The 15-year-old girl who was taken from home by her 50-year-old high school teacher is reportedly refusing to go back to her family, and insisting that she can be in a relationship with the man more than three times her age who is facing felony kidnapping charges.

A new report in the Daily Mail citing unknown, anonymous sources claims that Elizabeth Thomas has said she is “in love” with Tad Cummins, and views the five weeks she was on the run with the fugitive as a “big, fun road trip,” as one of the anonymous sources put it.

According to the report, Thomas has been receiving treatment at a facility for trauma victims and says she does not want to return home to be with her father, Anthony Thomas, and siblings. She is purportedly angry at her father for coming between her and the fired teacher.

“Elizabeth says she’s in love with Tad and that the pair of them haven’t done anything wrong,” an unnamed source told the Daily Mail. “She thinks she is a fully grown woman who can date who she likes.”

“She says she had the time of her life [while on the run] which is obviously pretty tough for the family to hear.”

According to sources who spoke to the Daily Mail, Elizabeth says she want to go live with a friend’s mother Paige Griffith, a woman who she reportedly sees as her own “second mom.”

According to WKRN, Cummins appeared in court in Tennessee on Monday for a brief hearing during which he acknowledged the charges against him: transporting a minor across state lines for the purpose of criminal sexual intercourse. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Friday.

Elizabeth’s parents separated in November 2015, and her father accused her mother, Kimberly Thomas, of abusing the children in his divorce filing last month. Anthony Thomas was granted a restraining order at the same time he filed divorce papers, preventing Kimberly from being in contact with him or any of the couple’s minor siblings. She is also forbidden from speaking to the media about Elizabeth’s ordeal or anything involving the family.

Griffith declined an interview with the Daily Mail except to say that Elizabeth was currently in a safe place. Unnamed friend reportedly told the Daily Mail that Elizabeth will remain in the treatment center for as long as it takes for her to recover from the trauma.

Photo: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation