Full Throttle

Back In England Again

Author's Note: This chapter contains references to self harm, trigger warning.

Spending time with dad helped me to get in the right mindset again, and the media backed off when they realised that I really was not going to comment on anything they asked me. My normal routine of training resumed, and I did a couple of sessions with the boys as well, beating them at the sim whenever we made a competition out of it. Okay, maybe I didn't win all of the time, but that was only because George drove in a Mercedes every time. Lando obviously picked the papaya-coloured car that he normally drove, and I stuck with my blue racing car of the Toro Rosso. We allowed George to drive in the Merc because we knew that he had no chance of winning with the Williams. We were all excited to be racing at Silverstone next. As British drivers it was our home race, and so we all trained hard in preparation. Making it a competition was positive because it meant that we all gave 150%. Nick was always complaining that 'us drivers were so fucking stubborn' and that 'it was about time we started using our fragile egos for the better'. I've got to give it to him, he was right. I'd bought myself a gaming setup for myself for when I wasn't training, and I's also bought a mic and camera so I could start streaming. I hadn't done one yet, but I had one planned for tonight with Lando, Alex, George, and Charles. I'd put my Twitch account in the bio of my Instagram and posted a notice on my Instagram story that I'd be streaming tonight on Twitch. I was looking forward to it, and I think that for once, my day went faster. I got home from London at 5.00pm, going straight upstairs to have a shower and change into a light pink hoodie and white tracksuit bottoms. I sat and chatted to dad about my day as I ate my teriyaki salmon and rice for dinner, telling him about the stream tonight and who it was with and how it worked. He tried to understand as best he could, but I could tell that it was lost on him. The clock hit 6.30pm and I went upstairs and got the stream set up, connecting with the boys on Discord. The camera and mic wouldn't be turned on until I made an appearance, and in the meantime, I had music play so that my viewers weren't completely bored before I started the stream properly. I decided to put a touch of makeup on, remembering how unflattering cameras can be, and then changed my lighting so it was a light purple with golden sections weaving through it. After about 5 minutes, I sat down in my chair and pulled the headphones over my ears, taking a deep breath and turning on the camera and then the microphone.
"Hey, guys! Wow, there are a lot of you," I said, surprised as I looked at my second computer screen that showed the chat and the number of viewers. Charles made an appearance next, greeting his viewers and then taking to me until Lando and George joined, and then lastly, Alex.
"Alright guys and gals, today we're going to be playing Siege. If you remember about a month ago, I appeared in Lando's stream and I played a few rounds and got bullied mercilessly for being terrible."
"Don't worry though," George spoke up, "you can bully her again today, because she was telling us this morning at training that she hadn't played since that stream at Lando's house."
"Jessie, did you tell them about the prank war that has started between you and Lando?" Charles asked.
"I haven't actually. Do you think I should?"
"No, Jessie, you shouldn't," Lando said.
"I don't know, my chat seems pretty keen on finding out."
"Tell them, Jessie," Alex laughed.
"Right, so, basically, I stayed over at Lando's house after the stream because I live more than 4 hours away from him and there was no way in hell I was driving home at night," I paused to look at the chat quickly. "Yes, I am aware that I drive fast cars for a living, but driving in the dark is scary, okay?"
"It is pretty scary," George added.
"Anyway, Lando put a load of alarm clocks around my room and set them to go off at different times throughout the night. I know, he's childish, isn't he? So, as payback, I woke up at half past 6 the next morning and went down to Tesco and bought some cod and some salmon. Now, if you didn't already know, Lando hates fish-"
"He shies away from it whenever somebody orders it at a restaurant," Charles laughed.
"Yeah, he's a child. So, I put this fish in his bathroom sink, shower, on his chair in his streaming room, and downstairs in the fridge, right next to Lando's favourite drink, which we all know is milk. He was not happy," I giggled.
"You forgot to mention that I actually came and took all of the alarm clocks out of your room after the first one went off because you came and woke me up," Lando mentioned.
"You were already awake because you were pissing yourself laughing."
"Okay, guys, let's actually play before it gets to Lando's bedtime," George chortled.