_”Egara!”_Tory yelled loudly in my mind, _“Get in here!”_

So I ran faster, my long hair escaping the band that held it together.

It whipped my face as I continued to run, the wind pulling it in every direction.

But I couldn’t care less.

I hopped over a fallen tree, closing my eyes as I let my speed take over.

This couldn’t be happening, not again.

I suddenly hit something, hard. My head spun, and I felt as if I were trapped in a tornado.

Strong arms lifted me, and my head felt like a weight had been placed inside my brain.

The force was too painful, and I fell unconscious.

When I woke, I was lying in the school’s infirmary. I felt like Sophie from Keeper of the Lost Cities.

This was the third time this week I had been sent to the infirmary.

I thought the embarrassment couldn't get worse… until Karim came in.

I wanted to hide my face.

His dirty, curly brown hair was messy, and his uniform was covered in mud, but he was smirking at me.

“You might've set a record Eggy,” he said, as our school nurse Harla came to inspect me.

I hated when he called me that.

I stroked my long white and black hair, pulling two pieces from the front and connecting them at the back to make a sort of crown around my head.

My uniform was also covered in mud.

The school uniforms were long-sleeved black tops and pants to match, made of a thick material.

Each uniform had stripes across to represent what level you were from.

Level one was yellow, two was green, three was purple, four was pink, five was red, six was blue, and seven was white.

I was a level five, and Karim was a six.

All of the girls loved him, but he liked me better for some reason, even my strange white and black hair.

“It’s not my fault Tory can't stop yelling at me, she was freaking me out. What happened anyway?”

“You ran into the wall of the swan stables, like, insanely fast, even left a dent in it,” Karim answered as Harla finished wrapping my bloody hand in a bandage.

I grimaced. Hopefully, they wouldn't find out about that.

“Yeah, I was umm… trying out a new potion from Squen,” I answered.

Harla seemed to buy it, but Karim raised an eyebrow at me.

“You’re good to go, but promise me I won't find you here again tomorrow,” Harla said, smiling.

I turned red.

“Yeah, I'm gonna head home. Thanks Harla.”

I slipped off the bed, giving Karim a death look. “I need to be alone.”

The sun had just set, and the forest looked beautiful.

Imagine the most beautiful forest in the world, that’s definitely too good to exist, now imagine it after dark, when the moon is out and the stars are twinkling, giving you just enough light to see but not be seen.

That was the Forest of Everglean.

I turned to make sure no one was watching, and wandered on a different path leading to a stream.

I sat on a large rock, one of my legs dangling down over the water and the other curled to my chest.

Everyone thought I had no ability, but I did… I just couldn’t tell anyone.

I didn’t have any friends either, they thought I was a freak.

Karim was really the only one who ever spoke to me, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about him.

I had missed swan riding, where we’d take our humongous large swans and fly over and through clouds.

It was a magical experience, and my black swan Twilight only made it better.

A noise pulled me out of my thoughts, and I panicked as I noticed Karim sitting next to me.

_Really_ close.

I hated myself for my stomach doing flip-flops.

He had changed out of his school uniform, wearing a simple black t-shirt with blue riding pants tucked into knee-length brown boots.

He also wore his long blue cloak that hung to his feet, a sort of alligator skin pattern.

“I thought I told you I wanted to be alone,” I said.

He squinted at the moon. “You did… but I didn’t listen.”

We sat in silence for a few more moments before he said something that made my heart practically leap from my chest.

“I know you’re hiding something.”

I tried to act calm. “Whatever you want to believe I guess.”

Karim shook his head, smiling.

“You can tell me.”

“Why would I?”

He sighed.

“I try Egara, I really do try to be your friend, but you don’t make it easy. I’m sorry your loneliness is pushing other people away.”

He stood, brushed himself off, and turned to leave.

I surprised myself by grabbing his wrist, my eyes welling up in tears.

“I’m so sorry if I made you feel that way, Karim. I don’t mean to. I just… please stay.”

I guess I hadn’t realized how much I actually enjoyed him being there.

He was the only person I knew who didn’t talk about me like I was some _creature._

His expression suddenly turned to a look of pity.

He turned and sat next to me in silence for a few minutes.

“You’re so hard to read Eggy. One minute you hate me, the next you’re blushing, then you’re crying.”

He shrugged, then looked at me.

“I don’t know, Karim. If I tell you what’s going on, you’re just going to think I’m more of a freak than ever before.”

He squeezed my hand.

“Never.”

I smiled.

“Thank you,” I managed to whisper.

I rested my head on his shoulder.

Maybe I finally had a friend.