The court date was set for October 5. Over the course of the next couple weeks, the guys found out about Felicia’s situation. They tried their best to make her feel better about it. She didn’t go to dance rehearsal as much anymore, but whenever they came over, she hung out with the guys. But these events were taking a serious toll on her schoolwork. Compared to the A’s she was earning for the first month, she was now receiving C’s and a few D’s. The only plus side of the whole ordeal was that Felicia had a concrete reason not to get close to Nick.

The court date had finally come. The boys didn’t have anything going on that week, so they would be able to be there to support her, AJ, and Denise. Felicia was nervous; she didn’t want to see her uncle again. She had never liked him much. He always seemed like and evil version of her dad. Felicia looked over at her clock; it was time to go. It’s now or never. Felicia headed downstairs. AJ and Denise were talking with Nana and Papa on the sofa.

“Hi,” she said softly, standing behind AJ.

Nana looked up. “Hi sweetie. How are you holding up?” Felicia just shrugged.

Denise stood up. “We should get going.”

AJ went over to Felicia and gave her a small hug. “The guys will meet us down there.” Felicia nodded as they headed out to the car. Please let me stay.

They arrived at the courthouse an hour later. They met Mr. Palmer on the way in to the courthouse.

“Hello Mr. Palmer,” Denise said as they walked in.

“Hello Denise,” he said and then turned to Felicia. “Are you ready?”

Felicia nodded her head.

“Now remember, there will be no cross examinations. The judge will just ask Mr. Logan and myself to call our witnesses up, and the judge will basically ask the same questions to everyone. Unless this goes really late, he should give us his decision today,” Mr. Palmer explained as they entered the courtroom. “We sit on the left side of the courtroom. We have about 45 minutes to relax. Felicia, if your aunt or uncle tries to talk to you, just ignore them. They aren’t supposed to talk to you, but incase they decide to, just ignore them.”

Felicia nodded as they sat down.

“Okay, well if you will excuse me, I am going to get something to drink. Would any of you like anything?”

Felicia and AJ shook their heads. “That’s okay Mr. Palmer,” Denise said.

“We’ll come with you,” Papa said, speaking for Nana.

“This way,” Mr. Palmer said as they left.

Felicia sighed and rested her head on Denise’s shoulder. “You know how I said I don’t like planes?”

Denise thought back to that conversation and gave a small chuckle. “Yeah.”

“I don’t like my uncle even more,” she said softly.

Denise sighed and wrapped an arm around her. AJ held onto Felicia’s hand.

The three of them stayed like that for about 15 minutes before the guys showed up. AJ was the first to notice them and stood up. “Hey guys,” he said as they came to the front of the room. Felicia and Denise turned around in their chairs. Felicia gave them all a small smile.

“We would have been here sooner, but Kevin here got a tad lost,” Brian joked, looking at Kevin.

“Hey, Howie was my navigator!” Kevin laughed.

They continued their conversation and jokes, and Felicia started to lighten up. She happened to look over at the door just as her aunt, uncle, and cousins came in with their lawyer. Felicia tried to pay attention to the conversation again, but she kept zoning out.

“Hey, are you okay?” Brian asked, putting a hand on her back.

Felicia didn’t even notice he was behind her now. “Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine.”

Brian could tell she was lying. “Don’t worry about them. You know we’re more entertaining anyways”, he smirked, pulling a funny face.

Felicia giggled. “Thanks Bri.”

Brian gave her a small hug, and they started listening to AJ picking on Nick.

The trial had started. The judge heard from all of the Levine’s witnesses. Felicia’s cousins were even asked to testify, but when asked what should happen to Felicia, all three said she should be happy. Felicia had to smile when they said that. I didn’t know they cared. As for Felicia’s witnesses, no one faltered. The judge heard from Denise, Nana, Papa, AJ, her tutor, and all of the boys. All of the boys said they she was their little sister as well. You could tell however that the judge got the idea when he cut Howie, Brian, and Nick off because he heard it from Kevin and AJ.

“Our last witness is Felicia Levine,” Mr. Palmer stated.

Felicia took a deep breath and went to the witness stand.

“Felicia, can you explain what happened before you went to live with the McLean’s? From the beginning?”

Felicia nodded. “My parents and sister were killed in a car accident. At the time, I still had blood relatives. My grandparents wanted to, but couldn’t take me in due to their age. I’m guessing because the state was afraid that if they passed away I would be orphaned again. The only other eligible candidates to adopt immediately were my dad’s sister and brother. Neither of them wanted to adopt me, but they never told me why. But as far as knew, they had given up their rights to adopt me. I was placed in a state orphanage and was there for about two years,” she said slowly, trying to not get upset.

“And that is when you were taken in by the McLean’s?”

Felicia nodded. “Yes.”

“How have they been treating you?”

Felicia smiled. “They are awesome. They treat me like I have been with them forever. “

“And why do you not want to go with your blood relatives?”

Felicia shot a glare towards her aunt and uncle. “Because they gave up on me. They never checked up on me at the orphanage, they completely abandoned me. They aren’t family to me anymore.” She turned to the judge. “If you make me go with them, I WILL run away.”

“Thank you Felicia, you may return to your seat.”

Felicia went back, completely ignoring her aunt and uncle.

“I will look at both cases, and will be back with my decision within the hour,” the judge said as he left.

Once he was gone….”Aw man, we hafta wait now?” Nick complained.

Felicia giggled. Hopefully, its worth the wait.