Chapter 66 Peace

With everything getting back to normal, graduation was back on. It had been put on hold because of the Blood King. But before I could join my class, I had to take a few tests I had missed. My final exams. I was actually looking forward to taking them and being done with high school.

Lucas, Ethan, and I got into all the colleges we applied to. So now we just needed to decide which one. I really wanted to go to UCLA. It was my first choice. Ethan wanted to go to Stanford. And Lucas wanted to go to Berkeley. All of them are in California, so at least we agreed California was where we wanted to go. I didn’t apply to Stanford nor did Lucas. We all applied to UCLA and Berkeley, though.

I got caught up on the last few weeks of school and began studying for my finals. Graduation was in a week and my finals in the next three days. Ethan, Lucas, and Beth helped me study. We made a game of it.

After a few hours, we took a break. I made us some grilled cheese sandwiches and chicken fingers. Then we went to the movie theater. After the movie, we went back to the packhouse to study some more.

“Truth of dare,” Beth asked.

“Truth,” I replied.

“What are the six ratios in trig?” She asked.

“The six trigonometric ratios are sine, cosine, tangent, secant, cosecant, and cotangent.” I stated.

“Truth or dare,” Ethan asked.

“Dare,” I replied.

“I dare you to demonstrate Newton’s Laws of Motion.” Ethan dared.

“You got it,” I replied as I looked for a ball. I found one and rolled it across the floor in a straight line then ran to it and blocked it with my foot. It changed direction after bouncing off my foot. I then grabbed the ball and rolled it faster than before. Lastly, I threw the ball on the floor and watched it bounce.

“Truth or dare,” Lucas asked.

“You’re doing American history, right?” I asked.

“Yeah. Truth or dare,” he replied.

“I guess Truth.”

“How many presidents were assassinated and who were they?” Lucas asked.

“Four. Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth, James Garfield by Charles J. Guiteau, William McKinley by Leon Czolgosz, and John F. Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald.” I stated.

“Truth or dare,” Beth asked.

“Dare,” I said.

“I dare you to recite two poems by Robert Frost,” she said.

“Good, I only know two,” I laughed. “Nature’s first green is gold, her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; but only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, so dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay. And next… Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate to say that for destruction ice is also great and would suffice.”

“I think those are the only two poems most people know by Robert Frost.” Beth said.

We continued studying for a while. Mom checked in on us, probably to make sure I was actually studying. When we were done, I felt like I was prepared to take my finals. I called my teachers to let them know I was ready.

I waited with bated breath, phone in hand. Today the school would call to let me know if I was graduating or not. I am pretty sure I aced my final exams, I just need the confirmation. Graduation was in two days.

Bzzz, Bzzzz.

“Hello,” I answered my phone.

“Mr. Henderson, congratulations. You are graduating this Saturday!” Mr. Bull, our principal exclaimed.

“Thank you, sir.”

“You did all the work, thank you!” And he hung up.

I put my phone down and walked to the door. I opened it to find my friends standing outside.

“I’m graduating!” I yelled.

“Congratulations,” they said in unison.

We went to the cafe to celebrate with smoothies.

Graduation was finally here. I peeked through the curtains and saw everyone filling the auditorium. Almost the whole pack was here. I went to take my seat. We were sitting alphabetically so I wasn’t sitting with my friends. But we were close enough.

The curtains opened and Mr. Bull asked everyone to take their seats. He introduced Audrey Snow, the valedictorian, and she gave her speech.

Afterward, my dad, the alpha, came on the stage. Mr. Bull started calling us up and Dad handed us our diplomas. It was all very exciting. I almost tripped while walking over there. But I made it, I received my diploma and went back to my seat. After everyone got their diploma, my dad congratulated all of us and wished us luck with our future endeavors.

We threw our caps in the air as we cheered. We were done with high school. We separated out to meet up with our families for photos and stuff. Then we met back up to celebrate together.

We met up near the woods where we went for our runs to have a bonfire. The whole senior class was there. We partied until midnight then went home.

I woke up the next morning feeling great. I went to the kitchen to help make breakfast only to find that breakfast was already made. Mom and Dad were there waiting for me.

“We know you want to go to school in California, so we decided to celebrate our baby leaving the nest. We made all your favorites for breakfast,” Mom said.

“Also, we know you and the guys haven’t decided which school you want to go to, so we bought you guys tickets and set you up with hotels so you can go check them out this summer.” Dad said. “Oh, yeah. We are also giving you a credit card so you guys can rent a car and buy food and whatever you need.”

“Thanks, guys. You’re the best,” I said with a huge smile on my face.

We ate breakfast and then I called the guys to tell them the news.