The sound of ocean waves is making its way into my ears. We have lived on the beach for a couple of years now, and things have been great. Though the sound is peaceful, I know I have to get up. I open my eyes and lift my face off my pillow and sigh; waking up to go to school isn't the best thing in the world. I pull the blanket off and stretch, making weird and loud noises, earning bangs on my wall from my siblings. My door opens, and I see my step-mom coming in.
"Honey, you need to clean up all of these feathers. And get ready for school, ok?" I yawn and stretch again, "I cleaned them up yesterday. It's not my fault my feathers fall off." She shakes her head and leaves my room.
I get up and grab some clothes and my phone, taking them to the bathroom. I lock my bathroom door and look in the mirror. My wings have gotten bigger since last month. My tail feathers are getting longer as well. I bring my wings close to my face and smell them. I nod and turn the shower on, warm water spraying out. I stretch my wings in the air, but I hit the ceiling. My stupid wings are way too big so, I shrink my wings until they are small baby wings, and then I shrink my tail feathers until they're gone. As I wash my hair, I think about the school I'm going to go to. I never had many friends to begin with since people thought I was weird. When I was younger, it was harder to hide my wings from the world, so I was homeschooled until the middle school year. My mom doesn't want anyone to know about my wings because I could be taken away for good.
I turn off the shower, step out, grab my towel, and dry my hair, body, and wings. I open the door and go into my room. I throw the towel on the ground and grab a baggy sweater that's lying on the ground. I put my underwear and pants on, threw my sweater over my head, and put my arms through. I grab my bag, place it on my shoulder, open my bedroom door, and walk down the stairs. I hear stomping, so I quickly move out of the way so I'm not trampled. My siblings run into the kitchen to eat my mom's food. She smiles softly and looks my way, waving slightly.
I wave back and walk towards her slowly, "You doing ok? How are your wings feeling?" I smile softly, "I'm doing ok, and they're fine, mom, I promise." She looks at me for a while but nods her head.
I don't know where I'm from, but I know my father and mother were traveling and were caught, so they hid Kyle and me in some bushes. Then some explorers found Kyle and me and gave me to my mom. The explorers and my mom had to file adoption papers when I could hide my wings, but Kyle got his adoption papers done in first grade. She's always known about my wings and helped as much as she could with them. She has always been there for me, and I'm grateful for her. She even moved us to a beach house away from all the cramped houses.
She hands me a plate that has toast and scrambled eggs, knowing it's my favorite. I sigh, I didn't want to eat today, but she knows I like this, so I say thank you and take the plate to the table. Tucker, Justyn, and Amethyst talk, but Roman, my blood brother, is quiet and picking at his pancakes. I place my bag down next to my chair and sit next to him and ruffle his already messy hair.
"What's up?" He looks away from me and sniffles, "Kyle, what's wrong? Are your arms hurting?"
He turns to me, eyes filled with tears, and his arms start to grow feathers slowly, "Jaden, please don't go again! I'll be so lonely, and you won't be able to help me hide my wings!" He is latched onto me and sobbing loudly.
I hug him and rub his head. My stepmom looks over, and she looks worried, but I shake my head, and she nods hesitantly. Kyle has wings, but they're on his arms, kind of like a bird. He can make them appear and disappear without a trace, though he has a hard time controlling it. When he's mad, sad, or happy, they tend to appear. I've been helping him so he can go to school since he's already in 5th grade.
Kyle is still crying, but he's calmed down a bit, "Kyle, it'll be ok, I promise. You can go to school as soon as you get better at hiding those wings of yours. You have to practice, that's all." He looks up at me, his eyes puffy and cheeks red.
He lets go and stands up, stretching his wings into the air. He breathes in and makes them shrink back into his arm. He grabs his plate and leaves the kitchen and walking back up the stairs. My other siblings are quiet and still on their phones. I finish my plate and take it to the sink and rinse it off. I grab my bag that I set down and place it on my shoulder.
"Come on, guys, we need to go to school."
I open the front door and close it behind me, walking towards the bus stop. My siblings come stomping behind me and push ahead of me. While we wait for the bus, I look into the sky, watching birds circle us. Birds have always been attracted to me, but ospreys are more attracted to me since I have their features. They usually hang out with me when I'm away from people and sitting on a cliff over the open ocean. I watch them dive in the water, and I've wanted to do it, but I'm too scared I'll drown. After diving into the water, they bring their fish and sit with me on the cliff, eating it. The ospreys even let me hold them and pet them, so that's a plus when having wings, I guess.
"Hey." I look towards the voice, and it's an attractive guy, "Is this where the bus picks us up?"
I nod and scratch my neck as my wings twitch a bit, "Yeah, it is. I've never seen you here before. Did you move here?"
He nods and looks above us at the birds, sniffing and wiping his nose on his sleeve, "There's a lot of birds in this area, especially near your house." He looks behind me, and I turn around; birds are in on and near my front porch, resting and finding food. I was surprised he could even see my yard seeing as it's secluded, but I guess he can see it from here, "Oh yeah, they're pretty friendly?" I look back at him, and he's sniffing again.
He nods and looks forward, hands in his pockets. I look forward as well, but I can't help the urge to glance to the right. He has black hair, green eyes, and a small beauty mark on the side of his mouth. He keeps sniffling and wiping his nose every so often, and it's kind of cute. He looks at me, and my eyes widen, and I bring my hood over my head and try to hide my warm cheeks.
The bus comes rolling down the street and stops in front of us. My siblings go line up, and I get behind them, "Want to sit with me on the bus? I also need someone to help me around the school too. If not, that's fine." I turn around and nod, smiling.
Maybe this year won't be as bad.