Flight K109 (#1 ¬ Aiello Racing Series )

Elliot Ilves

I make it to Taranto all in one piece. I spend the first two days meeting people, first and foremost I meet the team principle for my (maybe) future team, a middle aged guy named Guillaume  who I quickly learnt enjoys bad dad jokes and does not enjoy bullshit.

He's pretty upfront about the arrangement we've got this summer, that even if I decide not to pursue racing I still have to do my best now and be very honest with him when I make my decision. He was also very honest when he told me that even though they have other options for the seat, the team really wants me to be the one racing with them next season.

"You've got talent kid. You know it, everyone on this team knows it. Even if you don't decide to go all the way don't let it go to waste." 

I meet the rest of the team after that particular conversation, the engineers, PR team, media coordinator, mechanics, and most importantly, the guy who could be my teammate next year if I decide to race. He's a couple years older than me, from somewhere in the north of Italy, Genoa I think. Alessandro is the kind of guy I look up to, he's got his shit together. He came third in the Formula 3 championship last year, in his rookie season, and he's got a reputation for being one of the rising stars of motorsports. And he seems genuinely nice too, he was one of the first people to introduce himself to me and gave me tips on the others, what to say and who to avoid.

And thank god for that, because he's also the person I'm staying with over summer. Since I don't have an apartment here, and I'm to broke to afford one and not technically on the team yet so they can't use team funding to rent me a place, Alessandro offered up the second bedroom of his small two bedroom in the city. It's only a 20 minute ride from the factory and practice track on the outskirts of the city.

I've just settled into the second bedroom when I get a call from my sister. It's already 8:00PM where she is and I wonder if she's finally managed to get Klara to bed early.

"Tere Claudia."

"Elliot, how is it going in Italy?"

"Good, yeah it's going well. Matter of fact I was actually just about to go out to scour some food. I'm starving."

"They're not feeding you well enough are they?" my sister said accusingly, "I knew I should have told mami to pack some sandwiches in your bag."

"Claudia." I laugh, "It's not the team's job to feed me, and for god's sake I'm 18, I can find myself food to eat like a functional human being."

"Really? Because just last week you burnt a paper cup full of dry pasta and water in the microwave. Not very functional human being of you."

"That was me cooking food, I'm going to be finding food Cece, different concepts."

"Semantics." she mutters

"How are you? How are Klara and David?"

"We're all good here. Dave's off putting Klara to bed, she got into some trouble at that summer school we're sending her to. Shoved a crayon up another kid's nostril after he asked her to be his girlfriend."

I let out a laugh, my five year old niece is a real comedy show, "As she should." I say to my sister

I hear my sister groan over the phone, "Your niece shoved a crayon up a child's nose and sent him to the doctor, please try not to sound proud."

"I'm not." I lie

"Go get yourself some food Ellie. Good luck."

"Thanks Claudia, love you."

She sighs, "Love you too dumbass."

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