Chapter Text
Jake gripped the wheel tightly, the car drifting around and turning fast. he clenched his teeth, grunting as his body was thrust forward, someone making impact with his car from behind.
He breathed heavily into his helmet, pushing his foot down on the accelerator and his car jerked hard, before moving, tires kicking mud out from underneath them and he heard shrieks from the audience. His foot slipped from the pedal and he felt his car jerk, getting t-boned hard.
He looked over, and it was a plum purple truck, mud covered it in a pale brown layer, and CHAOS was spray painted on the side in blue and purple graffiti letters. There was pipes coming out of the hood in rows, looking like spikes.
The truck was coming towards him full force again, after winding up. He whipped his wheel, his car turning slowly in the mud as he pushed the accelerator to the ground. He was stuck, and he put his car in reverse, trying the pedal as the truck started getting closer fast.
"Was this guy an idiot?? What's he doing?" Jake thought, panic in his chest as he tried to prepare himself. "Head on collisions are against the rules!"
His grip tightened on the wheel as the truck hit him, hood to hood. He felt and heard his car crunch up against the cement barrier, his body jerking hard, the seatbelt holding him in place, the scream of the crowd and the "ooohhh..." loud even with the car engines around him puffing and popping. There was a cloud of smoke that engulfed his car in seconds, and he coughed, his helmet heavy and hard to get a breath in, his back aching and his head pounding. He could hear the blood pumping through his ears.
He waited for the blow horn from the ref, but as the seconds ticked on and the car engines continued to growl, mud continuing to splatter, he bleakly picked up his head, his gloved hand coming up to wipe his visor. He looked, and there was no flags being waved, no blow horns, cars continuing to ram into eachother and spray chunks of mud.
The plum truck was charging at him again, and his heart dropped, quickly he reached out his window and grabbed his stick, snapping it off and throwing it to his passenger seat. The helmet of the driver had a matching CHAOS on the front, and his visor gleamed menacingly as he quickly steered his wheel to the side last second, the truck side scraping him and he grunted.
"Hey!" Jake heard himself shout, the metal of his car scraping and making a loud screeech as the truck continued, driving away from his totaled car.
Jake hopelessly looked to the ref. The truck had broken the rules twice now, by head on colliding with him and by continuing to hit him after his stick was broke. He flicked up his visor, continuing to gasp in breath as his bones ached.
The ref was looking in the complete opposite direction, not paying him any mind. He let his head fall back, breathing heavily as he tried to compose himself. The echo of the crowd, car engines, squeaking and scratching was all he could hear. The smell of rubber hard in his nose everytime he took a breath in. His eyes closed, he perked up as there was tapping on his hood. A ref stood above his car in a bright neon yellow shirt, tapping his orange flag on the top of his car.
"Hey, dude, number 88 completely broke all the rules!" He shouted at the ref, throwing his hands into his air. The ref's soundproof headphones were down around his neck and he shrugged.
"Number 88 hasn't broken any rules." He shouted over the roar of the cars, his hand cupping his mouth to make himself louder.
Jake gaped, "You obviously weren't watching for shit! Head on collision and he side scraped me after i broke my stick! I'm out! He can't hit me!" He shouted, his face hot as he held his hand out in the direction of the other cars.
The ref merely shrugged again, a stupid look on his face as his green hair blew in front of his face. Jake pushed open the door hard, and it scraped and screamed loudly in protest as it was crumpled. Jake took the ref's hand held out and the ref helped him up onto the barrier and out of the car.
Jake looked at the other cars, and it was only the plum truck and another navy blue card with their sticks, moving towards eachother. All the other cars sticks were broke, pushed against barriers and strewn aside all crumpled up. Jake was leaning heavily against the ref as he started walking tediously on the little platform where the refs stood. He helped him out to the sideline, before smiling, going back to his stand with his flag, putting his headphones back over his ears. Jake was fuming, sitting down and watching the truck and car circle eachother.
Stupid fucking refs, can't even do their job. He took off his helmet, running a hand through his hair. It was damp near his scalp with sweat. His helmet was gross with mud, and he watched as the truck cornered the car, t-boning it hard against the cement barrier. The plum truck backed off, watching the car struggle. Smoke flew out, and the car's driver tried the accelerator out, but its tires spun and spun, and after a long moment, the crowd watching in almost silence against the loud engines, the ref near the car tapped her hood with the flag, motioning to break the stick.
She looked angry as she reached up and broke it off, throwing it into the mud below her car. The crowd went wild, screaming and clapping as the plum truck rumbled to a stop. The driver opened the door with force and held his hand up in a fist, helmet covering his face, his stick left unbroken. The crowd became louder, completely ignoring the girl as she got out of her blue car, stumbling with the help of the ref.
She went up to the other driver in the muddy, tire tracked arena, holding out her hand for a handshake. He looked at her for a long moment, visor shining, before walking off, leaving her standing with her hand out. Jake couldn't see her face with her helmet on, but as she slowly lowered her hand, he could tell she was upset.
"What a fucking asshole, he breaks rules and doesn't even shake her hand? What's up with the refs this game?? They suck ass!" Jake said aloud, the other drivers next to him merely mumbled out a response or didn't respond. He groaned, taking off his gloves and shoving them in his pocket, rubbing his face hard with his hands.
The plum colored helmet shone in the setting sun as he got into his truck again, starting the engine with a loud rumble as he drove it off the field. All of the other drivers already walking off to the back area where the cars were kept, or onto the field to start their destroyed cars and help the forklifts get the cars off the arena to make it clear for the next match of drivers.
Jake got up, holding his helmet under his arm as he started walking to the back, the crowd cheering as a guy with a t-shirt canon kept them entertained. Jake watched as his demolished car was lifted with a forklift, too muddy, scratched and destroyed to even tell the original color of it.
He started walking towards the refs that were gathered around together on the side.
"Hey, you just let that guy do whatever?" He started accusingly, pointing his thumb back over his shoulder towards the plum truck leaving.
"Who?" Asked one of the refs, with dark skin and even darker hair.
"Number 88 didn't break any rules, I've already claimed that." The green haired one with the stupid face defended, speaking over the other ref.
"Didn't break any rules? What about the rules about head on collisions and hitting a car thats already out?" Jake felt himself getting upset again, his voice getting louder.
The dark haired ref immediately got between them, "Hey, Henry stop." He interrupted, before turning to Jake. "What'd he do?"
"He collided with me head on, and still hit me after my stick was broken." Jake repeated, voice lower.
"I'm the ref for that corner, and he didn't break those rules. He was already heading towards you and he veered away when you broke your stick." The green haired guy, henry, said. "I would've blew my horn if he had broken any rules."
"I saw too," this other guy interrupted, with a middle part and brown hair, shining red in the setting sun's light. "He didn't break any rules."
The guy with dark hair sighed, "Well, even if he did, nothing we can do now." He gave Jake an apologetic look. "Sorry man. Wasn't my corner so it's not my call. Games over, can't change the outcome."
Jake sighed, "It's fine dude," he said, before glaring at henry and the other guy.
He walked off, past the chain fence and to the back lot. There were cars parked in rows, along with big tires, trailers, barriers, and forklifts coming in with destroyed cars. It was finally becoming darker out, the air getting colder which was a relief to Jake.
He saw the girl from earlier who came second and he went up to her.
"Hey, you did great out there." He greeted, smiling as she took his hand, shaking it.
"Yeah, would've done better if that asshat didn't pull those moves." She groaned. Her hair was a deep blue, pulled messily into a ponytail.
"I know right?! I was just talking to the refs, he broke so many rules." Jake complained, "and him just not even shaking your hand was the cherry on top. I swear those refs are on his side or something, he had to have paid them off." He groaned, stretching his aching muscles.
She let out a small laugh, "Well, I mean at least we had fun? I'm Hailey, by the way."
Jake smiled, "I'm Jake, you hit me pretty good in there." She shyly smiled. "I mean yeah, i guess I did."
"Do you know his name? by the way?" He asked, looking over to the other side of the lot, the plum driver getting out of his truck, helmet still on.
Hailey shrugged. "He's new to competing, I haven't gone up against him until now. He's good as hell though," she replied, watching him just as Jake was.
They were driving cars back into the arena for another match, and the smell of exhaust was potent in the night air. The driver took off his helmet, his hair the same shade of plum as his helmet and his truck was. It was hard to make out details of his face from this far away, but by his pose he was confident, and he was a pretty attractive guy.
Jake was broken from his trance as Hailey elbowed him, "He's not what I expected," she admitted, turning to him. Jake turned towards her, but he didn't look away from driver 88, his eyes glued as he went over to talk to a group of drivers.
"I don't know what I expected." Jake said honestly. Hailey hummed, but then she startled as Jake started walking in the direction of him.
"Hey? Jake? Where are you going?" She asked nervously, already knowing the answer. Jake looked over his shoulder, waving.
"It was nice to meet you Hailey!" He said honestly with a smile, before he turned back around and made his way over to the driver. He was a decent amount away before he noticed, and he stopped his conversation to watch Jake walk up.
"Hey asshole!" Jake greeted once he was close enough that he wouldn't be awkwardly shouting. That gained the attention of driver 88, and his body immediately grew tense, his cocky smile dropping off his face and his dark brown eyes glaring at him. He was wearing a black hoodie with a leather jacket on top. Jake was already sweating in his thin jacket and ripped jeans, he couldn't imagine how hot the guy was.
"You trying to start something?" He asked back, his voice calm but cold. He was honestly really threatening, and Jake tried not to let his confidence falter.
"You rammed into me head on dude! What was that?" He held his hands out in emphasis. "I know you did that head on collision on purpose, and even though the refs didn't call it, we both know that shits against the rules." He accused, his voice raising.
The guy simply held eye contact, and for a long moment Jake was wondering if he was even going to respond at all. Finally, "The refs didn't call it so it must not be against the rules," was all he said, and Jake felt himself fuming.
"Whatever, besides that, you also hit me after I was out, you had plenty of time to move before you actually side scraped me." The guy rolled his eyes, his arms crossed in front of his chest.
"I didn't hear the refs blow any horns? Did you?"
Jake ignored him in favor of continuing to talk.
"Not to mention, you're a complete asshole to leave your competitor on the field and not accept the handshake. Someone needs to humble your ass."
That gained a laugh from him, and he took a step closer to Jake. He was an inch or so shorter than Jake, but his threatening stance didn't make the height difference obvious.
"Well I sure hope someone does, because you sure as hell wouldn't be able to." He egged on, his brown eyes staring straight into Jake's.
Jake swallowed, "Just wait, next time I see you I'm gonna beat your ass into a pulp." Jake threatened, taking another step forward. They were close now, faces only mere inches from one another.
Driver 88 simply laughed again, before he took a couple steps back, putting some distance in between them.
"I sure hope so." He said, before turning to his friends. "Come on, let's get out of here." His friends watched Jake for a moment before following him out, walking away. Jake stood there for a couple of awkward moments, before turning and walking the opposite way, towards where Hailey now stood with three other people.
A guy with purple hair, a guy with pale brown hair, and a short girl with bright pink hair stood alongside Hailey now, talking with her. Jake meandered his way up to them again. The guy with purple hair immediately looked at him with a piercing gaze.
"That's Drew, I wouldn't even bother if I was you. He's a massive ass." He said, and Hailey looked sheepish.
Jake shrugged, "Still doesn't mean I shouldn't say something." he defended weakly.
Hailey let out a tiny awkward laugh. "Jake! This is Zander, Luke and Milly!" She veered the conversation, and Jake welcomed the change of topic happily.
"Hey!" Luke said, smiling. "You were good out there dude, too bad Drew was after you." Jake agreed meekly.
Milly seemed to also agree, "Yeah! Your car got absolutely destroyed!" She laughed, patting him hard on the back. "Drew 's an absolute menace!"
Lukes arm was wrapped around Zander's shoulder, and Hailey stood close to Zander as well, all seeming to be close without having too much of a conscious thought about it.
"Haha yeah. Anyways, it's nice to meet you guys," Jake said with a nervous smile. "I should probably get going though, get my car situation figured out.. you know. And then get home." Hailey nodded understandingly, and Milly stepped back.
"See you around?" Hailey asked, and Jake nodded immediately.
"Definitely!" He agreed, before waving to all of them. "Bye guys, take care! Have a good night!"
He heard Milly, Hailey and Luke all say goodbye to him back as he turned away, walking off to the big garage that was on the lot.
Drew, huh? Jake's mouth pulled into a frown. He can't wait until the next derby to humble his ass.