When we met.

~4~

As I expected, I was scolded by my uncle and my father disagreed. My father and my uncle argued for weeks after this. Separated from each other, they went to the go-kart track for both me and Max to train, until one day they did get back together. Max and I did have a lot of contact via Whatsapp during this time. "Max!" I fly around his neck when I see him again and Max closes me in his arms, we were 8 weeks apart and I missed him. "y/n how are you?" Asks Max, "I'm so happy to see you again!" "So you're doing well may I infer from this?" "Yes it's definitely going well, do you want to race against me?" Through my father's training I have been getting better and better myself and I hope to overtake Max someday, I am glad I still made the effort to have raced Charles a few weeks ago. If I hadn't, my love for this sport it would never have grown either. "Yeah sure, are you sure you can handle this?" "Yeah, how could I not handle this? "Last time you drove me off the track." Says he laughing. "No you drove yourself off the track." We laugh and without our fathers noticing we walk to our karts. I saw Charles drive a few laps before Max and I got to the starting line. "Ready for it!"Max calls out to me. "Ready when you are!" I shout back. When I race against Max I know no limits, I want to make my father proud and so I am very much like Max. Where just a few weeks ago I was so insecure and tried to keep space for the other drivers, there is no more of that. I pass Max a few times and after a few laps our dads also discover that we are racing against each other. Immediately their attention is with us and giving advice. In the end Max wins the race but it has been very close every time, when Max and I are off the track again I give him a hug. "Thank you Max!" "Pleasure was all mine, you got better y/n." I chat with Max for a while longer until my attention is caught again by Charles walking past us and I decide to have a chat with him. "Charles! Wait!" Charles looks over and sees that I am walking toward him and slows his stride until I am with him. "Hey y/n long time no see!" "Yeah sorry family drama after we raced each other.

Along with Charles, I walk further away from Max; I feel Max's eyes burning on me as I walk away. "Doesn't sound good, this family drama." "Don't worry, I think Max and I have this sorted out after today, did you see how they just got back together and wanted to give us advice?" Charles shakes his head. "So I'm going to see you more often again?" The tone of his voice sounds mysterious, I respond to this normally but inside I am immediately thinking of so many things. After my conversation with Charles I went straight to Max and I told him everything. Max smiles and says. "So you think he likes you now?" "That's obvious, isn't it?" "Because he likes seeing you more often?" "Yes." "Ow y/n, I really don't get you girls sometimes." We both start laughing. "But I don't understand you guys either, so then we're even." After a few more rounds of training, my dad and I decide to go home. In the car home, my dad tells me that he and Uncle Jos made up after watching Max and me race today. I am glad that things are good again between them, now I can see Max more often and train with him at the same time, which means that I can see Charles more often as well.

Max has many wins to his name after a number of years, we have laughed a lot over the years with each other and many people from outside have often thought I was his girlfriend, Max and I have had to laugh hard at that and explained the situation between us. "She is not my girlfriend, she is my niece, we grew up together and she has become my everything, my best friend over the years. At first she didn't like coming to watch my races with her father at all and now we race each other to see who is faster, y/n is doing well! She's learned a lot over the past few years, but then I'm still faster." Max is talking to an interviewer and as he says the last of his sentence he casts a quick glance my way, I stick my tongue out at him and he smiles. Max will be driving Formula 1 for the first time next year. I stopped karting a year ago, it wasn't going for me anymore and I couldn't get on, it has become a hobby that I have a lot of great memories of but it is for the best that I stopped. 2015 also means that I won't see Charles anymore, we exchanged numbers in the meantime, we sometimes talk on whatsapp. My uncle has asked me to go with them for all Max's competitions, although my father didn't like this at first he finally agreed.