𝐖𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐍'𝐓 𝐁𝐄 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐒, l. norris

one

Bahrain, Thursday

You're not doing good enough.

The painful words from her father echoed through Emery's head as her chest rose and fell rapidly, sweat dripping from her temples and down her face.

Heavy breaths were heard as Emery stared at the punching bag in front of her, her fists tightly clenched as she threw punch after punch.

Her taped fists colliding with the bag as soft grunts of anger and frustration escaped past her lips, her gaze never faltering from the punching bag in front of her.

P3.

That was the position she had received in the final race in Dubai last season. She had maintained p2 throughout the race and had almost overtaken Max during the last few laps but she had received a puncture in one of her tires and was forced to make a fast pit stop.

Despite her best efforts, Emery wasn't able to regain her p2 position and had received p3 instead, which caused her ranking to average down to p3 instead of p2, like it originally was.

Usually, most drivers would be happy to have placed in the top five positions but Emery held herself to a very high standard and if she didn't meet her standards, she was pretty hard on herself.

After any race that she did not finish first, which was extremely often, she'd rewatch the race and listen intently to the communication throughout the race and try to figure out what went wrong and how she could do better next race.

Emery's fist continued to collide with the punching bag, her punches becoming harder and faster the more her father's words echoed throughout her mind.

All this sacrifice just for you to be mediocre.

The girl wanted to scream as her punches increased in speed before she screamed out in frustration and punched the bag one more time, allowing her fists to finally fall to her sides as her chest heaved up and down quickly.

She stared at her reflection as she watched the sweat drop down her body, her heavy breathing being the only sound in the vacant gym.

This week was the start of the Formula One 2024 season and everything needed to be perfect if Emery was going to become the World Champion.

The drivers had all arrived in Bahrain a few days ago and were all on focused for the commencement of the new racing season.

Most of her fellow drivers would likely still be in bed or were barely waking up for the day ahead of them, whereas Emery woke up early to prepare herself for practice later that afternoon.

It was important for Emery to get a head start on her day, especially with this race being the opening race to the 2024 season. Everything needed to be perfect.

Emery needed to memorize the track the best that she could before qualifying on Friday and the race itself on Saturday. It needed to be perfect.

The sound of the gym door opening caused for the latina to turn and see Charles stood there with his arms crossed over his chest.

"I was wondering where you disappeared off to." He replied as he slowly approached Emery.

"I wanted to get a head start." Emery shrugged as she grabbed her water bottle and poured some of the liquid into her mouth.

"Punching the fuck out of the punching bag won't change last years results." Charles commented as he took a quick glance towards the punching bag.