Page 42 of Bending Under Pressure

“Until she gets the hang of it, I guess. We might go for ice cream afterward.”

Mrs. Rita nods. “She needs to be home no later than eleven.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I’m almost thankful the interrogation seems to be over, but the silence seems worse. What is Haley doing? I told her when I would be here. Why hasn’t she saved me from them yet? Usually, other people’s parents don’t make me nervous, but something about her mom has me on edge. She ain’t no joke.

Finally, I hear footsteps.

“Is Keelan—” she begins, but stops when she sees me. “Oh, hey.” She smiles and I stand, staring at her. How does she manage to get prettier every time I see her? She’s wearing a pair of shorts, showing off her long tan legs, as if I could forget them, and a fitted plain black t-shirt. “Ready?”

“Yep.” I hold out my hand. She walks over and takes it.

“See y’all later. Don’t wait up,” she jokes.

“Eleven o’clock, Haley,” her mom firmly replies.

“Have fun,” Mr. Walter calls.

I lead her away from them and outside to my car. We don’t say anything until we’re inside and I’m taking us away.

“I’m sorry about my mom and stepdad.” There’s a momentary faltering as she says stepdad. She’s still not quite used to it.

“They’re being your parents.” I shrug. “Are you excited?” I glance over at her in time to see her grin.

“Yep. Once I master it, does this mean I get to race at least once?” Her voice is lit with pure excitement and adrenaline. If I were to glance at her, I know I would see it reflected in her face as well. Her giddiness and eagerness makes me laugh.

“Maybe.”

“Maybe? Keelan, that’s the whole point of this, isn’t it? So I can experience it, too?” There’s a hint of desperation in her voice, which confuses me a little. It’s like this is very important, more important that I thought it would be.

“I was kidding, Hales. Once you master it,” I say, using the word she chose, “then we’ll set you up a race.”

From the corner of my eye, I see her relax in her seat. “Is there one tonight?”

My lips spring into a grin. “Yeah, I was going to see if you wanted to ride with me.”

“Of course I do!” She looks out the window. “Where are we anyway?” she asks as I turn into a gravel drive with cornfields on either side for as far as the eye can see.

“My dad’s land. He taught me here, so it’s where I’m going to teach you.” I stop the car and put it in park, turning off the engine. The gravel drive goes on for a few miles, usually straight, but with curves here and there around the land. “Let’s switch.”

Haley wastes no time getting out and jogging around to the driver’s side, a large smile on her face. I love her excitement. We slide into our seats, put on our seatbelt, and Haley turns toward me, waiting for instructions.

I laugh. “Adjust the seat, Hales.” My legs are longer than hers, so I know the seat won’t be in the proper place for her.

She giggles before doing so. “Okay. What now?”

Leaning toward her a bit, I point down to where the clutch is. “That’s the clutch. You need to put one foot there and the other on the brake.” I wait until she does. “Now, turn the key to start the car.” She does. “Put one hand on the gear shift.” When she does, I cover her hand with mine. Not necessary, but I want to touch her. “We’re going to move into first.” Our hands move the stick into first.

“Okay, here is the tricky part. At the same rate, you need to let up off the clutch while pushing down on the gas.” Haley does it, but kills the engine. “Try again.” We start all over, and it takes four times before she gets it. Already, I’m amazed. She has not once huffed in annoyance that she couldn’t get it like I did when I learned. She didn’t do anything except try again after her failed attempts, a set look of determination in her fierce brows, her focused eyes, and her firm set lips.

“Good job, Hales,” I say as we begin to move.

“That’s not all, is it?”

“No,” I chuckle. “Go a little faster.” The speedometer climbs until we’ve reached the top of the gear, the engine making a revving noise. “Let off the gas, push in the clutch, and shift down into second,” I instruct. She does so seamlessly, an even bigger grin widening on her face. “Once you hear that noise, feel the engine behaving like that, you shift. The more you do it, the easier it is to know the signs because it might not be exactly the same with other cars. Now, to slow down, you’ll press the clutch in, shift into neutral, and then hit the brakes like you normally would in a car. You’ll put it back into first after you’ve stopped and start moving again.”

We slow to a stop where she turns the car off, restarts it, and begins the process all over again. We continue along the gravel until it turns to dirt as Haley gets a feel for how to drive a stick. She’s a fast learner. Once we reach a place to turn around, I ask, “Ready to test out your skills on the road with traffic?”

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