Seeing Isn't Believing

Evan POV

I open my eyes to a faint buzzing followed by an obnoxious beeping, my phone alarm. I shove my hand under my pillow in search of it, pulling it out and groaning, it's Thursday. 

Thursday means midterms, luckily we are granted the three weeks of winter vacation after this and I can continue my till noon slumber like I did last summer. 

I hit the lock button on my phone, silencing the annoying alarm and sit up in my dark room. My black comforter is strewn about the bed, making it apparent I didn't stay still at all in my sleep last night. I tug off my navy blue sheet and hop out of bed, being rudely met by a cold floor against my bare feet. I cringe lightly and make a quick dash for my bathroom and start up a hot shower, letting the steam fill the bathroom as I shut the door behind me. 

After the shower, I brush my teeth and walk back out into my room, towel tied around my hips as I try and decide what to wear. 

Opening my closet door, I look over all my hanging shirts and decide on a light blue polo and throw it onto my bed. I make my way to my dresser, readjusting my towel that has fallen loose. I grab a pair of skinny jeans and a pair of gray briefs, throwing them on the bed. 

I get dressed and brush my hair before heading out of my room and heading to our laundry room down the hall. I grab a pair of clean socks from the basket and head downstairs to grab some breakfast. The smell of pancakes greets me as I walk in, my mom standing at the stove. 

"G'morning hon, how did you sleep?" She turns around, her strawberry blonde curls still messy from bed. 

"I slept well mom" I kiss her cheek as I walk to the fridge, grabbing the orange juice and placing it on the kitchen table. Four spots are set, mom does this every morning whether or not dad and my sister will make it down in time.

"Can you fill your sisters' glass with water? She doesn't like orange juice." She speaks without turning away from the stove, flipping two more pancakes onto the stack she has already finished. I grab her glass and head to the sink as footsteps can be heard making their way down from upstairs. My little sister walks in, her dirty blonde hair pulled back in a high pony tail, pin straight and her favorite floral print blouse and black leggings on.

"Good morning Evelyn dear" My mom says, as she smiles at my sister. 

"Mornin'." My sister says back, sitting herself in her spot at the table and grabbing some blueberries, popping them in her mouth. "Evan don't you have midterms today?" She asked looking at me. 

"Yeah, then we have the next three weeks off." Ev rolls her eyes, clearly jealous that her middle school doesn't get out for another week. Walking up, mom places all the pancakes down at the center of the table and sits in her spot, across from Ev and I sit to the left of her. My dad sits next to Ev, but he doesn't make it to breakfast much since he works so late. 

"Will you be coming home after school, Evan?" My mom asks, as she shovels a couple pancakes and blueberries onto her plate. 

"I don't know yet, might stay the night at Ryan's because there's suppose to be some friends getting together to kick off winter break." I cut my pancakes up, and begin to eat them savoring their sweetness. "Tastes good as ever, mom." 

My mom smiles softly before wiping her mouth off, "Okay will I wont be home tonight I have a work meeting that takes place in a few towns over and will be gone till Saturday. Your dad will be focusing on work as well so please take care of yourselves." She mostly looks at me, and I roll my eyes. 

"Just a couple of friends getting together mom, no worries." I shoot her my most innocent smile, and continue to eat. 

"Can I stay at a friend's this weekend then?" My sister perks up, realizing that she would have to be stuck home alone with me till Saturday. 

"Of course dear, just tell me who please and give me their paren'ts information before tonight." My sister nods and the breakfast finishes off in silence. 

I put my plate in the sink and make my way to the door, grabbing my shoes and jacket from the closet and slipping them on. I grab my bag and swing it over my shoulder, opening the door I yell back, "I'm leaving!" and head out the door. 

Outside is Joel waiting for me, leaning up against the mailbox with his black leather jacket and gray beanie on. He always looked like a cool guy, girls have swooned over him since we were kids. 

"Hey" He said as I walked up, I simply nodded and began to head down the street, him following in tow. 

"So, you're coming tonight?" He asked as he fell into pace next to me. 

"Yeah, totally. End of midterms rager? I couldn't miss that." I smile at him and run my hand up through my hair, letting it fall back again and out of my face. 

"Good, cause I was gonna force you to come regardless and that sounded like a lot of work I really didn't wanna do." He picked up his pace slightly, a soft shimmer showing up behind him. A pair of wings extend out of his back, they're shaped like those of an angel and fall to about his calf. Painted with a soft flow, they become almost iridescent in the day light, but in the night they could light the whole darkness surrounding him. Wings still surprise me, since I have only become a believer a handful of months ago. 

A believer, or believers, are what we are called, humans with wings essentially. We can fly, you know like the a hero or something, except we don't really save anyone. Not a lot of people like us exist though, even though there are so many people in this world that 'wish they could fly'. Well, you can but it's all about believing, once you believe then you are granted these wings. Wings are determined off your purity I suppose, the more elegant and beautiful you are the more pure you were pre-believing. 

I let my wings shimmer out, a very pale blue set of solid eagle-like wings form against my back. I stretch them out beside me and let them expand before retracting them back against me. The tips of my wings are black, and I can tell you that's from lying to my parents so much about where I actually am. They don't approve of me partying. 

Joel takes off in front of me, his body gracefully tossing into the air and hovering a few feet above my head, "come on, we're gonna be late." He takes off down the hill, only a soft whoosh heard as he does. I extend my wings and work on focusing to get off the ground and follow. 

I became a believer thanks to Joel, sadly before you are a believer, you can't see wings. The concept of wings on a human isn't fathomable to a nonbeliever simply because it isn't in their heart to want to believe. Believers also can not see wings, and due to their negative effect on our atmosphere, it prevents believers from being able to use their wings around nons, making the whole "see it to believe it" an impossible-to-accomplish statement. 

In front of me I watch Joel land, his wings fading out and disappearing, I land next to him and do the same to mine, shivering as the nerves of my wings fall faint. "I am still not use to that feeling."

Joel smiles, "You will soon." He turns to face the direction of our school and continues to walk. We can only fly so far before we enter into 'non' territory, which is simply where most non believers live. If you become a believer, you are granted access to live within an area of town only believers can see. If a non-believer were to stumble into that area, it would look like farm land to them. The only way for a non to be able to see where a believer lives, it is if a believer willingly brings them into the area, but there is a glamour put over the area that makes it seem like an average part of the town.

As we walk, Ryan catches up to us and waves. "Good mornin' fellas" he says cheerfully, falling into pace next to me. 

"Good morning Ry" Joel says. I nod at him and smile. Ryan is not a believer, so instead of risking the loss of a friendship, I have decided to not try and make him a believer. It's hard sometimes though, not slipping up and mentioning the wings. If I did he would probably just think I'm crazy and stop talking to me, the curse of a believer. Wings are almost as believable as unicorns, and those don't even exist no matter how much you believe. 

"Ready for tonight?" Ryan asks

"Absolutely, but I am more ready for these exams to be over." I answer as we finally walk onto school property. "Let's get this over with."