Chapter Text
Normally, rowdy people would be dashing through the school, screaming at their friends or giggling at their phones. But the build up to exam weeks were always stressful. Corridors tense, classrooms silent, nothing could be heard aside from the rapid fire typing of students frantically noting every drop of knowledge the teachers gave them.
The sixth form common room, which was normally crammed with people, chattering away, gossiping about who was dating who and which teachers were having arguments, was now stone cold. The usual rock or pop playlist that blared through the community speakers was replaced with Lo-fi study music. The room was covered in revision notes, stationary scattered everywhere and food wrappers strewn across the desks.
George Russell was no exception. He was seventeen, a lower sixth student of FIA, he was class president, captain of the debate team, volunteer at the library, prefect and heavily considered candidate for head boy next year.
He was a lot of things, and a lot was expected from him.
Already drowning with the piles of homework, merged with revising for mock exams, his duties and whatever else that got piled onto him, George couldn't recall the last time he didn’t have eyebags or dark circles under them. He hadn’t even slept for more than five hours since last sunday.
George hunched over his laptop, on the common room desk, busily correcting his English essay due for next period, even though it was double the expected length, and it was already the fifth version, he didn’t care. It had to be perfect.
Alex and Lando, his friends since childhood, were also sat across from him, their usually unserious selves now toned down a few notches, fixated on their respective work.
Exam season made everyone quieter. Even Lando, surprisingly
The silence carried on for a few more minutes, interrupted from time to time by the screams and delighted yells of some younger students, who probably had no care in the world, and no worries when it came to exams. George remembered when he was like that, carefree and irresponsible, no life changing tests or near adulthood decisions to make.
“I. Hate. This. So. Much. Can we please go do something fun? Please?” Alex broke the silence while he stretched his arms, pen abandoned as he kicked his chair back, yawning.
Lando looked up, rubbing his tired eyes. nodding while adding. “Please, I’m gonna to get a hunchback at this rate.”
“George, come on, it’ll just be ten minutes, let’s just go relax a little, pleaseeeee?”
The two of them looked up at George, blinking pleadingly, trying their best at puppy eyes, begging for a release from schoolwork hell.
George rolled his eyes and stopped his typing, the essay was pretty much done, he supposed it wouldn’t hurt to leave and come back in a bit. There was only six more paragraphs to edit.
He glanced at the clock: 11:52. Twenty eight minutes until his english lesson.
“Fine, I guess we can have a break. Only ten minutes though.”
“FUCK YES!” Lando half yelled, causing the other students to turn and glare at him, he apologised quickly and took both Alex and George by the arm, dragging them out the common room at the speed of light.
“Let’s go find Kimi, Ollie and them lot!”
“You know where they are…? Lando, do you have an airtag on them or something?” Alex said accusingly and eyed Lando while also being forced along the corridor.
“Nope but dear old Georgie here connected everyone’s phones on that weird ass Apple find-my device thingie, remember?”
Lando elbowed George, letting go of their arms and pulling out his phone proudly, presenting it like a prize and opened the app.
“Yeah I did it so you wouldn’t get lost in London when you’re out at like midnight you dumbass.” George retorted quickly, while also peering over at Lando’s phone to see the tiny screen. He squinted and tapped on Kimi’s icon.
“Aha! They’re in the library!” He declared triumphantly as if he’d just won the lottery and legged it across the school hallway, the other two trailing behind like lost puppies, completely left in the dust.
All three of them were out of breath and panting hard when they got to the library; the campus was really big, and the sixth form building was quite a way from the rest of the school.
There were a lot of people in the library, lounging on sofas, some napping, some playing board games, others locked in on their work. The librarian, a nice lady in her thirties, waved at the trio when they entered, mostly due to their frequent visits here, and also courtesy of George volunteering after school.
Lando spotted Kimi and his friends, immediately skipping over with energy that shouldn’t be present in someone almost taking out random students as he thundered halfway across campus, but there he was.
There were seven of them in total, Kimi, Ollie, Gabi, Franco, Liam, Isack and Arvid, absolute menaces in year ten, also preparing for their mock exams. They sat in a circle, each one of them busy with something of their own.
Lando high fived each of them, George and Alex did too, they exchanged ‘hi's' and the older three settled down on the floor next to them, while the circle expanded to let them in.
“Soooo… How’s the revision going along?” Alex asked, sneaking looks at Ollie’s revision notes, George did so too, and in the process, pointed out a mistake.
“Fuck me. We’re not getting anything done. This is hopeless.” Ollie sighed heavily, rubbing out the mistake and correcting it.
“I hate this. I hate this. I hate this.” Liam recited over and over, holding up a piece of paper like it offended him on a personal level. Isack played around with his pen, shaking his head at a hard maths question. Arvid was smacking Gabi with a notebook for stealing his ruler, and Franco was testing Kimi on growth, inflation and market structures for Econ.
“You know, back in our days-” Lando began, then was cut off by Arvid’s notebook accidentally flying out of his hands and landing squarely on Lando’s face.
Everyone watched as it slid dramatically down from his face and into his lap. Then they all burst into hysterical laughter.
“Lando… Oh my god, even book didn’t want to hear your life story.” Gabi snorted, then cackled, extremely loudly, getting a dirty look from the librarian. That shut him up.
Alex tried to suppress a giggle and so did George. The latter took the book from Lando, and gently whacked Arvid with it, causing a protest between them.
“Oh and by the way, when’s all your exams again?” George asked, catching Arvid and Gabi’s arms so they would stop pummelling him.
“June first… it’s for a week and then we’re done, two to three exams a day… what a pain.” Kimi responded, pulling out their schedule, sighing and tutting.
All the year tens groaned collectively.
“How about an end of mocks celebratory party at mine and Oscar’s after our exams are all over? Sunday night? You lot, with the others and the upper sixth guys?”Lando suggested, checking his phone for a date.
“Sounds great.”
“Oh my god please, please bro we need this…”
“I love how everyone collectively hates the year elevens, aside from, you know.”
“Make a group chat and let us know when.”
There was a symphony of excited agreement, everyone staring appreciatingly at Lando, crowding around him to make sure the group chat didn’t leave anyone out.
“Okay, okay, but no alcohol, okay? I will be supervising. With Lewis, and Fernando.”George warned, suspiciously glancing down at Lando, who sheepishly scratched the back of his neck.
“Ugh, fine, you’re so uptight and no fun Georgie. Anyway, made the group chat.”
“Yeahhh fuck yeah let’s go!”
“Lando you’re the best.”
Alex stood up, pointing at the clock.
“If we don’t get going soon, we’ll be late to English. And also I can not take more of this Lando glaze, we gotta run. Bye!”
Instead of Lando, Alex dragged the other two out from the library, with waves back at the younger group, who were all now distracted from their notes, unfortunately, all because of Lando.
THE boysss
Lando:
hihihihi gc dor partyyy in june!
or just general gc for stuff idk really
funnt how we havennt made 1 bfore now tbh
georg u figure it out
George:
hello everyone, if we missed anybody, feel free to add them, but this chat has some of the year 10s, year 11s, us lower sixth people and some of the upper sixth.
this is basically the whole of our dorm building, just with Lance and Esteban
upper sixth:
@Lewis @Fernando @NicoR @NicoH @Daniel @Jenson @Mark @Valtteri @Sergio @Seb @KimiR
lower sixth:
me @Lando @Oscar @Alex @Max @Charles @Carlos @Pierre @Yuki @ZhouGuanYu
year 11s:
@Logan @Jack @Lance @Esteban
year 10s:
@KimiA @Ollie @Gabi @Isack @Franco @Liam @Arvid
let us know if you guys will come, i know you’re all busy with exams already, but it’ll be a fun break.
also NO ALCOHOL. but bring snacks
Gabi:
YEAHHH PARTY
Ollie:
YEAHHHHHHHHHH
Lewis:
@George
will check the timing but we should be able to have time!
George:
great!
Lando:
regular names r so boringggg
lemme fix
Lando has changed the nickname of all members
Sir Lewis:
mmmmh i approve
Master chef - LET HIM COOK!:
do i need to supply the party with food?
Landudududu :
YUKI!!! PLEASSSEE PLEASE I BEF
grussell sprout:
beg*
kinder maxi:
lando thats my song
Landudududu :
yeahh but its a banger ok?
fineeee i know u will just try kill me
Master chef - LET HIM COOK!:
yayyy ofc i have ideas already
Lando has changed his nickname
Landito :
hapy now max?
kinder maxi:
yes dudududu MAX VERSTAPPEN
Landito :
your fans are so cool man
a whole ass song
holy shit i’m late to english GEORGGGGGE SAVE ME A SEEAT
I WAS BUSYYY MR BROWN WANTTTED ME TO HRLP HMI W POSTRS
Albono:
Mrs Wolff is mad you better hurry
Landito :
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PLEASE I NEEEEED THIS MY MUM IS KINDA HOMELESS
Innocent angle:
whys lando more brainrotted than us
also u spelt my name wrong
Landito :
noooo kimi i’m sorry pls don’t kill me
ill fix it
oh no gtg teach is angry
Banana Legleg:
someone send a pic if he does get detention or told off thanks
Smooooth asf:
counting on you guys
—
The door of the classroom opened to reveal a tired Lando, bag sliding off his shoulder already, he ran over to his friends, not subtly at all. George and Alex looked at each other, snickering while Lando took the seat to George’s right.
Mrs Wolff, their English teacher, raised her eyebrows at Lando, opened her mouth but closed it after saying nothing, and delved back into the link between Ozymandias and Frankenstein by the Shelley couple.
George wrote notes at the speed of light, Alex and Lando doing the same, although more relaxed and less ‘if I don’t do this I will die’.
Susie Wolff was a great teacher, her words were thought provoking but easy to grasp, she wasn't those strict teachers, but she did tell people off a lot for talking in class, notably, Lando. Her husband, Toto Wolff, was the principal and also the Economics teacher.
George had both of their lessons consecutively a lot, and he was on good terms with both of them, they were like family, often chatting about what books he’d just finished with Susie, then pop into Toto’s office to ask about the past paper homework they got. In sixth form, everyone grew closer with the teachers, since the number of students per class was only around fifteen, higher, if lucky.
The lesson passed by fairly quickly, bell ringing in the corridor signalling the end of Susie’s rant on how Frankenstein was mistreated and outcast for being different.
Queuing up for lunch was chaotic, always.
Year sevens got lost easily, wandering the hallway even after almost a year of being here, confused on why they’re queuing up with people two heads taller than them. Year eights and nines, they crowded up in huddles, like penguins, yapping amongst themselves. Year tens were more sophisticated, their GCSEs being in a year draining the light from their eyes, while year elevens were rarely even seen outside of their common room. They always looked dischevelled, messy and unkempt.
The sixth formers had the privilege of going into lunch earlier than the lower school, which meant they avoided the stampede of hungry schoolkids, although they themselves were not much better.
George, Lando and Alex met up with the rest of their little friend group, Charles, Oscar, Max, Carlos and Pierre. They had been in line already, saving the three of them a spot in the queue, the five of them chatting away, something about an upcoming sports fixture.
“Lando, George, Alex! You guys are so late, we were gonna leave without you guys.” Charles pointed at them walking over and motioned for them to hurry up. The rest of them turned their heads and waved in greeting, Oscar and Lando dabbed each other up, Max smacked George on the shoulder, while Carlos and Alex fist bumped.
George rolled his eyes and changed the subject quickly.
“So, what were you guys talking about? What matches are happening?”
“Oh, yes, there’s a cricket match in two weeks, against MGP, George, Lando, Alex, please you have to play. And the esport guys have a tourney in the thing RedBull is hosting for sixth form teams. Oh, and Max also promised all your fans a group stream tonight.”
Oscar counted the things off his fingers one by one, looking proud of himself when he finished, to the open mouths of the newly joined trio.
“Max, WHAT THE FUCK? WHY?!”
“WE HAVE EXAMS IN LIKE THREE DAYS MAX WHAT ARE YOU THINKING. THREE DAYS, MAX”
“MAX EMILIAN VERTSAPPEN.”
All three of them half jumped on Max, George shaking him by the shoulders, Alex punching his arm and Lando messing with his hair.
“Holy shit- chill on me, c’mon don’t tell me you don’t want a break from the revision at least a little, it’ll be fun, no?”
“No Max, no, you are so wrong on so many levels, you don’t understand the amount we have to write for English, you take Compsci, Bono is so chill, you barely need to even revise.”
“Okay… well… don’t be such buzzkills, just tonight, okay? We can do like, two games, please?”
They all exchanged glances, pondering hard. Is one night of freedom worth catching up on more work tomorrow?
“Fine.” George sighed, speaking up, caving into the temptation of actually taking a quick break. He had a huge ton of work, and he hadn’t been taking breaks in a long time. He had practice papers to do, setting up the next school event, he had sport matches, two sessions of helping out at the library a week, also with coaching at his badminton club with his friends. His schedule was pretty much crammed full every week.
Not to mention George also streams with everyone from time to time.
He had a twitch account, created after Lando had started streaming to watch him and support, until Lando suddenly got viral after winning an online sim racing event, he urged everyone else to start streaming and play games with him after that. It was really enjoyable, to say the least, just a group of friends having the time of their lives, feeling immense support from strangers who didn’t even know them, but still watched them every opportunity they got. It was rewarding.
They had quite a large following by now, only over the span of around a year and a half, which was crazy and felt almost like a dream. Who could’ve guessed they’d grow up and get famous online?
Him, Lando, Alex, Charles and Max streamed the most, but Pierre, Carlos and Oscar joined from time to time, alongside bringing their friends, like Yuki and Zhou Guanyu.
Their rise to semi-fame had also caused a lot of problems though, at the end of the day, they were only seventeen, a few of them still sixteen. The pressure of meeting the demands from fans, mixed with school and part time jobs, got hugely overwhelming at times, and this was especially bad at times like exams.
By the time they’d agreed upon the time for the stream, which would be half past eight tonight, the teacher let them into lunch and they all grabbed trays, collected food, and sat down. George picked at his food, taking a bite and spoke up.
“So, Oscar, who’s on the list for that cricket match?”
“Oh yes, that. They want pretty much the usual lineup, me, Lando, George, Alex, you know, also Lewis is coming, and the rest are people from the lower school that I don’t know.”
While those two chattered away on cricket and other things, Lando was bugging Max about the esports team, which Max was the captain of.
“Man, imagine when we leave, the cricket team just falls off, same with you guys, Max, are there any younger years that are like, actually good. Like, good good?”
“Well some of them are decent enough. None are like, super outstanding or anything. They know the general gist of the game.”
“Awww man, what a shame. Oh, and what game are we gonna play tonight anyway?”
“The fans want to see us rage at each other, League with the voice mod thing. You know that one?”
“Oh that! I saw it a while ago on TikTok, sure.”
A few seats away, Carlos stole food from Charles’ plate, those two having a mock fight over chips (or as Logan would call them, fries). Alex and Pierre were having a civilised discussion on a movie that had just come out recently.
Lunch time passed by without much disturbance, they ate, put away the trays, and talked all the way back to their classroom to pick up their bags. By then, they’d have to split up once again.
George and Alex headed off to Econ, Charles and Pierre left for Art and Design, Max to Compsci, Carlos to History and Lando, alongside Oscar, to Physics.
By the end of the day, George’s bag was heavier, his laptop was tucked under his arm while he left the library session feeling twenty years older, and a billion times more tired. He’d agreed to go back to the dorms with Charles and Pierre after they finished with extracurricular French sessions. They’d meet up in the courtyard outside the main school building.
“George!”
Charles’ voice carried over from a distance, waving at him with Pierre not far behind, both with folders and their bags swung haphazardly over their shoulders.
George waved back casually, walking over to them.
“How was French?”
“Oh my god, you don’t understand, Mr Vasseur is so… I don’t know, but he keeps giving us listening tests, I don’t get why.”
“Literally, it’s the third time in the last five lessons, for no reason by the way. He just hates us. With a passion.”
“Maybe you guys just need to get good.”
“Shut up, you don’t even take a language.”
“Well yeah I guess I can’t say much.”
The banter carried all the way from the school yard to their dorm building. The dorms were situated on the far side of the campus, in rows of small apartment blocks.
The lower school was the centre of the school, the dining hall and sports hall were to its left and right. The sixth form building was further away, being a good five minutes walk away from the rest of the school.
Everyone had gotten to choose the dorm buildings and arrangements, so funnily enough, everyone in the group chat that Lando had made were also the same as the people in their apartment building. There had also been a few random people that they didn’t know, but they had switched buildings after Lando’s repeated screaming at midnight. Their activities at ungodly hours had become so common that the teachers just gave up on telling them to shut the fuck up.
George said goodbye to Charles and Pierre in the elevator as they left on the second floor, George had to wait two more for it to be the fourth.
Him and Alex shared a room, which was honestly great. George was in charge of cleaning, and Alex cooked him good food. They have a schedule for chores and everything, this was definitely better than rooming with, say, Max, or Lando.
When he pushed open the door, Alex was at the table, revising his Biology coursework, with Logan, one of the year elevens, both cramming knowledge into their brains.
“Look who’s studying finally, hi Logan, do you want cookies?”
George took out a bag of chocolate chip cookies, which the librarian had very very kindly given him after his volunteering session. Both of them looked up, dropping their work immediately, eyes gleaming as they jumped up towards George.
“Oh my god thank you Georgie oh my god oh my god please I’m starving and hungry.”
Alex reached him first, yanking the cookies gently from his hands. Was it even possible to yank ‘gently’? It didn’t matter, because that was what Alex did. He opened the bag and took a cookie, sighing in satisfaction. Logan followed suit, thanking George and taking one as well.
“How’s the tests going, Logan?”
George asked, retrieving the bag from Alex, pulling out a cookie for himself, taking a bite.
“Oh my god, it’s actually horrid. Can’t wait to finally be free. But no, exams until late June, can’t believe we still have five more weeks. How did you guys even survive this?”
“Sleepless nights, endless cramming, and stealing Georgie’s notes.”
Alex said, nudging George playfully, and that earned him an elbow into the side.
“I think I have some of my GCSE notes, if I didn’t pass them all onto Kimi already, that is.”
“Please George, can I very much please have them please and thank you very much.”
“Yeah of course, let me go find them.”
He left Alex and Logan to their cookie, going to his room to find the almost lost media that were his past notes.
George’s room was more tidy and clean than Alex’s, books lined the shelves, his desk was clean of any rubbish except papers and pencils. There was a calendar on his wall, a potted plant on the window sill, green leaves sprouting healthily, a small flower beginning to bloom.
He opened a cabinet, it was filled with neat stacks of papers and some binders. George took out the one labelled ‘GCSE’ and flicked through.
It was half empty, due to the fact that the year tens had taken, or more adequately, stolen, most of his revision stuff. But there were a few more booklets and sheets left.
Back in the living room, Alex and Logan sang and vibed to some song by Green Day, Too Much Too Soon if he recalled. George’s speaker had been stolen for this exact purpose. The duo didn’t pause their karaoke when he walked in, but Logan did stop his fake air drumming and received the binder like a holy grail.
They studied together for a little over an hour, Green Day replaced by Logan’s ‘chill study lock in beats 100% works no click bait’ playlist, before the year eleven said goodbye and left to return to his dorm. Alex and George ordered two pizzas and drinks, getting ready to jump in a call with the rest of their friends, and set up for the stream. They each retreated to their respective rooms and setups which had collected quite a substantial amount of dust from a few weeks of being unused.
George booted up his PC and monitor, popping on his headset and joined the discord call, where Lando, Max and Charles were already messing around. He opened his twitch channel to make sure everything was ready for when they begin.
“Hi Georgie!”
“George!!”
“Yo.”
This was going to be fun.