I floor the pedal so loud the sound rumbles through the night and his eyes widen slightly. He gets back into his car and throttles his own pedal. It's half as loud and Ethan and I laugh at him.
"Dude, quit wasting time and get your girl over here to start us off," he calls out over the music.
I turn it down a notch. "Get Chandra to do it."
"No man, you know the rules," he says with a smirk. "The girlfriend of the one being challenged has to start off the race."
I roll my eyes, knowing Ella's not going to like this, the old or the new version. I slide out of the window, cup my hands around my mouth, and shout over the roof at her. "Ella May, get your beautiful ass over here."
Lila has her distracted and she jumps. Her eyebrows furrow as I wave her over. She holds up a finger to Lila and hops of the hood, looking at me perplexedly as she makes her way through the crowd and over to me. I sit back in the car as she reaches the window and she lowers her head down, looking into the cab.
"You have to start us off," I tell her and she instantly makes a face. "It's the rules. You know that."
"Those rules are sexist," she says. "Let Mikey's slutty girlfriend do it."
"You know he's not going to let that happen."
"I could make him let it happen."
I press my lips together as her spitfire personality burns through all her fake politeness. "Can you just do it for me?"
She rolls her eyes, then leans in and kisses my cheek. "But only for you."
Then she backs out of the car, with an exaggerated sway of her hips, making fun of the ordeal, but still looking hot as hell in her little shorts. Ethan and I bust up laughing as she turns around with a big embellished grin on her face.
"Well, at least she's entertaining," he says, patting the side of the door with his hand to the beat of the music.
I pump the gas a few times, my gaze attached to hers as she elevates her hands above her head. She looks at me as she counts down. When her arms drop, the tires squeal as we peel out.
Ella
I walk back through the cloud of dirt and hop on the tailgate with Lila. I spot Grantford through the crowd and when he sees me, he hurries away, ducking into the crowd, knowing Micha's around.
Lila swings her legs, taking in the surroundings. "What was that about?"
"Rules," I sigh, leaning forward so I can get a better view of the road.
It's hard to tell because it's dark, but it looks like Micha is winning. I start to grow restless the farther away the taillights get and I jump off the tailgate and pace the dirt.
"You're nervous," Lila observes. "And you're making me nervous."
I bite on my fingernails, unable to settle down. "I don't know what my problem is. Usually, I'm not this jumpy."
But I think deep down, I know exactly what my problem is. My feelings for Micha have been freed and now they consume me, own me, bind me to him. The crowd starts moving, nearly trampling me as they stare down the road, waiting for the turnaround. I hear the scared tones in their voices first before the crash. It's like a train wreck, metal crushing and snapping apart.
Lila's eyes snap wide. "What the hell was that?"
I spin around and shove my way to the front of the crowd. There are a few cars on the side backing up onto the road.
"Shit," someone says. "I think one of them wrecked."
I feel my heart crumble as I take off down the road.
"Ella!" Lila shouts. "Where are you going?"
I keep running, stumbling through the dark, searching for their lights. My flip flops fall off somewhere, but I keep going, needing to know. Cars are pulling out behind me and headlights shine at my back. Seconds later, Mikey's car zooms by and he shouts something foul at me.
Halfway down the road, the air turns to dirt and the sound of "The Distance" by Cake floods the air, only it's stuck and keeps saying the same line over and over again.
Spotting the outline of the car, I slow down. Suddenly, I'm back to the night my mom died. The Chevelle is smashed against the trunk of a large tree, the windshield smashed to pieces, and two of the tires are blown out. Somehow it must have flipped around and the driver's side took most of the impact.
I know whatever's inside the car is bad, just like when I opened the bathroom door the night I found my mom and I won't be able to do anything about it. I almost turn away and run, not wanting to see it, but the passenger side door swings open and Ethan stumbles out, clutching at his upper arm. There's a path of blood dripping down his arm and his cheek is scraped.
I snap out of my own thoughts and rush to him. "Are you okay?"
"Ella, go get some help." He coughs, nearly buckling to his knees.
"No." My voice comes out sharp and high-pitched and vomit burns at the back of my throat. I gently push him aside and climb into the car, which is filled with dirt and the air is muggy.
"Micha." I cover my mouth and shake my head.
His head is flopped back against the headrest and turned away from me and his arms are slack to the side. Branches are poking in through the window and it looks like one of them might be lodged into his shoulder.
His head turns toward me and his eyes widen. "Fuck. Ethan, get her out of here."
Ethan reaches in to pull me back, but I climb onto the console, taking in the long, thin stick stabbed in his shoulder. I can't breathe. I can't lose him. I can't do this again.
"Ella May, look at me." His voice is hoarse as he locks eyes with me. "I'm okay, now back out of the car so Ethan can get me out of here."
My eyes scan his body, looking for any more wounds that could be hiding from me. "It's just the branch? That's the only place you're hurt?"
He nods lethargically. "A few stitches and I'm as good as new."
Kissing his forehead, I take a deep breath, hating to leave him as I back out of the car. Ethan's walking up the road toward me with Benny at his side. He's still clutching his arm and there's a little bit of a limp to his walk.
"Someone's got to have two good arms to pull it out," he says to Benny and I see him glance at me with concern in his eyes.
Benny nods and hops into the car, while Ethan and I wait impatiently on the outside. Cars start to pull up, headlights lighting up the accident as people rubberneck. One of the cars is a Camaro and Mikey stands in front of it, laughing with his girlfriend at his side.
"Fucking ass**le swerved at us," Ethan tells me as he glares at Mikey.
Rage engulfs me and this time I let it take me over. I march up to him and shove him hard so he stumbles back into the front end of his car.