Adopted by Albert | ✔

8 | vidcon (day one)

I raced into my room, skidding to a stop, sliding slightly on my socks on the floor, and I yanked my suitcase from under my bed. Opening it, I shoved all my clothes into it.

"Woah, woah, Blair!" Albert ran into the room to me trying to stuff the suitcase closed.

"Sorry," I said, turning to face him, piles of clothes in my arms, grinning like the biggest idiot in the world, "I've just never been to..." I'd already forgotten the name.

"VidCon." He laughed. "We're leaving tomorrow morning for California. And yes, Kirsten and I talked to your escort."

Mr. Grant agreed to this? Unheard of. Many other families wanted to take me on vacation, but he's always rejected the offers of taking me along. The fact that he was letting me fly all the way to California with two people who had absolutely no experience with kids sounded like a miracle.

"Thanks, Albert."

He left, but before closing the door he added, "We're getting up early tomorrow, don't stay up too late."

After about thirty minutes of folding all my clothes and putting them all inside, I brushed my teeth, showered, changed into my clothes that I was going to wear tomorrow, since I don't like pajamas, and layer there.

Waiting for sleep to come. I had never been out of the state before, but tomorrow we were going to be hopping onto a plane to one of the biggest conventions in the country.

It took a while, but soon my eyelids felt heavy and I blacked out.

"Blair."

Kirsten shook me awake very lightly. I sat up. It was still dark out, and the digital clock on my bedside table read "5:00 AM".

I was grateful that my foster mother had the decency not to turn on the lights while I was still waking up.

Long story short, Albert loaded the suitcases into the car, and I sat in the back of their really nice Tesla.

Seriously, how lucky was I to have such great parents? Most families I go to are the cheapest people in the world.

We were driving to the airport, but we stopped at Starbucks to get breakfast, I got oatmeal with hot chocolate.

We got to the airport, went through the security process, got on the plane, and flew off. Six hours later, we were in Anaheim, the city where VidCon was held.

I was so excited.

We dropped our stuff off at a hotel. It was around 2 PM so we made our way to the Anaheim Convention Center, where VidCon was taking place.

It was insane.

There were more people there than I had ever seen in my life. Albert kept pointing out certain people, it seemed that everywhere I looked there was a celebrity or famous youtuber.

And fans. So many fans.

People stopped us every five minutes, either a fan Kirsten and her vlogs or Albert and his Roblox videos.

People recognized me, too, which was weird because I didn't make a face reveal yet, but I just assumed that Albert showed it. There were people my age and older who stopped and took pictures with me, asking me what it was like living with Albert and Kirsten.

I remember a girl, maybe a year younger than me, ask, "You're literally the luckiest person ever! I'd give anything for Albert to adopt me, wanna trade lives?"

I knew she was joking. We both laughed.

Usually, I never smile. I've never really had a reason to. But today, it seemed like there was just a huge grin glued to my face. It was truly an amazing experience.

At around 6 PM, we went to get dinner. It was a really nice place, but most people, like us, were tourists, so we were all in t-shirts and shorts instead of suits and dresses.

"You said we were gonna be meeting some of your friends," I told Albert. He had told me back in the office that his friends were going to be flying out to VidCon, too. I was a bit nervous to meet them, to be honest.

"They're coming tomorrow. VidCon lasts three days, we still have a chance for you guys to meet."

Three days, huh? Three days of meeting new people who absolutely love me.

After dinner, we walked around the city. Orlando's a big place, but Anaheim was bigger. It seemed like so many people were there.

We went back to the hotel after that. The three of us watched a movie and went to bed. It was a two-bedroom hotel room, including a bathroom, so I didn't have to hear Albert snoring.

I climbed into bed and fell asleep immediately. Hey, I was tired from a long day, and excited for tomorrow.