A Taylor Christmas

Chapter 10 - No-show

3 days to Christmas

**Jack's POV**

I am so going to kick his ass!

I don't know yet where I am going to take the courage from, but this time, I swear, I will do it.

There have been so many occasions where I wanted to do just that, but I've never been courageous enough to actually follow through with it. In my head, however, I have done it a million times already. I have a very clear mental image how I am going to perfectly execute my ass kicking. And even though I have been taught for as long as I can remember that you don't hurt your siblings, I think it will be a very satisfactory feeling once I follow through with my plan.

Will has been getting on my nerves for months now.

He has always been a bit odd, I guess. Different from my other siblings. Very closed off and recently also very absent. Although we have this rule that we're not supposed to go anywhere without letting our older brothers know, Will never follows it. And when I remind him of said rule, he just laughs at me and tells me that it's okay that I'm such a goody-two-shoes but that it's not his style.

His style, obviously, is to break rules.

To antagonize Josh.

To cause Alex to get grey hair before he turns thirty.

To piss off Ben so much that even he starts shouting, although he never really shouts at us kids.

And to make Luke worry.

That was clear as day when I decided to go talk to him about my concerns when it comes to Will. Luke didn't tell me to stop being an idiot and let Will be. No, he listened to what I had to say and he also didn't laugh at me but he seemed to believe me. He even went to check when I said that Will was acting really weird the other day. Luke didn't say as much, but I'm pretty sure he went to see if Will might have taken any drugs.

I told Luke that I caught Will smoking behind the bleachers with some other kids and although he said that it's normal for kids Will's age to rebel a bit, I could tell that he was not very happy to hear that about our brother. I also know that Luke knows that kids don't normally smoke regular cigarettes if they're hiding behind there.

I only found out about that a few days ago myself, when I talked to my friends about it. Zach, who has both an older sister and an older brother in sophomore and senior year in high school told me what kids do when they're hanging out there. Apparently, it's common knowledge, but Will has never mentioned it me – and I was still too young to hear anything about that when Luke, Sam and Ben went to high school. They all know about it, too, I'm certain.

And that's why Luke took me seriously, I think.

He did pull Will aside and he talked to him about it. I know this because Will was rather pissed off and called me a snitch when he came to our bedroom later that night. I tried to defend myself and told him that I don't want him to smoke – or worse, take drugs – and he just told me to mind my own business and keep my opinions to myself. Although he didn't threaten me, he gave me the kind of look that made it very clear that he would be really mad if I ever as much as told any of our oldest brothers about it.

Like I'd tell on him just like that!

There is a reason I went to Luke and not to Alex. First of all, I don't want to worry Alex in case it is nothing and I'm just overreacting. He has already enough to take care of, what with being responsible for all of us. And the little ones still need a lot of looking after, mainly Lily. So, obviously, I'm not gonna bother him with that kind of stuff.