Fifth Light (Sebastian Vettel)

Chapter 1: How It Began

Casey champed on the pen residing between her teeth as she teetered precariously over the cockpit of the shiny, partially-dismantled RB10 Formula 1 car in front of her. Admittedly, she was far more excited to be there than she was letting on, instead trying her utmost to play it cool among her predominantly male colleagues in the Red Bull Racing pit garage.

"You've got ink all over your lips," came a voice across the car. She stopped chewing her pen immediately, staring down at it in horror, though not a trace of ink was to be found. She touched a finger tip against her lip, frowning as it came away clean and setting her gaze on the stupid, grinning face opposite her.

"Get absolutely bent, Evan." she said, trying to not give him the satisfaction of a laugh as he snickered delightedly to himself. Evan was, at this point in time, her only close friend on her new team. He'd worked back at headquarters with her  for the last 3 years, though this year they had both been promoted to the travelling pitt crew team. 

This was the team that most people in their industry strived to be apart of. The team was made up of a mixture of mechanics, engineers, tacticians, trainers, hospitality workers and many more who travelled around the world with the drivers, attending all of the races around the world throughout the racing season.

"Chewing on pens is an awful habit. All your teeth will fall out and I won't be seen in public with you anymore." he replied with an innocent shrug.

"That would indeed be a tragic loss." she agreed, deliberately snapping the pen back between her teeth as she suppressed a yawn. She was still vaguely jet-lagged, but it wasn't too hard to dismiss with all the adrenalin from the environment constantly coursing through her body.

She heard Evan chuckle as she turned her gaze back out the open front doors of the garage, letting her eyes wander across the people running frantically back and forth through the pit lane, hurrying to complete their final preparations. It was still early in the day, but the sun was already bearing down heavily, ensuring a sheen of sweat for anyone who spent even a moment out of the shade. While many of her colleagues complained about it, Casey personally loved being there, back in Australia. She could wear her short-sleeved uniform rather than the heavy jackets they'd all had to pile on back in the UK a few mere days earlier. And, although she hadn't lived in Australian since she was younger, home would always be home. 

That day was the first day out of four of the Australian Grand Prix. Any minute now, the fans would be let into the pit lane to peer into the teams' garages and take a seemingly endless amount of photographs of every inch of everything there was to see. She'd get out of there for that part, preferring to let the boys who didn't mind a taste of the glamour to parade around the car looking as busy as they really should be, not-so-subtly posing for photos that would undoubtedly end up all over Twitter. Instead, she would sit behind a wall at the back of the garage and polish something for the tenth time, waiting for the tour to finish and the pit lane to be fan-free again.

After a few minutes of absentmindedly watching Evan obsess over a minuscule mark on his side of the car, Casey glanced up at the large clock adorning the front of the garage. It was 5 minutes until 9am. Close enough. 

She tucked her buffing cloth in the waistband of her pants and grabbed the pen out from her teeth, stuffing it into her pocket before turning toward the back of the garage. She looked around momentarily and spotted Evan hurrying after her, stashing a stained rag into the side of his belt as he walked. A few of the other crew followed suit, abandoning their tasks and heading for the safety of the back of the garage. Meanwhile, the remaining boys snuck glances in whatever reflective surfaces were available to them, smoothing their hair or straightening their shirts.