Lying in her new bed in the dark that night, Tina's thoughts drifted to her father. He'd drank too much and been mean to her sometimes, but even so, she'd known him for her entire life, while she'd only known Kel and Dixie for a few days. As kind as they were, they were still little more than strangers to her. Suddenly feeling overwhelmingly sad, Tina began to sob. Kel and Dixie, asleep upstairs, didn't hear her, and she'd soon cried herself to sleep.

The next morning Dixie asked Tina what she wanted for breakfast.

"Just some toast. I'm not very hungry," the girl replied.

Dixie glanced at Tina and saw that her face looked puffy. "Have you been crying, sweetheart?"

"Last night I missed my Dad really bad," Tina said softly, staring at the tabletop. "I know he was mean to me, but I still miss him." She started to cry again.

"Darling." Kel took Tina into his arms and held her tight. "We know that you loved your Dad, and we'd never try to take his place. But you still need somewhere to live until you've finished growing up, and we'd like to provide that for you."

"I know," Tina sniffled. "It isn't that I don't like living here, because I do. It's just that..."

"It's going to take some getting used to," Kel finished for her. "We understand that. It's all right."

"Thank you." Tina smiled.

"Today we need to get you registered at your new school," Dixie told Tina. "School starts back in a few days."

"You mean I'm gonna be going to a different school now too?" asked Tina.

"We live in a different district than the one your old school is in," Dixie explained.

"But what about all my friends?"

"You'll make new ones," Kel assured her.

After breakfast, they drove to Tina's new school. It looked a lot newer than her old school, which had been in a battered, ancient building downtown bordered by sidewalks and pavement except for a tiny overgrown yard in the back. This new school was large, clean, and pristine white, and situated on a huge, immaculately manicured lawn. Tina gasped. "Am I really gonna be going to school here?"

"That's right," Dixie said with a smile.

The inside of the school was even nicer. The floor was carpeted, and everything looked new, clean, and shiny. It was also brightly lit, in contrast to Tina's old school, which had been very dimly lit, with about half the light bulbs burned out most of the time.

"This is Tina Redmond, our new foster child," Dixie told the receptionist. "We'd like to register her for school here."

The receptionist had Kel and Dixie fill out some paperwork, then walked with Tina down a hallway to show her where her new class would be.

After that, the family went to Woolworth's to buy Tina's school supplies and to get her some new clothes and shoes to start school in. The new clothes cheered Tina up considerably, but she was still nervous about starting the new school.

"I'm not gonna know anybody there," she said to Kel and Dixie later.

"That's all right. You'll get to know them very quickly," Dixie told her.

"I'll bet the kids will all be rich like you, won't they?"

Dixie chuckled. "We're not rich, Tina. Comfortable, yes, but definitely not rich."

"You know what I mean." Tina dug the toe of her good foot into the carpet. "They'll be able to tell I'm different, won't they?"

"Tina." Kel gently took her by both arms and looked straight into her eyes. "I want you to walk into that classroom with your head held high and a smile on your face. Nobody will be able to look down on you if you do that. Got it?"

"Got it." Tina grinned, suddenly feeling much better.

Kel took her out for ice cream after dinner to cheer her up, and soon her anxiety about the new school was forgotten.