Miss Haselton had come with Felicia and the McLean’s so they could drop the boxes off at the post office on the way. They got to the airport just in time. Felicia turned to Miss Haselton and gave her a big hug. “Thank you for everything. I’ll miss you.”

Miss Haselton returned the hug. “I’ll miss you too. Don’t be afraid to write back.”

Felicia laughed. “You can count on me. Tell the rest of the staff I send my love.”

“Will do,” Miss Haselton said as she gave Felicia a kiss on the forehead. She let Felicia go catch up with AJ and Denise. One tear fell, and then she went back to her car.

For the beginning of the trip, Felicia was having fun. She had the window seat, and learned more about the McLean’s. Felicia learned that AJ’s grandparents live on the same street as they do. She also learned the names of the guys in the group, and where they are from. AJ had let his mom sit in the middle so she could bond with Felicia some more. It had been a long day though, and Felicia fell asleep somewhere over West Virginia.

Felicia awoke to everyone being in panic on the plane. There seemed to be a lot of turbulence, but the weather outside showed it was bright and sunny. Felicia looked over to Denise for comfort and held onto her for dear life. The oxygen masks suddenly deployed as the plane started to tilt forwards....

Felicia awoke with a start. It was dark outside now, but only because of time, not weather. Denise looked over at her concerned. “Are you okay sweetie?”

Felicia nodded.” Y-yeah, just a bad dream.” She started to shake slightly.

“You’re shaking, are you sure your okay?”

Felicia nodded and smiled. “Yeah….thanks.” There was a slight jerk in the plane and Felicia went pale. The seatbelt sign went on as the pilot spoke.

“This is your pilot speaking. Please put your seats in the correct, up-right position. Also put your trays back to their original place. We are currently experiencing some turbulence due to the storm over South Carolina. This should be over shortly.”

Felicia instinctively cuddled into Denise, not wanting her dream to come true, and you could hear Felicia mumbling something. Denise protectively held onto her and held onto AJ as well.

Ten minutes later, they were out of the storm. AJ had fallen back asleep during it. Felicia was wide-awake, still cuddling with Denise, too afraid to let go.

“It’s okay sweetie, were out of the storm now.” Denise said as she rubbed Felicia’s back.

“I don’t like planes,” Felicia mumbled, still very scared.

Denise sighed. “I don’t blame you, that was pretty scary… Was that what your dream was about?”

Felicia just nodded.

“Is this your first plane ride?”

Felicia nodded again.

“I’m so sorry this was a bad experience, but plane rides aren’t always like this. It was just bad timing that we got there during the storm.”

Felicia wasn’t convinced. “I still don’t like them,” she mumbled.

Denise chuckled. “That’s okay,” she said, not letting go of Felicia.

Felicia gave a slight smile. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Caring,” Felicia said simply.

Denise just smiled. “You don’t need to thank me for that dear.”

“Yes I do. You seem to care about me more than my aunts and uncles ever did.”

Denise sighed and kissed her on the head. How could anyone NOT want her? Whoever would just abandon her like that isn’t her true family.

Felicia smiled and fell asleep, content with her new ‘mom’.