"Ugh! He was so weird! He has whiter hair than Mr. Knotter, and paler skin than Julius from midde school! And his eyes are red like blood, but mixed with purple," Gabby looked like she was telling a ghost story. She repeated, "Purple! It was so creepy!"

    Everyone shuddered. Mr. Knotter was the meanest, whitest-haired teacher in the school, and hearing words like blood and Julius in the same sentence was horrifying. In seventh grade, Julius got into a fight with another kid and bit him so hard that he bled. Since then, partially because of his unsually pale complexion, everyone associates him with a vampire. When Julius hurt his lip in eighth grade and people saw him constantly licking blood off of his mouth, we were convinced.

   But this wasn't Julius they were talking about. They were gossiping about Caleb, the new kid. I befriended him on the very first day of school and found out that he was an albino, which meant that he was born without pigment in his hair, eyes, and skin. 

   I noticed people giving him the weird eye when we walked to class, or trying to figure out whether his mad-scientist-like white hair was a wig or not, constantly whispering about him behind his back. I didn't understand all the fuss. In fact, I thought Caleb was the most normal guy out of all of my friends. I was actually envious of his beautiful sunset-eyes.

   "He's such a freak. I wouldn't be surprised if he went all Julius on us, honestly," Gabby laughed. "Right, Grace?"

     I swallowed. I swallow hard. Still, I couldn't swallow the tense lump in my throat. If I went against my friends, they would think I was weird. But Caleb was my friend, too. He didn't deserve to be the center of gossip just because of his appearance.

   Ok, Grace, you can do it. Just be subtle. "Guys, you're just comparing him to the bad side; what about all the good stuff? His hair is white, like milk and vanilla ice-cream! And-and his skin is like, uh, snow! And his eyes are the color of twilight and sunset mixed together!" I didn't sound like myself. Milk? Seriously? Keep it together, Grace. 

   "Aw, that's cute – Grace likes the freak!" Asher sneered, feigning excitement. "And your words were so poetic, Gracie. I could just see it, on your wedding day... I fell in love with the milk in his eyes"

  "Would you cut it out?" I snapped, suddenly no longer feeling nervous. "I don't see why you hate Caleb so much. He isn't that different from any of us."

  "Oh please, Grace," Gabby rolled her eyes, "Caleb is creepy. He probably feeds on blood, just like Julius." Gabby cracked a smile and Asher burst into laughter, as if Gabby said something absolutely hilarious. I shot Asher an evil look. "Give Asher a break, Grace. It was just a joke. Why do you always pick on him?"

   "Why are you picking on Caleb, then, huh?! You know what really makes him different from you guys? He isn't ignorant or heartless!" I barked, furiously swinging my bag onto my back and storming out of the cafeteria. Gabby ran quickly to my side, rolling her eyes once more. Asher didn't even get out of his seat. What wonderful friends I have.

   "Why are you so mad, Gracie? We're not planning to murder him or anything. You can't be mad at your best frends for joking around."

   "That isn't joking around, Gabby. That's downright mean! Caleb always has kids snickering behind his back, and you two adding on to it oesn't exactly make things better. I understand that this isn't that big of a deal to you, but it is to me!" With that, I marched off, heading towards the school library, where Caleb should have been  finishing up his history project.

  "Where are you going, stupid? Lunch isn't over yet!"  Gabby hollered from the cafeteria doors, but I mentally covered my ears and just kept on marching until, at last, I met the huge red sign that read, Land of Escape (Thee Library). I took a deep breath and pushed open the doors.

   "Oh, hey, Grace!" Caleb's cheery voice sang,the edges of his lips quickly rising into a shy smile. "I finished my project and was just thinking about going to the lunchroom to see you! I got you something."  He fumbled about with something in his pocket before taking out his hand and unfolding his fingers to reveal somthing magical, something that made my heart flip a million times...

   He had gotten me a candy friendship bracelet.

   "It symbolizes friendship and food, my two favorite things," he grinned.  Those are my two favorite things, too!  "I mean, uh, hi..." He lowered his voice, his cheeks turning the same tone as his eyes when a few of the kids in the room started to giggle. He smiled once more.

   "Hi, Caleb," I happily returned his smile. "You're so sweet, t's unbelievable! You got me food. You basically just won over my entire heart!" 

   Caleb  let out a nervous laugh. "That's so nice to hear. No one else wants to be friends with me. There was this kid in my Engllish class, Asher, and  the teacher assigned him to be my partner for an activity. Asher personally requested the teacher to pick anyone else but me to partner up with him. The same thing happened with every other kid that followed." There was a flicker of hurt in his sunset eyes.

   I scowled, feeling a pang of fury in my chest.  "Don' worry.  I'll take care of that," I said, standing up straighter with determination. I no longer felt any need to stay friends with Gabby and Asher. They were just like everyone else, mean and judgmental. Well, they were just like everyone else but Caleb. He might not have had much color in his physical features, but when it came down to it, Caleb was not the colorless one.