9. Graduation

*Jade’s POV*

While I am looking at myself in the mirror, Ava hugs me and says, “Jade I am so proud of you. You are becoming a remarkable woman. I love you so much little sister.” I can tell that her voice is beginning to crack. She breaks off the hug and I notice her eyes look glassy and knowing Ava she is about to start crying. Ava has always been very emotional. I smile at her and say, “Thank you Ava, I love you too.” She starts fanning her eyes with her hands, trying to dry her tears. She then asks, “You know I would do anything for you, right?” I nod my head at her. “I know sis, and the same goes for you.” She takes in a deep breath to calm herself down and grabs my hand. “Come on, we should get going. Everyone is probably already waiting for us.”

She doesn’t even give me the chance to respond and pulls me out of my room and down the stairs. I can see that my dad, mom, and Liam are already waiting for us. Liam exclaims, “Thank the Goddess! It’s about time you two came down!” My mother smacks him at the back of the head. Liam pouts at her and says, “Am I even you son? It seems as if you only have two daughters.”

I swear sometimes I can't believe how fast Liam can change his personality. Most of the time he acts all tough and rough, then he acts like a complete baby. I then tell him, “Oh, be quiet you whinny baby.” He glares at me while rubbing the area where my mom had smacked him. I stick my tongue out at him, then chuckle.

I say “I love you even if you are a whinny baby, brother.” His eyes soften at that and seem to forget about his fake anger. He then approaches me and gives me a big bear hug. His grip is so tight. In between breaths I say, “Cant. Breathe.” He lets go of me and says “I can't believe my baby sister is done with school and is on her way of becoming the head warrior of the pack. You are all proud of you”

My mother and father push Liam to the side to hug me. Liam just shakes his head. My dad is to my left and my mom is to my right. They both squeeze me into a hug and they both give me a peck on either cheek before they let go of me. My father then speaks, “I agree with everything your brother just said. You even are the top of your class. You have indeed made us proud. We love you so much.” I smile at the both of them. “Dad. Mom. All of my accomplishments are thanks to the both of you. You both did a great job raising me and gave me a happy childhood that I will always cherish.”

I hear my mom whimper before breaking into a sobbing mess. She then hugs me tightly. My face turn to one of shock because of the way she is behaving right now. My mom is never this sensitive, but then again, her youngest child is graduating. It could be just that.

I return her hug and start rubbing her back trying to comfort her. She soon starts to calm down. I ask, “Mom are you okay? You are starting to worry me.” She lets go of me and shakes her head. “I am fine, honey. I just feel growing up really fast and I have a feeling that you will leave us soon.” I tell her. “Mom, even if I end up leaving for any reason, I will always come back to you.” She looks at me with teary eyes and smiles. My dad then wraps an arm around her shoulder and says, “We should get going.” We all start making our way out.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

When we arrive at the venue my family make their way to their seats. I go and look for Mia. When I finally find her, I run up to her and squeeze her in a tight hug. She squeals at that and says, “Gosh Jade, you scared the hell out of me.” I just chuckle and say, "You should have seen your face. It was priceless." Mia glares at me, clearly not liking the fact that I am making fun of her. Her expression then changes to one of amusement."So, how well does Levi kiss? I want details. How the hell did that even happen?"
She starts asking question after question and I know she will not stop until I tell her about it. I decide this is not the time or place to talk about that and say, “Come on, let’s go to our seats. We can talk about that later.” She pouts at me and says, "You are no fun." I ignore her and start making my way over to my seat.

Luckly, Mia and I are seated in separate sections. The ceremony starts and the school director gives his speech. They then start handing out the diplomas. When I am called up to the stage to receive my diploma, I immediately spot my people. My family, including the Alpha family of the pack are standing and cheering for me. I smile and wave at them. I make my way back to my seat. When Mia gets called, I stand up and cheer for her. I see she waves at someone in the back, most likely her parents, then winks at me. The rest of the ceremony went by smoothly. When it is all over and we start walking out. I wait for Mia so we could meet our families together. Mia immediately gave me a quick hug me when she saw me and said, “Finally, the torture called school is over.” I just roll my eyes. I know Mia has always hated school and was really looking forward to the ending of it.

I spot out families waiting for us. Mia runs to her parents and hugs them. I make my way to my own family and they surround me in a hug and congratulate me. They don’t say much at this point since we all had our moment at home.

When they let me go, I see Alpha Owen, Luna Nora, and Julian. Luna Nora hugs me tightly and says, “Congratulations Jade, I know our whole pack is proud of you. You are a wonderful young lady, my dear.” I thank her. The Luna has always been really sweet to me. She is like a second mother. She has even said to me that she sees me as the daughter she has never been able to have.

Then Alpha Owen hugs me. “Congrats kiddo, I know you are going to do great things for our kind.” I say, “Thank you, Alpha.” Our Alpha has always been a great leader and because of him our pack is one of the strongest. I have been told that before our pack was small and not as powerful, but the Alpha did everything in his power to get the pack to where it is now. It started growing around the time I was born. I have always had a lot of respect for the man because of that.

I then see Julian and I don’t even know if I should approach him. He has been very distant since the incident. I mean it's not like we were best friends or anything like that. But at least we were able to hold conversation and even joke around. I also remembered what happened this morning when he caught me Levi and I kissing, and I don’t even know if he still mad about that.

It surprises me when he walks over to me and give me a short but awkward side hug. He then says, “Congratulations Jade, now you can put in all the hours you have always wanted into training and also be more involved in pack matters.” I nod my head and give him a short, “Thank you.”

The Luna scoffs at him and says, “No talking about pack business we should be celebrating.” Julian just ignores her and makes his way to stand next to Ava. My parents start taking pictures of me in my graduation cap and gown before we leave. We are all planning to go out for dinner to celebrate, even Mia’s family will be joining us. I did not want a party because my birthday party would be soon after.

I suddenly hear someone behind me say, “Hey, Jade.” I turn, only to see, Levi. He is looking really good. He is in dark wash jeans and a black long sleeve button down shirt that hugs him in all the right places. I look at him clearly surprised to see him. I can't help but ask myself, what is he doing here?