CHAPTER THIRTEEN, you've been robbed!



( NOT EDITED / PROOFREAD )

Juliette was pumped for the Chinese Grand Prix. She was working hard for the past few days, constantly practicing on the simulator, training in the gym, etc.

All those things helped also helped with taking her off Charles, she hadn't even talked to him for the past few days. Yet, he was confusing her even more. She was starting to get used to him constantly glaring at her across the garage, but now, he absolutely ignored her side glances. He was giving her space, which just conflicted her further.

Was he mad?

Did he not want to be friends anymore?

Juliette didn't know.

But Juliette wavered those thoughts away. She invited two of her closest friends-Bruna Marquezine and Neymar Santos Junior-to the paddock. The three always supported eachother, they were like a little friend group. And Juliette never felt like a third wheel at all. Neymar and Juliette would always go to Bruna's movie premieres, Bruna and Juli would go to Neymar's games, and Neymar and Bruna would always go to Juliette's races. It was an odd group. A model, a football player and an F1 driver. But their friendship was always built off of support, which they all found comforting.

Juliette and Neymar's friendship was honestly random, but Juliette was a huge face for Motorsport and Neymar was a huge face for Football, so it was natural that the two of them would become friends, especially with their careers in sports.

Bruna Marquezine and Juliette Bianchi were cousins. Her mother and Bruna's mother were sisters, which naturally made them quite close. Juliette constantly visited São Paulo during breaks-like summer, and hung out with her mother's side of her family.

Neymar and Juliette had a strange past as well. They became friends a few years back, and ended up dating for a few months as well. But the two decided to break it off because it both felt a bit weird for them, and they stayed close friends.

They now have more of a sibling dynamic.
Juliette was even the one who introduced Bruna to Neymar. And she was glad that she did, the two were such a cute couple, and Bruna honestly didn't care about the history between Juliette and Neymar.

"Como está a Ferrari?" [How's Ferrari?] Neymar questioned, an arms wrapped around Bruna's waist, as the couple talked to Juliette.

"É ótimo. Só estou triste por não poder te ver com frequência" [It's great. I'm just sad that I can't see you guys often ] Juliette pouted sarcastically.

"Não se preocupe. Vamos a muito mais Grand Prix's" [Don't worry. We're going to go to a lot more Grand Prix's] Bruna responded with a slight chuckle.

"Vou dizer oi para Lewis, boa sorte hoje. Até tarde!" [I'll go say hi to Lewis, good luck today. See you later!] Neymar spoke, pressing a kiss on Bruna's cheek, and bidding farwell to Juliette. Leaving Ferrari's garage, and walking over to Mercedes' garage.

Juliette felt someone's stare on the side of her head. Her eyes met a familiar green. Charles was talking to Mattia, but his eyes were on her and Bruna.

Bruna looked between the two. "Are you two mad at eachother?" She said, quite carelessly.

Juliette's eyes widened, shushing the girl. Bruna was always more of a blunt type of person. She basically spoke her mind. She couldn't go a second without just blabbering out a random thought - it was quite amusing, really. But sometimes it would get her in awkward situations.

Juliette sighed. "No, he's just being really weird right now."

Bruna nodded, understandingly. "Ney has been too. Our 2 year anniversary's coming up, and I'm scared that he's forgotten."

Juliette frowned. "Of course he hasn't. I've never seen Neymar more in love with anyone than you, he definitely didn't forget."

Bruna nodded, switching subjects. "Um, When does the race start?" Juliette paused, looking down at her phone. "I'm about an hour. I finished prep and everything, so I'm free-"

"Hi Bruna. How are you?" A familiar french accent was heard from behind Juliette.

She turned to meet those green eyes once again.

Bruna plastered a small, awkward grin on her lips. "Good. How are you?" She side-hugged him stifly.

"Good, good." Charles responded, before clearing his throat. "Could I steal Juliette for a second? It would be long."

Panic set in Juliette's face. "I don't think-"

"Sure." Bruna shrugged, quite stupidly.

Ah shit, Juliette couldn't escape anymore.

She swallowed hardly, as Charles placed a hand on her shoulder, leading her into one of the office rooms.

Juliette stepped away from the Monegasque, as he closed the door.

"What do you want?" Juliette started, a cold expression on her face. An opposite expression on Charles's face, his face instead reflected a softer version of his normal resting face.

"I'm sorry." Charles spoke. "I know it's late. I know it's bad timing, right before a race. But I just needed to let it out my system."

Juliette's expression didn't change. Charles sighed. "I shouldn't have called you that. I was so fucking stupid-"

"You probably thought it though." Juliette interrupted him. Charles gazed at her in a confused manner. "There isn't an excuse for what you said. All you do is say or do some fucked up shit towards me, apologize, and expect me to forgive you. And when I do, you just do it all over again."

Charles rubbed a hand over his face. His intentions were pure. He wanted to keep her reputation clean, he didn't want some footballer
spreading rumours about her. He felt as if he had a sort of responsibility for her, but the way he executed it, was completely wrong, he just put more of a strain on their friendship.

"Juliette. I don't usually fuck up this bad. I think I was just done with Antoine, and the situation. It only made me even more frustrated when you attempted to defend him. When he was obviously using your name for more attention."

"I appreciate that you wanted to 'protect me', but you have a pretty fucking weird way of doing it. You completely humiliated me in front of Daniel and Carlos. You never stopped to think that your words matter and actually have meaning." Juliette argued, her cheeks burning in frustration.

Charles closed his eyes, squinting. As he closed his fists. Taking in a deep breath, attempting to contain himself.

"I didn't mean it. It was in the heat of the moment and I didn't think." Charles's jaw twitched.

Juliette scoffed. Charles watched as she flicked her hair back, and attempted to walk past him.

He didn't know why, but he grabbed her wrist, stopping her. "Juli, I'm not done talking to you."

"Don't call me that."

She paused. "You know what I noticed?" Charles furrowed his brows. Juliette continued. "Ever since I joined F1, my life's literally gone to shit."

Charles sighed. "Don't say that."

"What? Like it isn't true? All the sexist comments and hate. My friendship with you. My reputation. It's all gone down hill. Even Mattia's still favoriting you. 'Ferrari's golden boy'- Even after I've outperformed half of the grid on my rookie season."

Those words drove Charles to silence. It sort of was true. Juliette's dream wasn't so perfect after all.

And Charles felt absolutely shocked at her saying that he was 'Ferrari's golden boy'. When he felt the opposite. He wasn't delivering good results, but he still did get great support. He couldn't imagine how Juliette would feel if their roles were switched, she probably wouldn't have that much support-since she was a woman.

He shouldn't have been envying her, but he couldn't help himself. He regretted it a lot though.

Juliette left the room. And Charles stood there. Her words wavering heavily in his mind.

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Juliette was currently on her 54th lap in the race. She was doing exceptionally well, the track was a bit tricky, but she could handle it.

"What position am I in?" Juliette questioned, speaking into the radio

"Oh my god. Bianchi, you're in P3. Vettel's 8 seconds behind you."

"WHAT?!" Juliette gasped, her eyes widened. Her hands gripping onto the wheel even harder. "Who's in front?"

"Hamilton in P1 and Charles in P2."

"Double Podium!? I gotta keep this up!" Juliette exclaimed. She was now on her 55th lap. Charles was directly in front of her. She didn't know whether to pass him or not.

"Am I allowed to pass him?

"Let me ask Mattia"

"Nope. Mattia doesn't want you to pass him."

"Copy that." Juliette nodded. She was proven right, once again. Mattia would do anything to protect his golden boy.

Juliette's front wing was about a meter behind the back Charles's car. She could overtake him easily, as he had left a pocket of space on his right hand side, but she had to listen to orders.

Juliette wasn't frustrated per say, but more disappointed. It would've been amazing to be P2 in her third ever race in F1.

But at least she got a podium, right?

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Juliette stood proudly on the 3rd place stand of the podium, a bottle of champagne in her hands, as a crowd of employees, fans, and some of the drivers stood in front of them.

Charles and Juliette then popped open their champagnes, the alcohol streaming out of it, hitting Lewis, who was P1-obviously.

At that moment, Juliette didn't have a care in the world, she had taken her hair out of the braid it was in, letting her light waves free. A big grin on her face, as she turned to spray champagne on Charles-Lewis joined her as well.

Charles and Lewis then took their turn to spray her with Champagne, she gasped as the cold liquid hit her body. She laughed, angelically. Her hair was now drenched in champagne.

Bruna and Neymar were at the front of the crowd, applauding the girl.

They then threw her a Brazil and French flag.

She wore both of them, tying it around her neck, as she laughed in joy. She sprayed the remaining Champagne on Lewis - who definitely didn't appreciate it.

Juliette then randomly piggy back rode Lewis, back down to the garages.

"You smell like champagne." Lewis commented. Juliette rose a brow, sarcasm seeped in her tone. "Oh really? I thought I smelled like roses."

Juliette and Lewis then bidded eachother farewell, walking back to their garages.

Juliette turned, her eyes meeting Charles's.

"Congrats." Juliette stated, quite awkwardly. Charles had a ghost if a smile on his face. "Thanks. You deserved that P2 though."

Sure.

Juliette nodded, before walking into Ferrari's garage. Charles sighed, following her.

She was automatically wrestled into a hug. The familiar scent of Bruna's perfume entered her nose. "I'm so proud of you! Parabéns!" [Congratulations] Bruna squealed with a toothy grin on her face.

Juliette turned, her eyes glazing over the employees and Mattia all hugging Charles. They hadn't even congratulated her yet.

Neymar hugged the Bianchi. "Parabéns! You deserved it!"

Juliette smiled. "You two are my lucky charms. You should come more often"

"International break from football's coming up soon. I'll try to visit you, again." Neymar nodded. Bruna hugged the girl once more. "My girl's making history!"

Juliette genuinely smiled. She was glad that she had some sort of support - even though it wasn't much, it was enough.

Some of the employees came up to Juliette.

Some.

Not as many as Charles. And they weren't as enthusiastic either. She had earned some pat in the backs, a few hugs. Compliments here and there.

Look, Juliette wasn't an attention whore. But it wouldn't hurt to feel a bit more appreciated.

Mattia tapped her shoulder. Juliette turned around, a small smile on her face.

"Congrats, Juli! I knew you could do it." Mattia beamed at the girl. "I know you wanted to push for a further position, but under some circumstances - one of them being that Charles doesn't have as much points for the World Champions ship - I had to let you stay back to help defend Charles's car."

Juliette seemed taken aback by his absolute bluntness.

What the fuck?

She just smiled and nodded. And walked away. She told Bruna and Neymar that she would meet up with them later.

Juliette expected her first podium win to be a bigger deal. But she didn't feel important that day, she felt quite disregard.

Juliette sighed, walking back to her driver's room.

She needed a shower, especially since she was so sticky from all the champagne.

She washed her body and hair throughly, scrubbing all of the champagne off successfully.

Juliette exited the bathroom that was connected to her drivers room. She walked over to her duffel bag, grabbing a change of clothes.

A pair of jean shorts, and a skims top with a sort of neutral brown tone. It was a simple yet put together outfit.

She shuffled through her bag, attempting to find the rest of her necessities. She adjusted the towel that was wrapped around her body. It draped down from her chest, all the way down to her lower thighs.

Her door suddenly opened. "Do you need a ride?-"

Charles glanced at her state in a panicked expression. "Shit. Sorry, I-I should've knocked."

Charles just stood there frozen, his expression not wavering for even a second,

Juliette rose a brow. "Okay, now please get out."

"Oh yeah! Sorry." He closed the door of the room. Juliette walked up to the door, and locked it. She shook her head slightly, as she went back to her bag. Her cheeks slightly burning at the interaction.

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LIKED BY @isabellesantos, @lewishamilton, @charlesleclerc and 1,890,122 OTHERS

@juliettebianchi: race weekend ft. my first podium win! i'm so damn proud of this team, and how much i've accomplished so far this season. let's keep pushing! 👊👊

COMMENTS

@ferrari: history maker😍

@user1: i've never thought that neymar and lewis hamilton would be friends, such a random duo💀

@danielricciardo: you deserved p2 🤷‍♂️
- @user2: LMFAO DANIEL
- @danielricciardo: @user2 what? idk how juliette isn't salty about it
- @user2: i love the bluntness 😍😍

@lewishamilton: loved sharing the stage with you!
- @juliettebianchi: you're my fave istg

@user3: mattias such an asshole for not letting her overtake charles🙄it's so obvious that he favorites charles
- @user4: she's a shitty driver anyway, i'm surprised she even got points this race 💀
- @user3: literally stfu and go get a life

@brunamarquezine: thank you for inviting us juli! words can't describe how fun this grand prix was ❤️ obrigada
- @juliettebianchi: thank you for supporting me throughout the whole thing💘
- @neymarjr: why are you talking so formally
- @juliettebianchi: leave me alone ffs 😭😭

@charlesleclerc: ❤️
* liked by @juliettebianchi

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