FOUR

"El, please tell me that you have not brought a cardboard cut out of Daniel Ricciardo to the first race of the season."

Pierre Gasly facepalmed his unamused face as his sparkling blue eyes fell upon the figure of his best friend who was walking towards him with a large cardboard cut out underneath her arm.

"Okay then, I won't tell you."

Eliana Friedmann responded without hesitation as she came to a stop just outside of the French man's garage for his new team Alpine, placing the cardboard cut out down so that it was standing straight.

She subtly moved it so that it was facing the Mclaren garage.

"El, please just go and put it back in the car." Pierre spoke in a gentle tone with the girl, since he did not want to raise his voice at her and become angry, knowing that she would occasionally flinch if she was being screamed at.

"Hell no! If Mclaren want to fuck Danny Ric over then they must be prepared to face the consequences and be haunted by his face for eternity." Eliana scowled at her best friend, becoming protective over the cardboard cut out that towered over her.

"Please. For me?"

"I love you Gasoline, but not a chance. I'd marry Zak Brown before I take this back to the car and let them win." The Friedmann girl lifted one of her hands to point harshly at her best friend, seeing him sigh in exhaustion.

"Fine but I'm going to send a message to Charles and see if he can talk you out of this."

"Don't bother."

The brunette shook her head from side to side as she saw the look of defeat upon the face of her best friend, since there was absolutely no way that she was going to let Mclaren win and take her most prized possession back to her car.

She had the idea of bringing it with her as soon as she had met the idiot that replaced him, a fellow Australian that was so ugly and boring and shit that it almost made her want to vomit.

How had the life of the party Daniel Ricciardo been replaced by that freak?

"Oh hey kid."

Pierre's head shot up at the sound of a panicked squeal, seeing the girl in front of him frozen in panic with her eyes wide open and hands shaking violently.

Because Daniel Ricciardo was standing behind her.

Oh, and he was admiring how great he looked in the cardboard cut out.

"Hey Daniel." Pierre greeted his friend with a fist bump, whilst the Australian moved his body around so that he was standing beside the girl who had fainted the first time that they met.

"Pierre, is your friend pretending to be a statue? She looks like she's in pain."

Daniel Ricciardo smiled brightly as he stood inbetween the two best friends, his eyes glazing over the young woman who had instantly frozen at the sound of his voice since he had approached them from behind.

"She's... a cardboard cut out." Pierre spoke hesitantly, not exactly sure of what words to use to describe the situation in front of the two of them.

"Talking of cardboard cut outs, I look great in this, can I sign it?"

Eliana immediately released a deep breath of oxygen since she had been holding her breath, to jolt her head to the side, her hands clasping around her most prized possession and pushed it in to the Aussie man's chest.

"Ohmygodyesplease!"

The two men laughed as they watched the woman desperately holding the cardboard Daniel out to the real Daniel with an abnormal sized grin upon her glowing skin.

Daniel didn't hesitate the cardboard cutout, leaving a small heart underneath his name since he had not been able to forget the young woman since first meeting her.

Then again, not many people fainted at the sight at the sight of him, so he was bound to remember her.

"So, El. What's the plan for having the cutout of my beautiful face here?" Daniel grinned like a Cheshire cat, seeing his French friend giggling behind his hand.

"To make Mclaren regret backstabbing you and haunting them with your face." Eliana spoke to the Aussie, surprised that she actually managed to get a full sentence out of her mouth despite talking to him and being so close to him that she could actually smell how amazing he smelt.

"Wow, I didn't think that you could speak full sentences to him, El." Pierre giggled though he jumped to avoid a fist being swung at him by his best friend.

"If I faint then you'll dump me with Gollum, so I'm trying my best to stay conscious." Eliana muttered though she refused to glance at the Australian, who was grinning at her with amusement.

"Dump you with who?"

Daniel questioned amidst laughing at the name that she had used, wrinkles forming around his eyes from how bright his smile was.

"That's what she calls Oscar." Pierre spoke up to the Ricciardo man, who raised his eyebrows up as high as they could go.

"Gollum? Poor Oscar, man. He's a nice guy." Daniel mumbled in a slight sad tone since he felt bad for the newest driver on the grid.

"How is he a nice guy? He fucking stole your seat!" The Friedmann girl raised her voice as she glanced at the Ricciardo man, a glare upon her youthful face.

"No, kid." The Australian man shook his head from side to side in a patronising manner. "He got offered a seat and he took it. He didn't steal anything."

"But your seat wasn't available so he did steal it. Alpine had a seat with his name on it, why did he have to go after yours!" The Friedmann girl glared at her favorite driver coldly before storming off, since she could feel the anger rising back up inside of her.

Why did Gollum have to take Daniel's seat?

Pierre watched his best friend storm away from them with her cardboard cut out underneath her arm, noticing how she stood directly in front of the Mclaren garage.

The Gasly man couldn't help but laugh as he noticed how his best friend was placing her cardboard cut out directly in front of the Mclaren garage that used to belong to Daniel Ricciardo but now belonged to the newest driver on the grid, Oscar Piastri.

He noticed how she glared coldly as Zak Brown left the garage and walked past her and her cardboard cutout, sneering at her in annoyance.

The French man only laughed harder as he noticed Eliana giving the CEO of Mclaren her middle finger as he walked away from her.

God, he loved his best friend and her stupid antics.

____________________________________________________

"Hey, El."

Charles Leclerc muttered underneath his breath as he found his friend standing near the Ferrari garage that had his name on it.

"Hey Frenchie."

Eliana giggled as the Monégasque approached her, rolling the green of his eyes at her as his lips twitched up at her teasing of him.

Charles released a deep sigh as his sadness overtook him, having had a very bad race, though he smiled as his friend stepped against his chest to give him a small comforting hug which he accepted.

"Have you made friends with Oscar yet?" Charles smiled sadly at his friend, running his hand over his face in exasperation.

"Gollum? No, why would I?" Eliana furrowed her eyebrows together in disgust at the idea of being friends with the guy who stole Daniel's seat. "I'm sorry about your race."

"Don't be." Charles shook his head from side to side as he gently pressed his lips against the girls forehead as a thank you since he knew that she was trying to comfort him. "El, Oscar is not at fault for Danny losing his seat. He's a nice guy, you'd probably get along with him."

"The only way I'd get along with him is if he died so Daniel could get his seat back." The Friedmann girl immediately scrunched her face up in disgust.

"El, please." The Leclerc boy released a deep sigh.

"Don't 'El, please' me. You know how I feel about the Gollum looking alien so don't even try." The Jewish girl glared, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she clenched her jaw as tight as she could.

Charles only sighed in defeat.

He felt bad for Oscar since the young Australian was his friend, and he wasn't actually at fault for her favorite driver being without a seat and having to become a reserve driver at Red Bull, since it was actually the fault of Zak Brown.

As much as he cared for Eliana, Oscar was his friend too and he knew that she was just blaming him for no reason.

Oscar had just taken the seat offer that he was given, it was not like he had deliberately set out to steal Daniel's Mclaren seat. It was not his fault.

Oscar was a great guy who would have never meant any harm and the Monégasque knew that if Eliana actually gave the Piastri boy a chance and got to know him that she would actually get along well with him and maybe become friends with him.

But she was still so stuck on the thought and the idea that Oscar had betrayed Alpine and Daniel that he knew that it would never happen. It would honestly be a miracle if it did.

The Monégasque's eyes widened frantically as he recognised the figure of Oscar Piastri walking towards him, gulping nervously as he shot his hands out to grab the shoulders of the Friedmann girl so that he could push her in to his garage so that she would not see the boy that she hated.

The German girl released an offended huff of oxygen from her lips as she was pushed in to the Ferrari garage, annoyance flooding her body at how the two of them had been in a conversation before he had cut it short.

But then, he heard the screeching voice of Dobby.

At the sound of his voice, she practically launched herself back out of the Ferrari garage so that she could shout at him, seeing him immediately flinch at her sudden appearance.

"Oi!"

Oscar Piastri glanced helplessly at the Ferrari driver that was Charles Leclerc as the girl swarmed him, glaring him down coldly.

"Uh-Uh, hi."

Oscar stuttered nervously as he stepped backwards away from the woman, since he found her incredibly scary and aggressive since she was always so ready to scream at him and yell at him for apparently stealing Daniel's seat.

"You fucking Dobby looking dick!" The brunette girl shouted at the top of her lungs as she stood in front of him, lifting both of her hands up to push the Piastri boy in his chest which sent him stumbling back.

As she went to push him again, a set of arms grabbed her around her waist and pulled her back and away from the now terrified Australian boy.

"El, leave him alone, please!"

Daniel Ricciardo spoke as he used her nickname that her friends gave her as he clutched on to her as tightly as he could, seeing the relief that flooded the face of the boy who had replaced him at Mclaren.

At the sound of his heavenly voice, she calmed slightly, her breathing uneven since she was in the arms of the man who she loved, whilst glaring at the boy who she hated with all of her cold amd bitter heart.

"I'm sorry that I make you so angry and upset." Oscar apologised to her, mainly out of fear that she would once again scream at him and push him again.

"Sorry? You're sorry? Give Danny his seat back if you're actually sorry." Eliana scowled at him until she was dragged away by both Daniel and Pierre who had heard her screaming at the rookie driver and had sprinted to help.

Oscar understood why she hated him, since it was so obviously clear that Daniel was her favorite driver, but it didn't make it hurt any less.

He just wanted her to like him, he didn't want her to hate him.

All he wanted, was a friend.

____________________________________________________

A/N

I've finally got another update for this I am sorry for the wait

What do you think?

I have some new books up which I think you should check out, because some of them are a lot different to the other ones that I've done.

Anyway, I hope that you all enjoy this chapter and I'll see you all soon for the next one,

I'm so proud of all of you, my loves

Love you all,

-RUBY