Evangeline

evangeline conner was the preachers daughter. growing up she went to church every sunday along with her mother, father, older sister, and little brother. exactly one year apart, every one of them. they had what seemed to be the perfect family. her sister was the genius who had all a’s, evie was the sporty one. shining in her gymnastics class from day one, and her little brother was the whimsical one. always singing and being a ray of sunshine for everyone around. 

as she got older, evie began to like the edgier side of things. rock bands, skateboarding, and fantasy novels. the only reason she joined the cheerleading squad in middle school was to appease her parents. they kept telling her it would be great on college applications and such. so she joined, and somehow became the chill cheerleader. she hung out with the guys more than she did the other cheerleaders, so of course most of the girls began to label her out of jealousy. 

she became notarized as the ‘slut’ from it all, but it never bothered her. of course she did the usual teenage stuff, like going to parties, and even started smoking weed. of course her parents never knew, and still don’t know to this day, but the girl never slept around. it wasn’t like she was a virgin, but she wasn’t sleeping with every guy around. 

in fact, she fell in love. it was with the star football player, rolan. once they started dating, everyone knew that those two were soulmates. their junior year they made plans to go to the same school, ucla. they wanted to get out of the small town and get on to bigger better things. he wanted a career with football, and evie made plans to cheer him on as a cheerleader. it was a match made in heaven as her father use to say. 

during their senior year, the two were both awarded scholarships to ucla. rolan with football, and evie with cheerleading. it seemed as if their dreams were coming true, and it was all perfect. graduation was just a few short weeks away, and as kids due, they went to a party to celebrate. 

rolan wasn’t a drinker, mainly due to his own father’s problems, and evie wouldn’t drink if her was around, and perhaps if the two had indulged that night, they never would have gotten into the car that would change their lives forever. 

you see, rolan was driving, and they were talking about their futures together, when a drunk classmate of theirs slammed into the side of their car. evie doesn’t remember much after that, aside from the sounds of sirens that surrounded her. the next thing she knew, she was waking up in the hospital with her parents by her bed, crying. 

they informed her, that rolan died on impact, and that she had a broken femur as well as two herniates discs. the other driver had survived and was currently in jail waiting for his court hearing. the doctors told her that she was going to be in a wheelchair for some time, until she could heal her leg and back. 

from this, she lost her scholarship, and even if she hadn’t, evie knew she’d never have gone without rolan there. but the girl still spiraled into a depression. it was hard for her. she had survivors guilt, along with the fact that her future didn’t have anything to show for it. 

it wasn’t until a year later that she was able to walk on her own again, and even after she gained that ability back, she wasn’t fully herself. it wasn’t until she was twenty that her sister finally told her off. 

she said that she needed to live her life again, if not for herself, but for rolan who no longer could. it was those words that finally had her realizing just exactly what she was wasting. so she started going to school online to get her degree to teach. she graduated when she was 22 and she got a job at the very high school she attended, and even started coaching the cheerleading team.