The Race

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

In the morning after I woke up, I went ahead and packed my suitcase for the trip after I got dressed in jean shorts and a t-shirt, just for a sense of normalcy.  Though I would only be in New York City for three days max, there were too many things that would be happening.  I needed clothes to train in, dressy clothes for press conferences, and two dresses:  one for an upscale dinner that we usually went to the first night and one for the Gala that happened on the eve of the Opening for the Race. 

I grabbed my backpack that I’d be taking with me on the Race.  I put in three black tank tops, three pairs of cargo pants that zipped off into shorts, and three sets of sports bras and underwear.  I put my combat boots beside my suitcase. 

I went to my closet and went to one of the back racks to grab one of my signature items:  my red leather jacket.  For every Race I’d worn one and everyone knew me by it.  My other signature item had been something of my mother’s.  It was a silver heart-shaped locket that my father had given to her for her first Mother’s Day after she had me.  It had a picture of her and I in it, along with the engraving, Mommy’s little angel.  Dad said she’d cried for an hour when he’d given it to her and hadn’t taken it off until the day she died.

When I went downstairs with my bags in hand, I set everything in the living room, where everyone had already started a pile of luggage.  I walked toward the kitchen, where I heard laughter, and everyone, including Isla, was sitting around the table eating breakfast. 

“Good morning, Lennox,” Isla said.  “What took you so long?”

“I was getting all of my stuff together,” I said, sitting down at the table between Kier and Dad.  I was feeling a little awkward after what happened the night before with Kier, but he continued eating and looking at me like nothing had happened. 

“Morning,” he said, smiling with his fork in hand. 

“Good morning,” I said, smiling back, and grabbed mine. 

Dad and Isla were looking at the two of us like we’d both come from another planet but Sonora was looking at just me, eyebrow raised.  I ignored them all and started eating my pancakes and fruit. 

“So when do we leave?” I asked. 

“Franco and Pace should be here in the next half hour,” Dad answered.  “You and Kier will be riding with Pace, while Isla, Sonora, and I will be with Franco.”

“We’re taking two SUVs?” Kier asked. 

“We’ve always had two,” I said.  “It doesn’t really create a diversion like it’s supposed to, though.”  I looked out the window and saw the dark sky.  “And it won’t help that it’s still raining.  Reporters don’t care what the circumstances are.  They just want a story.”

“She’s right, Kier,” Dad said, still looking at me like I came from another planet.  He was probably wondering about my change of heart toward Kier.  “You thought the news crews were crazy at school yesterday, they’ll be even more today when we get to the hotel.  There should be security guards helping us through, but I don’t know how good they’ll be.”

“They never are,” I said, looking back at Kier.  “Last time, I almost got hit by a camera when a reporter got through the barrier.”  I smiled.  “I felt bad for what I did to the guy’s camera.  Those things cost what?  A couple thousand dollars?”

Dad laughed, though he wasn’t when I’d kicked the reporter in the gut when he’d come toward me.  I thought it was pretty funny when the guy was lying on the ground in front of me.  That had to be one of the funnier stories I’d read about myself in the papers and watched on the news.