lights out › charles leclerc.

6 | preparations and time.

When I went back home after Brazil, things were absolutely crazy for me. Of course, I had to explain a lot to my friends (the ones that actually like Formula One), and of course, tell every single detail to Olivia. A month passed by, so quickly that it felt like an odd dream; I kept talking every other day with the boys, to wish them luck and safe traveling, but of course, they were absolutely busy with all the upcoming races to finish the year. I kept getting some documents in line, and basically helping my parents with tasks and chores, due to the lack of things I had to do, I was taking it as my vacation.

I was sitting in the living room with Olivia; the last race of the year was about to begin. I know they invited me over to assist, but of course, I had to pay for the airplane tickets and it was way above my bank account content. So I decided to continue my tradition one last time before leaving my best friend. It was only 7 am and we were already cuddled up with blankets and coffee.

—I cannot believe you'll be leaving me, I need to make Sara like this—. She stated. Sara was Olivia's younger sister, who was more in love with Harry Styles than interested in guys driving around in circles. I giggled and hugged her.

The race was amazing, we were screaming and jumping around. It played with my emotions, like a goddamn roller coaster. I was having so much fun, and we even woke up her parents with our screams, and they joined us for the last two laps. They looked at us in awe, cause we acted like the little girls we used to be. A wave of sadness invaded me, I looked at her and knew how much I was going to miss this every Sunday, and her crazy podium predictions.

—Stop looking at me like that Camila, I'm going to cry!—. She shrieked and I pouted.

—Gosh, I'll miss this.

—You better take me to several races!—. She embraced me and I chuckled, my head buried in her hair.

—Who wants some breakfast?—. Her dad poked his head out the kitchen, and we both looked at each other and screamed at the same time:

—Me!

ººº

Time is a very weird concept, it can feel like an eternity or be gone with just a single blink; that's exactly how the last months have felt. You must be wondering, MONTHS? I'm wondering the same.

I had the most amazing holidays, spending them with all my family on the beach. I loved the hot weather, and it was perfect to work on my tan and do my reading. Christmas was so nice and cozy, we had the most amazing dinner in the house we rented, we danced and gave gifts to each other. The sea called us, and we practiced paddleboard and some surf, but we failed terribly, deciding to stick to swimming and drinking margaritas.

On New Year, I was able to attend Olivia's famous party. Of course, I had dinner with my parents, and that allowed us to have extensive conversations about the year to come, and I was so thrilled I couldn't put it in words. I texted all of the drivers whom I made bonding, and forgot they were literally on the other side of the world, and they texted me back till the next day. I danced like crazy and went home so very late, but happiness filled every single cell of my entire body.

Days passed by, and I got contacted by Leah. She emailed me the schedule of training that I was supposed to start at the beginning of the year, ranging from the easiest type of exercise and as the weeks went by, the thing got extremely dense. I sighed and told her I'd start, of course, she reminded me it was an order, but in a very polite way. And after that day, I was invested in keeping up with my training sessions and studying all about trauma and emergencies.

I continued to do so until mid-January, and that's when I received an email from Michael Masi, where he greeted me to the team and sent me tickets to meet him and the team at the main headquarters in Paris. My jaw dropped to the floor, like did I read that correctly? I started to jump around my room, and of course, ran to Olivia's house where we both screeched and she insisted we needed to go out and buy new clothes and whatever for me to take. Of course, that ended up in Liv buying a whole new wardrobe, and me just observing and getting little to no new clothes. A week passed by, and finally, I was standing in the airport, with drowsy eyes from the lack of sleep that I had the night before because I was too busy being afraid of what was about to happen and how I was going to be away from everyone and everything I knew. I cried like a baby before sleeping two hours, but luckily the flight to Paris was long and I was going to be able to recover. I said my goodbyes, and my eyes couldn't cease the water flow running through them. My parents were nearly dragging me to the security check, and Liv was making sure I hopped on the plane, but deep down I knew she wanted to hide me and make me stay. I ended up being able to board the plane, sleep and arrive in Paris.