The fever comes back over night. It turns Karai's dreams into a blur of faces and voices.

Sometimes, her mother's face emerges from the blur, sometimes, Karai can feel a gentle touch on her forehead, but it's gone as soon as it came.

When she wakes up in the morning, she feels better. Actually, she feels good. Her throat doesn't burn any longer, only scratches a bit when she swallows, and her head no longer feels like it's swimming in a blurry ocean.

But she's tired, so very tired.

She goes back to sleep almost immediately. It's a dreamless sleep, and she's thankful for that.

When she wakes, she sees her mother and then falls asleep again.

And the next time she wakes, she feels rested. She turns her head to the side and finds her mother sitting next to her bed, her mother wearing a yellow shirt, her mother having her hair dyed red.

Karai sits up with a jolt.

"April!" she calls out.

"Good morning, Karai!" April replies with a smile.

"What are you doing here?" Karai asks, looking April over.

It really is April. No dream could smile so sweetly. Besides, April usually doesn't smile in her dreams. Not at all.

"Your mom asked me to look after you because she had an important appointment. So here I am."

"Aren't you supposed to be at school?" Karai moves the blanket over her chest. April doesn't need to see she's wearing pajamas with kitties on them. It's bad enough that April sees her like this, without any makeup and probably smelling from sweat.

April laughs. "It's weekend, silly. And by the way, it's nice to see … uhm ... hear that your voice has come back."

Karai raises a brow, and then realizes it's the truth. Her throat doesn't hurt when she's talking any longer.

And then she realizes something else.

"Where did my mom go?"

April shrugs. "She didn't say, just that it's important."

This sends a pang through Karai's heart. Her mother would never leave her side when she's sick. And no, it's not the fact that her mother has actually left her alone that makes her heart ache, Karai tells herself. No, it's because her mother left her for something important, more important than her sickness.

Maybe this means that they are moving again soon.

Karai twists her mouth.

"I'll go to the bathroom," she announces, wrapping herself into her blanket because kitties!, and gets up.

"Do you need help?" April asks.

Karai gives her a look.

"Well, not in the bathroom, of course, but maybe on how to get there?" April specifies.

Karai just shakes her head and sets into motion.

"Call if you need anything!"

Once in the bathroom Karai takes a shower, washing away the sweat and the sickness.

And when she's done she even thinks of putting on some makeup.

But no, that would look weird, coming back to April all dolled up and naked under her blanket because she is so not going to wear that kitties-pajamas again!

But the thought of going back naked leaves her flustered and makes her blush, and she doesn't understand why.

So what now?

Should she ask April to bring her new pajamas? But the thought alone makes her feel uncomfortable. There are too many pajamas with hearts, teddy bears, and yes, kitties on them in her drawer.

Karai makes a mental note to buy some new pajamas soon.

But that doesn't help with her recent situation.

So going back to her room only wrapped in her blanket or risking to make April see her embarrassing pajamas?

She feels her cheeks heat even more and she doesn't know which one of the options is causing that.

She opens the bathroom door a bit.

"Uhm, April?" she calls.

"Yes?"

"Could you please bring me my jeans and my hoodie? They're on my desk chair."

"Will do!" comes the reply.

Well, thank goodness she's been able to think of a third option just in time.

"Just give it a try!" April insists.

"It's a soap opera, and that's a definite 'over my dead body'!"

But April keeps waggling the DVD of "These Days" in front of Karai's face. "Pretty please?"

"No!"

April sighs. "Remember when you didn't think trigonometry was easy? But it is, and I told you so."

"But that's trigonometry and not some stupid soap opera!" Karai folds her arms over her chest.

"It's not a stupid soap opera!" April replies in an indignant voice. "Why would you even think that? It's really, really good!"

"No!"

"I was right about trigonometry being easy, and I swear I am right about 'These Days' being good."

"You can't always be right."

"Yes, I can, and yes, I am."

Instead of a reply Karai twists her mouth.

"And if I go get us a huge pile of pizza gyoza to eat while we watch?"

Karai likes to tell herself that she only did it for the pizza gyoza. She didn't even mean to really pay attention, but as much as she hates to admit it, "These Days" really is good.

She especially likes Rita, a woman who'd do anything to get what she wants, even if it means destroying someone else's life. And the way she uses her female charm to make men - and sometimes even women - dance to her tune is just amazing. But from the strangled noises April makes whenever Rita appears on screen Karai starts to think that Rita isn't April's favorite.

They are sitting on Karai's bed with her laptop in front of them on her desk chair, each of them having a plate with a huge pile of pizza gyoza on their laps.

Karai only meant to watch one or two episodes and then get rid of this soap opera, but they are still watching it when her mother comes home hours later.