Finally, FINALLY! My wings are done growing! All my feathers are in too! It's been six weeks since they first appeared, down to the day. I woke up this morning without the usual aching back, which was odd. I walked into the bathroom in just my pajama pants and looked in the mirror, then HOLY SHIT there they were! Fully grown and feathered!

I have little feathers on the corners of my face and underside of my neck, then I have more on the back of my head and neck that progressively get longer and branch out to my wings. Every single feather is a pitch black with a shiny, purple sheen to them. I stretched them out as far as I could without knocking anything over and looked at them.

They're... they're amazing.

Mom walked into my room to find that I wasn't there. "Ace?" She called. I folded my wings and walked out of the bathroom.

"They're done growing, I can feel it." I grin. Just in time too, with only two more weeks of school before summer break.

"Come on, you need to get ready for school. Need help putting on the thing?" Mom asked.

"I think I've got it." I reply and walk back into my room. Mom and I had decided after my wings started getting a lot bigger that it would be best for me to have some sort of harness over them and under my tank-top to help hold them down during school. So far. It's been successful.

I put the harness on like a backpack and pull the leather belt straps tight around my chest to hold my wings down. Then I pull on my tank-top and a t-shirt. I grab the first pair of jeans I can find and pull them on. Because of how large my wings are, I've taken to wearing a baggy trenchcoat to help hide them.

Mom finished making my lunch when I walked into the livingroom with a pair of socks and shoes. I sit down and put them on. It's been getting harder and harder to hide my mutation since my hands and feet started growing thick, black claws. I keep them trimmed down and, unfortunately, put fake nails over them. Crude, but it works so I can't complain.

I've been having to get up earlier so mom can hide my facial feathers with makeup. She insisted when one day I woke up with feathered side-burns. She covers them with white liquid latex, then paints on the foundation. Next comes the contouring, blush, etc. Thank God we cover the feathers with saran wrap now. It was a pain to wash off the latex the first time without it.

Mom finished up on the contouring just in time to head to school. I run out to the car and hop in, doing my best to avoid sitting on my ridiculously long flight feathers. Mom buckles in and pulls out of the driveway. We make it to school pretty quickly, then again I only live ten minutes away.

"Have a good day at school." She says and gives me a kiss.

"I will. Love you ma." I hug her.

"Love you too." She replies as I hop up. I wave to mom and run to the cafeteria. I sit in my usual spot. When the bell rings, I go to my classes and everyone moves like clockwork. My first period is science, and we're going over the DNA part of the cell. I sit down at a desk and stare nonchalantly at the whiteboard.

The teacher finally walks in. "Good morning class." He says. Everyone replies with a bored 'Morning Mr. Cash'. "Today, as you all know, we're going over DNA. Now, does anyone know where DNA is located in the cell?"

Someone raises a hand. "In the Nucleus."

"That is correct. More specifically, the nucleolus. Every human on earth, except for a few, has 46 chromosomes. Those chromosomes come from both the father, and the mother. They control the genotype, which in turn displays the phenotype. Who can tell me the difference?"

Someone else raises a hand. "A genotype is the genetic makeup, the phenotype is the appearance."

"That is correct, thank you." Mr. Cash replies. "Now I'm going to go over how the genotype and inheriting factors of the chromosomes can change the way you look using a popular topic on the news: mutants and mutations." He continues.

I sit on the edge of my chair. This could help me figure out how I have a mutation, while mom doesn't.

"There are all sorts of different types of 'normal' mutations that originated before the mutants. For example; red hair, albinism, down syndrome, etc. But those aren't what we're talking about today. However, they have similar factors in being caused. Something caused the mutation to occur in the womb, or it was inherited by a parent."

My blood ran cold.

"Mutations that give someone superpowers, like all other mutations, is a recessive gene. For example, say that a mutant and a human had a child. The human having no genes for a mutation to occur, so all dominant, and the mutant having the powers, all recessive. There is a 100% chance for the child to have the genotype for the mutation, just no phenotype because it's recessive. Now say that the child marries a mutant. Now there's a 50% chance their child will have a mutation because of the genotypes in the parents."

Mom doesn't have a mutation. Grandma and Grandpa don't have mutations. Their parents didn't have mutations. So that can only mean-

"The mutation for superpowers, called the x-gene, occurs on the twenty-third chromosome. Usually this gene lies dormant until puberty, which is filled with high amounts of stress and changing hormones. But, scientists have concluded that the activation can sometimes occur earlier, or even before birth due to stress, the type of mutation it is, or solar radiation..." the teacher continues to drone on about it, but I can't hear him. I'm focused on what he said earlier.

It's probably the scariest thing about me, and I had no idea.