VIPER || Oscar Piastri

Chapter 7

[POV: Narrator]

The second race of the season was proving to be an immensely boring one for a certain Saunterre. Andi had already been at the Jeddah circuit for a week longer than most since her father had to work, meaning her time was spent mostly doing nothing. Thankfully, the hotel she was staying at had enough activities to keep her from going insane; She'd sworn to go for a morning swim every morning, however by the third day she'd already grown sick of chlorine. The games room looked promising, until she realised the only residents staying at the hotel at the moment were people above 40, meaning she had to play ping-pong solo.

However, one spark of excitement came towards the end of the week, when a group of motorcyclists parked their bikes in the car park of the hotel, bringing in more and more likeminded people. As it turned out, a bikers-meet had been scheduled, so it was safe to say that for that evening alone, Andreanna Saunterre was in her element.

She hadn't ridden in months. Following her announcement that she wouldn't be taking part in this year's MotoGP season, she decided that it was best for her to be separated from the scene all-together, in case she became too enticed. But, after spotting a 1988 Suzuki race bike, she deduced that it had been long enough, and that she wouldn't be enticed back into racing by merely giving one a ride.

*

"Andreanna?! There you are! Jesus Christ, you could've called me?!" Her dad yelled at her, having finally found his daughter in the most unlikeliest of places: The F1 track.

"Oh! Hey Dad. How's work?" She beamed, too happy to pick up on his tone.

"Don't 'how's work' me! I've been looking for hours!"

"...Why? I didn't go far..." She said, putting her racing gloves on (that she wasn't supposed to bring with her, but couldn't not chuck them into her suitcase last minute) as well as strapping in her helmet. It wasn't her helmet, of course. That wouldn't have fit in her suitcase.

Her father let out a huge sigh, rubbing his temple before coming to a sudden realisation.

"Andi—" He paused, looking directly at her. "Who's bike is that?" He asked, clearly trying to refrain from shouting too loudly.

Andi shrugged. "Oh, it's mine."

"What?!" This time, he did shout.

Having anticipated his reaction, the girl calmly replied: "Long story short, I bought it."

"You— You bought it?! When?! From who?! And why on earth have you brought it to the track?! They'll fire me if they—"

"Dad, relax. Jeez, don't you think I thought of that?" She chuckled. "I asked, and they let me."

"Asked who?!"

This time, Andreanna mumbled, "...Dunno, some important-looking guy..."

Her father let out another long breath, shaking his head as he began to walk towards the girl. "Oh, come on Andi. What did I tell you about trouble? I'm not even going to ask how much this was, honestly I—" He sighed, reaching his hand out. Andi clearly saw this, and decided the best option was to pull her helmet down over her eyes, get into position and—

"Just, come back inside with me and we'll-"

"Sorry Dad!" She rushed out before speeding off. Her Dad most definitely yelled as she did so, but the bike was so loud that he was drowned out completely.

As soon as she stepped her foot on the gas, Andreanna felt the most comfortable she had all week; all month even. It was as if, for a brief moment, every burden was stripped from her and she was able to breathe without guilt lingering. She smiled beneath her helmet, refraining from yelling out whatever words her pacing heart could muster, as she wanted desperately to hear the bike's engine as it sped the straights and glided the corners.

*

At that moment, two boys in the midst of a (one-sidedly) intense conversation dawdled up to the balcony that overlooked the Jeddah track.

"Oh my god Oscar, would you stop talking about Mark Webber for one sec—"

"What's your problem with Mark Web—" He would've finished his sentence, if it weren't for the aggressive shove he received in the dead-centre of his chest with no word of warning.

"Shush!" Lando said, watching the track with precision, as if he believed he had laser-beam abilities.

Oscar, not yet taking notice of what Lando was so focussed on, whined, "Ow! Jesus, Lando—"

"Oh, you've got to be— Son of a bitch stole my helmet!" The boy raged, pushing passed Oscar and legging it down to the team garages. Perplexed, Oscar then took it upon himself to see why he'd been shoved, pushed and shushed in the span of 30 seconds. He walked up to the glass, narrowed his eyes and spotted a small figure moving quickly around the track. The first thing he noticed is that this wasn't an F1 car, and as it got closer he determined that it was a motorbike.

Is that even allowed? He pondered, then wondering if maybe that was the reason Lando had gotten so upset. Although, he isn't one to stick to guidelines himself, so... He thought, still standing in the same spot. Before he came to a conclusion as to why Lando had assaulted him, he saw his friend appear down below, rushing onto the track as the biker slowed down to meet him. Then, he snapped back into place, realising that it was completely possible that Lando would shove, push and do more than shush whoever this was.

{ Meanwhile, Lando was very angry }

The biker slowed down right in front of him, taking a few seconds to shut everything off before they greeted him. As they did so, Lando decided to yell.

"Hey! You thieving, stealing—"

"Oh hey Lando," The biker said. It was then that Lando regretted his insults. "here's your helmet back. It looked the nicest out of all of them so I grabbed it. Hope you don't mind, thanks!" Is all Andi said as she smiled at him, handing him his property politely as if she hadn't heard his insults (she had, but chose to ignore them for the sake of her sanctity)

"Oh... Andi.... Hi." He said awkwardly, fiddling with his helmet.

"First one here?" She offered, making conversation as she removed her riding gear.

"Oh, sure, yeah. Oscar's also—"

"Ah, crap—" The girl mumbled, stopping mid-glove removal as she spotted a figure approaching from behind Lando. In a flash, she fled towards the garages and disappeared into them before being hastily followed by an angry older man, who was already out of breath. Lando, who'd taken a second to register what had happened within the last few minutes, deducted that this was Mr Saunterre, and that he was not happy to be chasing after his daughter.

He blinked, stationary.

With a sigh, he turned to walk back the way he came. As he did so, in came Oscar, who looked like he was about to question Lando on anything and everything. In response, Lando merely rubbed his eyes and mumbled, "It's too early for this shit." before answering Oscar as bluntly as possible. His answers consisted of the following:
"Andi's dad."
"Yes, he was running."
"No, after Andi."
"Yes, she was here"
"I was angry."
"Sorry I shoved you."
"No! Because of Andi!"
"She took my helmet."
"Oh, for god's sake—"
"Yes, Oscar."
"No! Oscar! Andi was on the bike!"
"You're unbelievable, really."

...

"Oscar! Shut up about Mark Webber!"

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Hi everyone!! Thanks so much for reading so far! I've got my Mock exams from the 8th to the 22nd, so I'll be going on hiatus until then. I have a few chapters to post until the 8th, but from then on I won't have time to write.

See you all when I see you! 🤞🏻🤞🏻