Against all odds

Chapter 1

Adrenaline rushing through my veins, my fingers gripping the steering wheel even tighter, I fly around the track. Even though its just a test run I try to extract everything I can from the car to beat my fastest sectors.

Braking later than last round trying to get a faster lap in I fly around my home track. stepping on the gas as soon as I leave the last corner I hear my race engineer, Toby, over the radio: "That looks to be the best lap you ever drove in a formula 2 car. Well, done. How is the car feeling?"

"It's pretty good. I missed it. I feel like I could go faster but I think I'll call it a day and let you guys go home. It's pretty late already."

"Copy that. Box after the cooldown lap"

I climb out of the car after it has been pushed into the garage. Shaking hands with the mechanics and engineers working around the car before I take off my helmet and balaclava.

I grab my stuff after helping the team sort out some errors in a short debrief. I left the garage for my car that was waiting to take me to my flat where I was going to take a shower and catch up on Uni before heading to bed.

But unbeknownst to me tonight would turn out quite differently.

I was reading through my Textbooks as I heard my phone vibrate. Looking at the clock hanging on the wall of my kitchen I debated with myself if I should just ignore the call and tell them I was sleeping.

Deciding on the second option I sighed in relief as the vibrating ceased.

But only mere moments later it started again. If this isnt important, I will kill them I thought to myself as I got up from my desk and tiptoed over to my phone I intentionally left on the counter.

Seeing as it was my manager at Red Bull, I took the call: Hey man whats going on? Everything okay?

"Thank god you answered! I got good news and bad news! What do you want first?"

"Dont care. Hit me, Paul."

"Bad news is you will no longer be racing in F2."

"Wait what? Did I do something?" I shot out worriedly sitting down shocked.

"No of course not dumbass! Checo Perez can't race, and they need a new driver Soooo? Are you in?"

"Okay wait. They want me to race instead of Sergio Perez. Like Formula 1 Sergio Perez? Like Formula one as in next all the big ones?"

"Exactly. I do need an answer though because you would have to fly to Azerbaijan in four hours to be there for FP2."

"What do you think my answer is going to be? Of course, I'm in! What the hell?! When does the Plane take off? Holy fuck what the hell should I wear?! Scheiße! I must pack! "

"Calm down! I'll send someone to drive you to the airport and I'll text you the details. Just start to Pack your shit and I'll take care of the rest."

"Thanks, man! Love you, bye!"

I hung up the phone staring at the black screen for a moment before sprinting to my bedroom and taking out the biggest suitcase I could find. As I started to throw my essentials on my bed, I made a mental list of things I could need.

After trying to put my clothes neatly into my suitcase I went into the bathroom to grab my toiletries. Packing various makeup items, lotions shampoo, conditioner, and everything I could ever need in a smaller bag.

It almost took me two hours to fit everything into my suitcase and I hadnt even started to get my carry-on things together. So, I took the biggest handbag I could find and started to back another sweater, scarf, eye mask, socks, earplugs, a book, charger for my laptop, phone and air pods, a few magazines, a notebook, and a pen, some hair ties, painkillers Chapstick, eyedrops, Moisturizer and hand sanitizer. I moved on to snacks and packed: Granola bars, chocolate, some gum and mints, and a reusable water bottle before throwing in important things like wallet passports and the tickets I freshly printed.

In a small fanny pack, I threw my wallet and phone so I could put them under my hoodie.

As I put my luggage to the door, I caught a glance of myself in a mirror and wanted to scream. My hair was standing in different directions, my hoodie had a toothpaste stain on it, and I was wearing leggings that had bleach stains on them from the time I wanted to have blonde hair like all the white kids in my class.

I redid my hair into somewhat of a bun whilst trying to find an outfit I could wear for an almost nine-hour-long flight. I searched through my wardrobe pulling out a random black hoodie with a white t-shirt underneath and some new leggings. Quickly changing I heard a knock.

"One second please! I'll be right there!" I shout through the door exiting my bedroom to make sure all my windows are locked before letting the person in.

"Hi! I'm Jonny! Paul sent me to drive you to the airport." the tall man said.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Alexandra!" I answer politely as I grabbed my suitcase and carry-on bag before locking my apartment door behind me.

The airport wasn't too crowded considering it was in the evening and most people were probably sitting at home watching TV. I checked in my luggage before going through security and waiting in front of my gate to board the plane.

After a long flight filled with the seemingly never-ending screams of a toddler two rows in front of me, the plane finally reached its destination and I got off as fast as I could.

Getting my suitcase at baggage claim I went straight for the exit. Looking around for a Taxi stand that could take me to my designated hotel I found a sign with my name on it. Holding it was a taller man with blonde hair.

Walking up to him I asked: "You're here for me?"

"Alexandra Duman?" he asked monotonously.

"That's me. I don't know your name though..."

"I'm Ian. Your PR Manager. Nice to meet you. Let's get going though, we are already late."

"Of course. Lead the way please." I smiled.

Leading me to a black Aston Martin he opened the boot of the car and signalled me to put my stuff in before getting in on the driver's side.

We got to the hotel and went straight to check-in but the relaxation I hoped would come soon was denied to me by Ian who told me to put my suitcase in my room and come back down again to do some testing for the race.