"Bella? Bella the guests are here!" Thomas yells from downstairs. I let out a sigh and look in the mirror one more time. My hair is curled to perfection and besides my eyes being slightly puffy from previous crying, my makeup is light. My dress hugged the upper part of my body then flows out at my hips. I picked the red one, the one Simon had got from me. Just thinking about him makes my eyes tear up again. I shake my head and breath out.
Tonight is going to be perfect, I tried telling myself over and over but just couldn't bring myself to believe it.
"Bella, lets go!" Thomas yelled again. I nod my head and walk out of my room, closing my door behind me.
"Coming!" I yell, taking the steps two at a time.
When I reach the bottom, Thomas looks at me and smiles.
"You look nice." He says, walking towards me.
In my head, I really want to thank him. But I don't. Instead, I hold my head high and walk past him, heading into the living room for the door.
"Mom and dad are already gone." Thomas speaks up, clearing his throat nervously.
I swallow a lump that started to form in my throat and close my eyes.
"Could you go into the backyard and double check everything? You know, make sure that the tables all have candles and plates?" I ask, desperate to change the subject.
I don't turn to wait for his response, instead, I open the door and greet my neighbors.
"Hello Mrs.Anderson." I smile at the older woman and look to her left. "Mr.Anderson." He nods his head and Mrs. Anderson pulls me into a hug.
"Oh darling I'm so proud of you." She says. When she pulls away, I notice the small box she is holding. "Here, we brought you some cake. I hope you don't already have some."
I smile as she places the box into my hands.
"No. This is perfect. Thank you. Please, come in." I move to the side and the Anderson's head into the kitchen.
I decide to leave the door open, that way anyone who arrives can come inside without having to wait for me. I follow Mr. Anderson into the kitchen and place the cake into the fridge.
I turn back around and notice them sitting awkwardly at the island.
"Arabella," Mrs.Anderson starts, "where are your parents?"
I sigh and fold my hands together in my lap. "They weren't able to attend my ceremony tonight." When they both look at me questioningly, I frown. "Business trip." I say shorty and her mouth goes into an 'O' shape.
"That's just to bad." Mr. Anderson says, patting my back lightly. I try a fake smile but fail. I'm glad when the awkwardness is broken my a mock on the opened door.
"Knock knock." I hear a small petite voice call out.
"Excuse me." I say and head to the front door. Standing there with a bouquet of flowers, was a red headed girl, an age older than me.
"Bella!" She sang out and hugged me tightly. "Happy sixteenth!" I laugh and thank her for coming.
"Here." She says, shoving the flowers Ito my hands. "I picked these up on the way over. Hope you like them."
"Thanks Bridgette."
She smiles widely showing her perfectly straight teeth.
"Everyone else is in the back." I say to her. She nods and makes her way outside.
I decide to follow her and see how my brother did with the set ups. When I walk outside, I gasp. My backyard had been turned into something of a fairytale. The trees had white lights strung through them, and the tables had white cloths thrown over them. Each table was lit with a candle, illuminating the center. There was a small circle of white rock in the center of the yard with rows of black rock leading out from it, giving the illusion of a flower. A DJ was playing music in a corner, with lights coming from almost every devise he owned.
I look over to see Thomas standing there. I open my mouth to say something. To thank him for this amazing party but I can't bring myself to do it. I look away to focus on something else.
I flinch when I feel a hot breath on my ear that says "You're welcome." And then it's gone just as soon as it was there. I sigh and close my eyes.
I have to make this night worth while.
Mentally, i sigh and when I open my eyes, more people have entered the yard. Some kids my age were mingling with other students. I admire when i see Bridgette with her mate. They looked so happy together. I thought me and Simon were happy. But I guess that wasn't enough.
---
The night continued on slowly. People would congratulate me and give short speeches about all the times we have spent together. I kept expecting to see Simon on the stage, talking about how much he loved me. But he never showed. Some grownups noticed my parents absence and would ask where they were. They all understood that they couldn't be here, but I didn't. They would also ask about why Thomas was here and how I felt about it. Though I wanted to say that is wasn't fine, I just nodded my head and said it was great. Great that I got to catch-up with my brother. Too bad it wasn't true.
Mostly every time I looked his way, he had girls all over him. It Disgusted me. How could he just throw himself at other women when he met his mate. Oh yeah, he rejected her.
I jumped when I heard the loud mic call my name up to the stage. It was time for my speech.
I make my way to the stage, occasionally smiling at my friends from school. My hands began to sweat and my stage fright heightened. I could literally feel my wolf whimpering, begging me not to make a fool out of myself.
When the mic was in front of me, I took a deep breath.
"Thank you everyone, for coming to my sixteenth ceremony." I started. People began cheering and calling my name. This helped my courage and I smiled, continuing on. "I have been overwhelmed with kindness this evening. I appreciate all of the gifts you have given me. I will send out thank you cards to each of you. As you know, tonight I find my mate." Some of the boys in my school whistle and whooped, others winked at me. I just shook my head and went on. "I haven't found him yet, but when I do, I hope it to be epic. I will love him and cherish him with everything I am, no matter who he is." Again with the whistling. I go to speak again when my heart picked up its pace, making me jump. My hands started shaking and my mind became fuzzed. My heart was attempting to leave my chest and my wolf was crying out. She was begging me to let her out, clawing at my conscience. I scanned through the crowd, making sure to make eye contact with everyone. I began to feel hurt when I couldn't see who I was looking for, when someone caught my attention.
Electric blue eyes shown through the back of the crowd. The white hair illuminated his perfect face. When his eyes met mine, i gulped and set the mic down. Some people were confused, others smiled. I continued to stare into his baby blues and walked off the stage.
He smirked and stayed standing where he was, hands in his pockets, head cocked back. He resembled the perfect bad boy. My feet felt as if they were moving them selfs, as if my mind had no choice but to take me towards him.
When we were close enough to touch, he reached out and held the side of my face. I melted into his touch. The electric shocks were so strong I couldn't hold myself up. I leaned into him and my body ignited into such heat I could barley stand it.
My wolf was screaming for him. For our mate.
