ten days >> hemmings a.u.

Day 5

My jaw dropped. I had never seen anything like this before.

Everywhere I looked I saw red and white stripes, rubber tyres, steel beams and tarmac.

Luke seemed to say something but I couldn't understand a word because of the noise.

"What?" I shouted back. "I can't hear anything."

"Oh yeah it's the engines." Luke shouted. "I said: welcome to go karting!"

I laughed.

"Thanks."

I followed Luke's gaze to the actual track itself which was boarded by concrete and tyres. The karts whizzed dizzyingly past, some overtaking and some even crashing into the barrier.

I couldn't help but feel my mouth go dry. I had never done anything close to as exciting and dangerous as this and I wasn't going to lie. I was nervous.

"Luke?" I called, pulling him down so that he could hear me. "Are you sure it's safe? It looks...dangerous."

Luke laughed and pinched my cheeks. "That's half the fun Ally."

"What?" I said worriedly.

"You'll be fine." Luke reassured me. "C'mon let's get kitted up."

Because of all the big men that looked very intimidating, and the fact that I was quite scared, I decided to latch onto Luke's hand. When he realized what I was doing, he just smiled and squeezed it tightly.

We clutched our suit and helmet as a man in a red fleece explained how to use to karts and how to speed up, brake, what to do if you crashed and how to overtake someone. Following that were the health and safety rules.

"Ally." Luke whispered, leaning over so that I could hear him. "Are you nervous?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"No." I lied.

"Really? Because your knuckles are white."

I looked down at my hands which were clutching my suit. Indeed, they were white.

"Don't worry." He whispered.

After we had filled in some slips of paper, we put on our helmets and suits.

I felt so stupid in my boiler suit which was about two sizes too large for me. But Luke obviously looked great in his, and he was buzzing and ready to go.

"You look really cute." Luke said, regarding my outfit.

I blushed hotly. "I look ridiculous."

"Shh you don't. You look cute."

Just then, the strange man from before shoved a pair of gloves into our hands. I put them on, trying to ignore the dampness inside.

"You ready?" Luke asked. I couldn't see his face as it was hidden inside his helmet, but I could tell that he was smiling.

My stomach did some triple somersaults as we followed a group of people to the side of the track. Then, I followed Luke into an empty go kart.

"Ready!" I shouted back.

Suddenly, a loud bell shrilled and all the engines roared into life. The karts suddenly shot off around the track, including Luke's, so trying to ignore the panic which had risen to my throat, I pressed the accelerator.

The kart leaped forward as I frantically grabbed the wheel and tried to gain control of the kart as the engine roared behind me.

My whole body was vibrating with the kart and I dared myself to push down on the accelerator even more. The feeling of the floor so close to my feet and the strong winds against my face and into my hair was indescribable. After a few times turning around the corners smoothly, I gained more and more confidence.