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"Hurra! Hurra!", came the cheers of the team around her and Ollie. They stood next to eachother, with bright smiles on both their faces while their team praised them.

"You guys did so well today! I'm so proud", Mark says to them, as he pat their shoulders cheerfully.
"And happy birthday, dear", he says to Nala before walking away to sit at the long table. Nala's heart felt overjoyed as she watched the happy people in front of her all talkative and carefree.

She feels a gentle hand on her shoulder then, turning to see Ollie and his smiley expression faced toward her. Nala let out a content breath of air as he brought her into a friendly hug. "You did so well, Nala. You should be proud of yourself", he says when he pulls away. It leaves Nala with a big grin on her face, thankful to Ollie's words.

"You did excellent too, Ollie. But thank you. You're a good friend", she says to him, before going and sitting down between her friends. The dinner went on for a while, the two celebrations of her birthday and her first race mixed together. It was a very delightful night.

But soon it was time for everyone to go back to their apartments. "Shit! I've got to catch a plane home in the morning. Shit. Shit. Shit", Nala whispered under her breath as her, Jaidyn and Marley dawdled back to the car.
"What time?", Jaidyn asks, half distracted.
"Like, 6 or something. Too early", Nala replies as they get into the vehicle.
"Ha! Ours is at lunch time. Doesn't that suck for you!", Marley teases from the back seats as Nala starts to drive back to the hotel. Nala silently rolls her eyes as she focuses on the road ahead of her, the chatter of her two friends now background noise.

As she drives, Nala makes a list of things she has to do when she gets to her room.
1. Pack her bags
2. Check flight time
3. Lay stuff out for tomorrow (like clothes and laptop for work)
4. Probably panic

When it came to the last point, her mind had a small battle with itself, but in the end she knew it was going to happen so she just kept it there.

They rolled into the car space in the garage of the hotel, and dragged themselves into the elevator. When Jaidyn and Marley's floor arrived, Nala gave them quick hugs, saying their goodbyes.
"I'll see you guys soon!", she forced out as the doors began to shut. It was funny to think that the next time Nala was going to see her friends would be in an entirely different country thousands of kilometres away. She thought about that for a few moments before the doors opened onto her floor.

Nala trudged back to her room, her feet sore in her beautiful heels and her eyelids heavy. It was around 11:30 and Nala just knew she wasn't going to be having a long enough sleep. She would have to get up around 4 in the morning and get to the airport, then fly all the way back to Italy.

Although she was only 17, she lived by herself in her parent's old holiday home just outside of Rome in the hills. It was very beautiful there. Peaceful. Idyllic. Perfect for Nala. She moved there to avoid anything that could come up between her and her father, Toto. But also to have a nice retreat when she wasn't out travelling the world for work. She loved it. And right then, she had the biggest desire to be back there, cuddled up under the bed sheets with her beautiful golden retriever, Romeo, at her side.

Nala slowly got ready to go to sleep, gathering all her things and putting them in a heap at the base of the bed, ready for the next morning. And when she finally got herself into bed, her mind buzzed with a million different thoughts about her first race earlier that day.

Beep! Beep! Beep! The alarm clock cried out at Nala to get up already. She tossed and turned around trying to block out the noise, but soon she pushing herself up off the bed as she checked the time. 4:14 it read. Nala sighed as she quickly got dressed in comfortable clothes, a nice sweatshirt and her favourite lounge shorts.