Brianna had been miserable all week. Not only was she rendered completely useless during Mary's Big Jump, due to a horrible flu, but Dekka. She liked Dekka. Hell, she would even go as far to say that Dekka was her closest friend here in the FAYZ. But last week, things had gone wrong.

Dekka had some minor injuries following the battle, but nothing that Lana couldn't fix in a few minutes. If Lana were around. Brianna hated her for abandoning everyone. Abandoning Dekka. Dahra was completely overwhelmed, not knowing how to cope with everything and everyone being thrown into the makeshift hospital. Instead, Dekka spent all week in the hospital, while Dahra experimented with different methods of making a cast for Dekka's broken ankle.

Brianna visited her every day, bringing her food and whatever else she could find that would make her stay more enjoyable: Magazines, books, even Brianna's own iPod, which still held half a charge (since the solar panels had been taken, a charged iPod was a rare thing). She had felt so bad for Dekka, lying there helpless, and often in a lot of pain. But she was her friend, so what else was she supposed to do? Finally Dahra had come up with a pair of crutches and a somewhat reliable cast, and had sent Dekka home.

Brianna had suggested that Dekka stay with her until she was back on her feet (Dekka had actually laughed at Brianna's lame attempt at a pun). Now, Brianna thought, she knew that was a mistake. Everything had been a mistake.

She didn't know.

Three nights into Dekka's stay, Brianna had passed out on the bed she had set up for Dekka in a spare room. She was exhausted after another day running around looking for Lana. They were talking about something—Brianna couldn't remember what—when suddenly she was asleep. She awoke in the middle of the night, and immediately felt awful. At first, she expected Dekka would have just went and slept in Brianna's bed, or maybe on the couch.

She didn't expect Dekka to be spooning her.

Brianna was completely trapped in the awkward embrace. Dekka had her arms around her, and even though Brianna could speed out of there in two seconds flat, it would still wake Dekka up. Brianna went through all of these options in a fraction of a second. However, her first instinct was still to fly out of the bed, taking most of the blankets—and almost Dekka—with her.

Dekka woke up, and upon seeing the look on Brianna's face, knew she had made a mistake. Her foot throbbed lightly from the sudden movement, but that wasn't what was bothering her at the moment. Brianna looked completely freaked out. "Brianna, I-"

"What were you doing? You could have just woken me up, you know." Well, Dekka thought, the cat's out of the bag now. Might as well come out with it. "Brianna, I so didn't want to tell you this in these circumstances, but I like you. I like you a lot."

"Well I like you too Dekka, but you don't-"

"Damn it, Brianna! I like you!" Brianna's face gave her away again. She got it. "I… I didn't know, Dekka."

Dekka scowled at Brianna, angry for giving away her emotions. Angry for a lot of reasons, many of which she still didn't understand. "Just go to bed, Brianna."

With that, Dekka pulled the blankets over her head as Brianna shut the door, and prayed for the release of sleep.

Diana was almost happy on her and Caine's little island. They had enough food to last them another year or so, and Diana was beginning to look like her old self again. Sure enough, the vitamins had helped rid her of scurvy, and when she smiled, two rows of gleaming white teeth shone back at her. Her hair, which was rust-coloured and felt like straw only months before, was about at her shoulders, and a few weeks of celebrity-grade shampoo and conditioning treatments had brought back most of the shine she was used to. Jennifer also had a pretty thorough wardrobe. Caine was better; he almost never talked about Sam anymore, and was starting to lose most of his aggression towards her. Was he still an angry jerk? Yes. But he was a lot more manageable than he was on the mainland.

All was not perfect, and Diana knew that. She felt guilty often, knowing what the kids on Perdido Beach were experiencing. Diana could have as many hot showers as she wanted. Eat as much as she wanted. Wash her clothes in a real washing machine, and watch movies all day if that was what she wanted. Was this how all celebrities felt? She often thought about going down to the mainland, collecting a handful of random, lucky kids, and bringing them back with her to share their luxury. But then, wasn't that exactly what Toddifer did with Sanjit and his siblings? And when Sanjit spoke of Jennifer and Todd, they hadn't acted like they were their parents. In fact, they hardly seemed to feel "rescued" to Diana. But, she reminded herself, however happy Sanjit, or any kid in the FAYZ for that matter was, it was no longer her problem.

Diana, for the first time in almost a year, was happy.

AN: I'm annoyed that my Diana/Caine chapters are so short. Don't worry, they shall improve. I have ideas.