Page 59 of Furious

I start hurrying down from the stands, skipping stairs. I miss the last one and tumble down three, landing hard on my left knee. Pain shoots up my leg, but I get up. Max has left the railing that overlooks the track and disappeared.

Ignoring the pain on my knee, I hurry in the direction she went. Up ahead of me, she’s joined by a guy and a girl, also in mechanics’ jumpsuits, and they move toward the exit.

Out the door they go with a wave to the guy in the ticket booth. They’re talking with each other, laughing, and Max has an arm slung around the guy’s waist.

A little breathless—I really have to start training more—I follow them into the parking lot. They move away, toward a row of cars. The three of them pile into a royal blue Nissan, which looks very much like the one Paul Walker drove in The Fast and the Furious, but can’t be the GT-R model because those aren’t legal in the US yet. The car peels out of the parking lot with a screech of tires. I knock on the passenger side window of Rita’s van, startling a little shriek out of her.

“JoJo?” she says, unlocking the door. She takes in my bleeding knee and my I’ve-clearly-just-been-sobbing eyes as I climb into the front seat.

“I’m fine,” I say quickly. “Just tripped on some stairs. Now, please, follow that car!”

Rita waits until I’m buckled before speeding out of the parking lot. Despite the Nissan’s hurried exit, we catch up to it at the light outside the Raceway.

I check my phone as we drive. While I was hurrying to the car, a bunch of texts have come in from El.

El: OMG THAT IS HER!

El: Where are you? Did you talk to her?

El: Don’t talk to her without me

El: Where are you going?

I snap a picture of the blue Nissan and then write back: We’re following them. I’ll text you the address.

El immediately sends me a string of emojis—hearts, fingers crossed, cheering megaphone, crying face, and more hearts.

I send a few back, hoping that this goes as well as El has been dreaming it will.

Rita keeps enough distance that the blue Nissan doesn’t seem to know we’re following them, while still managing to stay on their tail. The car stops outside a row of apartments near downtown, and Rita parks a few spaces behind where the Nissan parked. I watch as Max gets out in front of a dingy, split-level unit with dirty brick on the bottom half and dog-puke-yellow siding at the top. Green mildew slicks the white metal front door and parts of the window frames are falling off. A concrete stoop sits in front of the apartment, set into a tiny yard full of dry grass, weeds, and cigarette butts. A scraggly oak tree that’s seen better days casts a little shade on the stoop, and a pair of rusty, mismatched lawn chairs are tumbled under the tree.

I check my phone—we’re close to the diner, which means El is nearby. I text her the address and then turn to Rita.

“Thank you for everything today,” I say, a little sad to be saying goodbye to her. “I appreciate you rolling with this weird day.”

Rita smiles. “Never a dull moment on this job. Now, you two girls be careful. Get home to your families soon.”

“We will,” I promise while I pay Rita for the ride and include a huge tip. By the time I get out of the car, El is strolling up the street at a clip.

“Hey, JoJo,” Rita says, rolling her window down as I hop out of the car. “I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for your name in the news for winning races. Don’t give up on that dream.”

She pulls away before I can thank her.

El pulls me into a hug the moment she reaches me. She smells like sweat and waffles and I bury my head in her neck for a moment. This girl feels like home somehow already.

“I can’t believe you found Max!” El pulls out of the hug, looking me over. “And oh my God, what happened to your knee?” She fusses over my bloodied knee, but I brush her hand away.

“It’s just a scrape. I’m fine, really. How are you? Ready for this?”

El bites her bottom lip, pausing long enough to tell me that she’s really nervous. “I have to be, I guess. We came all this way, and we found her.”

I lace my hand through hers. “I’ll be right beside you as long as you need me. You’re the bravest girl I know.”

She kisses me then, quick and shaky, and I kiss her back, trying to put everything I can’t say into the kiss.

I’m going to leave to chase my dreams. I like you a lot. You kiss me like I matter. There’s a certain feeling I’m always chasing….

El pulls away first. Hand in hand, we walk up the concrete step to the apartment door. El rings the bell and we wait a long moment. Her breathing is shallow, and I squeeze her hand.