"I don't get why he couldn't have flown with you!" Aunt Lauren whined over the phone, I rolled my eyes as I grabbed a small bag of pretzels and headed towards the register.

"I'm twenty-two, Lauren. I don't need my dad coming al the way to New York to just fly with me back to Puerto Rico. It's not needed." I gave the cashier a quick smile and handed her the money.

"Why did you guys have to go to Puerto Rico? I haven't seen you either, I think he's being really selfish for taking you when we all could—"

"I haven't seen my dad in almost two years, after this week I'll drive up and visit you. I have to go, I'll call you when I land. Bye!" I hung up before she could protest anymore. I couldn't blame her for being a little nervous about me traveling, for so long we had to be careful of me being in public for too long.

At the age of fifteen, I was diagnosed with stage one uterine cancer, it was caught in time before it got worse, but I still had to go through chemo and radiation. I was very close to getting a hysterectomy done, but thankfully they could remove the tumor without taking my whole uterus out. If I ever wanted to have children it would be close to impossible, if I had any eggs that weren't damaged from radiation, there would be a 2% chance of them actually attaching to my uterus.

I was happy that I was healthy and that I survived the scariest part of my life, and now I was in my third year of remission and I wasn't going to waste one second of it. I moved to NYC and started working on my own dreams— becoming a director! I got accepted into Columbia University and started growing into the person I wanted to be.

Aunt Lauren was not happy at all, she was terrified I would relapse and it would be worse. She became… attached. She'd call at least once a week sometimes she'd come and visit without letting me know and guilt me into hanging out with her instead of my friends. Once I turned twenty I put my foot down and said I needed space from her to grow on my own and not lean on her and my dad for everything.

My dad was proud of me and I'm pretty sure he enjoyed the two years of not feeling guilty if he missed Christmas or hadn't called me in almost six months. I was surprised when he called me last month about this vacation, he said it'd be his way of celebrating my twenty-first birthday— even though I turn twenty-three in two weeks. It was the thought that counts. Puerto Rico is amazing and it'd be nice to get out of the cold for a little while, even if it's only for a week.

I sighed as I sat down in the terminal, I hated traveling. I plugged my headphones in and blocked the rest of the world away, the people around me looked as tired as I felt. This was the last flight I needed to take before finally arriving in Puerto Rico, I was ready for a shower and a bed.

"Hello. Passengers of flight 284 bound for San Juan, there is a slight delay due to the inclement weather outside. We should be boarding in about two hours, thank you for your patience!" An announcement rang out and a collective groan from other passengers could be heard from a mile away. I sighed and took out my phone to let my dad know about the change of plans.

I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on my music, but the topic of the delay seemed to irk people to the point to where they felt the need to shout. It's not like the pilots can control the weather patterns or rush the storm to pass.

After two hours of waiting for the weather to clear up we were finally allowed to board, but that was after half of the people switched to a different flight. I could have just changed my flight for tomorrow and got a hotel for the night, but it seemed silly to not be able to wait two hours. I got up and stood behind a group of people who were also waiting to board, I was trying to no pay any attention to what they were saying, but they were loud.

"Tori, switch seats with Liz I need to talk to—" The male in front of me whispered to the women he was standing next to.

"Why? If anything you should switch with her so I can sit with my best friend!" She snapped, her long black hair nearly whipping me in the face as she turned to the guy. I could practically hear him roll his eyes as he let out the longest sigh known to man.

"I need to talk to you about something important, and it would be easier if you'd just switch seats with her. Please!" I watched as they stared at each other for the longest time as if they were having a telepathic conversation.

"Fine, but you owe me!"

"Of course!"

The black haired lady, Tori, walked over to a short, blonde who smiled instantly when she turned around. She must be Liz. I watched her explain why they needed to switch seats and Liz seemed completely fine by the news. Whatever the guy wanted to talk to Tori about must have been important because she did not seem like someone I would want to sit with for the next five hours.

People slowly started boarding, the smell of the airplane made my stomach clench, I was shocked to see how small the plane actually was. Maybe they got us a smaller one because of how many people switched? It only seated sixteen people… or maybe that was how many passengers booked this flight? Something in the back of my mind was saying this didn't look right, or maybe I was just nervous about flying for more than forty minutes… I shook my head and started looking for my seat, A3. A window seat… great.

I sat and pushed my bag under the seat and started to buckle, I glanced out the window to just see my reflection, it was pitched black outside. "Excuse me," I looked up to see the bubbly blonde from earlier, Liz. "I was just wondering if maybe you and I could switch seats? This is my first plane ride and I have never see the city lights from above and it—"

"Yeah sure, I hate the window seat anyway, it makes me feel claustrophobic!" I smiled and stepped out into the aisle, she scooted in quickly while the guy behind her grumbled about her being too slow. I would have considered it rude if Liz didn't smile and turn to the man. He was tall, and I mean really tall! I'm only five foot nothing so everything is tall, but he had to slightly hunch so his head didn't hit the ceiling.

"You need to relax, Derek, we will get there in time!" She giggled and looked out the window, I frowned and sat back into my seat. He must be part of the other two I overheard talking, he rolled his eyes and sat in the seat ahead of us. Liz turned to me and smiled holding out her head for me to take, "Sorry for my manners, I'm Liz!"

"I'm Chloe," I said grasping her hand, something in the back of my mind was screaming now. Once I let go it stopped, I forced a smile and took out my notebook. This was going to be a nerve-wracking flight, I could already tell.

I was thankful that Liz decided to chat with the guy behind us, Derek instead of me, my stomach was in knots and I wouldn't have been the greatest conversationalist. About two hours after we took off I was able to get some sleep, but my dreams were not helping the unsettling feeling I kept getting. It could be I was just nervous about seeing my dad after two years of being on my own?

I grumbled after another wave of turbulence woke me up, I looked at the time and sighed. There was still another two hours left of the flight, I looked around to see nearly everyone sleeping, except Derek. I turned back to my notebook and tried to write a scene that would work in this situation, but nothing was working! Growing frustrated I shut the book and shoved it back into my bag, it was better to quit now before it got worse.

"What were you writing?" I jumped and turned to the voice, Liz. Her long blonde hair was all over the place, it looked like she had gotten into a fight with a cat or something.

"Nothing really, just school stuff."

"High school? What grade are you in?" I blushed and pushed my hair behind my ear, this was more common than I would like. My height and maybe the fact that I had little to no curves made people assume I was still fifteen.

"I'm twenty-two… But I'm technically a Sophomore at Columbia, I took some time off for personal reasons."

"I wish I could go to college! I don't have the patience or the skill to really deal with that stuff. Simon, my boyfriend," she pointed to the blonde guy two seats ahead of us. "Went to Columbia too for drawing, he's really good! He's really smart too, but not as smart as Derek, he's practically a genius!" I saw Derek roll his eyes and turn back to whatever he was reading.

"He's Simons brother and my best friend, Tori, is their sister. That's how Simon and I met," She smiles at the memory and let out a small giggle. "Tori was furious when she found out about Simon and I. Do you have any siblings?"

"No, it's just me."

"I have a lot, but I don't see much of them anymore. I live too far away and they're too young to travel alone." She shrugged and whipped her hair into a ponytail, I looked down at my flimsy shoulder length hair. It took a long time for my hair to grow back and it still wasn't to the length I had it before cancer.

"Why are you going to San Juan?" I asked. Which seemed to make Liz smile even more—if that was even possible— she giggled and then cleared her throat and leaned in closer.

"Derek is getting married!" Her giggling was contagious and so I was following suit.

"Why are we laughing?"

"If you knew Derek you'd understand, he's a big, tough, mean looking guy!" She answered as if he wasn't sitting less than two feet away from us. "But I guess he won over her heart…" Liz burst out laughing to the point where she was in tears. "I'm totally kidding, his fiancée is a total bi—"

"Liz!" Derek growled from the seat in front of us, I shrieked back, but Liz just laughed harder.

"Derek, it's true and you're too blind to see it!"

"Liz this is not the time nor the place!"

"I'm just saying she is a spoiled brat, who couldn't have her wedding in America so she decided to drag everyone to Puerto Rico!"

"Puerto Rico is part of America, Liz!" Derek grumbled and turned back around.

"That's beside the point, Derek! She's canceled and rehired the same stuff over and over again, she's rude to Simon and me! That should be number one reason to evaluate your choice! She whines if she doesn't get her way, and she…" Liz's face was turning red from her anger, I didn't know what to do other than sit there. This was clearly personal, but there was nowhere else to go without hearing it.

"She cheated on you, Derek," Liz whispered.

A/N: Okay, this is my first fanfiction ever... Please review and give me some advice and tell me how you like it!

Also, I'm not a doctor or anything so I'm not 100% sure about the after effects of chemo and stuff, but it's just a story.

Enjoy!