Academy World Karting

Chapter One - Welcome To Hogwarts: The Karting School For Weirdos

I have never wanted to spin around, get onto a plane, and go back to where I came from so badly in my life; however, this Nikita kid who arrived from Russia at the same time as I arrived from Germany is really making me wish I could go home before we've even left the airport. Thankfully, there's another German with me.

"Ich schwöre, wenn er nicht die Klappe hält, werde ich es für ihn tun," I grumble under my breath. The German looks at me with an expression of understanding. Maybe he wants to beat the shit out of Nikita too. The smell of fresh cinnamon buns wafts through the air, though, and I feel instantly better. All my anger dissipates and I just want a cinnamon bun. Maybe a hug would be nice too. It feels like I'm being hugged, with how suddenly I've become happy.
"Gern geschehen." The one next to me nods at me and a feeling of confusion washes over me.
"Did you just do that?" I ask.

He laughs, "Yes, I did. I'm Sebastian Vettel. My power is emotional influence." I freeze. Powers... shit, I hadn't thought about that. I don't know these people, they might not like that I don't have a power. Sebastian seems like he wouldn't mind, but he could also be manipulating my emotions to make me trust him. My face flushes in guilt from thinking that.

"I'm Mick Schu- er, Schmitt. Mick Schmitt," I nearly let my real name slip and Sebastian gives me a look and nearly speaks before I cut him off, "Can I call you Seb? I feel like saying Sebastian all the time is going to be a bit odd." He chuckles and nods. "Sure, I don't mind. That's what my friends from back home call me."

"Oh good, you three are already here. You're the last to arrive; the rest have been here for a few days." A tall man with dark hair jogs up to us. He's wearing a white Mercedes polo shirt and black jeans. His soaked appearance makes me look outside. It's still pouring down buckets of rain like when we landed. "My apologies, you two. I'm Toto Wolff, one of the group coaches for karting." He holds out his wet hand for a handshake and I reluctantly take it.

"Mick S-Schmitt," I dry my hand on my jeans.

Nikita looks at Toto's hand with vague distaste before taking it and cringing at the feeling. "Nikita Mazepin."

"Nice to meet you two. Hello again, Sebastian. Welcome back for another year." Seb nods and respectfully puts his hands into the pockets of his coat.

"How are we getting to the school?" Nikita asks as he wipes his hand on his Haas F1 team hoodie.

"We have a bus." Toto replies as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. Nikita groans. Clearly someone's had bad experiences with school buses.

The bus isn't actually that bad. It's a charter bus, but Toto is driving it and it has in brightly coloured paint "ACADEMY WORLD KARTING" on either side, rather than a bus company name. I can only assume that it is property of the academy. It looks like it was painted by third-graders. The inside is alright, though. The overhead compartments are nice and I can fit my luggage up there well, along with my backpack that I brought on the plane. Nobody is on the bus except us three, so we sit completely separated. Nikita sits in the back of the bus, like I figured he would, based on his character before Seb fixed it. Seb sits in the middle of the bus and puts his airpods in, so I take that as a rejection to sitting together and I sit in the front of the bus.

The bus is dead silent for the duration of the twenty minute ride to the school. When we arrive, though, I can't help but stare out the window in awe. I knew England had some good buildings, but this looked straight out of Harry Potter or something. It is a massive castle-looking building with what looks to be a small practice circuit below the giant hill it rests on.

"Whoa.." I gasp. Toto chuckles and I look up at him. "That's a common reaction. There were a lot of newcomers this year, and most of them had that exact response."