Heart of Gold | L.N. - Part One

XXXIII

"Leah Guessey takes P2! Max Verstappen takes P1! What a battle between those two, she keeps Max on his toes, this is a great parrying by Horner, although will it affect his points at all," John reasoned as the Australian Grand Prix came to an end. "And her radio messages weren't what they normally are?"

"Well John that may be because of the hate she was getting, the fan base of F1 is trying to correct the things Leah does," Ted explained. "I don't want to get too into it because it will get sexist and we don't want that." Leah pulled into the second spot and watched as Max celebrated. She just walked into the cool-down room upset with herself. She didn't complete the overtake near the fifth corner and that cost her first. She messed up and she knew that. Her mother was alive she would be on her ass about that mistake.

After Max came in and Charles they went to collect their trophies and then went to the interview room. Charles sat down next to Leah letting her sit in the middle. She hadn't smiled since she entered the room. During the whole time, Leah really didn't get any questions. So she leaned her head onto the chair and stared up at the ceiling.

"Leah, you alright?" Charles whispered to her. Leah rolled her head to the side and nodded.

"Leah, why haven't you smiled yet? Are you upset with your standing?" A man asked. Leah lifted her mic to answer but someone else shouted out.

"Is it because Max finished before you?" Leah stared at the man until he slouched a bit. She had an angry expression on her face.

"Well I was going to explain, but since you interrupted me, I think I will just save my words for someone else who would appreciate my input," She answered and set the microphone down next to her as she looked over at Charles. He gave her a smile and she returned it.

"Leah, that's not what he meant, of course, we appreciate your input." another man said.

"Oh I know he didn't mean to, but you should be trained better than that, to interrupt someone when they are trying to answer, it's quite annoying. I'm proud of my standing. I got P2, that's an amazing accomplishment, I am proud of my teammate and I am proud of Char, it was a clean race and I'm happy no one was hurt during this one," Leah responded. The room was quiet. "Did I hurt y'all's pride or something?" She laughed and Max chuckled as well.

"How are you taking the criticism of that fans recently?" Amanda asked. She seemed to be in a rush since she just arrived. She had to make herself known from the back of the room so she squeezed toward the front. Leah smiled at the woman.

"I'm listening to my advisor and trying to make people happy, but they don't like what I'm giving them, so I'm at a loss right now why should I have to change the way I act for others? That is something I am only now coming to terms with," Leah smiled.

"Thank you for your time," Amanda smiled.

---

The day after Leah was supposed to be doing a video with Red Bull, they didn't tell her what it was going to be about, she was just supposed to show up. When she did Jackson explained that it was a volleyball tournament they put together with some of the Red Bull mechanics. It's to raise money for charity and they were going to film.

"So Today at Red Bull, we are hosting a volleyball tournament," Leah smiled as she looked down at herself in spandex. "These make me feel exposed."

"They are like biker shorts but shorter," Max explained as he tossed her a ball. She caught it and sighed.

"So Leah, we are going to mic you up for the video," Jackson smiled and came forward showing her the small device.

"I'm going to fall on this and it is going to hurt my ribs," Leah rubbed her side. She was all healed up from her race the other weekend, but falling on the floor never felt good to her.