Heard it through the grapevine

Chapter 5

The time had finally come for Helena to travel to Zandvoort. 

She'd taken an early flight to Schiphol on Wednesday, which she had been told would give her just about enough time to get the hang of things before things would officially kick off Thursday. She'd gotten a text from someone in the team letting her know when and where to meet them once she had arrived in Zandvoort, and she was eager to meet everyone, hoping that it would a great weekend. Helena hadn't managed to get much sleep the night before, a mix of nerves and excitement, at the prospect of experiencing her first race working for Ferrari.

She hadn't thought about it until then, but she imagined that this was one of the moments that her dad would have looked at her with eyes full of pride. Although he wasn't around anymore, it comforted her to know that he maybe, just maybe, was following her life from high above. She wasn't particularly religious, but for him she was would always be, a little. She had prayed with him in the hospital, begging to whatever god that she hoped would listen to her, that her dad would make a speedy recovery. His continually declining health and his eventual death meant that she'd lost most of her faith and confidence in religion, but she'd always kept a little, just in case it would mean that he was sometimes there with her. 

Once she arrived in Zandvoort, she'd barely had time to drop her luggage in her hotel, she'd rolled it through the door, left it, and immediately left for the track. Not 30 minutes later had she found herself standing in the Ferrari Communications office with her boss for the weekend, an older woman named Giulia. Helena already knew Giulia to be the Head of Ferrari F1 Communications. She recognised her from Maranello, where she'd occasionally seen her with Flavio, and she was also certain that she had seen her in social media content on the Ferrari account from time to time.

Once Helena arrived, she had greeted her with firm professionalism, and thanked her politely for being able to fill in over the weekend. She had worn a grey pant suit, looking way more classy than Helena did in her jeans and t-shirt. The interaction was fine, Giulia had wanted to give her a formal introduction to the role, which Helena had felt was unnecessary, given that she was only here for a weekend. But nonetheless, she had looked interested throughout the whole thing. 

Shortly after leaving Giulia's office, Helena met the rest of her colleagues. She learned that she would be working alongside three others, whom she also assumed were all of similar age to Helena. They had all greeted her with smiles, and throughout the day, they had been very helpful showing her around and guiding her through their schedule for the weekend. One of the girls, Olivia, had been particularly kind to her and offered to show her how to operate the social media accounts, which Helena appreciated a lot. 

In the afternoon, she'd gone for a track walk with her team, and they had explained her duties for the coming days. She would mostly be helping them out with taking photos throughout the weekend, mostly to be used on social media. Other than that, she was to attempt to do a few interviews here and there, if she could. 

Tomorrow would be the big media day, and Helena knew that everyone would be busy trying to get all the media content shot so that the drivers could focus on the race for the remainder of the weekend. Helena was excited for tomorrow and couldn't wait to get started trying out a different side to her life at Ferrari. 

Overall, the track and paddock had been more busy than Helena had expected for a Wednesday. It had felt a bit overwhelming when she had first arrived, but she had quickly started to feel more at ease. It hadn't taken her many hours before she'd learnt her way around the Ferrari garage, the media grounds, as well as the rest of the track. 

Once she received her lanyard and passes, she had instantly felt less like an imposter who did not belong there. She could walk around more freely, slowly building more confidence in herself and why she had ended up her; because she was good at her job.