Note: All names of drivers, the cars and facts of the track and the race of 1981 are as accurate as I know, some facts are from Wikipedia and other pages around the world wide web ;D I have done some research in this, yes, but please correct me if something's wrong.
And note that John Clark and the rest of Jill's team belongs to me though, and is fictional, any resemblance is strictly coincidental.
Chapter 3.
The following morning, Jill woke up as Kris carefully tugged her unharmed shoulder.
"Whaaat?" Jill asked sleepy.
"The breakfast is only open for another hour."
Jill opened both her eyes, and quickly sat up in the bed, wincing slightly as the movement sent pain through the shoulder. She did her best to ignore it as she got herself to the edge of the bed.
"Breakfast." Jill smiled happily, and hurried into the bathroom.
Kris laughed and began to get dressed from the towel she was wearing. Jill came out a few minutes later, also dressed in a towel, and she quickly changed into a cute, white dress, and she put on a pair of high heels. Kris was also wearing a dress and high heels, both of them knowing they would be on TV. Jill was being interviewed about a half an hour before the race would start. They finished off the makeup and made their way downstairs to get some breakfast. They found Andrea and Justin sitting by one of the tables, and they joined them.
"Good morning." Kris and Jill smiled, and Andrea and Justin answered with the same sentence. Kris hurried after Jill to the long buffet, and Kris couldn't help but laugh when Jill needed several plates to fit all her food. They got some coffee and sat down.
"Slept well?" Andrea asked.
"Yes." Jill answered happily.
"No." Kris said, grinning as she faced Jill.
"Why?" Jill asked, confused.
"You took the entire bed! I'm not sharing bed with you anymore, no matter how large it is. I want my own bed."
They had ordered a room for two, but they had gotten a king size bed instead of two smaller ones.
Jill laughed as she put the ham over her sandwich.
"Well. I slept well anyway."
Kris rolled her eyes and sipped her coffee. Andrea was just staring at Jill's four plates, with sandwiches, spreads, yoghurts, fruits and vegetables.
"How do you keep your weight?" Andrea asked.
Jill smiled. "It's called working out Andrea, you should try it."
Andrea laughed and tossed her napkin against Jill, who let out a sad moan when it landed in her yoghurt.
"So how does the day look like?" Kris giggled, looking at Justin.
"There are preparations, test-driving and interviews this entire morning, the race starts at 2 pm. The race should be finished around, well, maybe 3pm.
"They drive for an hour?"
"Well, there are 62 laps." Jill smiled.
"62? Oh God."
"Then there's after party all afternoon and night, and in the morning we're leaving for Venice."
"Sounds great!" Kris smiled.
"Oh, by the way, we promised to call Kelly, I totally forgot about that last night." Jill said, looking around for a phone.
"Jill." Kris said, smiling teasingly.
"What? We promised we should call Kelly."
"First. We did not promise Kelly we would call, we promised Ella we would call. And secondly, it's only 9 am here, which means it's midnight in Los Angeles. That's not a good time to call a six year old."
Jill giggled at her mistake.
"Wops. Time difference."
"Yeah." Kris smiled.
"Ella, that's Kelly's daughter right?" Andrea asked.
"Yeah, it is."
"I remember her, she's adorable."
"She's the best." Kris smiled proudly.
Kris, or Jill for that matter, might not be Ella's aunt by blood, but Kris definitely felt like an aunt. She had been babysitting Ella several times, and she loved spending time with the little girl. Ella had a while ago begun to call Kris "fun Aunt Kris", and it made her so happy. Kris couldn't help but to think of how much that little one had grown since the first time they saw her, when she came running out from the orphanage, crying because she didn't want Kelly to go. Not even Ella had been able to explain why she'd done it, it had just been something she felt she had to do. And Kelly had felt the same thing, and that's why she adopted her. Ella was Kelly's daughter.
A few hours later, they were standing in front of the track, where microphones and chairs had been put up for interviews under a big tent. Dark clouds were forming in the sky, and they all were just waiting for the rain to come. Jill and John where sitting both in a chair under the tent, and the reporter was in a chair opposite them. John was wearing his driving overall, while Jill looked fantastic in her white dress. Kris was in the background, and she couldn't help but stare at her sister. She was shining, and Kris knew Jill always shined when she was happy. And at the race track, she was always happy. Kris missed her back in Los Angeles, she missed having her close, but she felt good when she saw how thrilled Jill was about this, how much she loved this. The race track where Jill's place, and even though it hurt, Kris knew that with all her heart.
"I'm sitting here today in Imola, at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, and I have the pleasure to be chatting with John Clark and Jill Munroe. What an honor! Most people know that Ms Munroe was one of the people that really had the odds on her side, but changes have been made, and Mr Clark is going to drive in her position. Why did you decide to back out?" The interviewer, Affonso Moretti, said and turned towards Jill.
"Well, I hurt my shoulder, and I need both my arms to be able to drive a grand prix, especially when a track is as hard as this is."
"Yeah, both shoulders make it a lot easier." Moretti smiled. "But I hope we'll see you in another race soon?"
"I have enough points all ready to qualify to Belgium's Grand Prix next month, and if I do good in that race, then we'll be heading for Monte Carlo."
"I'm looking forward to that. You were fantastic in Brazil, you actually won."
"Yeah. Good day." Jill smiled proudly.
"That new car seems to be working out good for you."
"She's a diamond, she is fantastic to drive, in every way."
"Sounds great. How do you think Mr Clark will do today?"
"John will do great." Jill smiled, facing John. "He's a great driver, but he does have a lot of though competition. But I'm sure he'll do well."
"John, who do you have to watch out for?"
"Piquet obviously, we've all seen him race, and I do not think I'll stand a chance against him. But there are many great drivers here today, and as Jill said, there's though competition out there."
The interview continued for a while, and after it, Jill and Kris found themselves in the stable together with the rest of the gang. Both Jill and Kris had switched over to team overalls, white dresses didn't really fit well among all the cars. John was out on the track, test driving, along with several other drivers. Jill was going over statistics with Justin, Mike and Andrea and Kris joined Jess.
Before they knew it, it was full speed at the track, all 24 drivers were eager to get into the first places. The rain was pouring down from the sky, but either the audience or the drivers didn't seem bothered by it.
Kris and Jess turned their heads away, while the rest of the team leaned over the railing to see better as Eliseo Salazar accidentally hit Miguel Ángel Guerra, who continued into the wall already on the first lap. Paramedics rushed to the scene, and he was helped out of the car, while the other drivers kept speeding around the track. Jill and Justin began to loudly argue when Salazar was allowed to keep driving like nothing had happened.
On the third lap, Alain Prost drove off the track, evidently his gearbox didn't want to function as he wanted it, and within the following 20 laps, three other drivers, Mario Andretti, Keke Rosberg and Jacques Laffite quit because of car failure. Jill and Justin were both wearing headsets, and they kept talking to John during the race. He was fourth runner up, and he refused to leave his place for the people behind him.
First collision came at lap 28, when American driver Eddie Cheever and Italian driver Bruno Giacomelli crashed into each other, but both of them made their ways off the track. Next crash came at lap 31 when two Italian racers hit each other, which made the biggest part of the audience moan loudly.
"Oh, poor Michele Alboreto!" Jill exclaimed. "This was his first race!"
Kris smiled at her sister who was so into the race, watching every detail with well trained eyes.
A few laps later, Eliseo Salazar spun off the track, and cancelled the race. And in the front were Nelson Piquet, Riccardo Patrese, Carlos Reutemann, and John held the fourth place he had, which he got after he passed Hector Rebaque.
Another few laps later, Jean-Pierre Jabouille cancelled the race, and Kris tugged Jill's sleeve.
"Why was he leaving? I though he was doing quite well?"
"No, he has only driven 45 laps, he's so far behind, he's not classified. I don't think he'll ever go back to be as good as he was, he broke his leg last year due to suspension failure in the Canadian Grand Prix. He's a fantastic driver, but I think he'll retire soon." Jill said, without removing her eyes from the track.
Kris nodded, turning back to Jess.
"Jill knows everything about this business." Jess laughed, and Kris joined in.
"Yeah, and not just this sport. Try her out on baseball too."
When the race was coming to an end, with only 13 drivers left on the track, people were getting impatient and the adrenaline could be felt all through the track. People were screaming for their favorites, there were flags being waved in the air, and the sound level was rising with every lap.
"How's he doing?"
"He's not going to kick Piquet, but he might make it into the top three." Jill smiled widely, jumping up and down.
And so he did. He beat Carlos Reutemann with a few seconds to spare, and came in third place after Piquet and Patrese. Screams of joy and a good round of applause was heard through the place, and a while later they all met up with John back in the stable.
"Great job Johnny!" Jill smiled as she hugged John.
"Thank you Jill! That was amazing!"
"You were great!"
They all gave their congratulations to John before he hurried out to receive his bronze medal.
Medals were given out, the drivers shook hands, and then someone popped open a champagne bottle, and the party had suddenly started.
