Epilogue

Expectations

And to everyone's surprise, Annalise crossed the finish line. Of course X was right by her side. Only once did he make an attempt to go over to his brother.

Speed didn't mind, however, he was just surprised that Annalise won. And that X was back together with her. But whatever, there had been a lot of strange things happening around campus that Annalise and X were the last thing on his mind. Truthfully, he was just sort of glad that the race was over.

It had been a long day and there was nothing more that he wanted to do now then to relax. But that wasn't about to happen anytime soon as a woman approached him.

"Speed, Speed Racer…right?" She questioned in sort of a soft, mysterious voice.

Speed looked at her for a moment before he answered her. He couldn't help but to be a little hesitant to answer her because to him, she looked a little…well, weird.

She was tall with short black hair. It was cut short in the back, but gradually got longer in the front. She sported a long, light, black coat that covered everything and stopped right past her knees. And what Speed found interested was that she had on a pair of black dress shoes.

To Speed she just looked out of place as almost everyone at the track had on jeans or a nice pair of slacks, but not like they were at a business meeting. And maybe she had just come from one, but even still…there was just something about her that seemed a little weird. But it wasn't like Speed could have ignored her, she could be a sponsor or something. He had to be nice to her, even if she weirded him out.

"Yeah, I'm Speed Racer. Who are you?"

"I'm with Henderson Racing. My boss sent me over here to talk to you. He likes the way you race Speed, he thinks that you'll be perfect for our team." She said as Speed just looked at her with a blank, but happy look on his face as he was trying to figure her out.

"For real? You want me on your team? -"

"Hi Speed, what's going on?" Spritle questioned as he walked up next to his nephew.

"Headmaster Spritle…it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm with Henderson Racing and I was just seeing if Speed would like to join our team…"

"I'm sorry, I don't think I caught your name." Spritle replied.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I'm Jackie, Jackie Robinson." She replied as she stuck out her hand for both Speed and Spritle to shake.

But at the same time she looked at them through her dark sunglasses thankful that neither of them could see her facial expression. It took everything she had not to crack when she told them that she was Jackie Robinson.

"Nice to meet you Ms. Robinson. So, is this like a serious offer?" Spritle questioned getting back to what they were talking about before.

"Absolutely. We would love nothing more than to have Speed on our team."

"Well Speed, what do you think?" Spritle questioned as he could tell his nephew was a little unsure of what to say.

Nervous, he reached his hand to the back of his head and scratched it as he searched for something to say. Sure it would be awesome to go pro, but this was also his first year of school. It would be truly awesome to go pro, but for some reason he didn't think he could do it. Not yet anyway.

"I'm sorry Ms. Robinson, but this is only my first year at the Academy. I would like to get more experience under my belt before I go pro." Speed replied.

And as for some reason he couldn't help but to wonder what his uncle thought of his decision.

"I understand Speed. But here's my business card if you change your mind. It was very nice to meet both of you." She replied.

"You too." Speed and Spritle said in unison as they walked away from her.

"Do you think I made the right decision Uncle Spritle?" Speed couldn't help but to ask as he found himself second-guessing his decision.

"Speed, I can't make those kind of decisions for you. But whatever decision you make, I'll be right here." Was all Spritle said.

The corner of Speed's lips curled up in a small smile, as he was glad his uncle was so supportive.

"Thanks Uncle Spritle…"

"Anytime Speed. Go to your friends, I'm sure they're wondering where you are." Spritle suggested.

Speed took him up on his offer as he proceeded to walk in the direction of his pit box. And as he reached his friends, they were all wondering the same thing.

"Where have you been? We were wondering if you were going to show up?" Madison questioned as she greeted Speed with a hug.

"Sorry, I would have been here sooner but somebody from Henderson Racing stopped me. She wanted to know if I would be interested in joining their team…"

"Speed, that's awesome. What did you say?" Lucy questioned out of excitement.

"Well, I turned her down. I would like to get more experience before I sign with a team…"

"That's understandable…I'm so proud of you." Madison replied as she laid her head against Speed's chest.

He looked down at her and just brushed his lips against hers. That was just his way of saying thank you, without actually saying it.

"Is anybody else hungry?" Speed questioned as everyone practically nodded their head in agreement.

"Awesome, let's go get some dinner." Speed suggested.

XXX

While Lucy and Madison waited for Speed and Conner, Madison couldn't help but to notice a mysterious woman out of the corner of her eye. She walked alone and was dressed in black. Her hair was black and was cut short, but gradually got longer in the front. She had on a light, long black coat that stopped passed her knees and to top it off she wore a pair of black dress shoes.

For some reason, she made Madison nervous, which caused her to move to the other side of the table so that she didn't have to look in her direction. Even still, she couldn't help but to feel that she was still looking over in their direction. True she had on dark sunglasses and she could have been looking at anything, but it just felt like she was starring at them.

"Everything okay?" Lucy couldn't help but to ask as she noticed that Madison became nervous about something.

"Yeah, there's just this strange woman over there who seems to be looking over here for some reason." Madison explained as Lucy turned around.

"Weird…maybe if we ignore her, she'll go away." Lucy suggested, but became just as nervous as Madison and hoped that Speed and Conner would join them soon.

And as if on que, Madison spotted Speed and Conner walking back from the garage. Without waiting for Lucy, she left the table to be with Speed. However, Lucy followed in her footsteps.

"Hey, you guys okay? You seem nervous about something?" Speed questioned as he noticed the looks on Madison and Lucy's faces.

"Not really. There's this strange woman over there and she's been starring at Lucy and I for the past ten minutes. It's just creepy." Madison explained.

Speed and Conner roamed their eyes around the courtyard when Speed discovered her first. He recognized her right away and knew exactly who it was.

"Oh yeah, that's the woman who came up to me. She probably just recognizes you from being with me. It's probably nothing." Speed explained.

"I hope your right. She's just creepy-"

"Yeah…but whatever. Let's get some lunch. I'm starved." Speed replied, as he wasn't in the mood to worry about some mysterious sponsor.

That was far from the last thing on his mind. The first semester was now over and there was nothing more that Speed wanted to do then to relax.

So much has happened within this semester that he was actually looking forward to two weeks off. And as he thought back, he just couldn't believe that a couple of months ago he went from being adopted out of an orphanage to being Spritle's nephew, X's brother and Speed Racer's son. Everything happened so fast that he just felt like he constantly lived on the fast track.

Which is why for some reason, he stopped Madison in her tracks as he let Lucy and Conner walk on. They're relationship happened so fast that he never really felt like he's kissed her. Sure, they've kissed plenty of times, but nothing ever felt real. And for some reason, he just felt like kissing Madison without anyone around.

Madison was a little curious as to why he pulled her against him, but suddenly realized his motivation.

"What?" She couldn't help but to question as she looked into his blue eyes with wonder.

"Nothing-" Speed explained as he let out a small chuckle as Madison did the same.

For some reason, she found herself getting even closer to Speed. She flattened the palm of her hand against his chest as she gripped onto his t-shirt as he proceeded to move closer to her lips. She took a deep breath, swallowed and all the while she was captured by the challenge in his eyes.

With everything that has happened, they were still together. And they both couldn't believe it. She gladly flickered a glance at his lips and they were barely inches away now. Within seconds they're lips touched and she was once again his.

However, without them knowing, she was still watching them from where Madison spotted her earlier. She was just amazed that she was with Speed Racer's son. Of all people she was with him.

If only Madison knew that she was really Oriana Flub and not some mysterious sponsor. But she knew that, that was far from Madison's, or any one else's expectations. And knowing this, she finally left as she just let Madison be…for now.

PS: Well…what'dya think?

Series one is done!

I can't believe I wrote twenty-five chapters of this and it only took me about eleven weeks!

Anyway, I hope ya'll enjoyed the Challenge.

Hope everything made sense.

There's plenty more to come

As you can tell I'm just getting started!

Hope you enjoyed it, thanks for reading.