My Best Friend's Brother

Stock Car Races

Aria sat at the table with her dad eating her breakfast when her dad spoke out of nowhere. “You’re not going to school today.”

“Why?” Aria wasn’t complaining but she was very confused.

“You and I are gonna spend the day together, if you’re up for it.”

Aria grinned and nodded, she got to miss school and spend a day with her dad? She thought that the day couldn’t get any better. Aria and her dad had an agreement that she was able to take mental health days off from school as long as she didn’t abuse them, she didn’t do it often but there were some days where it was needed.

They arrived at the stock car races and Aria was overjoyed, she didn’t know much about cars but she was sure that it was going to be fun. When she stepped out of the car she noticed that Hal was there with the boys as well, she grinned and watched as her dad waved them over.

“Hey, Kiddo, glad you could come.” Hal greeted her, ruffling her hair. She playfully swatted his hand away before she began fixing her hair, she looked over and noticed that Malcolm and Dewey were smiling but Reese didn’t seem too impressed to see her. 

“Come on, guys, let’s get out of this parking lot.” Her dad, Noah, said.

The four kids followed the adults to the gates in excitement and when Reese stepped on the back of her shoe she just glared at him for a moment before turning around. Reese continued to annoy her as they walked but Aria did her best to ignore him, she was going to ignore him all day if she had to.

“Stock car races!” Malcolm exclaimed in awe.

“Oh, cool!” Reese grinned taking a minute to stop bothering Aria, it didn’t last long.

“That’s right, kids. The real field of dreams – only with concrete instead of all that grass.” Hal said.

“Okay, guys, let’s go.” Noah ushered them towards the stands, “Stick together.”

Aria and Malcolm chatted away about nothing in particular when Reese stepped on the back of her shoe again. Her shoe almost came completely off causing her to stop and elbow Reese in the stomach as he passed her, he groaned and leaned forward. Aria quickly fixed her shoe before punching his arm.

“Stop annoying me.” She hissed before running to catch up with the others, she didn’t notice Reese smirk as he watched her leave.

The group of six made their way through the stands to their seats, trying to not step on anyone’s toes as they went. Reese, of course, thought it would be funny to keep poking Aria, who struggled to not turn around and punch him.

“Excuse us, here we go.” Hal said when they finally found their seats. “Oh, oh! Kids, kids! You see that blue car down in front – number 16?”

“Yeah.” Malcolm acknowledged as they looked down to where Hal was pointing.

“That is Rusty Malcolm. The greatest man in history of the sport. Maybe the greatest man ever.” Hal began to gush, “15 NASCAR titles, six world records. Inventor of the in-car urination system. The list is endless. And he came from nothing just like you. You see, this is Rusty’s last race ever. He’s retiring, so we wanted to share him with you before he went so that you can see for yourselves just how much you can accomplish in this world with a. . . a little persistence and determination.”

Aria tried to focus on what Hal was saying but it was difficult with Reese taking every opportunity to annoy her. She quickly grabbed his hand when he reached to poke her again and scowled. “Stop that.”

He didn’t reply, all he did was stare at their connected hands. She gave him a weird look before letting go and turning back to the rest of the group. “You know, you were named after Rusty, Malcolm.”