Mondays were the only day which didn't have any classes common between me and Nick. So it was easy to ignore him for most of the time. I would duck under the table when he passed my class, run to my locker way before Nick could make it, hide in the washroom when he accidentally found me in the hallways.

Things were going well, except for that idiotic history class that we had together. I had all plans of bunking it and going to the coffee shop if it wasn't for Lily. She pulled me by my hand and literally dragging me to the class, making me take my usual spot.

I tentatively chose the seat next to Miranda on my right and Lily to my left, leaving no space for Nick to sit beside. I had almost forgotten his presence, but then he came forward to offer me a pencil when I was pestering Lily about it.

I had turned a deaf ear at him, until he sighed and walked back to his seat behind. Wanting to grab my attention, he had started to throw small paper balls at me. When the fifth ball hit my head, I turned to him with a glare of my own. "What the fuck do you think you are doing?" I hissed.

"Getting you to talk to me." He smiled sweetly.

I let out an air of frustration and turned my attention back to the teacher who was lecturing about some guys who had died even before I was born.

"Nick Everest." The broody teacher called out, making me snap out of my little outburst. "I've been observing you for the past fifteen minutes, telling myself that you'll behave. But you've not stopped."

"What did I do?" Nick asked innocently, and I had to roll my eyes.

"Oh, then why do I keep seeing paper rolls flying at Miss Stone here?" She asked.

"It was by mistake, you can't possibly—" He was cut off when the teacher said, "Detention Everest." and then turned to the board again, scribbling something.

By the end of the day, I was wrapped up in guilt for making Nick suffer a detention because of me. What mistake had he done to go through that, anyway? He had liked a girl and had kissed her. I was the one who had assumed things were otherwise between us.

"You should probably check on him." Lily nudged my shoulder as we were making our way out the hallway.

I knew he was pissed at me. The detention just added fuel to the whole flirting with the jock in the party. I knew I had to talk. We needed to talk. It had already been a week since we exchanged those texts and neither of us has managed to make a conversation about it.

A lot of things happened after it too, making it difficult for either of us to start with the topic. And I messed up big time.

"From when did you start with worrying, Scar?" James laughed, as he walked towards us, putting his arm around Lily's shoulder. Lily glared at him, making him stop from his further comments. "What I mean is, you should get back to being yourself again."

"She's been through a lot." Lily said.

I didn't know for how long I could hide behind those six words to escape my reality.

"I think I'll just catch up with you guys later." I sighed, pulling my bag further up my shoulder. "Thanks James, it was the sweetest thing that you ever came close to."

"Awe, sweetie." James pulled me into his arms, giving me a bear hug. When he pulled back, he ruffled my hair, making me glare at him. "Brian was asking for your number, and since I thought you were kind of friends with him and I lent him. I'll see you later, bye."

With that, he was gone towing Lily along with him. "James! I'll kill you!" Threat flew into the wind and I knew he hardly noticed.

I heaved a sigh. One problem at a time.

I made my way to the library where the detention was supposed to be held.The librarian was sitting at a corner with a book in her hand, already looking bored. I peeked in to see if Nick was present.

To my horror, Nick was present with Sam, the one and only, whom I had spotted at the party. She was telling something to him in whispers and he was trying to hold his laughter.

My fingers curled at the sight that was unwinding in front of me. I walked further into the library.

"Nick?" I queried.

It was surprising that I had found the guts to talk to him, when in the morning I was too nervous to even look at him. I glanced quickly at the librarian, but she was too immersed in the book to even notice what was happening in the room.

Nick finally made an attempt to tear his gaze from her and then turned to look at me. The smile that Sam girl left with her whispers, still lingered on his face. His green eyes had a mischievous sparkle that I often saw when he used to tease me.

As soon as he saw my face, I could find a layer of anger mask his features. It wasn't that intense, but it was there nonetheless. "Scarlet."

It seemed as if he was struggling to say those two syllable words and that pained me. And just like that the whole purpose of me coming to him to talk vaporized in thin air.

"I..." I faltered, not knowing what to tell. I looked at him again. He was now folding his hands across his chest, waiting for me to continue. The blonde next to him was simply confused and looked alternately between the two of us.

I shook my head, trying to form words. "I'm sorry."

"Go on," He prompted.

I heaved a sigh. He wasn't making this easier on me. "I should have talked to you at the party and when you made attempts all day today. I've been acting like a bitch and I got you into detention. I'm sorry for that." I was looking at everything, but him. "And you didn't deserve that." I added.

"Scar," Nick said, making me look at him. "I don't know why you did that, but never try that ever again. Okay?"

I smiled at him. "I promise."

I looked at the blonde who sat next to him, with her own smile. I mentally rolled my eyes at her smile.

"This is Sandra, junior." Nick introduced her. She gave me a polite smile and I returned one back at her. "I met her in the party; she's so fun."

"Everest just likes to make fun of me." Sandra beamed, with a playful hit on his arm.

My anger bubbles were starting to rise again. "Great." I said with clenched teeth.

"Looks like I found a new best friend to mess around with." Nick said.

When the two went on about how great the other one was, I left the room without glancing back. My jealously meter was running and if I had stayed back, I would have done more damage to all the three of us. My anger was now mixed with pain and I wondered how Nick could call her his best friend when I thought I was his.

But that was how Nick rolled. He talked good and made friends easy. It was not difficult for anyone to not fall in love with him instantly. That was exactly what had happened to me.

Before I could do something harsh or cry out loud, I wanted some distraction. Without thinking much, I caught the next bus and went straight to the tracks.

"Hey Stone." Robert said, as soon as he recognized me. He was cleaning an engine in the garage that was at the far end of the tracks. His hands were messy and he had grease smudged on his scar that was on his face. He still needed that hair cut which was due. "Missed me? You made to the track early, isn't it?"

I stood silent, not wanting to pull the same topic back again.

"Don't tell me, you are here to compensate for the days you missed?" He trailed off and I had to roll my eyes. "Never mind."

"Well," I said, kicking a small pebble that was laying at my feet. "I do have to make up for the lost classes."

Robert's face lit up a bit. "That's like a good student. Wow, I never thought I was that good at teaching."

"Oh, don't fly too high there." I said, rolling my eyes at him once more. "But since, no one's around in the track, can I...you know... drive ?"

Robert laughed at this, pushing his hair away from his face. The grease smudged further, making his whole face black. "Of course, you can, babe. The more you practice, the better you get. The better you get, more cheers for me for making you better. Win-win."

I smiled weakly, pushing my bag at my shoulder.

"Scarlet?" Robert asked, just as I turned around.

He was the only person who called me by my full name. Most of them just abbreviated it and when it rolled off Robert's tongue, I often felt like I was caught making a mistake.

His brown eyes had lost its twinkle it held not a second ago, but now it was filled with concern. "Yeah?" I asked.

"Are you okay?" He asked, pushing his hair which had fallen across his eyes again, to have a better view of me.

"Yeah." I said, tucking an imaginary strand of hair behind my ear, not able to look him in the eye.

Rob took a step towards me, making me halt in my position. With his smudged grease, and uncut hair, he sure looked scary. I gulped in response. He put both of his hands on my shoulder and looked me in the eye.

"I know a lot has changed in your life over a small period of time. I understand and I get it." He said. "It becomes difficult to go at its pace and you'll have to run. Your lungs might give up as you try to make up to it. In such a time, never use the track as a distraction, get that?"

I blinked twice and looked at him. "Why do you say that?" I asked looking everywhere but him.

I heard him sigh. "Because I know."

For a brief second,I saw Rob being vulnerable. All the times when he taught me, he had always told me to have fun and roll as my guts said. But today, I had seen Rob standing in an experienced shoes drawing boundaries to the same.

May be he was not the one who he claimed himself to be. May be he was hiding under the mask of lame jokes and humor to get past his phase of life.

---

Rob had instructed me to be all eyes when I was in the tracks. I had to keep my eyes on the road in front of me and the road that lay behind me. I had to analyse what the drivers around me might do, if they had a second more to function.

All these while, I had always drove the car when the track was empty and to be honest, it looked safe. I didn't have to analyse about the other drivers, because Rob always sat next to me, telling me what to do next.

Now, as I sat alone in the car, adrenaline pumped through my veins, making me more confident than before. I did the same routine that Rob and I usually did when we started to practice. With no other cars around me, I knew I could go ahead with no much worries.

As I completed fifth lap, my mind had already mugged up the way I had to go. My limbs automatically worked towards the destination and my mind had completely shut off, leaning on my muscle memory to carry me further.

Thoughts of Nick came running back to me. What was I doing there, anyway? It was not a good idea to stay behind and ruin my life for some guy who wasn't even interested in me. If the circumstances were different, I would have probably got to the situation differently. But now, with everything going on, I was not so sure myself.

That one night had altered my whole vision on life. I didn't know what I was doing anymore. Instead of worrying about the boys on whom I had a crush on, I was sitting behind the wheels, making sure that I was winning against the best women racer that was known in the pit.

How was I ever going to achieve it?

Dad was in a wheel chair and without him, there was no income to my family of two. What about my education? Would I have to quit that too? To make sure that I was having a roof over our head?

In such a short period of time, my whole life had dwindled. My high hopes and visions had come down to one race. I hadn't concentrated much about how I was going to get a win, but now sitting in this car, I knew there was no hope for me.

It was all a lost cause.

Instead of wondering what will happen in the race, I had to sit and think about the after effects that the race might leave me in. I was losing the property along with shit load of money. From where was I getting it?

I though having Nick with me would make me stronger mentally and emotionally to face the things I had to, eventually. But now, I wasn't so sure.

I was alone and there was nothing I could do about it.

As I absentmindedly saw the rare-view mirror, I could see the empty track leaving behind me as I covered further distance. Just like how I was trading my old carefree life for a responsible one that was right in front of me.

Turning to my left, I felt like I had hit a small stone that made me clear my head from all the thoughts. That was when I realized that I was running into a pole rather than the shiny tarred road.

The first thing that ran my mind was panic mixed with old memories. Out of nowhere, I turned the steering wheel towards my left to avoid the fall, but it was too late.

The tires scrambled as the beetle hit hard, making a terrible sound of me crashing. The seat belt that I had worn had helped me not to hit my head to the steering wheel. Somewhere in the background, I could hear someone shout my name, but it was muffled.

The whole scene seemed like a déjà vu and I was having a hard time breathing properly. I had seen the same scenes unroll so many times in my dream until recently. Experiencing the same was something I wasn't ready for.

I tried to get out, get out of the whole scenario. But the seat belt had struck and I was not able to make myself out of there. Without much oxygen, I started suffocating, sweat droplets forming on my forehead.

My vision seemed to dull and my mouth was parched. I couldn't hear the shouts outside the car, asking me to get out, or at least open the car locks. I couldn't hear Rob's angry shouts, or his frantic hits on the window shield.

I knew I was blacking out. I knew I was losing my consciousness. I knew I had to struggle to make it out, but this seemed easy and peaceful.

The last thing I remembered before I completely lost it was my mother.

---

A/N: Unrequited love is something that eats you alive. If that's the case, let's take Rob's advice and never use tracks as a distraction. So, what do you think of Nick? Scarlet had an accident. Do you think she brought more damage to herself this time?