♡●♡●♡
With a slam from the door, Arthur wakes up and sits up in bed. Outside he hears a car start and then it drives away.
He turns to his clock and it is 8 o'clock. His alarm would have gone off in half an hour. He lies back on his back and sighs.
At least he doesn't have to start a conversation now when they're both downstairs.
He picks up his phone from his bedside table, and then he sees several missed calls from Charles and Lorenzo.
Oh so now they care?
It's too late. They had to think about it when Arthur needed them, and they chose to ignore him.
Choosing to read his messages and then leave him on read while he needs them.
His fingers petrify when another call comes in from Charles calling. He's not picking up.
He can't do this. He knows he will get mad at them. And to be honest, when Arthur needed them they didn't care, and he didn't want to care about them anymore. He wanted to give them this second chance, and they ruined it again the next day. It was Monday, like come on.
They said they would be there for him when he needed them. Yes, he knows they are far away, but picking up the phone is not hard. Especially if you read a message about him asking for help.
Charles: What's going on?
Charles: Why aren't picking up?
Charles: Let us know if you are okay!
Charles: you make us worry Arthur, please.
Charles: Pick up
The notification disappears and Arthur puts his phone away on the bed.
Time to get ready.
♡●♡●♡
He reluctantly enters the school. After yesterday he started counting down the months to January. Eight more months, yes, these will be long months.
The presentation with Alice is going to cause a lot of trouble, and he doesn't know if this is for him or for Alice.
He would hate for Alice to change her experience at the school because of him. He shouldn't ruin her studies, especially now that her life has started again after a long illness.
And then there is the assignment with his family tree. Maybe it is time to say the truth. It is not like Arthur does not know how people treat him now. And if people treat him differently, he knows why. The most important Grand Prix for Monaco has passed so it is not as if he can arrange anything for them.
It's not like Arthur wants to arrange anything for people. Everyone beside Alice so far, treats him like he is under them. And how painful it is to say, but maybe Alice will turn around and maybe Arthur is the problem.
He would love to get to know more about his family, so he really wants to do this. And on the other hand, it would be hilarious to see the faces of his classmates when they see the baby pictures of Arthur with his brothers. Then they will get to know the truth.
And maybe school will be better if people get to know the truth. Maybe they will leave him alone and stop calling him a liar or whatever he is. He hears all the insults towards him, so he has no idea what the problem really is.
They just hate him.
Which is okay and he can't change that.
"Arthur! Hello!" Alice puts an arm around his shoulder and Arthur looks at her.
She has energy in the morning, Arthur wants to have that too.
He laughs and wraps an arm around her too.
"Good morning." He says, and she has the bright smile on her face.
"Ready to work on our project?" She asks and Arthur nods.
"I think it is a fun one. Talking about our internships and what we are learning." Says Arthur
"We need to talk about that, but we will do that in class." She says and Arthur nods.
"That's okay, don't worry." Says Arthur and she smiles.
"Everything will be okay." She says and then walks away.
"Bye." Says Arthur and she turns back around and smiles at him, and she keeps walking.
Arthur continues his way to his locker and takes out the things he needs.
It's funny how things can change in 24 hours. People, unlike yesterday, are not staring or whispering with each other. The posters are still there in some places, but it seems as if the fun has already disappeared.
Lucky him
He walks to his classroom, where he soon sees Nathan and Lias staring at him, glaring angrily.
He decides to ignore it and leans against the wall.
Unfortunately, they decided not to bother and approach Arthur.
"You are going to regret this." Whispers Lias while leaning against the wall next to Arthur.
Arthur looks at him and frowns.
"You brought us in a lot of problems with the director. You are seriously not old enough to deal with it? Ask for help from the big boss? You are weak, Leclerc." Nathan hisses.
"I didn't say anything to him."
Lias huffs "Sure, you are a liar." He says.
"I didn't do anything or talk with him. That you two have a problem with me doesn't mean I go to everyone to ask for help or anything, I don't need that." Says Arthur and they laugh.
"Don't act so hard."
"I'm not doing anything. Just because you like to take the piss out of me doesn't mean I'm scared."
"You're not?" Lias is with his face close to Arthur's face and, to be honest, no, Arthur doesn't feel scared at all.
Yes, they make him feel like shit, make him feel insecure but scared, no. He has dealt with a lot of bullying in these past years in school.
8 months.
"No."
Arthur starts at the angry fact of Lias.
"You are a disgusting piece of shit, you know that. You are a waste of this world and you don't even deserve living. You are-"
"Get away from him, go annoy someone else." Says Alice and Lias rolls his eyes.
"I want to get my change to beat you up again, and we will see how tough you are then to talk back." Whispers Nathan in his ear before they walk away and Arthur follows them with his eyes.
"What did he say?" Ask Alice.
"Nothing important." Says Arthur
"Why are they so mean to you? I don't understand." She says and Arthur shrugs.
"I'm used to it by now. All those years it had been the same." Says Arthur.
"You have been in school with them for years?"
"No, but I was the kid without a father, how fun it is to use that." Says Arthur and she looks at him with pity.
"No pity looks, I'm not pitiful." He says and Alice looks at hi
"Away with the pout, I want to see your smile." He says and the side of her lip curls up.
"See." He says
"You're so sweet, you don't deserve this."
"It will be okay, don't worry. It's just because of the grand prix that happened and my surname." Says Arthur.
"But that's not fair."
"It is what it is." Says Arthur.
"The fact that you are so calm about this, let me see how fucked up it really is."
"Okay, stop it." Says Arthur and Alice roll her eyes.
"It is what it is." Says Arthur and she looks at him.
"Still not fair." She says and Arthur puts a hand on her mouth.
"It's okay. It's school, nothing more. After these months I won't see them again, probably." Says Arthur.
"It ruins your Uni experience. We are all adults, so why are they acting like children?" Says Alice.
"Alice, please." Says Arthur and she nods.
"Okay." She says and signs.
"But-"
"Stoppp." Says Arthur and he laughs.
They walk into the room as Mr. Ardon arrives. They sit down together and Alice looks at him again.
"I really want to get to know you more. Even though we met yesterday. Making friends is not always easy, but you are different." Says Alice
“Different?” Ask Arthur.
"Good drift." She smiles.
"I would like to get to know you more too." Says Arthur and she smiles.
"It's been a long time since I have had a real friend." She says.
“Me too.” Says Arthur and he looks at her.
Maybe he can trust her.
He grabs his phone after he beeps to put it on silent. He looks at the missed calls from his brothers and sighs softly.
He really hoped it would have been better this time, but it isn't. He can't trust them anymore with that promise. It's a promise that means nothing to them.
He's nothing important, and now it is time to choose for himself.
8 months.
8 months until he finished school, that he has his diploma and can finally leave home. He can work wherever he wants in the world.
8 months and he can finally leave Monaco to start his life over again.
He swipes away the notifications and sticks his thumb on Dennis's.
Dennis_hauger: Good morning!
Dennis_hauger: Have a fun day at school
He smiles and clicks on the notification.
You: Good morning
You: School yay so much fun. You enjoy your day too
"Who was that?" Arthur clicks off his phone at Alice's voice and looks up.
"No one." Says Arthur, and Alice leans her arm on the table and looks at him with a raised eyebrow.
"So no one makes you smile like that." She says
"What smile? I didn't smile." Says Arthur and she laughs.
"Oh you did. Who was it?" She asks and grabs his shoulder.
"Nobody important." He says and she smiles.
"Then nobody important makes you smile bigger than I have seen before." She says and Arthur feels his cheeks getting warm.
She winks and lets go of him.
Mr. Ardon already started with his lesson and Arthur turns to look at him.
Did he really smile that big? No he didn't. Why would he.
Mr. Ardon again explains the project and what we have to do. He doesn't pay much attention because he already knows. He makes notes in his notebook that are useful to remember.
"Okay, about this project. I spoke with Mr. Ardon and we have a little problem, but it is not that big or-"
"You can tell me." Arthur interrupts her and she stops talking.
"Okay." She says and rolls her eyes in a playful way and it makes him smile.
"I don't have an internship yet. Okay wait I have one, but I need to focus on school first before I start that one as well after my illness." She started.
"Mr. Ardon said that we could use your internship and how it was at the Monaco Grand Prix since I wasn't there either. I'm basically worthless for this project."
"You're not worthless. You can't do anything about that you were sick, and I'm really happy to do this with you. So no, you're not worthless, and we're just going to have some fun out of it. You can come with me. I have a tour again soon so maybe you would like to come with me for that one. I think we can get out a lot from that."
"You do tours?" She asks and Arthur nods
"My internship is at the museum and I give tours about what we all have in the museum and how things work. Like in the car and all that, I know the steering wheel and sometimes when we have extra time I can explain it to the people who like that."
"Arthur that is so cool. How do you know so many things about motorsports?" She asks
"I really love motorsport and wanted to learn everything, that's why I'm here, and I really hope to learn more about it. I would love to work for a team in technical field. I'm really interested in that, but math is difficult for me, but I keep trying."
"So you are here to make a career in motorsports." She asks and Arthur nods.
"We had the tour in Ferrari last Friday, I loved seeing all the cars, those noises and the screens with all those informations, I loved it." Arthur says and she smiles.
"You will come there. I'm sure of that." She says.
"I hope so. It depends on my math how far I can get. I understand a lot about the data and strategy that the drivers receive, you can find that on the internet, I understand all those numbers, but I don't understand it anymore in my book. "
"It's weird how that works." She says and Arthur nods.
"I understand math, I want to help you with it if you need help." She says and Arthur looks at her in surprise.
"Really?" He asks and she nods.
"I would love that. I think that will really help me." Arthur says and she smiles.
"Then I'm going to help you with it." She says and Arthur smiles.
"You are amazing." He says and she smiles.
"I know." She says and they laugh.
♡●♡●♡
"He started shouting and then threw glass at me." She sobs.
"What? Maman are you okay? Are you hurt?" Asks Lorenzo while Charles stares ahead, petrified.
"I'm alright, he didn't hit me. It was so scary." She says
“What the hell.” Says Lorenzo and Charles snaps back to reality.
"Where is he?"
"At school, thank goodness." She says.
"How did this happen?" Ask Charles.
"I don't know, I got home, and we was wasted. He was wasted so much, so that he is functioning now is a miracle." She says.
"No way." Says Lorenzo softly "How did this happen?" He adds and Charles looks at him.
"I will clean everything up, and then I will go to a friend. I can't stand seeing him tonight." She says.
"No, I can understand.... What the hell." Charles puts his head in his hands and sighs.
"How did we let this become so far?" Mumbles Charles.
"We have no control over him." Says Lorenzo
"No because we are never been there, of course we haven't have control over him!" Says Charles.
"You guys made me realize that I was not always a good mother to him, but this is not my fault. It's not my fault he did become like this." She sobs
"No, Maman no, this is not your fault, it never was. God he probably lied about everything!" Says Lorenzo and Charles looks at him.
"How do we need to know when we can trust him?" Asks Charles and Lorenzo looks at him.
"We can't." Says Maman, and Charles looks back at the table.
What a mess their lives has become.
"What are we going to do?" Ask Charles
"I will clean everything up and go to my friend." Maman says
"I think that is the safer option for now." Says Charles.
"I'm going home. I will go to you Mama and we want to talk to him because this has to stop. He's getting out of control." Says Lorenzo and he looks at Charles.
“Do you think you can handle it this week?” He asks and Charles nods.
"I would feel better if you go to them. Arthur isn't safe." Says Charles and Lorenzo nods.
"How is he like this? This is not the little boy I raised." Says Maman and Charles takes a deep breath.
"You need to think about what you want. He is an adult and if he keeps being like that, it's time for him to get out of your house." Says Charkes and Lorenzo's eyes widen.
"What?" He says.
"If he decides that it is okay to hurt family, it's time to fuck off." Says Charles and he hears his mother sob.
"How can I do that to him? He's my son." She sobs.
"But it is not okay to use violence in family." Says Charles and his stomach hurts.
What did they miss seeing this weekend? Were they really so blind?
~~~
How did we enjoy Drive to Survive?