Home Sweet Home

[i]I am so sorry about that blunt ending to What About Now. I know I ended it quickly, but it was because two months for a story is too long for me. I just don’t have that kind of attention span. But since school is out this Friday for me, you’ll find more regular updates on here, and less rushed endings. Hopefully none. :slight_smile:

Okay, I’m taking a break from my Real World Series for a moment. I found out some important info about the canon characters, making pretty much all my previous fanfics false. But that’s not the reason. I have a new idea, but it goes against my series. For Lightning’s past isn’t like it was. It’s not abusive this time around! XD Well, here’s my new story, which may lead into a new series.

This takes place after the video game. Not the Maternational one though. It wouldn’t work that way. And just imagine the road trip wasn’t the whole off-season. It’s actually gonna be shorter than what you may have thought.

If you are under 13, turn away!!! There are some subtlely mature themes in this! Nothing drastic, but like a T rating on FanFiction.

Lookie below! I can name titles without using songs again like in my first story![/i]


Chapter 1: Small-Town Racer

December 16, 2006

Lightning McQueen still couldn’t believe he had won the Piston Cup a month ago. It was an amazing season for the Rust-eze team. Lightning had impressed the crowds, showing that he had grown from the self-centered jerk of a rookie to a more caring, little bit more experienced racer. He still had that cockiness that was usual of a young racer, but it’s pretty hard to mature someone to the experience of a veteran in one year. For example, Strip Weathers, aka the King, wasn’t always so down-to-Earth. He was pretty cocky his first couple of years, though knowing him now, you wouldn’t believe it. Lightning for sure wasn’t to that stage yet. But still, he had grown. Also, he had grown in skills. Working with Doc Hudson, aka, the Fabulous Hudson Hornet, was one of the best moves of his career so far. For some odd reason, the two seemed to click on the racetrack unlike anyone they’d seen before. Lightning had finally found the right crew chief for him. He respected the racing legend, and knew that what Doc was saying was the best for him, even though he didn’t always agree with what he had to say. Lightning still believed that his ideas were still the superior ones. Another example that he hasn’t completely grown as a racer. Lightning had learned so much from Doc, that every race, he took the other racers by surprise with something new. He truly wasn’t a rookie anymore, and he had proved it.

The road to getting the Piston Cup though was a pretty tricky one though. Chick wasn’t gonna let Lightning win this time around. No, he still held a grudge on Lightning after last year when the reporters started calling the rookie racer the “true winner of the Piston Cup.” So Chick was making it extra hard on Lightning. At the same time acting like a total butthole. But Lightning was able to handle it. Only problem is Chick kept on popping into town for strange reasons. He also seemed to threaten him the one time he beat him in an off-road race. Which he did end up doing. If you can count having someone else do it for him. Which of course he hired the Delinquent Road Hazards, or at least that’s their nickname around Radiator Springs. They had stolen all of Lightning’s gear, and in the end, he got them back. Then, right after the race before the Piston Cup, Chick couldn’t take it anymore. He flipped out saying he had won the race instead of Lightning, and demanded a rematch. Lightning decided to hold the very first annual Radiator Springs Grand Prix instead, which was a series of three races, each in three different parts of Ornament Valley: Radiator Springs, Tailfin Pass, and Ornament Valley itself. In the end, Lightning won all of them. It all led up to the Piston Cup, which Lightning of course had won.

Of course, Lightning had lots of fans. And possibly the largest female fan base. Then again, he did have his looks to help out. He had dirty blonde hair that was easily messy, but it was his signature look. It wasn’t too long, but yet it wasn’t trimmed all nice and neat either. His bright blue eyes were another trademark of his. Lots of girls seemed to stare into his eyes whenever they saw him on TV or saw a picture of him. He was around 5 foot 11 and was definitely muscular. When girls saw him in Radiator Springs, they sometimes begged for him to take off his shirt. Sometimes, they’d faint and have to be sent over to Doc’s. Who knew Lightning’s looks could do that to someone?

Lightning, Mater, and Sally had all decided to go on a little road trip, heading out eastward on Route 66. Of course the travelers were in a frenzy that Lightning had left. But the remainder of the town tried to handle it the best that they could. When Lightning and the gang had returned 9 days before Christmas, they were relieved. “Thank God you three are back!” Doc shouted.

“Let me guess, my fans were tearing the town apart searching for me.” Lightning said.

“That sounds about right.”

Lightning just laughed at that. And of course Doc laughed along. Sure the two still argued a little at times, but it was mainly because of their tempers. Only Lightning’s wasn’t as short fused as Doc’s. For example, if someone was making fun of Lightning, he’d yell at them to stop. But if Doc was being made fun of, they’d be running. If the two didn’t have their tempers, and Lightning’s cockiness never helped anything, they’d probably be the best of friends. Maybe even better than Lightning and Mater. In fact, some people in the town argued that Lightning and Doc were the dynamic duo instead of Lightning and Mater. And the young racer had to admit, Doc and Mater were the two greatest friends he’d ever had. It was hard to call just one as his best friend. But usually he said Mater was. Mater was pretty sensitive, and Lightning saw Doc as something more than just a friend. . .

“So, did you keep an eye out on that Piston Cup trophy I had you look over while I was gone?” Lightning asked. Lightning had given it to Doc to look after while they were gone on their little trip. He knew that Doc would take good care of it, even though he didn’t exactly take care of his own for that long span of time. In fact, his first trophy had tools in it! But not anymore. Now all three trophies were shined up and kept nice in a display case over at the Radiator Springs Racing Museum. To believe the building was once a motel!

“Yep. Let me go get it real quick!” Doc left off for his place.

Ramone walked up and inspected Lightning’s car. “Homie, your car could see a visit to my shop. It needs cleaned up. Maybe even a new coat of poly. Better yet, let me just give your car a whole new makeover.”

“Just as long as you don’t touch the racecar.” Lightning warned.

“Don’t worry, man! I’m just gonna paint the Corvette!” Lightning had bought himself a Corvette to ride around town in so that he was able to keep his custom made racecar in top condition. He didn’t need anything bad to happen to it!

“Okay. And no flames. I know how much you love them, but I’d prefer it if the flames stuck to your car and not to mine.”

“Got it!”

Lightning handed Ramone the keys to the Corvette, and Ramone took the car to his paint shop.

“Here’s the trophy back.” Doc said.

“Thanks. Look, I know it sounded awkward that I had you keep an eye on it, but-”

“Hey, I didn’t mind. Besides, I can understand you being all protective of your first trophy. God knows I was! Well, at least until I got here. Then I slacked a bit.”

“A bit! That thing had enough dust on it that all of it could cover the whole desert!”

“Okay, maybe I slacked a lot.”

Lightning chuckled a little. “I’m gonna head over to my place. I wanna put all my stuff away.”

“Okay. See ya at Flo’s when you’re done!”

“I’ll be there!”

Lightning’s house was practically built onto his headquarters. They had started to build it mid way through the season and finished it right before he had left for his trip. Lightning was still fixing it up a little to make it more like a home, but at the moment, he didn’t have the time to do so. He wanted to unpack, then eat.

Once Lightning was done unpacking his wardrobe, mainly consisting of clothes from brand name stores, like Hollister, American Eagle, and Areopostale, he decided to check his mailbox. A lot of it was junk mail. But one thing stuck out like a sore thumb. He recognized the hand designs on the envelope from anywhere. “Mom.” he said. She’d always design the letters and the envelopes they came in with designs of flowers, vines, birds, things she enjoyed. They gave the letters a more personal touch. None of the McQueen kids had to read the return address to know that their mother had sent them something. He opened the letter as he walked down to Flo’s.

Dear Darien,

Lightning rolled his eyes at his name. It annoyed him too much. Darien. Ugh, why’d she have to name me that!? Of all the people named Darien that I’ve met, they were all girls.

Lightning decided to continue on with the letter. But first, he decided to look along the margins. This time, his mother had gone with a theme of tulips. Red ones, most likely for him.

[i]I’ve missed you so much. To believe that it’s almost been two years since you’ve left to become a racecar driver. I miss you, and I wish you would come back. But since you’ve mad your home in Radiator Springs, I’ve decided that I will invite you to stay here for Christmas, and for all of January. Unless you have to leave during that time to prepare for the next season. I know all your siblings are coming back for that time, at least the ones who are old enough to leave the house. They all want to see you, too. Just please, I’d love to see you again. You can even bring three of your closest friends, for that’s all the room we have in the guest rooms. You should remember why. I’d love for you to come back home for the holidays.

Love,

Mom[/i]

Lightning stopped reading as he entered Flo’s. “Mom wants me to come home?” he said aloud, without realizing it.

“What did you say?” Sally asked. She was sitting down in the third booth on the left hand side. The booths had red 50’s diner styled seats and chrome like tables with white table tops.

Sally had straight, pale blonde hair and beautiful blue-green eyes. She was a size 4, and about 5 foot 5. She didn’t have flashy breasts like many would have thought so when Lightning would say “I have the hottest girlfriend around!” but a modest B cup. She had a sun-kissed tan and toned arms. Her legs seemed to stretch for miles in a pair of short shorts, and her feet were small little things, but Lightning didn’t mind. This was his Sally, and he loved every part of her.

“Uh, oh! Oh, um. . . My mom wants me to come home for the holidays.”

“I’d love to tag along with you, Stickers.”

“You would? Great! I’m allowed to bring along three people. You’ll make one, and I’ll bring Mater and Doc as the other two.”

“Only three?”

“Yeah. We only have two guest rooms, and one has a broken bed. Why did Tyler have to dare me to jump on that be!?”

“What!?”

“When I was younger, my brother who’s a year younger than me, Tyler, had dared me to jump on the bed. I was, and it’s an old wooden bed, and the one bed post broke. It was also on laundry day, so the bed had no sheets, just a mattress. When the post broke, it tilted the bed, and the mattress was silky like, so when I came down, I slid down the post and well, hurt myself where you don’t want to be hurt.”

“Ouch!”

“I know. Tyler found that one funny. In fact, it got on America’s Funniest Home Videos as a finalist once. He was video taping it.”

“Oh my! Wait, I think I remember that one!”

“Yep. I did get some money for being the runner-up. So in the end, it was a reward. A reward for hurting myself in the crotch.”

“So, how many siblings do you have?”

"You won’t believe it, but I have seven.

“No way!”

“Yes. I’m the oldest by five minutes. Then there’s my twin sister, Hallie, my brother Tyler, the triplets, Jenny, Mikayla, and Ashley, Heather, and the youngest one, Maddie.”

“Wow.”

“Yes, well, living with parents who can’t learn to wear a condom does have its downfalls.”

Sally chuckled a little.

“Well, it’s true!” Lightning added. “I’m surprised Mom isn’t having another. But then again, my dad isn’t around to give her another.”

“What do you mean?”

“He died four years ago due to a heart attack.”

Sally took in a sharp breath. “I’m so sorry!”

“It’s okay.”

“Well, when should we come?”

“Uh. . .” Lightning looked back down at the letter. “I guess just sometime before Christmas officially starts. She didn’t say. Then again, Mom always forgets dates. Like my one birthday party, she forgot to write the time the guests should be there. Everyone came at random times.”

“Oh my!”

“Yeah. But hey, that meant my party was longer than usual!”

“You’ve got that right. Well, we better get packing and tell Mater and Doc about our plans.”

“I just unpacked!” Lightning complained.

All Sally could do was laugh.


“So I’m invited ta cum wit ya ta yur mum’s house?” Mater asked. Lightning had headed over to Mater’s first. Mater lived in an old shack of a house, not very sturdy either being that he built it himself. It actually took Lightning a month before he could enter Mater’s house without worrying that it might fall over. But Lightning still had that feeling in his stomach that one of these days. . .

Now, Mater wasn’t the best looking tool in the shed, but definitely the best one a friend could ask for. He was larger, and 6 foot on the dot. He was balding a little on the top, so he usually wore a cap on his dark brown hair. He always had some sort of stubble on his face, not really caring about it. His usual wardrobe consisted of a flannel shirt with the sleeves torn off, an old pair of dirty jeans, and a pair of muddy boots. Sure Mater didn’t have the appearance of a stud or anything, but when it came to friendship, he was one of the best.

“Yep! I figured since you’re my best friend and all. . .”

“Why, thank ya, buddy! I’d love ta cum wit ya! So, where do ya live at?”

“I lived out in Maplecreek Falls in Tennessee.”

“Ya lived in Tennessee?”

“Yep.”

“Ya don’t look like da Southern type.”

“Well, I am! Besides, racing is more of a Southern sport. It all started in South Carolina. Would you believe it all started because of alcohol?”

“Huh?”

“There used to be these people in South Carolina who would brew alcohol, which was an illegal substance in the 1920’s, under the ‘shine of the moon.’ They would drive at the fastest speeds of the time with the headlights off to avoid being caught even though the police were already on their tails. On Sundays, these ‘Moonshine Runners’ would bet on which car was the fastest and soon people showed up. With that, NASCAR was born! Weird, huh?”

“How’d ya know dat!?”

“When you love racing, you tend to learn everything about it, including its history. It’s actually probably the only history lesson I ever paid attention to.”

“So ya weren’t all dat great in school, huh?”

“Well, a few subjects I excelled in, but lets just say math and history were subjects I needed a tutor in.”

“Then what done ya do good at?”

“Gym of course. You probably don’t need me to remind you how I did in the little baseball game we did.”

“And I always thunked that I was da best baseball player 'round here.”

“Yeah, sorry 'bout that. I didn’t realize that it would hurt your feelings. I also did well in English believe it or not. I’m pretty good at writing. I almost did get a novel published while I was in 10th grade once. Only problem was I got second place in the national contest. And it’s all or nothing.”

“Maybe ya could try ta done get dat book made!”

“Maybe. But then again, no one would take a racer seriously as an author. So, you coming with me back home?”

“Well, of course, buddy! I don’t have anyone ta go ta anyways.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t like ta talk 'bout it. Maybe some other time.”

“Okay. See ya later, Mater.” Lightning said, knowing Mater loved that rhyming phrase. Even though he wasn’t too keen on rhymes himself.

“Buh-bye, Lightnin’!”

Why wouldn’t Mater have a family to go to? And why won’t he talk about it? Has to be pretty bad for he’s always open to me like a brother.


Lightning only had one last person left to invite. And that was Doc. Lightning wasn’t so sure if Doc was gonna say yes, for he was pretty sure Doc had a brother or something, not to mention a sister-in-law, niece, and nephew. But it was worth a shot, right?

Lightning decided to knock on the freshly painted green wooden door. He could still remember it a year ago when the paint was fading and there were signs all over the door that said “Keep out!” and “Do not enter!” Doc had taken those down about a week before the 2006 Piston Cup season started. Only recently did Doc get around to painting the door. He had a New Year’s Resolution: Clean up the house for once! Doc had almost met his goal. All he needed to do now was to finish his bedroom by buying new furniture, and for once in over 20 years, his house would actually look like someone lived in it again! Of course he did get some help from Lightning. . .

The second Lightning knocked on the door, Doc knew exactly who it was. For some odd reason, Lightning seemed to knock exactly the same way every time. It seemed to have some sort of a rhythm to it. It was like a longer knock, two shorter ones, and then a longer one. It wasn’t like a simple pounding of the door in any which way.

“Lightning!” Doc greeted with a smile on his face. To believe it or not, Doc was one of those people that seemed to age slowly. He looked probably 42 when he was really 53. He actually seemed to grow younger in the past year. Then again, it was Lightning who got him to get back in shape like he used to be. Doc still had girls flocking all over him. Sure his hair was dark grey and he had to wear silver, rectangular framed glasses now, but those piercing blue eyes, his smile, and his improved bod were what kept the girls around. At about 5 foot 9, he wasn’t too tall, but not a shrimp either. He always seemed to dress appropriately for any situation. Only problem: with his size, he could buy a lot of clothes from the stores Lightning shopped at, but not as many where he would like to. That was the downfall to being so fit.

“Hey, Doc. So how would you like to go to my old place for Christmas?” Lightning asked.

“I’d love to! Wait, I kinda hoped that I’d be able to spend it with my brother, Robert.”

“Well, I’ve been invited for until we have to prepare for the next season, so you can come after Christmas.”

“Then everything works out! Just so I know, where do you live? Or you did live I should say.”

“Maplecreek Falls, Tennessee.”

Doc looked at Lightning as if he had said “I was kidnapped by aliens!” “So wait, you grew up in a small town in Tennessee?”

“Yeah, why?”

“This is coming from the kid who used to be a spoiled, stuck-up butthole. And who found our town to be ‘Hillbilly Hell.’”

“Well, I’ve got to admit, after almost a full season of being under the spotlight, I did lose touch with my roots. And Maplecreek Falls is actually a prospering town, unlike Radiator Springs when I first found it. And the citizens aren’t so, what’s the word I’m looking for, quirky? Not to insult you guys or anything! Just, you were all so different from what I was used to.”

“Hey, no hard feelings! I understand.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. Wait, then how is it you’ve never heard of cow tipping before you came here?”

“I had heard of it! I just never did it because in our town, if you were caught, you were put under trials. It was illegal in our town. I didn’t want to get in that sort of trouble.”

“Oh. You know, if we started doing that, maybe we wouldn’t have to herd those cows every week!”

“Yeah. But cow tipping’s pretty fun. You’ve got to try it sometime.”

“I’ll pass on that. Oh, and if Mater’s coming-”

“Yeah, I might wanna tell him. Thanks! Oh, and I’ll pay for your ticket! I’ll have the flight set for January 1!” Lightning said jogging backwards so he could get to Mater, but at the same time have Doc hear what he needed to finish up.

“Watch out!” Doc shouted.

Lightning turned his head around to see what Doc was warning him about, and crashed right into Fillmore, who was going for a walk. “Show the love, man.” he said in his slow speech.

“Sorry 'bout that, Fillmore.”

“It’s okay, man. Sure you didn’t mean to.”

“I gotta go get Mater. See ya!” Lightning said, running again, this time forwards. I have no idea how Mater can drive backwards if I can’t even jog backwards!


December 20, 2006

Lightning had gotten the four tickets for the flights down to Memphis, Tennessee. From there, they’d have to drive 20 miles to get to Maplecreek Falls. Of course, Lightning would have to drive back down to the airport on New Year’s Day to pick up Doc. Knowing his crew chief, he didn’t need Doc trying to read directions. Let’s just say Doc would get pissed off two seconds into the journey. Lightning had finished packing for the trip. He couldn’t wait to see his siblings again. “You ready?” Sally asked.

“You bet!” Lightning answered

Lightning walked Sally out as they met up with Mater by the Corvette. Ramone had painted it a dark blue and painted a lightning design all over it. Lightning loved the fact that it looked like a real storm. Lightning hopped into the driver’s seat, Sally took shotgun, and Mater sat in the middle seat in the back. “You sure you can’t come for the actual holiday, Doc?” Lightning asked.

“Hey, I made a promise. I can’t break it.”

Lightning started up the car and the three waved back to the town’s folk. “See ya’ll later!” the young racer shouted back.

“Ya’ll?” Sally asked. “I haven’t heard you use that one.”

“Well, I did grow up in Tennessee.”

Lightning pushed the gas pedal, and the three were back on the road again. Only this time, their destination was the Phoenix airport.


Holy cow! This is 4,181 words! And about 9 and a half pages with a Times New Roman point 12 font. Jaw dropping Well, I guess I’m getting better at making my chapters longer. I don’t know if they’ll all be as long as this, but they will rarely reach between 1,000 to 1,999 anymore. Heck, even the low 2,000’s will be rare. I’ve got a lot to cover, and I’m hoping to have more speedy updates. Only two more days of school left to endure. Come on, Em, you can do it! Okay, I’m done coaching myself. XD

[i]Freedom! XD I was saying that at about 10:45 yesterday. Why? That’s when I got off the bus for the last time this year. I don’t have to go back to school until September! Yay! (Bonus points for anyone who knows where I got that line from! ^^)

Okay, people! I’m gonna try to update everyday from now on since school’s out! Yay! But it also depends on how long the chapters are gonna be. The longer they are, the longer it takes for me to write. And with the fact that my dad is away in Iraq, my parents have to use the computer during the day to talk to each other. This summer, I’m gonna be up late a lot. . .

Note: I know I said it was 20 miles outside of Memphis in chapter 1, but I’m changing that. I found a state park in Tennessee online perfect to be located near Maplecreek Falls. It’s basically a park with lots of scenic waterfalls!! So, instead, it is going to be 122 miles from Nashville, the approximate distance between the city and the park, which the town is going to be right outside of. Okay! :wink:

Oh, and I just had to use this one song title for this. I think it fits perfectly! I do not own this song, Billy Ray Cyrus does.[/i]


Chapter 2: Back to Tennessee

Lightning took off in the freshly painted Corvette. They had about 30 miles to travel to get to the Phoenix airport. Even though Lightning hated to, he had to take the Interstate. After finding out what it had done to Radiator Springs, he had begun to detest the whole Interstate Highway system. But to get to the airport in time for their flight, he had to take the dreaded I-40.

“Are we dere yet?” Mater asked, for what was most likely the hundredth time on the trip. And they had only been driving for 10 minutes.

“No, Mater.” Lightning said, obviously getting tired of Mater constantly repeating the same thing over and over.

“Just be lucky Doc isn’t here.” Sally whispered.

“Yeah, Mater would probably be out on the curve by now.” Lightning whispered back.

“Are we dere yet?” Mater asked once more.

“No, Mater! We should be there in about 20 minutes at the rate we’re going.” Lightning said.

“How’d you figure that out?” Sally asked.

“We’re driving at an almost steady rate of 60 miles per hour. We have 30 miles to travel, so we can get to the airport in half an hour being that 30 is half of 60. We’ve been driving for 10 minutes, so 20 is all that’s left.”

“I didn’t know you were so smart.”

“Well, I learned this speed stuff so that my siblings would shut up.”

“Are we dere yet?” Mater asked once again.

“I said in 20 minutes!”

“I thunk you said 20 seconds.”

Lightning just rolled his eyes. Why can’t he shut up already!? Lightning decided to turn on his radio, hoping that would keep Mater quiet. When he turned it on, Fall Out Boy’s most current hit at the time, A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More “Touch Me.” Soon, Lightning started singing along. Sure it was from a little over half a year ago, but Lightning still loved the song.

“Well, at least it’s better than hearing Mater repeat the same phrase over and over again.” Sally said. She wasn’t such a big fan of the band. She preferred country and pop to punk music. But Lightning is her boyfriend, and she had to put up with it.

The next song on the radio was the All-American Rejects’ song, Swing, Swing. It was a lesser known hit, but still pretty good. It was straight from their debut album. Of course, Lightning still had to sing along.

“Stickers, is the whole station this genre of music?”

Lightning stopped singing long enough to answer with, “Of course! That’s what I love about satellite radio.”

Sally just sighed. At least it got Mater to shut up

“Are we dere yet?”

Or not.


After a long 20 minutes, Lightning, Mater, and Sally had made it to the airport. They went to go put the Corvette where they store the cars that are left behind on flights. When they got there, the person in charge of supervising the cars flipped out. “Oh my God! You’re Lightning McQueen!”

“Yeah, I get that a lot.”

“I will take good care of your car, sir.”

Lightning chuckled at this man’s politeness. “Just call me Lightning.”

“Okay then, sir. Oh, I mean Lightning.”

Lightning handed him the keys to park the car. When the person saw the car, he stood wide-mouthed. “That’s the coolest paint job I’ve ever seen!” He turned around hoping he’d see Lightning, but the three had left. The person went to park the car, but didn’t want to open the door. A paint job like that was too good to touch. So he jumped in being that it was a convertible. “Sweet! I didn’t know I could do that!”


Lightning, Mater, and Sally had all managed to grab their luggage before the man took the car. “You sure it’ll be alright?” Sally asked her boyfriend. She knew how much Lightning loved his cars, and she didn’t want anything bad to happen to the Corvette.

“Sally, it will be fine. Airports have top notch security.” Lightning added, sounding so sure of himself, when inside, he was worried about the car himself.

They had entered the building, and above them was a sign telling them what times the flights would be leaving, and the number of the flight. They payed attention to the part for Nashville. The board told them that the flight number was 143 and it was to leave at 2:15. They had ten minutes to get onto the plane. Lightning took Sally’s wrist in his right hand and Mater’s in his left and led them to the flight. He had experience with airports. He knew exactly what to do. He led them to where they dropped off the luggage. Right when it was dropped off, Lightning grabbed them again and ran towards their gate. Remember, McQueen. 143.They made it to the gate, with about a minute to spare. Sometimes, you have to rush at airports. When they made it onto the plane, they sat in first class seats, courtesy of Lightning McQueen’s pay check. The seats were three in a section, and they all sat by each other. Lightning sat by the window, Sally sat beside him, and Mater sat on the outside by the aisle. “Dang, I wanted to sit by Lightnin’!”

“Mater, your ticket says to sit there.” Sally told him.

“But I don’t wanna!”

“Mater, just sit there, okay?”

“A’ight.”

Sally noticed that Lightning hadn’t heard any of it. He had his earbuds on, listening to his iPod. Why couldn’t he have done that in the car?
The pilot’s voice came over the airplane. “Passengers, we are about to take off. Please buckle your seat belts.”

Sally and Mater buckled up, but Lightning didn’t. He couldn’t hear. Sally nudged Lightning’s shoulder. He looked over. “Seat belts.” she said, pointing to the belt buckled on her.

“Oh!” Lightning exclaimed. He quickly buckled as he blushed embarrassingly.

Soon, the plane started to move. It went faster and faster until it started to fly off of the ground. Mater was amazed. “I’m flyin’!” he shouted.

“Mater, shush!” Sally said.

“Party pooper.” Mater mumbled.

Sally herself was fascinated, but she wasn’t like Mater, having to scream it to the world. Lightning didn’t really care. He had flown on airplanes enough to know after a while, it’s no big deal. He kept his attention out the window, looking at the sky. There were a few clouds, but not many.

Soon, the plane began to level. “We have reached our flying altitude.” the pilot’s voice came over the speakers. “You are now free to move about the plane.” Everyone unbuckled. Lightning had knew to do so the second he could feel they were level. He didn’t need Sally to tell him this time. “We should arrive in Memphis in about two and a half hours.” the pilot continued. “Hope you enjoy you’re flight.”

Mater had brought along the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue to keep him entertained. He hoped that he could meet one of the models. It was one of his life’s dreams. He would probably ask her on a date, but he knew she’d say no. Sally brought along the book she was reading. Lately, she was into Harry Potter. She didn’t know why she hadn’t read it before, but she just didn’t. Right now, she was reading The Chamber of Secrets. Lightning had brought his iPod, and also his deep red PSP. He was at the moment playing his NASCAR game, as himself of course. Plus any game that had to deal with racing, he had with him. You’d never find Lightning playing any video game if it wasn’t racing.

They knew they could be able to keep themselves entertained for two and a half hours. They had plenty to do.


When they had finally arrived in Nashville, Lightning went to grab the luggage, which had safely made it. He gave Sally hers and Mater his and Lightning took his own. Lightning had already called his brother when they were half an hour away from Memphis to pick them up. Lightning went outside, leading his friends, and Lightning immediately recognized the old yellow, four-door, 1973 F-Series pickup-truck that used to be his dad’s. Tyler immediately popped out of the truck. His chestnut-colored hair was covered by an old New York Yankees cap. He had on a plain dark blue t-shirt and torn up jeans. Lightning couldn’t help but smile. Tyler was still the messy little brother he loved. “Hey there, big brother!” Tyler called out in his slight southern accent. It wasn’t an accent that stuck out if you lived up north. But down south, it has stuck out more at times.

“Tyler!” Lightning called back to his little brother. He ran up to him, dropping his luggage onto the parking lot, and embraced him in a big hug. “I’ve missed you!”

“I’ve missed you, too!”

When Lightning let go, he turned around and introduced Tyler to Mater and Sally. “Guys, this is my little brother, Tyler. Bro, these are Mater and Sally, my best friend and my girlfriend.”

Tyler just stood open mouthed at Sally. “Dang! You always get the hot chicks after you!”

“Tyler! Not in front of her! You know, maybe this is why you don’t get them!” Lightning shouted at his brother. “Sorry 'bout that.” Lighting apologized to Sally. “He’s just like that.”

"Ah, I’m used to it. Guys acted like that to me all the time back home in L.A.

“Yay! I didn’t come off as a pervert to my brother’s girlfriend!” Tyler shouted. Lightning just rolled his eyes. Tyler’s still a desperate bachelor. Has anything changed?

“Wait a second.” Tyler added. “Weren’t you bringing three friends?”

“Yeah. I was gonna bring Doc. He’s gonna come after Christmas. He’s got family he promised he’d visit.”

“Ah. I understand. Wait, who’s Doc?”

“I forget, the rest of the world doesn’t call him by that. They refer to him as the Fabulous Hudson Hornet.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me! You’re actually bringing him!? Man, when I saw you at the tie-breaker race on the telly last year with him as your crew chief, I thought, ‘There’s Darien’s life-long dream. Meeting the Hudson Hornet.’”

“Darien!?” Mater asked. “Dat’s yur real name!?” Lightning started to blush in embarrassment while Mater laughed his head off. “Ain’t that a lady’s name!?”

“It’s also a guy’s name! Now will you quit laughing at it!?”

Mater wasn’t stopping. Sally came and put a shoulder on her boyfriend. “If it makes you feel better, I graduated with a kid named Darien. He was a brunette and had hazel eyes. He was also one of my friends. Of course he never had any interest in me if that’s what you’re thinking. Too busy dating those airhead cheerleaders.”

“For once, a guy shares the same name as me.”

“But don’t worry, Stickers. No matter if you’re Lightning or Darien, I’m gonna still love you. A name means nothing to me.”

“Thanks, Sal.” He leaned in and kissed his girlfriend. Tyler watched jealously. Ugh, Darien gets all the breaks.

When the two lovebirds pulled apart, Tyler said, “Okay, if you guys all wanna put your luggage in the bed of the truck, we can start heading back out to home.” Mater put his old suitcase that was torn a little on the edges into the trunk. He barely brought anything with him. In fact, he didn’t own much to begin with. Sally put her pale blue suitcases into the bed, and Lightning took his red suitcases into there also. I can’t believe I’m headed home.


Lightning had sat in the front seat of the old truck, right beside his brother. Sally and Mater sat in the back. “So I see you got the old truck when I left.”

“Yep. I needed it after I wrecked my old truck.”

“What did ya do!?”

“I, um. . . I really wasn’t the one who wrecked it. Billy did.”

“Billy!? I knew he was nothing but trouble!”

“Yeah. He still owes me my money for that truck! So, besides your fancy-pants racecar, what’s your set of wheels?”

“I own a Corvette.”

“A Corvette!? Man, I’m becoming a racecar driver next season! You get all the perks!”

Lightning laughed as he turned his head to the window. Tyler started up a conversation with Mater and Sally. Lightning turned on his iPod to tune them out. Lightning started to listen to the song Don’t Forget To Remember Me by Carrie Underwood. The way the song was just seemed to be as if he had written it. The first verse and chorus were the almost perfect description of what it was like when Lightning left for college before becoming a racecar driver. Yes, he went to college. He wanted to be prepared in case his racing dreams never came true. The second verse and chorus almost seemed to fit how he felt in Radiator Springs. A little homesick, missing his family.

While listening to the song, he looked out the window at the countryside. Where Maplecreek Falls was located, there were rolling hills and lots of waterfalls. In fact, it was located just outside of Fall Creek Falls State Park, known for it’s scenic waterfalls. Lightning could already smell the fresh, outdoor air, and he couldn’t wait to be back home.

After about two and a half hours of driving, they had made it to town. There was a decent sized sign saying welcome to them. It was handmade by the townsfolk about 50 years ago, repainted and touched up whenever it was needed so that it looked as if it had been put up only recently. The outskirts of town had farmland all over. The many rivers around made it a great place for farming. Mater looked out and saw the cows. “If you try to tip them, Mater, you’ll be arrested.” Lightning warned. “It’s how it is out here.” Once they got into the main part of town, there were small little shops, like an old ice cream parlor where Lightning’s classmates would always hang out at. It was the popular hangout of the town. And even though he didn’t know it at the moment, it still was. There was also a Wal-Mart, characteristic of many small towns, a Tractor & Supply Co., a Home Depot, and other stores like those.

Tyler turned the truck onto a road called Mayberry Avenue. Down the road were nice houses that looked like they belonged to semi-rich people. At the end of the dead-end road was the largest house on the street. It was painted a shade of white with a bit of a bluish undertone and the shutters were painted a navy blue. The garage was large enough for three cars, and even that wasn’t enough since a total of six cars belonged to the family, not counting Lightning’s since they weren’t there. The driveway was a blacktop, and it had been decorated in chalk. On it, there was a beautiful mural like drawing on it, welcoming Lightning back home. “Had to be Ashley.” he said to himself. “She’s the artist of the family.” Poor Tyler had to park the car on top of the marvelous chalk drawing.

“Hey! I spent two hours on that!” Ashley shouted, running out of the door placed in the middle of the house and down the steps that were made of cement and rocks. She ran down the asphalt path that lead to the driveway on the right, and ran right up to the driver’s seat window of the truck. She looked and saw her oldest brother on the other side. “Darien!!!” she shouted at the top of her lungs. She ran around the front of the truck to the other side, opened the door, and gave her brother a huge hug, forgetting her anger with Tyler completely.

When she let go, Lightning said, “Look at you, Ash! You’ve grown so much in the past two years!” Indeed she had. Ashley and the other two triplets had turned 18 last August, and Lightning could easily see that Ashley had grown up into a woman. She was a shortie, only five foot one, and her medium blonde hair and blue eyes resembled him. Her hair was thick and straight, pulled back into a ponytail. She wore a bright blue, button-down, short-sleeved shirt and a pair of dark wash jeans. She also wore a pair of metallic, bronze, strappy sandles. Ashley was blushing at what Lightning had told her.

“Well, come on then! Everyone wants to see you!” Ashley said, tugging on his wrist.

“Wait! I have grab my luggage first!”

“Okay! You go do that, and I’ll go round up the rest of the fam so they can see you!” Ashley ran back up the path, the steps, and then through the door. Lightning smiled at the sight he saw. I’m definitely back home.


[i]Okay, next chapter, we are going to meet the rest of Lightning’s family. But that’s all I’m giving away!

Okay! Here’s chapter 3! In case I forgot to state it, I do not own Cars! Disney/Pixar does! I wish I did though. Remember that, for I don’t feel like putting up a disclaimer every chapter. Gets annoying! I do own all OC’s, which so far mentioned (including this chapter) are Susannah, Hallie, Tyler, Jenny, Mikayla, Ashley, Heather, Maddie, Jake, and Robert. Wow, that’s a lot! But this story really couldn’t exist without them! Heck, there will be a lot of chapters that will focus on them more! But don’t worry, Lightning has a major part. And Doc really will when he gets into town!


Chapter 3: Meet the Family

Lightning, Mater, and Sally all got their luggage out of the bed of the old pick-up truck. “Come on guys!” Lightning shouted. He ran up the steps of the house as fast as he could. Mater and Sally followed as soon as he was inside. Sally shut the navy blue door, The floors were made of grey tile, and the walls were painted white. There was a staircase to their left, going upwards in front of them. Across from them in the small hallway was a screen door leading outback to the wooden porch. Even further left was the opening for the kitchen. Near the base of the staircase, there was an opening to the dining room. To their right, there was the opening for the living room. And further down the hall, there were stairs leading to the basement, going the opposite direction as the ones going upstairs. Both sets of stairs were made of wood, the handles painted white with a grey colored carpet over the actual steps. A larger sized lighting fixture hung from the middle of the ceiling. Soon, a woman with light grey hair and brown eyes came out of the kitchen. She was wearing a pair of khaki pants, a rose colored, short-sleeved shirt, and an apron. “Darien!” she called out.

“Mom!” Lightning shouted back. He dropped his luggage by his friends and rushed to give his mother a hug. But before he got that, he got a kiss. “Mom! Not in front of them!” Lightning complained. Mater and Sally quietly chuckled, putting their hands over their mouths so that it was even quieter.

When the two let go, Lightning’s mother introduced herself to Lightning’s friends. “Hello! I’m Susannah.” she said, reaching out her hand to have one of the two shake it.

“I’m Sally Carrera. I’m Lightning’s girlfriend.” Sally said, shaking her hand.

“I’ve heard of you! Nice to meet you in person!”

“And I’m Mater! Like Tuh-Mater, but without the tuh!” Mater said, saying his regular intro.

“Nice to meet you also!” Susannah turned around and asked her son, “Aren’t you bringing a third?”

“I am, but he’s coming after Christmas. He’s got family up in Detroit he’s gonna visit.”

“Ah. I see.”

“So until then, it’s just gonna be Sally and Mater as guests. Even though I’m technically a guest myself! Weird, being a guest at your old house.”

“You’re not a guest, you’re family!”

“I see you have your apron on. What’cha cooking?”

“I’m making a batch of sugar cookies.”

“Ah, the old family tradition.”

“What tradition?” Sally asked.

“My mom makes sugar cookies cut out in different Christmas patterns, and then we all get to ice them. We always have icing in many colors. We always have four times the amount that’s needed because of this, and we always end up just eating the icing when we’re done! We each have a certain color we love to eat.”

“That’s one funny tradition.”

“What?”

“The eating icing.”

“Well, like Mom says, ‘It’s not right to waste food, even if it’s just icing.’”

Sally chuckled a little.

Soon, a young brunette ran down the steps. She had blue eyes like Lightning and was wearing a lavender tank top. She was wearing a pair of indigo colored jeans. Her shoes were black Converses. Her hair was full of volume and wavy. “Darien, you’re home!” she shouted.

“Heather!” He ran and hugged his 15 year old sister. “You’ve grown! You were barely a teenager when I left!”

“And you were still wearing glasses!” Heather said smugly, clearly showing she had some of Lightning’s cockiness to her.

“Glasses!?” Mater asked, laughing. “Bud, you never told me dat! Boy were ya a dork!”

“Mater!”

“Wut? Ya sound like ya were! First, you have a gurl’s name, and now ya wear glasses.”

“It doesn’t make me a dork!”

“He isn’t a dork.” Heather said. “Dorks don’t fail math.”

“I didn’t fail!” Lightning shouted. “I got a 67 percent as my lowest grade! That’s a D!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Just then, a girl with brown eyes and light blonde hair in a shorter, layered cut came running down the steps. She was wearing a white and red striped t-shirt and a pair of black jeans. “Darien! You’re home!” she shouted.

As he did with everyone else so far, Lightning ran to hug his sister. “Mikayla!” he shouted. He let go and looked at the middle of the triplets. She was wearing her fave colors. She was always a rocker. She loved a lot of the music Lightning did. Only she knew a lot more rock bands than he could name. She felt a little lucky to be growing up in the state that was pretty much known for “inventing” rock ‘n’ roll. “Still rocking out, I hope.”

“You bet!”

“Man, you and Ashley have both grown up. Where’s the other triplet?”

“She’s coming. You know Jenny! She has to be so perfect!”

As if on cue, Jenny came down the stairs, her curly, auburn hair styled just right so that the curls weren’t frizzy. She was dressed in a pale green blouse and a black skirt reaching just above her knees. Jenny was the girliest of the family, always taking her time in the bathroom styling her hair and putting on make-up. The rest of the family found it a little ridiculous, especially Lightning and Tyler since they were boys. “Jenny!” Lightning shouted.

“If you mess up my hair-!”

Not listening, Lightning came in for a huge hug. Of course messing Jenny’s hair up a little. “Why ruin my hair!?”

“Aren’t you the least bit excited that I’m home!?”

“Of course! But I have to look per-fect for Hallie’s BF, Jake. He is a ma-jor hot-tie!” Jenny said in her usual preppy tone. She always spoke in text terms and split the syllables of words. She could easily be the eighteen-year-old version of Massie Block from the Clique books. Only she wasn’t as spoiled. She wasn’t as bad when Lightning still lived there, but ever since he became famous, she felt as if she should show the world how fab-u-lous his little sister was. Even though all it really did was annoy people.

“Did you say Hallie has a boyfriend?”

“Yep! Only I say he’s to-tal-ly not right for her. He should go out with moi!”

“He’s 25 years old, Jenny!” Heather said.

“Who says I can’t date him!? I am 18 you know!”

“Mom says you can’t!” Heather snapped back.

Lightning leaned over to Sally’s ear and whispered, “The only thing I don’t miss. Heather and Jenny fighting. Heather’s attitude, and Jenny’s attitude don’t mix well.”

Just then, a black Mustang pulled into the driveway. Out of the car came a man with a skin-tight dark blue t-shirt, showing off his muscles on his chest, abs, and arms and black pants. He had messy black hair and a day’s worth of stubble on his face. With him was a woman with dark brown hair and blue eyes. Her hair was in a bob style and she was wearing a white wispy dress and white sandles. When they entered in, Lighting immediately recognized his twin sis. “Hallie!”

“Darien!” She did the running this time. She ran up and hugged her twin brother. They were the two siblings that got along the best, oddly. People may think that Lightning and Tyler did, but they got into more squabbles than Lightning and Hallie.

“I see you have a boyfriend now!”

“Yep. His name is Jake.”

“Hello.” Cameron stuck out his hand to shake.

“Oh, hi. I’m Lightning, Hallie’s twin brother.” he said, shaking Jake’s hand.

“Darien!” came a cry from the steps. Without warning, a young girl with long, auburn hair and brown eyes came running down the steps. She was wearing a light pink shirt with darker pink polka-dots. She had on white jeans, and no shoes. Ashley followed behind her.

“There’s the last one.” she announced.

“Maddie!” Lightning said, breaking away from Cameron to see his twelve-year-old sister.

“I would have been here sooner, but I was waiting to use the bathroom. Sorry 'bout that.”

Lightning chuckled. “Hey, everyone’s gotta go!”

“So, who are your friends?”

“Guys, this is Mater, my best friend, and Sally, my girlfriend.” he said, introducing the two to everyone. “I’ll be bringing another friend after Christmas, but he went to visit his brother, Robert, I think, up in Detroit.”

“Who’s coming?” Heather asked.

“While everyone back in Radiator Springs knows him as Doc, you would all know him as the Fabulous Hudson Hornet.”

“Of course you’re bringing him.”

“Why?”

“I can’t believe you’re even asking me that!? He’s what got you into racing!”

“That’s not the reason! Me and him are great friends. That’s why.”

“Sure, sure.”

Ugh, Heather really gets on my nerves.“Guys, do you want me to show you the guest rooms?” Lightning asked his friends.

“Sure.” Sally answered.

Lightning led them downstairs to their rooms. “Okay, you two can just stay in this room. I’m sure you guys won’t mind, right?”

“Nope.” Sally replied.

“No way!” Mater also replied.

“Good. Well, I’m gonna head upstairs and unpack my stuff.”

Lightning headed upstairs while Mater and Sally opened the door to the room.


When Lightning was done unpacking, he walked downstairs past the kitchen. The kitchen had white tiles and the walls were painted a mint green. The countertops were made of white marble and the appliances were all stainless steel. There was a little island in the middle of the kitchen shaped like an L. There were two stools where the island had the 90º indentation. Sitting there were Jake and Hallie, the latter of the two drinking some tea. “Why did he have to bring along his friends?” Lightning overheard Jake say.

“Jake, Darry was told he could invite them! Besides, he wouldn’t want to leave them for the holidays.”

“Well, I have a problem with them!”

“You barely met them!”

“I don’t have to! Appearances are everything! That Mater, or whatever his stupid name is, looks like he hasn’t had a bath in his life, and that Sally, or whatever, well, she could be a lot better looking. Your twin’s a racer. I think he could pick himself up a hotter girl.”

Lightning couldn’t believe that this was Hallie’s boyfriend’s attitude. He knew that Hallie could certainly do better than him. Especially the fact that he was trashing his friends before he really knew them!


Lightning had gathered Sally, Mater, and Tyler outside of his room. The hallway was left and right. The hallway was painted beige, the doors all wooden on the outside. There was a tan carpet on the floor. The doors were positioned in a zig-zag pattern, the one towards the back of the house the farthest on the left. There were four doors on each side. Everyone had their own room. The only person who didn’t sleep up here was Susannah. She slept downstairs, across the hall from Mater and Sally’s guest room. Lightning’s room was on the left side of the hall. If you looked straight across that hall facing the window at the end, Lightning’s was the first on the right, which would be the second one in order. “Okay, what I’m about to show you will freak you out.” Lightning told Sally and Mater. “My room hasn’t been touched since I left, and I never bothered to take any of this with me. Let’s just say there’s more stuff in here than his whole wing in the racing museum.”

“What are ya talkin’ 'bout?”

“This.” Lightning opened up the door to his room, displaying his large collection of items of Doc. Lightning was, and still is, what you could say Doc’s biggest fan. His room had so many pictures of the racer and his car all over the walls, that you couldn’t see the actual wall! He had shelves of model cars of the actual racecar on the right wall.

“Okay. You were obsessed!” Sally said.

“And I still am. I’m taking this down before Doc gets here. He’ll be majorly creeped.”

“Or he’d be happy to meet his number one fan.”

“True.”

“So, why are we here?” Tyler asked.

“I’ve got a big problem with Hallie’s boyfriend, Jake.”

Mikayla had overheard this, since they didn’t shut the door. Plus, her room was the one right beside his. She was walking to the bathroom which was right in front of the steps. “I have a problem with him, too!”

“Then hurry in, and shut the door!”

Mikayla walked in and shut the door, also covered in pictures of Doc.

“What’s wrong with him?” Sally asked. “He seemed nice.”

“That’s the key, Sal. He only seemed nice. But he isn’t. He was trash talking you two, before he even really got the chance to know you.”

“Ah! The nerve of that guy!”

“Bu-bu-but wut’s wrong wit me?” Mater asked.

“I don’t know why he would do that though! If he actually got to know you, he’d like you guys!” Lightning said.

“I knew that Jake guy was bad news!” Tyler exclaimed.

“I thought he was a little too good to be true.” Mikayla said. “He just seemed so perfect with that body, but I felt as if something had to be up. I knew Jake wasn’t good for Hallie! I knew!”

“If only we could get the others to side with us!” Tyler added. “But all the others just seem to have major crushes on him or are dating him! They wouldn’t turn their backs on him just because he’s a jerk!”

“Then I guess it’s just up to us.” Lightning said. “Besides, five people are just enough.”

“So what are we gonna do exactly?” Sally asked.

“Pay back. We’re gonna make him wish he never said those stuff about you guys, and all the other stuff he’s done, or will do.”

“So, what’s the first step?” Tyler asked, excited to get back at Jake.

“I’ve got an idea. . .”


It was 4:56 and dinner was being made. While everyone was waiting for dinner, Maddie suggested something they should do. “You know, since Darien’s back, maybe we should play that game we used to play.”

“A game?” Jake asked in a tone that said, “That sounds so stupid.”

“Yeah. It’s something we started to do once Maddie here was about 6.” Hallie explained to her boyfriend.

Lightning just glared at Jake, but in a way that wasn’t too menacing. How can Hallie stand him!? He’s so not her type! I know Hallie, and this guy is too much of a jerk for her sweet personality.

“Okay, for our guests, I’m gonna explain the rules.” Hallie said, now facing everyone. “We have one person who we like to call the ‘lyric-master’ and they will give out a word. We will have two teams, and the teams have to come up with a lyric that contains that word. They lyric has to be at least five consecutive words. If they get one, it goes to the next team to guess. If they can’t think of one, the point goes to the opposite team. If both teams get up to three words, they both get a point. Darien, since you haven’t played in a while, let’s have you be the lyric-master.”

“Um. . . Okay. You guys have any teams already made up?”

“No.” Hallie responded. “Besides, three of us here haven’t played before, remember?”

“Oh yeah! Okay, let’s split up the teams alphabetically. Ashley, Hallie, Heather, Jake, and Jenny are on one team, and Maddie, Mater, Mikayla, Sally, and Tyler are on the other.” When they were put together, Lightning noticed something. All the people who dislike Jake weren’t on his team. Wow, worked out bettter than I thought. I just went for a simple method of dividing them into two groups. “Okay, let me think of the first word. . . I’ve got it! The word is going to be ‘gone.’ Hallie’s team will go first, and Tyler’s team will go next.”

Hallie’s group all thought up of songs, and Heather raised her hand. It was custom so that the “lyric-master” could tell who said the lyric. The songs the lyrics came from usually said a little bit about their musical tastes. “Yes, Heather.”

Just as she was going to open her mouth, Susannah called out, “Dinner’s ready!”

“Man! I had a great one!” Heather complained.

“Maybe we’ll play tomorrow.” Lightning said.

“Why not after dinner?” Sally asked.

“It’s kind of a routine thing. We only play it before dinner.”

“Ah! I get it.”

Lightning led Sally and Mater to the dining room.

“Are you sure this plan is going to work?” Sally whispered. She of course was referring to the plan to sabotage

“Please, I’ve got it covered.”

Lightning headed into the dining room. Susannah was asking everyone what they wanted to drink. “Mom, I’ll get those drinks for you.” he said.

“Thanks, Darry.”

Lightning blushed a little at the use of his nickname. His mom handed him the list of what everyone wanted. She had started using a list once the triplets were old enough to ask for stuff, for usually someone got a drink they didn’t want. Lightning walked into the kitchen next door and started pouring the drinks. He decided to save Jake’s for last. Out of his pants pocket, he pulled out a small bottle of laxative. “This will do just nicely.” Lightning said lowly, smirking. It was his plan, and he couldn’t wait to see it in action. He poured it into the Pepsi Jake requested. Just so he wouldn’t mess it up, he put a little piece of paper labled Jake on it beside the glass. He put the glasses on a tray his mother had bought to carry all the drinks in. He handed all the drinks to everyone, putting the tainted Pepsi at Jake’s place. When he went past Jake’s seat, Lightning smirked a little. That punk has no idea what’s coming.

Lightning sat across from Jake, Sally to his left and Mater to his right. “You give him the right one?” Sally asked.

“Positive.” Lightning replied.

Once everyone started eating, Lightning put on his “poker face.” He didn’t need anyone getting suspicious.

Jake took the first drink of his Pepsi after a few bites of the steak Susannah made. It didn’t take long until. . .

“I gotta go to the bathroom!” Jake shouted.

“It’s right upstairs, the second you reach the top of the steps.” Lightning told him. Jake ran full speed for the stairs. He tripped running up, and thought he wasn’t gonna make it. He ran all the way to the top and entered the bathroom.

“Something tells me he’s not gonna be back down here for a while.” Tyler said, always one to give things away to an extent.

Lightning gave him a warning look. “Well, sometimes people do take forever on the can!” Tyler defended himself.

Lightning shook his head and went back to eating. Tyler was right though. Jake would be in the bathroom for a long time. But he knew the prank wasn’t complete yet. At least not until he flushed the toilet. For he knew it wouldn’t work. . .


[i]So now we’ve met everyone else! And what do you all think about Jake? He’s a major a-hole, isn’t he? He was gonna be named Cameron, but then I thought, that name doesn’t’ work with that appearance. So I went with Jake.

The idea of the game is actually a game I’ve played in band class before. Since the year was over, we had nothing to play on our instruments. So we played that game. I only interrupted it because I had no idea what to use for that word. :slight_smile:

I’m hoping to have drawings of Lightning’s siblings on the fanart section here soon. And maybe even Jake if I feel like it. They will be wearing the outfits that I described them in this chapter, and the last one. That is, if I remember to put them in those outfits. XD[/i]