As I come up to turn thirteen, the last turn of the circuit, Jack is starting to get a bit too close to my back right wheel. He makes contact, forcing me to spin out of control and go hurtling towards the tyre barriers around the track.
The front of my go kart is all damaged. Dad is going to kill me. I was in pole position as well. I know Jack didn't mean to make contact, but I'm still upset with him.
I punch the steering wheel, before pulling myself up, and out of the go kart, and jumping out onto the gravel.
"Fuck!" I shout, kicking one of the tyres, before jumping over the barrier and out of harms way. I look over to the sidelines where dad was watching from, and see him still sat down in his seat, staring into space. He looks angry, I've never seen him this angry before.
I take my helmet off and slowly walk over to the stands, before walking up the stairs to where my dad is.
"Dad, I-" I begin before he cuts me off.
"No, just shut up. I'm not talking to you right now." Dad states, before standing up off the seat and walking straight past me, down the stairs.
Every other parent is now making their way to their kids, while I follow my dad out to the car park.
"What about my go kart?" I ask him. I can't leave it on the track, we take them home.
"You're going to have to figure that one out yourself. I'm not helping you." Dad states, not making eye contact, still walking over to the van.
"Can I at least get changed?" I ask him quietly, as we approach the van. He doesn't say anything and grabs my bag from the passenger seat and hands to me. He gets in the van, as I walk into the building to get changed back into my clothes.
I throw my bag down on the floor, and walk over to Jack who is stood with his parents. I've always been a bit jealous of Jack. He's got a big house and a stable family, and both his parents love him unconditionally. I wish I had that.
"Em, are you ok?" Jack asks, as I walk over to him. "I'm really sorry about nudging you, I didn't mean to send you into the barriers." He apologises.
"It's fine. You won though, right? Congrats!" I say, before hugging him.
"Where's your dad?" He asks, looking around.
"He's just sat in the van, he's pretty angry." I reply quietly. "Please can you help me get my go kart out the gravel?" I ask him. I can't do it by myself, it's so heavy.
"Me and Jack can do it for you if you'd like." Jack's dad says, smiling at me. I smile back at him before thanking him. They walk out to the track, and a few minutes later, Jack comes back in driving my go kart.
"That's one fast go kart. It's a bit banged up on the front, but it's still drivable." He says, stopping in front of me.
"Thank you for getting it for me. You really didn't have to do that." I say, crouching down and looking at the damage.
"It's no problem." Jack's dad says, smiling.
"I'm going to get changed. I'll see you at school tomorrow." I say, before walking off towards the changing rooms after grabbing my bag off the floor.
Once I'm ready, I walk back out of the changing rooms, with everything in my duffel bag, which is slung over my shoulder.
Literally no one is here anymore, apart from the owners of the building and the track. They're lovely people.
Jack and his parents must've gone home.
"Hey Emilie, are you alright after your crash?" Joan, one of the owners, asks me.
"Yeah, I'm ok, thanks for asking." I reply, smiling slightly.
I walk out of the door, leaving my go kart inside, so hopefully my dad will have calmed down a bit and is willing to help me put it in the van.
Wait what? Dad's van isn't here anymore. The car park is literally empty, and is only being lit up by some streetlights. It's so dark.
I grab my phone out of my pocket and call my dad. He declines my call. What the fuck? I know he's mad at me, but leaving me here is a bit of an overreaction.
I call him a few more times, receiving a decline each time. I give up and decide to call my uncle. He said that he's always here for me, as he knows what dad can be like when he's mad. I never thought he would do this though.
Uncle Eliot picks up the phone.
"Hey Em, what's up?" He asks.
"Dad has left me at the track, with my go kart and all my stuff. Please can you come and get me?" I ask him, earning a yes and an estimated arrival time from him. I thank him before hanging up.
He's going to be about five minutes, so that's alright. It's starting to get a bit cold. I walk inside and sit on my go kart before driving it outside to the car park.
"Hey Emilie, you alright? Where's your dad?" Mark, the other owner asks me as him and Joan walk out of the building, locking the door behind them.
"He's gone home. My uncle is on his way to pick me up though." I say, forcing a little smile so that they hopefully don't ask any more questions.
"We can wait with you if you want." Joan offers. I quickly dismiss her offer, not wanting to put them out or anything.
They accept my response and go home, leaving me in an empty car park. A few minutes later, Uncle Eliot pulls into the car park in his pick up truck.
He stops his truck close to me, and gets out, before helping me pick my go kart up and put it in the back of his truck.
I get into the passenger seat, throwing my duffel bag into the back seats, and put on my seatbelt.
He drives to his house.
~•~•~•~•~•
The next morning, my uncle drops me off at school.
"I'll take your go kart and bag to your house and have a chat with your dad. You go home after school, alright?" my uncle says as I jump out of his truck. I nod to show him I understand, before walking into school.
One of the teachers on the gate stops me. I'm not wearing my school uniform. I didn't have any school uniform. I'm wearing the same clothes as yesterday.
"Why aren't you wearing your uniform?" The teacher, Miss Greaves, asks me.
"Last night I had to stay at my uncles house, last minute, and I didn't have any uniform." I say quietly, looking down at the ground.
"Alright, ok. I'll write you a note, and you can just wear what you've got on. Here, have a pen. You don't have your backpack." Miss Greaves says, before handing me a pen out of her pocket.
"Thanks." I say quietly, taking the pen, and she writes me a note saying that I can stay in my clothes. I go to my first period lesson.
It's now the lesson before lunchtime, and my teacher has just told me that the headteacher wants to see me.
I make my way down to the office, slowly, and taking the longest way round. I eventually get there and walk in. I see two police officers stood there along with the head teacher.
"Ah Emilie, come in, take a seat." The headteacher — Mr Curran — says, and I sit down on one of the chairs facing his desk.
Why are there police here? Did they find out about my dad leaving me at the track last night?
"What are the police doing here?" I ask Mr Curran, staring at the police officers.
"About that, your uncle found your dad dead in your house this morning. Then your uncle got into a car accident and died from his injuries." One of the police officers say, looking sad for me.
"How did my dad die?" I ask quietly, trying to prevent myself from crying. My dad wasn't the best, but I still loved him.
"It looks like he overdosed. Most likely a suicide attempt." The officer says, answering my question.
"Where's my go kart?" I ask. I swear to god if my go kart got even more destroyed, if it was in the back of my uncle's truck, I'm going to kill someone.
"I don't know." The officer says, frowning.
"Well can you find out?" I ask, full of attitude, and wanting to know.
"We can take you to your house, and you can have a look." The other officer says. He seems nicer than the first one.
I nod my head before standing up off the chair and walking out of the office, followed by the two officers.
We walk out to the police car and I get in the back while the officers get in the front. They start driving to my house.
Once we arrive, I get out of the police car and walk over to the garage, and try to open the garage door. It's locked! Why is it locked?
I run into the door, shoulder first, forcing it to swing open. What the fuck? Where is my go kart?
"It's not here!" I shout, walking out of the garage, slamming the door behind me. That means it got smashed up in the car accident.
"You can get a new one, right?" The nice police officer asks, walking over to me.
"No I can't get a new one." I state, before walking over to the front door. I open it and walk in. My duffel bag is on the floor next to the door. Thank god I've still got my racing helmet. That was custom made.
"Where am I going to stay if both my dad and uncle are dead?" I ask the nice officer, as he follows me into my house.
"Do you watch formula one?" The nice officer asks, looking into the living room and seeing a Lego model of a Ferrari car on the cabinet. I built that myself.
I nod my head, smiling at the thought. I love formula one, it's my whole life.
"Well Charles Leclerc-" The officer says, pronouncing Charles' name wrong, saying the c at the end.
"Leclerc. Like eclair." I cut him off, correcting him.
"Sorry, Charles Leclerc, has offered to take you in." He continues, smiling. My face lights up after hearing the news. No fucking way. I'm actually going to live with my idol?
"W-what? How?" I ask, stuttering slightly with excitement.
"Leclerc's dad was your dad's best friend." The not so nice officer says bluntly, walking past us and into the living room. He picks up my Lego Ferrari car.
"Put that down!" I shout at him, walking over and taking it out of his hands. The officer puts his hands up like he's in defeat.
"When do I go?" I ask excitedly, jumping up and down slightly, looking at the nice officer.
"Tonight." The nice officer says, raising his eyebrows and sighing slightly. I walk upstairs, to gather all my belongings.
"I'm all packed." I say, walking down my stairs, towards the officers. I've got all my Ferrari, Redbull and McLaren hats and t-shirts and jumpers, all stuffed into my backpack, along with my model replicas of a Ferrari and a McLaren car.
I've filled up my duffel bag with more clothes and other stuff, and taken my helmet out. I'm going to carry that, I don't want it getting damaged.
I've also got my cricket equipment, since I also play cricket. My bat has the number's sixteen and four on it, for Charles and Lando, and also has the Ferrari logo. I have the Ferrari logo on my helmet as well.
So I've got two backpacks, one duffel bag, my cricket equipment and my racing helmet.
"All set?" The nice officer asks, grabbing my duffel bag and cricket equipment off of me.
"Yep." I say, before walking out of the door and going to the police car.
"We're going to need a moving van for all your stuff." The not so nice officer jokes. I don't laugh. I don't find him funny. The nice officer gives him a look, and he shuts up.
I put my stuff in the boot of the car and get in the back seat, buckling myself in. The officers get in and start driving to the airport.
Once we arrive, they help me check my stuff into the right airline, and give me a card thing which is like a passport, but it just says that I'm not a criminal. We couldn't find my passport.
"Are you sure you don't want to pack your helmet? You'll have to carry it with you." The nice police officer says, holding his hand out so I can give it to him.
"No, it's not getting damaged." I state, holing it back, not letting him grab it.
"Ok." The nice officer says, smiling.
~•~•~•~•~•
The plane lands in Monaco, and I follow everyone out of the door of the plane, and make my way to baggage claim. I kept one of my backpacks with me on the plane, but the rest of my stuff is baggage.
My backpack, cricket equipment and duffel bag come out pretty quickly, and I go to exit the airport as quickly as possible.
The officers told me that Charles would be at the airport, waiting for me. Even though it's busy, it wouldn't be hard to miss him. Have you seen him? He's like a dream.
Sure enough, standing just down the corridor, is Charles Leclerc. The best driver on the grid, shortly followed by Max. I'd die if I got to speak to Max Verstappen.
"Hey Emilie!" Charles shouts, grabbing my attention. I was daydreaming about meeting Max and Charles and everyone else. I'm so excited!
I walk over to him, carrying my mountains of bags.
"Let me take those for you." Charles offers, grabbing my cricket equipment and duffel bag off me.
"Thanks." I say, getting a better grip on my helmet.
"You drive?" Charles asks, pointing at my racing helmet.
"Just go karts, but yeah." I say, smiling, as we walk out of the airport. I can't believe that I'm having a real life human conversation with Charles fucking Leclerc!
We walk over to a car which is parked right outside the door to the airport. Premium parking? This is awesome! It's a Land Rover Discovery. I assume he's only brought this one because of all my baggage.
Charles takes my bags off me and puts them in the boot of his car. I get in the passenger seat, and Charles gets into the drivers seat. He starts driving.
"You're so big now. Last time I saw you, you were like three years old." Charles says, smiling at the memory. I laugh and smile. I have a feeling that we're going to get along well.
A car pulls out in front of us, and slams its breaks on just as it pulls out.
"che cazzo stai facendo? Idiota." I exclaim as the car stops right in front of us. Charles laughs.
("What the fuck are you doing? Idiot.")
"When did you learn Italian?" He asks, still laughing slightly, after beeping the guy in front of us.
"A few months ago. I was learning Italian at school, and I learnt some swear words to piss off my teacher. I never paid any attention though, so all I know is the swear words." I explain, smiling at him.
"Well I speak Italian, so don't think that you can get away with swearing in Italian just because I can also speak English." Charles says. I think he's joking slightly, but it's difficult to read him. I nod to show him I understand, and lean my head back on the headrest.
"I'm sorry to hear about your dad. He was a great guy." Charles says, breaking the silence. Yeah, my dad was a great guy as far as he knows.
"Thanks." I reply quietly, not wanting to think about my dad right now. I wouldn't say he deserved to die, but karma's a bitch.
About half an hour later, we pull up to these fancy looking gates. Charles presses a button on a remote, and the gates slowly swing open.
~•~•~•~•~•
This house is gorgeous, along with the cars. Everything about this is beautiful. The walls are white, with stripes of red, and the floor tile is black.
My bedroom is amazing. I've got my own bathroom, my own wardrobe and a king sized bed. Not to mention, it's so comfy as well.
Charles has a games room, where his racing simulator is, and there's also another practise wheel and PlayStation I can play on. There is also a pool outside, which is pretty deep.
Charles has some rules though. I suppose they're not the worst rules in the world, but he did say that if I broke them, he might ground me.
• If I want to go out somewhere, I have to ask him first. So no sneaking out.
That's reasonable, I understand that one.
• I've got to keep swearing to the minimum.
Which will be difficult, but again, it's not unreasonable.
• When I start school, I'm not allowed to skip lesson, argue back, get into fights, that sort of thing.
I don't see the point in school. It's stupid and I learn nothing.
• And when I meet all the other drivers, I've got to be respectful and do as they say.
They're not terrible rules, I can live by them.