Thunderbird Road.

Chapter 5

Camilla's birthday was a success, with several girls from school, apart from our friend's group, showing up.

We talked all evening about school, boys, and other topics. When I saw that Lucy didn't seem so upset anymore, I sneaked a little bit of information about the accident that had happened that morning. Most of the girls didn't know and were intrigued, so I told them about what I had seen on the street and what Zack and I had seen on video.

"I always wondered about that place," one of the girls, Jannine, said. "Must be very noisy."

"Vernon?" I asked, and she nodded. "Not always. It depends on the hour. Sometimes in the evening, things calm down, and you can listen to the trains in the distance, which is rather nice."

"Are you going to watch the evening news to see if it shows up? The crash, I mean?" Lola asked, curious.

"I probably will," I told her.

And, in fact, I did.

As the party ended and I went back home, I sat with Dad on the couch to watch the news for the first time in years. I used to watch them with him when I was much smaller before my social life became so busy. As I sat down with Dad, I offered him a piece of cake on a paper plate and a small fork.

"How was the party? Fun?" Dad asked me as he took the cake and the fork.

"It went fine. I ate a lot," I told him, but I was more focused to see if news about the accident showed up.

My father smiled and stood quietly, watching the screen while eating his cake. After a few reports on the daily traffic and one on a shooting around Koreatown, I finally catch a glimpse of Vernon on the screen.

"Listen, there it is!" I said, excited, pointing at the screen.

We listened carefully as the newscaster began talking about the accident, mainly about details I already knew. They even showed the footage of another camera around the same area, showing the crash in blurry, slow motion. But the camera was way farther than the one in Fruitland, so you could only see a dot crash against a pole in the distance, not leaving the opportunity to see if there was another car.

But that wouldn't be necessary. A few seconds later, the newscaster referred to the crash as an incident that the police were investigating related to illegal racing circles developing around L.A, an idea that intrigued me.

Finally, the last thing to be said was that the Vernon police, along with the L.A.P.D., also related the crash to another vehicular incident from days before, around the neighborhood of Central Alameda. The excitement of getting new information kept me up that night. But I forced myself to fall asleep as I had promised Zack I would arrive early the following day.

I finally woke up around nine that Saturday.

I used the first couple of hours that morning to do as many chores as I could. I ate my breakfast while I cleaned and vacuumed the living room thoroughly, then proceeded to make my bed and cleaned my bedroom after I had showered.

I quickly tied my hair in a bun, put on underwear, some shorts, and a hoodie, and walked to the kitchen to take the garbage out.

"Look at you, in a hurry," Mom said as she began taking food out of the fridge. "Are you going somewhere?"

I quickly took the garbage out and nodded at her as I walked back into the kitchen.

"Yeah, I'm going out," I said.

"Where are you going?" She asked while taking a piece of chicken from the refrigerator and placing it on a wooden chopping board on the kitchen counter.