cap & gown :: the twins
If someone had told Lucy sheâd be standing in front of the mirror in her roomâs dresser inside the McCall household in Beacon Hills, California, getting ready for her own graduation from high school three years ago, she would have laughed it off and said she couldnât care less about graduation because she was going to live some glammed life in New York and become a star.Â
If someone had told her sheâd move to California and live with the twin brother she didnât know for years & mother she craved, sheâd not believed it. If someone had told her sheâd wind up poisoned by a werewolfâs scratch, and to be saved sheâd have to be turned into a werewolf, she would have called them nuts. If someone had told her her own brother was a werewolf and that there were things like fox spirits and druids and everything only existed in a video game she would have just made a joke of it and called Eichen House.
But there she was, standing in front of the mirror, trying to get the beach curls rights, and cursing at her long hair, promising that the first thing sheâll do after graduation is that sheâll cut her hair. Her dress in all its glory called to her but she wasnât even done with her hair yet. Kira kept sending her texts; Where are you?!  Her mother was pacing downstairs. She had to look perfect today. She had to. It may be a silly thought or narrow minded even, but it was human, and Lucy reveled in every human experience she got to have.
Three years was a long time, yet all that Scott had been through in that time made it feel like heâd aged a decade since heâd been that pimpled kid with bad asthma. Before his twin was in his life again. Before he was bitten. Before his life was thrown into disarray. Before he walked through hell and made it out alive. Scarred, but whole. And heâd gained so much through that. Heâd gained confidence. Heâd gained a pack, a family. But no family was more important than his real one. Than his mother. His sister. Some days he included his father in that, but no matter how much time passed, that relationship was never quite the same.Â
There were a few times through the years that he hadnât been sure theyâd make it to this point, to graduation, but the day had finally arrived. And Scott was dressed in his cap and gown watching his mother pace a path into the floor, muttering about how her babies were all grown up and checking the mirror in the hallway for grey hairs. Flipping open his cell phone, Scott caught the time and sighed, walking his way up the stairs and to his sisterâs room. He knocked once before heading in without further delay.Â
âThe pack mass text is blowing up right now, Luce. Everyoneâs wondering where we are.â Seeing what she was doing, he shook his head. âCome on, you look perfect already and we all are going to practically look the same anyway. It would look pretty bad if we were late for our last hoorah.â Smile in place, he looked at his sister through the mirror, hovering over his shoulder. He recalled all the threats and secrets that almost tore them apart, thought of how things would only change more from here on out, but he knew he couldnât be more confident in how solid their relationship was now.
