Needles - WINDBREAKER

Chapter 8

Why am I doing this again?

-Second person POV

„Ko!" Someone called for the girl. She turned in the direction the voice was coming from. Jay was walking up to her. „Ah, hi Jay." He stopped in front of her. „Let's go." He requested for her to follow him. As he turned around she could see their crew logo.

„Nice jacket." She stated as she walked a bit faster to walk next to him. „Ah, yes. Thank you."

It didn't take long to find the others. Shelly was sitting on a bench with Minu while Dom sat on the leaning. June was nestling around on his bike. Vinny just stood there and swiped around on his phone. „Hey Ko!" Dom shouted. The girl waved at them.

Suddenly a loud voice was heard from the speakers. „Hello hello hello everyone!! Today our competitors will have a 5 vs 5 vs 5 vs 5! Four teams each round! Since we have an odd number, one round will have five teams competing! Only two teams will have the chance to win each round! The first crew in which has two participants over the finish line wins, the second place will be handed to the crew which also has two participants over the finish line. THIS WILL BE EXCITING!!!"

„Another interesting point in this match is, that you can swap out a participant at a point in the middle of the course! GOOD LUCK!"

Jay and the others looked at each other. „Well, whats our plan? We could theoretically switch." Dom asked into the silence. Shelly coughed quietly. Everybody looked at her. „Ahh sorry, just a cold..." She said. „Means Shelly won't cycle this one huh... then its obvious who participates." Dom concludes.

„Well actually... this is a problem." June threw into the round. Was he sick now too? Everyone thought the same thing. But he looked at Minu who shot him a glare. I can see how your legs troubles you since you have been racing more lately." „It's fine June!" Minu hissed at him.

„Your health goes first." Yaeko interrupted the two. „Everyone's health goes first." She said while shooting a look in Shellys direction. „But we have to be 5." Minu shot back at Ko. „Then I'll take your place." She coldly said. Dom's eyes lit up. „You would do that?!"

„I'm not really a competition person since there are always so many people looking at you, but in this case..." Minus eyes also seemed to catch a certain glow. All of them seemed rather excited. The slim girl sighed.

„If i am correct Jay is the ace. Dom is a sprinter. Vinny does cool stuff all the time and is fast as well. June is the slip stream and has stamina. He's also the guy for uphills." everyone nodded slightly. „So Jay and Vinny should clear the way for Dom if its possible while June gives Dom a slip stream. I can help with that. At the end, When Dom hopefully passes the others, the rest of us tries to pull to the front as well."

„That would be the most logical option, lets hope our opponents are not too great."

„Here you can see the team set ups!"

The big board in the center of the event showed the team pairings. None of the listed crews were familiar to the hummingbird members, except one. They were in the group of five teams. With the monster crew. Yaeko had no idea so she just asked. „Any problematic teams?"

Minu swallowed and Dom spoke. „Monster crew is definitely a problem..." as the girl heard him speak with such respect and in such a serious tone she looked at the board again. A green crew logo... „Well, we don't have to be first do we? What's the big deal about them?"

Shelly raised her voice this time. „They have a sprinter who really matches their crew name. His nickname is ‚The human Lamborghini'." „Now this is getting interesting." Yaeko spoke. Suddenly a feeling of excitement rushed through her veins. A feeling, she had last felt at her last biking competition...

She snapped out of her thoughts as Vinny cursed under his breath. „Alright guys! Let's not be too intimidated and try our best!"

Some time passed as they were called to the starting line. Yaeko had checked her bicycle once more. It was fixed gear anyway so she was good to go instantly. At the line she saw the monster crew already standing there. It was a course which led through an uninhabited old residential area. It had some slim streets.

As they reached the monster crew they turned around. Before starting they had to register Yaeko for the tournament. Nobody knew her. Monster looked at them and spotted her. She seemed familiar of some sort but he didn't know why. All eyes were on Ko, and she hated it. „This is uncomfortable..." She murmured to herself.

„Now! Group C! Many have been excited for this match between hummingbird and the super rookie, and monster with the human Lamborghini! Hummingbird also has a new comer! Or rather a substitute participant since two of the six members have health issues at the moment! Will this work out in such a tense match?"

The hummingbird crew had to give reasons to why a member had to be swapped in this shortly. Why that had to be announced? We'll never know...

Everyone got on their bikes and was ready to start. They planned on staying in the middle with Dom. He wasn't the best at cornering so this would be interesting enough, no need to fight for the top while at it. The worst thing probably was that the street dead straight wasn't exactly wide at the start. Depending on how it goes Dom would have a late start from the middle...

But they'd have to see how the race goes. As all the eyes were on the slim girl once more, she asked herself why the hell she was doing this and sighed.

But she had no time to worry about it any further, as the starting announcement echoed through the speakers.