Two Faces || Lando Norris

0.1

"Can you take over this interview, please? I'm not feeling well," Juniper said when she and Amelie were walking over the paddock.

Amelie blinked a few times, interviewing... She looked at Juniper, the girl who guided her through the races. They were in China, the third race of the season. Amelie was Juniper's assistant, she helped her with the interviews, but decided to stand in the background of all sort of things. Juniper was looking a bit pale, not having the usual smile on her face.

"Yes, of course," Amelie replied. "Please, take some rest and time for yourself, June. I have it under control."

Juniper nodded and handed over the bag. "Just do and say everything like I taught you for so far, relax and be yourself. Make Daniel comfortable, although I know he will make himself comfortable. Just do your thing, it's okay to make mistakes. Carlos is the next to be interviewed, and he will be the last one for the day. Call me when you need me," she quickly informed and stopped walking. Her eyes found Amelie's. "Did I forget something to say?"

"No," Amelie said and pressed a warm smile on her face. "Go back to the hotel, don't worry about me."

"Alright, just call me when something goes wrong. I will stay in my room all night, so I will probably see you tomorrow. I will keep you updated," Juniper sighed, she was really not feeling it anymore. "Seven minutes. Okay, I will go now. Good luck."

"Thanks." I will need that. Amelie said goodbye to Juniper. As soon Juniper walked away, Amelie felt her heartbeat rise in her chest. She actually had to interview someone on her own.

She walked towards the Paddock Club. All Amelie could think about was how badly she could screw up the interviews. It is not like had never interviewed someone before - she was doing a journalism study after all, but Amelie wasn't a massive fan of interviews. Although she had to do a lot of interviews for her study, she faked the interviews what could be faked. Everybody hated going out, on the street, interviewing random people for a school subject. Fake it until you make it, but do it realistically. By this time, Amelie regretted making up the interviews and persona's for school, because now she had to do it in real life and she could fail. And it wasn't just an interview, no it was Daniel Ricciardo she had to interview. And Carlos Sainz.

When she arrived at the Paddock Club, she walked around on the terrace to find the right spot. Luckily it wasn't an interview on camera, so it didn't matter how the sun was shining for the best shots. A lot of people passed her, mostly fans, but a few drivers as well. Amelie looked around, suddenly looking in someone's eyes. It was Lando Norris; he gave her a warm smile. Amelie shared a smile as well, it was just politeness. It still was odd and unreal to share smiles or greetings with drivers, like actually look at them and say hi. For Amelie, all those people were heroes to her. They passed each other and Amelie sat down on a couch, she claimed the perfect sofa. She prepared herself and read all the topics she wanted to discuss.

Alright, this is real. Amelie looked around and tried to distract herself. A critical key in interviewing was to feel comfortable and yourself to have a genuine, real interview. But that was the opposite of how Amelie felt right now. Her hands were sweaty, her heart was racing in her chest, she could think clearly anymore. Yup, a failure at its finest. She saw two people walking towards her, it was Daniel with his assistant. Amelie got up and smiled. It's happening.

"G'day," Daniel said and stuck out his hand. Amelie shook his hand. "I haven't seen you before."

"Please, take a seat," Amelie replied and took a seat on the couch again. Daniel sat next to her. "I'm new at Sky."

He nodded and showed his signature smile. "Let me introduce myself, but you probably already know the good looking Aussie. I'm Daniel."

"Nice to meet you," she playfully smiled. "My name is Amelie. Thank you for your time," she said and made sure the voice recorders were working. "How are you doing? How are you looking at the upcoming weekend?"

★

"Thanks so much for your time," Amelie smiled to Carlos when the second interview ended. "I will send you a copy when the article is finished," she told Charlotte, the press manager of McLaren.

"Thank you for your time," Carlos replied and got up. "Are you new here? Normally Juniper does the interviews like this."

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm new. Juniper wasn't feeling well, so I'm taking over the interviews of today." She collected her stuff. "Have a nice day, Carlos, Charlotte."

"Thank you," Charlotte said and gave Amelie a nod. "Have a nice day. I will see you tomorrow, I think." She put her sunglasses on her nose.

"Yes," Amelie said. Carlos and Charlotte walked away. Amelie relaxed her muscles and sat down. She was sweating like a real sporter, that was part of the nerves. Both of the interviews went fine, it didn't feel awkward or wrong to Amelie, so that was positive. She let out a deep breath and collected everything. There was one last stop at the bar for a bottle of water.

"Is there anything else I can get you?" The bartender gave Amelie a bottle of water.

She shook her head and smiled. "No, thanks." When Amelie was about to pay, Mabel FaceTimed her. Panic flashed through Amelie's body; what did she have to do now? Pick up, or pay, what did she had to say to the bartender? She quickly paid and accepted the call.

"Mabel, you got eighty points on the exam, muy bien," the voice of the Spanish teacher came out of the phone.

"Have a nice day," the bartender wished the young adult.

"Thanks, you too!" Amelie smiled and walked away, finding a table to put her stuff on. "Hey," she said to Mabel and was looking in her bag for earphones. "Eighty points, my dude. That is amazing." Yup, she was FaceTiming in public...

Mabel widely smiled and wiggled her eyebrows. "I know right," she said. "I'm just a great Spanish tourist."

"You wish," Amelie smirked. She found her earphones, all tangled up. "Bloody fuckers."

Suddenly the Spanish teacher appeared on the screen of her phone. Amelie widened her eyes and looked at Mabel, who was still there. "Good day, Amelie. Such a shame you can't be at my class, but apparently, you can FaceTime," Vincente said and looked disapproving.

My life is over... "Yeah, well, I'm in China for my internship, Jude informed you?"

"He probably did, but I don't look in my email, but you could have informed me, Amelie." He kept looking at the camera, it was almost frightening. "But your result of the Spanish exam: fifty-six points." A huge smile grew on Amelie's lips, she passed it. "Not really good, though."

"But I passed it, one point on the positive side," she nodded happily.

Vincente sighed. "Yes, you did. But you keep failing the grammar part. I would like to explain it to you next week."

Amelie nodded. "But remember; I never make the same mistake twice. I make it like five or six times, just to be sure." She finally untangled to earphones and plugged them in. Her eyes shot up when she heard someone laugh; it was Lando who happened to overheard this part of the conversation. Amelie shared a cheeky smile with Lando, just to cover up her embarrassment. "But I will be there next week." She accidentally knocked over the bottle of water - which was luckily closed. Just one thing, Amelie, and you screw it up already. She sighed and cleaned it up, she luckily could catch the bottle quickly, so there wasn't much water spilled.

"Good. Good luck in China and I will see you next week." Vincente gave Amelie a sarcastic smile, he was more a friend to his students than a teacher - which made him one of the coolest teachers. "Hasta luego."

"Adiós, señor." Amelie made her way to the exit. "I just completely embarrassed myself in front of Lando Norris and I can't handle myself anymore," she said in one breath to Mabel on the phone. "So how's life?"

Mabel laughed. "What did you do this time?"

"Knocked over my bottle of water," she said and walked off the stairs. "And I interviewed Daniel and Carlos, and you have no idea how excited I am about it. I will tell you once I am back at the hotel because I don't have WiFi on the bus. But during the interviews...I just say things and when it's done am I like: why have I said it this awkwardly? I'm not made to socialise."

"You go, girl." Mabel looked around in the classroom, being confronted with all the unfriendly classmates. "Be fast, I need some entertainment. Can't handle these snakes anymore."