There Is No Comfort Zone

Alice- Airplanes

Alice, despite being young, understood bribery well enough. It was a nasty concept villains used in their ploys and could easily be considered a misdoing. She also knew for a fact that her Aunt Minda was bribing her classmates, attempting to get Alice in their good graces with such an expensive trip as one to New York.

Sure, in theory the plan sounded decent. Borderline cheating your way into friendship, but borderline nonetheless. Aunt Minda was simply trying to be a good parental figure in whatever way she deemed appropriate.

However, karma loved to push around the poor orphan Alice like she was its own personal punching bag.

In this situation, the bad outweighed the good, like it often would for the ebony haired young girl. She would have to find how to tackle these instances.

Like, say the private plane's pilot taking an unscheduled nap while an insane person joined for the flight?

That could work.

It hadn't started off as such a thing.

"Do you really think anyone will turn up?" Alice questioned, a mix of elatedness and anxiety recognizable in her voice. She bounced up and down in her black leather clad seat, Aunt Minda beside her.

The older woman chuckled, her eyes never leaving the view from the window of her personal limo as the scenery rushed past. "I would hope so."

Alice gave a pout. "Aunt Minda, you're not helping. This is important! I don't want to always be alone. It gets super boring." She whined, dramatically falling across several luxurious seats. In an instance, her mood switched from mock sadness to impatient excitement again and she bolted upright, bouncing once again. "How long until we reach the airport?"

The driver looked through his review mirror at Alice. "Miss, Glasscard, we have arrived."

Alice smiled politely. "Thank you, Steven."

Their driver grinned, stepping out of the limousine to open the doors for the two independent women. With flourish, he bowed. "Always a pleasure working for the two of you."

Alice hugged him.

Steven had been employed so long he was like a brother to her. Truthfully, every person Minda hired became a part of an estranged, quaint family you couldn't help but root for.

It didn't take long to reach the aircraft. It was a low wing cream colored private jet with the words "Minda Enterprise" across the side in swirly letters.

Yet that wasn't the marvelous part about it.

In front of the plane, thirty-eight people stood. (Alice was gifted in the fact that she could count extremely fast.) There were all her sixteen classmates, suitcases in hand, and each accompanied by a parent or two.  Some were teary eyed, others entangled together in warm embraces.

The raven-haired girl attempted to keep her own waterworks at bay.

Maybe it was childish, but Alice was only a first grader. She had a right to act childish, even if the other kids had no control over it.

Still...

Stupid people having their real parents with them, in the flesh.

It didn't take long to find Milyah. She was talking to her own mother. The second she spotted Alice she gave a wave and gave a supportive thumbs-up. Alice beamed.

"Hello to all my fellow parents," Aunt Minda made her presence known with such authority in her outspoken voice. "I am Minda, Alice Glasscard's aunt, and owner of Minda Enterprises. That is why I am here today to bring your kids to New York. But you already knew all the logistics of the situation. I promise this will be a good learning experience for your children. So now, without further ado, it's time to board this plane!"