𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 - 𝐋𝐍𝟒

1.0

Gwen

IGNORE HIM. DON'T TALK TO HIM. PRETEND I DON'T KNOW HIM. We're the 3 sentences that echoed through Gwen Anderson's head as she walked into the McLaren headquarters for the first time. At least we both made it, she thought to herself. 

"Hi, I'm Gwen Anderson, I'm driving for McLaren this upcoming year" she said to the receptionist at the desk as she walked in. 

"Ah, Yes, It says here that you would be stopping in today. Here you go, have a wonderful day" The lady at the desk replied handing her a lanyard that said "guest" as she was yet to get her own personal one with her name on it.

She had a few things to do today. The main one was a meeting with her public relations manager, Emma Robertson. They had to think of ways to show that she had talent, and wasn't just there to create diversity in the sport. Gwen knew she had talent, she had won the W Series championship for 4 years in a row before any F1 team even considered her as a option to be a driver. But many people had different opinions on a girl in Formula 1.

Gwen pulled up a map of the building on her phone, yes she needed a map, the place was that big. She was supposed to meet with Emma in 2 minutes and had absolutely no clue where she was going. The map was confusing in itself, so she found what looked to be the room she was trying to get to and started walking in that direction, her eyes glued to the screen.

Gwen's body ran straight into someone as she was walking. "shoot, sorry! frick, I wasn't looking where I was going" Her eyes shot up and met with the one and only, Lando Norris.

"This is going to be a hard year trying to avoid you" she mumbled just as Lando smirked and said "guest, I guess you won't be here for long then"

"Will you shut the freak up, you know I'm your teammate. By the end of this year, you the one who is going to be off the team when they see my skills." Gwen shot back. 

"Oh, yeah? Well we both know that BOTH of us got the athletic award in eight grade, so I guess that means our ability is equal." Lando said through gritted teeth. 

"You remember?" Gwen asked in awe, "I thought you would be to 'famous' and full of yourself to remember some small award like that" She continued.

"You think I'm famous," Lando laughed.

"Well, if you accept the fact that basically every single one of your fans and followers only follow you because of the fact that they are in love with you then yeah" Gwen said.

"You follow me, and are you in love with me? No, because unless this is you confessing your love to me, witch if is is, this would be a horrible conversation to do that in, then not every single one of my followers are in love with me."

"I said basically. Can we try and not fight the next time we talk, I have enough on my plate already." Gwen replied

"You are my teammate, we have the exact same amount of this on our plates." Lando said

"No, we don't, why are you here at the HQ today, huh?" Gwen asked

"Because I forgot my phone here yesterday, you" Gwen smirked, Lando hasn't changed, that's exactly something he would do in eight grade.

"I'm having a meeting on how to debunk the myth's that I'm only here to add diversity to the sport, I have talent, but no one realizes it. Do you know how that feels, no, you don't!" Gwen yelled at Lando. 

Lando stayed quiet. No noise was almost as bad as them yelling. The silence echoed through the halls. "Do, you know where room 87 is? My pr room." She finally asked, "I'm late for my meeting."

"Yeah, it's on the second floor, beside mine. I'll walk you there." Lando said blankly. The air seemed thicker now that Gwen had mentioned the fact that she had to be here doing meeting about females in F1 when Lando had the day off. They walked there together silently.

"Thanks" Gwen said when they reached the room with her name on it. "You will see me on the track, when I'm in front of you" Lando told her. 

Gwen gave him an angry look and walked into the room.

                                              ***

"Your late." Were the first words to come out of Emma's mouth when Gwen entered the room. "I know, I'm sorry, I uh, got lost" Gwen answered, it was, partly true. 

"Okay, lets get straight to it, I don't want to keep you long. I've set up many interviews next week in Bahrain, more than any of the other drivers, this is all because I want you to talk about motorsport and keep most answers F1 related. You may get some very sexist questions, you may know Ayla Peirce, the F2 driver, she has already done some interviews and gotten some very dumb questions about hormones and other stuff like that."

Ayla Peirce, Gwen's best friend was always right behind her in everything. They were on the same team in W Series, and every time Gwen won the championship, Ayla always came in second. This past season when Gwen was chosen as an F1 driver, Ayla was accepted into F2.

"Yeah, I know, she is my bestfriend, she complained to me a lot about the questions" Gwen replied. 

"Try to answer them as best as you can, if it's a horrible question, I will step in. Also, we need more motorsports related content on your social media platforms. W Series was not at big as F1, so not as many people were following your account and many drivers posted their own content that they took themselves, not their pr team. In F1, all drivers have pr people that make posts for all social media platforms, we will be posting those, so I need you to cut back on posts with friends because fans think you are not committed to racing." Emma told her.

"That's dumb." Gwen said bluntly. 

"I know it is, but we need to keep your public image looking good. I know you are committed to the sport, but many fans are failing to see that." Gwen sighed, she knew that no other driver would probably ever had to have a conversation like this.

"I hate how people have so much against a driver just because of their gender." Gwen complained.

"It is really frustrating, I will email you with more information, otherwise, I will see you on track next Thursday" Emma said.

"Thank you" Gwen smiled. She said goodbye to Emma and left the room, happy that the meeting was rather short.

a/n: This chapter is on the shorter side, but I wanted to get the first part of the book published. I hope you enjoyed! and are excited for what's to come. Check my profile regularly for updates :)

-late.night.reader-