Hey! Here's another "filler" chapter. Sorry if it's boring...

...

Chapter Seven: Sick Day

"Bella, I'm sorry. You'll have to stay in bed today."

Bella opened her mouth to protest, but all that came out was a series of coughs. She had been up half the night with a runny nose and a sore throat, and now she had a bad cough, to top it all off.

"But, Mom…" Bella said when coughing subsided. "It's the weekend…*cough, cough*. I wanted to…*cough, cough, cough*…go out and play in the…*cough*…snow."

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. You're sneezing, you have a sore throat, and you're coughing up a lung." She thrust a thermometer under Bella's tongue and looked at it a minute later. "You're also burning up."

"But…" Bella started, trying to sit up.

"No buts," Connie said firmly, walking out the door. "You can move to my bed for today, but I don't want you getting up too much."

Bella glumly got out of bed and followed Connie to her room. This was usually where the kids went if they were sick because they could have the luxury of lying in bed all day while still being able to watch TV.

"I'm going to call in sick," Connie said, reaching for the cordless phone. "You can't be home by yourself in the state you're in." She walked out of the room, dialing the number of her work.

Bella reached for the TV remote and turned on SpongeBob. Every time she tried to laugh, all that came out was excessive coughing.

A soft knock came from outside the room. "Bella?" came Max's voice.

Bella tried to tell Max to go away, but she once again began to cough. Max opened the door and walked in.

"What's wrong? Are you sick?"

Bella nodded and emitted a sneeze.

"Do you need a Kleenex?"

Bella nodded again, trying not to stare at her hands, which were now covered in green.

Max went out of the room and came back with a Kleenex box. "Here, Bella," he said, handing it to her.

"Thanks," Bella said quickly, afraid that she'd start coughing if she tried to talk anymore.

"Bella? Is it okay if I stay here with you?" Max asked, toeing the carpet.

Bella shook her head. "I'm sick," Bella said, restraining herself from coughing.

"I can take care of you," Max said, looking up at her with his big, brown eyes. "I can ask Mommy to help me make you some soup."

Bella was about to tell him that she'd think about it when Connie suddenly reappeared. "Max, you can't be in here today," she said, herding him out. "Bella's sick, and we don't want you getting sick, either."

"But—"

"No buts," Connie said firmly. "Today this room is off-limits, okay?"

"Okay," Max conceded. He turned and waved sadly. "Bye, Bella."

Bella caught a sneeze in a Kleenex before waving back.

Connie shut the door behind Max and then turned to her daughter. "What's gotten into you two?"

Bella was confused. "Huh?"

"You two have been getting along fine for the past two months," Connie said, folding her arms. "You've only had about...what, five minor disagreements at the most? This is the first time since…Max was born that you've been nice to each other."

Bella shrugged. "I don't know," she said, once again restraining a cough. "Maybe you were right about it being a phase. Maybe I've grown out of it."

"Bella, it's not good to do that," Connie remarked. "Go ahead and cough."

Bella nodded and let herself cough, and what started out as one or two turned into a coughing spasm. When she was done, her chest hurt.

"I'm gonna try to find some medicine," Connie said more to herself than Bella. She walked out of the room and closed the door.

...

The day was very uneventful after that. Bella slept for a few hours and watched TV the rest of the time. Her meals were brought to her on a cookie tray, and all she drank was water. She would look out the window now and then, jealous of the kids who got to go out and play (although she was happy that there wasn't any snow just yet).

In the middle of the afternoon, Bella heard someone at the door. She thought it was Connie at first, but she quickly realized it wasn't when she heard the light pattering of feet on the hallway floor.

She got up and saw that the door was still closed, but someone had slipped a piece of paper under the door. Bella got up to retrieve it before settling back into bed.

She felt a smile spread across her face when she read what was on the paper:

Dear Bella,

Please get well soon. I miss you.

Love, Max

Under the note was a stick figure drawing of Max and Bella, fighting off a dragon. Max was portrayed as a wolf in a superhero outfit, wielding a sword, while it looked as if Bella had fangs protruding from her mouth and was karate-kicking the dragon. Next to the two stick figures were the words Max the Super Wolf and Bella the Vampire.

Even though she still didn't feel one hundred percent healthy, Bella sensed that she was now feeling a little better. She'd have to thank Max later for curing her loneliness.

...

A week after getting over her cold-flu-whatever-it-was, Bella started to have an itch. It came in red bumpy patches; it would start one place, and then it would jump to another part of her body. All day at school, Bella felt itchy, and found herself scratching excessively.

"Bella," Tori said at lunch, "your neck is all red and spotty."

"I know," Bella said, flinching from the pain of scratching. "And so are my arms and my legs and everywhere else."

"You should go see the nurse. You might have chicken pox."

"I already had that when I was five. Besides, it keeps moving."

"Huh?" Tori cocked her head, confused.

"Like, my arms will itch, then it'll stop, then my feet will itch, then it'll stop, and—"

"Okay, I get it," Tori said. "I don't care what it is. You need to see the nurse."

...

It turned out that she had hives. Both the school nurse and the doctor she was taken to said that it was most likely and after effect from whatever she had had the previous week. Bella was told that she needed to keep the rash from worsening by keeping cool and taking Benadryl, along with staying away from wool and polyester until she got better.

Although the hives only lasted a few days, Bella was miserable the whole time. She quickly learned that hives could be very unpredictable, and often found herself rubbing the bottoms of her feet on the carpet or clawing at her elbows. She knew that scratching only made it worse, but it was much too hard to simply let the Benadryl take effect, especially since it only lasted for four hours.

The day after she was feeling better, Bella found another drawing lying on her bed. This one read:

Dear Bella,

I'm glad you're feeling better. I really missed you. Maybe tomorrow you and I can play together.

Max

Accompanying this note was a picture of Max the Super Wolf, fighting off red spots that looked an awful lot like her hives. In the background was Bella the Vampire, smiling and covered with various Band-Aids, indicating that she was all better.

Bella smiled. Her mother had a rule that if anyone in the house was sick, they needed to wait at least three days before getting back to their normal schedule. But this time, she was determined to break the rules. Max wanted - needed - a playmate, and she was determined to fill that spot.

Her mother would understand…eventually.