These are one shots and short scenes that were written in response to a writing challenge thread on PPMB. The one shots that I wrote are collected here.

1. Jodie discusses her first time with her sister Rachel.

The First Time


Jodie Landon looked across the table at her younger sister, Rachel. She had grown a lot over the years. Her hair was cut into a bob-cut, while Jodie's hair was still long, although she had it in a ponytail now. Her figure had developed as well, although she wore clothes that kept it hidden, much like a certain friend from high school that Jodie made sure to keep in touch with every other month via e-mail or phone calls, much to that girl's secret relief, not that she would ever admit to being happy that people communicated with her.

It had been months since the last time either of them had seen each other face-to-face, and Rachel had asked Jodie to meet her for something very important. Rachel moved one of her fingers across the table surface in a nervous fashion, and tried to think of a way to broach the subject with her sister.

She knew that Jodie had done it plenty of times, but Rachel was nervous. What if her first time ended up being so bad that it also ended up being her last time as well? "Come on, Rachel, talk to me," Jodie said in a patient tone. Jodie wasn't like her parents at all. Where Andrew and Michelle were constantly pushing their children to the point of exhaustion and would view any hesitance as a sign that their child needed to be pushed harder, Jodie understood that her sister needed time to think about things.

She knew this from experience with her parents. "Well..." Rachel began nervously. She looked up into Jodie's eyes. "I don't really want to talk to Mom and Dad about this just yet," she said guiltily. "Well, I didn't get the chance to go to them for advice when I was your age. Instead, they came to me and told me that I should do it," Jodie said to her, "But I have to admit, this is something that you should have thought about a year or so ago." "I know, but I don't want Dad to go crazy with telling me which one is the best. And let's not mention the waiting times and knowledge of the rules and stuff. I know that those are important, but I honestly think that my first time should be my first time, not theirs," Rachel said.

"Jodie, do you think... maybe you could go with me for my first time instead of Mom or Dad?" Rachel asked her. "Maybe, provided that no one recognizes me," Jodie said. "Why's that?" Rachel asked her curiously.

"Well, during my first time, things went pretty well at first, but at the end, I got so excited that I nearly lost control and almost rammed the car into a building, not to mention stopping between two parking spaces*," Jodie said with a smirk. "Looking back, it was actually kind of funny. You should have seen that woman's face at the end!" Jodie grinned.

"So, yours was a woman?" Rachel asked. "Yeah. My next one was a man, and the third time I had a woman again," Jodie said. "Wow. How much practice did you have before your first time?" Rachel asked her. "I had accumulated over one hundred hours over the course of three months before my first time, and then I had at least another ten hours before the second time," Jodie replied.

"Yeesh, and you did it three times before you got it right?" Rachel asked her. "Yeah, but the experience from the first two times made the third time worth it, since I succeeded the third time," Jodie said. "So, don't worry about how things go during your first time taking the test for your driver's license, okay?" Jodie said. "Just take things slow and even if Dad or Mom push you harder, tell them that you don't want to crash into a building, okay?"

Rachel chuckled. "Okay. Thanks, Jodie," she said with a smile. "Hey, what are sisters for?" Jodie asked her in return. "Well, according to your friend, Daria, sisters are for extorting money," Rachel replied. "So you overheard that conversation, did you?" Jodie asked her.

"Yep," Rachel replied. "Come on," Jodie said as she stood up, "Today is my only free day this week, so let's go have some fun together."


* This actually happened to me during my second driving test.