This is my story. Some of the names have been changed because I don't want to piss off certain people. Alicia, however, is actually the name of my best friend. She doesn't mind being in this story at all. I asked her.^_^

The 'Speed Racer' series and all characters in it ultimately belong to Tatsunoko Animation. In America, the series currently belongs to Speed Racer Enterprises and is licensed by DiC. I do not claim these characters as my own in any way; I am merely using them to help tell my story. THESE CHARACTERS ARE NOT MINE.

So, with that said and done, here is my story.


It was a hot evening in July, and Kate and Alicia were at Alicia's aunt’s house. Her aunt lived in downtown Georgetown, which didn’t mean much, considering that the town was insanely small. There wasn’t really much to do there, so the two of them were sitting around her aunt’s living room bored to tears. “Too bad we can’t go to the city,” Kate remarked.
“Yeah,” Alicia agreed. “That stupid jerk had to go and total my car,” she added with disgust. The ‘stupid jerk’ she was referring to was a guy from school who had little, if any, regard for anyone as it was and often times did not watch what he was doing. So Alicia’s car was in the shop. The girls were miserable. At that moment, a car was coming down the road and approaching the house. Kate could hear the engine get louder, and the car pulled into the driveway. It shut off, and she heard the door open and shut as someone got out. Alicia got up out of the armchair she was in. “I’m going to make some lemonade,” she declared and went into the kitchen. Just then, there was a knock at the door. Since Alicia was in the kitchen, Kate had to get the door. She opened it to Jay Gibbons and nearly died of a heart attack. “What are you doing here?” she managed to gasp out.
“I heard you were in town and wanted to come see you,” he said simply. By now Kate had regained most of her sanity. “How did you know I was here?” she asked, somewhat incredulously, as she had taken great pains not to run into him anywhere or go where he’d be. “Word of mouth,” he replied. “Alicia’s sister Angelica was over at Reenie's house the other day and told me.” Oh, she is so dead, Kate thought. “Well, since you’re here, you may as well come in,” she reluctantly stated. “Alicia’s making lemonade.” Jay came in and sat down on the couch. Kate went into the kitchen to tell Alicia about their enlightened guest.
“Guess who’s in your living room,” Kate whispered.
“Who?” Alicia asked.
“Jay,” Kate replied.
“Jay Gibbons?” Alicia asked.
“Yeah,” I said and nodded.
“Oh,” Alicia said, surprised. “That’s weird.”
“Yeah, apparently he says that he came here because he wanted to see me,” Kate said and rolled her eyes. “Pffft. Poor kid, he has no idea he's the last person in the world I want to see.” Alicia got down a glass from a cupboard and poured some lemonade in it. “I guess he thinks you still like him, or something,” she said and grinned. Kate grinned back. “Wouldn't that be funny,” she remarked.
They both got up and went into the living room. Kate sat down in the armchair, across from the couch. Alicia pulled up another chair. There was awkward silence. Jay blinked. “So...” Alicia said and trailed off. More awkward silence. Kate cleared her throat. Silence. Then Jay ventured to say something. “So Kate. What’s Houston like?” he asked.
“Um...it’s big,” she replied, not really knowing what else to say about it. “There’s smog there and it’s so bad that Houston recently beat out L.A. as the city with the worst air,” she added.
“Oh, cool,” Jay replied and gave a nod. The three went back to the awkward silence. Then Jay asked, “Hey Kate. How long are you going to be here?” He continued on before she could answer and left her gaping. “I was thinking maybe it’d be cool if, like, y’know, you and me could go out somewhere.”
Kate's jaw was on the floor. Jay grinned nervously and scratched the back of his head. Then he looked at his lap and, when Kate didn’t respond right away, seemed to sink deeper into the couch. Finally, Kate collected her wits. “Um, Jay,” she began. Kate really didn’t know how to tell him, so she just said it. “Uh, I, uh, don’t really uh, like you anymore.” She coughed so that she had an excuse to look at the floor.
“Wh- what?” he stammered in disbelief. “You...don’t like me?” he asked. Kate collected herself again. “No, I’m afraid I don’t,” she replied, this time with more confidence.
“No way!” he declared, his voice rising. It occurred to Kate that she’d never heard him yell before. Well, she’d get to now. “What made you change your mind?” he asked in surprise, jumping up off the couch. Kate jumped up out of her chair also. It occurred to her that Jay had never seen her angry, either. She hoped he didn’t, because she was ugly when she was angry. “Well...people change,” Kate fired back.
“But you liked me so much when you left!” Jay yelled.
“That was then! This is now!” she declared angrily, jabbing a finger towards the floor repeatedly to indicate ‘this is now’. Jay's lip quivered, not so much in sadness as in hot anger. He’d just been emotionally slapped. “Then what do you want me to do to get you to like me, huh, Kate? What can I possibly do to get your attention now?” he spat. Now when Kate got angry, often times she was prone to sarcasm. Alicia knew this as her best friend, but Jay didn’t.
“Oh, so you wanna get my attention, huh? Good luck trying to do that!” Kate spat back. There was a pause, and Jay stared at her for a moment, taken aback and trying to make sense of the statement. Alicia, who felt bad for Jay and wanted to try and help him, leaned over to him and whispered, “Hey, Jay. Kate’s a ‘Speed Racer’ fan. Maybe that’s the way to her heart.”
Don’t give him any ideas,” Kate growled, glaring. There was silence as Jay collected what was left of his wounded ego and contemplated Alicia’s statement. “I’m out of here,” he declared, and he yanked open the door and slammed it shut behind him as he left. Kate heard his car peel out of the driveway. Alicia had sat back down in her chair. “I wonder if he’ll come back,” she ventured. Kate was standing, staring at the door. “I wonder what made him think I still liked him,” she added and shrugged. “Oh, well.”
Alicia got up and put her chair back. “Man, Kate, what is it with you and men?” she asked. “Pffft, beats me,” Kate replied nonchalantly. “I’m going upstairs.” Kate left. Alicia raised an eyebrow and stood in the living room for many minutes with her hand on her hip. “Gee, she really didn’t have to be that mean to him,” she remarked to nobody, then went in the kitchen and put the lemonade away.

Meanwhile, up in his room, Jay was putting the finishing touches on his costume. He was actually going to do it. He wasn’t quite sure if it would impress Kate but he thought that he’d try it out anyway. After all, Alicia had said that the way to Kate’s heart was through ‘Speed Racer’. In his closet he’d found a pair of white pants. Old Navy had supplied him with a blue polo shirt. And he’d borrowed a red scarf from his mom. (Well, technically, it was borrowing if she didn’t know he stole it.) Anyway, he was standing in front of the mirror in full regalia and thinking about what she’d say to him when he showed up at the door like this. Face it, folks, the kid was mad about her. Once his anger at her initial refusal had died down, he became willing to do anything to gain her approval. Even if it meant dressing up like a 1960s anime character. He winked at his reflection and gave himself a thumbs up. “Go, me, go!” he quipped, and chuckled. Then he undressed and got into bed. He had to go to work washing dishes early the next day.


On to the next chapter. ---->