"Alex! Save me!" I shout as I jump across the bed, rolling off the other side and hiding behind Alex as she looks confused. "Charles is chasing me!" I add, as he quickly walks round the corner, his eyes scanning the room for me. He spots me stood behind Alex and walks over to us.
"What did you do?" She asks while laughing, defending me against Charles. I move the opposite way to Charles as he tries to get around Alex to get to me.
"She took my lanyard." Charles states, staring at me and making eye contact. Deep down he has to find it funny, even if he doesn't show it, right? He's got to have some other emotion apart from anger.
Charles places both his hands on either one of Alex's hips before gently lifting her up slightly and placing her down beside him, leaving me without any protection. I laugh as he steps towards me, his hand out in front of him.
"We're going to be late. Give me my lanyard." He states, not even a slight smile on his face. He's so serious, it's a bit annoying. I smile at him mischievously, stepping backwards and opening the hotel room door before running down the corridor with his lanyard in my hand.
"Shit, I'm so sorry." I apologise to a man as I bump into him while he was walking out of his hotel room. He is tall, although everyone is tall compared to me, and has dark brown hair and brown eyes, and is wearing some beige chinos and a navy blue button-up cotton shirt. It looks like something Charles would wear.
"It's ok, watch where you're going next time, kid." He responds, winking at me before walking away. He has the same French accent as Charles and he even says the word 'kid' like Charles does, it's a bit creepy to say the least. The man gets in the elevator and the doors shut, taking him down to the bottom floor.
It's a bit weird how someone who isn't a driver or someone who doesn't work in one of the garages, is on this floor. These top few floors are the ones where all the drivers and crew stay during the race weekend. He must just be very rich.
"Shoes." Charles states, standing slightly into the corridor from the hotel room, holding the door open with his foot, and holding my shoes in the air. I look down at my feet, and realise I'm just in my socks.
"Throw them." I say while smiling, stuffing his lanyard into the pocket of my beige cargos. I love my cargos, they're so comfy and they look good. Alex is wearing matching ones, and we are both wearing black tops. My top is baggier than hers though because Charles said it's inappropriate for a thirteen year old to wear a small, tight top in a public place.
He sighs and rolls his eyes before throwing my white adidas shoes down the corridor. I catch them before sitting on the floor and tying the laces once they are on my feet. Alex and Charles walk out of the room, Charles checking he has got everything. As they walk past, I reach my arms up and Charles grabs my hand, pulling me up.
"I've got you a rain coat, it might rain later." He says, holding a black Ferrari rain coat in his hand, with two others thrown over his arm for him and Alex.
"Thanks bro." I say, smiling at him before walking down the corridor towards the elevators. He furrows his eyebrows at me and stands behind me.
"I'm not your bro." He states, placing both his hands on my shoulders. When the doors open, he taps my shoulders and pushes me forward slightly. I walk in and press all the buttons for all the floors, meaning the elevator will stop on all the floors going down.
I smile to myself as I step backwards, Charles placing his hands on my shoulders again. He groans when he sees all the buttons now lit up. The doors close and it begins going down before quickly stopping on the next floor.
"I swear to god. We're going down the stairs, come on." Charles states, pushing me forward as the doors open once again. He grabs Alex's hand, dragging her along behind us.
"If we weren't already late, we definitely are now. No thanks to someone." He mutters angrily, as Alex follows him down the corridor and he ushers me towards the stairs.
"We are on the twenty third floor. I'm not walking down all those stairs." I state, stopping as I open the door and look down. Charles walks past me before almost running down the first flight of stairs.
"We wouldn't have to if you didn't press all the fucking buttons." He states, now being a floor below me and Alex. She stops next to me as well, dreading the walk down.
"What's up his ass?" I whisper to Alex, looking at her and furrowing my eyebrows slightly. She shrugs her shoulders, looking at Charles as he quickly makes his way down the stairs.
"Did you sleep on-" I begin before getting cut off by Charles shouting. I smile slightly, leaning over the railing to look at him.
"Don't! I'm not having any more of those bed jokes, they aren't funny!" He shouts, pointing his finger at me with a pissed off look on his face.
"I think they're funny." I mutter, looking down at the floor and sighing slightly. Alex smiles at me as I begin walking down the stairs, slowly following behind Charles. She stays behind me so I don't get the opportunity to walk away.
After a long walk down the stairs and a short five minute drive to the track, we eventually arrive. I walk down the path between all the paddock buildings, with Charles and Alex following behind me, hand in hand.
"I love my cargos." I say, as I look down at my legs, rubbing my hands down my thighs and smiling at Charles.
"We know, you've said that a thousand times this morning." He laughs slightly, placing his spare hand on my shoulder and squeezing it slightly. I see Lando walking through the paddock, the opposite way to us, as he turns to go into the McLaren building.
"Lando!" I shout after him, running in his direction, almost bumping into people as I cut across all the foot traffic making its way through the paddock.
He turns round to look at me, smiling when he sees me pushing through all the people. I run up the stairs and stop in front of him.
"Do you like my cargos?" I ask him, pointing down at my beige trousers and smiling at him. He looks down and smiles at my excitement.
"You and Alexandra are matching." He says, a smile on his face. "Your tops match too." He adds, as Charles and Alex follow me through the crowd.
"I know!" I reply excitedly. "But stupid Charles won't let me wear the same one." I state in a slightly angrier voice as Alex and Charles walk up the stairs and stand next to me.
"Because you're thirteen, not a stripper." Charles states, staring at me and sighing slightly. I've been arguing with him about this all morning. "Alex is an adult who can decide what she wears for herself. You are a child, and whether you like it or not, I am not letting you go out in public looking like you just came back from a night club." He adds, his voice stern and slightly angry.
"It's not even that bad, it's only slightly cropped. It's a bit tight, but no one gives a fuck." I reply, raising my voice at him. He gives me an angered look, telling me to shut up. I look down at the floor and avoid eye contact.
"I'm thirteen, let me wear what I want." I mutter, kicking a rock with my foot as I feel Charles' glare burning through my head.
"I'm not having this conversation with you. Come on, let's go to the garage." He states firmly, tapping my shoulder and signalling for me to carry on walking. I sigh before waving to Lando and walking down the paddock with Charles and Alex following close behind me.
"Can you just behave for one Grand Prix? We've not even been here ten minutes and you've already shouted at me." Charles says, his voice slightly angered and pissed off.
"Because you are being stupid!" I shout at him, luckily not attracting much attention as it's getting pretty busy. We would usually be here a bit earlier, but we were late this morning.
"Just let me wear what I fucking want to wear!" I add as we approach the Ferrari garage. I scan Charles' lanyard on the door and it unlocks. I pull it open and walk in, letting the door begin to close on Charles. He follows me in, visibly annoyed and angry.
"Emilie." He states firmly, grabbing my attention.
"You go through to the garage, I think Arthur and mama are in there. I'm just going to speak to Emilie." Charles says quietly to Alex before kissing her on the lips. She walks past me, as I turn around to look at Charles.
"Listen. If you keep speaking to me like that, you are going back to the hotel. I don't care if you want to be here, you are being rude and disrespectful. Now sort out your attitude before I take you back to the hotel." He speaks, his voice authoritative and demanding as he bends down slightly to look at me in my eyes.
"Sorry." I apologise quietly, looking down at the floor and swaying forwards and backwards slightly. I haven't had any breakfast, neither did I eat anything yesterday. I feel a bit faint.
"Thank you." He says, nodding his head and standing up straight, stretching his back as he does so. I walk into the garage, spotting Alex talking to a man and an older woman.
"Mama, Lorenzo, this is Emilie, the girl I was talking to you about." Charles says after hugging the woman and the man. They both smile at me and I smile back. "This is my mama and my brother." He adds, pointing to both of the people.
"It's lovely to meet you Emilie. I've heard such good things about you." Charles' mama says, pulling me in for a hug. I smile as she hugs me, before she pulls away.
"I'm Charles' big brother." Lorenzo says, smiling slightly and winking at me. He's the man from earlier. It makes so much sense why he was on the same floor as us. I laugh as Charles looks at him with slight anger. Lorenzo puts his hands up in defence while laughing.
"Can I go and find Pierre?" I ask, looking up at Charles and smiling at him.
"Go on then. But I want you back here before qualifying starts." He says, pointing his finger at me as I begin to walk away.
"Ok!" I shout back at him, as I walk out of the garage and make my way towards the Alpine garage.
•~•~•~•~•~
"Pierre, do you know where Esteban is?" I ask, as I walk into the Alpine garage. Pierre is sat at his desk, talking to an engineer. He looks up at me as I stop next to him.
"Yeah, in his driver room, why?" He answers, pointing towards the back of the garage.
"I want to talk to you both." I say, waving my hand towards me, signalling for him to follow where I am going. He furrows his eyebrows and begins to stand up from his chair. I grab his hand and pull him along behind me.
"Esteban." I call through his door as I knock on it. He pulls the door open, and looks down at me while smiling slightly and furrowing his eyebrows.
"Emilie." He replies, mimicking my voice and smiling at me.
"I need to talk to you both." I say, walking into Esteban's room and sitting down on a chair. They both stay stood up in front of me, looking confused.
"So?" Pierre asks, furrowing his eyebrows and adjusting his stance so he is stood more comfortably. I smile at them.
"So, this boy asked me out at school, and I said yes." I say, smiling at them. Their eyes widen as they process what I just said.
"And I went round to his house last week, and we made out." I add slightly quieter, not being able to refrain from smiling.
"You did what?" Pierre exclaims loudly, his mouth dropping open as a confused and shocked look takes over his face. I quickly stand up off the chair and put my finger up to my lips, telling him to be quiet.
"You did what?" He repeats, his voice quieter but with the same amount of urgency. I smile at him and look at the floor.
"Well is he a good kisser?" Esteban asks, leaning against the wall behind him and smiling at me hopefully. I think about it for a moment.
"If you have to think about it, then he isn't." Pierre laughs, shaking his head slightly.
"I've kissed better boys." I say, smiling at the floor and kicking my feet against each other slightly. Both of them laugh, looking at me.
"We need to analyse some data from practise." Pierre says, looking slightly sad at the fact he can't talk to me about boys anymore. Esteban sighs.
"Mr all work, no fun." Esteban mutters, scratching his head and looking around pretending to be confused. "Who said that?" He adds, looking at me and laughing. I laugh at him and follow them out of the room.
"I'll see you later kid, behave. No vapes today." Pierre states as I walk out of the garage after waving bye to them both. I walk down the pit lane, looking in all the garages as I pass.
"Get in there Lewis!" I shout as I walk past the Mercedes garage, gaining some of the mechanics attention, who look at me and laugh slightly.
I continue to walk down the pit lane, and when I get to the Ferrari garage I see Charles arguing with another man. He looks like the man who was driving his race car at the Ferrari headquarters. I walk over to them.
"Who are you and why are you shouting at Charles? Leave him alone!" I shout at the man as I approach them, standing next to Charles and crossing my arms over my chest.
The man laughs slightly and looks down at me before looking back at Charles.
"Is this that kid you were on about?" The man asks, smirking with his arms crossed over his chest. "Emilie, right?" He adds, looking down at me. I look at Charles confused.
"This is my brother, Arthur." Charles sighs, staring at him with slight anger in his eyes. Arthur waves and me and laughs slightly.
"I've got to go. Qualifying is starting soon." Charles says before walking away, leaving me and Arthur staring at each other awkwardly. I smile at him and he smiles back, making me laugh.
"He's in a bad mood." Arthur mutters, smiling at me and looking in Charles' direction. Charles is putting his race suit on.
"He has been all morning. It's because I stole his lanyard, then argued with him about my clothes and then pressed all the buttons in the elevator, which pissed him off even more." I say while laughing slightly. Arthur laughs at my childishness.
Alex walks over to us, placing her hands on my shoulders. I look up at her and smile. I didn't really like Alex at first, but she's actually really nice.
"Come on, let's stand out of the way." She says, guiding me over to where everyone else is stood. I don't like being stood here, I like sitting in Charles' chair and speaking to the mechanics and engineers.
"I haven't seen Max yet, I need to say hi to him before qualifying." I say, walking towards the exit of the garage before anyone can say otherwise.
"Emilie, where are you going?" Charles shouts after me, as I walk past his race car.
"To see Max!" I shout back, struggling to hear him over the hum of the engine mixed with his voice being muffled by his helmet.
"No you're not! Stay in here!" He shouts, walking towards me. I shake my head slightly before walking out of the garage.
I walk into the RedBull garage and see Max climbing into his car. I run over to him and he looks at me while lowering himself in.
"I haven't seen you today, you alright?" Max asks, as I put my head closer to the car and look at him through the gap in the halo.
"Yeah, I'm good." I reply, smiling slightly.
"Does Charles know you're here?" He asks, as he fiddles with his straps before pulling them tight.
"No." I say while shaking my head slightly, making sure he can hear me. It's very loud in here. He doesn't look extremely impressed with my answer.
"You need to go back to the Ferrari garage, and apologise to Charles for disappearing. Be careful and try not to get hit by any cars." He states firmly, as an engineer holds his thumb in front of Max's view.
Max puts his thumb up to confirm everything is ok, before placing his hands on the steering wheel. I groan and throw my head back before reluctantly agreeing. He drives out of the garage before making his way down the pit lane and onto the circuit.