christmas orphan // muke

18

Luke's POV.

Jingle bells

Jingle bells

Jingle all the way

Me, Chloe, Alex, and Ashton all walked through the market square of Sydney.

It was cold tonight, but that was okay. I like the cold weather.

We looked at all the Christmas lights strung up, and Chloe sung along to every Christmas carol that played.

I had my best friends with me, but somewhere inside I still felt lonely.

Chloe was in her own little world, and Ashton and Alex have began getting closer.

I'm a third wheel now.

It's not that they didn't want me there, I just didn't feel as included as I used to be.

Michael hasn't said anything to me in two weeks, which is good, but I haven't gotten a chance to talk to that really nice kid that I never learned the name of.

We got off of school today for Christmas break.

I got a text from Michael the other day, but I didn't reply

'Im not as horrible as I've been acting lately'

I couldn't believe the text though. He's been really mean to me.

It hasn't escaped my mind for days, and it probably never will until I know what he actually meant.

-

Michael's POV.

Me and Calum went to market square.

Everyone goes on Christmas break, but I really didn't expect to see my old friends there.

Sure Ashton still talked to me a little, but I could tell he was upset because I was picking on Luke.

I didn't want to say all of those things to Luke. I thought by getting him to break up with me would make him feel like he actually had control over something. That he could be strong, but that backfired.

He said he was used to it, and I thought he wouldn't take it to heart as hard as he did.

I only hurt him more than I actually wanted to.

I've seen him in my neighborhood. He visits Liz often. She feeds him. He'll help her around the house, or sometimes they'll just talk, but nothing broke my heart more than seeing him washing the car by himself, occasionally glancing up to my bedroom window.

But tonight, he looked beautiful.

He had his hair up in a quiff. He probably borrowed some of Ashton's hair gel. He wore dark jeans, and a navy blue Hollister jacket zipped up. Probably not his either. He had on his tattered vans though.

When I saw him, he was smiling, looking up at the lights. Typical of Luke. He gets excited over things any other person would take for granted.

"Michael! There's Ashton and Luke! Let's go say hi." Calum said, pulling me in the direction of them.

"I can't Calum, and you know why." I said.

"Shut up. Now let's go." He said, and dragged me with all of his force, almost knocking me into Ashton.

"Hi guys!" Calum said.

Alex and Ashton both said hi back, with kind smiles.

I glanced over to Luke, and saw him with his back turned to me.

He was looking at things with Chloe, until Ashton hit his back.

He turned around, and looked like a deer in headlights.

"H-Hi." He said. "Chloe say hi." Luke said quietly.

"I know it's polite to say hello Luke, but I don't wanna be polite to someone I don't like." Chloe said and glared at me.

"Chloe!" Ashton scolded. "Why don't you like Michael?"

"I used to. Until he made Lukey cry again." She said and leaned on Luke's leg.

"I don't blame you." I said quietly to her.

Calum and Luke started talking, and Alex and Chloe joined there conversation.

Ashton turned to me. "I swear Michael. If you say one thing to Luke to ruin his mood tonight, I'm not going to hesitate to put you six feet under."

"I'm not going to. I had reasons as to why I said all that stuff, and I realized that it wasn't the best way to handle things. Did you let him borrow your clothes or something?" I asked, getting off the topic of me bullying Luke.

"Yeah. He refused to leave the orphanage tonight. He was embarrassed. But I don't understand because this is always his favorite thing to do at Christmas time. He cried. I've never seen him more insecure. He was crying because he didn't have anything good enough to wear without people judging him, or his hair didn't look good enough. He was upset because of his acne scars. He said he was too skinny. He thought there was nothing good about him, so me and Alex helped. We did his hair, and I let him wear my clothes. He's using my cologne, and Alex put makeup over his scars. He said he finally felt beautiful." He said, and I swear I saw his eyes tear up.

"He's taught me so much." Ashton whispered with a tear rolling down his face.

I stayed quiet.

"He's taught me not to take things I have for granted. I've been a lot closer with my mum ever since it started hanging out with him. I see how much he wants a family, and it increases my appreciation for my mum so much. It's amazing really." He said, wiping his eyes.