Destiny Revealed Read online

  “We’re not in any hurry, Bella. Just take your time and enjoy the book. He rolled over to face me in bed and kissed me softly on the mouth. “Ti voglio bene,” he whispered.

  “I love you back. Forever, Nick. Nothing could ever separate us,” I smiled. “Now, I have to close my eyes. They’re still burning from reading.”

  Chapter Two

  Our newly formed group had a regular lunch routine. We always sat together, and even Jack was getting used to Dash. I caught Dash and Helene holding hands under the table a few times. I had a feeling this was going to turn into something more than just going to prom together.

  On the last Friday before prom, I heard the guys finalizing the plans for the next day. They were taking us on a picnic in a town about fifteen minutes away and to the natural rock waterslide in the canyon there. We would have dinner at Aberto’s and head to the dance after that.

  The next afternoon, everyone met at our apartment and we carpooled to the canyon. They had done a pretty good job on lunch even though the sandwiches were store bought. “I love JoJo’s Deli,” Nat said with a mouthful of pastrami sandwich.

  “They have the best potato salad,” I agreed. Rene’s date was a werewolf girl that went to Nick’s old high school— West Valley. She hadn’t said much and Nat and I tried to include her in the conversation so she wouldn’t feel so awkward.

  “So, is it any different being a girl were than a boy?” Nat asked.

  “That is a stupid question, Nat. Why would it be

  different?” I said.

  “I don’t know. Just asking,” Nat said.

  “No, not really,” Yvette said politely. “I’m sure I’m

  prettier.” She laughed. “As far as strength and speed, I’m

  no slower than them.”

  “She can actually outrun me,” Rene said. She blushed

  and kissed him on the cheek.

  “Well, who’s ready to get wet?” Dash asked, jumping

  up. We started upstream at the cliffs and jumped the forty

  feet down into the deep water below. Dash, of course, was

  the first to jump. He did a front flip and Helene clapped. “I’m not so sure I can do this,” Nat said as she got to

  the edge.

  “Do or do not. There is no try,” Dash yelled from the

  water in his best Yoda voice.

  “Thank you Master Yoda,” Nat said sarcastically. “Hey, I’ll hold your hand and we’ll go together. I’m not

  super stoked about this either,” I offered. She nodded and

  on the count of three, we jumped in together. I’m not sure if

  either of us had ever screamed that loud before.

  Nick came after and did a backflip. It scared the crap

  out of me. I thought he would land on his back or head and

  knock himself unconscious. “Don’t ever do that again!” I

  yelled at him when he swam over to me. He wrapped his

  arms around my waist underneath the water.

  “Were you honestly worried?” he asked.

  “Yes! What if you hadn’t rotated far enough?” “You would’ve healed me,” he grinned.

  I shoved him and splashed water at him. “I’m serious,

  Nick. Don’t freak me out like that again. I couldn’t have

  healed something that big.”

  “Is she bossing you around again?” Nat yelled over to

  us.

  Nick stared right at me and splashed me in the face.

  “Oh, it’s on,” I wiped my face and glared at him. I started a

  giant water fight that ended up including almost everyone.

  “Remember how I told you that I’m good with earth?” I

  shouted at Nick above the noise.

  “Oh crap,” he yelled as he tried to swim away from me

  as fast as he could.

  I put my hands under the water and chanted,

  Water, my friend, my partner, my world,

  the only thing I ask from you is for a little control. As I raised my hands the water rose with them.

  “Merde!” Nat swore. “Swim for your lives, she’s lost her

  mind.”

  There was no need for her to worry though because I

  focused my aim right at Nick when I shoved hard. The

  wave overtook him and he went completely under the

  surface. There were cheers from the other guys and I heard

  Dash say, “Ha! Serves him right for messin’ with my girl.” I laughed until I realized Nick hadn’t come back up yet.

  I was still the closest to where he had gone under the water

  and swam as fast as I could to where I had last seen him.

  As I was about to dive under, I felt a warm hand on my

  ankle and he yanked me down. Nick wrapped his arms

  around my back and kicked us back up to the surface. “Are you trying to drown me?” I gasped.

  “Me? You’re the one who sent a freakin’ tsunami at

  me,” he panted.

  “It wasn’t that bad,” I defended.

  “You’re lucky you’re so beautiful or I would be

  seriously mad right now.”

  “Note to self,” I heard Dash yell over to Nick. “Don’t

  marry a witch next time.”

  “Excuse me? Next time?” I turned to Dash. I raised my

  hands in the air like I was going to send a spell his way. “Kidding, Sof!” he held his hands up in surrender.

  “You’re the best.” He gave me one of his cheesy Dash grins

  that had really started to charm me and I lowered my hands. The guys jumped several more times before we moved

  downstream to the rockslide. Helene did an elegant swan

  dive and Dash hooted and hollered like she’d just won the

  Olympics. He ended up doing a double front flip after that,

  just to show off.

  We stayed at the slide until after four and hustled home

  so we could get ready in time for dinner. We gathered at

  Nat’s house while the guys all went home to change. Nat

  wore a floor length, pink chiffon gown. It had a single strap

  on the left shoulder that was pleated and covered in

  crystals.

  Helene was in a knee-length, white gown that brought

  out her olive colored skin. Yvette had on a short, deep blue

  dress with cap sleeves and covered in lace.

  My dress was extravagant, but I used the excuse that I

  didn’t get a traditional wedding dress, so I was going all

  out. It was a silk, silver gown that hit the floor and flowed

  out slightly in the back. It was strapless and hugged my

  body to just beneath my hips. The top half was gathered in

  a crisscross fashion with a strip of crystals on half the bust

  and half the waist. Nick hadn’t seen the dress yet and I was

  excited to show it off.

  “I even have curves in this dress,” I admired myself in

  Nat’s mirror.

  “Nick is gonna flip,” Nat agreed. “You’re one hot

  mama.”

  “Yeah, Sof. You look a-maz-ing,” Helene enunciated

  each syllable.

  “I think we all look pretty good,” I smiled.

  The guys picked us up at six sharp for dinner. I hid

  behind the other girls so I could surprise Nick. He had on a

  new suit. He wore a white dress shirt that was fitted close

  to his body, showing off his definition. The non-traditional

  tuxedo with skinny tie had a slim fit cut that hugged his

  body in all the right places. His black and gray Chuck

  Taylor’s completing the ensemble.

  I heard him gasp as I stepped out from behind Nat. He

  was in front of me before I could blink. “Wow. Wow.

  Wow,” he brea
thed out. “Sei così bella.” He leaned in and

  kissed me hard and everything but the two of us

  disappeared as I wrapped my arms around his neck. The

  kiss lasted longer than it should have and I heard someone

  clear their throat.

  “Would you like us to leave?” Dash asked. I blushed as

  I pulled away from Nick.

  “You just might get lucky tonight, Signora Bartolini,”

  Nick whispered in my ear.

  “I heard that,” Nat said. “And eww.” Nick gave her a

  huge grin.

  After dinner, we left for the hotel where prom was

  being held. It wasn’t the same one from Spring Fling,

  which I was glad for because I didn’t want to see the spot

  where Ky had kissed me that night.

  This year’s theme was James Bond. Most of the guys

  wore tuxedoes and the girls had long, slinky dresses. The room was twice the size of the room at the other hotel. The prom committee had gone all out to capture the theme exactly. A giant-sized Fathead of Daniel Craig in front of the iconic bullet swirl hung on the left wall. There were plenty of tables in front of it for when anyone got tired of dancing, or wanted to feast on the amazing spread they had out. The food table even had an ice sculpture of a gun on top of it. The colors were black, white, and red, giving

  everything a classy feel to it.

  The entire right side of the room was filled with casino

  tables. There were three blackjack tables, a craps table, a

  roulette table, and two poker tables. They were already

  filled with students tossing their chips down and shouting.

  We were all given one hundred dollars in fake chips as we

  walked through the door to start us off with.

  “Sweet, I know what I’m doing tonight,” Rene

  commented. Yvette looked annoyed, but followed him to

  the blackjack table.

  “What would you like to do, Bella Mia?” Nick asked

  me.

  “Hmm… how ‘bout we dance for a bit. Maybe some of

  the tables won’t be so crowded after a while,” I answered. “Sounds like a plan,” Nat added as she dragged Jack off

  to the dance floor. He looked over at the casino tables

  longingly, but followed her.

  Dash gave Helene a really pathetic look and she said,

  “Oh fine. Let’s go. But only for a little while. I am not

  spending my first prom gambling all night.”

  The four of us danced for at least an hour to the nonstop dance music. One of the really good things about Mason was that they always hired excellent DJs for their

  dances. “Is it weird that I’m hungry?” I finally asked. “No, it’s been a few hours since we last ate,” Nick

  answered.

  “Let’s grab some grub,” Jack added. We headed toward

  the food table where we ran into Dash, Rene and their

  dates.

  “Check it out,” Dash exclaimed, showing me his plate.

  “They have freakin’ pâté!”

  “Holy crap, what was their budget?” I wondered aloud

  as I looked down the table. It looked like a gourmet food

  explosion. There were several different cheese plates with

  Roquefort, Camembert, Gruyere, and several different goat

  cheeses. There were baskets of baguettes in between those

  and the trays of foie gras, smoked salmon, pâté, crab cakes,

  and mini quiches. There were bottles of an array of

  sparkling cider flavors sitting in buckets of ice.

  “Apparently they didn’t have one,” Nat said.

  We sat down and enjoyed our food until we were full,

  and the four of us that hadn’t gambled yet, went over to the

  tables.

  Jack and Nick wanted to play a game of poker while

  Nat and I played blackjack. It really wasn’t fair, but I

  couldn’t help using my magic to keep winning. “How are

  you doing that?” the dealer asked. It was my art teacher,

  Mr. Whitman.

  “Magic,” I answered honestly. Of course I knew he

  would never believe me. After that, I decided to lose a

  couple hands just so it wouldn’t seem as obvious. “Looks

  like my luck has run out.” I made it so Nat would win

  several hands, but not all in a row. We walked by the poker table that Nick and Jack were playing at to see how they

  were doing.

  “Somehow, Nick here can figure out everyone’s tell,”

  Jack frowned. “He’s kicking my trash.”

  “How’d you ladies do?” Nick asked.

  “Hmm… let’s see, your wife somehow managed to win

  almost every single time,” Nat complained.

  Nick looked up at me and grinned. “That’s my girl.”

  Just for fun, I glanced at Jack’s cards and changed them so

  that he would have the winning hand.

  “What the…” Jack said, and looked at me and smiled.

  “Thanks,” he added in a whisper.

  “So not fair,” Nick said.

  “Hey, give the guy a break. He’s almost out of chips,” I

  said.

  Nick let out a deep sigh and tossed his cards on the

  table, “Fine. I fold.”

  Nat and I moved to the roulette table, where I continued

  to win. “You’re not going to have enough room in that tiny,

  fancy pants purse in a second,” Nat laughed. By this time, I

  had gathered a crowd. People were putting their chips on

  the same numbers I did and cheered as we all won. Nick came up behind me after a while, wrapped his

  arms around my waist, and kissed my neck. “Hey, don’t

  distract me. I’m on a roll,” I said. He stood there watching

  me and cheering along with the crowd. After twenty or so

  minutes, I decided it was enough. “Sorry guys,” I said to

  the crowd. “I wanna dance.” Everyone grumbled at me as I

  walked away.

  We met up with the rest of our group on the dance floor.

  Rene turned to me and asked, “Well?”

  “She freakin’ cleaned up,” Nat beamed.

  “And Nick kicked everyone’s trash in poker,” Jack

  complained.

  “I swear I had nothing to do with that,” I defended. “I

  only helped myself and Nat.”

  “Ah man, where were you when I was losing money?”

  Dash asked. I just shrugged at him. We continued to dance

  long into the night. They let the dance continue until

  midnight, but kicked those of us left out so they could clean

  up.

  “What’s next?” Dash asked.

  “Seriously?” Nat said. “How about bed.”

  “Well then,” he wiggled his eyebrows. “I thought you

  were spoken for, but sure, why not?” Jack looked at him

  like he was going to murder him. Helene whacked him on

  the arm. “Chill, dudes. I was just kidding.”

  “What about dessert?” I offered. I didn’t mind staying

  out a little longer.

  “I’m in,” Dash said.

  “Me too,” Rene looked at Yvette to make sure it was

  okay with her.

  “Fine. You’ve twisted my arm,” Nat said. Nick looked

  anxious to get home. “Relax. You’ll get her to yourself

  soon enough,” Nat said loudly to Nick. I blushed, but Nick

  just grinned wickedly. There was only one place in town

  that would be open. Not actually open, but we had the keys

  to Nick’s family restaurant, so we went back there. He

  whipped up
a few of the desserts in no time with a little

  help from me.

  “Oh man, this was a fabulous idea,” Nat said with a

  mouthful of tiramisu.

  “That would be me, thank you very much,” Dash said.

  It was a little past one a.m. by the time we closed up and

  left.

  Nat pulled me aside before we left. “Isn’t prom night

  the night where everyone usually… you know…” “Nat!” I exclaimed. “I’m telling you, you need to wait.

  Besides, I highly doubt Captain Prude is ready for it

  anyway.”

  “Couldn’t you put a love spell on him or something?”

  she complained.

  “You know I’d never do that. Wait until you’re both

  ready.” I gave her a stern look.

  “Fine. Buzz killer!” she gave me a dirty look before she

  turned around.

  “What was that all about?” Nick whispered as he

  opened the car door for me.

  “Oh, she’s just a little wound up. She thinks she’s ready

  to go all the way, but I told her there was no way slowpoke

  Jack would go for it. So she wanted me to spell him,” I

  rolled my eyes.

  “You cannot be serious,” Nick laughed.

  “Dead serious. I think she’s worse than you were.” “Hey,” he complained. “I’m really glad we waited, you

  know.”

  “But I thought you were going insane in Mexico?” I

  asked.

  “Oh, I was. I’m just glad we waited until the perfect

  moment. It meant more than just doing it because we were

  already making out.”

  “You sound like such a girl,” I laughed. He frowned at

  me. “But I absolutely love that about you.” He looked over

  at my dress and sped up. I started to laugh again. “Can you blame me?” he asked. “We’re finally alone.”

  Monday morning, it was back to the reality of school. The whole lunchroom was abuzz with chatter about how awesome the prom was. “Next up, grad night,” Nat said cheerfully.

  “It’s still three weeks away,” I said.

  “I know, but I’m so ready for it to be over.” She leaned over and whispered in my ear, “We have a lot to talk about after school.”

  I raised my left eyebrow at her, “We do?”

  “It’s not what you think, but still,” she grinned.

  “Ditto that,” Dash agreed with Nat. “I’m ready to be done!”