When Evie woke up the next morning, Leah was already awake.
"Merry Christmas kiddo," she said when she saw that Evie's eyes were open.
"Merry Christmas Leah."
The pair chattered like excited children before a knocking on the door and Jacob's voice made them get up.
"Are you two getting up or what? We've got stockings," he said.
They got out of bed, Evie's plaits hanging loosely by her shoulders. Leah picked up her stocking and then handed Evie another one.
"For me?" Evie said. She hadn't been expecting anything.
"Yes sweetheart, for you," Amanda said as she entered the landing having heard her children were awake.
"Thank you," Evie said quietly.
They went downstairs after dragging David out of bed and sat around in the living room. Taking it in turns they all pulled one thing out of their stocking.
Bella was obviously included.
"Jacob don't eat Leah's chocolate coins, you have your own," Amanda told her son as he tried to sneakily steal his sisters food.
"Or Evie's," she added as he then tried to steal one of hers.
Doing their stockings was so much fun and they all laughed and chatted loudly. The Christmas spirit was high; something Evie had never experienced before.
"Let's get some breakfast, shall we?" David said as they all went to the kitchen.
The Christmas music was on and they all sung as they helped to make breakfast. Jacob was holding Bella's paws in his hands and dancing round the room. Evie and Leah had their arms wrapped round each other's shoulders and were swaying along to the song.
After they'd had breakfast and opened a few presents, the extended family began to arrive.
There was a lot of them packed into the house but it didn't feel crammed, it felt cosy.
Excited chatter rang round and Evie realised how cold and lonely her house had been. They never spoke like that. Playing football on the cage had been her escape.
A wave of sadness rushed over her and she quickly got up and left the room. There was a quiet corner that she hid herself in to take a few deep breaths. She heard footsteps approaching and prayed that the person carried on past.
"Are you alright sweetheart?" Amanda asked. Evie nodded but it was clear she was lying.
"Are you sure?" she asked. Evie bit her lip to stop herself from crying.
"I'm fine. You go and carry-on enjoying stuff," she managed to say.
"I'm not leaving you alone," Amanda said before wrapping her arms around her. This was the final push that sent her over the edge.
"I'm sorry," Evie said weakly as the tears poured down her face.
"Don't be sorry. Christmas can be very overwhelming."
"It's not that. It's just you're all such a happy family and I've never had anything like that. My family are the definition of dysfunctional," Evie cried as they moved over to sit on the stairs.
"I'm sorry. Every kid deserves a family," Amanda said as she let the little girl cry in her arms. Evie managed to calm herself down and together they went and re-joined everyone else.
"You alright?" Leah whispered, her face full of concern, as Evie came and sat on the floor next to her. Evie nodded, smiling gratefully at Amanda.
Christmas lunch. They all sat around the table, Evie sandwiched between Leah and Jacob.
"Don't judge but we always sing the twelve days of Christmas song before we eat. You'll get a number in a minute and then off we go," Jacob explained.
After an eventful sing song, the food was served up and they all began loading their plates.
"Evie what would you like to drink? We have lemonade, beer, wine, apple juice," David asked.
"Can I have a shandy please?"
"Of course," David said, going off to make it for her.
"Dad providing the illegal alcohol," Jacob laughed as he handed her the drink.
"Acting like I didn't provide you guys with it from about the age of 14," David said as he took his seat.
Evie had a bright green paper hat on, Leah a blue one. They ate, chatted and ate a bit more.
When they were all fit to bursting, they went and gathered round the TV, ready to hear the Queen's speech. Leah's family were big royal family fans and when Jacob asked Evie to pass him the Quality Street box, he got shushed by pretty much everyone.
"Just wanted a chocolate," he muttered, making Evie laugh.
After the speech, they went for a short walk before coming home to play some games.
"Three words," Evie said as Leah was having her go at charades.
"She's holding up four fingers," David pointed out.
"Oh yeah," Evie laughed.
"Ringing bells?" Jacob guessed as his sister moved her hands up and down. She shook her head.
"Milking a cow?" Evie tried as that's what it looked like.
"It's a song. What songs are about milking a cow?" Leah asked, exasperated at how useless they all were.
"Driving!" Amanda exclaimed, the revelation coming to her. Leah nodded enthusiastically.
"If you're driving like that I'm seriously concerned," Jacob told her.
As the evening went on they all got more rowdy. There was more alcohol in the system and the karaoke was wildly entertaining.
"Woah!" Evie cheered as Leah and Jacob finished their song.
"Come on sweetheart let's give it go," Amanda said as she pulled Evie to her feet.
They sang their hearts out, probably disturbing all the neighbours in the process. Evie realised that Amanda had been more of a mother in the few days she'd been staying than her own mother had ever been.
The hours flew by and soon enough it was about half past midnight. The extended family began to head off and Evie sat exhausted on the sofa. Leah sat on her mum's lap beside her and they all sat in a comfortable silence.
"Thanks for a great Christmas," Evie said, struggling to keep her eyes open.
"You're very welcome," Amanda replied, smiling at how made up she was.
***
The next day included them all waking up with hangovers. They had a lie in and signs of life only began showing at around mid-day.
"I'm never drinking again," Leah groaned as her and Evie sat on the sofa.
"It's not long until New Years," Evie pointed out.
"Good point."
The day was easy going but fun nevertheless. They played on Jacob's x box and just spent time relaxing.
On the 27th it was time for them to head home. They packed up all their stuff and David helped them load it all into the car.
They said their goodbyes and after hugging Jacob and David it was time to say bye to Amanda.
"Thank you so much for having me!" Evie said as they embraced.
"It's alright sweetheart. Thank you for coming. Just know that you are welcome any time. We always have space for you here," she said.
They drove home in silence, both sad to be heading back.
***
It was New Year's Day and all the Arsenal girls were going round to Caitlin and Lia's for a party.
They took a taxi over as taking the car would be pointless because they'd be too drunk to drive back.
When they got there, the music was already on and the drinks were already open.
"Evie! Leah!" Katie called excitedly as she came and pulled them both into a hug.
The rest of the evening was a blur. There was dancing, there was singing, there was drinking and there was a whole lot of laughing.
Lotte and Evie both bounced around the made-up dance floor, alcohol fuelling them on.
Jonas knew about their party and even though it was their private life he'd made one rule: no photos or videos of Evie drinking could be posted anywhere.
It could get her in serious trouble and it wasn't worth the hassle.
"Ok so I've heard about you all having a New Year's party," Jonas started to say, "Number one where is my invite?"
The girls began to laugh.
"And number two, obviously Evie won't be having any alcohol as she is sixteen. However if she does happen to accidently get confused and have some, no photos or videos will be posted anywhere of her drinking. Underage drinking could be classed as a serious offence especially as the media are so focused on you all."
Midnight drew closer and they all gathered round, drinks in hand, to bring in the New Year.
"3, 2, 1. Happy New Year!" they all cheered.
It felt good to be celebrating the New Year with people she loved.
The party carried on for ages and Evie couldn't remember getting home.
She opened her eyes and realised that she was on the sofa with Leah's arms wrapped around her. The second thing she realised was the enormous pain throbbing through her head.
She was hungover. Getting up seemed overrated so she lay back down and snuggled closer into Leah.
***
A/N: Have another update because science revision is making me depressed