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Mercy was excited and scared at what she was about to do. Ashleigh had just asked if she could practice in her car, which since she couldn't deny her little cousins anything, she said yes. Now she was worrying her nails while she waited for Leigh to come out of the house. Hopefully she wouldn’t be super difficult…” Leiah! Hurry up! What are you doing?” she was super slow...She wanted to patrol and show off her new senshi fuku. She thought it was pretty bad a** if she had any say about it. She also had some other news to tell her but that would wait while they are patrolling.


She wasn’t technically old enough to drive yet, but she was so excited and December was just so far away … so she asked her cousin just this once if she could practice a little early and Mercy said yes. She was so excited dancing around her room, singing while she got dressed. That was how she was only half dressed when Mercy came and scrambling into the rest of clothes before thundering down the steps.

“Bye mom, going out with Mercy!”

She ran up to the car and hopped in, “sorry, I got carried away dancing when my favorite song came on.”

Mercy couldn't help but smile as Leiah hopped into the car, turning to face her. “It's okay~ What were you listening to?” she started the car and took off, thinking she would start off at her apartment complex. The parking lot was usually empty around this time.

“I shouldnt have to tell you not to tell your momma right?”

Ashleigh laughed and shrugged, “Tip Toe, it just makes me dance. I love it … mom does not love when it comes on and Dae because he’s my hype man and then we run around doing musically’s.”

She grinned as they pulled into the parking lot at Mercy’s apartment and grinned excitedly, nodding her head. “I won’t I promise … she won’t even let me drive around the block. I just want to try it … I can’t wait til December. It’s forever away.”

“Mkay~” she laughed, Jason Derulo was not her speed but she did like wiggle so there was that. She parked the car and got out, handing Leiah the keys. “Get into the driver's seat first and buckle up BEFORE you turn on the car.” she got into the passenger seat, buckling herself in. She took a deep breath, waiting for her cousin to get settled.

Ashleigh was so excited she ran around to the drivers side and hopped in buckling up. Mercy barely not all buckled in before Leah was looking at her excited, “okay, so turn on the car, right? Then what?”

It was nice that she reached the pedals fine being just barely taller than her cousin meant she didn’t have to adjust the seat.

She was practically vibrating with excitement.

“After you turn on the car you place your foot on the pedal to your right. Thats the gas pedal. Don't slam your foot down on it though alright?” she checked the positioning of her hands and corrected them. “keep your hands between 8 and 9 o'clock for your left and between 3 and 4 for your right.” she took a deep breath, “now slowly move forward and don't go too fast mkay? The big pedal to the left is the break”

Ashleigh listened to her cousin, doing as she said and pulling off a little faster than she intended and then breaking hard, causing the car to jerk. Her face was priceless and looking alarmed before she gave Mercy a sheepish look, “whoops, a little too hard I suppose.”

She looked forward and tried again, pulling off slowly, but then frowning, “ah Mercy cuz, what now?”

Mercy jerked forward, choking slightly when Ash pulled off a little too fast, rubbing her neck while her cousin looked at her sheepishly. “Yeah...Just a little.” She coughed, “Work on starting smoother, then we can talk.” That would give her enough time to get used to the break and gas pedals.

Ashleigh nodded with a sigh, trying not to feel discouraged that this was much harder than it looked. This time she put much less pressure on the gas and the car inched forward. She frowned at this unsure at home much she was supposed to press. She pressed a little harder to make the car jerk again, but not as hard as before.

“Cuz, how much am I supposed to press?”

Mercy was expecting the next jerk, happy that it wasn't as bad as the first. “Enough to keep a steady and slow pace. Add just enough each time till we're going at a steady five miles.” This was the exact same way her father taught her how to drive. Granted, she was worse than Ash when she started, but she wasn't about to tell her that.

Ashleigh gave her cousin a look, “five miles Mer … we might as well walk.” She frowned intensely, but did as her cousin instructed, allowing them to creep along slower than a snail. She sank back into the seat, more relaxed, but also annoyed with her cousin.

'Can't you like to get a ticket or something for going this slow,’ she groaned. Granted they weren’t on the road, but still people didn't drive this slow unless it was snowing or something. Mercy should have honestly known better with her cousin being very similar to her.

Mercy rolled her eyes, “Look, I know you wanna go faster, but until I feel like you have a better handle on things, we do this slowly. So yeah, we might as well “walk” but at least if something is right in front of you, the car stops instantly.” she hated this pace as well and she remembered having this exact same talk with her father. Ash’s sass was just one thing that made Mercy so fond of her. Not that she was going to mention that of course.

Ashleigh just gave her cousin an annoyed look and continued to drive at a snail's pace. “Mercy, this is stupid and you know it.” She wondered briefly if her older brothers learned like this, but she doubted it. She couldn’t believe her cousin was being like this, and her attitude clearly showed how she felt about the whole situation. Her earlier excitement was gone and she looked like a bored, moody teenager slouching in the front seat.

Okay so she felt like they could do other things now. “You’ve read the manual right?” Since her cousin was so eager to do something else, she decided to let her. “Why don't you take us to the mall then? If you can manage not to get into an accident, then we will do funner things tomorrow.”

Ashleigh looked at her cousin and raised a brow, “.... riiiiiigggghhhhtttt the very unhelpful manual … yeah I read it.” She shook her head at her cousin and decided in that moment after today she was just going to wait for her parents to teach her how to drive. She honestly thought maybe that was what her cousin was planning.

Still she shrugged, checked her seatbelt and prepared to drive them to the mall, being too young, unlicensed and without good driving knowledge, … but if her cousin wanted to play ball.

In fact, yes…This is what Mercy was after. While she loved her baby cousin like her own child, Mercy knew she didn't have the patience to be a good teacher. While her father or Ash’s own parents would be the better option to have. She took a deep breath, knowing something like this was not going to stop Ashleigh from calling her challenge. Welp, if a crash happened, she had insurance for an uninsured driver as well as some funds saved for a down payment on another car.


Ashleigh grinned and started to drive a bit faster headed to where she would turn onto the street. Was this a wise idea … no! Was she going to back down from her cousins challenge … also no! She put her signal on and waited for space to turn. “Here goes nothing?”