“Jacob, I have to get up and get ready for graduation.” Madison picked up his arm that was lying across her chest and slid out from under him, letting his arm thump back on the bed in the process. “You have to get up too.” She rushed around her room and grabbed everything she needed for the shower. “C’mon, Jacob, aren’t you getting up?” Madison yelled once more at her mate, who was still lying on the bed.
Jacob groaned and rolled off the bed. He picked up his clothes from where he had dropped them earlier. “Are you excited?” he came up behind Madison, who was looking through her closet for her graduation gown. His arms went instantly around her waist and he began to nibble on her neck.
“We don’t have time for this again.” Madison tried to wiggle out of his embrace, but he had her too tightly wrapped. “Even though I would really like to crawl back into bed with you right now, I have to get ready so I can go graduate.” She turned around so that she was facing him and gave him a quick peck on the lips.
A playful smirk formed on Jacob’s lips. “Is that all you think about?” He kissed the tip of Madison’s nose. “I was talking about being excited about graduating, not if you were sexually excited.” He shook his head, chuckled, and then turned away from her.
Madison stood there with her jaw hanging open. “I…I…” She was struggling for words now that she had been called out. “I thought you meant…well, you know.” Madison quickly turned around as she felt her face heat up from embarrassment. She pretended to keep looking for her commencement gown, but her thoughts were solely on how she must have sounded like sex was the only thing on her mind.
A warm body pressed up against her, and thankfully, it was dressed this time. Soft, tender kisses were placed along her shoulder, and she leaned back against Jacob. “I was only joking around.” He felt her embarrassment, from him sort of referring to her only thinking about sex. He knew she didn’t like to talk about the subject, and he shouldn’t have humiliated his mate like that, but it was all in fun, and he wanted her to know that.
“If I could I would spend every minute of every day in bed with you.” Jacob turned her around so that she had to face him. He placed one finger under Madison’s chin and tilted her head so that she was finally looking at him. “Madison.” He said her name when her eyes shifted to the floor. Her eyes met his once more and he gently placed his hands on her cheeks so that she couldn’t look away again. “I love you.” It had been a while since those words had been spoken. He felt she should know and, well, expect that he loved her, but right now it felt as though she needed to hear it also.
Madison smiled and placed her forehead on his chest. “I know, but I just need to hear it sometimes.” She felt him take in a deep breath and let it out slowly like he was stalling for the time to find the right words to say.
“I know you do and I’m sorry for not saying it every day, or every week, or as often as you need to hear it. But it doesn’t mean that I don’t.” He was new to all this relationship stuff and even though Madison was his mate, he still wasn’t sure what she wanted all the time…women could be the most confusing creatures sometimes.
“I love you too.” Madison slapped his butt. “Now, let’s finish getting ready so I can finally go graduate.” It was time that they got out of their serious mode. There would be enough of that later on at the big meeting. Jacob kissed her on the forehead and let her get back to getting her matters in order.
Emily heard a loud scream coming from down the hallway. She and Zach had gotten up from their erotic rendezvous and were in the process of getting ready for tonight’s event. They both looked at each other and then took off out the door, running down the hall. They met up with Alex and Danny, who had just made it to Madison’s room where the scream had come from.
Zach pounded on the door. “Is everything okay in there?”
Jacob opened the door and found the rest of the group standing out in the hallway. He opened it wider so they could see what the big commotion was about. Madison stood holding out a shredded gown that looked like it had been the one she was going to use for graduation. The group stood shell-shocked, wondering how or why someone would do such a thing.
“Who and why?” Emily couldn’t believe the mess that Madison was holding. The once bright and shiny green-colored gown was now just a tattered, barely there scarp of material with only the dark gold-colored neckline holding it together.
Madison looked at all her friends and shrugged. She walked over to the bed and plopped down hard. “I’m the only one who comes in here. Well, except for Jacob.” All eyes turned to him.
“Oh yeah, right. I’m going to sneak in here while Madison’s not looking and shred up her gown for graduation.” He sat down beside her on the bed and picked up her hand. He placed it on his leg and gently rubbed it with his thumb. He felt some of the tension she was feeling being released, but this was still a major issue with her.
“I know he didn’t do it.” Madison looked up at her friends, who were still all standing inside the doorway. “I have no clue who could have done this.” She gave her friends a weak smile, even though she felt like bawling her eyes out. “I’ll figure something out. You guys better hurry and finish getting ready. We only have thirty minutes to get done.” She pointed to the clock that was on the wall by the bed.
“Let us know if we can help with anything.” Alex rushed over and gave her a quick hug before they left to finish their own final preparations.
“What are you going to do now?” Jacob pulled his mate closer to try and comfort her a little more. He could feel the sadness and confusion that was rolling off of her in waves because of this latest round of sabotage on her.
“I don’t know. I guess go gownless unless the office ordered any extra that might be in my size.” Madison stood back up once again and lightly patted Jacob on the leg. “I’m gonna finish getting ready.”
Jacob watched as she walked out the door and down the hall to the bathroom without looking back.
“What did you see?” Danny questioned Alex as soon as they got back to her room. As soon as she gave Madison a hug, he could tell she caught a vision of something just by the wave of changing emotions that came off of her.
“Just blackness.” Alex was surprised that she hadn’t picked up on anything, especially since she made sure to touch the gown and Madison when they embraced. She shook her head and tried to clear her thoughts. “It was like someone had blocked the image of what really happened.” She glanced over at Danny, who still looked puzzled by the whole situation. “I don’t know, maybe someone’s able to control our powers or cover up everything that they’ve been doing.” She grabbed her own gown and pulled it over her head so that it flowed down to the floor. “I guess it’s time.” She picked up her tasseled cap and walked downstairs with her mate in tow.
Forty-five minutes later, the group stood around with the rest of the graduating class inside the cafeteria. The family members were ushered into the auditorium to be seated and wait for the commencement to begin. Madison and Jacob found Zach and the crew in the midst of the frenzy.
“And?” Emily questioned the two as soon as she spotted them.
Jacob shook his head no. “They didn’t order any extra.” He was referring to the gown that Madison had hoped the office might have had an extra of.
“What are you going to do?” Emily turned to her friend, who looked totally distraught.
Madison mustered up as big of a fake smile as she could. “I guess go naked. Well, not literally, but without a gown.” She put her cap on her head and tried to stand as proud as the others were. “At least I have my cap left.”
Jacob leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. “I’ll see you after you become a big bad graduate.” He followed the others who were still streaming into the auditorium.
“Emmy.” A loud, high-pitched squeal echoed through the cafeteria. The whole group, including half of the graduating class, turned in the direction of the yell. Aunt Maureen and Adam had just walked in and were heading over to the group standing in the middle of the cafeteria.
“Emmy.” Emily narrowed her eyes at her aunt for calling her that nickname that she hadn’t heard since she was four years old. She glanced down and saw that Adam was holding her aunt’s hand. She looked back up at her aunt with questioning in her eyes as to what the hell was going on with the two of them.
Aunt Maureen dropped Adam’s hand and crossed her arms in front of her chest, a show for her niece who had seen the secret little hand holding that there wasn’t anything going on…well, not really. “We’re going to go grab some seats.” She took a step backward and motioned her head toward the auditorium. “I’ll see you afterward.” She gave Emily a quick hug and followed after Adam, who had already started for the line of people.
Emily turned and pointed her finger at Zach. “I told you something was going on with them.”
Zach had seen that his brother had come in with Emily’s aunt, but that was only because he was supposed to be on watch for her safety. “I think they’re just friends.” He hadn’t noticed anything going on between the two, but obviously Emily had.
“Didn’t you see they were holding hands?” Emily looked around at the rest of the group to see if they’d noticed, but they were too busy paying attention to their principal who was trying to gather everyone’s attention. Zach shook his head no and pointed at the guy who finally had most of the senior class gathering around him.
“We need all students to get into an alphabetical order line,” the principal yelled as loudly as he could over the murmuring of voices. I need last names A through M on this side and last names N through Z on this side of the cafeteria. Our helpers have a list and will help you find your spot.” He motioned to several of the teachers who had volunteered for this event.
“I guess Alex is the only one in the second line.” Danny gave her a quick kiss as she walked off in search of her place. “Ready?” He motioned for the others to tell the teachers their names so they could finally get this show on the road.
The entrance into the auditorium was nerve-wracking as all eyes were on the graduates walking down the aisles. The students finally made it to the stage area and all sat in their assigned seats. They waited for the speeches to begin from the administration and the representatives of their class. Finally, the names were going to be called for the graduates to come to the center of the stage and receive their diplomas.
“It’s time.” Emily leaned over the person seated beside her and whispered to Madison. She got to go first since her last name was ahead of Madison’s in the alphabetical scheme of arrangement.
Madison gave her s thumbs-up and watched as their fellow classmates began their journey across the stage.
Emily heard her name and walked over to where the principal was handing out the diplomas. She heard her aunt, Jacob, along with Zach and crew in the background, yelling her name. She accepted the framed award and shook all the hands of the superintendents who were alongside her as she made her way back to her seat. She listened for Madison’s name to be called so that she could join in on the yell, but that never came. The person behind her friend was called and it seemed that they had just passed Madison over without paying much mind to what they were doing.
Madison watched as everyone else from the letter A to the letter Z was called and accepted their recognition of hard work for the past twelve years. She slowly made her way back to her seat, trying not to capture too much attention, and hoped there was a good excuse for her being overlooked for accepting her diploma. The principal told the seniors to stand and move their tassels from the right side to the left, signaling they had officially graduated. Madison did as she was instructed, but still felt cheated as she didn’t have anything in hand indicating such an achievement.
“What the hell happened?” Jacob met the graduated group in the cafeteria after the class walked back up the aisles. He grabbed a hold of Madison and pulled her closer to him. He knew that his mate needed this type of compassion to get through the confusion that had occurred over the last couple of hours.
“I need to find the principal or one of the administrators to figure out why I didn’t get a diploma.” Madison sank further into Jacob’s side as it was the only place that brought comfort right now.
“There they are.” Zach pointed to the faculty and superintendents as they made their way back toward the offices.
Madison and Jacob rushed around the rest of the graduates and their families to reach them before they got away and locked themselves up in the office. “Wait,” Madison yelled right before the door shut on the last person entering.
“Yes.” Senior advisor Mr. Abbott held open the door. “How can I help you, Madison?” His voice sounded tired, and his facial expression expressed annoyance at seeing another student right now.
“I was supposed to graduate, but my name was never called to get my diploma.” Madison tried to get all that out in a five-second timeframe before the door was shut in her face. The advisor sighed and held the door open for them to walk in. “I waited, but everyone else was called, and I’m a B last name, so I should have been one of the first called, so I just made my way back to my seat after the last student was announced.” She knew she was rambling on, but she was panicking over not possibly being able to graduate.
“I don’t have anything on my desk.” Mr. Abbott glanced at all the papers that were scattered about his workstation. “Let me check with the others.” He walked through the doors that separated the cubicles of offices.
“Why is all this shit happening to me today?” Madison whispered to Jacob, who was still by her side.
“We’ll get it all figured out. It’s probably a mistake on their part.” Jacob tried to get her to calm down. He felt her heart racing and the level of stress pouring off of her was bound to cause some type of anxiety attack shortly. Before he could say any more, the advisor returned.
“No one else had anything in their offices, we’re not sure what happened. I know you completed all your courses, and I remember you being here for four years.” Mr. Abbott stressed the remembrance part as it seemed Madison was always in trouble for something. He sat down at his desk and flicked his laptop on. “Let’s see if we all missed something.” Jacob and Madison watched as his face went from being annoyed to confused. “Well, I don’t know how that could have happened.”
“What?” Madison and Jacob both questioned him at the same time.
“The student records are showing that you haven’t completed any courses here at West Lakes.” Mr. Abbott rubbed his face and looked back at the screen once again, hoping that he misread what he had just seen. After another look, he looked up at the two students, whose jaws seemingly had hit the floor with this bit of news.
“What the fuck?” Jacob’s tone now took on an alpha status and could probably be heard clear down to the cafeteria. He felt the numbness that had grown around his mate with this bit of information and the tension that she felt had highly pissed him off. The advisor shot him a dirty look for his sudden outburst but didn’t have time to correct Jacob on his language problem as a whole group of students busted through the doors.
“What’s going on?” Danny beat Zach in response to find out what had just happened. They all heard Jacob’s roar as he cussed out at whoever they had finally gotten to speak with. The group, including Madison and Jacob, focused their attention on Mr. Abbott, who seemed a little shaken up by having all these students questioning him at one time.
“It seems my whole existence here at this school has totally vanished. It seems I’ve never attended West Lakes,” Madison answered her friend’s questions before they began to ramble things out.
“I’m sure we’ll get this all fixed.” Mr. Abbott stood up and closed his laptop. “It’s probably just a minor issue and we should be able to get your diploma out to you before summer’s end.” He ushered the disgruntled group of teens toward the door as there was no more he could do for them at this moment. “Just go enjoy yourselves, and hopefully, this will all get straightened out shortly.” He finally got them back out into the hallway and he closed the door behind them. “Madison, we’ll be in contact when we figure out what went wrong.” With those final words, he took off at a rapid pace toward the opposite end of the hallway which the students had to exit.
“Now what?” Emily had no idea what else they could do at this moment since their wonderful advisor had not helped them at all.
“Madison…Madison…Madison.” All bodies turned and all eyes fixed on the sadistic voice coming from the person standing behind them. Brindle, along with Heather and Rachel, stood still draped in their caps and gowns, staring eerily at Madison and company. “Seems I didn’t hear your name called at all this evening.”
Brindle’s condescending tone revved up Madison’s anger even more. She lunged for her but was pulled back by Jacob. “Brindle, if you had anything to do with this I will fucking kill you.”
A sinister sneer formed on Brindle’s perfectly colored red lips. “Oh, Madison, we all know you don’t have the power to kill anyone. Jacob,” her eyes locked with her ex-boyfriend, “I hope you come to realize soon that you have chosen the wrong one before this all gets wicked.” She gave a little wave, turned back toward the exit, and sauntered away with her two maids in waiting following close behind.
Madison stormed out after them.
Jacob felt the anger coming off of her and he quickly tried to catch up before she would do anything and cause attention to herself.
Madison saw Brindle and her two minions walking down the sidewalk toward the parking lots. She knew that one of them had to have something to do with all the bad shit that had been happening to her. She noticed that the wind started to pick up without her even calling for it and a gust was heading toward the three that were almost near the intersection of the road and parking lot. She watched as Brindle held up her hand and snapped her fingers, and the wind immediately stopped.
Brindle slowly turned around and gave the two watching her an evil grin, like she was really amused with what had just gone on. “Such games, Madison. You’ll have to get a lot stronger to ever be able to fend me off.” She flicked her wrist at the two and watched as Madison grabbed her stomach in agony.
The others had caught up after fighting through the crowds, only to bear witness to Madison doubled over in pain.
“Emily, what’s going on?” Aunt Maureen had finally found her niece and asked the question that seemed to be on everyone’s mind. She gave Emily a side hug and patted Zach on the back. “Congratulations to everyone.” She smiled at the whole group, who seemed to be agitated by something rather than celebrating like the other hundred students she’d seen outside and also in the cafeteria.
“It was just Brindle acting like the total bitch she always is and the school f’ing up everything like they always do.” Emily just wanted to get out of there and get back to the other big event that was happening shortly. It seemed the school administrators weren’t too worried about the problem, so what else could they do except stand around here and complain? She looked over at Madison, who was being tended to by Jacob and seemed to be getting a little better.
“Hey, we all have to get going, " Zach said, pointing to the time on his iPhone. They had fifteen minutes to get back before the pack meeting with the elders started.
“Congratulations once again.” Aunt Maureen gave Emily another hug. “And make sure you stop over tomorrow.”
Emily nodded that she would.
“Scott is stepping in for me tonight at the meeting. I’m still on watch duty.” Adam patted Zach on the back and followed Maureen down the sidewalk to the car they both came in.
“Ready?” Zach put his hand on Emily’s lower back and gently pushed her in the direction of where they had parked. The others followed behind, each curious as to what else could possibly happen on this day.