"Yes, Dad. I am well aware of the 'potential dangers of a minor traveling alone'," I exhale, closing my eyes with exasperation.

"You have your phone?" My dad, Cooper Freedman, goes on, undeterred by my annoyance.

I hold up my phone.

"Charger?" My mom, Charlotte, puts in.

"You guys," I hold up my hands, warding them off. "I'm 17, not seven. It's a two-hour flight. And Amelia is meeting me at the gate. I. Will. Be fine."

"Well, Kati, you've never flown alone," Mom raises her eyebrows, rechecking my ticket for the ninth time. "And you never know what kind of people are around you."

I look to my left, where 11-year-old twins furiously play on their iPads, threatening to 'ruin' each other.

"Yes, a real pair of psychopaths here," I say drily.

Mom tilts her head, giving me a look with one eyebrow raised.

"I'll be fine," I repeat, widening my eyes.

"Alright," she replies, handing me my plane ticket. "You call as soon as you land."

"Okay."

She retains her grip on the ticket, not letting me take it. I meet her eyes, which clearly say 'Are we clear'?

"Okay," I repeat, and laugh. "Come on, you guys. I start college in two weeks, and you're acting like I'm incapable of taking care of myself for a few days."

"Alright, alright," Dad sighs. "Come here."

He wraps me in a tight hug.

"Just b-"

"Be careful. I've got it," I roll my eyes.

He releases me and kisses my forehead.

"I love you."

"I love you, too," I reply, as Mom moves forward to hug me.

Either she shrank or I grew, because we recently noticed that I'm taller than her now. Not by much, but enough for her to start making comments about it.

"Don't come back another inch taller," she says into my hair.

I smile, shaking my head.

"They're gonna recruit you for basketball and volleyball as soon as you set foot on campus," Dad grins.

"I'm 5'8", not six feet," I laugh.

We hear over to PA system that it's the last call for flight 241 to Seattle.

"Okay, I gotta go," I say, swinging my bag over my shoulder. "See you Sunday."

Mom kisses my cheek as Dad nervously looks on.

"Be safe," Mom says, for the hundredth time. "And have fun. I love you, baby."

"I love you, too," I reply, and head towards the boarding gate.

"Kati," Dad calls, when I'm about 20 feet away.

I turn and look, my head tilted.

"Uh," he starts, and even Mom has to give him a look.

"Have fun," Dad says, and gives me a small smile and wave.

"Thanks," I grin. "I'll talk to you soon."

He nods, Mom blows a kiss and I turn back to board the plane.

As one of Dad's precautions, he bought me a first-class ticket because he wanted to make sure that 'some creep wasn't sitting right next to me,' and so someone (a flight attendant) would have a clear view of me at all times.

Sometimes I think Dad is going to treat me like a little girl forever. And I'm not alone in that.

I settle in to my seat, a spacious one near a window.

"Ms. Freedman, do you have everything you need?" A flight attendant smiles down at me. I grimace.

"My dad told the airline to babysit me, didn't he," I reply.

She smiles. "He's not the first nervous dad to send his child on a flight, solo."

I smile.

"I'm good, thanks," I reply to her earlier question. "I don't need anything."

As luck would have it, Twin 1 from earlier flops down into the seat beside me. Twin 2 has the seat directly behind him.

"Ha ha, Henry," the twin behind taunts. "You have to sit next to a girl."

"Shut up, Emmett," his brother replies.

He eyes me, half-nervous, half-disgusted.

"I bet she has cooties," Emmett teases.

Henry eyes me again.

"It's true," I say, dead-pan. "I do have cooties."

He widens his eyes and leans away from me as his brother cackles loudly, hanging off the back of the seat.

"Mr. Newberry," the flight attendant appears, smiling down at him. "How about you settle into your seat and leave your brother to do the same."

"Alright," he sighs, hopping back into his seat. He pulls out his iPad and is engrossed in it within moments.

I reach into my bag and pull out a book. When I open it to the bookmarked page, a small piece of paper falls into my lap.

I open it up and see Axel's writing, scrawled to say 'I love you'. I smile, slipping it back into my bag.

The flight is pretty uneventful for the first hour and a half. As we get nearer to Seattle, its signature weather shows up, as the captain announces that it's raining and windy in Washington. He tells us to expect some turbulence during this last half hour or so.

Great, I think to myself.

I hate turbulence. I mean, I don't think many people like it, but I really hate it. It makes me nervous.

I spend the last half hour of the flight trying not to freak out, and when we finally land, I exhale loudly.

We disembark the plane, making our way down the small hallway leading to the baggage claim. I turn my phone back on and call Mom.

"Hey sugar," she answers quickly. "How was your flight?"

"Good," I reply. "Hit a little speed bump. No pun intended."

I follow the line of people walking towards the baggage area.

"Are you alright?" she demands, already worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just bad turbulence."

"Oh, no," Mom replies. "Hawaii-2009 bad, or Colorado 2008-bad?"

"Hawaii," I reply.

"Oh, Jesus," comes her reply. "I'm sorry, sugar."

"It's fine," I sigh. "I'm here now. Make sure you alert Dad that I survived an entire two hours, traveling by myself."

She laughs.

"I will. He just got called in to Ambrose. I'm sure he'll want to talk to you as soon as he's free."

"Alright, well I've gotta get my bag and then go find Amelia," I say.

"She should be right outside the arrivals gate," Mom replies. "If she knows what's good for her."

"Bye Mom," I laugh.

"Bye baby. I love you."

"Love you too.