Heard it through the grapevine

Chapter 9

"Can you run and grab the portable RØDE mics from the bag?"

There was absolute chaos in the Singapore paddock for the Ferrari Communications Team. Not only was if Helena's first official race, but a few food poisonings in the team also meant that they had been two people short since their arrival on Wednesday. As a result, Helena was now running around, attempting to do the work of two people, and at the moment, frantically searching for Simon's bag containing filming and recording equipment. Simon was one of her new colleagues. He'd also been there in Zandvoort, and he was one of the more experienced communications officials on the team. From what Helena had seen so far, he had a lot of experience with all the equipment from his previous experience working for the NHL. Generally speaking, the others on her team had a lot of impressive prior experience working in communications for various huge global organisations or sports federations. Helena felt like they were a little out of her league, but she tried to remind herself that there was a reason why she was here. They must have thought that she possessed the right qualities to handle the same job as them.

So far, they'd managed to film a video with Charles, but they still needed to film one with Carlos and possible one with the both of them. Besides that, Helena also needed to film general shots around the garage and paddock to be used as cutaways throughout the other content. Lastly, she also needed to make sure she got pictures for instagram. They did already have a photographer walking around the paddock, but they needed more casual pictures for instagram that, taken with an iPhone or other similar lower resolution devices, ensured a little more "authenticity" on instagram.

Needless to say, Helena was busy today, and it had been an intense introduction to her new job. She'd arrived in Singapore on Wednesday, which meant she was also severely jet lagged. Charles had advised her to start adjusting to the timezone a few days before leaving, but she had been two nervous to go to bed at 5pm and too tired to wake up at 2am, and she had not managed to get any sleep on the plane here either, which meant that she was now running a few hours of sleep on what would be the most hectic day for the communications teams in the paddock. Maybe with time she would become better with the whole timezone thing. Singapore had so far also been extremely warm and the heat was definitely not helping Helena. So far it had only made it difficult for her to stay focused for entire days at a time. Helena was used to the southern European sun, but the tropical heat and humidity in Singapore was even something that Helena found difficult to handle.

Looking around the room, she located the bag Simon was after, grabbed it quickly and running back towards where she had left him. They had been in the middle of setting up for one of their interviews with Carlos. It wasn't until an arm grabbed a hold of her, that she snapped out of the focused mindset she had been in for most of the day. It was Olivia.

"Hey, once you're done helping Simon, can you come meet me upstairs, I want to get some pictures of Vasseur." Helena nodded, wiping a few pearls of sweat off her forehead, not taking time to stop and talk, as she rushed off to find Simon again before he would start questioning where she was.

It was one hell of a busy day, but although Helena was testing her limits, it was also a welcome change from her desk job in Maranello. The variety of tasks, the busy atmosphere and the general feeling of being part of something so big, gave her a rush, a sort of adrenaline kick, that kept her motivated to keep pushing forward.

Thus far, things had also been going well with Charles. When he'd returned from Monza, Helena had told him that it was probably for the best for them to put a stop to what was going on. To her, it had seemed to risky. Their behaviour in the restaurant in Maranello, the sneaking around, it was going to get her fired in no time. She wanted Charles, there was no denying that. Of course there was the physical pull that she felt towards him, but she also felt more and more drawn to how she felt, emotionally, whenever he was around. He made her feel better, more collected, and she liked that about him.