Walking down the tunnel on the way out of the crowded race track stadium, Leon got off his phone after sending a quick message to Trey about his early departure.

  He promised to work on the race car in the following days, putting down a clear timeline of tests for Trey to get familiar with the changes, as well as to get input on the modifications themselves.

  “You done?” Tara asked as Leon put his phone back into his pocket.

  “Yes, just letting Trey know about a few things regarding the car.”

  Hearing his answer, Tara nodded her head before playfully hitting his side with her elbow.

  “Say, Mr. Genius, do you think you can actually do it?”

  “Do what? And where are these different nicknames coming from? I feel like you’re just making up new ones whenever we meet.”

  “But they all apply to you, am I wrong?” She replied with a grin. “And don’t try to dodge the question! Do you think you can do it?”

  “What? Improve Trey’s car?”

  “Not just that, but also make him win the championship.”

  Contemplating the question for a moment, Leon soon shook his head.

  “Unlikely, and Trey knows that too. Based on points, he needs to get at least second place in the mid-seasonal Grand Prix, then maintain that position for the second half of the season, and get first place during the final Grand Prix in four and a half months.”

  “He only needs to get first place once?” Tara was confused.

  “Yes. The races beforehand give limited points and focus more on deciding starting positions for the final Grand Prix, giving you an insurmountable advantage, especially when your driving skills are superior like Jade. That last race is the longest and most difficult, deciding everything.”

  “And you say Trey can get that title?”

  “It’s not a guarantee.” Leon shook his head. “But I can give him a chance to beat Jade Kotova at least once.”

  Looking at her face, Leon didn’t know if she believed his words or not. Hell, even he knew that it was far-fetched. Nevertheless, he promised he would help Trey win, and he was confident in his abilities to make it work.

  “By the way,” Tara said a bit hesitantly. “Don’t take what Jade said to heart.”

  “I don’t mind. I did break her Android, after all.” Leon smiled wryly, but Tara’s expression didn’t change.

  “No, she’s not that cheap. That Android probably went through excessive testing by now to find out what’s wrong. That’s not on you.”

  “Then, does that mean I’m being chided for no reason? Is that a common occurrence?”

  “Not at all. She’s great and everybody loves her. Exactly the confident, social butterfly you’d expect from the heiress of one of the greatest conglomerates in the world. I’m actually quite surprised myself that you’re getting different treatment. Maybe it’s because your sponsor is Alpha Dynamics.”

  “That bad?” Leon assumed the competition between both corporations for the robotics sector would be rather nasty, but he never expected to be pulled into it.

  “Yeah, they are the outliers among the mega-corporations. Usually, they get along quite well, but Alpha Dynamics uses more ruthless business principles regardless of collateral damage. Their image is pretty bad.”

  “How come I haven’t heard of it?”

  Tara looked him in the eye with a serious expression.

  “Those kinds of sentiments aren’t released to the public media. These are unspoken thoughts among the more influential corporations.”

  “Is your family’s Symbotics included in there?” Leon asked.

  Tara chuckled. “No, I heard it from Evans.”

  Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

  “Evans Caddel, right.” Leon nodded, a teasing smile forming on his face. “Is that the guy?”

  “What guy?” Tara feigned ignorance.

  “The guy you have a crush on. The one you met at The Providence on your kind-of date.”

  “I said I was interested, not that I have a crush on him.” Tara elbowed his side again. ”And for your information, he isn’t interested in me.”

  “He looked very interested in you back in that pit box.” Leon countered.

  Tara shrugged in return. “It’s complicated.”

  “So, that business you had was with Evan Caddel? Is that why you asked Jade Kotova to let you in there?”

  Tara looked him over for a while, considering whether telling him was the right choice. After a few seconds, she sighed.

  “I asked him to be my partner for a party this coming weekend. It’s hosted by my family, who plan to expand Symbotics into a few other sectors out of robotics. The competition is getting a bit too tight at this point.”

  “You asked him to be your date?”

  Tara rolled her eyes at the implication. “Yes, my date. He refused.”

  “How come?” Leon didn’t know what it was, but he figured that the Evan guy was clearly interested in her. Probably even liked her. Although she did say it was a complicated situation.

  “He prefers to put some distance between us for him to figure out where he stands. Whether he has actual feelings for me or his family’s expectations make him feel responsible to act like he does.”

  “Rich people.” Leon began sarcastically. “I wish I had problems like these.”

  “Oh really? Are you sure about that?”

  “Definitely sure.” He retorted to her question.

  Nodding her head, Tara crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Okay, alright. Then let’s do this. I’ll bring you into high society so we can enjoy the drama and pretense together. What do you say?”

  This time, it was Leon’s turn to look confused. The way she phrased it was a bit questionable. Was she still sarcastic or serious? More importantly, what exactly was she planning on doing in the first place?

  “What does that idea indicate, Ms. Bates?”

  “Easy. Instead of Evan, you’ll be my date for the weekend party. I’ll introduce you to some people and we can try the buffet. That kind of stuff.”

  “Oha,” Clicking his mouth, Leon pretended to think. “I don’t know, sounds very two-sided. Substituting me for the guy you have a crush on.”

  “The guy I’m interested in,” Tara corrected. “Besides, this will be very good for an old fossil like you. Probably the first time you’re taking a girl on a date despite being older than a century. It’s about time.”

  “Wow, that’s a low blow, Tara. Didn’t expect such a vicious statement to leave your mouth.” Leon shot back, acting deeply hurt and impressed at the same time.

  “So, what’s your answer?” She asked again, but this time, she was serious.

  “I’m in. I’ll go to that party with you. Leon didn’t even have to think about it before agreeing. He liked Tara. She was fun to be around not nothing like the image he had of spoiled rich kids.

  For better or worse, pretty much everybody he met and got closer to in the central territory was rich to a ridiculous degree, but acted decent enough. Of course, this didn’t include the occasional culture shock when it came to some of their specific actions. That afterparty he went to a few weeks ago was just one example of that.

  “Well, that’s settled then.” Tara smiled in satisfaction, he steps seeming a little lighter than before.

  By now, they have long exited the tunnel, passing through the last corridors and going beyond the exit glass door to step outside.

  The loud cheers and the voice of the commentator announcing the winners during the award ceremony could be heard even from such a distance away. Listening to it for a few breaths, Leon promised inwardly to make Trey’s name come out of the commentator’s mouth for first place sooner or later.

  As they went down the few levels of steps leading to the race track stadium, Leon could see a black hover car waiting down on the street.

  “That’s my driver, I called him to pick me up a while ago. Do you need a ride? I can drop you off at your place.”

  Thinking about the wait time for the public train, he thought taking her offer wasn’t such a bad idea.

  “Sure, thanks.”

  Around twenty minutes later, the black car stopped in front of the apartment building. Leon thanked Tara again for the ride, saying goodbye before stepping outside and going up to his room.

  He took a quick shower, ordered food delivery on his phone for dinner, and lay down in his bed less than forty-five minutes later. He was exhausted.

  A minute later, though, a message popped up on his phone.

  “You got the access for the satellites. Left the codes in the operations room.”

  It was Dr. Irvine, sending him the first good news regarding the Vulcan System since he began working on it. Smiling widely, he decided to head to the lab first thing after classes to further work on it until he realized he had told Trey they would work on the car during that time.

  Looking at the time, it was around ten minutes after eleven. Almost midnight.

  “Damn, this sucks.” He cussed.

  There was exhaustion written all over his face, but time remained impartial to that.

  “Screw it,” Leon said as he stood up from his bed and put on his jacket. “Sleep is for those who finish the job.”

  ………

  “Effort doesn’t betray. It never has, and never will.”

  ~~Dr. Benjamin Harper’s Memoirs~~