Here and Beyond

Turning Life Around

CHAPTER 10
Turning Life Around

My life pretty much turned around three-sixty when I moved to Monaco. Suddenly, I woke up early, I ate three times a day, I went to the gym every day, and I could never isolate myself because... Toto. I also started training for Formula One. On weekdays, I play tennis with Lewis in the morning, get breakfast at Max's place with Kelly, or sometimes we go out. By ten in the morning I'm set to a karting place near the track, I practice there with Susie. They made sure that no one would have access like we do, and it made me feel safe. If it was occupied by other people then I go karting with Toto and Susie. When evening comes around, I eat with Alex and Lily or Carmen and George, then go and play golf with Lily. On weekends, I attend meetings with Toto, fly to different tracks with Susie, and then catch up with my friends, sometimes, on a yacht. 

There were instances that I get seen but I am mostly thankful that they do not make a big deal out of it. They take pictures, yes, but whenever I ask them not to post it publicly... they listen to me. For that reason, I am glad I managed to have that kind of connection with the ones who supported me in a short amount of time. 

Right now, I am doing a bit of training, mostly with my endurance and my reaction time. We managed to hire a female trainer and I now spend most of my time with her if not with my friends. Catching a breath I reach for the towel she holds out in front of me, "I'm glad to see improvements in your endurance. Your reaction time, however, didn't improve. But I couldn't say that it was a bad thing since you're pretty good with it even then." 

I nod at her, listening, while I wipe the sweat on my face, my neck, and my body, "Do you think I could do better? For my reaction time, I mean." 

She answered quickly, "Of course, we just need you to try other things. I will bring this up to your aunt and uncle, don't you worry." 

"If you could, please, I really want to be great at this." 

Grace looked at her wristwatch, "I'm sure you would." And then she opened her phone to check for something, maybe a message. I didn't mind her and looked at my phone to see what my notification looked like now that I was barely seen. It wasn't a surprise for me to see messages on my Instagram inbox. Most of them are sending me messages, memes they saw, and even their daily life rant. I don't know if they think I don't check my inbox, but I definitely do, and the more days that passed where I purposely kept myself hidden from social media, the more they sent me things. 

I get I missed you texts in the middle of the night. Some have been drunk texting me but funnily, some think... I'm their social media best friend or diary, and some are just curious about me. As much as I would love to reply to each one of them, I can't. That's why I just leave it on seen while I make sure my online status is off for the world to see. 

When Grace came back she was sporting a wide smile, "You're free for today. Toto had an emergency meeting and Susie had an errand to do. They told me you do not have to go on track today." 

"Thank you," I said to her. 

I feel sticky. The sweat does not feel great on my skin and I feel like taking a shower so I informed her, "I'll hop in the shower real quick. Are you staying or?"

"No, I'm afraid I can't," she replied. I notice the big smile on her face. "You have a date," I pointed out. Grace's eyes turned into saucers as she looked at me, "How'd you know?" 

"I just know," I said. She did not believe me and looked at me, waiting for me to continue, "Okay, I'm not blind. I experienced receiving that kind of text, too. First of all, you hurriedly looked at your phone when you received a message, I noticed your cheeks flushing, and you seemed pretty fidgety. You glance at your watch so many times while we're doing my workout, and when you walked in you looked like your lips are going to be torn right off your face on how big your smile is."