“Don’t sound so surprised.”
“You just learned to drive ten minutes ago!”
“It’s not that complicated.” But there was smugness in her voice. Satisfaction.
Right. So that’s how this was going to go.
“Next race,” I said. “Full track. No mercy.”
“Promises, promises.”
We loaded into Mario Circuit. The countdown started. Violet’s fingers flexed on the controller, her jaw set in concentration.
The race started.
I shot forward, taking the lead easily. But Violet held her line behind me, not great but not crashing either. She made a steady improvement lap after lap.
A red shell flew past my head. I swerved, barely avoiding it.
“Did you just throw a shell at me?”
“The game said I could.”
“You’re ruthless.”
“You said no mercy.”
Fair point.
We raced through another lap. Then she hit me with a banana. My cart spun out. By the time I recovered, she’d passed me.
“That’s cheap!”
She laughed. Grumbling, I gunned it, catching up quickly. We were neck and neck going into the final turn.
I had the better line and more experience.
This was mine.
Then the blue shell hit her.
But we were so close together that the blast radius caught us both. We spun across the finish line in a tangle of smoke and shells.
The screen flashed: DRAW.
We stared at it.
Then Violet dissolved into laughter. Real, unguarded laughter that transformed her entire face.
I couldn’t look away.
“That was—” She gasped for breath. “Did we really just?—”
“We drew.”
“I can’t believe—” Another laugh. “A draw.”
I grinned. “Rematch.”
