kachow | arthur leclerc

chapter twelve

location: Miami, Florida

MIAMI. ONE OF THE biggest races of the year. America is beautiful and the race track is amazing. It was one of Olivia's favorites.

The past three races have been all over the boards for her. A P5 in Australia was her best outcome of them all. She DNFed in Japan and placed 11th in China. She was determined to get back in the points after two bad outcomes.

Ollie was doing better than her, placing above P10 in the last two races. Media day in Miami was stressful, a lot of new press material. She was stuck in a press conference was the last place she wanted to be.

"Olivia, do you believe that you'll perform better this weekend?" This question came in many forms. Some more insulting than others. Olivia leaned forward to the microphone.

"I know this track, I've raced it many times before. What has happened the past couple races has been bad luck. I strongly believe this race will be better." Olivia responded. She'd been stuck here for close to an hour now.

"Thank you, follow up question. There are still rumors circulating about the photos posted on Jeddah. What is the relationship between you two?" And some things never go away.

"My team released a statement about the situation. But I will say it again. We are colleagues, nothing more." She sat back in her chair. Questions were given to other drivers, consisting of thoughts on the car, plans for Miami. Basic questions.

After several more rounds of questions, the drivers were dismissed. Olivia headed back to the garage for a team meeting. The engineers had made some improvements to the car and wanted to go over them. She spotted Ollie just outside the door.

"Ollie! How was your press conference?" Olivia asked, jogging up beside him.

"Boring. It was the same questions that I got last week."

"Good, I had a question though. Is Arthur doing okay?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Because he's been acting weird to me these last couple races. Ignoring me, leaving the room when he sees me walk in, he didn't even say anything snarky when I DNFed."

"He hasn't said anything to me. I think you're overreacting." The two drivers turned the corner to be met by Ollie's radio engineer.

"Sorry but Ollie, we need to go over some strategies for this weekend." He said, grabbing Ollie by the shoulder. Ollie gave me a I'm sorry look over his shoulder before he was pulled into his driver's room.

Olivia shrugged and made her way her car. The engineers had made several changes to the car over the off week. It looked the same, but everything was different.

"Please don't go into the wall at this race. The crew put a lot of work getting this car together after you had little run in with the wall." Nico said, appearing by her side.

"It wasn't a run in. Something with the hydraulics overheating so the car stopped steering and I bumped the wall." She countered, crossing her arm.

"Apples and oranges." Nico shrugged, "you want to get in the car?" Olivia nodded eagerly, already moving beside the car. Nico gave her a hand as she climbed into the car. She slid into the cockpit and leaned back in the seat.

"I'll leave you be. Just make sure you make it to your next interview or Julie will have both our heads." Nico said, patting her shoulder before walking off.

Olivia closed her eyes, letting her senses take over. The smell of the garage, the noises of the engineers. It was all home to her. She grew up at races with Lewis and Nicholas, traveling the world with her new family. Some of the other drivers became her family.