Free Genesis Girl by Jennifer Bardsley Page B

I answer. It’s hard to imagine there ever being a time when I would take off joyriding on a motorcycle. I’m only going through with this lesson to get Seth to come to dinner.
    “The left side of the bike is for gears; the right side is for breaking. Do you know about gears? Wait … Do you know how to drive a car?” Seth looks at me like I’m a potential idiot.
    “Yes!” I snarl. I don’t bother to tell Seth that my entire road experience involves driving around the underground parking lot of Tabula Rasa. I’ve never technically driven with other drivers on the road, but I’m exceptionally good at parking, and I understand old-fashioned maps.
    Seth sounds relieved. “Okay, good. So the first thing you do is you turn the key, and then the fuel injection kicks on. Hear that?” The bike rumbles to life.
    I nod, feigning interest.
    “Then this light flashes, and that means the bike is ready to start. Here,” Seth says. “Climb on in front of me.”
    I begin to straddle the bike.
    “Wait!” Seth says, stopping me. “That was a test! Where’s your helmet?”
    Oh, right. The helmet. I pull it on, and the world gets a bit darker. Then I climb on the bike in front of Seth, and he puts his arms around me.
    That’s when things get interesting.
    Because when I’m sitting there, in the front, it finally hits me. I see where Seth was going with this whole thing. If I learn to actually do this, I could go wherever I want. I could ride off into the sunset, and nobody could stop me. Not even Headmaster Russell. It’s a power trip, sitting on this bike. It’s the taste of freedom.
    Of course, I don’t want to go anywhere on my own. Obviously! I want to stay right here on the manor like Cal told me to. But the possibility? The knowledge that I could go somewhere if I had to? It’s thrilling. That’s worth doing this for.
    “What’s that again?” I ask Seth. He’s saying something about the clutch.
    “It’s on the left handle here. Push down to first, then up to neutral. If you keep going up, you’ll hit second, third, fourth, and fifth.”
    Fifth gear. I can’t imagine going that fast on my own. I bet Beau doesn’t get to go that fast when they shoot his truck commercials. They probably make him drive around in circles on the studio lot until they can get the right picture.
    “The right hand has the accelerator.” Seth puts my glove on the handle, and I feel the untapped power of the bike below.
    “Kick the gearshift here,” Seth says pointing down to my left foot. “Then there’s your back brake over here on the right.”
    I’m listening, but I’m also ready to do this. I let the clutch out slowly and the bike starts to move.
    “Good,” Seth says. “If you let the clutch out too fast, the bike will stall. Smooth clutch control. That’s what you want to shoot for.”
    I nod briefly and then I go for it. There’s a lot of starting and stopping, and sometimes I screw up and the bike pops forward and Seth has to take the controls. But after an hour or two, I’m touring around the house so fast that Cal comes out on the balcony of his office to see what’s up.
    “What’s going on out here?” he calls down. “For heaven’s sake, Blanca? Is that you?”
    I bring the bike to a stop and shut off the engine. Then I take off my helmet, and my hair falls down, sticky around my neck. “Yes,” I shout. “It’s me. But don’t worry. We’re not going anywhere.”
    “I’m not sure this is such a good idea,” Cal says loudly. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
    “She won’t get hurt!” Seth yells.
    Cal’s about to say something else, I can tell. Something potentially not helpful to the situation. So I ask, “When’s dinner? Seth’s coming too.”
    For the briefest of seconds, Cal smiles. Then he bites his lip hard. “An hour,” he says. “Dinner’s in an hour. Have fun.”
    I shove my helmet back on with determination and twist the key. I’m absolutely going to have fun. I let out