Adopted by The Sidemen

Chapter 13

The flight was long and difficult, considering the last time I had taken a flight from New Zealand to London was when I was adopted into the family that then abandoned me two years later. I didn't like it much but I put up with it, trying to ignore all of the terrible memories floating to the front of my brain.

The seats were in rows of three and I was sat at the window with Lachlan beside me and Mitch beside him. In the other row Jerome, Rob and Preston were together, all of them with their laptops out and pointing at each other screens on occasion, laughing at some things.

The fact that the flight was 25 hours long, including the stopover was the worst part and although we had already had a stop over in New York which was just over six hours, not bad considering the wait could sometimes be up to 22 hours.

Both Lachlan and Mitch had slept through most of the remainder of the flight, falling asleep with their heads on each others shoulders and the blanket that the aeroplane supplied over top of the two of them. The others slept too but I just couldn't, I was buzzing with anxiety and confusion and fear and every other emotion. During the stopover we remained in the airport, too tired to go anywhere.

"Ladies and gentleman we will begin to make our descent in about 5 minutes and we ask you to start preparing for landing. Please much sure your tray table is fastened, your seat back is upright and your seatbelt is fastened. Thank you for your cooperation."

I hadn't changed my seat or tray table and had only left my seat two or three times during the flight, all of the other times I kept my seat belt on all of the other times. Jerome was leaning over in his seat and attempting to wake Mitch up without much success, he was too heavily sleeping.

"Do you want me to wake them up?" He nodded.

"Please, Lachlan's easy to wake up but Mitch could sleep through the Titanic and not wake up." I smiled, looking up and poking Lachlan in the side. He jumped, opening his eyes fast but he settled down once he realised it was just me.

"Hey, we're landing in like 10 minutes." He nodded, turning to Mitch, whose head was still on his shoulder.

"Hey Mitch, wake up, we're landing." He ever so slowly opened his eyes, groaning as he did so. I grinned. Someone didn't like waking up.

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The cool air of the airport made me sigh in relief after being in a stuffy aeroplane for over a day. It didn't take long at all for us to get our bags, maybe 15 minutes at the most, and it wasn't long before we were heading towards the exit, looking for the cars that were supposed to pick us up.

"Vikk's not coming Lily, he's staying back at home." I nodded, Lachlan was looking down at his phone, I assumed he was texting with someone.

"Who you texting?"

"Simon, he lives with Vikk and he's here with his friend Josh to pick us up. They're in the carpark now." I followed Lachlan and the others out into the dreary and rainy day, just like I remembered it, and down to the carpark where we wandered around for a couple of minutes before Mitch pointed out a fancy silver car.

"That's Simon's car isn't it?" Apparently it was confirmed by a yell from beside the car and I saw a tall man with a similar build as Lachlan's with bright silver hair, jumping up and down and yelling.

"Over here! Over here!" I heard Preston let out a laugh and we made our way over to the car. It was only then I noticed another guy with pale skin and a very full on beard standing beside him, which must have been Josh.

Lachlan was the first one to greet them, hugging both of them tightly and greeting them with enthusiasm. I knew he had been in London before he had come down to New Zealand, so he must have been staying with them.

One by one, Josh and Simon went around and greeted the others. I stayed back, a little unsure of what I should do and if I should be cautious or not. The tallest one, Simon, noticed my discomfort because he crouched down to my level, which was a good foot shorter than he was, as I was only 5 foot 2.

"Hey you must be Lily, I'm Simon." I nodded, clutching onto the handle of my bag so tightly that my knuckles turned white. Something about him threw me off, like he had a kindly aura about him but there was something else as well. He wasn't intimidating in any way, but he reminded me of someone I didn't like. I couldn't put my finger on it though.

He must have noticed that I was still uncomfortable because he went back to talking to the others and allowed Josh to introduce himself. He, unlike Simon, didn't crouch down but he stood far enough back that it was a comfortable distance and so I could see his eyes.

"Hi, I'm Josh." He reached out his hand for a shake and I took it, feeling him gently squeeze my hand. It was a nicer greeting because he kept his distance, clearly noticing that I wasn't comfortable having people in close range.

"Alright, there's 6 of you so three in one car, three in the other." Lachlan immediately volunteered to go with me in Josh's car and Preston took the front seat, helping load our bags into the boot before setting off.

The car ride was mostly silent, with only the music playing from the speaker to break the silence. I was just watching the mostly familiar landmarks sliding by outside the window, but everything was completely different from when I was last there, 7 years ago.

Many of the old things were the same but the houses, roads and other landmarks had changed completely and most of it I didn't recognise.

The house was a half an hours drive away and pulling up the driveway, I saw a huge house, at least three stories looking extremely fancy and flash.

"We're here now, welcome home."