you getting ready to stomp your foot on the pedal. taking another deep breath you look up at ningguang, she gives you a quick wink before speaking up.
"the race will start in" ningguang lift her arm, raising the flag. "3..2..1," she brought the flag down with great speed. "go!" your foot stomped on the pedal, quickly taking a turn. you were a bit behind the person you were racing against. you could see his smirk through the mirror on his car. after taking one of the last turns you speed up to the maximum.
giving the driver beside you a smirk as you passed him. you turned down the speed a bit, noticing he was using his max speed. waiting until he slowed down you used your maximum to win.
cheers erupting as you do so. stepping out of the car with a great smile you walk over the ningguang, her giving you a medal for winning. the judges looking at you. kaeya had also mentioned that winning gave you a boost, but people who lose can also rank up.
as you were heading back to the bleachers you saw a group of people exchanging something.
"who are they?" you asked kaeya when you sat beside him. kaeya leaned forward, looking where you were looking.
"they're gamblers, i overheard them." kaeya leaned back resting his elbows on the bleacher seats beside him. "quite a lot of bets are on you. that's mean," you looked over at kaeya as he was rubbing his thumb and index finger together.
"but i didn't bet, why would i get money?" with a confused look on your face, kaeya chuckled.
"more bets on you, the more popularity you get if you win. that means more paychecks for you lovely." you nodded, understanding what kaeya explained. "you should hear from the judges in a bit." again you were confused.
"that quickly?" you asked.
"yeah, they are quick thinkers. they know talent when they see it." kaeya patted your back as you stood up. "well, i'm off. be my cheerleader will you?" you smacked kaeya shoulder. "so mean." kaeya pouted.
"yeah, yeah. good luck, i'll raise my pom-poms for you." you said sarcastically. kaeya chuckled as he stepped down the bleachers. childe came towards you after finishing up some stuff with the workers. "hey." you said as he sat beside you.
"hey, how do you think you did?" childe asked. you shrugged, childe chuckled after he noticed that you shrugged. "come on, you know you did well." he leaned forward, looking at you. "i saw the cocky smirk you wore after that race."
"i think i did well." you looked away from childe's gaze. childe's phone started ringing.
"i'll be right back." childe got up, stepping down the bleachers the answer the phone. you watched kaeya get into his car and ningguang stepped onto the tracks. getting distracted by childe's voice, you look away from the tracks. "yeah? okay no need to rush, it's better to take it slow. i've got them-" you couldn't hear childe's voice as the cars started racing and cheers were heard all around you.
shrugging it off you looked back towards the tracks. childe coming back up after 3 minutes. him clearly looking distressed. you waited for him to sit beside you to ask him what is wrong. before you could you were interrupted by the yells of the audience. you looked at the screen, it read 'kaeya wins'.
you saw kaeya stepping out of the car, raising his arms up while waving with a big smirk. "he sure is used to this, huh?" childe said. you felt a tap on your shoulder, it was a worker. they told you to follow them. you headed towards the back of the bleachers.
"congrats, you ranked up!" ningguang cheered for you as she came up towards you. you were surprised ningguang came to inform you. "here is the rank listings, you are about 3 ranks up since you started here. surprising, i've never seen someone go up 3 ranks." ningguang said as she gave you the list.
"it might be because i have experience in another group." you said as you read the listing. "thank you." thanking ningguang she nodded, giving you a quick smile before walking you back to the bleachers. noticing kaeya was waving, you sat beside him and childe.
"so?" kaeya wrapped on arm around your shoulder. "how did it go?"
"i went up three ranks." kaeya blinked a few times after you said that. "what?"
"three ranks?!" kaeya exclaimed, childe had a neutral face. "you think this is normal childe?" childe shrugged.
"that's normal for y/n, they do have past experience." childe leaned forward, standing up. "welp, it's my turn now."
"good luck!" kaeya and you both said.
✦
after you and kaeya talked a bit more, you and childe decided to start driving home. as you were going towards your car, kaeya came jogging towards you. "is something wrong?" you asked kaeya.
"no, i just wanted to ask if you wanted to hang out next weekend." kaeya asked.
"you could've texted me that," you chuckled. "you didn't need to run after me."
"ah, right i could've." kaeya chuckled.
"but, i'd love to. where were you thinking of doing." you asked, leaning back on your car.
"i've got plans with a few friends, it's people you know. and we were all thinking of going to a water park." kaeya explained. you thought for a bit, making sure you didn't have any other plans. after thinking, you nodded.
"sure, i can go." kaeya quickly smiled.
"great! i'll text you the information tomorrow. see ya!" kaeya waves as he walked back to the tracks. you yawned as you got into the car. it was already 12 am, by the time you get home it would be around 1 am. as you and childe drove home, you got a call from an unknown number.
as you remember what happened last time you decided not the answer. if it was something important they would leave a voice mail.
✦
you walked through the large hall to get to the elevator. it was quiet and no one was around. you rubbed your eyes. noticing there was someone stepping out of the elevator you greeted them. they looked over at you, not giving you a greeting as well.
you walked into the elevator, they were still looking at you. after you pressed the button they walked away.
