Welcome to The Family

Chapter Ten Christmas with the Moriartys'

Auggie's POV

December 25th. "Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!" I scream in Xander's ear to wake him up

He jumps up and stares at me with wide eyes. He gasps. He starts shouting at me, but I can't hear him. Sucks for him. Jace and Criss (who's on crutches) walk in and jump on the bed. They start bugging him and probably are screaming merry Christmas in his ears. 'I get it, I get it. It's Christmas.' Xander signs

'Time to get up. It's almost ten. Gotta open presents.' Jace says as if he's five years old again

'Oh, my god. You are so annoying.' Xander says, but gets up

We drag him downstairs and go the presents. Eli walks in with a huge bag of presents. This is Jace's expression ---> :D. Eli hands us our presents and we rip them open. Eli got a new camera , Xander got a new iphone, Jace got a laptop and new clothes, Criss got a laptop and new shoes, I got an ipod touch and an Asking Alexandria shirt. Then Lyla and her sister Liza came over around twelve. They always spend Christmas with us. Their dad was never around and their mom left when Liza turned 16. Lyla was twelve. So not the best family, but hey we understand. All too well. Liza and Xander always cook, Eli always drinks, Jace always breaks something, Criss picks it up and Lyla and I just stay in the background. Yup it's our own little family routine. See we didn't need Adamo. Look how well we've done without him. Lyla takes me up to my room and she hands me my present. 'Open it.' She signs

I do as she says and start opening the present. It's a picture frame of her and me when we first friends at age nine.'Seriously I question the way I use dress.' I sign as I look at my nine year old self

'You were adorable.'  She signs

"You make it seem as if I'm not adorable now.'

She shrugs, but doesn't answer. I gasp dramatically and she starts smiling. I kiss her and sign thank you. I take out her present and hand it to her. She opens it to see a charm bracelet. 'Oh! Auggie! It's just like the one I had in the fifth grade!' She signs excitedly

'Like the one I broke in the fifth grade you mean.' I sign

'It's beautiful. Thank you.' She signs then kisses me

We go back downstairs and dinners ready. Luke and Hanna are here now. "Hi it's nice to meet you." Lyla tells Luke

"Nice to meet you as well. You look very lovely." Luke tells Lyla

And I mean hell she does in her light pink strapless dress that shows every angle of her beautiful body. Someone slaps me in the back of the head. "The fuck?" I hiss angrilly then turn to see Eli glaring at me

'Don't.' He signs

'Don't what?' I sign confused

'Just stop staring at her that way. I know that look all too well.'

I give him a "what the fuck are you talking about?" look, but he just walks off. Lyla looks at me confused, but I just shrug. Brothers these days. We go to the table and sit down. i sit inbetween Lyla, who's to my right and Jace who's to my left. Hanna sits right by Jace and by her is Eli then on the other side is Luke, Criss, Liza and Xander. We just start digging in. No one really cares for God in this family so we don't pray. Hell I can't even remember the last time I did. Eli gets up and gets the beer. "You would." I tell him

He smirks then opens his beer. "Don't judge." He says

I just start laughing. I watch as everyone has their own conversation. It gets kinda depressing knowing I can't get everything their saying. I love being with them it just sucks. I sigh and look down at my food. I feel someone take my hand and I look to see Lyla smiling at me. She mouths the words "Are you okay?" I nod my head at her and smile a weak smile. She squeezes my hand.

When we all finish eating we go to the living room. Friends of Xander and Eli's stop by every once and a while. When it gets dark I sit by the window with Lyla in my lap. We look at the stars through the window when a blond blur runs past the corner of my eye. "What the fuck?" I whisper

'What is it? What did you see?' Lyla signs

"I just...I swear....:" I mutter as I get up and put my jacket on

I go to the door when I see the blond again. Oh, fuck no. Xander and Eli see me go to the door and open it. They follow my lead. We go out and I'm hit with the powerful odor of spray paint. Xander taps on my shoulder and points to the garage. In bright red spray paint on our garage door says the word "FAG" in caps. "This is the last straw." I hiss under my breath

I see the blond and I take off running towards it. At this point I could care less what Xander and Eli say. I chase Craig about three blocks when I finally grab his hoodie and pull him back. I pull him down to the cold, hard, sidewalk and just start beating him with everything I have. "I am so fucking done with your shit!" I shout at him

He cries something, but I can't read his lips. I just keep beating the fucking shit out of him. I see the blood from his nose and lower lip, but even that won't stop me. What stops me is someone tugging on my arm. I stop hitting Craig and look over my shoulder to see Lyla. She's crying. She keeps hitting me with her fists. She screams at me, but I can't get what she's saying. I look back at Craig to see him get up and run off. Lyla throws herself into my arms. I can feel the tears wet my shirt. The others come and Criss is crying with Luke in his arms. When Criss sees me he runs to me and hugs me. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." I tell him

I'm sorry for not protecting him. I'm sorry for not kicking their sorry asses when I fuckin' had the chance. They're gonna pay for what they did just watch.