Born To Run: A Counterpoints Novella Page 3

  I had but I looked back at the screen anyway and admitted to myself it was pretty impressive.

  Still totally crazy to aim for First Category, I reckoned. As far as I could tell- and according to my personal experience- you had to either be somebody, have money or be an ace for that to actually happen.

  “Let’s go,” Christopher said to me then. “Let’s go tell him, let’s go tell him about his balls,” and he started walking towards the car, to the grid line.

  The driver stood up, shaking hands with the mechanics, before they brought the car back inside the hangar.

  Then, I watched him take off his gloves, his helmet, his flameproof balaclava quickly, before taking Christopher’s hand.

  A woman, I gaped. It’s a woman?

  I stood there, speechless for once. That’s right, that woman in tracksuit had managed to stun me and shut me up- for the time being.

  “You were fantastic,” Christopher was saying, as they shook hands.

  “Thank you, Mr. Taylor. Coming from you that is a real honour,” she smiled wide, her face red from the heat.

  The driver is a woman? I gawked at her openly and unashamed.

  She stared back at me, the smile on her lips still there, her big blue eyes so alive.

  The fire, I knew that look, I recognized it immediately.

  It was right there, in her eyes, the same fire that ran in every driver’s veins. Adrenaline, head rush, we were all high on the same things. That’s how we fed the burning flames inside us.

  Well, us. I wasn’t a driver anymore, but I still remember the feeling. It was a great one, so strong it brought you from zero to a hundred within a fraction of a second. It burned, that fire, and it could burn you. I know it burned me.

  “Noah, this is Vera Evans, Vera this is Noah…” Christopher said.

  “Noah Laurent, of course,” she finished the sentence, smiling warmly at me. “It’s a pleasure.”

  We shook hands, I kept quiet, looking at her like it wasn’t true. Like she wasn’t real.

  “You did good out there,” I said, shooting Christopher a side glance. “Have you driven this track before?”

  “No, I just did a warm up lap two minutes before you arrived,” Vera said, her eyes darting to Christopher, too.

  “Well, you did a great job. I told Christopher you had balls, now I can only say that figuratively speaking,” I told her and she laughed and tilted her head back a little, while unbuttoning the upper part of her tracksuit.

  Dark brown strands of hair came loose from the ponytail she’d tied to the side of her head.

  She was so young. What was she, twenty, twenty-five?

  “Thank you. I know coming from you that is really something,” she said and then added. “I grew up watching you guys race. And I was one of your biggest fans.”

  I was, the words echoed in my head and punched me straight in the stomach. I grew up with you… she is young and therefore I am old.

  “Vera came here from Devon. I saw her race in a minor category with go-karts and prototypes,” Christopher said and went on, informing me of how she had won everything she could win in those championships. “I told her to visit us here. She’ll be one of your new trainees,” Christopher said and I shot him a look.

  “WHAT?” I exclaimed.

  “What, what?” Christopher shook his head, playing his little game. Like he hadn’t just seen me give him that look.

  My new trainee? He must be out of his damn mind.

  I laughed and shook Vera’s hand again, patted Christopher on the shoulder and took a step back.

  “It was nice meeting you,” I waved at Vera and turned to walk away, but I heard the footsteps. I knew it was Christopher and I knew he wasn’t going to let me off so easily.

  “Excuse us for a minute, Vera,” I heard him say and then to me “Where the hell are you going, mate?”

  “I’m going to work. The work you pay me to do. I have a lot of things to do with the guys at the simulator,” I said and kept walking, but Christopher rushed in front of me.

  “Wait a minute,” he raised his hands. “Hang on a second. Why are you walking away from this?”

  “Why am I?” I stared at him wide eyes, Vera’s presence so strong I could feel her staring at me, her smile gone, the fire in her blue eyes brighter now.

  Did I really had to say it out in the open?

  “She’s a woman!”

  “Glad you still recognize one when you see one,” Christopher grinned but I shook my head, keeping my face unreadable.

  “What exactly are you trying to do here, Christopher?” I asked him, straight to his face.

  He knew just like I did this was a mission impossible. No, it was a kamikaze mission. It would ultimately lead us nowhere.

  “Finding new talents for the academy, get the drivers contracts, help those that aren’t lucky like I was…”

  “She is a woman, Christopher,” I insisted, trying to keep my voice down.

  “Yes, we assessed that, Noah” and he grinned, like I was being funny or something.

  I wasn’t. I was saying the truth, not that it needed to be said out loud.

  “Let me ask you this: who was the last woman driver you saw race in a top category?”

  “Never saw one,” Christopher admitted.

  “Exactly and you never will, my friend. It’s just fucking ridiculous. Now excuse me, I have work to do,” and I moved to the side, out of Christopher’s path and started towards the glass building again.

  “Hey,” Vera shouted, catching up with me. I heard her jog but I didn’t stop, not until she and Christopher were right behind me. “Hey. I am talking to you, asshole.”

  That did it. That stopped me, alright.

  Did she just call me an asshole? I turned around and had to fight back a laugh. The kid had the nerve.

  “I know what your problem is,” Vera cleared her throat a little embarrassed.

  “You do?”

  “Yeah,” she looked up and down at me, the look of disgust. “You don’t think women should race with you, little boys. Too scared I’ll make a fool out of you. And you are right. I’ve taken down so many of you,” Vera stood up straight and went on. “Mr. Taylor, can you please assign me to someone else? Someone with ‘balls’?”

  I just kept my eyes on Vera, not sure if I should have laughed or argued with her. She was right about me being an asshole, but the whole women versus men thing was not my style. I thought women with balls were hot. And would never discouraged that.

  “This is not about me and what I think. This is about the system and how it works, miss ‘whatever your name is’. Forget about racing in Secondary or First Category. Maybe they’ll let you in Third Category, if you try hard enough. Nobody will help you,” I told her but I didn’t even finish the sentence, Vera was already shaking her head and talking over me.

  “I don’t need anybody’s help,” Vera blurted out, eyebrows up. “I can do this all on my own. I’ll show the race marshals what I am capable of, they can’t say no. There are no regulations that say women can’t race.”

  Regulations, rules. This kid doesn’t know what she is talking about, I thought.

  But I did. I knew exactly what the marshals were like, how they made and interpreted the rules. They would find a way to exclude her or give her a little something to shut her up, but no way she had a fighting chance like any other driver in the Championships.

  Top racing was for men. Period. It was a sport for men, always had been and always would be. We still had grid girls, walking around track half naked, for crying out loud.

  Some things were just too hard to change. You would need to change the head of the Race Commission.

  “You have no idea what you are talking about, let me tell you something…” I turned to her but Vera was already speaking to Christopher again.

  “Mr. Taylor, please assign me to someone else, another tutor.”

  “Vera,” Christopher smiled a little, patting her shoulder. “Could
you please wait for me in the gym? Take a seat, drink something. I’ll be there in a minute.”

  She nodded and turned to walk away, but first she made sure to shoot me another menacing glare. Just to remind me I was the asshole.

  “It was nice meeting you,” I teased.

  Really nice, I thought as she glared at me again, the word ‘asshole’ written all over her face.

  I bet that was exactly what she was thinking, while she blew off some steam walking to the building. Deep down, I could tell it wasn’t me that had gotten on her nerves. It wasn’t the first time she had heard those words, I had just hit a soft spot. If it was true that she had raced before, I was pretty sure she'd had a mouthful of crap from other race drivers, from race commissions. I had just reminded her of what she was getting into.

  She walked fast into the gym and slammed the door a little on her way in. I raised my brows and turned to Christopher again.

  “She’s got a shitty attitude,” I commented, as soon as we were alone again.

  “See? You guys have something in common already,” Christopher chuckled as I shot him a dirty look.

  “Come on, mate,” Christopher said, seeing I was lost in thought.

  “I don’t know,” I simply said and was shocked by my own reaction. I didn’t know? What? I was actually thinking about it?

  Don’t be ridiculous, you know this is a dead-end situation.

  “You know this isn’t going to happen,” I went on, shaking my head. “She hasn’t got a fair shot at this, no matter how good she is. It’s hard for men that don’t have connections, what chances does she have?”

  “That’s exactly why I am assigning her to you,” Christopher smiled and squeezed my shoulder, lowering his stare a little, a wicked side grin lighting up his face. “Don’t you see? She is just like you years back. She doesn’t know anyone. It’s going to be all uphill. And yes, maybe she is a lost cause, but she is worth a shot. We can help her, I know we can. We can make her the first woman to race in First Category Racing.”

  “I am not so sure, Chris,” I said, doing nothing to hide my doubts.

  “Let’s just try this. Trust me, she is unbelievable on track. Give her a chance first, work with her, see how it goes. If anyone can make this happen, it’s you. Look how much you achieved, look what you managed to do without knowing anyone in the field.”

  “Yes, a lot. I also managed to get myself kicked out of First Category. That was a first,” I pointed out.

  How can I help her, when I couldn’t even help myself?

  “What happened at the end of your career doesn’t mean a thing. You can help her, I know you can. Just give her a chance. Train her. Let me get the sponsors, the connections. You do the training, prepare her and I’ll think about the rest. We can pull this off, I know we can,” Christopher held my stare until I nodded.

  His excitement and positivity were catching, I had to admit that. It was a challenge, a tough one to win but I couldn’t say no to him. Not after all he had done for me. Besides, I figured I had nothing to lose, apart from time.

  “Two weeks, I am giving her two weeks to show me she’s worth getting my hands dirty for. That is all. I am not going to waste my time or waste her time If she isn’t worth it,” I told him my conditions.

  I must be crazy for saying yes to this, I reckoned and then something that Christopher said came back to me.

  First woman in First Category Racing, I had to say it sounded great and absolutely mental.

  “Alright!” Christopher slapped hands with me, ecstatic. He’d had it his way as usual. Nobody could really say no to him, not even grumpy, old me apparently.

  “Excellent, I’ll talk to her,” he walked away quickly, jogging a little towards the gym. What was that? A happy dance or something?

  Oh for fuck sake’s…

  “Hey,” I called out to him and Christopher turned, one hand already on the door. “Tell her that if she ever calls me an ‘asshole’ again, I am going to make her cry like a baby.”

  One foot in, Christopher lowered his sunglasses on his nose and grinned.

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Vera

  Well, I wanted to give a good impression… I guess that plan failed.

  My arms were crossed, my legs were crossed. Fine, I was cross.

  I sat in the gym waiting for Mr. Taylor- no, Christopher, like he wanted me to call him- trying to behave and not let out the mean things that jumbled inside my head.

  I might have cursed a few times under my breath, I don’t remember. Whatever, I'd just gotten an earful from someone I looked up to and it was horrible.

  Disappointed, was the word I was looking for. I was incredibly disappointed in Noah, for dismissing me like that.

  True, I was a woman. True, racing wasn’t traditionally for girls but I expected more from someone like him. Hadn’t he had to fight against stereotypes and prejudice himself?

  “It’s not you,” Christopher told me when he walked into the gym and explained Noah’s point of view.

  My soon to be instructor was very upfront, very practical and sceptical, in general. Towards life, I believe Christopher had said. I did my best to listen and cool off, and in the end I calmed down, because I knew Christopher was right.

  I needed to stop taking this personally, when it wasn’t personal. I was a woman, my balls were hidden, but they were there. My courage, my cold blood came out when I was in a car, on track. Wearing that helmet, we all looked alike, but only a few of us had balls. I was one of those and gender had absolutely nothing to do with it.

  Not just that. I represented change. And change always scared those without balls- also known as male chauvinist pigs. I’d met quite a few of them since I had started racing.

  I had been told the worst things, called names, laughed at for wasting my time and everyone else's time, too.

  That was why I’d snapped at Noah. I hadn’t gone all the way down there to listen to the same bollocks all over again. I'd been so defensive about racing my whole life, I just didn’t know how to keep it together when someone underestimated me.

  No, that wasn’t entirely true. I wasn’t defensive, I attacked, every time someone tried to bring me down. Always.

  “Are you on your period? Maybe you should stick a tampon in before the race,” a fellow driver had told me just before the race once, laughing his head off.

  “You are so funny, wanker. Remind me to hand you a tissue, when I’m done with you,” I had spat the words out and had made it my personal goal to destroy him on track.

  Blue car, number fourteen, I made a mental note to drive him nuts.

  He would be sorry, laughing in my face, calling me names, looking at me from head to toe like that.

  “Bitch, please, go home,” he had waved me off, heading to his car.

  I’d smiled, my hands curling into fists, my mind on the target. Finish the race in front of him, my very own, little but gratifying revenge.

  “We’ll see who goes home today,” and I'd showed him.

  Guess who? I had wanted to shout in his face when I’d overtaken him halfway through the race. Third, I'd finished third and Funny Guy ended up only fifth.

  One of the things I’ll never forget is that look on his face, when he’d seen me up on the podium. I'd simply smiled at him, pleased to see his face red, his eyes glaring at me, as he nervously shoved the gloves into his helmet.

  Bitch isn’t going home, Bitch is going on the podium. Wanker. I wished I'd said those exact words to him.

  I knew they called me ‘The Bitch’, almost everyone in the boxes did. My sweet, welcoming, fellow race drivers.

  Maybe I was a bitch, just as Noah was an asshole, but at least I was feared. They'd started fearing me in the minor leagues. From that moment on, nobody spoke to me. It was just me and my father.

  No smiles, no laughing, no making fun of me out in the open.

  It wasn’t funny anymore, because I had started winning.

  But still, nobo
dy took me seriously enough to help me, until Christopher had come along. And I wanted Noah to believe in me, too.

  As I listened very carefully to Christopher’s words, I decided I would put my emotions to the side and focus on what I was there to do. I was going to show them all, what I was really capable of. Noah would see, really see how much I was worth.

  Chapter 2

  Noah

  Vera thought I was an asshole. She just didn’t know how much of an asshole I could be.

  I made sure to set things straight from day one. My training, my rules.

  “I am not going to go easy on you, just because you are a woman,” those were the first words out of my mouth, when I’d joined her in the gym.

  “That’s fine,” she shrugged, her voice flat and unaffected.

  “I won’t take it easier on you just because you are new,” I went on walking around her as she lifted the weights.

  One, two, three, she kept the pace up, just like I’d told her. A set of ten, then rest, then back for more exercises.

  “I don’t want you to go easy on me, that’s not why I’m here,” she was quick to retort, putting the weights back down, catching her breath.

  “And why are you here?” I pressed on, crossing my arms over my chest.

  “I am here because I want to train like a top driver,” Vera didn’t even blink twice, she made sure we locked eyes, she made sure I got her message.

  She was being serious.

  “Good. I want you to exercise with me every morning at six am. Not one minute later than that, I have a full schedule and that is my only opening for you,” I was very direct.

  Meaning, I had no time to waste.

  “That’s perfectly fine and I appreciate it. I am not here to waste your time,” and she sat back up after a set of push ups.

  “I curse a lot,” I informed her and she laughed a little.

  “So do I.”

  “I figured that,” my brow went up and Vera mumbled something under her breath before speaking again.

  Yup, you called me an asshole not even twenty minutes ago, I thought.

  “I’m sorry …” she fidgeted a little and I enjoyed every second of it.