It was approximately an hour before the arcade opened, and everyone was busy preparing. In Sugar Rush Speedway, the nine racers who were on the top in the celebration race yesterday were busy fixing up their karts, since they had decided to merge the Random Roster Race with the said event. President von Schweetz was already done with the maintenance, and all that was left was the alarm, blaring, "Quarter alert! Quarter alert!"
Vanellope sighed as she impatiently waited by the entrance of her castle. She wore a rather familiar looking, ripped, brown shirt, with Gloyd's trademark jacket tied around her waist. She had his bonnet on her head, and his recent anniversary gift―the racing goggles―around her neck. She wore her usual Reese's brown skirt, minty green and white striped long socks, and black licorice boots. She had her hair put up in a ponytail with her usual rubbery red licorice, pieces of candy littered around her hair.
But still, something was off. The president needed her green hoodie in order to race; it was one of her usual garments after all! Besides, she didn't want to wear the candy pig's clothing during the races, because it would be too... weird. And having the gamers see that she was wearing Orangeboar's clothing would definitely stir up some questions. She was clever enough to know that far.
"Where is that pumpkin head?" Vanellope grumbled. She was getting more impatient by the minute, glaring off towards the end of the castle's entrance road. Suddenly, she could hear the sound of a racing kart's engine, her face showing a hardened expression. 'About time.'
A candy corn-themed kart came out from the horizon, the driver inside it looking all different because of the lack of clothing. The president huffed as she crossed her arms, displaying an annoyed figure rather than a mocking one. Considering that Gloyd had been stupid enough to chase her all the way to the castle and just simply forget why he was even chasing her, the princess should have been expecting him with a prepared speech about him being a complete and total Candybrain. But she felt different today; she'd been waiting for hours, even after she was done with her kart's maintenance, and the prankster was still nowhere in sight. Her impatience was at the brink of exploding, and finally, after all the excruciating pain of waiting, he had arrived. And he was so going to get it.
The sugar-coated kart drove and parked a few meters in front of her, the dark brown haired driver stepping out with a certain green hoodie in his hand. Vanellope knit her eyebrows together. Gloyd was only wearing his usual candy corn-printed, white shirt, orange pants with dark brown linings, and sugar-coated, black sneakers. His disheveled hair looked a bit ruffled in a different way, and Vanellope noticed that he was desperately trying to cover the left side of his face.
"Hey, Pres," Gloyd sheepishly greeted as he awkwardly tried to wave using the hand holding her hoodie, his other hand covering the left side of his face.
"You're late," Vanellope spat. Gloyd was so going to get punished. Vanellope-style. "Seriously, I should be laughing at you right now, but all the waiting made me quite bitter."
The Halloween-lover grinned sheepishly, his hand still on the left side of his face. "I-I'm sorry. I promise not to be that stupid again, Miss President Ma'am."
Vanellope resisted the urge to smile. She had to keep up her annoyed act. "Well, that's reassuring." She tried to roll her eyes.
As if that didn't faze him, Gloyd continued to grin sheepishly, his left hand still on his face. That hand was seriously getting on the president's nerves. The candy pig suddenly held out the light green hoodie he was holding, slowly offering it back to the glitch racer. Vanellope looked at it with a skeptical look on her face.
"Uh, here's your hoodie back, Vanellope," he said, eyeing the orange jacket tied around the president's waist. "So... can I have my stuff back?"
Vanellope faked a thinking pose. "Let's see..." She slowly took the hoodie from the pumpkin racer's hand, hugging it gently across her stomach. "How 'bout... no."
