History maker, rule breaker

4.

As I walked into my changing room, a million thoughts raced through my mind. Did he actually mean what he said? Or was he just messing with me again? The more I thought about it, the more exhausted I felt. I ended up laying on the couch, hoping for a quick nap. However, we all know how 'quick' naps go.

"Dino, she's dead again."
"Dead people don't have heartbeats, Paul."
"Shut up, being smart is overrated."
"Both of you shut up and let her get some sleep."
"Too late. I suggest you run, like, right now." I said, opening my eyes. Paul and Dino went wide-eyed before running out, but Ralf stayed. "Why are you still here, Ralf?" I asked him. "Look, Maja. I'm worried about you. Last night you slept for like 14 hours, and yet you still had it in you to take a 2 hour nap? That's not normal." I chuckled at him and got up. "Who cares? You told me I needed more sleep." And with that, I was shoving him out of the room.

When I was finished changing, I finally walked out. I checked my phone until I heard a bunch of clapping. "Woah, she's finally alive." I looked up and rolled my eyes. "Thank you, thank you." I said as I bowed. "Maja, you need to warm up quick. There's only 30 minutes left of track time." I nodded and ran out of the trailer to find my personal trainer.

"JJ!!" I exclaimed, finally finding my trainer. "Hey there, Maja! Lets get you warmed up." He said. We started with stretching and later moved on to some reaction time warm-ups, like the tennis balls. Once we were done, there was about 20 minutes left to go on the track. I ran out towards my car, quickly put on the balaclava and helmet, and hopped in. 'Radio check?' I closed my eyes for a second before responding. 'Loud and clear. Lets make these 15 minutes great.'

By the end of the session, I had already topped the timing charts. 'Alright Maja, bring it in. You did good today, we're all proud of you!' I smiled as I heard that message. I drove the car into the pits, waiting for them to pull it back into the garage.

As I hopped out of the car, I was immediately engulfed into a hug. "You did great, speedy. Just gotta do the same thing in quali and the race." I heard Dino say. "Since when was my competition proud of me? And since when did he give me hugs?" I asked him. He just chuckled and shook his head. "I started when my little sister was faster than me."

"I love you, Dino." I said as I buried my head into his chest. "I love you too, Maja." He responded as he hugged me tighter. A few seconds later, the click sound of a camera could be heard. "Are you serious? I was just starting to actually like him, JJ." I said as I walked towards the mirror. I fixed my hair and hopped into the golf cart to go to interviews.

"Hey there, pretty girl." Paul whispered in my ear. "What do you want, Paul?" I asked him. "Can't a man just give a girl a compliment?" He asked back. I shook my head and turned to face the other direction. Soon enough, we made it to the spot. "Oh, Maja! Over here!" I heard one of the interviewers say. I walked over there and greeted her, then gave Paul a quick glare. "Are you ready for the interview now, Maja?" She asked. I nodded and smiled. 'Alright, here we go.'

Everyone on the team knows I hate interviews, but today was particularly worse. I had already been feeling weird since the morning, but I didn't tell anyone as I wanted to just have a normal day for once. After the interviews rapped up, I got in the golf cart where everyone was waiting for me. "I see you, Miss popular!" Dino said as he raised his hand for a high five. "I'm not in the mood, Dino. Lets just go." I said, and with that, we were off.

--

I was planning on releasing that a lot earlier but of course I had to get sick today, life loves me. Anyways I'll try to release a chapter a day until my break is over, but no promises as per usual (my schedule's going to start getting busier this week as well). But yeah, I can't wait to write the actual race chapter finally. Since Zak doesn't have a main role in this story, I'll be replacing him with Maja. He'll still be in the book at some point though.