Chapter 350

Tessa’s POV

10 years later!

“You got called here too?” Ruby asked as I walked up the steps of the middle school. I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair, letting it fall around my shoulders.

“Are you really surprised?” I asked her, rolling my eyes.

She wrapped an arm around my shoulders and held me close to her.

“Just take a deep breath. Maybe it’s not too bad this time,” she said, trying to appear soothing.

I gave her a pointed look.

“Please, when is it ever not that bad?”

“Well, they aren’t vampires yet. So, it could be worse,” she said, shrugging her shoulders and chuckling.

“I can only imagine the trouble they will get into once they are vampires,” I muttered.

Ruby only laughed harder as we walked into the school. We went down the hallway and towards the principal's office, but a familiar voice stopped me.

“Mom?!”

I paused, turning to see Amaya standing in the very vacant hallway. I raised my brows at her.

“What are you doing out of class?” I asked her.

She frowned.

“I’m on hall monitor duties for extra credit,” she answered. “Let me guess, you are here because of that dim-whit again?”

“Don’t call your brother a dim-whit,” I warned her. “But yes,” I added.

She sighed.

“They better get their crap together before I go to high school next year.”

“Don’t say crap,” I warned her again.

I turned and started to walk towards the office.

“Love you, Mom,” she said teasingly.

“Love you more, Maya,” I replied over my shoulder.

Ruby chuckled.

“Love you May May,” she said, using the nickname she gave my daughter.

“Love you the most, Auntie Ruby.”

“I swear she loves you more than she loves me,” I teased.

“That girl is crazy about you,” Ruby assured me.

Our banter stopped once we walked into the main office. The receptionist sat at her desk, typing away on her computer but she froze when we walked in.

“Hello again, Mrs. Evergreen and Mrs. Donovan.”

“Miss Stanley,” we both said at the same time.

“You can go right into Principal Rubert's office,” she said, pointing the way even though we knew our way very well.

I smiled my thanks to her and followed Ruby into the office.

“Ah, ladies. So great of you to join us,” Principal Rubert said narrowing his eyes at us as if we were the ones in trouble.

“Mom, I swear I didn’t do anything!”

“Leah, not now,” Ruby snapped, narrowing her eyes at her black-haired, green-eyed, 9-year-old daughter.

I stared down at my son and folded my arms across my chest.

“What exactly happened, Griffin? I want to hear it from you.”

“It wasn’t my fault, Mom…” Griffin said, shrinking in his seat a little. I noticed he had a bruise on his cheek and his blonde hair was ruffled.

I inhaled sharply.

“You got into a fight?” I asked him, looking at the principal who nodded his confirmation, leaning back in his seat, he waited for Griffin to tell me the story. “Griffin Bernard Evergreen. You know better than that. We raised you better than that.”

“You raised me to stand up for what I believed in, and I did that,” he said, turning to look at me. I was surprised to see the power and emotions in his eyes. “Tommy Sanchez was making fun of Leah. Calling her a freak because of how she dresses.”

I glanced at Leah who stared at Griffin with tears in her eyes; she looked so sad. Leah was a free spirit; she enjoyed dressing colorful one day and wearing all black the next. She always has colorful streaks in her hair and at the moment, her hair has bright blue streaks.

Ruby and Carter never minded that she walked around like a rainbow spit up on her one day, or like she just crawled out of the pit of hell the next. She expresses herself and she dresses according to her mood in the morning.

“He spilled chocolate milk on her at lunch and I lost it. I attacked him and punched him in the face. Then, he punched me, claiming it was self-defense, so he didn’t get in trouble at all,” Griffin continued.

“It wasn’t Fin’s fault, Auntie Tessa,” Leah tried to say.

“Oh, my baby,” Ruby cried as she wrapped her arms around her daughter. “Why didn’t you tell me you were being bullied.”

“Because I can handle it myself.”

Griffin whipped around to face her.

“You shouldn’t have to!” He all but shouted. “I can protect you.” Then he turned to look at me, my heart almost breaking at the pleading look in his eyes. “I can protect her, Mom.”

At that moment, I was so proud of my son. I turned and narrowed my eyes at the principal who just huffed with disapproval.

“We have zero tolerance for fighting. Griffin threw the first punch, therefore he’s the one who gets in trouble for it. I’m going to have to suspend—”

“Excuse me, sir,” I said, putting my hands on his desk and leaning forward.

“Oh, no,” Ruby said, stepping away with her daughter close to her side.

“It’s never good when Auntie Tess gets like this,” Leah whispered.

“What kind of school allows bullying to happen like this? As far as I’m concerned, my son did the right thing. Leah had been tormented by this boy for God knows how long and you’ve done nothing to rectify the situation? The job was put onto my son, and he gets punished for it?? Why is this other boy, what’s his name? Tommy? Why isn’t he in this office answering for his crimes against Leah?”

“Mrs. Evergreen—”

“If my son is in trouble for defending his friend, who happens to be like a second daughter to me, then maybe that Tommy kid should be spoken to about his treatment towards women. What kind of school are you running here, Principal Rubert? Where is this boy's parent? What kind of boy are they raising who treats young girls like this? What kind of example are we setting for our children?”

“I think there’s a misunderstanding—”

“To be clear you want to kick my son out of school because of his willingness to defend an innocent girl. You heard his side of the story, Principal Rubert. Explain to me exactly what I am misunderstanding.”

“He… he threw the first punch, and—” his words trailed off when he couldn’t come up with a good enough argument.

I narrowed my eyes at him and lifted my hands off the desk, folding them across my chest.

The principal swallowed the lump in his throat before continuing.

“It was originally a 2-month suspension, but I will make it one week instead,” he said, bowing his head to me, shamefully. “I truly apologize for this.”

“And I want that boy's parents called immediately. I want something done about the bullying. If I have to come here again because of the same issue, I won’t hesitate to send my husband in next time. If I remember correctly, Joseph is quite a large shareholder in this school, is he not?”

“Yes, mam…” he said, his voice dropping to a shaky whisper.

“Do better, Principal Rubert,” I said just as I turned on my heel.

Griffin was staring at me with huge and excited eyes. I winked at him and motioned for him to follow me. But just as I reached the door I paused and looked over my shoulder.

“Oh, and I’ll be pulling my other kids out of school early today. We have a family gathering later.”

“Of course,” the principal said, keeping his head down.

Without another word, I stormed out of the office with Griffin, Leah, and Ruby trailing behind me. I glanced at Miss Stanley on the way out.

“Enjoy your evening,” I said to her, winking as I walked out of the room.

“You as well, Mrs. Evergreen,” I heard her reply.

We walked down the hallway and ran into Amaya again.

“Come on, sweet girl. We are leaving school early today. I’m sure your teachers will still give you extra credit for your work today,” I told her, wrapping an arm around her.

She looked confused.

“Why are we leaving?”

“I figured we could use some family time,” I told her.

“Did Fin get suspended again?”

“Only for a week this time. Mom was badass!” Griffin answered.

I chuckled and shrugged.

“Watch your language,” I warned.

I sent Griffin to get Walker from his class and a few minutes later, the twins appeared in the hallway. Walker looked upset and he had his arms folded across his chest.

“I have a quiz today,” he muttered.

“You are already way ahead of your class,” I told him, smiling at my genius of a son. “I’m sure your teacher won’t mind if you make it up. I’ll speak with her later this evening. It’s Mrs. Connelly, right?”

“Yes,” Walker sighed, fixing his glasses.

The only difference between my 10-year-old twins was the fact that Walker wears glasses because all the reading he’s done throughout his short life did some damage to his eyes. Besides that, they are completely identical and spitting images of Joseph.

Walker was all about books and learning while Griffin was all about sports. Yet the boys were still best friends.

“Such a school nerd,” Griffin teased while rubbing his knuckles on Walker’s hair, messing it up.

“Stop that!” Walker complained, but it only made Griffin put him in a headlock.

“Maybe we shouldn’t do this on school property,” Ruby warned, looking around nervously.

“Yeah, let’s go get some ice cream,” I suggested.

This cheered Walker right up as he punched Griffin in the arm.

Together, we left the school and got some ice cream. Griffin spent time catching his twin up on what had happened after lunch. Walker laughed at Griffin’s creative storytelling.

My kids praised me for going mama bear on the principal.

Later in the evening, true to my word, we had a big family gathering on my father’s farm. It was later in the evening as the sun was setting so the vampire tribe could attend as well.

“Grandpa! Grandma!” The kids yelled as they ran to my father and Patty who wrapped them each in hugs, laughing.

My father finally got over himself and proposed to Patty about 4 years ago and we had a huge celebration for them. However, we still make time to visit my mother’s grave every Sunday.

Joseph smiled at me, wrapping me in his arms and kissing me passionately on the lips.

The farm was soon filled with kids; Austin and Laura's 2 little 6 and 7-year-old girls showed up to play with my boys. Lucy, Ruby’s former roommate, and her 4-year-old with Bennet, surprisingly enough they hit it off a few years ago and now they are happily married with a little boy and one more on the way. Hannah and the 3-year-old she had with Nathan; Nathan and Hannah hit it off when Hannah came to visit the vampire tribe several years ago.

Even Esme showed up with her new baby with her new husband she met in a different Coven a couple of years ago.

The only one missing from our group was Anna who left the tribe after Bernard died. She wanted to travel the world, but nobody had heard from her since she left.

“Auntie!” I heard a familiar small child say and I smiled as Kyle, Ruby’s 2-year-old, ran towards me.

“There’s my little guy,” I chuckled, scooping him into my arms and kissing his cheek.

He giggled.

“Hi, uncy! He said sweetly to Joseph.

Joseph grabbed him from me and threw him in the air, catching him. He squealed with delight. Joseph ran towards the other kids with a happy giggling Kyle in his arms, Carter and the other guys joined in.

Ruby sat beside me on one of the lounge chairs and we took in the sight before us, smiling contently as we watched our forever-growing family.

She rested her head on my shoulder and sighed.

“Did you ever think our lives would turn out like this?” She asked me.

“You mean crazy?” I giggled.

“Exactly.”

“I never imagined it would turn out like this,” I admitted thoughtfully.

“Do you have any regrets?” She asked.

“None. You?”

“I wouldn’t change a thing.”

The end.