Paulo did not have a head for numbers. Sure, he could tell you all the girls he flirted with, but could he tell you how many that was? Nope. And this reflected in his math scores. Much like his success rate with girls, it was low across the board.

And as it goes, Paulo found himself going to a good friend of his, Daisy. Daisy was smart, really smart. She excelled in all her studies, even at the advanced classes that she took. Math, of course, was no exception. But one thing she loved even more than learning was her friends. So when Paulo asked her for some math tutoring, she happily obliged.

The two agreed to meet at Paulo's house after school for some fun and pizza, and some good tutoring. Daisy was patient as Paulo furrowed his brow and chewed on the end of his pencil while he concentrated on the problems presented to him. Daisy, already having worked out the problem in her head, gently encouraged Paulo from the sidelines.

"C'mon Paulo, you got this!" She said. "Just take it one step at a time."

The orange cat shook his head. "Numbers are total nonsense. You're telling me." He picked up his pencil and started furiously scribbling. "That if I do this." He wrote down some numbers. "And do this with them." He wrote out the mathematical symbols to correspond with them. "Then I'll just magically get the answer?!" Paulo then worked out what he could and wrote what he thought the answer was next to his angry scribbles.

Daisy looked over Paulo's messy handwriting and smiled brightly at him. "Yes! That's right Paulo! You did it!"

Paulo blinked in disbelief. "Wait… really?" He looked over his notes and back to the problem.

"Yeah!" Daisy patted him on the back. "I knew you could do it!"

Paulo smiled a bit. "Well, with your help of course." Paulo looked at the time. It was nearly 10. "Wow." He said. "It got really late."

"Oh. Right." Daisy looked a bit down. "Well, I suppose I should get going."

Paulo noticed her sudden change in demeanor. "Look… you could stay over, if you want. It's not a school night after all. If your parents are ok with it."

This seemed to cheer Daisy up a bit. "I'll call them!"

Daisy left to call her parents while Paulo cleaned up the papers and school stuff. He shoved them in his backpack and tossed it in his closet. He didn't like to be reminded of school on the weekends. He had just slipped into his PJs when Daisy came back, happy as ever.

"They're ok with it!" She cheered, and Paulo couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm.

"I'm glad." He said back to her. "I can get my sleeping bag for you. Unless you want the bed, of course."

"Sleeping bag is fine!" She said cheerfully. Paulo pulled out his sleeping bag from under where he had thrown his backpack earlier and laid it out for her. He even gave her an extra pillow to sleep on.

"If you need anything, just let me know." The red cat said turning off the ceiling light, leaving his bedside lamp still on.

"I will. Thank you Paulo." His cream furred friend replied, crawling up in the sleeping bag. Paulo likewise got under the covers of his blanket and shut off the light.

"Goodnight." Paulo whispered to Daisy in the darkness.

"Goodnight." Daisy whispered back.

Paulo contentedly rolled over in bed and drifted off to sleep. He dreamed of numbers and equations. Pretty boring for Paulo. Then his dreams turned to Daisy and-

Maybe it was minutes later. Maybe it had been hours. Whatever the case was, Paulo awoke quietly. Outside, a storm had rolled in, rain, wind, lightning and thunder. The whole package. He didn't mind storms, though. He thought they were cool.

Paulo sat up and looked out his window at the rain splattering on the glass, and the lightning setting the sky alight. Thunder followed nearly instantaneously, loud and strong, shaking the house. Even Paulo had to admit, that was a bit close for comfort. After the noise had subsided, he picked up on another sound… whimpering?

He looked around for what could be making the noise. He heard soft sobs, and someone calling out his name, "Paulo… Paulo…" and then Paulo remembered. Daisy was staying over. He looked over the side of the bed where they had laid out the sleeping bag.

Daisy was still asleep, but she was tossing and turning something fierce. And the whole time she was crying and talking in her sleep. Paulo listened in.

"Paulo… please…" she cried. "P-please s-s-save me… Paulo help… please…"

She was calling out… for him? To save her? Paulo sat puzzled, but then he understood. 'She must be having a night terror' he thought to himself. Slowly and carefully he slid to the floor next to her, and gently shook her shoulder.

"Daisy." He whispered. "Daisy, wake up."

Daisy jerked awake with a gasp and started breathing heavily. She turned to look at Paulo, her lip trembling.

"Oh Paulo!" She said and threw herself at him and hugged him tightly. "I… I… had the m-most terrible…" she choked out between sobs "most terrible d-dream."

Paulo sat, stunned, still processing Daisy's actions. Finally he put his arms around her shaking body and whispered calmly to her. "It's ok, Daisy. Why were you calling my name, though?"

Daisy pulled herself away, embarrassed. "There w-was a scary monster… it was dragging me away… I saw you and I… I… " she shook her head. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Paulo… I shouldn't burden you with…" her sentence trailed off into more tears.

Just then, another bolt of lightning lit up the sky, followed by another ferocious clap of thunder. Daisy covered her ears and closed her eyes, sobbing harder. Paulo scooted closer to her and hugged her. After a moment, Daisy leaned into it.

Paulo could feel her body trembling with fear. He felt really bad for her, and wanted to make her feel better. He gently petted her head and whispered to her again. "I'm here now, Daisy. And I promise, I would never let anything harm you."

Daisy looked into his eyes with her large, watery ones. "P-promise?" She asked.

"Promise." Paulo gave her a confident smile.

Daisy felt a bit better, but was still terrified of the storm, and was still scared that she might have another nightmare if she went back to sleep. "P-Paulo…?" She asked nervously.

"Yes?" He replied.

"You said if I needed anything, to let you know, right?"

"Mhm."

"I was wondering if… gah!" Daisy put her head in her paws.

"Wondering if what?" Paulo inquired.

"W-wondering if I could… maybe if I could… sleep with you tonight." Her face turned bright red, although Paulo couldn't see it in the darkness. He himself was taken aback, very surprised.

Not that he would mind sharing the bed with Daisy, but…

Another lightning strike and more thunder made Daisy whimper and shake harder than ever. And in that moment, Paulo knew Daisy needed him. And he wanted to be there for her, just as she had been there for him.

"Yes. Of course you can." He answered. Daisy nodded and Paulo helped her up. She crawled into Paulo's bed, with him not far behind. After the two were snuggled up safe under the covers, Daisy sidled up close to him and laid her head on his chest.

"Thank you… thank you so much Paulo…" she whispered to him.

"Any time." He answered back. More thunder and lightning crashed outside in a spectacular display. Daisy still flinched, but Paulo noticed she was handling it better now. She grabbed a fistful of his shirt and held onto it every time thunder sounded off.

Eventually, Paulo felt her grip relax as she nodded off to sleep. Paulo still held onto her, just in case she got scared again. He watched over her, and the storm, until he too felt sleep overcome him, taking him off to dreamland once more.