The Crew

Chapter 7

Tommy, Ash and I headed through a back street which was a shortcut that headed straight to the finish line which was another set of abandoned industrial buildings. The advantage on us was that this was kind of in the middle of nowhere, not even close to suburban houses which was great. The downside was,  cops still used these roads to check up on couriers and trucks that came by. I got out my camera, poised and ready, whilst Tommy leaned against the side of his car with an anxious look on his face. "Why he so worried?" I asked Ash. She shrugged. "It's kind of risky to be out here, especially for you. And Billy. Although someone needs to send that guy to jail already," Ash rolled her eyes. "And if Josh can't pull this off......." Ash trailed off as we saw headlights coming up around the bend. The rest of the crew and crowd were further up, all cheering, but it wasn't Billy's or Josh's car that came by, rather a red VW Beetle belonging to Annabelle. "What the heck is she doing?" Tommy muttered as she rode past and pulled over to the side of the road, before heading towards Ava and the rest of Ava's posse were standing. Ash narrowed her eyes. "She's up to something," she stated. "That girl's up to no good." I glanced worriedly over at the group of girls who were a fair bit away. I couldn't hear what they were saying, or see their facial expressions, but Ash was right, Annabelle was up to something, but what? It didn't take us long to find out, as both boys came flying around the corner in manic unison. Neck and neck, both boys were pushing it, but we could see why. A bunch of cop cars, about six of them were hurtling towards us from behind them. "SCRAMBLE!!" Yelled Tommy as everyone dove for their cars. My eyes gripped with fear and hands trembling, Ash pulled me with her back into Tommy's car and we were hightailing it through the hills. Tommy radioed Josh to find out where he was and if he was okay, to which he responded with, 'Meet at the bus stop.' Ash and I glanced at each other from the backseat. This was turning out to be one scary night. When we arrived at the bus stop, minutes later, Josh was already there, his face pale, eyes scanning the road, making sure no cops had followed us. "Dude what happened out there? Where'd the hell the cops come from?" Tommy asked as we got out of the car. Josh shrugged, his eyes more focused on me, concerned. I let him know that I was okay by wrapping my arms around his waist, hugging him. "I think it was Annabelle who tipped the police. She was on her phone at the start of the race. I'm not too sure why though, if she knew Billy was doing dodgy dealings. Unless she wanted both him and I to get caught," Josh said, scratching his head. He was still baffled by the whole turn out of events.

Meanwhile Billy had managed to get the cops off him, not risking getting caught in a stolen vehicle, he headed towards Mickey's Mechanics, where his brother Jeff worked. He messaged Jennifer to meet him there but she didn't respond. When he got to the mechanic though, Annabelle was sitting on the bonnet of her VW battle in the parking lot with her arms folded, waiting. "What the hell are you doing here?" He said gruffly, narrowing his eyes still miffed at Annabelle for calling the cops. Annabelle fluffed her hair shrugged. "Oh I don't know. I tried to do your plan as best as I could but it foiled. Apparently Avery found out what we were up to, that's why the cops was onto you. You could've been done too, with those stolen wheels you've been driving in," she gestured towards his car. "Anyway, I've been thinking about plan B. If you want to get rid of Hollister and his preppy girlfriend so much, just drive a wedge between him." Billy raised his eyes and folded his arms. "What possibly could be a wedge? And I hope you didn't upset Jennifer," he said, annoyed now. Annabelle laughed haughtily. "Relax, all you need to do is say something sweet to her and she'll be fine, she's that dumb. As for the wedge, Ava is a start. I'm sure Josh hasn't told Ella the truth yet, so she'll get a very rude awakening once she learns who he really is," Annabelle said with an evil grin. Billy hadn't of thought of this, he was more into settling things with a car race, but this was next level drama. Could he do this? It would mean hurting Ella again and deep down he really didn't want to do that. He was already a suspect in a hit and run case. And there could be dire consequences for both of them if they got their paths crossed again. He looked up at Annabelle. "What have you got against Ella anyway? It's not like you knew her or anything, right?" He asked. Annabelle scuffed her high top sneakers against her tyre as she hopped off the bonnet and snorted. "She's been to a few meets in the past, ones that I've been too. Back in Brisbane. In the city area, before she dated Billy. She was a very different person back then too. She kind of seemed like everyone's little angel; a goody two shoes. I just hated that. I wanted her out, but I couldn't because one, she was in another crew and two, she didn't go to the meets as often," Annabelle explained. Billy looked at Annabelle. "Is that all? Sounds more like a jealous spat to me. It's not like she stole your boyfriend or anything like that," Billy replied with a smirk. Annabelle's eyes darkened and she pointed at him. "Don't mock me or else you know what I can do," she hissed at him. Billy just laughed and rolled his eyes,  "Geez, relax will ya? And fine, we'll try your plan B, even though I thought this was strictly going to be crew related," Billy said, before getting back into his car. Annabelle smiled triumphantly as she got into her own car. Things were soon looking up for her and Billy, or so it seemed.