hey so it's time to meet Juliet! This took me ages to write, it's not very good but I hope you enjoy it :)

Chapter 2- Welcome to America

Oh what a horrible flight! I was sat next to some disgustingly overweight, middle aged man who went on and on about how his mother is pressuring him to get a job and move out. And behind me, an annoying little kid who whinged and cried and kicked my chair for the whole nine hour flight... I'm jetlagged too which is wonderful. In the UK it's 1am and here it's only 8pm!

But who cares? I'm in America!

As the pilot finishes thanking us for picking British Airways, we are told we can leave so I grab my carry on from the overhead compartment and I say my goodbye to the overweight guy. I smile excitedly at the stewardess as I join the line to leave this god forsaken plane. As I wait, I begin to wonder what the people who are taking me in will be like. The email Marie sent me said that the mother was called Frankie Heck and that her and her husband had 3 children.

As I walk along the corridor that leads the to the international arrivals terminal, I begin to worry. What if they don't like me? What if they decide they don't want me anymore and send me home? These questions and millions more like them rush through my head as I reach the end of the walkthrough. I nervously fix my messy hair and straigthen out my sloppy clothes, I want to make a good first impression.

I finally walk through the exit, into the the International arrivals terminal and start to look around for the family I will be getting to know over the next five months. As I search for them in the busy terminal I hope they didn't forget it was at this time and on this day.

Suddenly though, a sign with my name scrawled on in neat(ish) handwriting comes into my view. It's held bya small, middle aged woman. I walk cautiously towards her, smiling lightly. She hasn't noticed me yet so I come closer.

"Erm... excuse me?" She looks up excitedly at me "Are you Mrs Heck?" I ask a little nervously. She smiles even more widely.

"Oh you must be Juliet! I don't know if you're a hugger but you're getting one!"She says flinging her arms open and wrapping them tightly around me. Well this is reassuring I think to myself and I subconciously smile. Then she pulls back."Now lets go get your bags and then you can meet the family. Alright?" she ask and I nod, my nervousness re-entering my body."Ok then, lets go!" she says entusiastically. I follow as she leads me to the conveyor belt with all the bags on it and we locate mine.

"Great! is that everything?" she asks.

"Yeah"

"Time to meet the family then!" she smiles happily but witha little reluctance in her eyes. Id smile nervously in response. This is the thing i've been dreading since I got my acceptance letter- meeting the kids of the family. It amongdt the excitement and anticipation there was always the worry that I wouldn't get on with them.

But amongst the nervousness and worry, i'm still excited.

"Just a heads ups" Mrs Heck says stopping just before we enter the main airport "My family can be a little... odd at times"Ok..."But don't worry!"she adds hastily "They're really nice" she smiles and I return it.

Ok girl, he're goes nothing.

"They're just in the cafe by the entrance" she says hurriedly tryingly to push our way through the crowds. The masses seem never ending...

We keep pushing our way through until we reach the entrance and see a small, mostly empty, cafe. Mrs Heck pulls me over and I see them. There's a very tall man who looks a little older than Mrs Heck, presumably Mr Heck; a little boy with short, brown hair, reading intently; a teenage girl with braces and long, straight hair who seems to be bickering with an older boy, her brother probably, with curly, dark brown hair.

As we get closer the tall, middle aged man looks up from his newspaper and catches my eye with a little smile and waves at us. The wave grabs the two bickering teenagers attention, they follow their father's gaze and see me also. However the little boy carries on reading his book until his sister nudges him sharply in the ribs.

"Oww!" He whines but the girl quitens him and points to me. When she does that I feel a blush rise to my cheeks from the attention.

"Hey everybody, this is Juliet!" she says excitably, then she turns to me "Juliet, this is my husband Mike" he gestures to the tall, middle aged man "And this here is our youngest, Brick" she says patting the boy with the book on the head "This is our daughter, Sue" she says pointing at the girl who waves hyperly at me with a grin on her face. I smile gently back in return "And finally, this is our oldest, Axl" I look at him and he gives me a nod and I return it with a small smile. "Axl's about the same age as you so he'll be taking you to school. Anyway, let's get you home, you must be hungry and tired" she says grabbing my arm gently and pulls me along until we're out of the airport. She's right, I haven't eaten in 9 hours and have been up since 7am. Iget into the car next to the daughter, Sue and smile at her.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you" I say politely and genuinely. Her deep brown eyes flash to mine and she smiles excitedly.

"Oh my god, it's so nice to meet you too!" She says almost bouncing up and ]down in her seat.

"So how old are you?" I ask trying to make conversation and desperately trying to get Sue to like me.

"I'm 15 at the moment but i'll be 16 after christmas!" she replies, oh yeah Christmas, that's something i'll be spending with the Hecks and my birthday.

"Oh, very exciting" I smile "I'm going to be 17 in February".

"OH wow! so you'll, like, be spending you're birthday with us?" she says with a glint in her eye.

"Yep" I respond quietly and the car falls into silence.

Before I know it we're at their house. The first thing I notice is the huge front garden and that the house seems to be only one story but still big. When I get inside I see how big the rooms are and how they all merge together.

"Please sit down on the couch, i'll go get dinner sorted" I smile and walk over to the settee plopping myself down amongst the soft cushion letting out a tired sigh.

"Tired huh?" I look up and see Mr Heck looking at me smiling. I give him a smile back and laugh breathily.

"Yeah, you could say that..." and he laughs too.

"I'll just take these bags to your room, then you can have your dinner and then we'll let you go to bed alright?" I nod and he walks off. I look around and see an impossibly tidy house, they probably cleaned it just for me coming, bless them. I also notice how i'm now alone in their living room. So I allow myself to close my eyes for a second and let myself relax a little after such a hectic day. I begin to fall asleep when i'm jolted back into conciousness by the feeling of the weight shifting on the settee.I sit up straighta nd look at the person who is sat next to me, staring awkwardly at the turned off TV. It's the older brother.

"Hello" I mumble, rubbing my eyes tiredly, trying to wake up.

"Hey" he mumbles back reaching for the remote to turn on the telly. I open mouth to try to say something but Mrs Heck walks in with four bags in her arms.

"Ok so here's dinner." she says dropping the bags onto the nearby table "Mike! Sue! Brick! Dinner!" I hear two sets of hurried footsteps get closer. Sue and Brick sit down in between myself and grab their bag and pull out a burger each. I see Mr Heck sit himself down in the chair next to his wife who is sat in the chair closest to where I am sat.

Mrs Heck smiles at me eagerly and I carefully pick my own bag, unwrap the burger and take a small bite, chewing it carefully. It tastes really nice...wow, best burger I've ever had!

"Is it ok sweetie?" Mrs Heck asks worriedly, I nod entusiastically, swallowing the food down quickly.

"Oh yes! it's great thank you"

We quickly finish our food in mostly silence, which is very considerate of everyone. I really am way too tired to engage in any conversations tonight. I mean I won't mind answer every last question they throw at me, but only when i'm conscious enough to answer them.

"Do you think I could go to bed, not that I don't like being around you. It's just..." I glance quickly at the clock "It's 3am in England and I got up early this morning".

"Oh of course!" Mrs Heck cried "Axl be a dear and show Juliet the spare room"

"Fine" he mumbles as he gets up of the couch and looks at me expectantly. I quickly scramble to my feet and follow him as he walks off.

"Goodnight" I shout over my shoulder. Axl stops and I nearly bump into him as we reach the end of the corridor.

"Well... here ya go" he says throwing one of his arms out, pointing to the room. I turn to him and smile lightly.

"Thanks" I say. Is it just me? or is this guy really kinda cute? Wait. No. Oh Juliet, you've barely been in this country for 2 hours and you're starting to fancy the boy you'll be spending most of your time with. "Well, g'night" I say turning into my new room.

"Yeah, goodnight" he mumbles walking away. I close my door and change into a pink tank top and black tracksuit bottoms. I'm about to climb into bed when someone knocks on my door. I walk over and open it, stood there is Sue.

"Hey there Sue, what's up?" I smile

"Oh i'm just saying that if you need anything I'm the second door on the left. Ok?" she says ina less mainc way.

"Ok, thanks a lot" I say, voice laced in appreciation "Goodnight"

"Night"

As I climb into the bed I can't help but think about how great the next 5 months will be.

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