"Did you get it?" I excitedly asked as Ross and Trott walked through the front door.

"Yes we did," Ross laughed. "You can calm down, Lena."

  Trott opened up a shopping bag and pulled out a rolled up banner. Ross and Trott unfurled the banner so that I could read it. Oh, you've got to be kidding me.

"It's a girl?" I read from the banner. I facepalmed. "Really guys?"

"Sorry," Trott apologized, giggling. "They didn't have any 'welcome home' ones. We had to improvise."

"What did you guys do?" Lucy asked as she and Lexi walked over to us.

"Nothing!" Ross defended. "We got the banner just as you asked us to."

"Last time I checked, Mr. Davis is coming home from the hospital not having a baby," Lexi quipped. Lucy and I busted out in giggles.

"We tried our best," Trott frowned.

"Yeah," Ross agreed. "At least we got one."

  Lucy smiled and went over to Ross.

"And we're thankful for that," she said. She pulled him into a kiss. I made a fake gagging sound and swatted Lucy's arm.

"Enough PDA please," I scowled. "We still have stuff to set up."

"Sorry," she apologized, pulling away from Ross. She walked back into the kitchen.

"When are your mum and dad getting here?" Lexi asked as she took the banner from Trott's grasp. She walked over to the coffee table and spread it out. She sat down in front of the table.

"About six," I answered, grabbing a marker from Trott's shopping bag. I walked over and sat next to Lexi. "So we've got, like, an hour."

"Sweg," she said. I laughed and started to write over the words 'It's a girl'.

  Lucy walked back into the living room and sat on the couch.

"Um, you guys could just use the back side," Lucy said. 

"Oh yeah," I sighed. "Oh well. I'm already halfway done writing and I'm to lazy to write again."

  I finished writing down 'Welcome Home!' but, to be honest, the sign didn't turn out too well. It was basically a jumble of what was originally there and what I wrote. Trott walked over to us and started reading it.

"Welcomit's Homea Girl," he said. "Perfection. One hundred percent flawless, that is."

"Oh yes, it sounds great," Ross laughed as he walked over to us and sat next to Lucy.

"Oh shut up." I laughed. I turned the banner over and started to write on it.

"You should've done that in the first place," Lucy mocked.

  Before I could respond, the front door opened. Lexi and I quickly grabbed the banner and held it up. We were all ready for Dad to walk into the room but he didn't. Alex, however, did.

"Oh it's just you," I huffed, putting the banner back on the coffee table.

"Yeah, just me," Alex said. "Sorry to disappoint you."

"That's not what I meant!" I said as I ran over to him, giving him a hug.

"I know, I know," he smiled before giving me a quick kiss. 

"So how'd it go?" Trott asked.

"As good as doctor's visits go," Alex shrugged. "I'm good to travel. Oh and Lena?"

"Yeah?"

"Guess who I saw outside," he smiled. My eyes widened and big smile appeared on my face. "Kadie and Eva, that's who."

  The smile dropped from my face and I slapped his arm playfully.

"Why you gotta play me like that?" I asked.

"It's fun," he chuckled. Just then the door opened and two girls walked in.

"Sup b*tches," Eva smirked as she and Kadie walked into the room. 

"I'm here as well," Kadie laughed. She walked over to Trott and gave him a hug.

"Hey guys," Lucy greeted.

"Yo!" I said. 

"Quit trying to be gangster, Lena," Lucy laughed.

"I'm a wild stallion that cannot be tamed!" I said dramatically.

"Um, stallions are male horses," Lexi chuckled.

"I always knew I was dating a male horse," Alex smirked.

"Oh wow," I said, shaking my head. "What a stud you are."

"Did you just call Smith a successful male horse who breeds with lady horses for money?" Lucy laughed.

"Ah sweet!" Alex exclaimed.

"Okay, that's enough of that," I said. The guys, Lexi, and Lucy started laughing. "This topic makes me really uncomfortable."

"Same," Kadie sighed.

"Moving on," Ross said after recovering from his laughing fit. "Come over here, Smith, and help me put the banner on the wall."

  Alex nodded and went off to help him. I walked over to the couch and beside Eva.

"Oh and by the way," I began, pointing to Eva and Lexi. "Lexi, this is Eva and Eva, this is Lexi."

"Hi," Eva waved.

"Um, hi," Lexi awkwardly waved back.

"They're here!" Lucy said suddenly, jumping up from her seat and tossing her phone onto the cushion behind her.

"Yay!" I cheered as I got up from my seat and over toward the emptier part of the living room. Everyone gathered in the same area and we waited for Mom and Dad to walk through the door.

"Welcomit's Homea Girl!" Lucy shouted as two guests of honor walked into the apartment. Dad smiled and, with tears in his eyes, held his arms out for a hug. Lucy and I rushed forward and hugged him tightly.

"I don't know what that means but I'm gonna assume it means you missed me," Dad chuckled.

  Lucy and I laughed too. After a while, we pulled away from Dad and gave Mom a hug. From the corner of my eye, I saw Alex walk up to my dad.

"Welcome back, sir," Alex said, shaking Dad's hand.

"Oh come on now, Alex! Don't be so formal!" Dad pulled him into some sort of bro hug. Dad then whispered something into Alex's ear and judging by Alex's reaction, it something to do with him and I. I wonder what he said...

"Okay!" Lucy smiled after those who knew Dad gave him hugs. "This is Dad's welcome back party!"

"Yeah," I grinned. "We would have invited some of your friends but, uh, we don't really know any of them. So I invited a few of ours instead."

"So you know Ross, Alex, and Chris but you haven't met Eva, Kadie, or Lexi," I said, pointing each of the girls as I said their names. They all waved at my parents. And then the festivities began.

  The party went on for several hours. At 9 o' clock, my parents went to bed. That kinda killed the party mood as we couldn't be loud and obnoxious.

"Well, it's been fun but I think I'm gonna go," Eva said. "You coming Kadie?"

"Yeah," Kadie replied.

"I'll walk you guys out," Trott said as he followed them outside.

"Today was so great," I smiled, putting my head on Alex's shoulder.

"Yeah, it really was," Lucy agreed as she snuggled closer to Ross.

"Oh Alex?" I addressed. Alex looked down at me. "What did my dad tell you?"

"Oh that," he chuckled. "Don't worry about it."

"I saw Dad whisper something to Ross," Lucy said. She looked over at him. "What was it?"

"Nothing," Ross shrugged.

"See, now something tells me it wasn't nothing,"  Lucy said.

"Quit worrying," Ross scoffed.

"Yeah," Alex agreed, kissing the top of my head.

  Lucy and I scoffed. 

"Well, we best be going!" Alex announced. He and Ross stood up. 

"Hey Ross? Can I talk to outside for a second?" Lucy asked. Ross nodded and they walked outside.

"You're leaving?" I asked.

"Yeah, your dad would rip my arm off if I even slept in the same bed as you," he laughed.

"Oh geez," I exclaimed, laughing slightly. "Is that what my dad said to you?"

  He chuckled and gave a small nod.

"So goodnight," he smiled. "Love you, Len."

"I love you too," I said. He gave me a kiss before leaving the apartment. Just as he left, Lucy came back inside.

"So, uh, did he tell you what Dad said?" she asked. I nodded. We looked at each other for a few seconds before bursting into a fit of laughter.

/////

"Be nice to Loren. And make sure to tell her your father and I said hi. And be sure to tell her how sorry we are that we couldn't make it. And-"

"I get it Mom," I smiled. "I love you and I'll see you in a few days."

"I love you too, sweetie," she said, giving me a hug. I walked outside to join Lucy, Ross, Alex, and Dad. I said my goodbyes to my dad and got into the car.

/////

  After several boring and unimportant hours in the sky, we were about thirty minutes away from landing in California.

  I was bored out of my mind and began to think of random things. Like the last time I was on a plane. This thought apparently struck me as funny because I started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Alex asked, clearly confused by my random outburst.

"I just thought of the last time I was on a plane," I giggled. "It was so I could move to England and meet..."

  I probably shouldn't finish that sentence. He'll think I'm a stalker or something.

"Meet?" he asked.

"England," I said quickly. "I wanted to meet England. Nice place, England is."

"Right," he said quietly. He didn't sound convinced at all. 

  I yawned and leaned against him, ready to pass out. No, Lena, you can't fall asleep. Only thirty minutes left! You can do it!

"Lena, will Daniel be there?" Alex asked out of the blue.

"Oh heavens no," I scoffed. "Daniel lives in Bakersfield. And also everyone in the family despises him."

"With good reason," Alex added

  After half an hour of me trying to stay awake later, we landed in California. All four of us got off the plane and did all the necessary airport stuff before going out to get a cab. Said cab was going to take us to Aunt Loren's house. Gah, I'm so excited!

.....

  Hey guys, it's Ellie. So I just wanted to take the time to let you guys know that school is starting up soon (grody, am I right? lol). Not only that but show choir is as well. If you don't know what show choir is: it's a choir that dances, to put things simply. Both require a lot of work and effort so updates may not go out all too frequently. Good news is that because of this, I now have a schedule! Updates will be happening on the weekends, either Saturday or Sunday. More bad news: chapters will probably be shorter. I'm not sure by how much yet. Currently, my chapters go to 1,800-2,000 words so I'm thinking something 1,200 words.

  Anyways, that's it! Bai :3!