A Little Rain and Some Sunshine

There's A Fine Line

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" Jackson's sponsor couldn't be more pissed than he was. He was pacing back and forth in front of Jackson Storm who in turn looked just as pissed. He then stopped in front of Storm's face. "You losing to McQueen's girl two times in a row!? Are you serious????!!! I had deals made up and now they're reconsidering our contracts because of your screw ups! Our money is on the line here!" 

Ray decided to get into the conversation seeing how annoyed Jackson was getting.

"Take it easy on him. He's been training non-stop for this-"

Their sponsor glared at Ray. 

"He needs to train harder then. Or maybe...we'll have to find somecar else because we are can't afford him losing like this!"

"She's just a cheap trickster." Jackson retorted.

"Oh really? Cause it looks like to me she didn't have to even use any tricks this time to beat you. I'm telling you, you'd better stop losing."

A few minutes later...

"THAT DAMN BROAD!" Jackson Storm yelled in his trailer. He had been taking out all of his frustrations in there. Gale decided it was time to speak up. 

"Hey there buddy, you should calm down. It's not worth your energy."

Jackson Storm stopped to calm himself down. Gale was right. He knew he was being stupid right now. This wasn't like him at all. He's supposed to never lose his cool but this girl made him want to punch a wall.  Was this it for him? Was his career really over like that? No...it couldn't be...

"You know you can't win every race Jackson. She won fair and square. Why don't you just become friends with her? She seems really nice and she likes to get to know others I've noticed. Besides she's a very cute girl!" Gale chuckled and it made Jackson feel sick. 

"Not you too Gale!" He let out an annoyed sigh. 

"What? You find her cute too?" Gale asked. 

Jackson Storm became quiet and even more angered again. 

"No Gale. That's not what I meant and you know that." 

Gale was trying to stop herself from taking it far but she just had to. 

"Come on Jackson! You can't seriously hate her that much for beating you. Someone was bound to do it sooner or later. I know you only strive to be the best and all but it's really turned you into more of a cranky guy than a cool one...Why don't you just take a break for once. You're always-"

"Because the moment I take a  break that's when I start to crumble. What do you even mean by that? I have to hate her, she's my rival." 

"You know that they say about hate?" Great. She was going to try to say something "thoughtful" again. Jackson hesitantly asked anyways.

"...What do they say?..." He said as flatly as he possibly could. His lids lowered making him look bored.

"There's a fine line between love and hate." 

He couldn't roll his eyes further back and if he could he would. 

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Even though he already knew what that saying meant he just wanted to clarify it. 

"It means, Mr. Storm, that if you keep letting this girl get into your head, she'll end up getting into your heart."

"You obviously don't know how much I hate that stupid yellow car. If I'm gonna fall in love with someone, they're going to be perfect in every way possible." He replied.

"Hmmmm. You turned down every "perfect" car that threw themselves at you before."

"Because Gale, I simply just don't need a relationship to be happy. I just need to keep on being the perfect racer that I am." 

Gale sighs again.

"Like I said Storm...being the winner all the time doesn't last...but love does."

"UGH! Shut up with that already!" Jackson turned off his call to Gale. He couldn't stand her anymore with her falling in love shenanigans and all. He didn't have time for that crap. He needed to go back to sleep to forget about how angry he was with losing AGAIN today.

"Oh um hi Charlotte...I was wondering...if you'd like to come to my birthday party?" 

The young red Porsche turned to look at who was asking her that. 

"Um Jackson I'm sorry but...no...I don't go to loser parties." She laughed at him. 

He slowly started backing away but then the other male cars that bullied him were behind and he ended up bumping them. 

Jackson got beaten up once again. 

His birthday was in a week. Unfortunately that week would have been the worst week of his life. 

Jackson woke up from the memories. He pushed those memories far down into the black hole in his mind again. Jackson Storm had arrived back at his place. He went straight to check his vitals and what he needed to upgrade. Then his phone started ringing.

"Hey Ray, think we can get me an upgrade?" Jackson asked.

"How much will it cost us?" Ray asked.

"A lot."

"I'll look into it but hey Jackson I have an emergency I have to deal with. I'll be gone for two weeks probably. Until then I want you to start training like you never have before....maybe you can make friends with that Cruz girl too in the meantime. Get to know your rival. Remember what I said?" 

"What is with you guys? Gale was saying the same stupid thing too! I am NOT going to get to know her. No way."

"You know...in this sport it's good to be at least civil to others..."

Jackson was really surprised from what Ray was telling him. Ray was all for the trash talk and that's why they chose HIM. Jackson Storm could talk smack about anyone because he was good at it. 

"Anyways I'd best be leaving now. Stay out of trouble and you better be sending me your log ins on your simulator. I need to know that you'll be training."

"You know I will be."

"Yeah. That's true." Ray then said goodbye and they hanged up.