Cora looked up, blinking sleep from her eyes as someone poked her in the back with a pencil. She had almost fallen asleep in class again. She turned around to see who had poked her, and she saw Elli, a girl she had known for a very long time, but they weren't close friends. Elli smirked at her and pointed up front to where the teacher was looking at Cora suspiciously. Cora nodded as she turned back to look at her book, and focus on the lesson. She had been tired the past few weeks, and she hadn't been able to sleep recently. But she managed to keep up with her schoolwork, and her extra work at home. She began to doodle in her notebook while she waited for the class to finish. As soon as it did, she sprang up from her seat and made her escape out to the hallway.

Once she was there, she walked to her locker and pulled her phone out of her pocket to text her friends, Raina and Faye. Soon after she did, they appeared at her locker, both carrying their backpacks.

"Hey!" Faye said, "I haven't seen you for a while!" She hugged Cora, knocking her beanie off. Cora wriggled out of her grasp and pulled her hat back on, hiding the way she flinched when Faye touched her. Faye didn't notice, she was too distracted by Raina's immediate questions.

"How was the trip? Was it fun? Did your dad take you anywhere special? Oooh, did you get any pictures? Can you show them to us?" Despite her normally calm demeanor, Raina was practically bouncing with excitement as Faye laughed and waited for her to finish talking before answering her questions, one by one.

"The trip was great! Tokyo is really pretty! Dad was busy the whole time, so I didn't do much with him, but I did get to explore on my own. Yes, of course, I got pictures, but they're on my camera at home, so I can't show them right now. But you can come over after school and I'll show them to you," she said.

"Yay!"

"Come on, we have lunch. It's a nice day, I bet they'll let us eat outside!" Cora said, distracting them. They all went outside and sat on the grass with some of their classmates to eat lunch. As they pulled out their lunches, Elli came over and sat down next to Raina.

"Um...Hi," she said with a nervous laugh. "Mind if I sit here?"

"Well, we can't stop you," Cora said sarcastically. When she saw the look on Elli's face, she softened her tone. "Yeah, we don't mind," she said to make up for it.

"How are you doing, Elli?" Raina asked, seeming to notice something about Elli that Cora didn't.

"Oh, uh, I'm fine, how are you?" Elli said, blushing.

"I'm good, thanks for asking!" Raina responded with a smile.

"Mhmm,"

Sitting on the other side of Raina, Faye looked down at her paper, biting her lip as she did math in her head. She turned to Cora. "It's 42. The answer to everything on this page is 42. Mr. Sellano's references have gotten out of hand, don't you think?"

"Yeah, that's ridiculous," Cora said, barely focused. She tried to stand up, muttering, "I don't feel great.." but as she tried, she nearly collapsed, catching herself on her hands.

"Hey! Cora! Are you okay?" Faye asked, looking at her closer. Cora shook her head. "That's it, I'm bringing you to the nurse." She addressed Raina and Elli, who were deep in conversation. "I'm bringing Cora to the nurse, okay?"

"Do you want me to come with?" Raina asked, beginning to stand up.

"No, it's fine, I've got it. You can stay here with Elli," Faye responded. Raina nodded and sat back down, looking at Elli again. Faye grabbed Cora gently by her arm and began to walk her inside. As soon as they got inside, Faye looked at Cora, concern obvious in her eyes.

"Hey, what is it? What happened?"

"I, um, I don't know. It's loud out there and I'm not feeling good. Maybe I need to go home." Cora leaned against the wall for support as they walked together down the hall.

"Did you sleep last night?"

"Uhhh,"

"Did you sleep the night before?"

Cora looked down and quietly shook her head.

"When was the last time you slept?"

"I slept a little on Sunday," She said quietly

"Cora! It's Wednesday!"

"I know, and if I could sleep at night, I would,"

"Will telling your parents help?"

"They're already upset because my grades are dropping,"

"Ah. Well, let's get you home, you can rest then, okay?"

Cora nodded as they approached the nurse's office. Faye waited outside as Cora walked in. Within moments, she walked back out again.

"Ms. Moore says I can go home," she said, relieved. Ms. Moore hadn't even glanced at her before she typed something in her computer and told Cora she could go home.

"Okay, can you get home by yourself?" Faye asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Tell Raina bye for me," Cora said, as she walked out of the building.

Cora got home a few minutes later and walked inside.

"Coco? What are you doing home already?" Cora's mom asked, staring at her in surprise.

"I don't feel good, I'm just gonna rest, okay, Mom?"

"That's fine, just don't forget to do your homework. And wash the dishes if you're feeling up to it."

"Okay," She said, walking up the stairs to her room. She went into her room and after taking off her hat, almost immediately collapsed onto her bed. She summoned a bit of her magic, and shifted out of her human form and into her more natural state, a human-cat hybrid. She curled up and tried to sleep, finally slipping into unconsciousness.