Endure The Art Of Cycling (TheWriteAwards2013)

Chapter 4- The Team

A/N: People Of The Damned is put OH-HOLD for the moment as I have this to write, sorry! So, have you read this kind of story before?Please do comment below about your thoughts! and VOTE too! 

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CHAPTER 4

“We are the member of Omega Pharma Quick-Step Cycling Team, call us OPQ for short. We are looking for a member to complete our six men team,” she paused and smirked. “Do those answer your questions?”

I crossed my arm and frowned. “I...” Oh, they were the ones in the park I saw today.

“Oh,'s dat recht, Carlos, you totally forgotten that he is still with Tiller!” The guy who got punched just now chuckled. He looked like an American and a Britain to me but he spoke Dutch just now and what I heard about Omega Pharma was it originated from Belgium.

“Right, Theo! I never thought of that, I wanted to have a new member quickly!” Carlos laughed along. “Are you still with Tiller Cycling Team?”

“No longer a member of theirs,” I said simply. “I quit,”

Theo and the two other guys gasped. “No way, but why?”

“I hate jackasses.” I shrugged lightly and sat on one of the empty chairs beside the mafia boss. There were food on the table and my stomach was screaming at me to fill it up.

“Help yourself,” Theo gestured to the food for he must have seen my hungry look. “Jackasses?”

“I suppose the team manager’s name is Jackson?” Carlos said as I took a bite of a chicken wing. There were so much food on this table, I wonder if they could eat finished it. There were soup, fried rice, lasagne, fried chicken, and a bowl of vegetables. All of it was in a big portion.

“Bingo,” I clicked my forefinger and thumb together. “And get straight to your point,”

Ashley cleared her throat and sat back on her chair which was in between Theo and me. She acted like she was trying her best to ignore my hotness but I honestly didn’t care. She can be like that all she wants; I only wanted to spend my whole life riding bikes. “Do you want to join our team?”

I stopped eating and looked at him. “Do you want to hear about my issues first?”

“What issues?” Everyone asked in unison, and of course, except the mafia boss.

I was well aware of every eye on me and I felt nothing more than disturbed. Maybe I was used to being stared at as I was famous in cycling world and I was nominated the hottest youth in the world.

Before I answer their question, I took my time eating the lasagne. Wiping the leftover on my mouth with the back of my hands, I said, “I am a rebellious kid, you should have know that,” I took a deep  breath and let it out by speaking, “I have a bad temper, I can get into any fights right now, and I smoke,”

“Oh, I smoke too,” the guy who his name was either Dan or Noah stated matter-of-factly.

“Shut up, Dan, no one is asking you,”

“I don’t mind as long as you don’t smoke when the race is on-going,” Ashley said in a voice that was full of authority. Now, this was more like a manager and I still cannot believe a lady can be the manager of the top fifth cycling team. “And about you being a rebellious kid, all of them here,” she gestured to the group of cyclists and grinned. “They are rebellious kids before they even matured,”

“Not me, Ash,” Carlos formed his hands like an ‘X’ in front of him while he denied. He just called her by my nickname.

“Please accept the fact you are one!” Theo snorted. “You are the youngest among us and you often bullied others especially Noah!”

“I did not,” Carlos started the conversation of a kid who keeps denying the fact.

“Look at them; I had to take care of these children every day!” Ashley complained but with a happy mood. But then, it switched to seriousness in a blink of an eye. “About fights, try not to get into them too much, you might end up losing your cycling life,”

She got a point but I was raised to fight. I wouldn’t want to tell them that. I had always got into fight when I lost my father to a bloody burning house. Kids do tend to get into fights when people teased him about being fatherless, especially guys like me.

“I know,” I mumbled and placed the spoon on the table as the mood of hunger fled away from me out of a sudden. Of course I know that. “You-“

“Give me your phone number! And Twitter name!” Carlos cut me off while fishing his phone from his jacket’s pouch. His smile was so innocent, I wonder if he was really younger than me. How can people like him be on this top fifth team in the world?

“Carlos,” Ashley criticised but a smile was playing on her lips. I had no choice but to give him whatever he asked. From what I saw, he was bouncing like a rubber ball on his chair when he had followed me on twitter. “Now, back to business,”

“Why would you want me on the team?” I regretted asking that stupid question when all of their eyes fell on me. I rubbed my arms, just to disguise that I was cold.

Theo laughed out loud, breaking the awkward silence in the room, followed by everyone’s laughter. “Why wouldn’t anyone want you?”

“Youngest,” Theo said and looked at Noah.

“Strongest youth rider,” Noah continued the fact about me.

“And the best,” Dan ended with clapping from Noah and Theo. Dan stood up and bow at us like we were the audience. “Who wouldn’t want you?”

I leaned back against the comfy chair and laughed along with the rest of them. I didn’t know why I was laughing with a bunch of morons. I had never laughed for any reason but they tickled my heart. Why?

“I wouldn’t,”

And that voice made everyone shut up and turned to him. Theo’s and Noah’s eyes were widened in shock while Dan folded his arms across his chest and Ashley had to sat forward a little like she wanted to confirm if she had heard it right.

I already knew this as soon as Carlos told Ashley he had found me. The expressions were all written clearly on his face. It seemed to me that he might even scream at me that he didn’t want me on the team if the others were not here to stop him.