Fifty Shades Of Red | Charles Leclerc

39. Survive

15 years ago

It's been more than three hours since the race in Hungary and Hailey finally managed to lose her parents into the big crowd of people. She knew that later on her parents would scold her because of it and probably not let her stay awake past her bedtime but all she wanted to do at the moment was find her older brother, Jonah. The rest of the drivers had already left hours ago and the big crowd was diminished to only workers staying behind to clean up the place and lock up the paddock until next year, so it wouldn't be too hard of a challenge.

The little blonde girl tried her best to not get distracted by the fancy racing cars as she strolled past the garages, her heartbeat racing slightly faster as she imagined an older version of herself inside one of the cars with a helmet on her head. She'd only sat in a McLaren car with number 30 on it once. Her brother's car. That day, her dad had taken her with him to watch the race in the garage while he worked and kept a close eye on her. Hailey had seen her brother finish the race and take the 2nd place, she'd seen how filled with joy he seemed to be afterwards, she'd seen how his entire face had broken into a smile and she could still remember the strong feeling inside of her chest, as if she wanted to experience it all herself.

That day she'd told her parents she wanted to become a Formula One driver when she'd grow up but instead of getting all the support she'd wished for, all that was given to her were 'women aren't meant to race' or 'it's too dangerous for a woman'. At that time, little Hailey couldn't understand what being a woman had to do with not being able to work in Formula One. She was barely even a girl to be called a woman. Why was it that her parents were fine with her brother racing but would make such a big deal when it came to her? Although it didn't matter too much to her. She knew that as long as she had Jonah by her side, supporting her, what everyone else thought wasn't important.

As she mindlessly walked past one of the garages, lost in thoughts, a strange noise stopped her dead in the tracks. Hailey turned her head towards the entrance and pinched her eyes, trying to see better through the dark, trying to make out what had interrupted her daydreaming. Inside laid a car with the number 17 on it, familiar enough to her as she had seen it race previously, although she did not know to whose driver it belonged to.

"Hello?"

Not frightened by the noise, Hailey asked, thinking that the noise was caused by someone but she was only greeted by the echo of her own voice. Her head then raised towards one of the boards on top of the opening of the garage. On it was plastered the face of a young man, probably in his early 20's and beside it was a name. Hailey concentrated as good as she could to put the fonts together and after a few tries, she finally had a name to put to the face.

Jules Bianchi.

That's what it read. She tried remembering if she had heard the name before on Tv or whether her brother had mentioned him in one of their weekly dinners as a family. She wondered perhaps if Jules was the driver that would soon become her brother's new team mate and replace his old one. As Hailey was trying to figure it all out, a small figure appeared, walking out of the shadows and into the light. Hailey immediately took a few steps back startled but immediately calmed down when she saw that the figure in front of her was harmless.

In front of her stood a brown haired boy, just a few inches taller than her. He can't have been more than two years older.

"You scared me." Said Hailey, slightly laughing at herself.

"Sorry, I didn't know anyone else was here." The boy replied, his voice soft and apologetic.

Hailey gave him a smile in return, to let him know that it's alright and as she did so, she couldn't help but get lost in his eyes. Two green globes that looked a darker shade because of the night sky and just right under them a thin blanket of little spots, reminding her of a constellation that she'd see a summer before during the holidays.