"Your homework is due tomorrow. I expect it submitted on time. If it is not, you will be issued with a detention." My English teacher states, standing at the front of his classroom. The bell goes for lunch time and I stand up, Theo following suit.
"Is your face ok?" I ask him quietly, not looking at him. We haven't spoken all day, I miss talking to him.
"Yeah." He mumbles, putting his book into his backpack before slinging it over his shoulder. I nod my head slightly, still avoiding eye contact.
"I've got this killer of a bruise though." He laughs, pointing to his left cheek. I look at him and laugh slightly at the yellow-coloured bruise on his cheek.
"Are you alright?" He asks, looking down at me and smiling slightly. I nod my head and make eye contact with him.
"Charles is so annoying though." I state, leaning against my chair, facing Theo. He laughs quietly.
"Why? What has he done?" Theo laughs, looking at me and smiling. I catch Archie out of the corner of my eye, staring at us. He looks jealous that me and Theo are talking. I understand that maybe he doesn't want me to be friends with a boy, but Theo is such a nice person. I'd choose Theo over Archie any day.
"He said that I couldn't go out, so I tried to sneak out but he caught me. Then I walked off, and he called Max to pick me up." I say, sighing slightly.
I pick my bag up before following Theo out of the classroom. Archie has walked off with his friends. We walk down the corridor towards the lunch hall.
"And now I'm grounded. But Lando is taking me go karting later. I'm so excited. I haven't been karting here yet, only when I was in England." I ramble on as we continue walking down the corridor. Theo looks down at me every so often, smiling at me. I constantly talk when I get comfortable.
"But the last time I went karting, I crashed during this big race and my dad left me at the track and then he killed himself." I mutter the last bit, as I realise what I'm saying. I didn't mean to tell Theo all of that, I just hope he didn't hear me.
"Your dad killed himself? I thought Ella was lying when she said that." Theo says quietly, so only I can hear him. I nod my head and look down at the floor.
"You can always talk to me you know. I'm always here for you, no matter how much of a dick I think your boyfriend is." He says, laughing at himself when he says the last bit. I smile at him as we walk into the lunch hall.
Archie stands up off his seat at the table with his friends, and walks over to us. I stop in my tracks as he continues towards me, an angry look on his face.
"Get away from her!" Archie shouts, shoving Theo's shoulders so he stumbles backwards slightly. Theo steps forward, but I put my arm out to stop him. They can't fight again.
"Archie, what the fuck?" I shout at him, pushing him away. He looks down at me and steps closer, our bodies inches away.
"Did last night mean nothing?" He asks, his voice slightly quieter as he is much closer to me. I look up at him, my eyes full of confusion and anger.
"What?" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows slightly. I haven't done anything, so why is he angry.
"You and Theo have been getting closer." He mutters, looking past me and locking eye with Theo. Archie steps backwards and walks away, sitting back down at the table with his friends.
"Are you ok?" Theo asks, standing next to me. I nod my head and he wraps his arm around my shoulders.
"Let's go sit down. Tell me about your go karting in England." He says, smiling at me and pulling me closer to him. I smile and I lean my head against his chest as we walk over to our table.
•~•~•~•~•~
"Have a good time, send me pictures." Theo says as we walk out of the school gates, towards the car park. I laugh slightly.
"I will. See you tomorrow." I say, before walking over to Lando's McLaren. I open the door and get into the passenger seat, shutting the door behind me.
"How was your day?" He asks, looking at me and smiling slightly. I look at him and smile.
"It was good actually. I'm excited for later." I say, smiling at him. He laughs slightly at my childishness, before starting the engine and driving out of the car park.
"We need to go to your house before we go, you can get changed and Charles wanted to talk to me about something." He says as he drives down the road towards Charles' house.
"I specifically brought my kit to school so I didn't have to go home to get changed." I state quietly, looking down at my knees and fiddling with my fingers in my lap.
"Why don't you want to go home?" He asks, furrowing his eyebrows slightly and looking down at me.
"I just had an argument with Charles yesterday. I haven't spoken to him all morning, and I walked to school instead of him taking me." I mumble, hoping he didn't hear what I just said.
"What was the argument about?" Lando asks as he pulls into the driveway, parking his car behind Charles' Ferrari. I unbuckle my seatbelt and rest my head on the back of the seat.
"He wouldn't let me go out with my friends, so I walked out." I say, as he opens his car door and gets out. I open the passenger side door and get out, picking up my backpack from the footwell of the car, before following Lando towards the front door.
He opens the front door and walks in, taking his shoes off and leaving them at the side of the corridor. I kick my shoes off, them hitting the wall and making a slight thud sound.
There are some black and white adidas shoes next to Charles' shoes. They are in the spot where mine go. They're not Charles' and they certainly aren't mine.
"Whose shoes are these?" I ask Charles as he walks towards us, down the hallway. He stops next to Lando, who is a bit further in front of me.
"They are in my spot." I state, picking the shoes up and moving them to the side. I pick my shoes up and put them in the place next to Charles'.
"Don't be bratty about it, Emilie. They are just shoes." Charles says, looking at me with an annoyed look on his face. I furrow my eyebrows at him slightly.
"How am I being bratty? These random shoes are in the place where I put my shoes. I want to put my shoes where they usually go." I state, raising my voice subconsciously. I'm getting slightly pissed off.
"Emilie, stop it." He states firmly, raising his eyebrows at me slightly and giving me a piercing stare. I scoff and look down at the floor, smiling slightly.
"I didn't do anything." I say quietly before walking upstairs, my backpack on my back. I hear Charles sigh while I make my way upstairs to my room, stomping slightly.
I quickly get changed, wanting to get to karting as quickly as possible. I put on my grey jogging bottoms and black sports T-shirt, before getting into my race suit, leaving the top half undone and letting it hang from my hips.
I sit on the edge of my bed and slide my racing boots on before tying the laces. I look at myself in the mirror, smiling slightly at myself. It's been a few weeks since I've been in my race suit.
My suit is black with blue and pink stitching, my last name is stitched on the back in white and 'E.Barlow 18' in white stitching is on my left hip, along with the British flag. My boots match and so does my helmet, the helmet having my name and flag on the right bottom bit.
My balaclava and gloves are also black, with pink and blue stitching. I love my racing gear. It makes me feel like me.
I put my helmet into its protective bag after stuffing my gloves and balaclava inside it. I hold my helmet by the straps before walking out of my bedroom and making my way downstairs.
"She's just so difficult and disrespectful. She needs to grow up and stop behaving like a spoiled brat." I hear Charles say from downstairs. I stop in my tracks and listen closely, wanting to hear what he has to say.
"Mate, she has just lost both her dad and her uncle, cut her some slack. She's just struggling." Lando defends me, slight anger in his voice as he speaks.
"I understand that, but if she's upset then instead of acting out and throwing a tantrum like a three year old, she needs to talk to someone about it." Charles responds, hints of annoyance laced into his voice.
"I could try talking to her." I hear a female voice chip in. "You know, woman to woman. Maybe she will feel more comfortable talking to me." I carry on walking downstairs. I don't know who this woman is, but I'm definitely not talking to her about my feelings.
No one is in the hallway anymore, so I assume they are in the living room. I can hear muffled chatter coming from that direction. I walk into the living room, and Lando is stood up with his back to me, Charles is sat on the sofa, and a girl is clung to Charles' arm. She's really pretty. Charles looks at me, and Lando turns round to face me.
"Can we go?" I ask impatiently, looking at Lando. He nods his head and walks past me to put his shoes on which are in the hall. I make eye contact with the girl sat next to Charles and she smiles slightly at me. I smile back, figuring it's best to be pleasant and kind so I don't get told off.
"Emilie, this is Alex. Alex, this is Emilie." Charles introduces us to each other. I look at Charles for a split second before looking back at Alex. She's perfect. "She's my girlfriend." He adds, wrapping his arm around her waist.
"Just because she's your girlfriend, doesn't mean she gets to put her shoes where mine go." I mutter, looking down at the floor. Charles sighs quietly, furrowing his eyebrows at me.
"Why is she here?" I ask, looking at Charles. I try to say it as nicely as possible, but I think it comes across as a bit ruder than I intended.
"I thought it would be best for you to meet her." He replies, an angry look on his face. I nod slightly.
"Well it was nice to meet you. I need to go, I will see you whenever I see you." I say to Alex, waving to her slightly and smiling. She smiles back and waves goodbye.
"She's coming to the Australian Grand Prix in two weeks." Charles states, interlocking his hand with hers. She leans her head on his shoulder. I nod my head and smile at Alex once more, before walking out of the living room and going down the hall to where Lando is stood waiting.
"Now I know why you're taking me karting instead of Charles. He's too busy with his pretty girlfriend to see me drive for the first time." I state quietly as we walk out of the house. I get into Lando's car, putting my helmet on my lap.
"Well I can't wait to see you on that track. You're going to do amazing whether Charles is watching you or not." Lando smiles at me, starting up his car and reversing out of the driveway. I smile at him.
"I like your suit." He states, glancing at me then focusing back on the road as he accelerates down the empty street. I smile slightly.
"It's got blue and pink stitching because those are my favourite colours. Then my boot match." I say, pointing to the stitching on my arm and then bringing my foot up and resting it on the seat so he can see.
"And my gloves, balaclava and helmet all match because I don't want to look like an idiot on the track. I like to match." I add, pulling my gloves and balaclava out of my helmet to show him. I take my helmet out of its protective bag and hold it up.
"And on this bit of my helmet, it has my name and the British flag. And it's got stripes of pink and blue on it to match everything else." I say, pointing to the bit at the bottom where it has my information.
"And here it has my name and the flag again." I point to my left hip, and Lando looks at me while smiling as I put all my stuff back the way it was.
"You look awesome, mate. British people rule." He says, laughing slightly. I look at him and smile. I love Lando, he's like the big brother I never had.
"Do you want to drive around the Monaco circuit?" He asks, as we cruise along the road. I nod my head at him and smile. "It won't feel exactly the same since we aren't in an F1 car, but it's still really fun. Especially when there aren't any other cars." He adds, slowing down on the empty road.
"You ready?" He asks, looking at me and putting his car into first gear. I nod my head and he adjusts his grip on the steering wheel, a look of excitement on his face.
"Hold on." I say, getting my helmet out and quickly pulling it on over my balaclava. Lando laughs at me before leaning his head against the headrest of the seat. I sit back and flick my visor down.
"Three, two-" Lando says, then pressing the accelerator and speeding off before he can get to one. My head is thrown against the back of the seat as I try to keep my head straight. He laughs, his voice almost inaudible over the roar of his McLaren. I smile as he breaks, coming into turn one.
We get round the track, Lando's top speed being 214 miles per hour down the Grand Stand straight. We cross the finish line and he slows down.
I take my helmet and balaclava off, putting my helmet back into its bag and stuffing my balaclava into my helmet.
"That was so fun." I laugh, breathing in excitement and leaning my head back. He smiles at me.
"The karting place is just down here." He says, as he recovers from the excitement we just endured. He turns down a road, and we are met with a big warehouse. I'm so excited!
He parks his car in one of the spaces and we both get out. I hand my helmet bag to Lando, and tie the arms of my suit around my waist so it doesn't fall down. I reach to take my helmet back as we walk through the door but Lando shakes his head slightly.
"I'll carry it for you." He says, placing his arm around my shoulders and pulling me into his chest. I smile as he shakes my shoulders slightly and lets out an excited squeal. I think he's more excited than me.
"Hi, we are booked in for 4:45." Lando says, resting his elbow on the counter and speaking to the woman behind the desk.
"Is it Emilie Barlow?" She asks, looking at me. Lando nods his head before smiling at me. "Do you need gloves or a balaclava?" She asks, her tone being bland and bored like she would rather be anywhere else but here.
"No, I've got all my own gear." I say, smiling at her slightly. She nods her head and rummages around in a drawer for something. She pulls out some bright yellow paper wrist bands. Tearing one off, she hands it to Lando.
"She will need to put that on to be able to race. Changing rooms if you need them are on the right, toilets are down the hall, next to the briefing room. You need to be at the briefing room at 4:20." She states, looking at Lando who just nods his head.
"Thank you." Lando says before tapping my back, ushering me to go through the door next to the counter. I walk through the door and down the hallway until I reach the end where there are some stairs.
"She was full of joy." I state, stopping in my tracks and looking around. Lando laughs slightly at my comment.
"We've got about fifteen minutes before we have to be at the briefing room, let me show you upstairs." He says, pointing towards the stairs. I walk up them, Lando close behind me. We get upstairs and there is a spectators area and some pits.
"Have you been here before?" I ask him, looking up at him. He nods his head, looking at me and smiling slightly.
"Some of us drivers come here between race weekends." He says, looking at the track. "I spun out on that corner after Max knocked into me." He adds, pointing at a far corner of the track.
"And this corner here, is where Danny broke his toe after going full speed into the barriers." He says, laughing slightly at the memory. I laugh as I imagine Danny hurtling into the barriers and somehow breaking his toe. That's like the hardest bone to break while driving a go kart.
"Do you want a waffle?" He asks, pointing to some doors. I nod my head and walk towards them before going into the room. It has a bar at the other side.
"After the race though." I say, looking around at all the pictures on the walls. There are formula 1 cars and motorbikes in the picture frames. There is a glass case with shelves which are holding race helmets for motocross and karting. I stop in front of it as I look in awe. This is like my heaven.
Lando stands behind me and places his hands on my shoulders before reaching a hand out in front of me and pointing at a helmet in the case.
"That's a replica of my Silverstone helmet from my rookie season." He says, as I look down at the helmet which has the number 4 on it. I smile and look at the other helmets.