everything has changed ➺ charles leclerc

prolouge

MUSIC WAS BLARING as Charles and Angeli made their way through the crowd. Charles held the end of Angeli's extravagant prom dress as they made a beeline for Angeli's mother's Ferrari. It was Angeli's Senior Prom, and as everyone expected she had asked Charles to be her date to her prom as Charles was never going to be able to experience his own. With karting and racing taking up all of his time, he didn't have the opportunity to live a normal life like Angeli had. Growing up, Angeli recalled Charles showing up less and less to their shared classes. He always had numerous absences as he was to compete in karting races around Europe.

He was an extremely busy boy, which made Angeli's life difficult when it came to asking him to be her prom date.

He had already been racing in GP3 by Angeli's senior year, meaning he spent even less time at home. With Pascale and Hervé's help, she had travelled to one of his races to prompose to him there. She had spelled out PROM? on his pit board, so that when he crossed the finish line she would hold it up and he'd see it. Which he was absolutely delighted with when he did. He went on the radio ecstatically screaming, agreeing to be her prom date. However, she wasn't sure if he was ecstatic because she asked him to prom or if it was because he had just won the race in Spa-Francorchamps from pole. She liked to think it was the former.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay? I heard there's an afterparty at Jimmy'z after this, and I know how much you love to party." Charles teased as the two teenagers exited the venue.

"Nope! Everyone keeps stepping on my dress. Besides, it's too hot in there anyway." Angeli responded. They walked away from the blaring music and insane amount of body heat that had enveloped the venue. Charles and Angeli were drenched in sweat by the time they got to the luxurious Ferrari that Angeli's mother had loaned the pair for the night.

"I'm driving!" Charles cheered, rushing to the driver's seat. "Hey! I should be able to drive, it's my mom's car." Angeli refused. Wiggling his eyebrows, Charles entered the driver's seat and shut the door before Angeli could get to him.

"I drive single seater cars at insane speeds every other weekend, that makes me more than qualified to drive this car, Ange." Charles reasoned as Angeli defeatedly sat in the passenger seat of the Ferrari. She rolled her eyes at her best friend as he turned the key in the ignition and backed out of their parking space.

"Whatever, Charles. Just because you drive fast doesn't mean you drive safe. If we get into a wreck tonight, I'm blaming it on you." She half-joked. She trusted Charles and had known him since they were children– they had grown up together and were best friends. There was nothing Charles could do that would make her hate him.

"I highly doubt that'll happen Ange." He looked over at her as he sped through the country roads of Nice. "Besides, I'll be driving one of these on the track in a couple of years." He winked, pressing a button that caused the hood of the car to retract. Angeli let out a hearty laugh at his wink, he could never quite get it right.

"You better be Leclerc. I'm counting on you getting my mom a new Ferrari once you crash this one!" She teased again. It was Charles' turn to roll his eyes as he stepped on the gas. He went well above the speed limit but it was 11p.m., no one would be driving around the country at this time.

Angeli screamed joyfully as the car accelerated and Ariana Grande's 'Dangerous Woman' blasted from the car speakers. She was absolutely ecstatic. She was sitting beside her best friend, screaming along to her favorite songs with her perfectly styled hair tousled around by the wind. Angeli looked over at Charles, who seemed to be enveloped by a bright aura. His signature smile reached his eyes, something that was quite rare since the passing of Jules. The crinkle in his skin next to his eyes was evident, showing that he was genuinely happy in that moment. His happiness always meant her happiness.

Charles felt similarly to the dark haired girl next to him. He had Angeli right beside him as adrenaline coursed through his veins, driving at high speeds. He was glad that the two things he loved the most were with him in that moment: Angeli, and driving really really fast. He had always had a slight crush on her, their mothers being best friends and living right across the hall from one another had made them extremely close. In 18 years, he had never told her about his feelings, afraid that she didn't reciprocate them and afraid to lose her. Charles felt her stare burning into the side of his skull, and against his better judgement, he turned his head and smiled at her. He knew that he should've been keeping his eyes on the road, but Angeli and her bright smile captivated him.

A faint blush spread to Angeli's cheeks once she realized Charles had noticed her staring and had made eye contact. At the eye contact, butterflies erupted in her stomach, a sensation that was foreign to her. Why was she all of a sudden feeling this way? They had moments like this before, albeit safer ones, but she had never experienced the slight nervousness that his gaze brought her.

She returned his smile with one of her own, giggling as Charles shot her another failed attempt at a wink. "Focus on the road doofus! You're gonna get us killed!" She scolded, ending their short moment. The car had started swerving due to Charles' lack of focus on the road, and They were on the wrong side of the road, but who cares? No one would be driving at this time anyway. However, she didn't want to get killed tonight. More than that, Angeli didn't want to think about possibly having feelings for her best friend, it would ruin everything. So instead, she chose to ignore it.

"How many times do I have to tell you Ange, I've got this-" Charles started as a pair of headlights came into view quickly. She didn't know if the other car was speeding towards them, if Charles and her were speeding towards the car, or if they were both speeding towards each other. All she knew was that it wouldn't end well for anyone. Charles had tried moving the car into the other lane to avoid contact, but his efforts were futile.

"Charles! Watch out!" She yelled as the two cars made contact. The other car had rammed into the side of Mrs. Schumacher's Ferrari, sending the car airborne before it flipped. Angeli braced for impact, shutting her eyes and holding her head down as if it would protect her. Shards of glass from the car's windshield pierced both of their skin as the car came to a stop, upside down. Despite the extreme amount of pain she was experiencing, Angeli forced herself to look over at Charles, who seemed to be in a worse state than her. He seemed to be unconscious, head on the steering wheel of the vehicle. She yelled and screamed, trying to get him to wake up.

"Charles!"

"Charles! Wake up!" She yelled at him, trying to get him awake. There was no way to save them both. Then, she smelled something burning.

She reached over the center console to unbuckle Charles' seatbelt as he slowly came to. She started feeling lightheaded as she slowly and painfully used all her strength to push him out of the car.

He had such a bright future ahead of him, he was going to move up the ranks to F1 and was going to drive for Scuderia Ferrari. He was going to do so much more in his life than she was ever going to do in hers, so she made the decision to make sure he had the best possible chance to do it. As he landed on the grass, he regained consciousness and looked over at Angeli. His confused eyes were the last thing she saw before she was enveloped by darkness.

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A/N: helllooo everyone 💗 this is my first time writing after so long, so I hope you all enjoy this! This is the prologue for this book: Everything Has Changed.