𝙇𝙊𝙊𝙆𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝘼𝙏 𝙈𝙀 ᵒᵖ⁸¹

nineteen ✓

📍 tokyo, japan

NERVES. adrenaline. panic. excitement. willow was feeling everything in that exact moment.

zac opened the glass door and held his arms out, "hey! it's my new favourite people, come on in!"

oscar and lando both looked a bit shocked, "what are we, chopped liver?" the aussie spoke.

relief. comfort. reassurance. hearing those words made all her worry go away.

she followed the rest of her group in and zac greeted them all individually, offering to take them on a tour of the paddock before the day became more chaotic.

oscar and lando bid their goodbyes after greeting everyone as they had their own prep to do before the day of qualifying ahead of them. only when he left and willow looked right at him, she realized he was only a little taller than herself.

"ladies, if you'll follow me" zac insisted as he led them through the mclaren paddock, showing them many different things they had that needed to be running in perfect condition for the weekend. he finally led them to where the pit crew and team would work out of, where both of the boys cars were waiting for them when quali began.

vivienne's jaw almost fell to the floor when it really set in that she was standing in front of an f1 car, especially the one of her favourite driver.

zac noticed her expression and spoke up, "would you ladies like to sit in them?"

if it was possible, vivienne's mouth opened even more and her eyes grew wide. her previous, almost frozen state was broke when she rushed to the side of lando's car, yelling out to willow, "you can have oscar's, i need this!"

gina stayed in lando's side of the paddock with vivienne as a few mechanics helped her in, willow, her mother, and zac walking over to oscar's side so she could sit in one of the cars too.

a few mechanics helped her in when zac told them what they were doing, willow's mom making sure to get a good photo of her daughter sitting in such a cool vehicle.

bethany knew her stuff now. while gina was working, willow was practicing, and vivienne was tending to all the behind the scenes content she was allowed to give, bethany blake set out to learn as much about formula one as she could. in that time, she learned about the many great champions who have come and go over the years, and also picked up on just how great the drivers she was in the presence of truly were.

zac was beside the car talking to willow about how the weekend works. explaining all 3 qualifying rounds and some of the terminology they used. what surprised him was when she started asking questions about the car's mechanics itself.

"was she one of those kids who was obsessed with cars, or just knew a lot of stuff?" zac asked bethany, slightly scared by just how much she knew.

the women laughed, "well, both. but she also has a bachelor's degree in engineering physics from the university of michigan so she tends to know a lot when it comes to... anything really!"

zac looked back to willow, who had now roped a mechanic into answering her questions — even though she already had an idea of the answer.

he looked back to bethany, "wait, isn't university 4 years? or is she older than lando told me she is?"

bethany smiled watching her daughter, "since she started high school she had always been taking as many classes as she could at once, even during the summer. she wanted to graduate early so she could get the education she wanted and then also be able to start her music career when she wanted to"

zac nodded along, noticing willow now get out of the car and take a closer inspection of the rest of it, bringing that same mechanic along with her.

"from a young age she knew she wanted to have a music career which if you become successful doesn't really need a backup plan. engineering was her backup plan, she wanted to be an astronaut or work at nasa in some way"

"the more you know"

—💌