Burning Desire

~Chapter Three~

"Nice job today Isabelle, how are you feeling about qualifying tomorrow?" Jon, Lando's trainer asked me.

"I'm a little nervous as one would be, but I'm excited" I replied, zipping up my backpack and placing it over my shoulder.

"Well we're going to make sure that you feel prepared" he smiled softly. "I've got your number, so I'll send you the address and meet you there in about an hour?"

"Yeah, that works for me. See ya then Jon" I waved and walked out of the paddock back towards my car.

"Hey Izzy" I heard a voice behind me and turned around to see Alex.

"Alex, hey!" I smiled widely. Alex is the reserve driver for Redbull this year, and I know he's been waiting to get back out there again.

"I saw you driving today, you were amazing! Surprisingly, you haven't lost your touch" he teased.

Alex and I used to race together, along with many others who are now in the formula one industry. Him, Lando and Charles were some of my biggest competition.

"How have you been?" I asked.

"Pretty good, just wish I could be out there racing again ya know? It's not the same sitting and watching everything after you've experienced it"

"That's the one thing I'm not looking forward to once Lando's back and ready to race again. There's such a thrill out there that you don't experience anywhere else. It's just magical" I said, trying not to think too much about it and just enjoying where I'm at now.

"Hopefully one of the teams can see how talented you are and offer you a seat for next year's season," he replied.

"Yeah...hopefully we both get offered a seat"

I arrived back at my car and said bye to Alex who walked off towards his car. I opeend the car door, throwing my bag on the passenger seat next to me and shutting the door behind me. I took a deep breath and let out a loud squeal. I've been waiting to do that all day. All of these emotions were rushing through me and I was so excited. Me, racing for the next couple weeks. In formula one. This is a dream come true.

It's not every day that you see a girl driving in formula one. There are so many women wanting to get to this position, and I'm just lucky enough to have made it here. Hopefully things can start changing and more women can get into this sport.

I connected my phone to my car through bluetooth and rang Natalie.

"Izzy!" he voice was loud coming through the speakers of my car. I reversed the car out of the parking lot, heading towards the exit.

"That's me," I laughed.

"You've got a lot of explaining to do!" I could tell she was trying to sound mad, but I knew that she was smiling on the other side of the phone.

"How so?" I questioned, playing at her little game.

"Oh so you wanna play that game? Ok fine" she cleared her throat. "So how come I go onto instagram this afternoon and see your name everywhere?"

"I don't know what you mean" I laughed, pulling onto the main road, heading back to the hotel.

"YOU RACED TODAY!!" she yelled, causing me to turn the volume down slightly.

"Oh yeah that. I'm also driving this whole weekend and for the next couple weeks" I said bluntly, waiting for her reaction.

A loud scream came through the phone. "YOU'RE KIDDING ME!!! THIS IS SO EXCITING!!"

"AHH I KNOW!!" I finally matched her energy.

"I'm coming to one of your races. This is something I can't miss" she stated.

"Thanks Nat, you're amazing"

"I know I am," she said, causing me to roll my eyes and laugh. "Why are you racing though? What happened?"

"Lando broke his ankle playing golf yesterday so he's out for the next couple weeks until he's fully healed" I informed her.

She let out a small laugh. "Ironic. Love it"

                                                         * ✷ ⊹ * ˚

I pulled up at the address that Jon sent me. It was a massive open park that wasn't very crowded. There was a small playground further down that had a few kids on it. It was very quiet, mainly because of the fact that it was already 6pm. Normally we wouldn't train this late, but because qualifying was tomorrow and I wanted to feel more prepared, Jon offered to spend his afternoon getting me ready.

Not even a minute later Jon pulls up. I looked over at his car giving him a small wave, then noticed someone sitting next to him. That someone being Lando. Damn it, I forgot he had to be at my training session.

I got out of the car and followed Jonn over to where he was setting up, sending a glare towards Lando.

"I don't want to be here either" he remarked, sitting down on the ground leaning against a tree with his foot stretched out in front of him.

"If I'm going to train you both, you've gotta work together," Jon said, placing a mat down on the ground. "Alright Isabelle, just start with some simple stretches for me while I get the rest of this set up"

"Too easy" I replied and started stretching, avoiding all possible eye contact with the boy leaning against the tree.

A couple minutes later Jon threw me a skipping rope. "100 skips fast, 100 skips slow. Then do a jog around the park"

If there was one thing I hated in this world, it was running. It was just a massive inconvenience but was always mandatory in training sessions. I did the skips and started jogging around the park. I admired the scenery surrounding me and how happy and calm everyone looked. Sometimes I wish that I could feel that sense of calm in life.

As I started approaching Jon at the end of my run, I saw a small yellow ball coming directly at me. I quickly dodged it and stopped. I saw a smirk on Lando's face as he picked up a red one and threw it at me again, I quickly dodged. Again.

"What the hell was that for?" I asked once I was back.

"Jon said you needed to work on your reflexes. I was just testing them" he shrugged and picked his phone back up.

"Asshole" I muttered under my breath and headed over to Jon.

"You know, I actually think that you and Lando would be really good friends if you got past your differences" Jon said casually as he picked up the small balls Lando had thrown.

"Who knows" I shrugged. However, that's something I think about quite often. Things could be completely different right now.

"Why don't you guys get along?" he asked, then pointed at where he wanted me to stand.

I looked over at Lando then looked back at Jon. "Long time rivals, it's been like this ever since I can remember"

But the truth is, I don't know why we hate each other. 

Why do we hate each other?

Jon let out a sigh. "Alright, let's get started"

                                ☆ ゜・ 。。・ ゜゜・ 。。・ ゜★