There was a difference between being able to drive and being allowed to drive. She'd been practicing on farm vehicles since she hit her teens, the colony was fairly relaxed about things like that, on her parents' land it was her parents' rules but on the public roads there was this stupid thing called laws.

Just a few more months, Nikki thought as she picked up the pace on her morning jog to school. Sixteen felt both so close and so far away, a bit like this last push in the 4 mile run each day.

She could just catch the school bus like everyone else of course, but that was often just as sweaty as running in, only without the benefit of getting in early enough to use the showers in the locker room before first period.

Besides, running kept her fit.

Well ok, so boxing, hockey and regularly helping out on the farm would probably be more than enough to keep her fit regardless, but... her thoughts were interrupted as she caught sight of a car on the side of the road. She slowed her pace as she got nearer, the hood was up, hiding the driver's face and all she could see was a rather feminine looking arm.

"Do you need a hand?" Breakdowns weren't exactly an everyday occurrence but neither were they rare and she'd helped quite a few people out over the years. Yet another skill borne from being an atypical Daddy's girl. When she was little she'd do anything to spend time with him and he had been more than happy to pass his mechanical skills on to her when the boys hadn't been interested.

"You know cars? That would be amazing." The mystery driver stuck her head round the hood and Nikki found herself looking into the smiling face of Goal Defence.

"Uh, sure... Let's take a look." It was a simple enough fix, just a couple of wires that had somehow gotten loose and needed reconnecting. "There that should do it."

"Thanks, you're a miracle worker." Goal Defence over exaggerated as the car started back up, Nikki letting the hood back down. "You go to Jemison right? Hop in, I'll give you a lift. Name's Trish by the way."

"Err, Nikki. And it's OK, you don't have to-"

"It's fine, I'm at Jemison's too. Junior year, you're sophomore right?"

There should have been more than enough time by now to recover from her run but Nikki's heart was still racing as she settled in the passenger seat, Trish continuing to ask questions as she drove. Nikki answered her on autopilot, her attention caught by the way the wind blew through the other girl's long brown hair, the sun making it shine golden like autumn leaves.

Brown autumn leaves obviously, not the sickly yellowy greens or reds you get from some trees and... a laugh pulled her out from her tangent and she refocused on that smile, the way it made her whole face light up and those bright blue eyes that shone as they looked... oh crap, she's looking at me!

Nikki pulled her head round, blushing furiously as she focused out the window on the passing scenery for the rest of the journey. Thankfully it wasn't long before they were pulling into the school parking lot.

"Hey Trish." The voice spoke before the engine was even switched off, startling Nicola once more. She was fairly certain it wasn't her voice. Like, 85% certain.

"Hey Alice!"

Alice? Who the fu... OHH! Wing Attack is Alice. The other girl walked over from where she'd been leaning against a wall, eyes darting between the two occupants in the car.

"Alice this is Nikki. Nikki, Alice. Can you believe it? Sophomore year and Nikki's already Centre-forward on the school hockey team."

Wait how does she know about that? I can't even remember what we were talking about. What the hell else did I tell her?

"I should umm, go get cleaned up. Nice to meet you Alice and err, thanks for the ride Trish."

"You're welcome. Thanks for fixing my car."

"Err, yeah, sure. Anytime." As the youngster moved nearly out of earshot she just caught Alice asking:

"Well?"

…

"Tell me you at least got her number Nick? Nick?"

"Come on Nikki, you've got to be kidding. Loose wires? That's not a fault, she was totally trying to get your attention. I can't believe you blew it! How did you not see that?"

"Now, now boys. Leave your sister alone and finish your supper." Thomas interrupted even though he somewhat agreed with his sons' sentiments, he silently shook his head in despair.

...

Nikki couldn't get that face out of her head, she was so beautiful and captivating. It was hard to be certain when the daydreams were so prolific, but she was sure she was seeing her around school more often as well. Not that she did anything about it.

Their sole conversation of note had been in the car and she could barely remember it. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk. She wanted to blow the other girl away with her sharp wit and amazing repartee, but every time she actually saw her she got tongue-tied, too nervous about embarrassing herself to risk speaking at all. She lacked courage.

…

Nicola had only been walking but still slowed her pace slightly as she caught sight of the increasingly familiar red convertible on the way home from school.

The hood was up again and Goal Defen- Trish, was sat on top of the passenger side door swinging her lovely long legs back and forth

.

"Hey Nikki, can you believe this?" The younger girl felt a tug at the corner of her mouth and dropped her eyes down to the ground, subconsciously biting her lip before closing the distance and looking under the hood.

"Did you check the wires?" She asked as Trish jumped down and came to stand beside her.

"Yep, it's definitely not the same thing as last time I can tell you that much."

"My brothers think you did it on purpose the other day, that you were umm, trying to get... someone's attention."

"Smart guys your brothers... What do you think?"

Nikki didn't say anything straight away, leaning in further as she caught sight of the problem. She straightened up with a handful of bolts, finally managing to look the smirking older girl in the eye as she held out the evidence.

"I'm starting to think they might be on to something. Do you have a torque wrench?"

Trish didn't even bother pretending to search the toolbox as she held out the necessary tool, Nikki smiling as she took it and ducked back under to work.

"Only starting to?"

"Yeah, well... umm." There was an awkward silence before Trish started laughing.

"You have no idea how to flirt do you." Nikki blushed crimson as she focused on tightening the bolts.

"Ermm... No, not really no."

"Well... If you want we could go to the drive-thru this weekend? Maybe you could pick up some tips from the vids."

"Drive-thru huh..." Nikki's eyes briefly made contact before darting away again, a smile curling hesitantly round her lips. "You sure your car can go that long without breaking down?"

...

Author's note: Wow this story got attention quick, really rather humbling considering how little you got in the first chapter. Hopefully you'll continue to enjoy.

Just in case there is any confusion, for the purpose of this story the driving age on Mindoir is 16, Shepard is currently 15, Trish is 16 and in the year above at school. (Hopefully I got the American class names right, it's always confused me how it works. I would just use grade/year numbers but so many countries start at different ages that even numbers could lead to confusion.) Their school is named after Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman in space.