Motocross Me
by Cheyanne Young
Publication date: June 4th 2013
Genres: Romance, Young Adult
Publication date: June 4th 2013
Genres: Romance, Young Adult
When Hana Fisher moves to the small town of Mixon, Texas to live
with her dad, she dreads having to work at the boring pile of dirt he fondly
calls a motocross track. But when she gets there, she finds the rinky-dink dirt
bike track from her childhood has grown into the most respected racing track in
the state.
Now popular by association, Hana endures the pain and sweat of
working in the summer heat in order to fit in with a sport she’s growing to
love. She gets a real family, a best friend and not just one, but two of the
fastest racers trying to win her heart.
When Hana abuses her status as the track owner’s daughter to help
the gorgeous Ryan Russo cheat in the biggest race of the year, she risks more
than just losing her job. Every good thing in her life is at stake now- her
friends, her dad’s trust, and Ash Carter- the kind-hearted racer who may not be
as alluring as Ryan, but is proof that nice guys don’t always finish last.
Click HERE
to add to Goodreads
My
black Chucks are drenched from trudging through the dew-covered grass on the
walk to the tower. A pair of rhinestone encrusted sandals would've made my
outfit perfect, but I know I chose the correct shoes for a day of work.
The people who camped out last night are
parked so far away, I can only make out a black blob of what I think is Ryan's
truck. The white RV-shaped blob next to it has the lights on. That means not
only is he awake – he's probably shirtless. Today will be an amazing day. I
look amazing. I know Ryan will look amazing. Laughing to myself, I climb the
stairs. I don't notice how the metal steps are slick with dew just like the
grass until it's too late.
My foot slips on the third step
and I stumble forward, falling hard on the stairs in front of me. The basket of
burritos tumbles over the arm rail and crashes in the dirt below. Tears come
fast and I stop trying to scramble back up to my feet because every part of me
hurts. My knees, my shins, my elbows. My face hurts the worst. The tears sting
as they roll down my cheek. The door swings open.
"What the hell was
that?" Dad scans the horizon before looking down and seeing me. "Oh
god, Hana." He rushes to pull me up. "Are you okay? Did you break
anything? You're not bleeding, are you?" His voice cracks. His eyes dart
from my arms to my head and then to my legs that are now visibly beginning to
bruise. He lifts my left arm and then my right, as if checking to see that they
are still attached. I want to laugh at him for being so ridiculous, but
unfortunately I keep sobbing.
"Dad, I'm fine," I
groan, rubbing my knees. "Actually, I hurt everywhere, but I'm okay. Sorry
about breakfast." I look down at the scattered rolls of aluminum foil now
covered in dirt. My stomach growls, cursing my clumsiness.
"Don't worry about that.
We need to let you rest." He helps me walk up the remaining stairs and
makes me sit on the futon while he fetches Molly. I am not bleeding and nothing
is broken, but he refuses to let me leave the stupid futon until Molly
appraises my head injury.
The pain in my face pulses
along with my heartbeat. After a few agonizing moments, the sharp pain recedes
and I dare to touch my face. The area between my right eye and cheekbone is
swollen. A mirror would help me survey the damage, but I don't see one in the
room. I try to compare the swelling by touching the other side of my face. My
heart sinks. It's a noticeable difference. I probably look like a freak. Even
this short and now dirty skirt will be no help with Ryan today.
The door opens and Marty walks
in eating a burrito, the basket in his hand.
"Wow, what happened to
you?" he asks. Always the sensitive one.
"I fell." I point out
the obvious. "I can't believe you're eating those, aren't they covered in
dirt?"
Mom always said men would eat
anything, and I suppose she was right. He pours a cup of coffee from the
tower's new coffee maker and drinks it black.
"Nah, just the foil was
dirty, they're fine inside." He holds up the burrito to show me. It smells
so good. "You want one?"
I take the one he offers. He's
right – the burrito itself is perfect thanks to Molly's amazing foil-wrapping
ability. At least I didn't ruin breakfast for everyone after all.
Molly finds no reason to send
me to the hospital. She does try to persuade me to go home and rest, but I
insist on staying under the guise of being excited to see how the races work. I
know if I had told her the real reason I wanted to stay, to confirm my
suspicions that Ryan had washboard abs under his jersey, she wouldn't have been
so thrilled.
When I feel better, she puts me
on sign in duty. I stand at the entrance to the track and hand the clipboard to
each car that enters, just like Molly did yesterday. I find it weird that no
one bothers to read the waiver they sign. I read it, though. I lose count of
how many times the word death is mentioned in the fine print.
It isn't long until the
driveway and half a mile of the entrance road is lined with cars. I can't
believe this many people come to race at my dad's track. When I was a kid, the
track didn't have races, only practice. Now as I stare at the line of at least
fifty vehicles waiting to get in, my heart swells with pride for my dear old
dad. He's made a name for himself with what used to be a rinky-dink hang out
for punk kids on dirt bikes.
Everyone is friendly in the
motocross world, but I get tired of explaining to them what happened to my face
and confirming that yes, I'm Jim's daughter. I abandon my ice pack when it
melts into a bag of water. As long as I don't squint my eyes or smile very
wide, it doesn't hurt. That's easier said than done when the sun is shining and
everyone keeps saying hello.
An hour later my sign-in sheet
has all fifty spaces filled, and I flip to a new page. According to the race
schedule, there is still one more hour of this left. I count down the minutes
until I'm free to roam around and scope out Ryan.
The next truck pulls up and I
ready my clipboard. It's an older Mazda with faded red paint and a blue dirt
bike in the back. Shiny decals on the bike's number plate read 336. The guy
driving is about my age. He would fit in perfectly with the hot motocross guys
if his hair wasn't a foot long and dread-locked. It makes him look wild, like
someone who frequently breaks the rules and doesn't care. A white
grease-stained shirt and board shorts complete his look. It is the exact
opposite of Ryan's clean-cut, designer label, you-can-bring-me-home-to-mom
style. He takes the clipboard and signs it in two places.
"Good morning." He
hands it back along with money. "Hana Fisher, right?" His teeth are
remarkably white when he smiles. Maybe it's not a bleach thing. Maybe there's
something in the water that gives Mixon boys great smiles.
"Yeah, something like
that," I say, bored with small talk. I'd spent the entire morning
confirming my name to people and talking about my black eye and stupid things
like the weather, or how exciting it is being at the races. All he needs to do
is sign, pay and leave me alone so I can discuss the same thing all over again
with the next person in line.
"I'm paying for me and the
girl in the car behind us," he says.
"That's nice." I
glance toward the blonde he's referring to. "Girlfriend?"
"Sister actually, but she
costs as much as one." He laughs as he leans forward and shoves his wallet
back in his pocket. "I'm Ash, by the way."
"Nice to meet you."
He shakes my hand and flashes me another smile so wholesome, it makes all my
visions of him robbing a convenient store seem unrealistic. He drives forward
and I wave the girl through, wondering why dreadlocks have such a stigma about
them anyway.
She's a cubicle dweller and all around sarcastic weirdo by day. But at night, Cheyanne can be found furiously typing on her computer, probably complaining on Twitter about how she should be writing. When she's not honing her procrastination skills, she's writing books for teenagers. She is the author of several books for teens and recently turned her love of superheroes and writing for teens into books about teenage superheroes. POWERED is her first superhero book but it won't be her last. Because POWERED is a trilogy. Duh.
Want to get an email when my next book is released? Sign up here: https://tinyletter.com/CheyanneYoung
No comments:
Post a Comment