VIPER || Oscar Piastri

Chapter 109

[POV: Narrator]

Andi didn't emerge from the bus until everyone else was at least ten feet away from it.

She was the very last to step down, and she had her hoodie pulled up over her head, sunglasses shielding her eyes, headphones blaring, arms folded tight against the cold. Austria in October was a betrayal on so many levels — crisp, damp, dull. It looked miserable, but nearly not as miserable as she was.

They had two years to plan this, and they chose Austria in October? This is a sick joke, she thought.

She'd claimed a window seat all to herself on the bus, intentionally isolating from the rest by glaring at anyone who tried to sit down next to her. Even Oscar. She might have slept, too, if it hadn't been for Lando and Carlos (who'd replaced Sergio, because he did in fact bail) turning the journey into some off-key musical. Apparently, they thought listening to the soundtrack of Annie — the 2014 one — was a brilliant idea. Andi now had the lyrics to It's A Hard Knock Life stuck in head, and it wasn't exactly... not fitting.

Grumbling, she trailed after the group into the wooden mess hall — a giant barn-like room that smelled faintly of pine and old leather boots. Inside, it was still cold, and the long, rough-hewn table was already lined with people.

The breakfast buffet was set up along one wall, an impressive spread that looked very Austrian. Relieved, Andi headed straight for the food, piling her plate so high it threatened to topple. She balanced sausage links like logs, scrambled eggs over hash browns, and a small mountain of toast and jam on a separate smaller plate.

She slid onto the bench next to Oscar, dropping her tray down with a clatter.

Lando had something to say about it.

"Hey, nuh-uh. They just said we have to sit in our teams, Andi." From across the table, he had his hands on his hips as if he was preparing to put up a fight.

He didn't, though, because when Andi didn't even glance up and said, "Bite me," with a mouth full of food, he backed off.

Oscar let her eat before he spoke to her. When he did, he landed on a simple question.

"You okay?"

She shrugged. "I'm here, aren't I?"

He leaned sideways onto the table, elbow resting on it as he tilted his head so that she'd catch him out of the corner of her eye. "I'd have thought you'd like this sort of thing."

She let out a short, humorless laugh. "Yeah, well... if I'd have known this was happening, I might've been more open to it. I might have even packed a thicker coat." Her eyes stayed fixed on the plate in front of her, but the edge to her voice was clear — she wasn't happy. She might've been pretending her hash browns were someone else's face, considering how violently she was stabbing them.

Oscar's hand reached up to take both her earbuds out, to which she paused.

"Come on," he said softly, "At least you're not on the same team as him."

She shrugged without looking up.

Oscar's smile faltered a bit.