Chapter 12: Deal Or No Deal?

Chunk touched his chin and asked curiously, “Then what do you want?”

“This one.” She pointed to the reflector, and she was estimating its worth. “So, what do you think? What’s this worth, like 15k?” She grew excited at the thought of the fortune awaiting her.

Chuck was surprised at her choice, “Ya know, you’re pretty bad at business. I gotta hand it to you.”

“Deal? Or no deal?” Scarlett had her own set of principles.

“Of course!” Chuck Sandler couldn’t wait to watch the show.

The final race was just about to start. The cheering crowds were full of excitement; people screamed and shouted to no end.

At the starting line, four sports cars were ready to hit the track with their accelerators thundering. There were three girls in bikinis waiting to signal the beginning of the race, with each standing between two cars with two flags in their hands.

Scarlett took a look at the girl who stood beside her car and recognized her immediately: it was the tall girl from earlier! The tall girl recognized Scarlett and winked at her mischievously, just like she had before.

Moments later, she waved the red and green flags down together. And the show was on!

Pull the clutch, hands-on two gears, loosen the clutch, and pull again to pump the engine’s speed to its peak! Scarlett finished all these steps in a second. Scarlett's car was the first to shoot out with countless screams and whistles, her silver car leaving the cheering crowd with two gleaming tail lights.

She was not familiar with the car, so she paid special attention to the oil feeding and throttled control in a loose clutch. If she released too much oil, the tire would break through the grip limit and slip. As a consequence, the starting acceleration would be a disaster. Fortunately, Scarlett thought with a sigh of relief, Chuck Sandler's car wouldn’t be that fragile.

Scarlett's car was far ahead of the others, but she didn't accelerate blindly. In the face of unfamiliar car conditions, Scarlett usually tried to use the handbrake steering at a low speed to judge the degree of sideslip of the car on a wet, slippery road. Her body was the best sideslip sensor.

There were a lot of cameras along the mountain highways, and people at the departure point were watching the live broadcast on a giant screen. They cheered and shouted wildly every time they saw the racers accomplish a highly complex drift or an amazingly fast hairpin turn. Every racer in the game was pulling out all the stops to win the game. Scarlett was one of them, but she fought for money, not the crowd’s cheers or fame.

A yellow car dashed by Scarlett in hot pursuit. When they arrived at the penultimate corner, the yellow sports car was less than five meters behind her.

Scarlett looked ahead to see a long and wide curve, so she shifted gears to slow the car down through the lane in the first half of the curve. Once the car was halfway through the corner, Scarlett quickly shifted the throttle, and in the accelerated state, she used the power output and the control in the opposite direction to complete the second half of the curve in merely a few seconds.

With that mad dash, her car shot out like a bullet on the straight road and flung off the yellow car for at least 20 meters.

The last pass was the infamous “Witch’s Hat.” Scarlett could almost see the crowds cheering in front. As she approached the Witch’s Hat,” Scarlett quickly stepped on the clutch and shifted the gear. She pulled up the handbrake so that the rear began to slide sideways.

During the time when the handbrake was pulled up, she couldn't release the handbrake button even for a second. Her nose was slightly sweaty.

When the side of the car had slid in halfway, she released the clutch, lowered the handbrake, and opened the throttle valve at the same time. One last burst of speed! She accomplished a perfect front-wheel drift in a second.

Scarlett parked the car steadily, almost half a meter away from the crowd.

Scarlett opened the door and stepped out of the car.

“Bang!” A bottle of champagnes was brought out. Bubbly was spilling everywhere, and the crowd was going wild.

“The first female champion in the history of Hills Highways Racing, 10 minutes and 59 seconds! Congrats to our new record-setter!” The host announced the result out loud.

“Oh god!” Scarlett was lifted off the ground by a group of girls. The cheers drowned out her shouting.

Suddenly, one of those hands pinched her butt. She looked down to see the tall bikini girl smiling at her. Her gray-blue scorpion-like eyes shined with admiration and mischief.

Meanwhile, Chuck Sandler was in the distance, leaning against his silver-gray sports car. The sparks between his fingers glimmered.

When Scarlett came to him, he handed her a check for $20,000. Scarlett took the check and thanked him. She then got into Jeff’s car to go back to school with Sophie.

Sophie, however, was livid. “Scarlett, girl, what the actual f**k? Are you completely out of your mind? Don’t you know how dangerous racing is, especially with these dudes? That was so not cool. You could’ve died. I was worried sick about you.”

Scarlett knew that what she had done was crazy, so she chose to keep silent and just nodded at Sophie. Had everything turned out alright in the end… right?

When they arrived at school, both cars stopped. Chuck Sandler got out of his car. He turned to Scarlett and said, “Hope to see you next time at the racetrack!”

Scarlett smirked and said, “A winner never sat at the same table again.”

Chuck Sandler laughed. “So, you know your way around a casino too, do you? Maybe I underestimated you. You’re not too bad. Maybe I’ll see you again– at a different table, of course.”

After Chuck and Jeff had roared away in their cars, Scarlett cast a careful glance at angry Sophie. She rushed into the dark, afraid of her wrath.