STREETS -
act one chapter nine.

ALICIA WAS EXCITED. Not that she wasn't always excited to get into her Williams and drive away but she was excited to right her wrongs. And Zandvoort was looking to be the place she did so.

Somehow, Alicia was doing better than Alex - not that she ever doubted she could do so but many fans had. Alex, himself, had been bursting with excitement when she saw her initials above his on the board. (Even if it was just practice)

To Williams, practice was everything. Their drivers needed the most time with their cars and definitely needed to collect the most data to see how they could improve.

Qualifying was ready to get underway, and Alicia was already sat in her car. Staring in-front of her, the view of the filled orange grandstands. It almost gave her chills at the sight. Imagine having that many fans. Christ, the girl could only dream. A roar sounded from them, and she could only guess from further down the pit lane Max had gone to warm up his tires.

And Alicia soon followed.

In a stark contrast to last week, Alicia felt prepared. She'd spent the whole week in and out of the swimming pool - learning how to swim! And a lot and I mean a lot of training was do to put her mind at a focus.

Her tires were warm and she was ready.

"Final lap on Q1, and we're just waiting for Vettel to come round the-" Nadia spoke, after Alicia had put in her final lap hoping to second that spot in Q2. "Okay, never mind. Vettel has gone into the gravel."

There was a moment of silence as neither of them spoke, Alicia was setting out two different scenarios. She'd either been right at the bottom or provisional pole. The second one seemed highly unlikely, but a girl can dream.

It was almost possible to hear the smile in Nadia's voice when she'd voiced the result to Alicia: "That's you into Q2, Alicia. You ended the session in P12. And are through to Q2. Well done, Alicia."

The cameras focused on the Williams garage, the smiles on every employee. When on earth was the last time both Williams' had made it into Q2!

A camera zoomed into the team principal, who sat back in his chair with a look of disbelief. Zandvoort was never destined to be good for Williams. And here they were!

The weekend could only go up from here. Right?

Alicia stood with her visor up, moments before she was about to leave for Q2, Charlotte was stood beside her, sipping on her own drink. "I think you're going to get pole."

Alicia side-eyed her personal trainer, "One step at a step, Lottie."

The trainer held her hands up, "Hey! I'm just trying to be optimistic."

"I think all the crystals you placed on Nadia's desk tell me that." Alicia laughed, watching the engineer furrow her eyebrows as she tried to think of where they came from.

Charlotte rolled her eyes as she handed the driver he gloves, "I'll have you know, these crystals work miracles. I've wearing one as a necklace. Apparently, it's supposed to bring me love."

Alicia laughed, but instantly stiffened up when Jost came towards her. Her mind immediately jumping to the worst, had she sped in the pit lane! Or, even worse been disqualified?

"Loosen up, Hugo." Jost laughed, offering Alicia the data he was holding as they emerged into a business talk.

Charlotte walked away, becoming bored almost instantly. Her eyes lingered, focusing on her friends engineer. Stop it Charlotte! Her mind reminded her. That would be unprofessional, if anything Alicia was not only her client but most likely her closest friend. Being on the road for most of the year didn't exactly make you the best at making friends.

"Lottie?" Alicia asked, snapping her fingers in-front of the blondes face. "Did you mean to give me two left hand gloves?"

"Oh!"

Charlotte was instantly snapped back into her work mode, as she settled back in the corner as Alicia had the right gloves and set off for her first Q2 performance. She could definitely get used to seeing the girl have more performances there, and then maybe one day she'll claim a pole.

Q2. It was great to be there, the adrenaline was definitely a buzz. But Alicia had never been here before! How the hell was she supposed to cope this close to a Mercedes, God forbid she took one out.

Luckily, this time around she hadn't. But her and Alex were definitely out of place. Alex's last lap had been aborted anyway, leaving Alicia to set the final lap.

The competition had heated up, and it was clear who was most definitely making it to Q3 but maybe Alicia could've spiced things up. Maybe, she could beat Alex.

It almost felt wrong for that to be her main priority, but Nadia and Jost himself had told her that her main competition is Alex. And so far, it had been healthy. Is she beat Alex maybe she could finally silence some of those comments that she wasn't good enough!

That's what Alicia had decided anyway, silencing them would be done by beating Alex.
(She'd most definitely get some form of happiness from it too!)

The banking of Zandvoort felt normal to her at that point. The first couple of times she'd went round, she felt butterflies in her stomach.

Her final lap didn't feel too good but it was Q2! Who was she to complain.

"Alicia," Nadia voiced, there was that familiar tone in her voice that the driver had heard almost twenty minutes ago. "That's P11."

Oh. Alicia almost wanted to say. How did she manage that! She'd most definitely mess the lap up in the middle sector. In her head, Alicia decided Nadia was playing a cruel joke on the girl. But Alicia squealed. What else was she supposed to do!

A week ago she felt at her lowest of lows, her impression on the sport had been minimal. And here she was, P11? How could she not celebrate.

"And before you make my ears bleed with screaming, Alex was P15." Nadia smiled. The competition between the pair being healthy, and at the end of the day it was a result for Alicia to be proud of, a morale booster - and goodness gracious was the Spaniard in need of one of those.

"I was actually going to save the screaming till I was in the pits." Alicia corrected her engineer as she slowed the car down and pulled into the pits. "But honestly, this feels so good. I think all of us in the garages, at the headquarters we definitely deserve it. Let's make good use of this P11 tomorrow."

Williams were still in their garage. Sky Sports focusing on them as they waited for the final part of qualifying to resume. The two drivers were stood next to each other, Alicia mimicking how Alex stood as they watched over his lap.

She had been doing so for the past five minutes, but Alex had only just noticed. Rolling his eyes and failing to hide his smile. Alicia felt like another sister to him. And when he was with Summer, Charlotte and Alicia he felt like his ears were going to bleed.

The trio was great. When they weren't arguing, which news flash: is almost all the time!

"See, I didn't do that on my lap." Alicia pointed out, a smug smile on her face, "And you know, that's how I ended up P11. But I guess only people of my caliber can do so!"

"You and me," Alex gestured between them. "We aren't going to be friends in a minute."

Alicia huffed, "Fine. I'm just saying if you were in P11 I'd let you gloat."

"Yes, but when I do it, it's tolerable."

"That's so not true."

"Alicia!" Summer panted, having ran from the drivers room to the garage (which wasn't a far distance at all) "It's your dad, he says it's urgent!"

Panic was instantly all over the drivers face as she grabbed the phone and pressed it to her ear, "Dad?"

"Are you okay? Are you dead! No!"

From where Alex stood next to her, and not understanding any of the Spanish the girl was speaking, it was an understatement to say he was confused. But all the shocked expressions did not leave him with the best impression.

"My goodness! Why are you shouting I'm perfectly fine." Mateo spoke, laughing at his daughter and her immediate concern.

"Summer said it was urgent!" Alicia spoke in English, pointing at her media officer.

"Woah, woah!" Summer held her hands up, "Don't drag me into this."

"Mateo Hugo! How dare you!"

Alicia walked away from Summer and Alex, the two looking at each other and shrugging before walking away.

liked by: williamsracing, summer_media, alex_albon, charles_leclerc and 2,367,892 others.

aliciahugo: P11! Q2!! absolutely loved it out there today let's get close to those points tomorrow

view all 2,009,378 comments.

alex_albon: i'm still the prettiest teammate
lilymhe: keep telling yourself that x
aliciahugo: even your girlfriend likes me more 😭

lewishamilton: this was the best thing to happen today 💗
aliciahugo: would've been better with you on pole 🙁
lewishamilton: i'm trying 🙄

charles_leclerc: iris told me this was a slay i don't know what a slay is but this is a slay
aliciahugo: you're so right, this is a slay

userone: my daughter loves you and i don't understand why
charles_leclerc: because she slays
aliciahugo: i slay

usertwo: when i see you im gonna beat the shit out of you
hug0boss: that is not a slay my friend!

author: yes it's latifi's car. yes i got frustrated at editing it.

charles likes bum:

MICK:
this was such a good day
omg

SEB:
Stop
Actually, never mind
Ice cream?
We'll celebrate p8

MICK:
YES??
OF COURSE

IRIS:
CAN I COME
I LOVE ICE CREAM

PR LORD:
yeah. we know.

CHARLES:
is that supposed to be an
unnecessarily dig at my woman!

IRIS:
i'll have you know george
you always interrupt
our ice cream dates.
and it's not my fault you do so.
so 😎

RED BULL REJECT #2:
she has a point george

IRIS:
i always do alex??

SEB:
If you're coming to ice
cream we are leaving now!

IRIS:
On my way!

RED BULL REJECT #2:
i want ice cream
nvm
i'll blackmail alicia into buying it me

GOAT:
i used to do that for you
YOU WERE BLACKMAILING ME?

RED BULL REJECT #2:
whoops...?

LEWIS:
really alex?
this is not very good

RED BULL REJECT #2:
WHAT
I WAS KIDDING I SWEAR
LOVE ME LEWIS

LEWIS:
still we rise alex 💗

PR LORD:
facts!

OSCAR:
you're such a bum
licker george

RED BULL REJECT #2:
STOP
😭😭😭

PR LORD:
strike one oscar.
brb while i cry
myself to sleep

RED BULL REJECT #2:
dweeb

#1 driver:

TEAMMATE:
where are u
i want ice cream!!!
i am hungry
if i start calling you rude names
will you come to me
and buy me ice cream
[ delivered ]

excuse me!!!
you're not on do not disturb
so you must be ignoring me.
how gosh diddly darn rude!!!?!
i will contact summer
[ delivered ]

wow
something must really be wrong
brb
[ delivered ]

do i have to send out a search party
im NOT EVEN kidding anymore
[ read ]

👍🏻

A THUMBS UP??
YOU GIVE ME A THUMBS UP??
IM WORRIED SICK.

pick me up please

okay
where are you

AUTHORS NOTE:
alicia 🙁🙁💗💗💗🫶🏻🫶🏻💗