"It's Christmas!"

I groaned and rolled over.

"It's Christmas!"

"Owen, shut up!" I yelled.

"Come on Kate," Chelsea called. "We can't open presents without you!"

I groaned again. "Why do I have siblings?" I mumbled.

"Because we love you so much," Taylor said. I glared at her as she left our room.

"Come on, Kate!" Morgan yelled.

"Just open the stupid presents without me!" I screamed. "I just want to sleep."

I threw my blanket over my head, but two seconds later they were pulled off of me.

"What the—" I sat up to see Eddie coming toward me with a smirk on his face. I screamed and tried to get away, but he grabbed me and actually threw me over his shoulder. I knew he was strong, but I didn't know he was that strong. But I guess carrying a 100 pound, 5 foot 1 inch girl around isn't as hard as it sounds.

I screamed even more and tried to wiggle off his shoulder. "Eddie, put me down right now!"

He shifted and ended up grabbing my butt. "I like you right where you are."

"Mom! Eddie's mauling me!" I screamed.

I heard a laugh as he carried me into the living room where everybody was waiting. He moved his hand before anybody could see where it had been.

"Shut up, Jordan, or I'll kill you right after I'm done with Eddie," I snapped.

Eddie laughed and threw me off his shoulder. I screamed and landed on the floor. He smiled down at me and sat next to Angel. She gave him the same look she'd been giving him all week.

I got up from the floor and wedged myself between the two. I wasn't going to let this chick ruin my family's Christmas. She already ruined Christmas Eve dinner.

She glared at me and I smiled widely at her. I looked over at Eddie with the same smile and he gave me an amused look.

I quickly looked around the room, noting where everybody was sitting. Jordan, Eddie and Angel were sitting on the couch with me. Taylor was sitting on the floor, in front of Dad. Brandon and Chelsea were sitting next to each other, arguing. Morgan was leaning against the wall next to the tree, ignoring everybody. She was really intimidating for a twelve year old. Owen of course, wasn't sitting anywhere, but running around the living room. Alvin was standing in the middle of the room, swaying around with something in his mouth. Dad was sitting in his chair and Mom was sitting on the floor. I don't know why she was there; she was always complaining about back aches.

"Ok, who's first?" Mom asked, rubbing her hands together.

I immediately plugged my ears. Brandon stopped arguing with Chelsea to scream at Morgan and Owen. Taylor started screaming at them to stop screaming and Alvin started crying. I sat back (ears still plugged) and watched as Angel's eyes widened and Jordan asked Mom why she asked that question. I looked at dad and he winked at me with a smile on his face. I think he liked the noise.

The last person I looked at was Eddie. I wasn't surprised to see him watching me instead of joining in with the family.

I gave him a smile, not knowing what else to do and he smiled back, his eyes going to my lips. My hands fell from my ears and I looked away nervously. I still didn't know what last night meant.

"Alright, alright!" Mom tried yelling. Brandon was yelling something at Morgan who looked like she was about to punch someone and Owen had his hands over his ears singing a song I couldn't hear because Jordan and Taylor were arguing over her age. Angel was trying to get Jordan to pay attention to her, but she wasn't succeeding. And Alvin was standing in the middle of it all, still crying.

I bit my lip to keep myself from laughing, hoping I would get that camera I asked for. Finally, Dad got everyone to settle down. After more arguing and crying, we decided that Angel was going to go first, because she was the guest.

"But what about Eddie?" she asked.

I wrapped my arm around him with a cheesy smile. "He's family!"

I looked back at Angel before his look could make me feel any funnier and saw her glaring at me. I let my arms drop.

"Just open the dumb present," Morgan snapped, obviously getting impatient.

"Morgan, be polite," Mom said sternly. "And don't say those words around Alvin."

Morgan rolled her eyes. "It's not even a swear word," she mumbled. Mom pretended she didn't hear her.

Angel finally opened her one present from Jordan. It was a necklace and I scrunched my nose at it. Before I could think about it, I blurted out,

"That is the ugliest thing I've ever seen."

"Kate!" Mom gasped. Dad tried to hide a chuckle behind a cough, but Morgan didn't; she burst out laughing. Owen started laughing because Morgan was and I even felt Eddie shaking beside me.

I looked around at everybody's varying faces. "What?"

"Just shut up, Kate," Taylor said, trying to keep her smile down.

Jordan and Angel were both glaring at me. I stared back at them innocently.

"Let's just open our presents already!" Owen blurted.

"Ok, youngest first," Mom said. There were groans, but we managed to get through everybody's presents in an hour. I will not bore you with the details.

And then finally, there were two presents left. One more for Eddie and the one present I got. Since I only had one present, I knew what it had to be, but I didn't want to get my hopes up.

"Kate can go first," Eddie said.

I smiled at him. "It's ok, you can go first."

"No, you're younger," he argued.

"And we've skipped me this whole time," I pointed out. "Just open it."

"I've already opened a present, it's your turn."

"Somebody just open something!" Morgan yelled.

"Have them open each other's!" Taylor suggested in excitement.

"That's a good idea," Brandon said with a laugh.

Mom tossed us each other's presents. "Open them at the same time."

I wrinkled my nose, but tore at the red wrapping paper anyway.

"Socks?" I asked incredulously. "Who asks for socks for Christmas?"

"Who asks for a video camera for Christmas?" Eddie asked in the same tone.

My eyes widened and I looked at the box he was holding. It was a camera! I squealed, throwing the package of socks away and grabbing the camera.

"Please tell me there's actually a camera in here," I said trying to find an opening. Unfortunately, somebody had wrapped the whole box multiple times in mailing tape.

"Of course there is," Mom said. "I wouldn't do that to you."

"Why'd you wrap it in mailing tape?" I asked, frustrated.

"I didn't," she said, confused.

Taylor hurriedly stood up. "Ok, everything's open now, I'll be in my room."

"Me too!" Morgan said, running after her.

I watched them leave, wondering why they would wrap the camera in mailing tape.

"Thanks for throwing my socks around," Eddie grumbled, getting them from Jordan.

"You're welcome," I said standing up.

"Where are you going?" Mom asked. "I need you to help me clean this mess up.

I looked around the living room. There was wrapping paper strewn everywhere. "You're joking right? Morgan and Taylor got to go play with their things! It's going to take years for me to get this box open!"

"Sorry, but I can't do this alone," Mom shrugged.

Jordan and Angel abruptly stood up. "We'll be in my room," he said.

"No you won't," Dad said, "You know the rules. He also standing up and walking from the living room. Jordan pulled Angel through the kitchen and out the back door.

Brandon and Chelsea ran from the room, not even giving an excuse.

"Well, Kate, get started," Mom said, getting up from where she was sitting.

"But, Mom, I thought you were going to help me!"

She didn't even look back. "Do you want breakfast?"

I watched as she walked out of the living room. "This is so unfair!"

"Life isn't fair," she called from the kitchen.

I groaned and violently started shoving the wrappings into the garbage bag that had been brought out before the first present had even been opened. I didn't understand why I was the one that got stuck with cleaning up. I only opened one present; it wasn't my mess to begin with!

"Here." A hand reached out and took the already full bag from me and gave me another one. It was about half way full.

I looked up. "Thanks, Eddie."

He smiled. "No problem."

We finished getting all the wrapping and I grabbed my camera. "Now I can open my camera!"

I headed for the kitchen only to be stopped with two people sucking each other's faces off. I looked up to the top of the kitchen doorway, where they were standing under, and was not surprised at the sight of mistletoe.

"Mistletoe is the cheesiest of the cheesy," I said unnecessarily loud. Jordan and Angel completely ignored me. I jumped, trying to pull it down, but I was too short. I growled and was about to try again when a hand reached up and pulled it down for me. Jordan and Angel didn't stop making out. I turned in disgust and glared up at Eddie.

"I believe you were trying to get this," he said with a smirk.

I snatched the mistletoe from his hand angrily. "I'm only seventeen, I still have time to grow," I defended.

Eddie held his hands up. "I didn't say anything."

"But you were implying."

"You're too sensitive about your height," Jordan said.

I waved my hand at him. "Go back to kissing your girlfriend." I walked through the door before I could see them start again.

"Out of the kitchen!" Mom snapped as I reached for the scissors.

"I'm leaving!" I screeched.

She whacked me with a towel and I quickly ran through the door leading to the dining room door before she could hit me again.

It took me thirty minutes to get the camera out of the box and, with the help of Eddie and Taylor, another fifteen minutes to figure out how to use it. I video tapped the table, not realizing that I was until I read in the instructions that pressing the big red button started the recording. When I was sure I wasn't going to break it, I started going around recording everything. Eddie and Talor got bored really fast and went off to do their own things.

"Look Alvin," I said, recording him with his new toys. "You're on camera! Say hi!"

Alvin completely ignored me. I moved on.

"Hey Jordan," I said aiming the camera at him. He was sitting on the couch, his girlfriend nowhere in sight. "Where's the devil-in-disguise?"

He looked up at me. "I don't know, go check in her room."

"Not Morgan, stupid, your girlfriend."

He glared at me. "She's going to the bathroom."

I stopped recording and lowered the camera. "Where's Eddie?"

Jordan shrugged. "He disappeared a few minutes ago."

"I'm going to go find Morgan and Taylor. Do you think they're fighting yet?"

There was a bang from above us and I heard Taylor start yelling. "Sounds like it."

I grinned and headed upstairs. I turned the corner that lead right to the hall with all our rooms and the bathroom.

"Holy moly!" I whispered, quickly hiding back around the corner. I peeked again, just to make sure. Yep, that was Eddie and Angel making out underneath the mistletoe. In front of the bathroom, no less. This was worse than when I caught Dad kissing the Easter bunny when I was seven.

I was about to interrupt them just to see the looks on their faces when I had a better idea. I turned my camera on and caught a second of them kissing before they broke apart.

"What are you doing?" Eddie demanded.

"I'm kissing you," Angel said innocently. She tried again, but he pushed her away.

"Don't."

"Why not?" she pouted.

"You're dating my best friend," he said angrily. I grinned proudly. I knew he was better than that.

"I don't want him," Angel said seductively. "I want you."

"I don't date sluts."

"Ooh! You got burned!" I laughed. My eyes widened when I realized what I'd done. I looked up from my camera. Angel looked ready to kill me. "Oh crap."

She started toward me and I ran away screaming, "Help! She's going to kill me!"

"Morgan, quit harassing Kate!" Mom yelled as I stormed down the stairs, Angel hot on my heels.

"It's not me!" Morgan yelled from upstairs.

"Give me the camera, witch!" Angel snarled. Only, she didn't say witch.

Out of reflex, I stopped and turned. "Hey, don't swear aro-oomph!"

Before I could finish my sentence, Angel barreled into me. The camera flew out of my hands and I fell backwards. I watched the camera fly through the air, straight toward the couch. My back hit the floor and the rest of my air rushed out of my lungs, but all I could think of was my poor camera. Luckily, it landed safely on the couch and I would've sighed in relief if someone wasn't trying to strangle me.

I turned my focus on Angel, whose hands were around my throat. I punched her on the side of her face and she fell away, obviously not expecting it since I didn't hit her very hard. I rolled away as she recovered, but Jordan grabbed her and held her back from me.

"What's going on!?" Dad yelled, walking into the room behind Morgan and Taylor. I looked at Eddie but he didn't say anything. Taylor walked past Angel and Jordan and picked up the camera and pointed it at me. I smiled and waved.

"Is someone going to tell me what happened?" Dad demanded.

I shrugged. "I got caught tapping Angel kissing Eddie."

"What?" Jordan let go of Angel in surprise. She dove for Taylor, but this time Eddie grabbed her.

"She's lying!" Angel screeched.

"It's on camera," I said calmly.

Taylor stopped recording and put it in rewind.

"Let me go get the cord that will show it on the TV so everyone can see," I said excitedly.

Dad nodded and I rushed into the dining room. This was going to get tons of hits on YouTube. I found the cord quickly and went back into the living room. Everybody was already sitting down, so I plugged everything into the VCR and pressed play on the camera. Taylor must have rewound all the way because the first thing we saw was the table with my crap on it. I skipped to when I was talking to Jordan.

"—in her room."

"Not Morgan, stupid, your girlfriend." I was surprised at how my voice sounded. Jordan's sounded the same, but mine was a tad higher.

The TV Jordan glared at us. "She's going to the bathroom."

The scene suddenly changed and we were looking at Angel and Eddie kissing. Actually, now that I looked (and knew what was going on) it was pretty obvious Angel was the one doing all the work. And then he pushed her away.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm kissing you."

As TV Angel moved back toward TV Eddie, I looked at the real one. He was staring at the TV, his face blank. I wondered what he was thinking, if he was angry or sad. I hated it when I couldn't tell what was going on inside his head.

"I don't date sluts."

"Oh!" Morgan started laughing, almost drowning TV me out.

"Ooh, you got burned!"

Morgan, Brandon, Chelsea and Taylor were all laughing by now as TV Eddie and TV Angel looked up in surprise.

"Kate, you are so stupid," Morgan said in between laughs.

I shrugged. "I couldn't help it."

"Shhh!" Taylor said and TV me started screaming.

The screen was shaking all over the place and Chelsea looked away. I could barely make anything out as we heard Angel call me that nasty word. The camera stopped moving and we saw Angel running straight toward me.

"You are really stupid," Brandon said, watching the TV intently.

Once again, the camera started moving so fast we could barely make anything out. Morgan laughed in glee, probably at the sight of Angel barreling into me. And then the camera stopped, showing a sideways Angel straddling a sideways me.

"Oh my gosh!" I said scooting to the edge of my seat. "This is perfect!"

"Heck yeah!" Morgan agreed.

"Morgan!" Mom yelled, appalled. Morgan ignored her and Mom turned to me. "This is not going on the internet."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because it's not right to put something like this where people we don't know are going to see it."

"But it's not like any of our family is going to look bad!" I argued. "Nobody cares about Angel," Angel gasped, but I continued, "and it's pretty obvious Eddie is not in the wrong!"

Mom shook her finger at me. "This is not going online and that's the end of it."

"But mom!"

"No buts." She turned to Angel. "Now you have a lot of explaining to do."

I huffed and sat back, folding my arms. I had to get it on YouTube somehow. It's not like Mom would know, she never uses the internet. Unless it got on the news. Then I would be famous and grounded. It would totally be worth it.

"I'll help you get it online," Eddie whispered.

I looked at him in surprise. "Really?"

He nodded with a smile. "Yeah, it's too good to not share."

"But—"

Before I could even start my sentence, Angel screamed.

I looked at her, expecting a spider to be hanging in front of her or something, but she was pointing at the TV. I saw Mom's mouth drop open as I turned to look at it.

"Oh my gosh! Who recorded this?" I blurted out.

On the screen was me and Eddie, making out in front of my bedroom doorway underneath some mistletoe. Or more accurately, Eddie kissing me while I stood there, not knowing what to do. I looked like an idiot and I was really starting to hate mistletoe.

I launched myself from the couch and grabbed my camera, pressing the stop button as fast as I could. I turned at smiled at everybody, my face completely red. "I'm starving, let's go eat."

"No way!" Chelsea said. "When was this?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I denied.

"Sit down, young lady," Dad snapped. I headed for my usual seat. "Away from Eddie." I rolled my eyes and sat on the other side of the couch.

"Now," Dad said, "let's get this all straightened out. When did you and Eddie kiss, Kate?"

"Yesterday," Taylor blurted.

I glared at her. "You are so dead."

"You made out with my sister and my girlfriend?" Jordan demanded angrily.

"No, I made out with your sister, I did not make out with your girlfriend," Eddie said.

"It was on video!"

"And like I said on that same video, I don't date sluts!"

"You're dating her!" Angel said pointing at me.

"Hey!" I said standing up. "We aren't dating!"

Everybody looked at me.

"She calls you a slut and all you worry about is everybody thinking you and Eddie are dating?" Brandon asked incredulously.

"Well we aren't," I said defensively.

"So you're friends with benefits?" Jordan sneered.

"No!" Eddie said standing up, clearly offended at that thought. "That was our first and only kiss."

"I think it's cute," Taylor offered.

"Shut up, Taylor," I snapped.

"We recorded their whole conversation!" Morgan jumped in. "We have it on another tape."

"Let's watch it!" Chelsea said excitedly.

"No!" Eddie and I yelled at the same time.

"Everyone be quiet!" Dad yelled.

We all looked at him in surprise as Alvin started crying.

"Angel," he said, "I'll take you home. The rest of you, in your rooms until I get home." He looked at everyone in the eye. "I will talk to each and every one of you. Alone. Got it?"

"But—" Brandon started to protest.

Dad gave him the look. "Don't argue with me."

Everybody started groaning and got up to head for their rooms. I pushed Taylor and she pushed me back, causing me to stumble into Eddie.

"Sorry," I said.

He opened his mouth to say something, but Dad cut him off.

"Eddie, stay in my room for now."

Eddie stayed in Jordan's room when he slept over, but I guess sticking them in the same room together right now would be a very bad idea.

Eddie gave him a nod. "Yes sir."

"You are in so much trouble," Taylor taunted as I shut the door to our room.

I glared at her. "Shut up."

"Personally, I think you two are cute together," she said, flopping on her bed. "I've been trying to get you guys together for months."

I looked at her in confusion. "You've been trying to get us together?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you had to have a little push. And I knew you liked him. You need a new hiding spot for your journal."

My mouth dropped open. "You're a brat. I would rather share a room with Morgan!"

She snorted. "If Morgan found your journal, everybody would have known about your little crush on Eddie the second she read it."

"Everybody does know, thanks to you," I snapped.

"Actually all they know is that you guys kissed," she said in a matter of fact tone.

"Same thing!"

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I think it's cute. You are going to put it online, right?"

"Me and Eddie, or Eddie and Angel?"

"Both."

"I'm definitely putting Eddie and Angel up," I said. I thought for a second about the video of me and Eddie. "Not me and Eddie, though, I looked like a retard. How much of us did you record?"

She grinned. "Everything."

I tore the bedroom door open.

"Where are you going?" Taylor asked, sitting up.

"I'm hungry." Before she could chastise me for leaving my room before Dad came home, I headed for the stairs.

After making sure Mom wouldn't see me, I hurried down the stairs and into the kitchen. The first thing I saw was a plate full of bacon. I immediately headed for it.

"Don't you dare touch that food," Mom said whacking my hand.

"Ow!" I held it to my stomach. "Mom, I'm starving."

"Yeah you and Eddie were always big eaters," she grumbled. "Go back to your room."

"Eddie?" I asked. "Was he down here too?"

"Go back to your room," Mom snapped.

"Fine," I said, turning around. "When I die of starvation, I hope you feel guilty because it'll be all your fault!" I called as I went up the stairs as fast as I could. Instead of going to my room, however, I headed straight for Mom and Dad's, throwing the door open.

"You!" I said, pointing at a surprised Eddie. He had bacon hanging from his mouth and another strip in his hand.

"Me?" he asked pulling the bacon from his mouth.

I headed for him. "I want some bacon."

He looked at the bacon in his hand and smirked. "Aren't you supposed to be in your room?"

I glared at him. "I'm starving and Mom won't let me have any."

"So you come to me, automatically assuming I have some."

"She said you were in the kitchen before me, so I came to see if you had any," I said, now standing in front of him.

He stuffed the half eaten piece of bacon back in his mouth. "No, I don't have any," he said with his mouth full.

I wrinkled my nose and tried to get the other strip. "Give me the bacon!"

"No." He bent backwards, keeping his hand out of my reach and I fell on top of him. We were now lying on Mom and Dad's bed in a very compromising position but all I cared about was that bacon.

"What do I have to do?" I growled. "Kiss you?"

He stopped and looked at me, swallowing the last of his bacon. "That actually doesn't sound too bad."

My eyes widened as I realized what I'd just said. "Wait, no," I said, scrambling off of him. I could feel myself blush. "I didn't mean for that to come out."

"Freudian slip," Eddie said with a grin.

I stopped in confusion. "What?"

"You meant to say that, so you did." He grinned. "You want to kiss me."

I eyed the bacon. "Only if it gets me food."

"That hurts," he pouted. "I'll tell you what, you kiss me and I'll decide if the kiss was good enough to earn this bacon."

"That's not fair!" I said. That meant I couldn't kiss him on the cheek.

"Life's not fair."

"Quoting my parents isn't attractive," I said. I looked at the bacon. "Alright, but I want that bacon."

He grinned. "Alright," he agreed.

I walked toward him as he stood up. 'This is for the bacon,' I told myself. 'For the bacon.' But when I leaned up and pressed my lips to his, I forgot what I was thinking. Instead of the last time, I had a better idea of what I was doing and I quickly got lost in the feeling of kissing Eddie. If I had kissed him properly last night, I don't think I would have been able to let him go talk to Mom about whatever they talked about. My hand unconsciously moved up and around his neck as we moved closer together. He cupped my cheek, deepening the kiss. We probably could have kissed for hours, but the taste of bacon in his mouth brought me back to reality.

I pulled away, and before he could do anything else, I took the bacon from his hand and danced away laughing.

"I got the bacon!" I taunted. He wasn't looking at me, but I didn't pay much attention. I turned to run from the room and ran into someone.

I stepped away, my laugh dying away and my face burning red. "Hey Daddy," I said, trying to give him an innocent smile. "You got home fast."

He looked down at me, disappointment written all over his face. "I told you to stay in your room for a reason," he said.

"I was hungry!" I defended.

"So you come in here and kiss Eddie?"

"He had bacon," I said, holding it up to show him.

Dad gave me a weird look as Morgan popped up behind him, the camera in her hands. "Busted!" she yelled.

"That's mine," I said pointing at the camera.

"Right now, that video camera is nobody's," Dad said.

I gasped. "But it's the only thing I got for Christmas!"

"And I had no idea you would be able to cause so much ruckus with it."

I folded my arms. "I don't agree with you."

"There's nothing to agree to," Dad said. "We'll talk about this later."

"No." I stomped my foot childishly. "I want to talk about it now. We have too much to talk about to postpone it."

"Like what?" Jordan asked coming out of nowhere.

"Well for one thing, you guys seem to be against me and Kate being together and I would like to know why," Eddie said.

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Taylor demanded.

"Everybody go back to your rooms!" Dad yelled.

"No! Just shut up and listen!" I yelled. Everybody stared at me. "I don't understand what the big deal is. Angel is gone—and I hope you broke up with her, Jordan. And what is so wrong about me and Eddie kissing. It seems like a stupid thing to argue about and you all know him! You know he won't hurt me."

"She's right," Mom said, walking in with Alvin in her hands. She looked at me. "As long as none of this goes online, I'll allow the video camera. And no kissing in front of the kids."

"So, if I don't take the camera back, I get to post this online?" I asked.

"Don't push it," Mom said.

"Honey, let's talk about this," Dad said.

"We are talking about it," Mom said very calmly. "Just let the kids be kids and if something goes wrong, they can handle it themselves."

"So it's settled," I said. "Now we can go eat breakfast." I could tell Dad was going to protest so I quickly cut him off. "I know you're hungry too!" I patted his stomach. "I had to get my appetite from somewhere."

"Oh, alright," Dad said.

Taylor pumped her fist. "Let's go eat!"

Everybody started to file out of the bedroom and I was about to follow them out when Eddie grabbed my hand.

"Do you really want to be with me?" he asked.

"Eddie!" I whined. "Can't we do this later; Jordan's going to eat all the good stuff."

"No," he said looking me in the eyes. "Just answer my question."

I sighed. "Fine. Yes, I like you and I've wanted to be your girlfriend for years. Happy now?"

"Not quite." Before I could protest, he kissed me and my hunger pains immediately disappeared.

"When do you think they'll stop?" I heard Chelsea ask after a while.

"How do they breathe?" Morgan asked.

"Shut up, guys," Taylor snapped. "They can hear us."

We broke apart, but Eddie didn't let go of me and I smiled up at him. The sound of my stomach rumbling reminded me of why I was annoyed with him.

"Breakfast!" I said, running toward the kitchen.

"If I find you and Eddie kissing, Kate, you aren't getting breakfast!" Dad said from the bottom of the stairs.

I jumped down past him. "No more kisses!" I shouted back to Eddie.

"We'll see about that," I heard him say.

Dad started stuttering and I smiled. This was going to be a lot of fun.

---

The End. No more. I'm glad that's over. Except it's not. I've been working on this story for two years now and I still have a LOT to edit, considering I wrote Part I a week ago. Also, I've grown attached to this family and I'm thinking about writing more with other characters. But it will probably never happen, so don't expect anything anytime soon.

So let me know what you think please. I got one review for Part I, which really surprised me. Was it really that bad?