Sophia Carlucci stood in front of her mirror and assessed herself with overly critical eyes. Instead of seeing spiral-type curly coal black shoulder length hair that delicately framed her oval face, she saw a mass of uncontrollable curls she couldn't even get the comb through. She saw long, gangly legs instead of toned calves and thighs. Her eyes which were a deep emerald green seemed to her to be too big for her face, reminding her of one of those Precious Moments dolls that her grandmother collected and she secretly was scared of. She saw herself as short, being 5'4", instead of delicate and petite. Lastly she looked at her figure and sighed out loud. She didn't notice that her curves were finally starting to fill in, she still saw herself as skinny instead of the developing 9th grade cheerleader.
Being the youngest of eight children and having seven older brothers (Vincent, Dominic, Gianni, Marcus, Enzo, Gino and Salvatore), and being the only girl, she was sheltered, spoiled (though lovingly), and was never let out of her brothers way overprotective sight. Every time she turned around, one of her brothers or cousins was within hearing or eye sight. She loved the fact they loved and protected her, but she just wanted a bit of freedom, especially since she was going to be entering high school in two weeks, and she was coming of age to finally start to date. Her and her twin brother, Salvatore's, 15th birthday party was tonight and everyone from their school was invited. Her first official grown-up party.
Grown-up party. Those three words were the bane and excitement of her existence. Since she was turning 15, according to Pack rules she was finally allowed to date. There were strict rules and even harsher consequences for violating those rules. She must be accompanied while on her date, the boys must be introduced to her family and be approved, there can be absolutely no physical contact until her 16th birthday, including kissing. At the age of 16, another set of rules applied, another at 17, and the final set of rules when she reached the age of majority at 18 when she would finally be allowed true and total physical contact and intimacy. Like most female Weres, she bristled that boys were basically allowed to do whatever they wanted at the age of 16, but she understood the rules were in place to protect female Weres since they were outnumbered by the males 2 to 1.
Sophia sighed aloud again, thinking of turning 15. She would finally be able to shift at the next full moon and couldn't wait, even though she was scared, deeply scared. Terrified, petrified even. She worried she wouldn't be able to shift or be able to shift back. Normal worries for any new shifter, but each new shifter thought those worries were singular to them. Being extremely shy and sheltered all her life, she also worried about stripping in front of the other new shifters, but knew she would be in a circle of concealing fabric held by her brothers and cousins to protect her modesty as any underage female were was. Her only true excitement was the fact her cousin, Maria would also be going through her first shift.
Maria was her best friend as well as her cousin; they shared clothes and secrets, though with their sheltered lives there weren't a whole lot of secrets to share. There was one secret Sophia had never shared, and probably never would and that was her crush on Anthony, the Alpha's son. Most of the secrets involved normal teenage dreams about their future mates and the many children they would have, what kind of man would be their ideal mate, what kind of car they wanted for their 16th birthday, what their first kiss would be like and that was usually as far as it would get as they would both dissolve in giggles. Apart from being Weres, they were typical American teenage girls, concerned with clothes, talked incessantly about boys, looked at each other and burst out in giggles that no one else understood, but tolerated lovingly.
Sophia heard her family outside setting up the tent near the pool area in preparation for tonight's festivities. Maria was due any time for final selection of what they both would wear, which was some form of sundress, then modest swimsuits. They had both gone shopping earlier in the week with their mothers to pick out several outfits, now it was time to pick the final outfit. Plus accessories to wear with it and of course shoes. Shoes. That was Sophia's biggest downfall, besides pocketbooks. She couldn't get enough of either; luckily she had a large walk-in closet and an indulgent father. According to her Daddy, nothing was good enough or too much for his little girl.
Hearing several cars pull into the long driveway, she glanced out her window and saw her cousins and Aunt Annie and Uncle Joe pulling up. They volunteered, or were coerced into helping her parent's setup for the party. As she watched, Maria and her five brothers (Lorenzo, Damian, Paulo, Michael and Victor) and her Aunt and Uncle got out and were greeted by her overwhelmed mommy and her daddy, Rose and Frank. From this distance it was hard to tell Uncle Joe and her Daddy apart, being identical twins there was only a slight difference in weight, with her Daddy being just a bit brawnier. Both being Betas, they were tall about 6'5" and weighed over 240 lbs of pure muscle and were intimidating to everyone but their children and especially their wives. In both families, the wives ruled the houses and woe betide any who displeased them. Both men had ordered extra-long sofas in the family rooms for the times they were banished from the bedroom for doing things that displeased their wives.
It was a constant source of amusement in both houses that these little women could silence their husbands and children with just a look. Standing at just 5'5", they had a way of narrowing their eyes and tilting their head that made their families instantly stop what they were doing and look for a place to hide. Being Italian, both had fiery tempers but also extremely loving natures...as long as you did what they wanted you to. Right now they had both husbands and all twelve sons hauling tables and chairs under the newly erected tent. The women were closely supervising and instructing proper placement of each table. Sophia rushed down to greet her cousins and Aunt and Uncle and to grab Marias hand to go to the most important job -- picking out clothes, shoes, earring, bracelets, necklace and trying to figure out what to do with their hair.
For the next several hours the men worked and the women supervised setting up an elaborate party environment. Finally, everything was set up and the parents went inside to clean up and get dressed. The boys stripped their shirts off and dove into the pool. It was a teenage girl's fantasy. The boys ranged in height from 5'9" for the youngest at 15, to 6'3" for the oldest at 18. They were all muscular, toned and bronzed from being outdoors and their natural skin tone. All had black hair and emerald eyes, chiseled jaws and looked like they belonged on the cover of GQ. Being Weres, they were all products of multiples births and thus there were five sets of twins in the pool, and two boys whose twins were still upstairs getting ready, Sophia and Maria.
Collectively, the kids were known as the Carlucci Clan. This was the first year all fourteen of them would be attending South Mountain High, a Pack run school, and the majority of teachers were dreading it, having known them since they were born. Two would be seniors (Vincent and Dominic), four juniors (Gianni, Marcus, Lorenzo and Damian), four sophomores (Enzo, Gino, Paulo and Michael) and four incoming freshmen (Salvatore, Sophia, Victor and Maria). All of the boys were on the Football and Basketball teams, Junior Varsity and Varsity and also both girls were cheerleaders. Luckily all were good students, though the boys could do much better if they applied themselves, but being boys they had other things on their minds.
Before Sophia and Maria were ready, they heard the sounds of cars pulling up and excited chatter and laughter drifting up towards the bedroom windows. Looking out the back window, Sophia could see their friends out by the pool and Maria glanced out the front to see a line of cars pulling in the driveway. Both girls started giggling and jumping up and down in excitement. Putting the finishing touches on, they assessed each others critically. Glancing up and down, they tweaked a pleat here, patted a curl down there, adjusted a bow and declared each other Absolutely Perfect. They were ready. Now if they could calm their nerves down. They sat down, and then quickly stood so they wouldn't wrinkle their dresses and waited for Sophia's parents, Rose and Frank, and Maria's parents, Annie and Joe to come and get them.
