Chasing Daisy

know.’
    ‘Bloody hell. Childhood sweethearts . . . Over. Kaput!’
    I glance down at her, unhappily.
    ‘Will you be able to cope with all the press?’ she asks.
    ‘What do you mean?’ I sit down on the toilet seat. I don’t like being on a different level to her while we’re having this conversation.
    ‘Well, you know, Will and Laura are in the papers all the time. They’re one of Britain’s hottest young celebrity couples. The tabloids are going to go bonkers if they break up.’
    I look away from Holly and stare at the door. I’m starting to feel quite nauseous.
    ‘Still . . .’ She nudges me, trying to perk me up. ‘You’ll be William Trust’s hot new American girlfriend. Ooh, it’ll be like a Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie scenario!’
    ‘What? And I’m supposed to be Angelina Jolie? Are you kidding me? Everyone hated her when all that came out! Jennifer Aniston was like a freakin’ saint!’
    ‘Everyone likes Angelina Jolie now, though,’ Holly says, defensively.
    ‘Yeah, but that took ages! I can’t believe we’re actually talking about this, anyway. Fancy comparing me to Angelina Jolie.’
    ‘Well, you do have long, dark hair. And Will looks a little bit like Brad Pitt.’
    ‘He does not! I think he looks more like Leonardo DiCaprio.’
    Holly considers this thoughtfully. ‘Yeah, I know what you mean.’
    ‘Anyway!’ I snap. ‘I don’t know how we got onto that, but you’re basically telling me that if I break up Will and Laura’s happy relationship, then the whole of Britain will hate me forever.’
    ‘Not forever, maybe just a couple of years.’
    ‘Great.’
    I go to the track that morning feeling tense and anxious. I don’t know what he’ll be like when I see him again, but thankfully I don’t have to wait too long. Will walks through the doors and momentarily falters when we make eye contact. Then he continues to walk towards me, raising his hand in a half wave at some of the sponsors to his right.
    ‘Hi,’ he says, meeting my eyes for a moment before looking away. He hasn’t shaved this morning and stubble graces his jaw.
    ‘You look tired,’ I say, wanting to reach over and stroke his face.
    ‘Mmm. Didn’t get much sleep.’ He stares down at the table.
    ‘At least it’s not my fault this time.’ I’m trying to make light of the situation.
    ‘Yeah, it is.’ He looks up at me and his expression is so troubled that my heart goes out to him.
    ‘What can I get you?’ I change the subject in the hope that it’ll put him out of his misery.
    ‘Daisy—’ he starts, but at that moment Gertrude comes out of the kitchen with more breakfast supplies. ‘Just the usual, please,’ he says, folding his arms and glancing around behind him while I put his breakfast together.
    ‘Here you go.’
    ‘Thanks.’
    He takes his plate and goes to a table, but five minutes later gets up again and heads upstairs to his room. I look over to see he’s barely touched his muesli. I toy with the idea of going to see him, but I honestly don’t know what to say. After weeks of dreaming about him, this has come to a head in a way that I never expected. I don’t want to be the person who breaks Laura’s heart. I don’t want the whole of Britain to hate me. I don’t want to be the other woman. There is no clean way out of this. All I know is that I like him. Really like him. And somehow, somewhere, there’s got to be a resolution.
    I want to stay away from the pits during qualifying to allow Will to concentrate, but Holly has other ideas.
    ‘Come on,’ she says, after the first two qualifying sessions have taken place. ‘Will is quickest, but Luis is ridiculously close. Q3 is going to be really exciting.’
    ‘I don’t want to distract him,’ I say.
    She grins at me. ‘Daisy, are we talking about the same guy? He’s far too focussed to let you put him off! He’s the quickest out there, for goodness’ sake.’
    Now I feel a bit silly.
    ‘Okay, let’s go,’ I tell her.
    Will is sitting in his car, watching the television screen above his head, when we arrive. I look through to the other garage to see Luis is doing the same. I stare at the back of Will’s navy blue and silver helmet, willing him to do well. Luis goes out first and, shortly afterwards, the mechanics send Will out. I’m tense as the television cameras follow Will’s lap. It doesn’t matter that he was quickest in the last qualifying session. Any one of the nine remaining drivers