𝙾𝚛𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚛𝚢┃ Charles Leclerc┃

Chapter Three - The Party

A loud thumping fist was banging at my hotel room door. "Ana? Could you take any longer to get ready? We've got to be downstairs, like... five minutes ago?!"

"Lando, give me one minute!" I shouted, hiking on my leather trousers. Realistically, I should've picked an easier pair of bottoms to get into, considering that pair were rather stiff. Alas, there I was, jumping up and down (an embarrassing amount of times with some strange wiggling motions) whilst holding onto the belt loops. Finally, I was able to zip up the trousers.

Dancing over to the door to the sound of my phone playing a Queen album, I opened it with a flourish and threw my hands up in the air. "Ta da! I'm here. Well, actually, let me just put my shoes on. Then I'll be with you."

Despite earning an unimpressed grunt and glare from Lando, I fastened a pair of heels around my ankles within a few seconds and threw my bag over my shoulder. "There, that didn't take that long now did it?"

"Mhm. Get a wriggle on." Lando brushed down a neat black shirt.

I began to wander down the corridor, doing an odd little boogie motion with my shoulders. "Wriggling."

As we stepped into the ornate elevators once again, I suddenly felt a wave of overwhelmed nausea rush over my head. My bones felt jittery inside of my skin, and I was pretty sure that my legs would give way at any minute. I was nervous. I was really nervous.

I mean, this wasn't just a group of racers that I was meeting. This was every racer that I had been watching on my TV screen for the past decade. This was a group of the fiercest competitors that I was about to be battling for the next nine months. This was every CEO, team principal and manager I could possibly imagine.

And then there was me. On my own. No mum; Dad and sister back home. The new kid.

"Earth to Ana?" Lando was waving a hand in front of my face.

I shook my head, realising that I had completely zoned out. "Sorry. Got a bit lost in thought."

The elevator ride was shortly over, and after a few short corridors, we were swiftly before a conference room by the lobby of the hotel.  The doors were latched back, and a lively party was most certainly in full swing. Music boomed through the walls, low lights glittered the floors, and buzzing bodies were bustling in unison.

Drinks flowed freely, and exotic cocktails were expertly mixed at the bar. Everyone was adorned in their most stylish attire. It was a night of celebration, a symphony of joy, a glimpse into a world where time stood still, and the worries of everyday life faded away. This party was not just an event; it was a vibrant tapestry of memories waiting to be woven into the pages of life.

In my overwhelmed state of affairs, I felt almost as though I was partaking in a fever dream. Well, that was until I had a grinning man waving at me.

"Anastasia! Hello!" A particularly chipper Australian accent echoed from his lips as I quickly pulled myself together.