Stay Awake

“Sissy, wake up! It’s Christmas!” Jenny shook me awake, and I rubbed my eyes to see that Jack had spent the night in my room.

“Oh, merry Christmas!” I said happily, hugging her tightly and kissing her cheek. I threw my pillow at Jack, who jumped and looked around the room. “WAKE UP, ASSHOLE, IT’S CHRISTMAS!” I shouted, jumping on him. He jumped up, looking around, confused.

“Huh? Oh, merry Christmas!” he said happily, pulling both of us into a tight hug. “Why don’t we go downstairs and open presents?” Jack asked, climbing off the bed. Jenny and I followed, and we raced each other down the stairs and into the living room, sitting down in front of the tree. Mom and dad were in the kitchen, making coffee and putting together a cookie platter for the party later today at Alex and Lisa’s. They came out into the living room and sat down on the couch, allowing us to open our gifts.

“Here, this one’s for you!” Jack said, hucking a box at me. I surprisingly caught it, glared at him and tore the paper off of the box. I saw that it had the Glamour Kills logo on it, and I smiled, opening it and removing the tissue paper to reveal a black JAGK shirt, along with booty shorts and sweatpants.

“I love them! I’ve actually been wanting these, even before I knew who you were!” I said, setting them neatly in the box and setting it aside. “Here, Jen, this one’s for you. It’s a good thing I didn’t send it to the foster home yet.” I smiled, handing her the small box. She lightened up, taking the box from me and carefully tore the paper away from the small box. Inside was an oval locket, with a flower engraved on the brushed metal.

“Summer, it’s so pretty. Where’d you get it?” she asked, looking up at me with curious eyes.

“I think you were too young to remember, but mom used to wear this all the time before dad got her that necklace that she never took off. Inside, there were pictures of us when we were born, but I kind of replaced them.” I explained as she opened the locket. I took out the two pictures of us and replaced them with pictures of our parents on their wedding day.

When she saw the pictures, she instantly started crying, the same cry from when we recieved the news that they weren’t going to return back home.

“Summer, I love it so much. How’d you get it?” she sniffled.

“I took it before we moved to Grandma and Grandpa’s. Come here, I’ll put it on.” I said as she crawled over to me. I clasped it around her neck, and she turned around, falling into my arms, hugging me tightly.

“I wish I got you something!” she sobbed.

“No, no, don’t worry about me. I’m almost 17, I don’t need Christmas presents.” I chuckled.

“That was so sweet of you, Summer. I’m so sorry we didn’t adopt Jenny as well, we didn’t know you had a sister.” Mom apologized.

“It’s okay, at least she’s still near me so I can see her at family gatherings.” I said, ruffling her hair, and she shooed my hand away.

“That’s sweet of you. Jack, this is for you.” Dad said, handing him a rather large box.

“Sweet!” he said happily, his big brown eyes scanning over the box as if he’s trying to guess what it is before opening it. He tore the paper away, revealing a regular brown box and he looked at it, confused. He opened it, pulled out a bunch of wrinkled newspaper and eventually pulled out a new guitar. “Oh, FUCK YEAH!” he shouted. His eyes glazed over as he ran his hand over the purple, shiny body.

“Language, Jack!” Mom shouted.

“Sorry, I’m just so excited! I can’t wait to bring this thing on tour!” he said, playing a few riffs that I recognized, even though it sounded twangy from not being plugged in. We finished opening presents and got ready for the day. I quickly showered and blow dried my hair, and decided to wear a tacky Christmas sweater. Once we were all ready, we headed over to Alex and Lisa’s for a band/family Christmas party, where we sat down for dinner, opened more presents and just hung out.

Upon arriving, I could tell that Jenny tensed up when she saw Lisa’s mom.

“Hi, sweetie! How was staying with your sister?” she asked, running her fingers through her dark hair.

“It was fun, we stayed up all night.” she giggled.

“Oh, you’re going to be in a mood today,” Lisa’s mom huffed. I tensed up, wanting to punch her in the face right then and there. But I held my temper, deciding to save that for another day. “And you look... fevstive.” she practically spat at me. I clenched my hands into fists as we greeted everyone, sat around for a while before dinner was served.

We gathered around the large dining room table, and Lisa’s parents insisted that there be no kid’s table. Jenny sat next to her new mom, while I sat between Joe and Jack, everyone in order pretty much by family. The only people that were missing were Rian, Cassadee, and Zack, who I wished could be here to rescue me from this table. Lisa’s mom babbled on about where Jenny’s going to school, and how she’ll take horse riding lessons, and pretty much do all the things that Lisa did when she was eight years old. I was getting annoyed. How dare she plan out my sister’s life like that? What’s wrong with make her own decisions? I excused myself to the bathroom before I verbally exploded. I sat on the edge of the tub, resting my face in my hands. I needed a way to get Jenny out of the Ruocco grasp. I thought for a minute, then thought of a novel idea. When I turn 18, I could get custody of her, move far, far away, and have our own happy life. I almost fell into the tub when there was a knock on the door.

“Yeah?” I asked, looking up to the door. I heard the door open, and Lisa walked in.

“Hey, you’ve been in here for almost 10 minutes. Are you feeling okay?” she asked, sitting next to me. “I hope the food didn’t make you sick.” she frowned.

“No, no, it wasn’t the food. This is just the first Christmas I’ve spent without my real family.” I explained.

“I’m sorry about your loss, but hey. Chin up! We’re fun people, I know you love it here, you’ve even admitted it. Come on, let’s go finish eating.” she smiled, taking my hands and pulling me up when she stood up. I just smiled and went back out into the kitchen to finish eating.