Destiny Revealed (5 page)

G
raduation day arrived at last. “Halle-freakin’-lujah,”
Nat said as we lined up to enter the gymnasium. “I can’t
wait to get on with my life.”

“Tell me about it,” I agreed. “I’m really tired of this
whole high school married couple thing.”
“It’s not like anyone even knows about it,” she
reminded me.
“I know, but still.”
“Is she talking about how ‘weird’ our marriage is?”
Nick asked, butting into the conversation.
“Yep,” Nat grinned.
“So, are we gonna go get our tats tonight?” Nick asked
me.
“We can’t miss the grad night party,” I reminded him.
“Yes, you guys totally have to go,” Nat said. “You can
get your ‘tats’ tomorrow,” she made fun of Nick.
“Do you still want to do it?” Nick asked me. Now that
school was done, we were finally going to get our tattoo
wedding bands.
“Of course.
Hel-lo
, I’m the one who came up with the
idea,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, but only after I asked you if you wanted a ring,”
he pointed out.
“I was going to ask you first, but you interrupted me
and asked if I wanted to go look at rings. And this is
permanent. Plus, I’m not a big ring person,” I said. “Unless
you’re having second thoughts about having my name on
your finger forever. Just because you like me right now,
doesn’t mean—” The commitment Nick and I made in our
binding ceremony was forever and I knew he loved me
more than anything, but sometimes I still felt insecure. I felt
like I didn’t deserve this perfect guy, which was weird
because when we first met, I hated him. I hated all wolves
really.
“Oh shut up, you guys. He more than likes you. He
freakin’ did a witch ceremony that connects him to you
forever! Stop being lame. And it’s time to go in now,” Nat
yelled at us. I stuck my tongue out at her and followed her
into the gym.
The speeches were extremely boring. This girl, Jill gave
the valedictorian speech. Nat turned to me and pulled her
trigger finger at her head during the way too long speech
about what we could accomplish if we put our minds to it.
It was so incredibly unoriginal. “Do something to make her
shut up,” Nat whispered to me.
“Like what? I can’t do magic in front of everyone,” I
said.
“Uh, you totally made Mr. Vargas end class early that
day, remember?” she reminded me.
I looked at Jill and concentrated. “What are you
doing?” Nick asked.
“Shh… she’s gonna make this chick shut up,” Nat
whispered across me. Nick rolled his eyes at her.
“The next step we can take—,” Jill was saying. “Is to…
uh… to sit down and be done now,” she finished. Nat
laughed way too loud and Jack had to pinch her arm.
“That.Was.Awesome,” she said to me. “Is there any
way to make this whole lame thing be over yet?”
“Hold my hand and I’ll try,” I whispered to Nat. I
wanted the extra boost of power she could give me. I didn’t
realize it, but Jack was already holding her other hand, so I
felt a huge rush of power as I mumbled under my breath,
“This is not fun. Let it be done.”
The principal stood up immediately and said, “Well,
let’s be done with this already. Jenna Austin,” he started
with the diplomas without taking a breath.
“Holy crap, Sof. Did you just do that?” Nick asked.
“Yeah, but Nat helped.”
“Hey, don’t forget about me,” Jack complained.
I raised my eyebrows at him in surprise. The A’s were
already done. There were only sixty kids in our graduating
class. “Nick Bartolini,” Principal Johnson announced. Nick
smiled at me and walked up to the stage.
Our entire group of friends whooped and hollered as he
held his diploma up in his hand. We were so loud that I
barely heard, “Sofia Bartolini.” I didn’t move.
“What the crap?” I asked Nat.
“I didn’t do it. It was him,” she pointed at Nick.
Instantly I could hear murmurs from the students. “Well,
are you gonna go up there?” She shoved me.
I hesitated. I glared at Nick as he waited for me on the
other side of the stage.
Well, now they all know we’re
married
, I thought to myself. I took my diploma to the
sound of more hoots from our friends. Nick took my hand,
and as we walked off the stage together, I said, “You suck.
That is so not cool.”
“What?” he played innocent.
“Now they all know.”
“And? What’s the big deal? You’re the one who agreed
to take my name,” he reminded me as we sat back in our
seats.
“Yeah, but I’ve still been using my old name at school.
You know how much it weirds me out,” I complained.
“Oh get over it already,” he gave me a stern look. I
started to say something, but he leaned in and kissed me
and I completely forgot what I was annoyed about.

Everyone gathered at Aberto’s for lunch. He closed the
restaurant down for our circle/pack. “Congratulations to our
wonderful children,” Mamma shouted over everyone. “And
congratulations to our Nico and Sofia.” Daniela came out
of the kitchen with a ginormous cake. It had three tiers and
each one was a different color. As a joke, someone had
placed a wolf figurine and a plastic witch on the top.

“Green for luck, red for health, and pink for peace, no?”
Daniela looked to Mamma for confirmation that she had
the color meanings right. Mamma nodded and put the cake
down on the long table that we were all sitting at.

“That’s not all red stands for,” Nat whispered to Nick as
she nudged him in the side. He raised his eyebrows at her.
“Oh? Do tell,” he said.
“Oh, it’s something you guys don’t have a problem
with,” she grinned. I felt my face flush and turned my
attention back to Babbo, who was was currently speaking.
“We never had a proper celebration for Nico and
Sofia,” he was saying. “A binding is something very special
to our people. Not only did it bring these two together, it
brought an end to hatred. To Nico and Sofia,” he toasted.
“Salute,” everyone cheered in unison.
I didn’t want to admit it, but I was secretly excited to
have a sort of wedding cake. “I’m really diggin’ the top,”
Nick said.
“Whose idea was it?” I started to ask, but several of us
came to the same conclusion at once, “Dash!”
Dash was at the other end of the table, grinning from
ear to ear, lifting his glass to us. Nick shook his head at
him. Once we were all finished with dinner, those of us
who had graduated took off to the school for the grad party.
The other pack members complained, but it was seniors
only.
The party was being held outside in the football
stadium. There wasn’t room in the gym for all the activities
they had set up. “OMG,” Nat said about the bounce house
as we walked into the stadium. “Race you there,” she
challenged me.
We both took off at a dead run, leaving Jack and Nick
shaking their heads at us. Dash wasn’t far behind and dove
in after me. We bounced for at least twenty minutes, until
none of us could breathe anymore. After searching for five
minutes, we found Jack, Nick, and Rene bobbing their
heads to the music at the edge of the make-shift dance
floor.
“You guys look like those dudes from that Roxbury
movie,” Dash laughed. The three of them instantly stopped.
“Well, we didn’t have our ladies to dance with,” Nick
pointed out.
“Then let’s go,” I told him as I tugged on his hand. We
walked out to the light-up, color changing floor that had
been brought in for the party. The lights in the stadium
were at a minimum. Bright enough to be able to see, but not
so bright that it ruined the party mood. Jack and Nat were
close behind. I saw Rene ask some random girl to dance,
and Dash decided to ‘bust a move’ by himself in the middle
of the floor.
“Check out my mad dance skills,” he shouted over the
music. Ever since prom, he and Helene had started dating
steadily, so he was content to go it solo. He was actually a
pretty good dancer. He did everything from the robot to
break-dancing.
“Go Dash, go Dash,” the crowd chanted.
“They really shouldn’t be encouraging him,” Jack said.
“Hey, give the guy a break. It’s his last night of high
school to be a total…” I searched for the right word.
“To be Dash?” Nick finished for me.
“Yeah, exactly,” I said.
Nick came in close behind me, put his hands on my
hips, and we moved together to the music. Nat moved in
closer to Jack and wrapped her arms tightly around his
neck. He smiled at her, and surprisingly, he started to kiss
her. He never kissed her in front of people that way.
“Whoa,” I said to Nick.
“What?” he turned and saw Jack locked in a very
passionate kiss with Nat. “Whoa is right.”
“Hey, congrats you guys,” Jenny from my math class
said.
“Uh, thanks,” Nick smiled.
“See what you’ve done,” I complained. Nick was still
behind me. I leaned back into him and wrapped my arms
around his neck as he leaned in and kissed my bare
shoulder. I looked to my side and saw Rene lip locked with
a beautiful blond I didn’t recognize.
Nick’s lips moved to my neck and I heard a voice
behind us. “Really you guys?” Dash shouted over the
music. “Totally not cool for all of you to make out in front
of me when I’m here alone.”
Nick didn’t look up and I continued to dance, but
apologized to Dash, “Sorry. You looked like you were
having fun out there surrounded by the crowd.”
“Yeah, but you’re really making me miss Helene,” he
complained.
At the sound of his little sister’s name, Jack finally
pulled away from Nat. “What about my sister?”
“I just miss her, dude. All you guys are making out in
front of me. Even Rene over there with random, blond
chick.”
“Dude, you better not be kissing my sister like that,”
Jack threatened.
The old Dash would have made some rude or smart
comment, but he just shrugged his shoulders at Jack.
“So help me Dash—” Jack started. He was interrupted
by Nat kissing him again.
“This reminds me a little of Mexico,” Nick said in my
ear as he kissed it.
I smiled at the memory. “Yeah, except tonight we can
go home and…” I let the sentence drift off. He turned me
around suddenly and kissed me deeply.
“Seriously guys, still standing here,” Dash complained
again.
I pulled away from Nick. I felt bad and decided we
should do something else. “Hey guys,” I yelled above the
music. “I want to see Jack and Dash do the sumo
wrestling.” Dash didn’t look like he was a fan of my idea.
But Jack was excited at the chance to take him down.
We left Rene on the dance floor with blond girl and the
rest of us made our way across the field to the wrestling
circle. They had placed several large wrestling mats
together from the gym and made a large circle out of duct
tape in the center. There were two football players wearing
giant sumo wrestler outfits that were blown up with air. The
match started and they ran at each other, bouncing off one
another as they collided.
We watched for several minutes as they both tried to
throw each other out of the ring. Everyone laughed and
Jack rubbed his hands together in anticipation. “Hey, no
using magic to win,” Dash warned Jack.
“He can’t do it by himself,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, but you and Nat are here,” Dash said.
“Oh, good point,” I said.
“Fine, but no werewolf strength,” Jack agreed.
“Dude, that’s not something I can turn on and off.” Jack
looked like he was starting to re-think the wrestling thing
when the football players handed their suits over to them.
They looked absolutely ridiculous and I took my phone
from my pocket to snap a few pictures. “Bring it on,” Jack
said to Dash as they stood across the circle from each other.
“You’re goin’ down,” Dash yelled as the referee started
them.
“Please tell me you’re recording this,” Nat laughed. I
hit the record button on my phone. “You are so posting that
online.”
As Jack ran at him, Dash jumped to the right almost too
quick to see. “Werewolf reflexes,” Nick grinned. “Sorry,
Nat, but I don’t think Jack has a prayer.”
Dash continued to dodge Jack until I heard Jack yell,
“Stay still!” Dash froze in place. I felt a little tingle in my
fingers and realized Jack was using magic to stop Dash.
“Hey, no fair,” Dash complained. Jack finally collided
with Dash and tried to shove him out of the circle.
“Sof, release him. That’s not cool,” Nick said.
“Fine,” I sighed. “Dash, move!” Dash was able to move
and jumped just before he went out of the circle. He
grabbed Jack’s ankles and tossed him to the side, where he
landed outside the ring.
“Oh yeah!” Dash cheered. “World domination!”
Nick lowered his head. “I am not proud to claim him
right now.”
“Hey, you’re the one who made me save him,” I
reminded him.
Nat went over to help Jack up and mend his broken ego.
“You did great!”
Jack wasn’t having any of it. “I can’t believe I let
myself get beat by that freak.”
“Moi?” Dash raised his eyebrows at Jack as they took
their suits off. “That’s not what your sister thinks.”
“You better run Dash,” I yelled.
Jack ran toward Dash as he took off. “Will he ever
learn?” I asked Nick.
“I highly doubt it,” he said.
“Should we help him?”
“No,” Nat said. “Maybe he’ll finally learn to shut up.”
“I highly doubt it,” I repeated Nick. The three of us
laughed and walked to the food tables. They had thought of
everything. There were five types of pizza, tacos, burritos,
giant soft pretzels, chips in every flavor (including
ketchup), cake, rice Krispy treats, and mass quantities of
candy. There wasn’t a single piece of fruit or vegetable to
be found.
“I’m gonna gain five pounds tonight,” Nat said. “But it
will be worth it.”
I filled my plate with cake and pizza. “Didn’t get
enough wedding cake?” Nick teased.
I stuck my tongue out at him. “Actually, no I didn’t. So
shut up.”
The three of us sat down to eat. It was a good fifteen
minutes before Jack and Dash showed up to join us. “Hey,
you’re not dead,” I smiled.
“Just barely,” Jack grumbled.
“Oh, it’s all good. Jackie here knows I was kidding. I
would never take advantage of the lovely Helene,” Dash
said.
“Do not call me Jackie—ever,” Jack gave Dash a dirty
look.
“Pardonnez moi,” Dash apologized. “I was just trying
to lighten the mood.”
“Dashiell, you and I will never be buddies. No matter
how long you date my sister,” Jack grumbled. He didn’t say
it in a mean way though.
“D’accord, Jacques. No probs,” Dash answered back.
“But someday we might be brothers.”
“Oh snap, no he di-int,” Nat said.
“Dash, you might wanna run again,” I added.
“Whatever. I am officially ignoring that moron,” Jack
turned to get some food.
“Do you really mean that?” Nat asked. “I mean about
Helene?”
“Oui, Nathalie. I am head-over-heels in love with that
girl,” Dash smiled, and I could’ve sworn his eyes twinkled.
“Dude, she’s only sixteen,” Nick said.
“Actually, her birthday is Saturday. She’ll be seventeen.
And besides, it’s not like I want to marry her tomorrow or
anything. I just think someday, when she’s ready maybe.”
“Wow,” I managed. I had never pictured Dash as the
one girl kinda guy.
“And what about you, hypocrite? You’re freakin’
married and you just barely graduated high school,” Dash
pointed out.
“Yeah, but—,” Nick started.
“He’s right,” I defended. “Leave him alone. Hey, let’s
go get our fortunes told.”
“Ooh, yeah. That’ll be fun,” Nat said excitedly.
“Oh, this’ll be good,” Nick rolled his eyes.
There were several tents set up throughout the stadium
with various activities. There was a photo booth, a place
where you could dress up and make your own music video,
the fortune teller, and a few carnival games.
“Well, I vote we do the manly thing and try to knock
down all the milk bottles,” Dash announced.
“Fine. You guys go be men while Nat and I get our
fortunes told,” I agreed.
Nat went first. The grad night committee actually hired
a ‘professional’ fortune teller. She did palm readings. “Give
me your left hand,” she said to Nat as she sat down at the
table in front of her. She pointed out the four major lines:
the heart line, head line, life line, and fate line. “Let’s start
with the heart line. See how it starts in the middle?”
“Yeah, is that bad?” Nat asked.
“Not at all. That just means you fall in love easily,” the
“Amazing Lucinda” answered.
“Yeah, she did,” I giggled.
“Your head line is straight and is separated from your
life line. That indicates you have enthusiasm for life, but
you also think realistically.”
“That sounds about right,” Nat agreed.
“Now for your life line—it’s long and deep. You’re full
of energy. And finally, your fate line. Well, let’s see. You
don’t have one actually.”
“Oh crap. What does that mean? Am I gonna die young
or something?” Nat worried.
“Not at all. Not everyone has a fate line, dear,” Lucinda
assured her. Nat frowned, but got up so I could take her
place.
The Amazing Lucinda took my hand and stared into it.
“Your heart line, here,” she pointed to where it started
beneath my middle finger. “You are selfish when it comes
to love.”
“O-kay. Whatever that means,” I mumbled.
“Your head line tells me that you already have, or will
have some emotional crisis and momentous decisions to
make.”
“Whoa, freaky,” Nat said. “She’s right on about that
one.”
“See how your life line swoops around in a semicircle?” Lucinda asked.
“So, how’s it going in here with the cuckoo lady?”
Dash asked as he barged into the tent.
“Shut up, imbécile,” Nat elbowed him. Jack and Nick
entered quietly behind.
“As I was saying,” Lucinda gave Dash a dirty look.
“The shape indicates that you have strength and energy,”
she smiled.
“That’s for sure. I’ve seen it first hand,” Jack
interrupted.
“Young men, if you are not going to be quiet during my
reading, I will ask you to leave,” Lucinda looked up at the
three of them standing there. They looked down at the
ground like little boys in trouble. “Yes, thank you. And
finally, the fate line.”
“Do I have one?” I asked.
“Yes, you do. The line is deep; your life is strongly
controlled by fate.”
“No way!” Nat exclaimed. She realized she might get in
trouble for talking and quickly shut her mouth.
“And here, see how it breaks and changes direction?”
she pointed to the center of my hand. I nodded. “You are
prone to many changes in life from external forces,” she
finished.
I sat there in awe. “Maybe there’s something to this juju
stuff after all,” Dash conceded. Lucinda gave him the evil
eye, but didn’t respond.
I stood to leave, “Um, thank you. That was very
insightful.” The five of us left the tent. “Have you guys
seen Rene yet?” I asked.
“We walked past the dance floor a minute ago and he’s
still over there with that blond chick,” Dash answered.
“What’s her name anyway? I don’t recognize her. And is it
just me, or does she look like she’s like twenty?”
“I didn’t recognize her, but that doesn’t mean
anything,” I answered.
“Yeah, but we know all sixty of the kids we just
graduated with. One of us should’ve seen her at least once
before. Do either of you guys know her?” Nat asked Jack
and Nick.
“Don’t look at me. I’ve only been here since March,”
Nick shrugged.
“Never seen her,” Jack added.
“Hmm… well how did she get in?” I asked.
“Who cares? He’s having fun. We’ll get him later,”
Dash said.
“So, how’d you guys do in your milk jug toss thingy?”
Nat asked as she laced her arm through Jack’s.
“Nick is champion,” Dash announced a little too loudly.
I raised my eyebrow at him. “He knocked all ten bottles
down with one ball.”