Wolff

Frienemies

Nala and the other drivers are lead out of the press conference room and back out into the paddock.
"You did so good, Nala. Your a natural at that!", Ollie says. Nala thanks him, the biggest smile plastered onto her face. She looks up to see them standing in a group of the other drivers, the ones from the press conference and some others.

"Nala Cameron? Ollie Bearman? I'm Mick! Nice to meet you", Mick introduced himself with the smile Nala had so often seen him wear on the tv. He wore his Haas team shirt, and it showed his broad shoulders clearly. He had the brightest blue eyes Nala had ever seen.
"Nice to meet you to Mick!", Nala said kindly.
"Yeah. Nice to meet you, mate", Ollie replied. Then he went around the group introducing the drivers that were there.
Pierre Gasly
Yuki Tsunoda
Charles Leclerc
Carlos Sainz
George Russell
Alex Albon
Lando Norris
And Daniel Ricciardo.
They all seemed relatively young, and Nala had already known who they were before, since she had been watching the sport for a long time. All the drivers said their greetings to Nala and Ollie, since he was new as well.

Nala found that all the drivers were really kind to her, and she loved it. One of her icons before was Daniel Ricciardo, and now here she was with him, standing around chatting with the other drivers. Again, butterflies swarmed her stomach.
"So, Nala. Where are you from?", asked George Russell, a Mercedes driver. It made Nala extremely nervous answering his question because all eyes were on her, but more importantly, her father was George's boss and he probably knew that Toto had a daughter that didn't want to be revealed.

"Umm, I'm Austrian and British, but I was born in France", Nala says, smiling. George nods his head, inspecting Nala from head to toe. She could feel his strong gaze on her but she tried her best to ignore it. Instead she turned to Charles who was speaking at her.
"I've actually heard a little about you, Nala. Seems like we've got a bit of competition, hey?", Charles laughs, which makes Nala giggle and nod her head.
"Better watch out, boys", Nala says pointing her finger around the circle. They all laughed happily, Noa enjoying the atmosphere of friendly competition around her. They all talked for a couple minutes, about the races and last year, and what would happen this season.

Nala hears hers and Ollie's names being called out from behind them, and she turns around to see Mark again, waving at them and coming down the paddock towards them. He stops once he is right next to his two rookie drivers, smiling at the others. Then he says, "Looks like your all having fun, but these two need to come back with me!" Mark's Australian accent rung out across the group drivers. Everyone nodded, and there was a flurry of goodbyes and waves as both Nala and Ollie were ushered away by their team principle.

"You answered your questions perfectly, Nala! I'm so proud of you. And you too, Ollie, you did a wonderful job too", Mark says as they climb up the stairs to the Audi hospitality. The doors open automatically, and soon Nala sees Jaidyn and Marley sitting on one of the grey couches in the corner. They rush over to her quickly when they finally catch a glimpse Nala at the doors. They gave her a high five each, even Ollie, who was beside Nala, received a high five from the two.
"Good job Lalo!", Marley says, giving Nala a pat on the back as well. Marley always called Nala 'Lalo' when he was in an extra good mood, and right then, he was.

The day went on, with Nala meeting her engineers and having meetings with just Mark and Ollie, or sometimes the whole engineering squad. She loved how her first day as an actual Formula 1 driver fanned out. When it got to the late afternoon, it was home time, so Nala gathered everything she had received that day, team clothes, a pair of  sunnies, and even a little model of her own F1 car.
"Right! Tomorrow, we have to be here bright and early, ok? Around 9:30 I'm thinking...Anyways, have a good evening beautiful people and we'll see eachother tomorrow!", Mark says as he pats Nala and Ollie's back and leaves.
As Nala, Jaidyn and Marley begin to walk down the paddock towards the car park, Nala hears her voice called in a British accent.
"Wait! Nala, wait for me!", the voice comes. Nala whips around to see her new teammate, Ollie Bearman, running towards her and she giggles at how goofy he looks when running in that desperate way. When he finally catches up, she turns back around and keeps walking.
"Evening Ollie! Couldn't get enough of me could you?", Nala asks sarcastically white giggling to herself. Ollie lets out a Small but puffed laugh and he walks beside her.
"Nope but I just wanted to say that I'm really excited to be your teammate!", he says with a proud grin on his face.

"Yes, I'm quite excited to, to be honest", Nala replies back. "I think we'll be good friends".
"Yeah, I guess. I would love to be your friend, but I also think that we'll end up being enemies on the track! We will be frienemies", Ollie says with a matter-of-fact tone and then a laugh. Nala agrees with him, just before they get to the car park and say goodbye to eachother.

Nala, Jaidyn and Marley got into the car, without a word until Marley suddenly piped up just like he always does. "Looks like someone's got a new friennnddd. Does that mean you're just going to leave us for him?", Marley drags out his words as he talking. Nala rolls her eyes, saying "Shut up, Mars. Hes my teammate!"
"Haha, I'm just joking, girl. Take a chill pill", he says but Nala returns with, "Whatever, just be quiet", and with that, they returned back to the hotel for the night.

The next morning, Nala wakes up excitedly. She was absolutely beaming as she got ready for the day and met her manager and personal trainer downstairs in the reception.
"Excited for your first practise session? You look like it!", Jaidyn says giggling as Nala skips towards them with her bag dangling around at her side. Nala nodded enthusiastically, and continued on her way toward the car with the other two following close behind.

As Nala and her two accomplices arrive at the paddock, they are swarmed again with fans calling Nala's name. Nala smiles and gives out autographs as she walks down the line. Then finally they are at the gates to go inside the paddock, and they let out quiet sighs of relief.

When they enter the paddock, they start the small walk to the Audi hospitality area where she was told to meet. Every so often, Nala waves to one of the drivers she met the day before, or is signing things for the few fans walking around. Then as the grey building materialized in front of them, they quickly jumped up the stairs and walked inside.
"Nala! Guys! Hello! Are you ready to finally be in practise?", Mark outstretched is arms as he greeted Nala and her friends. Nala was definelty ready.