The unforgiving humidity attacked me from all corners despite our haven from the harsh rays of sunlight. I was beginning to feel a slick layer of perspiration forming on my forehead as a result.

I spotted a few groups who had opted to eat outside cast inquisitive glances in our direction as they walked around campus. I no longer had the energy to be phased as my untouched slices of pizza lay neatly in their box.

Finn slowly and cautiously chewed the piece of pizza held between his fingers and I could almost see an invisible barrier being built between us.

"Tell me or else I'll go to the police and let them decide the legalities," I threatened, "and I don't care if you threaten my education, because that must be illegal too." I quipped and Finn shot me a challenging look.

The uncertainty I had carried around with me for the past few weeks was beginning to make its presence known and since there was no way of avoiding Finn, I needed answers and I would no longer brush off Finn's.

"And you should know, I can afford to switch schools with the flick of a wrist even if you threaten my academic life -so it's all pretty pointless really."

I was bluffing.

I could have easily transferred schools seeing as my parents possessed all the funds to do so, but I surely did not want to. Transferring meant admitting defeat and more importantly, showing weakness. All I've been doing was showing weakness these past weeks, from public humiliation to allowing myself to be outcast and not demanding more answers from Finn.

Finn neutralized his expression, his face a clean slate. He squinted his eyes, a facial tell that he was calculating all the possible outcomes of the situation. I studied his face carefully, ignoring the protests of my stomach as I restrained myself from devouring the pizza before me.

A sigh of resignation alerted me that I had won, that he had actually bought into my bluff and for once, I was taken seriously.

"Fine-"

"Finally - sorry continue," I blushed, correcting myself. In that moment I was hyper aware of what Andria had meant. I did in fact have a tendency of cutting people off before they finished speaking. I made a mental note to continue being aware, because i should have known that Finn would never willingly agree to my proposal without adjusting it to his favour.

"But," he smirked, "I'm not telling you now." I gaped. Did he not understand that I was the one in control? I had already shown that I was immune to any threats he might have. "This afternoon, the same place we met, since it holds so much significance to you," he added with an eye roll and another bite of pizza.

"I want the answer right now, in the safety of this school please and thanks, no room for discussion," I battled exasperatedly.

"Sure. I'll make up an answer right here right now and feed you the lie that you so obviously want to hear," he drawled. "Listen, you want the truth right? Then do it on my terms and I can promise that you will get your answers."

"Fine," I agreed reluctantly. I should've recognized the glint in his eyes, I was all too familiar with it. It was the look Breanna sported whenever she fires her insults to win arguments, and I'm sure it must have been the same look I had like tried, and failed to master.

From the moment I had brought it up, it would have gone his way. I was too open - too willing to conform and I mentally added that to my checklist of things I should work on.

"Are there anymore rules I have to follow?" I asked exhaustedly.

"Yes, two more in fact," he added, "First, eat your pizza, lunch will be over soon," he stated glancing at his watch. "Secondly, I'll need that report on the club by this afternoon, so be sure to email it to me after we meet up."

Finn got up to leave after wiping his hands with a napkin and dusted off his pants. "Wait, one problem - two really."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Well, I don't exactly remember the time or how to get back to the stadium. Doubt an unfinished construction site would be registered on my GPS anyways," I finished smartly. We were doing this on his terms, but I wasn't about to sit tight and watch it happen.

"Fine. Meet me after school and I'll take you across," he said after a moment's pause. He dragged his hand across his face before pivoting on his heel and saying goodbye.

I stared down at the pizza box and finally started eating. It was delightful.

*****

"Hey."

I turned my head to the sound of the chair legs scraping against the floor, resting my phone onto the desk. "Hey," I acknowledged.

It was the last few minutes of school. Our teacher had left the classroom when he had finished his lesson plan for the day, giving us a few minutes of relaxation before we were dismissed.

"So, I was thinking about our breakfast plan a bit and I realized that I am certainly not a breakfast person," Andria added with a light smile. "I mean I have some ideas but I'm not too sure about it."

"I think I can come up with something," I added, nodding after a moment's thought.

"Do you want to come over after school so we can plan it all out?" she inquired.

I almost agreed, but the excitement to finally learn Finn's true agenda in his double life made itself known to me as a reminder.

"Sorry, I can't do today," I apologized. "What about tomorrow?"

"We have a club meeting tomorrow," Andria stated while lifting a finger to her chin.

Mrs. Weathers, our Home Ec. Teacher hadn't given us the official deadline for when we would need to actually prepare the meal, but she was the type of teacher that asked to preview your plans before you were allowed to actually cook the meal according to Lauren and Breanna. I also heard that she gave mini deadlines for each of the steps along the way before you actually cooked.

I wasn't too sure of how my workload for the coming weeks would be, so it was best that Andria and I started planning in advance.

The school bell chimed, signalling the end of another school day. The ball of nerves I felt deeply in my stomach did not hesitate to return, in fact, they rampaged. Despite the unsettling in my stomach, part of me was itching with curiousity.

I lifted my bag over my shoulder and picked up my phone from off the desk. Andria began to push her chair into the desk. "How about I text you?" I asked hurriedly, unable to stay still.

I bolted out of the classroom and towards my lockers to deposit the books I would not need tonight. As my brain cleared a bit with the remedial task, I realized that Finn and I had not agreed on a meeting place. I stood awkwardly clutching the strap of my bag as I was unsure if I was supposed to wait at the entrance of school, at the staff room or if he'd be with his dad.

With little thought, I decided to head towards the only place in school I had ever actually met him.

I walked towards Mr. Radford's assistant with hesitant strides, clutching the strap of my bag.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Radford's son told me to meet him but I'm not too sure where. Would you know where I can by chance?" I asked injecting confidence into my words.

She eyed me sceptically, with sheer confusion and curiousity. I didn't want any rumours to be made so I quickly tried to ease the situation.

"Hey, I remember you. You came to find me during gym for the headmaster," I said fluently before tossing a warm smile, giving her a glance of my hopefully flawless teeth.

My savvy use manipulation was really handy in situations I needed to alter. Unfortunately it only worked when I didn't feel threatened, which was mainly useless save for the occasional moment such as this. The plan was to make her assume that my meeting with Finn was associated with my behaviour or problems at school.

Her suspicious stare flashed with recognition, and I was certain that she was beginning to believe what I had coaxed her into.

After a few seconds, she mentioned that Finn was talking to the headmaster and should be out soon and a small smirk of satisfaction crept onto my face before I tossed her an airy thanks and took a seat in the waiting area.

A few minutes passed before walked out, loosening his tie a bit. He ran a hand over his face when he noticed me, as if only just remembering our deal. Nonetheless, I swallowed my concerns and greeted him before we walked out towards his car.

As beautiful and luxurious as his car was, I felt awkwardly out of place, so I sat lightly, unaware that I was withholding half of my body weight from the leather seats. As I bobbed my head to the soft beat playing from his speakers, I glanced at him driving.

Finn had a few fingers looped at the bottom of the steering wheel as he drove casually. My heart lurched momentarily at his careless position, before remembering that he was some sort of maniac driver. For the first time, the thought of the first day we had met calmed me, because if he had total control of a car going as fast as he did, then he must have been a professional driver of sorts, or atleast he was really good at it.

I sat comfortably with the revelation and decided not to break the silence between us. I was content with how we were and did not want to push Finn, and accepted that soon I would have all the information I needed. Instead, I looked out the window and made a mental map of the landmarks we passed so I would know how to get there again if necessary.

The stadium was a forty minute drive from school. I estimated it to be a fifteen minute drive from my house, which explained why my walk with my dog, Winnie, was so long. It looked like exactly the same as it had when I first encountered it, much to my relief. For reasons unknown, a part of me secretly thought that somehow it would be different. The irrational part of my brain had been in overdrive without my knowing, as I had wildly thought maybe Finn found a way to magically complete construction of the Ryker Bale Stadium.

Shaking my head to clear the relief from my incredulous thoughts, I followed Finn back to the clearing where I had found Winnie after she had ran off. A few weeks had changed nothing except the presence of race cars, much to my absolute relief.

Finn had taken a seat on one of the stadium seats that had been installed. The classic plastic chairs were installed beneath a towering piece of metal that lifelessly hung in the air as it was never fully constructed. Finn was not fazed by the dilapidating structure, and as such, his certainty in the unfinished structure prompted me to wander towards the vacant seat beside him.

"Here." Finn held out a raggedy piece of cloth that I assumed he had taken out of the car and held it towards me. Gingerly grasping the cloth between my fingers, careful to not get dust on my hands from when he had used it, I wiped the layer of dust that had collected over the years that the project had been on standby off my the seat until it was suitable for sitting.

"Thanks," I said appreciatively while taking my seat.

We resumed our silence for a few minutes as my eyes soaked in the magnitude of the structure and its seemingly deserted state. I visualized how magnificent the stadium would have been if completed, the people who would have benefited from its facilities and all of the money wasted on the forgotten construction site.

Finn shifted and my eyes gravitated towards him, he was already facing me, his cerulean eyes guarded and uncertain.

"No one on the outside was supposed to ever know about this," he started exasperatedly. "At first I thought it was a fluke and that you would just forget about it. In hindsight, I should have foreseen the consequences of racing so close to where I would have to take up permanent residence and work."

He glanced at me sideways with a tired chuckle, "Definitely did not expect the one person to stumble upon us to go to my dad's school." He ran a hand through his dark hair, completely worn from a day of work. In the shade, I would have mistaken his hair for black instead of its true shade of dark brown as it was in the sunlight. "What you saw was a preliminary race, a qualifier round. Only the top three winners move on to the finals, along with the other top threes from over the country."

"What's so important about the finals?" I probed, hoping to get the most information that I could out of Finn.

Finn kept his face forward, but I watched as his jaw clenched from the side. He slowly relaxed his jaw with a small breath as he turned towards me, "There's a cash reward for the winner," he said tight lipped. I sensed his hesitance on the matter and decided to not pry any further, not wanting to risk Finn closing off completely.

"So, did you make it?" I asked quietly, "Did you get into the top three?"

"I finished fourth," he smiled darkly, "all thanks to you," he finished with an eye roll.

"So does this mean you're done racing?" I asked slightly hopeful. These races were exclusive, and if they were meant to be a secret it only confirms my suspicions that they were illegal. Strangely enough, I felt a surge of relief knowing Finn would no longer be at risk of being arrested if he stopped racing.

"Definitely not," he scoffed. "That championship was mine."

"Ah, there's the humility I missed," I drawled sarcastically, brushing aside my disappointment. Finn was basically a grown man who could do whatever he pleased. His racing affected me in no way, so it was irrational for me to hope for him to stop. "I thought only the top three got a spot in the championships?"

"They do. There's another preliminary that's scheduled to race soon a few states over. I'm joining," he stated matter-of-factly with a cocky smile.

Finn's pocket vibrated before I could ask more, and I knew that it would be the end of the conversation when he looked at me with a broad grin that left me winded. "We're going somewhere before I drop you back."

****

my lovelies, i cannot thank you enough for 20k reads and over 1k votes. you are all truly amazing for having stuck with georgia and i, and if you're a new reader, i am also thankful for you and your support in this novel. feel free let me know if you liked this chapter in the comments.

gabrielle x