Oasis

Oasis city was big, big loud active, it was like most cities. The long concrete bridge that joined the city to the rest of the country, lead into the bustling city centre, full of shops and offices open at all hours. Tall skyscrapers with a dash of greenery were the mayor’s office had tried to place parks within the city centre. From the city centre to go West and East would lead you to the Beverly Hills of Oasis city, the paradise Lanes, streets and streets of big white mansions with tall fences sheltering long winding drives that lead to large marble steps and big black front doors. If you continue along these roads the houses get smaller more compact, smaller gardens, smaller drives, smaller doors, but still perfectly amiable houses. To go north you would find taller, narrower houses having three floors and narrow drives. To continue going north would lead you into the cities pine forest and along to its lake were there are large beach houses, again wide houses looking over the big deep lake. But if you were to go south the houses there had been turned into flats and rubbish spilled over the street from the graying houses with broken windows.
Oasis City although ran by a mayor, was a city controlled by racing. Street racing, all citizens new this. The companies and shopkeepers either were racers or paid racers to allow them to operate in there territory. Oasis city was broken up into four parts The North, South, East and West, within this each part was broken into races; streets turned into racing tracks. That crews competed for, if you win the race you win the streets and everyone on them has to pay you a fee, racing was a big earner in this city. To enter you have to pay and if you win; you win all the money as well as the street. If you control the most races in one of the parts you control it and everyone who races within it has to pay you. So if you were rich in Oasis then you dabbled in racing.
There were three main crews in Oasis, Dj who controlled the south, Clique who control the east and TkF who controlled the North and the west. There were also four crews who all have enough territory to be a threat but not enough to take over, Dolphins most of there races won in the east or the north, Black and Blue most of their races from the south and the west, Brothers their races from the south and east and Venus who won races mainly in the North and the West. Now it’s no surprise that because adult life is made up almost completely by racing it can only be consider natural that it seeped into the two high schools in Oasis City, spring fall West and Spring Fall East. Those who lived in the south and east go to spring fall east and those in the north and west go to spring fall west. Within each school the hallways and classrooms are allocated to those who win races for them, any argument or dispute was settled through racing. The two opposing schools compete in everything all year including races but there is always an end of school race were all racers can participate it offers a chance for those leaving school to show crews what they can do before asking to join. The only problem with living in Oasis City comes if you are naturally unable to drive and that’s were our story starts, in the north of the city. In a tall narrow house, its concrete drive way; leading to the grey steps and the old creaking oak door.

Chapter 2 "Great"

In a second floor bedroom a digital alarm clock begins to bleep with its annoying sound reaching the slightly pointed ears of the rooms’ only occupant. An arm reached out and hit the snooze button with her pale hand and chewed finger nails, before turning to lie on her back and stare at her ceiling. Her mind beginning to wonder to the up and coming school year, the year she had been dreading from the day she turned fifteen. This year driving lessons became compulsory; she would be paired with someone from her year and taught how to drive. The digital alarm clock began beeping again; she couldn’t lie here any longer and dwell on driving she had to get ready. She slipped from under the covers and walked to her wardrobe, she picks out a pair of white slacks and a blue tank top and lays them on a chair, she changes and then glances behind her, with two strides she walks to her bed and lifts the blinds, after letting her eyes take a scan of the road below she turns and heads again for her wardrobe and pulls out a white jumper. After putting this on she heads for the mirror. Standing in front of it she takes in her reflection. Pia was a small girl, she always had been. At seventeen she was only five foot two, she had mousey brown hair and dark blue eyes. She was not what would be typically called beautiful, but she was not unattractive you just had to look twice. But at seventeen having look twice beauty did not help anyone’s confidence. So Pia was a shy seventeen year old, her confidence not helped by her upbringing. She picked up a brush and dragged it through her hair; picking up a blue scrunchie pushes her hair from her face. She looks at herself for a couple more seconds then nods and pulls on a pair of sneakers, grabs her bag from the back of the chair and leaves her room.

Were her room was Pia had to walk passed all the other rooms on the floor; opposite her room was the main bathroom. Next to that was her mother’s bedroom and opposite that was one of the guest rooms, but had had Samantha her mothers second in command sleeping in there for the passed nine years. The other four rooms were one bathroom and three bedrooms which also held members of her mother’s crew, Susie the mechanic, Julie another racer and Cara whose main job was to work with finances and work out which races were strategically best although recently she had raced to. This left two guest bedrooms upstairs with a small bathroom which was actually used for guest although these were just mainly more members of her mother’s crew. Pia walked down the stairs that lead to the lounge which still showed signs of lasts night party; beer cans and vodka bottles thrown around. Pia sighed knowing it would be the same scene that greeted her when she returned tonight. She walked through the untidy room and into the dinning room which was the same, she didn’t even stop to look and pushed the wooden door to the kitchen open, the sight that greeted her was worse than the lounge and dinning room put together. Pia placed her bag on a chair and picked up a pair of pink rubber gloves, she started gathering cups and plates from around the room and placing them in the sink. She turned on the water and glanced at the clock on the microwave, it read five forty five. “This is why I get up early” Pia said to her self half exasperated but also half as though she was just telling her self so that she knew.

Fifteen minutes later in a house along Paradise lane, behind the steel gates and up its long winding gravel drive and behind its sturdy black door. And up its great staircase on the second floor another alarm clock was going off. From underneath the black covered quilt came a hand, this time it was not pale, it was tanned and large, it did not hit the snooze button instead the clock was turned off. The occupant of the bed swung their legs from the bed and stood up. Quickly pulling on loose tracksuit bottoms and a t-shirt, pulling sneakers from beneath the bed; pulling them on and going to leave the room, only as he was leaving did he catch his reflection in the mirror. Jay or Rider as he was usually known had a mop of black hair, which was only a few shades darker than his dark eyes that suited his tanned complexion very well. He had a strong jaw that seemed to show his good looks off more. He was tall; six foot five at least. He ran a hand through his hair quickly and left his room. He jogged down the long stairs and out the front door; still jogging he reached the steel gates. Slipping out of them he began to run, his large feet pounding the ground as he ran, his heartbeat accelerating. This was the way he began every morning, he enjoyed the sensation of his heart being out of control and how much adrenaline he could feel just from running, it was nothing like the buzz he got from driving, the speed, the danger gave him such a high that he couldn’t get any were else, but running was close enough at six in the morning. He smiled to himself, this year at school he’d final get a full license to drive. I mean he already could drive and was allowed to in Oasis; because he had a provisional but after these compulsory lessons he’d have a full license and would be able to drive outside the city. He grinned; he’d pass these lessons easy after all he’d been driving since he was fifteen. He arrived back at his house an hour later, still running up the drive way, he ran into their butler Joe.
“Hi Joe” He called panting softly
“Hi Master Jay” Came his cheery reply “Doris has got a good breakfast on for you, you know?”
Rider smiled and simply nodded to him. Doris always cooked a good breakfast. He entered the house and ran up stairs and showered and changed quickly by the time he’d reached the dinning room it was quarter to eight. Neither his mother nor father were there yet. Rider sat down at the table and began to butter himself a bagel, slowly wondering what Doris had actually cooked this morning.

Pia had just made her self some toast and a cup of tea, she sat gently on a stool next to the island in the kitchen. Slowly buttering the toast, the kitchen was now clean and tidy and it had only taken her about two hours, she sighed again knowing that she would have to do the same in the other two rooms tonight. Samantha was the first to come down; she did not come alone; after she came through the kitchen door a tallish figure came behind her.
“Morning munchkin” Sam said brightly. All of her mother’s crew had called her munchkin when she was little and apparently the nickname wasn’t going anywhere.
“Morning” Pia said quietly
“Wow I thought we left the kitchen in a right mess last night” Sam said. Pia didn’t say anything, she was used to this; no one would thank her for cleaning it unless she asked for a thank you and she wasn’t about to do that.
“Would you like some toast Max?” Asked Sam
“Yea” Max replied gruffly. They took positions at the table not the island and began to eat the toast that Pia had left on the table. Come to think of it Pia had seen Max before, he was always at her mother’s parties; she knew he wasn’t in her crew though. Venus was all women; but there were always men around. Her mother may want an all women crew: but an all women life no way. Her mother always had a new guy nearly on a daily basis. Her latest fix was Matt who was part of another crew, TkF; this was the most powerful crew in the city. Pia figured this was part of his attraction, other than his good looks; Matt really didn’t have anything going for him. By eight Julie, Susie and Cara were down in the kitchen, all greeting Pia with there usually “Hello munchkin”. Only Susie had come down alone, the other two had brought with them members of the all man crew Brothers. Pia recognized them because most of her mothers’ parties had all members of the Brothers crew. Other members of her mothers crew were now entering through the back door, many of the racers lived else were, but were here all day and most of the night. They all had smiles for Pia; she greeted them all gently and politely. By eight fifteen most members were sat either at the island or the table discussing cars and races. But there was still no sign of her mother. Pia sighed, she had to leave; she got up from her stool picked up her bag and left the kitchen throwing goodbye’s to its occupants as she went. As she reached the front door, her mother and Matt came down stairs. “Bye mom” Pia said. Her mother glanced around. “Where are you going?” She asked.
“To school” Pia replied simply
“At this hour, school doesn’t start until nine”
“I know but it takes me forty minutes to walk there”
“Walk? Why are you walking? Someone will drive you”
“Its fine I can walk. I walk everyday”
“You do? Since when?” Her mother asked surprised
“For the past year”
“Really?”
Pia nodded, she was not surprised her mother did not know this. She knew her mother loved her but she could get so wrapped up in her own life that she could go weeks without noticing Pia.
“Well goodbye mom. Matt.” Neither replied; they had begun kissing. Pia sighed again and walked out the front door. She was angry with herself, she knew her mother and the way she acted, but it still bothered her that she came second to everything else. She shook her head. There was no use thinking about it, it had always been the same with her mother and nothing was going to change that. She rounded the corner of her street and walked along the main road. She walked past the bus stop that would be full of students from her school in ten minutes. She could of course take the bus, but none of her friends would be on there; actually no one her age would be on there. Most people aged fifteen or over drove to school; Pia being the only exception to this rule. Pia felt as though she didn’t belong in this city, she couldn’t drive, she didn’t like driving. Everything about her was the opposite of what you needed to live in this city. She wished she could love driving like her mom and want to join and drive in the crew; but every time she got in a car she did more damage than good. And now someone at school was not going to get there license because of her. She turned the last corner and her school came into view. It was quarter to nine and there were students running everywhere. Pia walked along the side walk and up past the school gates and into the car park. She was walking thinking about driving and totally in a world of her own; that she didn’t notice the bike until it was nearly on top of her. She jumped down into an empty parking space, just as a black sports car turned into it. Pia heard the screeching breaks and turned to fined herself staring into the dark eyes of Jay Rider. The most popular boy in school “Great” Pia whispered.

(An hour earlier)

Jay had just finished his bagel when his father entered the room.
“Morning Jay” Henry Rider was a tall man and as dark haired as his son but he had blue eyes and was not as tanned as his son. Henry was a very successful business man and Mayor of Oasis city. He was a very powerful man but more than that he was the leader of TkF, the most powerful crew.
“Morning’. Where’s mom?” Jay asked
“Still getting ready. Are you all ready for your first day back at school?”
“Yep, can’t wait. A full driving license. Finally.” Jay grinned. His father smiled at him.
“I know. You know what that means don’t you?” Jay shook his head.
“It means that I want you driving for TkF outside Oasis as well” Henry said
“Really Dad? You mean it?” Jay gushed
“You bet” His father said. Jay had only raced in a few races within Oasis, but his father knew he was good. He had won all his races against racers who had ten times more experience than Jay did; he had raw talent that Henry wouldn’t waste. Just then his Mother Sarah came through the door.
“Morning Darlings” She said smiling at her husband Sarah Rider was tall with long legs. Long blonde hair and dark brown eyes, she was a beautiful woman.
“Did you both sleep ok?” She asked
“Yep”
“Like a log” Came both the replies, as Doris brought out their cooked breakfast, the conversation turned to races that were up and coming and of course Jay school year. As twenty past eight rolled around Jay lifted himself from the table.
“Bye mom. Bye Dad” He said
“Why are you leaving so early?” His mother asked
“I have got to pick Tom up mom”
“Oh ok. Well have a good day”
“Knock um’ dead” His father called as he left the room.
Jay ran to his room pick up his bag and wallet. He then ran bag down the grand staircase but instead of going out the front door he took a door to the right which lead into a very large garage. Which was holding about twenty cars, he looked around there was no one here which was odd. The two mechanics’ should have been here; he wondered were Tony and Matt could be. Not many of the TkF crew came to the house early in the mornings because they all had houses in the city. But Matt and Tony were the exception, they were always here. Oh well he’d see them tonight when he got back. He walked over to the other side of the room were his car was. It was a black sports car, he loved this car. It wasn’t the car he raced in but he still loved it. He slid into the driver’s seat and turned on the engine. He left the garage and drove down the drive. Once on the road he really let the car pick up speed. This is heaven he thought to himself. On the corner of one of the roads with the slightly smaller houses. Stood the five foot eight Tom. His sandy hair blowing in the wind. Jay pulled the car up next to him.
“Rider!” Tom greeted him with a huge smile “All ready for this year at school”
“You bet man” Jay grinned “driving lessons, racing, basketball, and girls”
“And man are the girls fine. I saw Chloe the other day and I have got to say she has just got fitter over the summer.”
“Is that even possible?” Jay asked with yet another grin
“Oh it is. It’s a shame she’s so into you, but oh well plenty more to go around” As Jay began to drive again the conversation went to basketball, as they turned the last corner and the school came into view, they were discussing racing. They drove into the car park and swung into a space and Jay wouldn’t have noticed her if Tom hadn’t shouted “SHIT”
Jay looked up saw her standing in the space and slammed on the breaks. The car stopped just before her.
“What’s that geek doing?” Tom asked He’d seen her before and knew she was in his year but couldn’t remember her name.
Jay was just looking into the girls dark blue eyes. “Great” he said.

Chapter three “What have you got?”

Pia was stood in shock, just staring into the car, it was only when he gestured his hands in a “move out of the way” gesture. Did she mutter “Sorry” and ran into the school. What a great way to start the year, nearly getting run over, And by Rider. She reached the door that lead to the lockers. There was a green tag on the left of the door, Pia signed Rider owned this and if he was really pissed off about this morning, he could stop her going to her locker. It wasn’t fair just because he could drive, he could decide who was late to class by only allowing them in his territory when the bell had gone. This was going to be a long school year. She had reached her locker at the same time as her best friend Erica. Erica was taller than Pia and had blonde hair; she was pretty enough but was so quite she hardly ever got noticed.
“You look flustered” She said as soon as she saw Pia
“Yeah well I nearly got ran over”
“What? How?
“A bike nearly ran me over, so I stepped into the car park and a car nearly hit me!” Pia told the story very fast.
“Well what a great way to begin the year” Erica joked
“That’s not the worst part; the driver of the car was Rider”
“No!!!! Was he mad?”
“I don’t know, I think more surprised than anything”
“Well that’s ok. He might forget about it”
“I hope so.” Pia said sadly “So where are Rachel and Megan?”
“I think Rachel is with Kyle and I think Megan went to get to talk to Richard”
“Is she still not over him? She’s had a crush on him since before Rachel and Kyle started seeing each other”
“I know but we can’t force her to get over him can we? I still can’t believe Rach is still with that prick”
“We can’t tell her that either, you know she thinks the sun shines out of his backside just because he’s a racer”
“I know that Pia. But I’d just wish she’d see that because he’s a racer he is a prick”
Pia laughed it was true Kyle wasn’t the nicest person, but Rachel was never going to see that because she was going out with some one so out of her league. Pia wasn’t being horrible or anything it was just the truth. Kyle was a racer, on the basketball team; friends with the likes of Rider. They usually didn’t go out with anyone who wasn’t deemed perfect and popular. And her, Erica, Megan and Rachel were anything but. Pia thought that is half the reason Richard won’t notice Megan because of her social status. It hadn’t improved even though one of them was dating a racer. Rachel was the prettiest of the group; she was tall, with long legs and blonder hair than Erica’s and a pretty face. The other three would probably never date anyone close to a racer let alone one, so when he had first asked Rachel out the four of them had gone over every little detail of there dates and conversations. Because it was the nearest the others were going to get, now after six months Pia thought they were finally getting past this.
“So looking forward to our driving lessons?” Erica asked with a grin
“Oh yeah, I can’t wait” Pia replied sarcastically
“They won’t be that bad, they might even be, do I dare say it fun”
“For you maybe, you know what happens when I get in a car!”
Before Erica could answer the bell rang. “You’ll be fine” She said “Have you got science first to?” She asked
“Yep” Pia answered quietly because she had remembered who else had that class. Rider, she only had one class with him science. She couldn’t believe this.

(Stood at Rider’s locker)

“Can you believe that geek?” Tom was fuming
“I don’t think she did it deliberately Tom” Jay said taking books from his locker
“What the hell was she doing in that parking space?”
“I don’t know. What’s her name do you know?”
“No, but I know she’s one of Rachel’s you know Kyle’s girlfriends friends”
Rider had a lot of friends but his closest were Tom, Kyle, Richard and Sam, they had been friends since kindergarten.
“Oh ok” Was all that Jay said
“Why are you going to put restrictions on her?” Tom asked with a grin
“No she hasn’t done anything, I’m not punishing her for something I nearly did” Jay said with a laugh. , before Tom could respond.
“Yo Rider, Tom, were you been?” Called across the hallway, it was Kyle, Richard, and Sam. There were two girls with them one was Rachel Kyle’s girlfriend and the other, the redhead who was moderately good looking he presumed was her friend. They walked to the lockers.
“What do you mean were have we been?” Tom asked
“Well your late” said Sam
“Yeah, we had car trouble, some geek stepped out in front of us”
“What?” Spluttered Richard
“No she didn’t” Rider said “When I was parking the car a girl was stood in the space I didn’t see her and nearly hit her ok?” Rider explained
“What was she doing in the space anyway?” Asked Kyle “What is she completely retarded?”
“I dunno” Said Tom “But your girlfriend can ask her”
“What?” Said Kyle, Both girls who had not said anything since they got here had now taken there attention off the guys they were staring at. Rachel at Kyle and the redhead at Richard, and were paying attention.
“It was the one with the brown hair, I can’t remember her name.” Rider said
“Pia?” Rachel asked “Is she ok?”
“Yeah, I stopped the car, I think I shocked myself more than her” Rider said with a laugh which all five boys joined in with.
“I have got to go.” Rachel said suddenly “Come on Megan, Bye baby” She said kissing Kyle quickly. The red head or Megan whispered “Goodbye” threw a longing look at Richard and walked away
“Why are you still dating her?” Sam asked as soon as she was out of ear shot.
“Yeah you could do so much better.” Richard added
“It’s his God complex, she worships him” Rider chimed in
“This coming from the guy that all girls worship.” Said Kyle “And she’s fun to have around”
“Yeah well while you have your fun, her friend follows Richard around like a lost puppy” Said Tom and they all laughed
“No really, you’re only with her because she’s shagging you right?” Richard asked “Although the lost puppy is starting to irritate me”
Before Kyle could answer the bell rang. “What else are relationships for” Kyle said with a huge grin “Ok who’s got science?”
“Me” Said Tom
“And me” said Rider

(Science Classroom)

Pia and Erica walked into the classroom which was already holding over half of the class. Smiling at those they knew; they headed to an empty bench second from the back of the class room.
“What have Rach and Meg got now?” Pia asked
“I think Meg had English and Rach has got maths. Oh don’t look now but the guy who nearly ran you over has just walked in.” Pia looked up and sure enough there was Rider, he was walking with the guy who was in the car with him. Tom Pickard another racer and Kyle, They walked up the aisle of benches and took seats behind the two girls. None of them acknowledged either girl as they walked by.
“He is such a prick” Erica said
“He’s not that bad”
“Not that bad, he could have acknowledged us with a hello or a smile just. He just pretends we don’t exist when Rachel’s not around.”
“Maybe that’s because to the likes of them we don’t exist, unless they have to see us, like with Kyle going out with Rachel.” Pia whispered
“Yeah well I doubt that will be going on for much longer, the attention span of any racer isn’t very long”
“Don’t say that Erica, Rach would be heartbroken!”
“Yeah I know, but let’s face facts he really is only after one thing and I don’t think she’s far away from giving it to him and after that what reason does he have to stick around?”
“Erica! Maybe he has feelings for her”
“Yeah ok, racers don’t have feelings for anyone but themselves”. Pia couldn’t argue there, in her own experience racer did look out for number one first and everyone else could look after themselves. Even her mother was like that so what chance did Rachel stand. “At least she’ll have us to help her” Pia whispered
“Yeah, but I don’t know what good we will be, but I think we have some time before he smashes her heart into pieces”
“I hope he doesn’t”
“Me too. Anyway let’s not worry about that now, what are we going to do this weekend because I was thinking we could maybe hit the mall and then have a movies night”
Pia smiled “Yeah that would be really good, we haven’t had a movie night in a while, but it will have to be at your house because mine and Rachel’s will be full of racers and Megan’s mom doesn’t like us being in the house.”
“Yeah my house is cool my dad’s going away this weekend so it will just be us”
Before there conversation could continue Mr. Hillfields walked in.
“Good morning class. Welcome back to what is going to be an exciting new year”

Mr. Hillfields really could talk, Jay thought as he sat with his friends at the back of the class room.
“Don’t you think Faye is looking fine this year?” whispered Tom
“What?” Rider asked
“Don’t you think Faye is fine?” Tom repeated
“Well I would” Kyle said. Kyle and Tom both stifled a laugh. It was only now did Jay look over at the bench were Chloe and Faye were sat. It was true that they were the hottest girls in the class, both with long blonde hair and blue eyes and beautiful faces and fit bodies. He grinned “Yeah she’s fine” But out of the two of them Chloe was the fittest, and better in bed than Faye. Glancing round the room Jay noted that he had slept with most of the girls in here and most of the girls in his year and the year below, bar those who were completely unpopular. And Chloe had been the best.
“So Rider are you going to hook up with Chloe again this year?” Kyle asked
“Maybe” He said with a smile
“Great that means Faye is open game” Tom said. It was true also that Kyle and Tom had slept with a lot of the girls, Tom more than Kyle but still looking around the room it was the same girls that they had all slept with.
Jay watched the clock slip around to ten o’clock, when first break was. The bell sounded sharply, there was a scuttle of movement as all the students ran to get out of the classroom. The three boys walked from the classroom and out into the hallways which was thronging with people. They were heading for their courtyard; they left the hallway and went out into the courtyard which had wooden benches situated all around it. The three boys headed for the middle bench and sat down. Sam and Richard came from the opposite direction, they were walking quickly and looked excited, and they stopped in front of them.
“You’ll never guess” Sam said
“What?” Said Tom
“You know Frank Cotton” Without waiting for an answer Sam continued “Well him and his pathetic little crew want to challenge us for downstairs block five”. Richard, Kyle and Tom laughed.
It was Rider who asked “Why?” Just like the city Spring fall west was split up into parts that were raced for. In spring fall west the school had twenty four different pieces of territory. There were eight blocks which were split into two and upstairs and a down stairs. There were also two courtyards and four fields and two car parks that were raced for. The only thing that wasn’t raced for was a small piece of grass out near the front of block one that those who were not friendly with the racers could go. Just like in the city there were main crews that controlled more territory than anyone else; there were six crews in spring fall west who controlled territory. There were many crews within the school but they had not been able to gain territory. There were three crews from the senior year that had territory and three from junior year. Even though the school year had just begun all territory had been won at the end of year race last year when the senior crews who were leaving gave up rights to there territory. Frank’ Crew had failed to win anything were as Rider’s crew had six pieces of territory which was exactly the same amount that the leading senior crew had.
“I dunno, something about having a new car” Said Richard
“But that’s hardly a reason to challenge a crew he’s gotta know he’ll lose against” Said Kyle
“It doesn’t matter” Said Rider “If he challenges us to a race we have to race him or give up our territory and I’m not doing that” Rider’s crew consisted of Tom, Kyle, Sam and Richard. They were a good team and raced well together probably due to the fact that they learned to drive together.
“Ok” Said Tom “When does he want to race?”
“Friday” Said Richard
“Ok, who’s going to race him?”
“I’ll do it” Said Rider
“I want Kyle to be the drafter and Tom as my second. Is that ok with you to?” He asked Richard and Sam.
“Yeah my car isn’t working anyway” said Sam. Richard just nodded although he was a racer he was a better mechanic than he was driver.
“Ok so will one of you tell him that?” Tom asked Sam and Richard, Richard nodded and walked away.
“Can you believe it, back one day and already a race on the table.” Said Kyle with a grin
“Yeah but an easy race, but it does give us a chance to warm up for proper races against the older crews and Spring fall east” Said Tom
“That’s true, we haven’t properly raced together all summer” Said Rider
“What’s this about a race?” A blonde girl dressed in a short white skirt and a tight pink top asked.
“Hey Chloe, we have been challenged to a race Friday night.” Rider explained
“Really, well then there will be a victory party Friday night.” She said with a giggle, all four guys laughed “You bet, hey where’s Faye?” Tom asked
“She went to the bathroom, who challenged you anyway?” Chloe asked with her eyes fixed on Rider.
“Frank’s Crew” Sam said
“Who’s Frank…wait that loser Frank?”
“Yeah that one, he thinks he can beat us” Sam and Tom laughed.
“Even though there is no reason to come and watch that race because it’s obvious who is going to win, it’ll be a good chance for everyone to catch up and party. Don’t you think Rider?” Chloe cooed
“Sure, the senior crews will wanna come too, I think you know they’ll use any excuse for a party” Chloe laughed shrilly.
“I’ll spread the word, where’s the after party going to be?” Chloe asked
“Erm… my house I guess my mum and dad are going to be away” Rider said
“Really?” Chloe asked “Cool, see you later. I’ve got to go find Faye. Bye” And she walked away
“She is so hot!” Sam said
“I know, but none of us stand a chance with him around” Tom said jabbing his thumb in Rider’s direction.
“Don’t mean we can’t dream” Said Kyle
“Dream about what baby?” Came a voice behind him, Kyle span around and found his girlfriend smiling at him.
“About you” Kyle said with a grin “How come you’re so late?”
“Mrs. Hayes kept me behind” Rachel explained
“Oh ok” He lent down and gave her a kiss “There’s a race on Friday do you want to come?”
“Are you racing?”
“Yep”
“Then I wouldn’t miss it” Rachel said kissing him
“Are you going to come back to Rider’s for the party afterward?” Kyle asked. Rachel may be a racers girlfriend but she still needed an invite to a racer party because she still wasn’t classed as popular enough to just be allowed to come. Rachel knew this and this is why her friends couldn’t come to the party with her because she couldn’t invite people to a racer party. But she though to herself they could come to the race anyone could go to them.
“Sure baby”
The conversation turned to what everyone had done over the summer.

Pia and Erica were sat on the wall outside block one when Megan walked up to them.
“Hi guys, how was your first lesson?” Megan asked
“Great” Erica said “Two hours with Mr. Hillfields”
“How was yours?” Pia asked
“Ok I don’t think I learnt much.”
“Why not?” Erica asked “You like English”
“Yeah but I like Richard more, I spent most of the lesson staring at the back of his head” Megan said sadly
“Aww Meg, you really need to get past this” Erica said
“Yeah I mean you have had a crush on him for well over a year now” Pia said
“I know and I know he’ll never notice me. But I can’t help it” Megan wined
Pia got up and gave her a hug. “He doesn’t know what he’s missing” Erica said and got up to join in the hug.
“I know what will cheer you up” Said Erica “We are having a movie night Friday night”
Megan laughed “Really we haven’t done that in a while”
“So you’re in then?” Pia asked
“Of course I’m in, what would I do without you lot” Megan said with another laugh
“Probably live a very boring life” Pia joked
“Hey where’s Rach?” Megan asked
“Probably with Kyle” Pia said. Erica groaned
“He is not that bad” Both Pia and Megan said at the same time and then started laughing.
“It’s not funny” Erica said “One of our best friends is heading for a major heartbreak and you two think he’s not that bad”
“Erica what can we do we just have to wait and see” Megan said
“Wait and see? Wait and see. That’s the best you have got for me wait and see”
“Erica calm down” Pia said “I need to use the bathroom”
“Ok” Erica said defeated. The three girls entered block one and went into the bathroom it was empty, the three girls each went into one of the cubicles and locked the doors. The main bathroom door swung open and in walked, Faye and Jessica. Two of the most popular girls in the year, they were Chloe’s minions, and all girls wanted to be them and be friends with them because if you were friends with them, they you got to go to all the best parties and races. As it stood Megan, Pia, Erica and Rachel were as far from friends with them as was physically possible.
“I can’t believe we are juniors” Jessica was saying
“I know and we are hot juniors” Faye said with a giggle “Oh my god my hair today”
“It looks amazing but would you look at my eyebrows”
“They look ok although you should have taken more off the sides”
“Really you think so?”
“Yeah” Faye said “Have you seen Rider, oh my god the boy could not get any finer”
“I know but Chloe has got dibs on him” Jessica said sadly
“Yeah well he’s not the only fit lad around. Tom has got fine over the summer”
“I thought you weren’t going to go there again?” Jessica asked
“Yeah well, I didn’t know he’d still be hot this year did I” Faye said applying lip gloss and smacking her lips.
“Kyle is good looking” Jessica said quietly
“Oh my god Jess. Do you have the hots for Kyle?”
“Yeah a little bit” Jessica said quietly “But he’s going out with that geek”
“I know. Who does she think she is? Kyle is way out of her league”
The bathroom door opened and in walked Chloe. “Hey what are you guys doing in here?”
“Talking about, Jesses crush on Kyle.” Said Faye with a smile
“Oh my god really, this is so cool.”
“How is it cool?” Jess asked
“Because I’ll be going out Rider, Faye with Tom and you with Kyle and we can go out on like triple dates” Chloe said with a squeal
“You are forgetting one thing, it’s called his girlfriend” Jess said
“Yeah but you are way hotter than her and you have known him longer” Said Faye
“And I think she was just a phase anyway” said Chloe
“What?” Said Faye
“Yeah, I think he was only doing it to prove he could and get shag”
“Is she shagging him?” Jess asked
“I dunno, probably not. She looks the frigid type” Chloe said with a laugh “ So you see once he gets bored and dumps her; which I don’t think is going to take very long, I , mean how long has he been putting up with her now six months. Trust me she’s almost gone.”
“And once she is we’ll have the best school year yet” Faye said and they all giggled.
“Come on lets go out to the courtyard” said Jessica. The three girls left the bathroom. Once the door closed the other three girls in the bathroom came out.
“I told you he was a prick” Said Erica as she washed her hands
“Just because Chloe said it does not make it true” Pia said mirroring Erica’s actions
“Yeah but she would be one of the first to know if it was true though Pia” Megan said as she dried her hands.
“I think we should tell Rach what we heard” Erica said
“No” Megan said
“Megan’s right, we can’t tell her without proof, she’ll never believe us” Said Pia
“You think she’d believe him over us?” Erica asked
“Yes, because she thinks she’s in love with him” Megan said
“Ok then what do we do?”
“We act normal and watch Kyle and get proof. If he is up to something, but until then we do not mention this to Rachel, I don’t want to lose my friend over this, ok?”
“Ok” Megan said. Erica nodded. As they left the bathroom the bell for third lesson went.
“What have you two got now? I have geography” said Erica
“French” Said Megan
“I have History now” Pia said

The bell reached the courtyard and its occupants all looked around and then began picking up bags.
“What have you got now Faye? Jess?” Chloe asked
“I have my first driving lesson” Faye said with a giggle
“I have tech” Said Jess “What about you Kyle?”
“I’ve got tech to” Kyle said looking around “What have you got babe?” He asked turning his attention to his girlfriend.
“R.E” Rachel said but was looking at Jess and Faye
“What about you guys?” Faye asked
“I have Geography” Said Tom, Faye pouted a little
“I have a driving lesson to” Said Sam
“French” Said Richard through a mouthful of chocolate
“I have History now” Rider said
The second bell rang and they all began to move off to there separate classes.

Chapter Four “This year was going to be interesting”

Rider walked to block five, people greeting him as they walked to there class. At the door to block five there was a purple mark, Rider smiled this was Mark’s territory; Mark was an alright guy they had known each other about five years. But he did think he was a better driver than he was; come to think of it he hadn’t raced Mark in a long time but he had seen him race and the only reason they had three pieces of territory was because of other racers in his crew. Rider entered the history classroom and took one of the few empty desks that were left, a girl who he remembered was called Mandy; who he had dated last year sometime smiled at him. Rider slightly nodded at her but then took another look round the class room. The seat to his left was empty but all the other seats were taken around the class, at the back of the class there were a group of girls who were staring at him. He smiled at them and they all blushed and looked away, Jay stifled a laugh. Had he turned to his right he would have seen a very jealous looking Mandy glaring at the girls. The classroom door opened and Jay expected to see Miss Ruck but instead in walked a small girl that looked familiar to him, he just couldn’t remember why. She looks scared Jay thought to himself, she was glancing all around the class room; looking for a place to sit. Her eyes rested on the empty chair next to him then they flicked to him and back to the chair so quickly he wasn’t sure that she had actually done it. Until she sighed and then he knew she had looked his way and that she was not pleased about sitting next to him. The girl walked toward him and slide into the desk and began taking things out of her bag. Jay was making no effort to hide he was watching her and she knew he was; he knew that but she wasn’t going to look up. It was at this point that Miss Ruck entered the room.
“Good morning class and what a wonderful morning it is” She chimed. Her voice is so annoying Jay thought
“This semester we will be studying American independence. How we gain, what was it like before and how that shaped what it was like after”
The whole class seemed to groan as she talked, after five minutes of trying to listen to her, Jay turned his attention to the girl next to him, who had been so displeased to sit next to him. This was not how girls reacted to him, they were thrilled. This girl should have been bouncing off the ceiling at the mere idea but no she had sighed and not in an “I can’t believe I’m that lucky way” in an “I can’t believe this is happening to me way”. He knew he knew her from somewhere he just couldn’t place her right now; and he couldn’t see her face anymore her hair was in the way all he could see was her doodling on the paper in front of her.

Pia was concentrating on her paper so hard it was beginning to hurt her eyes, why did she have to be late to the class that’s why she had to sit next to him. What was he doing in her class anyway, he wasn’t last year. Why was he staring at her anyway was he that mad about this morning or was he mad that she had sat next to him. It wasn’t like she had had a choice was it; it was sit here or stand. She sighed the only reason she was so late is because of him and all the other racers and there “you can’t come in my territory” She or her friends had no restrictions on any of the blocks at the moment but they weren’t allowed on the fields or in the courtyards without an invitation. They had to sit on the piece of grass out the front which was miles away from here. She and her friends were only allowed in the canteen to buy food they couldn’t eat there, but that was something she guessed she knew people who were not allowed in there at all or in any of the blocks until after the bell had gone. Those were the people who really pissed the racers off and Pia really didn’t want to be one of them. Come on Pia concentrate she told herself the hour will go by quicker if you just pay attention.
“And that class is the lesson, wow doesn’t time fly when you are having fun” Miss Ruck. Pia was amazed that anyone could love something as much as Miss Ruck loved history. A small mummer of agreement went around the group “Ok well you can all go a little earlier today. Except you Mr. Rider I’d like a word with you” Miss Ruck said. “Ooooooohhhhhhhh” all the lads in the class went
“Ok that’s enough. Off with all of you, Mr. Rider?”
Pia picked up her stuff, she didn’t even bother to put it away she just left the classroom. Once out she let out a long breath and vowed she would never again find herself in a situation that upset Rider. She looked at her watch it read twelve fifteen, five minutes before all classes finished. Pia decided to go and wait for Erica because they could both go to the canteen then. Walking out of block one and down the path into the courtyard, it wasn’t very often Pia was in here it really was a pretty place with nice benches and lush green grass. Pia sighed she didn’t belong here; she continued her walk along the paved path up to block three. On the outside was the same green tag that was on the outside of block one, this was Rider’s territory. God can I not get away from him Pia thought. She headed for the stairs were there was yellow tag which meant that although Rider controlled down stairs, upstairs was some one else’s. Pia took the stairs quickly and found Mr. Bowman’s room, she could see Erica sat inside looking very bored, but then the bell sounded; Pia watched everyone scramble for their things and begin to make a dash for the door. Pia moved to the right and Waited for Erica to come out as she did Pia grabbed her arm so that she noticed her.
“Hey what are you doing here?” Erica asked
“Miss Ruck let us go early” Pia explained
“Lucky you Bowman never let’s you leave early. Do you need to go to the canteen?”
“Yeah. Do you?”
“Nah, dad packed me a lunch” Erica said with a laugh “Do you want me to come with you?”
“No it’s ok, you go and meet Megan and I’ll be there in a sec”
“You sure?” When Pia nodded, she began to walk away. Pia turned around and headed for the Canteen doors. Once inside she wished she had asked Erica to come because the canteen was full of students who when they noticed her were giving her evil glares. She joined the food queue and pick up a tray.
“Pia!” Came a voice from behind her
“Rach” Pia said with a smile glad to see a friendly face “How are you?”
“I’m ok how are you?”
“Yeah I’m fine” Pia say with a feebly smile
“I heard Rider nearly ran you over”
“What how did you hear about that?”
“He was telling Kyle” Rachel said simply
“Is he really mad?” Pia asked
“No not at all, I think he was more surprised than anything.”
“Oh” Pia said frowning, that did not explain his weird behavior in history today could he really be that mad about her sitting near him.
“It was Tom that was mad, but I think he has forgotten about it now” Rachel said with a smile
“Good” this was a relief at leas she had not me any enemies today. The two girls were paying for there food when Pia noticed what Rachel was buying.
“Rach you don’t eat Peanut’s”
“I know I don’t. They are for Kyle.”
“Oh I see. Are you eating lunch with him today?” Rachel had began to eat lunch with Kyle at the end of the year maybe once or twice a week Pia got the feeling it would be a much more regular occurrence now.
“Yeah, I was going to tell you lot, I just haven’t seen all of you today” Rachel explained
“Oh its ok I’ll tell them. Just phone me tonight ok?”
“Yeah I will” They had come to the point were they would go in different directions Pia out the door to the grass outside and Rachel to the table of racers that was looking over.
“Well see ya” Pia said with a smile
“Bye” Rachel said turning. Pia turns quickly and walked outside