ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ - ꜰᴏʀᴍᴜʟᴀ ᴏɴᴇ
Harley is an upcoming talent in the sport, but her opportunities for a better seat seem to vanish in front of her eyes despite winning the Formula Two championship for the second time in a row. Her gender seems to...
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Harley was very intimidated all of a sudden. The garage was crowded, the only visual a red sea of people. Mila was used to this, she knew what she's was doing and apparently, she knew the entire sea by name and face. The girl tried to introduce Harley to everyone, at least the important people, but Harley could barely remember what she ate for breakfast.
And there were a lot of important people.
Mila easily picked the girl's teammate out of the crowd and pulled him to the side. Mila and Charles seemed to know each other pretty well and Harley briefly wondered if the girl got teamed up with every new driver entering the team.
"Charles, this is your new teammate, Seb's replacement? Harley. Harley, your teammate Charles. Please tolerate each other and don't be a bunch of dicks. I'd rather not repeat the fiasco of a couple of years back" Charles reached out his hand as Mila disappeared into some dark corner of the garage as Harley reluctantly shook it, her panicked eyes following Mila.
"She did not just leave me here."
"She's a handful," Charles said a smile on his face and then as though it wasn't clear yet. " Mila, I mean."
"I figured"
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Harley tried reminding herself that qualifying wasn't anything new to her. That, sure, she had never done it in a Formula One car, but it couldn't be that different.
She was wrong.
It was very different and even though selfish people weren't new in the sport. Formula one drivers were a whole different breed apparently because holy fuck Harley had not even done a single lap and had almost been driven off track at least a handful of times.
"Are they always this reckless?"
The voice of her engineer crackled in her ear with a sigh. "They're formula one drivers, just focus on your own lap." The fact he didn't really believe she was one went unsaid, but his words sat heavy in her stomach.
Now the entire world knew that her team didn't believe in her either. That the only reason she was in that car was desperation. She hated that the press she'd undoubtedly get was the first thing that came to her mind.
Her lap was cut short by someone crashing into the barrier when the checkered flag was waved and she knew she was fucked.
"That's P17." And the way those two words left his mouth said enough.
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The whispers around the paddock had made her want to smash her fists into a wall. Apparently 'she doesn't know what she's doing.' because that is how you win championships. Her good record didn't matter though, not to the press.
Because Charles had qualified P2 and if that wasn't cause to drag Harley through the mud nothing would ever be.
As though she wasn't beaten herself up about it enough yet. It wasn't even her fault. This result was out of her control "Stop stressing about it, Harley. What's done is done."
What's done is done sure, but the press was cruel and Formula One press was brutal, unforgiving, fucking murderous and the girl felt herself slipping into old habits.
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"We can't have you qualifying P17"
"We need points, some good rep."
A sigh, fingers pinching her nose and the urge to fucking yell. "You do realise I was purple in the first sector until Giovinazzi spun and caused me to abandon my lap right?"
"All I know is that P17 is bad and we can't have bad."
A deep breath. Bite your tongue, don't argue. Just nod and say you'll do better. "This is fucking ridiculous!" Great job.
She shoved her chair back, resisted the urge to throw with things and walked away. The door was closed as though nothing ever happened.
Her mother taught her better than that.
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"For what it's worth I think they're being ridiculous too," Charles said, a soft smile gracing his lips. "You did a good job."
Yeah, well thanks. You're their golden child. You don't have to fear for your job. It is absolutely worth nothing hearing that coming out of your mouth, but good for you.
"I shouldn't have yelled."
"Probably not, no." A chuckle "I would have done the same"
Somehow that was hard to believe.
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23-05-2021
P1 in the championship let's go baby. Also holy fucking shit, thanks for the 100K+ on crush and the 250 followers!! Love you xx
