The Girl Among The Boys

Bonus, Bonus Chapter: Will's Secret

I was walking to science with Will, like any other day. This was a few months after I was cleared to attend the former all boys school. He stopped me a few feet from the door, he looked like he was shaking. "Are you good Will?" I asked, stopping and moving in front of him. He pursued his lips and dropped his head, he didn't speak, but it was clear something was wrong. I rested my hand on his shoulder "Will, are you ok? Can I help you in any way?" I asked, very concerned, Will was never upset. He lifted his head, but wouldn't meet my eyes. He tried to start speaking, but nothing came out of his mouth, tears started forming in his eyes. "It's ok! Whatever it is I'm here for you!" I said, I'm not very good at comforting people, but for Will, I'll try. He took in a shaky breath and quickly swept away his tears. "I-I'm sorry, Ruby, I'm just...I haven't told you guys something" he stuttered. We walked over to a bench in the hallway and sat together. He was still shaking, but he was breathing normally now. I gently held his wrist and sat in silence letting him calm down. Once I felt he stopped shaking I looked up at him. His head was laid back, had his eyes closed, and his mouth slightly open, a tear or two still ran down his face. "Hey, um, are you ok Will?" I asked, peeling my sweaty hand from his wrist. His eyes fluttered open, he closed his mouth, and he lifted his head up right to look me in the eyes. "You have to understand this is a sore subject for me, and this is one thing I've told very few people, I prefer to keep it on the down low. I also prefer to stuff all the feelings I have on this subject, which are almost all bad, down, one feeling of dread on top of the other." he explained, his eyes were puffy from crying. I rested my hand on his knee "you don't have to tell me if you don't want to," I said gently, he shook his head "no, I should tell someone," he said, he grabbed a tuft of his hair, "never dyed, never bleached, I've never done anything to it" he stated. I looked at his hair in disbelief, it was pure white, I gestured for him to continue. "I'm Albino, that's why I have white hair, very pale skin, and purple eyes," he explained, "I've heard of Albinism, but I don't really know what it is," I admitted begrudgingly. "It's a genetic disorder, I got it from my grandma, it skipped my dad. It's a disorder that makes it impossible for my body to produce melanin, the thing that gives you your skin, eyes, and hair color, it also gives you very poor eyesight. That's why I have to wear these" he said, pointing to his clear framed hipster glasses. I nodded my head, I knew it was absolutely horrible. "Ok...I understand, but why freak out now?" I asked, he rubbed his forehead, "tomorrowI have an eyesight test, it will determine if I'm legally blind or not, more importantly weather or not I will ever be allowed to drive," he said, he rested his chin on his head, "I'm sorry Ruby, I'm just...so scared" he said weakly, tears started building up in his eyes again, he sounded hopeless. "Hey! You're allowed to be scared! Everyone has negative emotions, and I'm here to support you! I'm positive, even though they don't know, Kyle, Neo, Apollo, and Venus are supporting you from a far" I said, I tried comforting him and he told me more about his feelings. At this point I couldn't care less that I was late to class, Will was more important. Once we ran out of things to talk about we headed into class, yes, we got shunned in front of the class for being late, but the thing about being shunned in front of your class, is literally no one cares. After class Kyle asked me what happened, not wanting to expose Will, I told him I was helping him with some emotional stuff. What I didn't expect was later that afternoon, Will called us all to his dorm to talk. He sat me, Kyle, Neo, and Apollo, down on his couch and stood in front of us nervously like he was about to start a PowerPoint presentation. "Ok, so I don't want to sound like I'm searching for pity or comfort, but I want to tell you guys why I've been under a lot of stress lately" he started. He then took the time to explain his situation to us and went more in depth about his genetic disorder. Among explaining everything he told me, he also explained how this isn't unusual way he acts towards his disorder, although he rather call it his "white out", he said he did keep it secret from us on purpose though. He said "when people find out they act weird around me, like I have a disease, I wanted you guys to see me as a person rather than a walking accident. Also I'm not usually so gloomy towards it, I actually think it makes me look cool, and unique! When it comes to the whole driving though, let's just say it's a sore patch" he explained. As expected, everyone was very supportive of Will and we all went to his appointment with him the next day. Well we were waiting I was spacing out, Kyle was playing on his phone, Apollo was reading a magazine, and Neo was tapping his foot, staring intensely at the room door Will was being tested in within. Despite us all being distracted, as soon as Will stepped out of that room all our eyes immediately went to him. He stood in front of us not saying a word, his face expressionless, antishapishion hung in the air. He looked around meeting every one of our eyes, he took a sharp inhale "I failed…" he mustered, he kept a straight face, but you could tell he wanted to cry. We all group hugged around him, Neo didn't even hesitate to jump right in with us. It took him a few weeks, but eventually he opened up, and even joked about it, "I can see exactly 20 feet! Ugh! Just one more foot!" He joked, "well at least I can tell people I'm blind, and literally not be lying!" He even used it to slightly hit on Neo, "oh please! Even I can see you look cute! And I'm blind!" To bad Neo took that as typical Will being extra rather than he was being hit on. So that was the story of Will, the most beautiful albino ever, and one of my best friends.