I know it's over 2 weeks since Christmas but this is the last chapter related to Xmas. I know I haven't been regular when posting but I will try and get into a pattern again.
"What are you guys all doing here?" Mike asked, shocked at why everyone from the dumping ground had just burst into Ryan's room, all bringing bulging, overflowing bags. What was in them, Mike had no idea.
"Were here to make it the best Christmas ever!" Floss said, putting her arms on her hips, as if she were a superhero.
"It's going to be amazing!" Harry shouted.
"You won't have seen anything like this before!" Finn said. Mike looked over to see Echo, a smile on her face so big, it reached her ears. It made him happy, to see her like this. He looked over to May-li, and they both smiled. If smiling could be a conversation, theirs would go something like:
"This is brilliant."
"I know. She is finally happy!"
"This is your first proper Christmas, so we thought we'd make it a good one," Tyler said to Echo, bending down to eye level. "We brought decorations - do you want to help put them up?
"Yeah!" Tyler emptied out all of the decorations out of three of the bags. There was tinsel and fairy lights and paper chains and baubles and a load of other stuff Echo had never seen before in her life. She picked up some of the fairy lights and put them at the end of Ryan's bed, on the foot board. She switched them on and they turned a bright blue.
"Wow!" she said in awe.
"There's more, " Jody said. Echo hadn't noticed but in the corner of the room there was a little fake Christmas tree. She picked up so of the white baulballs and hung them in the tree. Jody put some mini candy canes on the tree too. Finn and Harry then put some more fairy lights on the tree, making it light up white. This was amazing - Echo had never ever decorated a tree before.
Once she had finished with the tree, Echo looked around the room. There were paper chains running around the top of the room. There were more fairy draped across the bedside table - on the table there was a massive cake. Echo stepped forward to look at it - it was a Christmas tree with all their names on it. Under the tree, there was a mountain of presents, more than she had even seen in her life.
"This is… wow. Thank you." Echo said. For the first time ever, she forgot about everything, all her problems that had built up.
"We all put our money together, and got you this." Tyler handed Echo the biggest parcel anyone had ever seen. Echo sat down and put the present on the floor, everyone else following suit. She carefully undid the wrapping paper, not wanting to waste it, and opened the box. Inside were so many different things, but one thing that caught her eye was the shoes. She took them out and examined them. They were white converse shoes, brand new and everything.
"You guys got me these! Thank you so much!" She said, standing up and running over to Tyler. She decided, without hesitation or worry, that she would look at everything else whilst sat on his lap. Out of everyone, she trusted Tyler most, because he was friends with Ryan.
"We thought you could do with some new shoes," Tee said.
"I love them!" It was only 9 in the morning but it was already the best day she had ever had! She took off her other shoes and put on the converse - they fit perfectly.
"Look at everything else," Kaz prompted. Echo pulled the box over so it was in front of her again and began to look through everything else. She pulled out a long thin tube. Curious, she opened it up - it was a poster of Lilo and Stitch. A couple of weeks back, when it was movie night, they had all decided to watch the film, and Echo loved it. It reminded her of her own life a bit.
"This is awesome!" She shouted. For the first time since she had been at Ashdene, she had realised she was starting to get her confidence: she wasn't scared or shy or nervous around anyone anymore. Maybe this was the start to a new life.
"I thought you'd like it," Carmen said. Echo put the poster to the side, before taking another thing out of the box. This time, she had taken out a snowglobe. She looked inside: there was a picture of all of them. She shook the globe, watching the snow fall. Her mum used to have them, all lined up on her dressing table, from all the places she had ever been. Echo could start her own little collection!
"This is...beautiful. Thank you!"
"Ohana means family. Family means no one gets left behind," Jody said, referencing Lilo and Stitch. Echo smiled.
"There's still more," Tyler said. he was right. There were three bath bombs that were all super colourful. Echo had never had a bath bomb before, but according to Jody, they were amazing. There was also a couple of T-shirts that Carmen had picked out, a big bag of sweets, and some chocolates. The last present was probably the best though: it was a little toy bear. Echo had had one once when she was younger, that smelt of her mum (according to her brother), but it got stolen by one of the kids at Burneywood. The teddy bear was soft and cuddly and Echo loved it!
"Thank you so much!" She said, standing up, giving all of them a hug. It hit her though, she hadn't gotten them anything. She had gotten Ryan something, and Mike and May-li, but none of the others. She felt so greedy - they had spent all of their money on her, and she had nothing to give to them. Her face went from happy and jolly, to sad, which worried everyone.
"Echo?" Jody asked.
"I didn't get you guys anything! You got me all of this, but none of you get things in return! That's bad."
"We don't want you to get us anything. You deserve all of this. We haven't exactly tried hard to talk to you, or be friends, and this is us apologizing. We want to make a fresh start, and Christmas was the best way to do it," Bailey explained.
"Thank you."
Everyone else began opening their presents from their secret santa, plus a present each from Mike and May-li. Tyler got a bunch of magic tricks, Bailey got some new football boots, Jody got a necklace, Tee got some professional paints, Carmen got a load of makeup, Floss got a new Tutu, Sasha got tickets to see some band, Kaz got a couple of CDs, Harry got some wrestling poster, as did Finn and Mo got a couple of books. The best present was the twins present.
Tee and Carmen had had the twins and decided that the beast present would be a joint present. The twins had got an absolutely enormous box - it was a hamster cage. Echo was a bit confused but the twins searched explained about their old rabbit. They didn't want another one but they had been wanting a hamster for ages. Tee and Carmen had got a cage and soke accessories, ready for when they got the hamster. The smiles on their faces were humungous, which made Echo happy - she liked today. Today everyone was happy, no one was fighting or being grumpy or anything!
The only thing that could make this day better was if Ryan properly woke up.
