Mirror, Mirror

Chapter 2: The Wings

When I came to I was lying on my king-sized bed. I saw Joven peering worriedly at me.

"What's wrong? What..." I started, but then suddenly remembered what had happened at my fifteenth birthday party.

I had wings.

Yes. Two of them, feathery, white angel wings protruding from my back. I sprang off my bed and stared into my huge wall mirror. It wasn't just a dream. They were still there. I tried moving them, and they fluttered a bit, causing me to jump. Joven just stared at me.

"Please tell me this is a dream," I whispered.

Joven crept up next to me and gently touched the wings, like he was afraid they would fall off.

"Andi...what...why?"

"Joven, I don't know. I'm just as confused as you are. The last thing I remember is a crazy pain in my back, and then waking up and finding I had wings." I flopped down on my bed and then winced and turned to my side. I had crushed my wings.

To try and distract myself from the craziness, I flipped on my giant flat-screen TV.

"You probably know that today Cassandra Bern turned fifteen. But what you may not know is that today, several shaken witnesses have just declared that they saw Cassandra, at the very second she turned fifteen, seemingly mutate into a half-bird-" I angrily punched to another channel.

"Fifteen year old Cassandra Bern-" Flip.

"Hello, and welcome back to today's News at Five. I'm your host, Dennis Marlin." A picture of me, lying on the floor with my torn party dress, my wings about half-grown. I winced. Flip.

"Cassie Bern. A typical, rich, stuck up millionaire, who still doesn't have enough of America's attention. At her fifteenth birthday party she decided to pull a stunt; convincing everyone there that she had...grown wings." The fake, recorded laughter was cut off when Joven grabbed the remote and turned off the TV.

"Come on, Andi. Let's do something productive...I don't know, like Google search...growing wings?" he offered.

"Oh, yeah, and right after let's call 1-800-I GREW FREAKING WINGS," I snapped, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Well, that would only be 21 digits too long for an actual number, but heck, let's try it!" he retorted, equally sarcastic.

I glared at him.

"Sorry, Andi, I'm just trying to help," he said.

"Well, I'm guessing that maybe I can't be helped!" I yelled.

"And you won't get help with that attitude!" he yelled back.

"Jeez, you sound exactly like my mom," I came back with.

"Look, I'm sorry, Andi. What can I do to help?"

"Saw off my stupid wings!" I cried, breaking down into a puddle of tears.

"I'm sorry, Andi. I'm trying to be helpful...hey, it's still your birthday. What do you want to do?"

I sniffed and looked up. "Open presents," I said quietly.

"Okay then, let's go open presents! They're still out in the living room!"

"Wait! I'm still wearing my stupid party dress," I complained.

"Well...do you have anything backless?"

"Not that I feel like wearing at the moment."

"Here, let's cut slits in one of your old shirts."