Racing is life

27 ~ water

"He's fit." I mutter as we walk past a group of teenage boys all with their karting suits hanging from their hips and tight athletic t shirts on.

"What?" Charles laughs in disbelief, raising his eyebrows at me as he pushes my kart into the next available gap under some open garage type things.

"What? Who said that?" I laugh as I throw my gloves into the kart seat and sit down on the floor, leaning my back against the wall. It's so hot. It's now the beginning of May but it's scorching hot. I feel like I'm going to die, and it doesn't help that I've got to wear all this gear for karting.

"Are you ok? Do you need any water?" He asks, looking over at me. I nod my head in response and close my eyes briefly. "Are you sure you're alright to race?" He adds, furrowing his eyebrows slightly and crouching down in front of me.

"Yeah I'm fine. I'm not going home. I want to race." I say, giving him a small smile. He looks at me with slight concern in his eyes before nodding his head and standing up before walking away to buy some water.

I feel a bit dizzy but that will disappear once I start racing. I lean my head against the wall behind me and pull my race suit further down so it is on my thighs. Because it's so hot, I'm wearing a tight sports top which has the same pink and blue stitching as my fireproofs and every other piece of karting gear I own.

"Mate, you look really flushed. Are you sure you don't want to go home? We can come to the next race." Charles says as he crouches down in front of me again and hands me a bottle of freezing cold water.

"Charles." I state, giving him an angered look.

"Sorry." He says, a smile on his face as he puts his hands in the air like he's surrendering. "Alright, we'll stay. But if you pass out I'm taking you home, no negotiations." He adds, pointing his finger at me.

"Ok fine." I sigh, trying to unscrew the lid of the water bottle but not being able to. I've never been able to open bottles of water. I hold the water out in front of me, a small smile bearing on my face, and he takes it out of my hand before effortlessly unscrewing the lid and handing it back to me, all with a smirk on his face.

"Come on then, quali starts in fifteen minutes and we need to get your kart to the pits." He says, standing up and holding his hand out in front of him to pull me up. I grab his hand and stand up, taking a swig of my drink.

"Put your gear on." He says, pointing to my kart as I pull my race suit up over my hips. I place my bottle of water down on the floor and bring my race suit over my shoulders, zipping it up to my chest and leaving the top bit hanging open.

"You have ten minutes for qualifying so you'll probably get about six laps in. Just do the best you can, and don't cause any trouble. Don't get yourself any penalties or get disqualified." Charles rambles on as I stop paying attention. He just talks at me, all the time. It gets annoying so I stop listening.

"Emilie." He laughs, looking at me. I hum in response while keeping my eyes on the garage opposite. "Stop staring at those boys and get yourself ready for the race." He adds, throwing my gloves at me. I catch them and look at him.

"I'm not staring at them." I argue, walking over to my kart and pressing the accelerator. The engine revs and I smile at Charles. He laughs at my satisfaction and I press it a few more times.

"We need to change this." Charles says, running his finger over the back of my race suit where it says my last name.

"I don't think you can. It was customised." I say, looking down at my hip and pointing to the bit where it says my name and has the British flag.

"I've got a guy who can do it." He replies, smiling at me. "But we really need to get that changed, you're a Leclerc now." He adds, placing his hand on my shoulder.