L O C K -U P | c. leclerc

33| The Greatest Win

C. Leclerc

It was the day of the race. And all I could think about was whether Artemis was watching.

I took a sip of my water when Pierre joined in to sit next to me. He buried his face in his hands as he said, "I told her it was too dangerous, she should be here not in a stupid hospital."

"Hey, I know you're worried but she's doing fine," I explained, "If anything, I wanted to stay at the hospital but she kicked me out and said that I should be racing."

"You know who should be at the damn hospital, her deadbeat dad. That asshole hasn't said anything to even defend her through this mess," Pierre said as he took sips of his own water, "I mean, if he'd just been there for her and actually reassured her of her identity, this would have never happened."

"We can't blame a dead horse Pierre," I replied, "If he had the capacity to care for Artemis, he would've actually been there for all her races just like Niki did. If anything, Niki was her parental figure not him."

He just nodded and just as I was about to get up, Fred approached us and said, "I've gotten an update about Artemis, she had a bad night but she's stable now. I understand if you want to visit her, I can have only Jasmine race-."

"No, I'll race. I promised her I'd race and win this damn race and I will. As long as she's stable I'll race but as soon as something is wrong, you'll tell me right?," I asked and Fred nodded then said, "I will."

Pierre gave me a reassuring pat on the back then said, "Don't worry, I already told my team I'm not going to race today. I can't go through this again like what happened to Anthoine. I'll be with Artemis while you're racing."

"Are you serious? You have to race mate, you love racing," I exclaimed and he nodded then answered, "And I love my friends too. You're not the only one who came to love that mongrel."

I chuckled, "Watch over her for me."

"And you take care of yourself out there. I don't want any more crashes," Pierre scolded. As much as he didn't like to admit it, he was becoming an old man. Behind all the crass jokes was a loving guy, probably why Kika loves him so much even if he can be embarrassing.

I waved Pierre goodbye then walked over to Jasmine who was just nervously watching reruns of my free practice laps. I raised my brow in confusion then asked, "Why are you watching my laps?"

"I don't know, maybe because I haven't raced this damn track before and I can't exactly watch Artemis' one because she crashed during qualifying," she said with a distinct sourness making me say, "Okay, Jasmine I know you're nervous but look at me."

Hesitantly she looked at me then I said, "You're a good driver kid. I know you're young and this seems very intimidating but Artemis respects you, and we all respect you. It's because you have talent and we know you can pull something amazing out there."

Jasmine nodded and replied, "I just feel guilty. I get to race but in return, Artemis just sits in that hospital bed unable to race a race she should be in. How can I compare to her?"

"She's amazing Charles," she continued to say as she started fiddling with her fingers in anxiety, "Fred literally picked her up from F1 Academy, and she skips Formula 3 and Formula 2 then goes straight into Formula 1 but she handles it like a champ."

"Hey kid, we all have our different strengths, Artemis messed up so much in winter testing and she had to train really hard for all those few months before race season," I explained, recounting the many times Artemis would be so frustrated with herself and just shut everyone out. Seeing how much she's grown, she's really come a long way.