Jess was annoyed at how smart her friend was.

~•~

Jessica Shelton was not pleased when she saw her friend talking to one of the Formula One drivers. She was the one who had been invited here, and she was the one ready to make friends with one of them, maybe even more. It didn't sit well with her when she left Vica to chat with her modeling friends for a while and suddenly saw her blonde friend talking to George Russell, even blushing. The last straw was when he draped his jacket over her shoulders because Vica kept touching her arms—Jessica knew the girl wasn't cold, just uncomfortable showing so much skin. Jessica had given her that outfit specifically to break her of this habit. She wanted to show off her friend, but she couldn't if Vica kept wearing her sweaters and knee-length skirts.

She had to put a stop to their interaction, so she ran over, saying she needed Vica for a photo. This got her away from the brunette. She just hoped they hadn't exchanged names, phone numbers, or social media. She hoped Vica would remain invisible to George Russell.

Jessica was the model in their duo. She should have a Formula One driver at her feet, not her friend who wouldn't have attracted someone like George Russell without wearing Jessica's clothes. She was determined. On Sunday, she wouldn't lend her clothes to Vica, so she'd go back to being the shy girl who dressed like a nun. If Vica didn't mind not getting attention from guys because she dressed like an old maid, then Jessica would let her be. Who was she to meddle in her friend's life?

Jessica liked her best friend because no one else was as easily persuaded to go along with her often silly ideas. All she had to do was approach Vica, tell her about her plan, and after a couple of pleas, the blonde always agreed. A few days before her final exams, she still flew to America with Jess just so the Asian girl could attend the Grand Prix.

Jess wasn't interested in the Grand Prix. She wasn't into Formula One. She only knew the drivers because some were very attractive, and she wanted to know their names. She followed a few on Instagram but didn't like their posts to avoid any unwanted interest or rumors. She didn't need any fan speculation about something that wasn't true.

She accepted the invitation to the Miami Grand Prix just to be close to these attractive drivers and maybe catch their attention with her beauty. She knew she was beautiful because everyone told her so. She always got what she wanted. Whenever she set her sights on a guy, she got him within a week. It worked. Sometimes she even stole someone from Vica, but she couldn't help it—her beauty always drew attention. Her friend dressed like a nun, so she never got attention and made people want to look away.

On Saturday, she was ready to catch a Formula One driver. She'd cast her line and wait to see who took the bait. But she met her modeling friends and stayed with them in the VIP lounge, completely forgetting what she had come to do. She forgot her initial plan. Instead, Vica, who had no plan, just showed up after being in the bathroom when her best friend disappeared from sight.

Jessica was angry with her friend when they returned to the hotel room that night. Suddenly, she felt inferior when near the blonde. How was it that Vica didn't even try, just stood there, and immediately someone like George Russell noticed her? Jess also just stood there with her friends, and no one approached her—not even a dumb influencer, of which there were plenty. Vica immediately got attention from George himself.

Jessica didn't like George. The Brit was one of the drivers who didn't interest her at all and just evoked typical British stereotypes that didn't attract her. He had great hair, she could admit that. He was very talented, she could also acknowledge, because otherwise, he wouldn't be in Formula One. But that was not enough. The boy just didn't physically attract her.

Charles Leclerc. He was the one who really attracted the Asian girl. From the first moment she saw his photo, she knew he was the Formula One driver she wanted to hook up with on her trip to Miami. She didn't care that he had a girlfriend for over a year. She didn't care that she herself had a boyfriend. His girlfriend wasn't as attractive as she was anyway. John also wasn't much, and he never had time for her—sometimes she regretted taking him from Vica, knowing that the blonde liked him.

She was determined to sleep with Charles Leclerc. On Sunday night, when the drivers had their post-race party, she would find a way to get in, try to get Charles drunk, and leave with him. She had always succeeded before, and she would succeed now. She didn't have to worry about Vica catching his eye more because Vica would never attract someone like him. She would never catch the attention of a high-class guy—not if she kept wearing what she usually wore and doing her makeup the way she did.

She wouldn't lend Vica any of her clothes. She'd let her come to the party in those hideous blue dresses that belonged to her mom. She'd let her look like a nun who got permission to have fun but still couldn't manage to have any fun. Vica hated parties; Jess had learned that over the years, but she always managed to convince her to come along. The last time she invited her, she found out that Vica left shortly after arriving. Jess didn't know why, but she didn't bother asking her friend because the answer was obvious—"You know I don't like parties. I saw you having fun, so I went home to study."

Jess was annoyed at how smart her friend was. It had always bothered her, not just recently. Even in elementary school, Vica was among the smartest kids and always got to skip school to represent it in various competitions like the math or history Olympiads. Jess never represented the school; she was always at the bottom of the class. She didn't even want to know where she stood in the whole school.

She only managed to get through high school because she was super beautiful and incredibly popular. It was during her first year of high school that her first modeling agency discovered her and signed her. That year, she became mega-popular because everyone wanted to be friends with a model—especially one as beautiful as her. She was so popular that everyone wanted to sit with her at lunch, but she always refused and preferred to sit with her blonde friend, who no one even knew went to school with them.

She always kept Vica close because she knew she could persuade her to do her homework. She got through school only because Vica always did both her own and her friend's homework. Plus, during tests, they helped each other—or rather, Vica helped Jess because Jess had no way to help her.

In exchange for not failing and having to repeat a year, Jess taught her how to do makeup. It was ultimately pointless because, despite Vica's talent for makeup, she preferred not to wear much of it to avoid drawing attention. She knew she had big eyes and a face that stood out, so she decided to be the invisible girl who would just slip through school unnoticed.

Jess also taught her how to dress. That too turned out to be futile. Vica was partly to blame for this because Jess was teaching her using her own wardrobe, not realizing that Vica simply wore different clothes, so what she practiced with her friend, she couldn't apply elsewhere.

Then came the end of high school. Jess decided not to go to university because she realized back in elementary school that her place was in modeling, not sitting in a classroom. She definitely didn't want to spend more years sitting on her butt, taking notes, and writing more and more tests just to have a few letters before her name. She wanted to be a model, so those letters would change nothing. She preferred to focus entirely on posing for the camera and being beautiful.

That's when she felt best. She was happiest when she could be beautiful. She was happiest when she read the comments under her photos about how beautiful she was because she was. She knew it, and over the years, she turned it into her strength. Over the years, she perfected it to the point where she achieved everything through her looks—so why was it Vica who got George Russell's attention?

Yet her joy was always stolen by Vica with her perfection. She couldn't believe her friend got into a school like Oxford. She knew the blonde was very smart but didn't expect her to get into such a school—especially not after losing both her parents and being grateful just to have food.

Jess was a bit annoyed that Vica always succeeded in life. Sure, Jess could have any guy she wanted, but Vica had everything in life—except parents. It was as if the blonde had everything handed to her on a silver platter.

And now, to top it all off, she got George Russell, even though she knew very well that Jess wanted to hook up with a Formula One driver.

~•~