STREETS -
act one chapter ten.

TW: MENTIONS OF VIOLENCE AND ASSAULT.
Italics mean spanish speaking.

"ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" Alex asked. The two Williams drivers carpooling with each other on the morning of the race. Alex wouldn't tell Alicia, but he was most definitely worried. After having picked her up last night he didn't think she should race today and should most definitely not do any media today with shiner that was beside her eye.

"My head kills." Alicia muttered, squeezing her eyes shut behind her sunglasses as she rested her against the tinted windows. "And for once it's because I'm not hungover." She attempted to joke but Alex didn't laugh.

Alex was torn between two options. He was of course the only one who knew what had happened last night. Was he supposed to keep silent, as Alicia had asked him to? Or, was he to tell their team principal. Which would lose him some brownie points with the girl but ultimately he cared more about her health.

So, he had to ease the thought of her not racing back into her mind. Last night Alicia had been persistent in racing today. Something about it being 'character building' or to 'prove them wrong'. Whoever 'they' were.

"You don't have to race today."

"I do." She replied almost instantly, "I have to, Alex." Her tone softened as she didn't dare to look at him. "I have people to prove wrong-"

Alex snorted, "Don't we all." He turned in his seat to face her, "But, we can't all do it in our first two races."

"But I will." She spoke with a sense of determination as the crowds of photographers seemed to jump forward at the next car arriving. Alicia groaned, realizing their cameras were most likely to flash. "It's too early for this."

Alex chuckled as the car came to a stop, and opening the door for Alicia to get out first. "Off you pop."

"Off you pop." Mimicked Alicia as she stepped out the car, forcing a smile on her face.

In such a short amount of time Alex came to look after Alicia as if she was his own sister. Maybe that's why he couldn't bring himself to not tell Jost the truth.

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Alicia walked behind Mick and Esteban as they made their way to the drivers parade but made no effort to join in on their conversation or make any with LANCE STROLL beside her. For once, she didn't particularly care if she looked moody on camera and she didn't care about the scolding Summer was bound to give her.

Alex wasn't exactly making his concern hidden, every five seconds he would look away from George to check on the girl who slowly trailing behind the rest of them - who didn't look up for this at all.

And if that interviewer came anywhere near Alicia, there would most definitely be a PR nightmare.

"Alicia!" Alex whispered leaning in the seat of his separate car. "Do you want a piece of gum?"

"Ooo! Yes please!" Alicia had to shout, the Dutch fans roaring as the vehicle holding Max sped away.

"Uh, how am I going to do this?" Alex muttered to himself, holding the piece in his hand. "Are you good at catching?"

"Are you good at throwing!" Alicia shouted back. Now, she had seen Alex's golfing abilities and didn't exactly hold him to a high standard in any other sport. "Just throw it!"

Alex rolled his eyes at her demands and readjusted himself to make it easier for him. "There you go!" He shouted, pleasantly surprised with himself that it had landed perfectly in the palms of her hands.

"Thanks!" Alicia had the final word before Alex's car sped off, cheers following his car.

As she began to chew on the piece of gum, she instantly regretted it. An ache in her jaw was now forming.

The sun wasn't helping either. No doubt it would make her sweat and the bruise by her eye and littered on her jaw would become noticeable.

As soon as the race ended she would have to rush back to her drivers room to cover them back up. There was no way she was telling anyone about what had happened to her last night. It was her own fault really.

Walking down the street that had no lights on wasn't her best moment. But then, she hadn't expected to get attacked. Or should she?

She was a woman in formula one. In her head it made sense why the man had cornered her and made contact with her jaw within seconds.

Alicia was so caught up in blaming herself what had been done to her that she hadn't noticed the loud cheers that came for her. At first it hadn't been cheers, there'd been a large group of boos but the rest of the crowd did their best to cover them up.

The Williams driver hadn't even noticed them. Those sat closer to the front quickly realized her dissociation from the crowd. Her waves were minimal and not for one second had there been a smile on her face.

The best assumption to give was nerves on her highest starting position, so close to the points.

The memory was fresh. Constantly replaying in her mind. She kept thinking of different ways in which she had been at fault, all the different routes she could've taken, all the things she should've said in hopes of not aggravating the man.

It was no-one fault but her own, and so she kept telling herself that.

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"Are sure you're okay?" Nadia asked, having been observing the fidgety Alicia for the past five minutes. "If you're going to be sick do it in the bin. I hate sick."

Alicia gave her engineer a thumbs up, feeling a form of exhaustion take over her. Sleep hadn't come easy to her this morning. The hot tears that streamed down her face felt like they were never going to end and at a certain point she felt embarrassed for breaking down in-front of Alex who had only known her for two weeks.

And now she felt even worse! She was making him keep quiet on a situation that should most definitely be reported to their team principal.

Jost nor Alex were to be seen. Worrying.

"Are you sweating?" Charlotte asked, the personal trainer having appeared out of nowhere. "You aren't even in the car yet. Do you have a fever?"

Alicia dodged the hand that was coming towards her forehead, and reached for her balaclava. "I'm fine." The two women next to her raised their eyebrows, "Or, I will be fine."

"What's that under your eye-"

"Oh look at the time! Better go do something other than standing around!"

Charlotte and Nadia watched as Alicia walked away and got herself seated in her car. Before they both realized the girl doesn't have a watch.

And that they most definitely needed to talk to Jost.

Nadia cleared her throat as the formation lap began, "Do what you've got to do today to bring those points home, Alicia." The engineer encouraged, "And we are starting the race on Strat A. Be careful out there."

"And if anything feels wrong, just pop up on the radio."

"Okay..." Alicia wearily replied. Surely, Nadia just means the car.

Right?

Nadia didn't mean the car. Nadia meant Alicia.

Frankly, the engineer hadn't been paying much attention to the driving. Her mind had been clouded with the news of what had happened to her driver.

Why Jost didn't wait till after the race to alert the members of Alicia's closest team members, was beyond her.

The radio had been quiet. The start hadn't gone too well, Alicia had fallen back places almost immediately. Stroll and Gasly had come up behind her before the first corner and pushed her back two.

Her reaction time seemed to be much slower than the others as she found the Alpine of Esteban up next to her and well, overtaking her within seconds.

Alex was next. At first he'd wanted to see if Alicia was going to defend against him or simply let him through. His assumption was that she was going to put up the biggest battle against him, but she merely let him past.

That's when Nadia had gotten on the radio. Losing 4 places within such a short amount of time was unlikely, unless your car had an issue. "Does the car feel alright?"

Alicia's reply had been a simple; "Yes."

Nadia was trying to get her to tune back into the race but after a stop and then being half way through the race, Alicia was in 15th. And didn't seem to be making any improvements any time soon.

"Jenson, what do you think is going on here?" Crofty asked turning to JENSON BUTTON in the commentators box, a man who had frequently worked with Williams and still does.

"I mean Alicia's in her second race but the start of this race had by no means been outstanding. What she'll need and what Williams definitely need is a Virtual Safety Car or maybe even a full one. To liven her back up in that car, or put on softs and see what she can do." Jenson shrugged, finding what had happened to Alicia as odd.

A rookie who was starting that high, in their second race, should never fizzle out that fast. The rookie buzz is a thing you can't describe, in your first season you all feel it.

And it never really disappears no matter how many races you start. So, for Alicia's to disappear so fast was concerning and maybe he'd have to make his way down to the Williams garage at the end of the session.

"Oh, Jenson! I think you might've just brought Alicia what she wanted. Yuki Tsunoda pulls over to the side of the track. Let's see if there's any movement down at Williams. Ted, over to you."

"Yes Crofty!" The voice of TED KRAVITZ spoke, his camera focusing on the movement inside the blue garage, "It appears a Williams car is due to come in. Which one..." Ted draws out as he awaits the arrival of the car.

All three men expecting to see the number 25, considering Alicia had pitted before Alex but were all mildly surprised when Alex pulled in.

"That is the number 23 of Alex Albon, pulling into the pits Crofty. And Williams are not double stacking. Alicia Hugo is not coming into the pits."

Lap 55. By some miracle Alicia found herself p14. (Only thanks to the stationary Alfa Romeo of Valterri Bottas)

"That's going to be a safety car. Box, box."

The message replayed in the commentators box. "Second time around and Alicia does come into the pits... for some fresh softs! Ted..."

The camera focused on a nervous Nadia who was watching the Williams pull away, "Yes! What a beautiful stop from Williams, which could be the fastest of the day. Alicia will come out P16. Slotted in-between the battle of Vettel and Schumacher. But she could yet to be majorly bumped up, seeing as she was the first one in and out of the pits."

"Maybe the day is starting to look up for Hugo."

"Did Schumacher pit?" Alicia asked, her voice unheard for the past twenty minutes.

"No, the only person to have pitted in close range to you would've been Stroll. Who is sitting in P10. You've got 12 laps to do your best." Nadia voiced. Frankly, she didn't want Alicia to push herself anymore and was secretly hoping that her Williams would spawn a mechanical error and have to be retired.

Even as terrible as it may have sounded, Nadia believed it to be justified! The driver was clearly shaken up and was keeping it to herself in hopes she could just forget about it.

But you can never truly forget, can you?

Schumacher was much easier to clear than Alicia had thought. Mick really wasn't joking when he told her he drove a shit box.

Alex had put up a fight, but Alicia had loved it. With ten laps to go she was finding her spark. She had set a purple sector (her first ever!) and for the first time in that race was oblivious to the pain in her jaw, or the banging in her head.

She just racing. It was Alicia and her steering wheel.

Who was fighting Alex for P12. And she succeeded, of course she did. If Alicia had focused earlier on in the race who knew where she could've ended up.

But the race wasn't even finished yet and she was determined to catch Stroll and the remaining person who was between them. A two second gap with three laps to go, seemed a stretch especially in the Williams.

"Three laps remaining. For P11, you'll be going after Gasly. Who did not pit at the safety car. He is on mediums. Go get him."

Whether the encouragement from Nadia sparked something, who knows. But Alicia felt like she was flying.

Throughout the whole race she hadn't felt the butterflies in her stomach at all. Not even when she went across the banking.

And after 69 laps it was finally back.

And after 72 laps was back where she started. P11. A good recovery she thought. And just that one step closer to where she needed to be.

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aliciahugo: a good weekend if you ask me 😎

view all 2,388,738 comments:

hug0boss: THIS IS SUCH A LIE. THIS WEEKEND SUCKS.
alex_thegoat: hush and get to the meeting jost isn't very happy 😤

lewishamilton: points next race!
roscoelovescoco: i's thinks so dads!!!
aliciahug0: i am honored to have roscoe in my comments but i know it's you lewis.

lilymhe: why can't we get a selfie of you 🙁 i don't want to see alex
alex_albon: i'm never coming home at this rate
lilymhe: good ❤️❤️ come round to my house gf 💗💗💗
alicia_hugo: ON MY WAY 😘😘😘

userone: @usertwo you should've hit her harder last night mate
usertwo: 😂😂

userthree: you're fucking shit

userfour: someone needs to take you out and hope you don't wake up from it

userfive: latifi wouldn't wait till lap 60 to start fighting the rest of the grid
usersix: you're right because he'd just be too far back to fight them anyway 🤷‍♀️

To say Jost was unhappy was an understatement. He was raging! And did start begin speaking German half way through his little speak, Alex and Alicia could only look between themselves in confusion.

Now, the debrief had started with clapping and a very happy Jost. Before he made all the mechanics, pit crew and whoever else leave. Charlotte, Nadia and Summer were the only three allowed in the room with Alex, Alex's trainer and Alicia herself.

That's when the steam started pouring out of Jost's ears. The irresponsibility of how Alicia l didn't come to tell him about the problem and how Alex had only told him about the problem before the race started.

Was Alicia really prepared to call it what it was. Other than the nickname problem, what was Alicia supposed to call it.

Jost had called it an assault.

That sent shivers down her spine. After all day of pushing it to the back of her mind, Alicia was finally coming to the realization that the assault in which had happened to her wasn't right.

The punch that was thrown to her jaw and cheek wasn't right. The threats given that if she didn't stop racing they would kill her, weren't right.

The one who had done this had been present all weekend. And pressed himself on other women, assaulted other women.

It wasn't right. But Alicia also doubted the men in the higher powers were going to make any changes to stop what happened at the GP.

But, Alicia also knew if she didn't speak about the assault that had happened, nothing would ever change.

And in this society there was a desperate need for change.

There was no makeup sporting on her face as she entered the media pen. The yellow and purple on her face was bright and painful to look at it.

Alicia had been the last person to enter the media pen, Summer following suit to her driver. Alex had also joined them, ready to show support for his (best) friend.

Coming to the first interviewer was NATALIE PINKHAM, a sky sports presenter. And the woman's eyes hadn't lit up at the possible media outcry and didn't make any mention of the bruises or even let her eyes loiter on them.

Alicia quite preferred that. Although she was ready to make a change and help others speak out on any sort of assault that had happened to them this weekend, Alicia wasn't too sure if she could speak about it without bursting into tears.

In her head, she believed that to be the last thing she needed.

Alicia's phone ringing interrupted her from starting her next interview, which of course had to be next to Carlos. That last thing she needed was some questioning from him.

"Hello?" Alicia asked unsure of who it was having not looked at the caller idea.

"Alicia! How did you get those bruises, and don't dare tell me you fell down the stairs!" Mateo's voice immediately filled with concern. Sat at home, watching Alicia's body language through the screen. He'd know in one second if she had been lying but she knew better than to try that.

Although Alicia had explained it, it had been brief. She hadn't brought up the details of her spending the night wide awake, or spending five minutes poking at her bruises just to feel something.

Alicia didn't dare to bring up the threats, afraid Mateo would get up out of his chair and fly down here just to give them a piece of his mind.

But she was soon back, stood in-front of the Spanish interviewer. "Hola, Alicia." There was a sorrowful smile, before the interview began with the basic questions.

Carlos had been listening closely the whole time. Sometimes even letting his eyes gaze for too long and having to be nudged by his press officer to remind him that they were still in an interview.

When the questions about the race had ended, there was a silence before the interview began again and Alicia knew what was coming. And the nails of her thumbs were digging into the skin of her palm.

"What do you think was the reasoning behind the first half of your race being so slow?"

Alicia chuckled half-heartedly. "I really wasn't tuned in until the full safety car. It took me a while to get excited for the-"

"Does that have anything to do with the bruises across your face?"

Straight into it then. Cringe immediately flooded across Alicia's face, and Carlos stood waiting to see what she had to say. Himself, he had a frown on his face.

Alicia may have told him to stay away but that never stopped him worrying. Nothing ever stopped Carlos Sainz worrying about Alicia Hugo.

Alicia looked back to Summer. The driver unsure of how to answer, walking out into the pen had been nerve wracking enough. Addressing it so soon in an interview made her scared.

Summer took a step forward, whispering into Alicia's ear. "If you don't want to, I can end it here."

Alicia's stomach was turning. She so desperately wanted to be this brave person who spoke openly about her assault but she just couldn't. Alicia needed more than twenty-four hours to process what had happened to her.

Alicia needed more phone calls with her dad to tell it would all be alright.

"End it here." Alicia whispered quietly. Almost too quietly that Summer didn't here it.

The media officer didn't have time to respond to Alicia before the girl was off.

Carlos had just finished his interview and left his media officer in the dust as he chased after Alicia.

The girl was hovered over a bin as she emptied the little remains of her stomach. Her hair had been pulled back by someone.

She turned her head back slightly, "Thank you." She whispered.

Carlos found himself stunned that she hadn't shunned him away, or shouted at him to get away.

Carlos also found his hand to be resting on the small of her back as she stood up straight, holding onto his elbow for some form of stability.

That was the first time he could really take in her bruises, his thumb running across them delicately so he didn't hurt her.

From the secluded area in which they stood, Alicia looked up at him. His eyes harboring nothing but concern for her.

"Who did this to you?"

Alicia furrowed her eyebrows, unable to hear him. "What?"

Carlos looked down at her, "Who did this to you?"

Alicia moved his hand, that had now moved to cupping her cheek, away from her face. "It doesn't matter Carlos. They already found him."

"Well maybe I should give him a piece of my mind!" Carlos threatened, switching to Spanish as his anger seemed to rise.

Alicia laughed, "You're sweet but that's totally unnecessary."

"Someone hurt you Alicia!" Carlos exclaimed, his voice coming out muted as Alicia covered his mouth with her hand.

"Yes, they did Carlos. But you don't have to worry about me. I'm not your problem." Alicia smiled softly at him, "So, thank you for your concern but I am fine."

She was far from fine, but Alicia didn't need Carlos on her case. Some part deep down inside of her did find it sweet that Carlos still cared, even after he shouting it at him less than a week ago.

But she didn't need him to worry about her, and Alicia didn't need to worry about him.

What Alicia needed to do was to get back to her apartment and ring her dad. To have a proper phone call with him and finally let it all out.

AUTHOR NOTE:
this feels a lot heavier than i've written for any of my books so please tell me if it was too much and what / how you feel <3

ps. carlos and alicia are not going to be getting together any time after this. i know in a lot of books the fem!oc will get together straight away after a traumatic experience but alicia will not. she needs her own time to grow in f1 and to understand fully what has happened to her!

if any of you have been affected by anything raised in this chapter please do not be afraid to dm me ❤️ i love you all so much <3