STARBOY || ollie bearman

1.6

There were about two weeks left before the 2022 Formula 1 season would start. My dad was planning on attending a few races and he had invited me to join him.

Even though I wasn't in the loop as much anymore, I was determined to get back into it. After all I loved the feeling of watching Formula 1, there was simply nothing I would rather do. I missed it a lot and I also missed the drivers I had met almost every weekend, back when my dad was still racing.

It was the middle of February break and I had the entire house for myself. My mum was on a work trip and my dad was visiting an old friend.

I would have invited Ollie over, but he was on vacation with his family.

I was incredibly bored and even after I had watched multiple movies and binged a few shows, I felt like I wanted to do something else.

I decided to go to the ice-rink again and maybe try a few new things. When I arrived, there were only a few people skating and I could tell most of them knew what they were doing.

I did some warm up exercises and drove a few rounds, before I started jumping and doing pirouettes. I was glad I was still able to do most of the stunts I used to, when I was younger.

When I was about five or six years old, my mum signed me up for ice skating. I fell deeply in love with the sport right away.

Back when my family was still living in Monaco, I skated almost every day. When we started moving after a few months again and again, I only skated from time to time. It was a great way to relieve stress, but it didn't feel like it used to.

Growing up means maturing and finding new interests. Sometimes you even come back to old ones. When I moved to Chelmsford, I rediscovered ice skating and I fell in love with it all over again.

Making my way to the locker rooms, to change into warmer clothes, I smiled happily, but I was also pretty exhausted.

A brunette middle aged woman was standing in front of the locker room sending me a smile.

"Hello, my name is Laura Henlay and I'm the head of our youth developing team as well as the coach of the pair skate team,"

"Nice to meet you. My name is Olivia," we shook hands and she nodded knowingly.

"You're probably wondering why I introduced myself. Our female skater Abby had an accident during the last training session and she can't compete in the upcoming season. I watched you today and the last few times you skated as well and to be quite honest, you're brilliant. I think you would be the perfect fit, to replace Abby and be the new female part of our skating pair," Laura explained.

I didn't know what to say. It was a great offer and I loved to skate, but I never felt the need to compete.

When I didn't respond, she sent me an encouraging smile.

"I'll of course give you some time to think about it, but I'll need an answer until next week. You can either find me here or you can call me," she handed me a sheet of paper with her number written on it.

"Thank you for the opportunity, I'll think about it," I replied.

...

After I changed, I was on my way home. I passed a supermarket and remembered I didn't have any food at home anymore.

I grabbed a few essentials as well as ingredients for dinner and put them in my basket. I was looking at the top row of a shelf while walking, because I was looking for a certain flavor of sweets.

Suddenly I bumped into someone and my basket fell to the floor. Everything inside it spilled on the ground. I bent down to recollect my things.

"Sorry. I wasn't looking, where I was going," a male voice said and I looked up.