Mallory's Melody

Chapter 12

"YOU REALISE YOU'VE MADE A GOOD NUMBER OF FOES TODAY RIGHT?" Jason asked, hauling her into his red Bentley. He went to the driver's seat, slammed the door, and hit the streets. "You're unbelievable."

"Please, the only enemy I made was Diana. And that doesn't make much of a difference. I wouldn't want her as a friend."

Jason chuckled. "And yet she has more friends than you will ever have in a lifetime."

"Her friends are stupid then. She's such a bitch. Did you see how she poured that drink on me?" Mallory humphed. "If not for you, I would've ripped the skin off her face. Stupid girl."

"Hey," Jason warned. "Watch your tongue. That's my girlfriend you're talking about."

"Too bad. How do you cope? I bet she's a handful."

Jason shrugged. "She's nice if you get to know her."

"And you?"

Jason took his eyes off the road to look at her. "Me what?"

"Are you nice? Well, if someone gets to know you?"

Jason's jaw clenched. "I don't know, what do you think?"

"I personally think you're a jerk," Mallory said, smirking to herself. 

"That's bad," Jason said.

 "Of course it is."

"No," Jason squinted hard at his side mirror, "I mean that's bad." He nudged his head towards his rear-view mirror

Mallory poked her head outside. Behind them, was a long queue of commercial buses. If Jason swerved to the right, so they did too. If he drifted, so did they. They were following them!

"Paparazzi," Jason whispered under his breath. 

Panic travelled through Mallory's veins as Jason struck the accelerator, transcending the speed limit. Frantic to lose the paparazzi, he swerved to a turning on the right, leading the car for a precarious tilt. Mallory's began hyperventilating when she realised that she might actually die, and it wasn't an honourable death at that. She was going to die by the side of someone she despised.

"Stop speeding! You're gonna kill us!" Mallory yelled. 

Jason launched his car into a highway, furiously maneuvering and overtaking cars like a maniac on the run from the police. A gush of wind rushed into the windows of the vehicle, throwing Mallory's hair into a disheveled state. In the wind, was a strong sulphuric scent. It smelt like smoke. 

Mallory poked her out of the car, the wind buffeting her face. She swallowed hard when she saw that one of the tires of the car was totally engulfed by fire. 

"The tires on fire!" Mallory screamed. "Stop the car. Stop the car!"

But Mallory needed no one to tell her that Jason wasn't going to stop the car. The paparazzi was still furiously chasing them, their resolve unfaltering, not even for a minute. 

"What's the big deal, anyway?" she asked him. "Just stop the car and deal with them. It's not like their carrying clubs and machetes."

"On any other day, I wouldn't care about them," he swerved. "But today's different. Think about all the possible lies they would create if they found me with you."

Mallory flushed. He was right. She couldn't risk exposure with him. 

Jason seemed accustomed to the chase. It appeared to be more of a thrill than a peril to him. He descended the highway and aimed for a vast market teeming with buyers and retailers who were oblivious of the car about to hit them. Jason jammed his horn to tell them to get out of his way. Panicked people fled to the side to make way for the deranged driver, bananas and apples, and other food items landing on the windscreen as they did. Jason's wiper flung them away.