Perhaps Mikasa should have been concerned that her brother was spending his math period, a geometry class that he was just on the verge of failing were it not for Armin's help, texting her. On most days, she probably would. For one thing, she wouldn't be texting him back. Not because she was some fantastic student, the kind that teachers put on a pedestal, but because she was smart enough to know that any student seen with their cell phone would have it taken away by a teacher.
For first time offenders, phones were simply confiscated and put inside of a teacher's desk (though a few had gone so far as to bring in plastic boxes, decorated with brightly colored construction paper reading "The Phone Box", and put the phones inside there). Second (and third and fourth and any other countless number) time offenders had their phone sent to the office where a parent would have to pick it up after school (unless they were a senior who was lucky enough to be eighteen, and even then they still had to wait until the three-o-clock bell rang). Knowing her brother, he was at least a second time offendor, and she doubted that their mother would want to go pick his phone up.
Maybe he'll be smart and figure out how to hide it behind a textbook, Mikasa thought.
He had certainly been texting her for a while. His teacher was either having a long lecture over the wonders of triangles or he was just getting lucky. Either way, her brother's snarky comments were far more exciting than any of the day time television shows on TV. Sick or not, her thumb was getting a workout clicking the button on the remote to change channels.
I could read, Mikasa thought.
She had to force back a snort. She hadn't been to the library in a while, school or public, and the last time that she had been to a bookstore had been, what? One and a half, two, or three months before? Even if she wanted to read, it wasn't as if she actually had anything at home worth reading. And she wasn't about to go digging through her father's medical textbooks or her mother's romance novels either.
Mikasa turned on her phone. No new text from Eren; it had been two minutes since he had last texted her. Either he had finally run out of things to tell her or the teacher had finally confiscated his phone. Which was worse?
EREN? YOU OK? Mikasa texted.
Her phone needed to be charged. With twenty-six percent left, it wouldn't be long before it would stubbornly shut off and refuse to come on again until she plugged it in.
Mikasa groaned. Dropping her phone onto her stomach, she sat further up on the couch and grabbed the remote again. Maybe if she kept flipping through a few more channels than she would finally find something worth watching.
Maybe.
"Mikasa!"
Mikasa awoke with a start. Her phone fell from her stomach and clattered to the floor, as did the remote and one of her blankets. She blinked a few times, until at last the room around her made sense.
"Oh, hey, Mom," she said. She rubbed at her eyes. If her mother was home from work, then how long had Mikasa been asleep?
She reached down and grabbed her phone from the floor.
"I'm sorry to have startled you," she said. "I just got home from the grocery and found you asleep. I was going to ask if you wanted me to go to school and pick up some of your textbooks for you."
Mikasa nodded. "Thanks, that would be..." Before she could finish her sentence, she yawned. "Yeah, that would be great."
She nodded. "Are you feeling any better, sweetie?"
"I don't know." Mikasa's head throbbed and the inside of her throat felt as if it had been rubbed dry.
Her mother frowned. "I'm sorry sweetie." She walked further into the living room and placed a hand on Mikasa's forehead. "You still have a fever."
Mikasa sighed. "Great."
"I know being sick isn't fun." She patted Mikasa's shoulder. "Don't get too down about it, though."
Mikasa gave her mother a smile. That was her mother, always trying to look at the bright side.
"I'm making homemade chicken soup tonight, the kind with real chicken and not just the flavored broth."
Mikasa grinned. Maybe there was a bright side to this.
She turned on her phone. Juding by the number of texts that she had gotten from Eren, ones that she hadn't been awake to respond to, he hadn't gotten his phone confiscated.
"Let me text you my locker number and combination," Mikasa said. "I need my history textbook to study for a test. I brought some other stuff home yesterday that I can work on too."
Her mother nodded. "Of course, sweetie. I hope that you feel better. Want me to pick you up anything while I'm out? Some medicine, some other food?"
Mikasa shook hr head. "I don't know what else I need."
"Alright," she said. "Text me if you have any changes. I'd be glad to get you something. Being sick is awful."
"And here I thought that dad in the family," Mikasa replied.
Her mother chuckled. "Knowing him, he's probably already thinking of a serious diagnosis." She leaned down and kissed Mikasa's forehead. "Let's just hope that you feel better soon."
Once her mother left, Mikasa turned her phone back on. She supposed that she could text Eren, but his last text had been hours before when she was asleep. Besides, he was already home by then.
Her stomach rumbled, begging for food. Lunch time had long since passed and the dry toast that she had eaten for breakfast had probably been digested, at least judging by how loud it was.
"I'll get you food," Mikasa mumbled. Standing up, she slowly walked to the kitchen, pausing every few moments to relax her shaking legs.
Eren was in the kitchen, a chocolate chip cookie held to his mouth and a wad of papers in his other hand. He blinked at Mikasa a few times and then held the papers behind his back.
Mikasa raised an eyebrow. "School stuff Mom and Dad should know about?" Knowing Eren, it could be anything from a failed test to a legal form.
"Definitely not," Eren replied. "As if I want them signing me up for this field trip."
"Field trip?"
"It's for my biology class."
"Don't you want a chance to miss class?"
"It's not like we're going to a nature park, Mikasa. My teacher wants us to go to a nearby college a few weeks from now and listen to some big science hot shot do a lecture."
Whatever, Mikasa thought. Her stomach was too busy rumbling for her to worry about him.
"Your secret is safe with me. Just make sure they don't ever notice those forms."
Eren smiled. "Okay."
Mikasa rummaged through the kitchen cabinets. Most stuff she would eat on any normal day, but with the way her stomach was flipping she didn't want to risk seeing her chocolate chip cookies or Fruit Rollups on the floor. Finally, she grabbed some crackers. Those were supposed to help stomachs, right?
"So how was your school day?" Mikasa asked in between bites of her Ritz.
"Boring," Eren replied. "Nothing big happened while you were gone, if that's what you're wondering. I did see Annie carrying your doll around in the hall though."
"Yeah?"
"Huh?"
"The doll and Annie," Mikasa said. "What about them?"
"What do you mean? She was just carrying the doll and some books. Other kids who are doing the same assignment do it too." Eren bit into his cookie. "What's the big deal about that?"
Mikasa winced. Her brother really needed to stop talking with his mouth full. "Oh, nothing. I'm just curious. It's not like anything exciting happened to me today."
"It had to have been better than the day I had. Mine definitely wasn't exciting."
Mikasa snorted. "Come over here and let me pass a few germs along then."
Eren wrinkled his nose and took a step back, leaning his back against the kitchen counter.
To think, Mikasa thought, grabbing another cracker. I was actually worried about that doll for a moment.
She really must have gotten quite the bug.
At least there were finally some decent shows on TV. Mikasa didn't have to hurt her thumb as much as she flipped through the channels. There were a few interesting movies on along with some shows she liked; now all she had to do was figure out which were worth watching.
One of the movies she wanted to watch, something she had meant to catch in theaters a few years before but then never gotten around to, was in the middle and close to ending. The shows she wanted to watch were all airing reruns. She could only be on one channel at a time.
What incredible problems I have, Mikasa thought before finally stopping on one of the cartoon channels. Right then, watching animals violently attacking each other with various objects seemed like as good of a way to pass the time as any.
Just when it reached commercials, there was a loud knock on the door. Mikasa jumped slightly. The knocking came again, louder than before.
"Eren!" Mikasa yelled. "Go open the door!"
Her only reply was more frantic knocking.
"Eren!"
Great, Mikasa thought. He probably has his headphones in again with the music turned up way too loud.
With a heavy sigh and energy that she did not have, Mikasa somehow forced herself up off of the couch and too the door. Her father had probably forgotten his keys that morning and just wanted to get inside. Some kid could be selling stuff door to door for their club. Someone could be trying to convert Mikasa to some religion or the other (if it was that case then she would open the door and then just as quickly closing it once again).
The people at the door, however, were far from any of those. Unless Sasha was trying to get Mikasa to convert to the religion of food, then she was safe. She doubted Annie was going to earn Girl Scouts badges from selling whatever was in her plastic Tupperware container either. In her other hand was the doll, which was held closely to her chest; unless Annie was trying to breastfeed it while still keeping her shirt on, then Mikasa was pretty sure that she was trying to crush their child with her boob.
"Hi, Mikasa!" Sasha reached forward, her arms held out.
Mikasa stepped back. "What are you two doing here?"
Annie looked over to Sasha. "I wouldn't touch her right now if I were you, Sasha. I don't think either of us will be able to make chicken soup for you."
Sasha pouted.
Annie turned back towards Mikasa. "We're just returning the favor," Annie said. "I heard that you weren't feeling well today and didn't see you at school."
Sasha, still frowning, looked over to Mikasa. "I'm sorry that you're sick."
"it's fine," Mikasa said. She took the plastic container from Annie's hand. It seemed like she would be living off chicken soup for quite some time. "I'll get over it."
"Yeah, I managed to." Annie paused. "So, how bad is it?"
"Just a fever," Mikasa said. "It wouldn't be so bad if I weren't so cold and wasn't so tired. You would think that having a fever would mean that I was on fire, but instead I have to stuff myself under piles of blankets."
Sasha's frown deepened. "Oh, Mikasa, that's terrible! You really do need this chicken soup to help make you feel better."
"Let's hope that it works," Mikasa replied.
"If you need any help with homework, I can try and help." Sasha sighed. "Oh, Mikasa, I really do hope that you feel better. I was hoping that you wouldn't be doing so terribly, but you look terrible. I'm glad that Annie said we should come here."
Mikasa held a hand to her face. "How bad do I look?"
"Well," Annie said, looking to the ground. "You aren't about to win any awards, Mikasa. Your hair is a mess and your eyes look pretty dim, if that makes any sense. Uh, no offense. I guess you just look tired. Is that the right word?"
"Yeah, I think so." Sasha added. "And your skin is sort of red too, which I'm guessing is just another part of the fever. If it's as bad as it looks, then it really must be terrible. I hope that you feel better, Mikasa."
"Thank you," she said, looking to Sasha. "You too, Annie."
Annie looked to the ground, her cheeks coloring slightly. "Hey, it was Sasha who made the soup."
"Thank you anyway."
Annie looked back up, her eyes wider than before. "I, uh, hope that I wasn't the one who got you sick. If I did, then I'm really sorry."
"Maybe you did." Mikasa shrugged. "Or maybe not. You know how it is at school; the place might as well be declared a germ farm."
Annie chuckled. "Yeah, it definitely is. That's probably how I got sick in the first place."
Mikasa yawned.
"We should get going," Sasha said, pulling her keys from her pocket. "I hope we can see you back at school again sometime soon, Mikasa. Hurry up and feel better, okay?"
Mikasa nodded.
Annie gave a small wave before readjusting the doll in her arms.
She would never admit it to her mother, but Sasha's chicken soup was the best in the world, even without the pieces of chicken floating in it. It was certainly a fantastic breakfast, especially when Mikasa didn't feel like warming up or making anything else.
Picking up her phone, she sent her third message of the morning to Eren.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING BRO?
Unless he had magically gotten tired of checking his phone, then he had finally gotten his phone taken away by a teacher.
At least she had other people to text.
WHAT'S UP SASHA? YOUR SOUP IS GREAT.
She ate another spoonful of it.
Picking up her phone, she sent another message.
ANYTHING COOL GOING ON WITH YOU, ANNIE?
It was a heavy question mark kind of day.
I want to again thank everyone who has read, favorited, followed the story, and left reviews. They really mean so much to me and I am very thankful for all of you readers. I'm glad that you all can enjoy this story.
