Codie’s POV
“Pole position babe! Well, basically. Okay, second position, still, same thing really.” Amelie shouted at me when I got out the car. My hair was gross, I smelt gross, I felt gross, and the camera was coming my way. Great, just great.
“So, Codie, second position and it’s only the second race. What’s running through your head right now?” the guy asked me.
“Well, to be honest, not much really. Just what everyone’s faces on the other teams would be right now, in my mind they quite funny. Also how I should take tomorrows race, how I can stay in front of Whincup, because I’m not quite sure yet.” That was pretty easy to say, the truth. Well, most of it, I knew I could beat Whincup, I just wanted to lull him into a false sense of security.
Time trials are over, I’m starting second on the grid, I’m going to kick Jamie Whincup’s arse, and I was going to have a shower when we got back to the hotel. Second position, second race, a bit cliché. Whatever. I grab my clothes and disappear to the change rooms. I had it all to myself. Girl change rooms, guy change rooms. Being the only girl racer, I was the only one in the girl change rooms, until the rest of the girls came in
I walked out to the rented car and waited for the other girls. Amelie was staying behind to help the other mechanics fix my car. My fastest lap was good, but, if I hadn’t of crashed the car, that lap would have been my best. Hey, it wasn’t my fault the wheels locked up, was it now? Eventually the other three came out and we got in the car to go home. If I was allowed to I would have stayed with Amelie, but she told me to go and so did the manager.
We got back to the hotel and I had the most beautiful shower. It felt like I was in there for hours, but I was only in for about 15 minutes. When I got out I put my pyjamas on, it may have only been 5 pm, but, this was when we watched my lap and look at what I can improve on, as well as to see what Whincup would say. Stupid freaking Whincup, I lost pole position to him. If Frosty could beat him, I could thrash him. We had recorded the T.V. version of my fastest lap, and we had the actual copy from the race in many different versions. From the passenger seat, behind the car, cameras that were on the kerbs and cameras in the stands.
When we put the T.V. on, Whincup’s interview was being shown
“So, Whincup, what do you think of the new girl, Codie Badress?” does the interviewer always start with, ‘So, (please insert name here)’?
“I think she is confident, maybe a little bit too much.” He is such an arse, not an ass, an arse.
“Do you think she could win and that she threatens your competition place?” the interviewer asked.
“No, I don’t think she threatens my place in the competition, or that she will win tomorrow. But something I’ve learnt from racing, is that you should always expect the unexpected and that you should never underestimate people, or overestimate.” What did I tell you? A complete arse/ass. That was all we watched of that, I didn’t want to know what other people thought of me to be honest.
We watched all of my laps from every angle a few times and everyone wrote down notes. What I could improve on, what we should try doing and what we should scrap.
“Right, I think I could improve on my left turns, we could improve our pit stops and I could probably improve my gear changes as well. Umm, we should probably scrap the first lap technique because that lap was shit, and I have no idea what we should try.” I said after two hours of close watching and observing my racing.
“Umm, I agree with Codie, our pit stops have to be sped up. Umm, yeah should scrap first lap technique and I have no idea what to try either.” Jamie agreed with me. Elysse said the same and so did Clarisse. Amelie got home an hour through our watching, but she was always best at this stuff, she knew what she was talking about.
“Codie, yes, improve left turns and the gear changes. Don’t forget about your speed, I think you slow down a little bit too much when you turn. We have to improve our pit stops if we want Codie to win, if we want us to win. Everything needs to be ready, everything needs to move faster. Scrapping the first lap technique is probably a good idea, same with lap three and six. I think we should try our secret weapon.” Was her observation.
“You legally put turbo in the engine, you put flame throwers on the back. Oh, wait I got it, you put jetpacks in the boot. Nailed it.” I said sarcastically, what secret weapon did we have?
“No, no and no. The one that we came up with in our first year, ‘Skittles’. Anyone remember that one?” Amelie told, and asked us.
“Skittles? I probably came up with the name, but, what actually happened has escaped my mind.” I told the truth. Sounded like a name that I would say, but I don’t know what happened.
“For the first part of the race, you have hard tyres, then, we have two pit stops when you near run out of fuel. We then put on soft tyres, the ones you used yesterday, first. You only used them for one lap right?” She finished with a question.
“Umm, I used them for my last five laps.” I told her. Five laps isn’t much. The tyres are just trimmed down a little.
“That’s fine. You’ll go on the soft tyres, until Whincup pulls into pit stop for his last time. You will pull in the same lap, we’ll put on the brand new soft tyres, and then, it’s a bloody battle between you and Whincup ‘till the end, of course you’ll win though.”
“Aahhh, ‘Skittles’.”
Louis’ POV
“Guys, she’s not picking up.” I had been calling for about half an hour, and she wasn’t picking up. She was starting to worry me.
“Don’t worry about Lou, she’s fine, I can feel it. They’re probably fixing the car or seeing how they can improve her racing or something like that or along those lines.” Liam told me, making me feel a little better.
“Dude, what your feeling, is completely different to what I’m feeling. What if she was in a car crash on her way home, or, she got assaulted again, or, someone murdered her, or, she went to hospital after a crash while she was racing, or-” I was cut off while I was coming up with these scenarios.
“Or, she’s in the shower, or, she’s watching a movie, or, she’s forgotten that you were going to call, or, she forgot to charge her phone, or, she’s busy. Just because she’s not picking up her phone doesn’t mean that she’s in danger or is dead. Just chill your beans and call her tomorrow. Anyway, we can rule out a car crash while she was racing. You watched the whole thing and there wasn’t anything about her going to hospital. Yes, she crashed, but it wasn’t major. Call her tomorrow, everything will be fine, I promise.” Liam promised she would be alright. That’s enough for me, I hope.
“Okay, I’ll call her tomorrow. Maybe in half an hour instead. See if she’s actually doing something. How should I waste this half an hour guys?”
“Dude, we don’t have half an hour. We’re leaving to get ready in like, ten minutes.” Niall reminded me.
“I’ll call her again now then.” I said as I grabbed my phone and got Codie’s contact up. I rang her number and she picked up this time. I gave a thumbs up to the other guys and walked out the room.
“Hello my love.” I start.
“You know how many missed calls I’ve got from you Louis?” She responded.
“No, how many?” I asked.
“26 calls, I’m not even kidding. I know I was meant to talk to you at six, but I was a bit preoccupied with how to improve my racing. We watched my practice laps, and my fastest lap, for two hours to see what I needed to improve on, and what we should do tomorrow. I thought that was a little bit more important than picking up the phone to you.” Wow, harsh.
“Sorry, you just got me worried sick because you weren’t picking up. So, second position Codie, that’s pretty good.” I changed the subject.
“Yeah, it is. I would have had pole if Whincup hadn’t decided he would distract me when my wheels locked up and made me crash. And don’t think this changes the fact that you’re a freaking clingy person who can’t stand to not know where I am and how I am.” That was a bit harsh too, but I suppose it was true.
“Yeah, I know. That Whincup is such an arse, he thinks he’s so much better than everyone else. I wish I could be there right now and just punch him right in the nose.” He annoyed me.
“Great idea, punch a racer in the face and probably get me kicked out of the V8’s. Scratch the great idea, it sounds too cool, we should totally do it, eh?” she says the last line sarcastically.
“Yeah, totally. Not much to talk about is there?” there wasn’t much really.
“How was your concert last night?” Oh, right. There was that.
“Pretty good, could’ve been better, but, you know.” I said through the phone.
“I still haven’t seen you guys perform yet. I should when I get back shouldn’t I?” She told and asked.
“Yeah, I suppose so. The guys are telling me I have to go, same time tomorrow?” I asked as the guys acted like loonies.
“When we were supposed to talk, or now?” She asked, I imagined her face, big bright eyes shining, small smile.
“How about this time?” I said as the guys start dragging me out the door.
“Alright, hear you then. Bye love.” She said.
“Bye love.” I hung up and looked at the guys.
“Bye love.” Zayn mocked.
“Not much to talk about is there love?” Niall joined in.
“I love you Codie.” They all said at the same time. This was going to be an interesting night.
Codie’s POV
Please let this work, please let this work. Please let our plan work. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. Don’t miss the green light, don’t lock up your wrists. Speed up your turns, keep your gear changes smooth, have nice left turns. Don’t stuff up, keep your place in the pack, win the race. Most importantly, win the race. Don’t pressure yourself, too late for that…
Relax your grip on the wheel, Jesus, if you could see your hands, your knuckles would be white as freaking snow. Glad you have the gloves on now, aren’t ya? Yes conscience, I am. Breathe in, and out, in, and out. Look at Whincup, be intimidating. Good, that was a very intimidating look through a helmet that he cannot see my face through. This was going well, and we haven’t even started the race yet.
Keep your heart rate down. Keep your head on your neck, keep your brain in your head. Don’t get a headache yet, or at all for that matter and most importantly, don’t kill yourself. That’s only a little bit important. Teeny tiny bit. Stop crapping on, focus. Focus on the lights, those three little lights. Two reds, one green. Focus on them, don’t let anything distract you. You can do this.
First red light, is on. Second red light. Green, go. My foot hits the accelerator, and the car goes down the first straight. I turn the corner and prepare myself for the long and tiring race ahead.
***
“So, Codie, what’s it like coming second today?” what did I tell you. He always starts with ‘So, (name)’.
“Umm, yeah, it’s okay I suppose.” I said, it was actually killing me inside.
“Do you think it has changed the other team’s view on you?” he asked.
“I would hope so, but not necessarily.” I told him.
“What do you think they see you as now?” he had to keep pushing it, didn’t he?
“I hope they see me as a threat, or someone they could… I don’t know, just, a strong opponent I suppose.” I had no idea what to say.
“And, cut. Thank you Codie, congrats on the placing by the way.” The camera guy said to me.
“Thanks.” I practically said through my teeth.
“Hey, what’s wrong, you came second, be happy with yourself. It was an awesome effort.” He said.
“Yeah it was, but, if Whincup didn’t ram me up my arse when I was winning, and knock me off the track, resulting in me having to gain 11 places again, I would have won. He should have got something for that, isn’t it illegal or something anyway? He can only get away with it because he’s a freaking arse.” I told the camera guy.
“Look, life doesn’t always go your way, the only thing you can do is move on. I bet you, fifty dollars, that you will win the next race.” Great, he was making me gamble.
“Alright, but you’ll probably be the one to lose your money.” I warned him before I walked off to get changed. This was going to be a good day for tanning and relaxing until I go home to the boys. YAY! Not…

Notes