experiment and get out of there without scratch. I still remembered the details Robert had given me that day, trying to flirt and showoff his skills with me. All I had to do was to bait him and then zoom! I should be getting past him in no time.

I maintained the same speed as Siren, making sure that there was some space left between the two of us. Siren went to his left, giving me enough space, but I knew what was coming. I stepped on the brake and came behind as the Siren dashed the railing, trying to hit me.

The same thing repeated for almost four times and every time, I reeled back to avoid the thrust. The nose of Siren was still ahead of me and I was losing time. There was only five kilometres left of the race and there were still cars behind me, taking this to their advantage.

I let out a shaky breath. I was glad that Rob had stopped talking and had let me think on my own. Siren gave me the space that I needed to squeeze in and when he tried to jam me to the railing, I knew what I had to do.

I pushed one of the buttons in front of me, to let me use the next gear, with high power and efficiency. Dan had told me to use them only if it was absolutely necessary. Now was the time.

As I pressed it, my car rocketed its way into the front. With the speed it was going, I thought I would be seeing my future in it. In seconds, I had crossed the five kilometre distance.

"You won!" Robert almost shouted in ecstasy. But my car hadn't understood the winning part. It just went ahead as if there was no tomorrow. All of a sudden I didn't know how to stop my own car.

When I hadn't stopped even when all the other cars had passed the goal line, I heard Dan in the micro. "What the heck is she doing? Eight laps are done, man. Is she going for another one?"

Robert just chuckled. "I think she forgot the part where she has to pull the button back to stop the impact. Just watch the idiot making a ruckus out there."

My throat filled with bile. He was making fun of me in front of everyone. I would be the joker in every race that I do next. How was that Ashley supposed to think me as a good competition when this was my condition?

For any racer to succeed, there was always a good team to support in all ups and downs, but for me - I was alone. Like a nomad searching for water in a desert, assuming that he found water when he only saw a mirage.

I finally found the button that I had pushed and pulled it up, back to its place. The car halted all of a sudden and I fell on the steering wheel, carried away by the inertia.

My team, came running towards me, cheering my name. The whole crowd seemed to go Wild as they chanted my track name.

All the wishes and greetings were going above my head. I felt nothing. I was the comedy piece that this field lacked and it seemed like I completed it. All thanks to the one who shall not be named.

The devil himself came towards me. "That was a grand wrap, I must tell, sweetheart."

I walked up to him, my tears held at bay. I didn't want to cry in front of him and fuel his pride and ego. With my chin held high, I gave him a confident stare.

"Fuck you, Robert Hastings. Fuck you." My voice was cold and low. And with that, I was gone.

---

A/N: I don't think Scarlet has understood the winning part. Do you? Did Robert take her to the edge? How did you think Scar coped with it?