"You guys know it's even more suspicious for us to be here after school right?" Cole finally spoke out. Classes ended half an hour ago and we were all in Jace's car. Jace thought it'd be better if we found a safe spot to talk and apparently his car was a better option.

   Luke had to take Laura home because she has doctor's appointment and he had to babysit.

   "Let's just talk as I drive, alright?" said Jace as he gripped the steering wheel. "The next race is on Saturday. I don't even have a car to race with." Jace complained. His racing car had damaged severely after it crashed the last time. I wanted to ask Jace if he could use this car instead but he probably thought of that already.

   "What of the spare one we left at the mechanic's?" Cole asked. Jace tapped on the wheel a couple of times before sighing.

   "That could work but it's not as good as the old one," He replied, "and Celine and whoever she's working with are already expecting us to do something. So coupled with a car that's not so good, the next race is going to be a flop." He concluded.

   Cole groaned and sat back down on the back seat. I looked at him through the rearview mirror and he was slumped on the seat looking defeated. My eyes wandered down to the chain dangling from the mirror. It was a small silver horse that had it's front limbs up.

   I stared at the horse and I recalled a very familiar story that had a horse in it: the Trojan horse. The car stopped at red light as an idea popped into my head.

   "What if," I started gaining their attention, "what if we make a plan, a faux plan, that Celine will overhear by 'mistake' " I said stretching the last word. "And she goes ahead to report it to whoever she working with while we come up with our original plan and catch them off guard. With that, we can be convinced fully that Celine is behind your crash and you can have a better chance at winning the race." I explained. Just like the Trojan horse, we keep the main plan hidden from any other ears and execute the original one perfectly.

***
    "These things are confusing." Celine groaned before throwing yet another balled sheet of paper into the trashcan.

   "They are not. You just have to focus." I explained to her. I was already fed up with her complaints and I was trying as much as possible not to snap at her. After concluding with the others, we decided to put up with her for the mean time.

   "Your friends are downstairs, I thought you'd be there with them." She said and I sighed.

   "Jace invited them plus you wanted me to study with you or do you prefer I go downstairs?" I raised my brow at her and she shrugged.

   "I forgot my note in the living room." Celine frowned and I almost laughed at her bad acting. It was obvious she purposely left the book downstairs but it was for the best anyway. For someone who didn't want to go downstairs, she was eager to dash out of the room.

   "She's coming downstairs."

I sent the message to the group chat which Cole had insisted we had. I carefully walked out of the room without making any noise and as expected, Celine was sitting on the top stair looking at the others through the rails.

    "What's the next plan?" I heard Laura ask.

   "There's the number three and the word slam written beside it." Jace explained and I heard a faint scoff.

   "How dumb is the guy that wrote this?" Cole said and Luke said something inaudible while the others laughed.

   "I have an idea." Cole said and I saw Celine scoot closer to the rail. "Remember when we saw the number four and it meant the fourth lane, maybe three means the third lane. So I think Jace should just avoid the third lane." I cringed at how fake Cole's plan sounded. They were supposed to come up with something believable and not stupid.

    "Dumbass." Luke said and I nodded in agreement, it was dumb.

   "He's not off course you know." Laura said and I prayed she had a much better idea. "Three might mean lane three and slam... There may be something in the third lane that will be dangerous to Jace's car so he should avoid the lane entirely and maybe the lanes close to it." Laura explained and I shrugged. It was much better than how Cole said his.

    "That's likely." Jace agreed.

    "But that's what I just said." Cole exclaimed and I smiled, here goes nothing. "I can't believe how unfair you guys are. I expected if from Luke but Jace, I'm disappointed." Cole whined. I saw Celine stand up slowly and I rushed back into the room trying to act normal.

    Celine came back into the room looking excited and I shook my head.

   "Did you get the note?" I asked, trying my best to sound unconcerned. Celine froze in her steps and looked around nervously.

   "Well.. my mom just texted and asked me to help her um help her print some stuff out." She explained and I nodded. She packed her books and I waved at her.

    "We'll study later then." I said and she nodded. I cleared the books on my desk and picked the papers that were littered beside the trashcan.

   The door of my room slammed open and I was surprised it was still holding on to the hinges.

    "So? Did she believe it?" Cole asked quickly. The others strolled into the room and they all looked at me expectantly.

   "I think she did."

********
Another chapter is here. Remember to comment and share.

~Korisa💙