She was waiting for him to arrive to see if he indeed invited more cla.s.smates to his birthday. She was in for a shock when he told her he managed to invite everyone plus the teacher.

"I told you to invite a few more friends, not the whole school! How are we going to pay for that?!" she said.

"I'm sorry mom." Jayden said while his shoulders dropped feeling very sad for himself.

How could he know that karting would be so popular he thought.

To make it not seem as bad he told his mother that they would tell him tomorrow if the would be able to attend his birthday. He hoped a lot of them had other plans.

"You're father and I will figure something out, don't worry". Mom said while smiling at him. She knew he would not invite this many schoolmates on purpose because the kids knew about their financial situation.

"Forget about getting a big present though". She added. "The cost of all this will be quite expensive."

Jayden nodded. He was not happy with this but he had no choice in the matter. At least he would still go karting for his birthday.

Later that day his father came home. Jayden could hear his mother and father arguing downstairs. He knew what the were arguing about but there was nothing he could do about it know. All he could do was listen and wait. 15 minutes later his father came upstairs.

He came into Jayden's room. "Jayden?" He called out. "Don't worry about you're birthday oke. Mom and dad will figure it out. So try have a good night sleep and let mom and dad take care of everything."

Jayden feeling a bit better after hearing this nodded and wished his father goodnight.

The next 3 days till his birthday went by in a flash. His dad managed to strike a deal with the manager of the karting track and was able to secure three 30 minute sessions. This would allow everyone who would show up to be able to get at least one session driving a kart.

Jayden was in a great mood. He never expected that the whole cla.s.s would show up. The cla.s.sroom teacher also arrived and Simon came together with his parents.

Everyone was bustling with energy. Ready to go for round in a kart.

But first, they all gathered around and started singing happy birthday. Jayden in the middle of all this did not know where to look and just focussed on his feet. He was not used to being the center of attention.

When the singing ended dad came forward with the manager of the track for an announcement.

"Jayden." Dad started. "We know you love karting and racing in general. Well, the manager and I have arranged for you to start a test day with a professional kart! If you perform well you might be able to join the junior karting league for the coming season. What do you think of that? Want to try out in two weeks time he asked?"

Jayden was now looking at his father with his mouth open. After what his father said finally sank in he jumped up and gave him a hug. He could not believe his ears. His father had always told him that racing was expensive and even their weekly karting trips were getting a bit much so this news was like lightning when the sky is clear.

Dad who was now grinning like a mad man because he managed to surprise his son got out of his sons embrace and told everyone to listen to the manager to hear the rules regarding their karting sessions.

Today there would be no specific race format. There will be 3 20 minute sessions of free driving.

While the manager was explaining the rules Jayden went over to his mother and siblings. "You knew about this!" He asked them while acting angry.

They all held their laughter and mom told him that they did not want to spoil the surprise.

Jayden gave them all a hug and after that mom sent him off to have fun with his cla.s.smates.

He found Simon talking to a few cla.s.smates and joined the conversation.

"Are you really going to drive a professional kart?" One boy asked. "You don't look like you'll be any good." He followed up by saying if never seen one of you driving a racing car.

Simon, who was not one to let comments like this slide, immediately jumped in to help his friend. "How do you know if he's any good or not!? Have you ever seen him drive? Do you know that he holds the fastest time of any kid on this track?! He is even faster than a lot of the adults driving. Stop saying stupid things without knowing a thing Jasper!"

Jasper was shocked by this would not be outdone. "I bet I could beat his time easily!" He said. "I've been karting a lot of times before and im pretty fast as well."

Jayden would usually shy's away from conflict could not take this lying down. "I don't care how fast you think you are but on this track i'm the fastest!" He thought. "Let's see who can set the best lap time at the end of our sessions then!"

Today he was pumped! He was going to set the fastest time he could today to prove he was the best and then concentrate on his testing session.

Simon looked at the Jasper who had now managed to provoked Jayden.

"Well that will get Jayden going" he thought.

In his mind he was feeling pity for Jasper because he knew after Jayden was finished he would no longer dare call himself fast!