Girl on Track

17| Glory days

The qualifying round is in just over a week. It's not that I'm nervous–I've been training every second to prepare myself for it–but there is always a part of me that wonders, am I making a mistake?

Am I even good enough?

All this lying I've been doing isn't easy, either. At breakfast, Mom can't stop gushing about how much I've come out of my shell since moving, how much I'm growing up. I have to look at my cereal, because meeting her gaze is proving too difficult. If she knew I've been lying about racing this whole time, I doubt she'd feel the same.

Dad comes in at one point, and I think about pulling him to the side to come clean. I still need parental permission for the race, and maybe I won't feel so guilty if I tell the truth to one of them, but it's too risky. There's a high chance that Dad would tell Mom, and Mom, in her fury, would ban me for life.

All of my prayers are answered at lunch when Niko comes up with a solution. "My dad owns the track," he reminds me. "Everyone there knows me. If I come with you to registration and say you're a guest of my dad, no one will question you." He grins and adds, "The perks of being a racing track heir."

Vanessa rolls her eyes and says, "You don't even like racing."

"Hey," Niko says. "I still get to reap the benefits, baby."

Vanessa goes to speak, but she stops when I fling my arms around Niko. "You just saved my life, Niko..."

He pulls back and grins. "Hutchinson."

I smile. "Niko Hutchinson, I'm going to buy you a milkshake."

"Thanks, I've always wanted one of those."

For the rest of the day, I don't worry about a thing. I've solved my biggest problem, which means I'm one step closer to making it to the tournament; I just have to focus.

I facetime Kianna in the evening to tell her the good news, and she can't stop squealing. She thinks I'm going to become a world-renowned racer and shoot us both to stardom; I don't have the heart to tell her otherwise.

"I have some good news, too," she says, and we spend the next ten minutes talking about her lead in the school play. Kianna has acted for as long as I can remember, but she's always been pigeon-holed as a background character, never the lead.

"I'm proud of you, Ki," I say. "All that practicing in front of the mirror has really paid off."

She grins and says, "I'm proud of you, too, Roxy. When we're finally reunited, we'll be an unstoppable force."

I laugh and look out the window, onto the moonlit street. "I think you're right."

***

I wake up early to head to the track, excited to tell Tyler about my solution. He's waiting on the sidelines when I decide to sneak up, but he turns before I can scare him.

"Is that you trying to be stealthy?" he asks. "I could hear you a mile off."

"What are you, a vampire?"

He grins and steps closer. "Yeah, but the good kind. I only bite people who piss me off."

I tilt my head. "If that were the case you'd have bitten me by now." His eyes flit to my neck like he's contemplating it. I lightly shove him and say, "Don't look at me like that."

His gaze snaps back up. The look on his expression is filthy. "Like what, Roxanna?"

My pulse races. He has this way of turning a normal conversation into something sexual. "Like nothing. I have some good news."