Teenage Millionaire

Chapter 7: Cars

This is not fun.

My hands are gripping the sides of my seat so tightly that my fingers have gone numb. I might be screaming if I wasn't scared that opening my mouth might result in not being able to close it- and, at this point, I'm not breathing anyways, so I wouldn't even have the air to scream.

Meanwhile, he's hooting like he's having the best time of his life, and if I wasn't so terrified for my life I might be telling him to focus on driving, or at least slow down.

Earlier, when he mentioned test drives, I assumed that he was talking about normal test drives. Like, where you take out a car for a short drive to see how it feels.

Naturally, this is not the case. Jake has his own 'test drive' track, where he test drives all his cars before buying them. The company doesn't seem to care that he's the most reckless driver in the world, because they probably figure that they can charge him for any damages and sue him for a lot of money if he doesn't pay. Also, he's probably like, their best customer, considering he buys a car every two weeks. And he doesn't seem like the type to trade in his old cars for a discount.

When he finally, finally (FINALLY!) stops, he turns to me, grinning wildly. His dark hair (the same colour as his moms, almost) is sticking up in every direction, and he looks like a complete maniac (I'm not sure he isn't, right now). "That was exhilarating, wasn't it?"

I open my mouth, and nothing comes out. I try again, and manage a small squeak. He laughs.

"You're so pale right now. Where'd all your blood go?"

Not to my hands, that's for sure. I slowly pry my fingers off the seat and press them to my legs. They're shaking- all of me is shaking.

He leans closer, inspecting me for a moment (not in that way, that he usually does- he looks less intense and manic about it right now, like he's actually trying to find my blood).

"Really though. Are you going to pass out?"

I manage to work some moisture into my mouth. "Nope, I'm great." My voice comes out at least an octave and a half higher than usual.

He laughs again. "Wow, you're tense. And also lying. You don't look great."

I swallow, because he's paying me to enjoy myself, and while I definitely am not, I'm going to at least pretend, since I'm going against my parents rules of studying for this, and if he decides not to pay me then... I'd be screwed.

"I'm fine. So, are you going to buy this car?"

He considers that. "I don't know. It's smooth, drives real nice, but it's green. I had a green car, like, not even two months ago. I was hoping for a purple one. It's been a while since I had purple."

I'm not sure I'd survive another test drive like that. "Maybe... get this one painted purple?"

"Not a bad idea. But did you see that beauty in the parking lot?"

I blink. No, I wasn't really looking. "Um... which one?"

He grins. "The purple one. The dark violet with the silver trim and..." that's about where he loses me, and I kind of nod along to all of the car terminology. "So... I think I'll test drive that one before I make any decisions. What do you say?"

My face might have been regaining some colour, but at his words I'm sure I go white again. "Uhh..."

He opens the door on the driver's side of the car and hops out, seeming to have already made his decision. "Come on! Oh, I can already imagine how it's going to feel..."

I slowly climb out of the car, my legs immediately protesting and threatening to fully buckle. I take a moment, then start towards him. He smirks a little when he notices that I'm still trembling so hard I can barely walk.