Anya

I looked at the player and pulled out a so-called cassette from the box, which I then inserted into the player. It wouldn't be the same without the music. However, I didn't turn it on yet and waited until the girl in front showed us that we could go.

Automatically, I looked at the competitors next to me. On one side was a girl with pink braids and glasses. Anya. She gave me a lot of trouble sometimes. Then I turned my head to look to the other side and got quite shocked. Confused, I looked at the familiar face from his profile. As if sensing my gaze, the person looked at me and I stared into Jasper's blue and green eyes for a short moment. I raised my eyebrows questioningly but he looked just as surprised as me. Of all places, we meet on the race track after such a long time. This will be real fun.

I turned my head back and fixed my gaze on racetrack in front of me. The girl in front began to start the race after a short while. I pressed the circular steering wheel in my left hand and the gear lever with my right hand. Then I closed my eyes for a moment, which I opened along with the shot that the girl in front of us had fired from a small pistol. The race could finally begin.

As soon as I was on the track for a few seconds, I felt the button on the player with my hand and turned on the music, which then began to reverberate around me. But not too loud, so that I could also perceive the sounds outside.

Excitedly, I quickly flew forward and passed someone here and there. Meanwhile, Anya was still near me. As usual. On the other hand, I lost sight of Jasper a long time ago. Behind me. He must have been here for the first time today.

However, I put my childhood friends behind me and tapped my fingers on the black steering wheel to the rhythm of the music, nodding my head as I did so. Sometimes I sang a little. It was pleasant. Flying in a beautiful night. The lights of the race track were shining all around and a huge moon was illuminated above us while the other two were hiding behind city buildings and trees around the racetrack.

After downshifting, I turned the steering wheel to handle the next turn nicely. We were already far from the city and the marked track was turning back slightly. There were still a few minutes left to the finish line.

Ahead of me was the last hovercar I had left to defeat. Plus there was Anya still showing up near me. The distance was getting shorter and I had to start acting after a short while. As soon as I started overtaking the unknown in front, Anya was in front of me. Now it was just the two of us racing to see who could overtake the one first.

As I shifted, I pulled the steering wheel towards me as I turned it. I flew upside down and successfully passed the competitor in front. Anya circled him from the side. I went back to my original position so that my brain wouldn't bleed in and pulled the steering wheel back.

Only the last one opponent remained. And the win could have been mine.

Anya suddenly appeared in front of me. I sighed and indicated that I wanted to fly around her from the left. When I knew that she was concentrating on not letting me to go there, I repeated the same maneuver as with the stranger a moment ago. It was stupid to repeat it, but I didn't want to think of anything else at that moment.

When I came back with my head up, I blocked Anya's path and sped up. The neon finish line was already in front of me. And not to mention the crowd of people who expressed both excitement and disappointment that their favorites were so-called left in the dust behind me.

I won.

A smile spread across my face and I flew a bit further to where the hovercar was originally parked. The two guys that Zayd had been talking to before the race were standing there. I hadn't looked at them much before, but I assumed it was them. Probably some of his employees or someones who even took care of this hovercar.

As soon as I parked, I turned off the music, unbuckled my seat belt and climbed outside for some "fresh air". But after all, there was quite a bit of alcohol and food smelling all around out there. And people. It floated slightly too, although the creators tried to avoid any contamination.

"Our winner!" Mali exclaimed and ran to hug me. I laughed and waited for her to let me go. She almost took all my breath away.

It wasn't until I looked towards the race track that I realized that the fool, who was reporting it, was up to something again. He commented on who had just returned. I saw Anya across from me murdering me with her eyes, so I gave her the brightest smile I could manage.

"Stop it," Mali said to which I looked at her with a raised eyebrow in a quiet question. She explained that it "looks scary". I rolled my eyes at her comment. This is what she always said when I "smiled too much at my circumstances". In her opinion, that is.

"I think we should celebrate it then," suggested Zayd, who suddenly appeared here in the company of three other people.

"Who is that?" Mali asked, scanning the two unfamiliar faces with her gaze. I gave her an annoyed expression, trying to show how excited I was to be near these guys. Damien and Ander. What the hell were they doing here? But Mali passed it and suddenly looked terrible enthusiastically, looking a little further away. And then she shouted in my ear: "Arno!"

Confused, Zayd turned and glared at the stranger. So were the two. On the other hand, Yuki and I went together after Mali, who was already aiming for Arno. She actually ran and finally threw her arms out and jumped into Arno's arms.

"You're alive," I interjected when I was already standing only a short distance from them. Meanwhile, Mali pulled away from him and examined all the changes, as if we hadn't seen him in an eternity. While it had only been about seven weeks.

"Yeah... Congratulations on the winning by the way," Arno smiled and shifted his glasses on his nose, then shifted his gaze to the figure next to me. "Yuki, long time no see."

"Nice to see you too," Yuki nodded.

As we made our way back to the hovercar I was racing with, I grabbed two friends by their shoulders while Mali walked a short distance ahead of us. At that moment I thought of breaking the news to them: "By the way... Jasper took a part in the race."

At that moment, everyone looked at me in a shock. And in a confusion. I shrugged my shoulders and pushed forward: "Yeah, I somehow saw him next to me at the start. But I don't know where is he now."

Mali jumped up onto the roof of Zayd's hovercar in a second and looked around. The rest of us looked at her in a confusion. I doubted that this act would do her any good, but I let her go. She's an adult anyway. And that hovercar isn´t my either.

"Arno, this is Zayd, the hovercar is from him. And that's Damien and Ander, if I'm not mistaken. Guys, this is Arno and the one on the roof is Mali," I introduced them, so that no one would be like 'who's this and who's that'.

Zayd nodded in an understanding, "So shall we all go party?"

I shrugged my shoulders. It must have been a long night. But first, I still had to get my prize. Then I didn't care if I spent my time here among people or somewhere else among people. It would probably work out the same.