Adopted By Christopher | The Sturniolo Triplets

3

The girls stood in dirty white night gowns. Each one held their hands behind their backs as if they were prized pigs waiting to be picked. Their bodies were filled with dirt, clearly indicating they haven't had a shower for a long time. Their hair was knotty and they were all so skinny you could basically see their bones.

Chris ran his eyes over the group of children, stopping on one. A girl with blonde hair and green eyes caught his attention. She stood closer to the end of the line, indicating she was one of the older ones. "Hello," Chris waved as he headed towards the little girl. "Hi," the girl whispered in response. "What's your name?" Chris questioned. "Tilly," the small girl spoke with her eyes glued to her beat up red fila disruptors. "Hi Tilly, I'm Chris," Chris held out his hand for the girl to shake, causing her to flinch backwards. "You don't want her," the lady who ran the orphanage commented, "she's a brat who can't take a beating." Chris stood there for a moment in shock. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "I'll adopt her," he stated. Wether it was because he wanted to get her away from that lady or he just always had to do what people told him not to do didn't matter to Tilly. She was getting out of here, and once she was out she could run away from this strange man and live in peace.

~

Chris had finally gotten back to the house with Tilly's hand in his. "Okay," he began speaking before opening the door, "I have two brothers who don't know I adopted you so there may be some yelling." Tilly nodded at the tall boy before entering the house. "Chris? I thought you were sleeping," Nick started, glancing at the small child that stood a bit behind Chris. Taking a double take, Nick's eyes widened, "Chris what on earth did you do!" "This is Tilly," Chris stated, ignoring his brother's question, "she's twelve." Matt came into the room, a croissant in hand, "what's going on?" "Chris became a father," Nick screamed. Matt's mouth fell open and he nearly let go of his food, "stop you almost made me drop my croissant!"

"Really Matt!" Nick began shouting out of frustration, "you're worried about your food and not the fact that Chris adopted a literal CHILD!" Tilly whimpered as she grasped onto Chris' leg. Chris glanced down at the lean girl as she was clearly frightened. 'It's okay,' Chris mouthed to her, patting the top of her head as though she were a dog. "We need to take her back!" Nick continued to shout until he looked back down at the small child. Tears brimmed her eyes at those words. She hasn't even been there a whole day and they already want to take her back? Ms. Briggs was not going to like that and she knew it.

Letting out a deep sigh, Nick combed his fingers through his hair before speaking in an indoor voice, "Chris we need to have a conversation alone for a moment." Chris squinted at his brother before placing his hand on Tilly's shoulder, "I'll show you you're room and you can start unpacking."

After taking Tilly to her room Chris walked back into the living room. "She can't stay," Nick quickly spoke up. "Well she has no where else to go," Chris replied. "Okay, why don't we just keep her until we can find someone else to look after her," Matty b suggested. "Yeah alright, but I am not looking after her," Nick stated. "No one asked you too," Chris replied.