Someone shakes my shoulder slightly, causing me to jolt awake. The car is now parked in Charles' driveway.
"Hey kid, we're home." Charles says softly, before opening his car door and getting out. He unlocks the front door before getting the suitcases out the boot of the car.
I groan slightly, before closing my eyes again. After Charles takes the suitcases inside, he walks back out, opening my car door.
"Come on. You can go to sleep inside." He says, tapping my shoulder.
I groan before pulling myself out of the car, and slowly walking into the house. I walk into the living room and flop down on the sofa, closing my eyes again.
"Have a quick nap, then we have to go school shopping." Charles says, tapping my foot like he had done in the hotel room.
"Shoes off the sofa." He adds, before pulling my shoes off my feet and placing them on the floor next to the sofa.
About an hour later, I wake up. Charles is sat, watching TV.
"We need to go school shopping today." He says, smiling at me. I sigh and sit up.
"Do you want some food? You didn't eat dinner on the plane last night." He says, looking at me slightly worried.
"No, I'm alright." I respond, leaning back on the sofa. "I hate plane food." I add, shaking my head slightly.
"Ok. We're going to go in five minutes, alright? Make sure you've put your shoes on, gone to the toilet and at least had a snack." He says, standing up off the sofa and walking away to get ready to go school shopping.
I absolutely hate school, no matter which school it is, I hate it.
"I don't want anything to eat." I state quietly, grabbing his attention. He turns around and looks at me worryingly.
"You have to eat." He says softly, furrowing his eyebrows slightly.
"No I don't." I say, slightly louder.
"Yes you do, Emilie. It's not an option" He insists.
"It's my body, I can eat as little as I like." I say loudly, and Charles raises his eyebrows at my outburst. There are a few moments of silence, with us staring at each other.
"Why don't you want to eat?" He asks suspiciously.
"I just don't, ok?" I shout at him, while standing up off the sofa.
"Hey, hey. Don't shout at me." He says calmly, stepping forwards slightly, so he's closer to me.
"Listen, I'm always here for you if you ever want to speak to me. So is Max, so is Carlos, so is Lando." He adds, smiling slightly and holding his arms out to the side, kind of inviting me in for a hug.
I wrap my arms around his torso, and hug him.
"Come on then, let's go school shopping." He says enthusiastically, smiling at me, and grabbing my hand before pulling me along behind him. I groan and follow slowly behind him.
•~•~•~•~
"I don't want to wear these." I say, as I walk into the kitchen the next morning, holding up a pair of trousers.
"Why aren't you dressed?" He exclaims, when he sees me still stood in my pyjamas.
"I don't want to wear these trousers." I repeat, continuing to hold them up in front me me so Charles can see.
"Why not? What's wrong with them?" He asks, glancing over at me, then continuing to do whatever task he was previously fulfilling.
"They're grey." I say, sighing slightly.
"That's the uniform. Put it on." He says, not even looking in my direction. I sigh loudly.
"You told me yesterday, when we went shopping, that those trousers were fine and that you liked them." He adds, now looking at me.
"Yeah well I changed my mind." I say, before sighing.
"I can't change the school uniform. It's either those trousers or a skirt." He states.
"I'm not wearing a skirt." I state, furrowing my eyebrows slightly.
"Then put the trousers on. If you keep arguing with me about the colour of some trousers, you're going to be late to school." Charles says sternly, raising his eyebrows at me.
"Go and get ready. We're leaving in fifteen minutes." He adds, placing my lunchbox on the kitchen countertop, out of the way.
"Did you have breakfast?" He asks, as I begin to walk away.
"Nope." I respond, still walking away. Charles sighs quietly, and I walk upstairs.
I get dressed, brush my teeth, and walk downstairs. Charles has now got his shoes on, is wearing a nice, navy blue, three-quarter-zip jumper and some pale-coloured, casual but expensive looking trousers.
"Shoes." Charles says, handing my new school shoes to me. I slide them on, and stand up, looking in the mirror at myself.
"I look like a box." I say, grabbing my blazer off the hook and putting it on.
"You look smart." Charles says, placing a reassuring hand on each of my shoulders and squeezing them slightly. I think he's just as nervous as I am.
I grab my phone out of my pocket and go on Pinterest, finding a photo of Charles in a suit.
"I look like you." I say while sighing slightly, showing him the picture.
"Yeah, awesome." He says, in an 'obviously' kind of tone. I laugh at his childishness, and he hands me my backpack. I sling it over my shoulders, before opening the front door and walking outside.
Charles grabs his Ferrari car keys, and closes the front door behind him, locking it.
"Did you grab your lunch box?" Charles asks, as he shuts the car door, and turning on the engine.
"No." I say, smiling slightly at him. He gets out of the car, leaving the engine on, and running into the house, getting my lunchbox, and locking the door again.
He gets in the car and hands me my lunch box, before shutting the car door and pulling out of the drive way.
A few minutes later, Charles pulls into the car park. 'Monaco high school' printed on the front building. I take a deep, shaky breath, trying to steady my nerves.
"Hey, it's going to be ok." Charles says quietly and reassuringly, placing a gentle hand on my knee.
"Oh for fuck sake." I say loudly, and Charles smacks my knee lightly at my swearing.
"Fucking Ella." I say, slightly quieter, looking at her as Charles parks his car into a space in the car park.
I go to open the car door, but Charles grips my wrists, causing me to look at him.
"Get off." I say quietly, trying to tug my wrist out of his strong grip; his massive hand easily wrapping all the way around my tiny wrist.
"Listen." He says authoritatively, and I stop trying to escape his super human grip. "That Ella, that's the girl from the Grand Prix, isn't it?" He adds once he knows he's got my full attention.
I reluctantly nod my head, and Charles takes his phone out of his trouser pocket.
"What are you doing?" I ask him, as he clicks on a contact and puts the phone up to his ear, his hand still gripping my wrist.
I rip my hand out of his grip, and he looks at me.
"Hi Max, can you come down to Monaco High school? I need you to watch Emilie while I speak to her head teacher. That girl from the Grand Prix is here." Charles says, keeping his eyes locked on me the whole time.
"Thanks mate. I'll see you in a minute." He concludes after getting a response from Max. He hangs up the phone and slides it back into his pocket.
"I don't need Max to watch me." I say, crossing my arms across my chest and huffing slightly.
"You do. If I leave you here, by yourself, you're obviously going to go over to Ella." Charles says, still staring at me. He's right though, the first chance I get, I'm speaking to Ella.
"No I won't." I insist, furrowing my eyebrows and slouching in my seat.
"I'm not stupid. I know exactly what you're going to do." He states, turning the car engine off and taking the keys out, holding them in his hand.
I open the car door and quickly jump out, leaving the door open behind me.
"Emilie!" Charles shouts as I get out of his Ferrari and start walking in the direction of Ella and her friends.
Charles gets out of the car, and stands up, resting his hand on the roof of his car, shouting my name louder.
I ignore him, still walking towards Ella. A dark grey Aston Martin DB11 comes cruising into the car park.
Charles walks around the front of his Ferrari, and jogs slightly to catch up with me.
"Emilie!" Ella exclaims cheerfully, as I get closer to her. She's acting like she's happy to see me. I shove her shoulders and she stumbles backwards, her friends grab her arms to steady her.
"What the fuck?" Ella shouts, stepping towards me.
"Can't you just fuck off and leave me alone!" I shout at her, stepping forward, so we're now face to face.
Ella slaps my face, the connection between her hand and my face echoing throughout the car park.
"You bitch." I say, laughing slightly at the shock of receiving a slap to my face. I bring my hand up, to slap her but feel a restraining hand grip onto my wrist, preventing my hand from getting anywhere near her face.
Another hand clamps down on my shoulder, and I get roughly pulled backwards, almost loosing my balance.
"Go." Charles' voice instructs from behind me, letting go of my wrist, but his hand still firmly on my shoulder.
I see Max stood, leaning against the bonnet of his Aston Martin DB11, with his arms crossed, looking so pissed off.
I throw my head back and groan, clenching my eyes shut, not wanting to face whatever punishment is about to come my way.
"Fucking bitch!" Ella shouts from behind me as I start walking away. I try to turn around to shout back, but Charles' hand on my shoulder prevents me from doing so.
"Stop." Charles states, firmly placing his free hand on my other shoulder and gently pushing me forward, so I walk quicker. He lets go of my shoulders, and I carry on walking towards Max.
"Get in the fucking car." Max states quietly, opening the passenger door of his Aston Martin. I get in and he shuts the car door, before speaking to Charles.
Charles runs a hand through his hair, looking visibly stressed. Max knocks on the window, and points downwards, signalling me to roll down the window. I do so.
"Look at Charles. Look at him. Can you see how stressed and upset he is? You did that." Max says, keeping eye contact with me. I look away and blink away the tears which had begun to form in my eyes. I take a shuddering breath trying to compose myself.
"Listen to me." He states, and I turn my head back, to look at him. "Both me and Charles are going to take you inside to speak to the headteacher and get you settled." He adds, slightly nicer than before.
I nod to show him I understand, and he opens the car door.
"You are not to speak to or even look at Ella. If she tries to talk to you, you ignore her. Am I clear?" He says firmly, as I stand up out of the car.
"Mhm." I hum, staring at Ella subconsciously.
"What the fuck am I supposed to say to your headteacher? I've never even met him, and now I've got to explain to him that the child I'm looking after has physically assaulted another student within ten minutes of being here." Charles says, clearly being really stressed about this whole thing.
Max glances at Charles, then looks back down at me.
"She's horrible to me. She deserves a punch in the fucking face." I say quietly, earning an angry look from Max and a look of disbelief from Charles.
"What the fuck have I told you about swearing?" Charles says slightly louder, looking directly at me, making me want to sink through the floor. It sounded like a rhetorical question, so I don't answer, not like I wanted to answer anyway.
"Well?" He says maintaining the same volume in his voice, and raising his eyebrows at me.
"I'm sorry." I apologise, looking down at the ground, not wanting to make eye contact.
"Sorry isn't an answer." He states, clearly loosing his patience. After gaining no response from me, he sighs then speaks again. "I'm done trying to talk with you about this, come on."
He begins walking towards the entrance to the school, and Max gently pushes my shoulders, silently telling me to follow Charles. I walk after him, Max following behind me, as we enter the school reception.
"Did you eat anything this morning?" Charles asks, tapping my upper arm with the back of his hand. I shake my head and Charles sighs quietly.
"I've got some food in the car." Max says, looking over the top of me, at Charles.
"After this meeting, you're eating some food." Charles says, looking at me. I sigh loudly, earning a worried look from both adults stood on either side of me.
•~•~•~•~
"I can't be in the same classes as her." I say quietly, tears threatening to spill, while sat in front of the headteacher; Charles and Max on either side of me.
"Well I'm sorry, but that's how the classes have worked out. There's no way of changing them." The headteacher states, forcing a look of sympathy onto his face. The coldness in his eyes tells me that he couldn't care less.
"Just try it, and see how it goes." Charles says, placing a gentle but firm hand on my knee, in an attempt to prevent my leg from bouncing up and down in anxiousness.
"No you don't understand. I can't be in the same classes as her." I repeat, blinking back the tears as the headteacher shrugs his shoulders.
"Isn't there anything you can do? This girl will obviously not get along well with Emilie, so wouldn't it be better if they were in different classes?" Max asks firmly, looking slightly angry and pissed off.
"Like I said, there is nothing I can do to change the classes." The headteacher states, clapping his hand together and resting them on the desk in front of him.
I feel my chest begin to tighten and my breathing becomes more rapid as I try to compose myself, not wanting to embarrass myself in front of my new headteacher.
I place a hand on my chest, and try to take a deep breath to calm myself, but nothing comes in. It feels like I'm suffocating.
Charles furrows his eyebrows at me. "Are you ok?" He asks, visibly worried, reaching forward to pull my hand away from my chest.
"Hey, hey." He begins after noticing I'm having a panic attack. He pries my hand off my chest and holds my other hand in his, gripping both my hands gently, trying to calm me down.
"Breathe. Slow, deep breaths." He says calmly, exaggerating his breathing so I can copy him. My breathing eventually slows, and I calm down, tears now pouring from my eyes.
"I- I can't b-be in the s-same classes as h-her." I stutter in between breaths, while trying to stop myself from crying. I squeeze Charles' hand.
As he rubs his thumb over the top of my hand, his thumb brushes over a recent scab, from before I came to Monaco.
Charles looks down at my hand, then back into my eyes, looking really worried. I sharply pull my hand away from his grasp, which catches Max's attention.
"There really is nothing I can do. Believe me, if I could change the classes, I would." The headteacher states, leaning back in his chair, making it squeak slightly.
"Yeah, you've said that." Charles snaps, glancing at the headteacher with a grim look on his face, before directing his attention back to me.
"I can't do this." I say quietly, before standing up off the chair I'm sat on.
"What are you doing?" Charles says quietly, grabbing my hand, trying to get me to sit back down.
"Emilie." Max states firmly but quietly, wanting me to listen to what him and Charles have to say.
I pull my hand out of Charles' grip and walk towards the exit of the office we are in.
"Excuse me." Charles apologises quietly to the headteacher before standing up and walking after me.
"You walk out that door and you're grounded." An angry whisper comes from behind me. I freeze briefly at the mention of being grounded. Charles has never threatened me with being grounded before.
I shake my head and walk out the door.
"Emilie, come back here right now." Charles' voice says loudly, and I turn around to face him, slightly scared of the trouble I'm about to get myself into.
"No!" I shout at him, making him raise his eyebrows at me in shock. "It's not fair." I add slightly quieter, looking at him.
"I know it's not fair, but you can't just walk out. That's going to get you into more trouble. You're grounded now." Charles says sympathetically, stepping slightly closer to me and looking down to meet my eyes.
"Please don't ground me." I say quietly, sighing slightly.
"I'm not debating this with you here. Let's go back into the office and have a talk." Charles says, motioning towards the door.
"I hate that headteacher. He's a dick." I whisper, looking down at the floor, not making eye contact and hoping Charles didn't hear me swear.
Charles laughs slightly. "Agreed." He says while smirking, and shaking his head slightly.