Cecilia's Wolf {Rewritten}

23 | Cecilia's Wolf

Cecilia

I smoothed my hands down the lacy, white cocktail dress I'd just put on and slipped my feet into some matching ballet flats. Looking in the mirror, I grabbed my robes and slipped them on over top of my dress. I was graduating today.

It didn't feel entirely real, but at the same time there was so much excitement flowing through my body. I was jittery and happy. Downstairs, I knew that my parents were freaking out and waiting for me to come down.

I was ready, so I guess it was time to put them out of their misery. I grabbed my cap and left my room, heading downstairs to where my parents, Jackson and Xavier were waiting for me. The tears from my mom were immediate upon seeing me in my graduation gown.

"My baby's all grown up!" she sobbed, yanking me off the last step and into her arms where she could cry on my shoulder and squeeze the life out of me. I wheezed and tried to pat her back, hoping she'd let go soon.

My dad came to my rescue with a smile, pulling her off me and pulling me into another hug, this one much more gentle. "I'm so proud of you, baby girl," he whispered into my ear. "You can do anything that you set your mind to."

"Thanks, daddy," I whispered back, now trying not to cry like my mom.

When he released me, I turned to Jackson who was quietly, but impatiently waiting for his turn. He wasn't obvious about it, but I could tell from his fidgeting that he was getting impatient for his own hug.

Now that he had my attention, he grinned and hugged me, lifting my feet off the ground and spinning me around. "You look beautiful," he told me, kissing me quickly.

I snorted. "Jackson, no one looks good in graduation robes."

"Baby, you make anything look good," he replied with a cheesy wink, making me laugh and kiss his cheek.

"Thank you. Is everyone ready to go?"

Xavier grinned and opened the door for me as everyone answered in affirmative. "Everything's set," my dad said, his voice gruff. "Let's get you to the school."

I led the way out the door and my parents, Jackson and Xavier followed closely behind. After today, I would finally be done with high school. There was supposed to be a lock in after graduation, but I'm pretty sure that no one was going. Nobody wants to be locked in the school they're finally escaping overnight. It was for that reason that I invited my entire class to the beach party that Xavier had all planned out for me. It was going to be huge. With my whole class coming, and the pack, all of the vampires had also agreed to come.

Xavier was ecstatic. He and Levi were very proud of themselves, taking a lot of pride in the fact that the party they planned was going to be a huge hit. I knew that they planned a lot of it with the other vampires at the club, but they were taking most of the credit.

Jackson and I climbed into the backseat of my parents' car while Xavier climbed into his own. He'd mentioned earlier that he had to go pick up some of the guests he'd invited to the party, meaning the vampires. They were coming to graduation as well. I was sure that Bane wasn't going to be able to get close to me with all of them there. I was officially worry free for the day.

The school was a short ten minutes away and it felt like hardly any time had passed before we were exiting the car again. "Go get 'em, Celia," Jackson told me, giving me a loving kiss before releasing me. I waved to my parents and headed inside the school to meet the rest of my class where they were preparing in the cafeteria.

Taylor was the first one to see me, attacking me with a hug and a lot of squealing. I laughed and squeezed her back tightly. "Are you ready for this?" I asked of her.