Page 88 of Away We Go

“Thanks?”

Frieda flashes her pearly white teeth at me. “I can see why you’ve got everyone distracted.”

I’ve got everyone what now?

I titter, a nervous sound, and tuck my hands under my thighs to stop from wringing my fingers. “I’m not sure that’s true.”

This time, her smile is softer and not unkind. “You don’t see it, do you?”

Again, I glance at my friend for guidance.See what?

“Not really,” I shake my head. “To be frank, Frieda, I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

She tilts her head, never taking her eyes off me. “Nicky. He’s been different this year. Since you joined the team.”

“He’s been happier,” Serena interjects, seeming unable to stay out of the conversation.

I throw her a grateful smile.

Frieda agrees. “Yes, he was happier. Until recently…”

Now I’m getting annoyed. Nothing that has happened ‘recently’ has been my fault. In fact, if you think about it, the general discontent lingering between me and Nicky is most likely because of her.

“And I’m not saying it’s your fault,” she continues, pulling the wind from my angry sails. “I’m just letting you know that whether or not you like it, whether or not you recognise it, your presence on the team is a distraction.”

My mouth flops open and then closed, mimicking a dying fish, and I sit in stunned silence as she stands up, smoothing out the non-existent wrinkles of her crisp navy-blue pantsuit and offering me what looks like a sincere smile. This woman knows how to deliver a blow while making it nice.

“What was that?” Serena asks, scooting over to take the seat Frieda had just left. “She sounded like she was being nice, but I think she was insulting you. Or…warning you.”

I nod, the ominous feeling in my stomach that had been there since this morning intensifying. Between my chat with Nate and this interlude with Frieda, my spidey senses are telling me that something about today is very off.

“Do you think I’m a distraction?”

My friend bites her lip and looks off to the side.

“Serena?”

She huffs out a breath. “I mean, kinda? But not in a bad way. Nicky’s always been so focussed on racing that it doesn’t feel like he’s enjoying any of it. Since you joined the team, he’s come out with us to celebrate. He’s been showing more of his personality to the fans and all the people who work hard for him. He seems like a better version of himself. So, if that’s you distracting him, then I’d say, let it continue.”

Before I can digest all the words that she’d just thrown at me, the flurry of activity on the starting grid demands our attention.

“Here we go,” she says, facing forward with her focus now on the cars in front of us.

I glance up at the clouds above us. They’re dark and menacing, threatening a storm that has held off so far. I know if the conditions were worse, if the track were wet, I could explain away the bad feeling I’ve had all day. But so far, from what I can see, there’s nothing to scream ‘abort mission.’

Nicky qualified well yesterday, starting in P2 today, and has a good chance of being in the lead by the first corner. This circuit has a long straight, roughly 290 metres from the start to turn one, and so there’s ample opportunity for Nicky to be in front when they get there.

That is, if he’s not toodistracted.

“It’s almost lights out,” Serena says, grabbing and squeezing my hand as we’ve been doing at the start of every race since the first one.

Lights out.I picture Nicky where he is now, sitting in the cockpit of his car, remembering what he said about this being his favourite part of the race. It’s just him and the car, and a bucket load of adrenaline running through his body, waiting to be unleashed.

“…and away we go!”

The five red lights go out and I hold my breath as all twenty cars lurch forward. My eyes stay locked on number eighteen as it edges in front of the car ahead as they careen at top speeds into the corner.

“He’s in the lead!” Serena squeals next to me.

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