Victoria stared into the mirror sadly. More than anything, she wanted to be accepted into the Franklin family. But judging from the glares Annie had been sending her, that was going to be hard.

Victoria was wearing an old T-shirt and comfortable pants. She didn't have any proper pyjamas yet. Her adoptive parents said that they would go shopping for new clothes for her the next day. However, those news did not sit well with Annie.

'That's not fair,' Annie had complained. 'Why does she get new clothes?'

Victoria didn't blame Annie for complaining. But she wished that Annie would make more of an effort to make her feel at home. So far, she seemed to be doing the opposite.

Even now, as Victoria fluffed up her pillow in her shared bedroom with Annie. Annie was wearing Hello Kitty pyjamas.

'You look nice,' said Victoria.

Annie just scoffed. She looked at her stuffed animals on her bed.

Victoria sighed sadly. Maybe she should go to bed. It was clear that Annie wasn't interested in conversation.

~🏠~🏠~🏠~🏠~🏠~🏠~🏠~🏠~🏠~🏠~

Victoria woke up to a rumble of thunder. She hated storms, especially at night. They were loud and prevented her from sleeping.

A bolt of lightning flashed, causing Victoria to jump out of bed and run to the next room. Betty was still awake studying.

'Victoria! What's wrong?' asked Betty.

'Thunderstorm,' said Victoria. Her eyes were wide with fright. More thunder made her run into Betty's arms.

'Don't be scared,' said Betty. 'How about I read you a story? Will that calm you down?'

Victoria nodded, so Betty tucked her in her queen-sized bed and went to her bookshelf to pick a book.

However, just as she picked out a fairy tale book, three more figures came running in.

'Well, looks like you weren't the only one who got frightened,' said Betty.

'Oh, hi,' said George awkwardly.

'What is she doing here?' Annie asked in distaste.

'Thunder scary!' wailed Josh.

'Hey, it's alright,' said Betty. 'How about you all get into bed to hear the story?'

Annie glared at Victoria. 'Get into bed with her? Not a chance.'

However, the next rumble of thunder seemed to change her mind, because she dashed to the bed and dove under the covers.

Betty smiled. 'Come on, boys. I'm going to read Little Red Riding Hood.'

After that story, Betty moved on to Cinderella, then Sleeping Beauty. As soon as she finished that story, she found that everyone had fallen asleep.

Betty smiled as she turned off the lights and went to bed herself. It seemed that her siblings were already slowly starting to accept Victoria in their family, but they had a long way to go.