Now in the fourth grade, Ricky and Nini were still keeping up their after-school routine, although their normal cuddling time was the furthest thing from their minds today. Two days from now were the fourth-grade science fair, so they were both putting the finishing touches on their projects.

Nini had decided to do her research and experiment on mold. Specifically looking at which food got moldy quickest when left out in the open over a week. Today was the end of her testing window, and while she finished editing the research portion of the project, Ricky was already putting the finishing touches on his poster board.

Ricky had decided to focus his research and experiment on friction. Thanks to Red's suggestion for an idea, he tested different skateboard wheels and materials to find which gave him the most traction, and the most speed. He had completed all of his testing with Nini and Red to be his unofficial research assistants/cheer section as he tested everything he could think of from sandpaper to advertised frictionless wheels and a bunch of materials in between. So he had all of his data already, and he was honestly procrastinating writing everything in his final report, so instead he was busy decorating his poster board with colorful construction paper, letters, and cutouts of various skateboards.

Once Ricky finished that part of his project, he knew he still had a mountain of writing to do on the computer, since Nini was still typing away on her family's computer, and looking for a break from his project, he decided to go look for a snack.

"Hey Nini, are you hungry?"

Nini shook her head without looking at him. "No, not really."

"OK, I'm going to go get a snack in the kitchen. Are you sure you don't want anything?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Nini replied without even looking up from the computer screen. "Plus my moms will be home soon, and Mama C said she's bringing groceries home today. I doubt you'll even find very much in the kitchen right now."

"I know, but I'm getting a snack, yell if you need anything you want me to grab," Ricky said and walked to the kitchen, he scanned through all the cupboards for a few minutes, but it seemed like Nini was correct, even the treat drawer was bare of everything except yellow starbursts that remained at the bottom of their bag.

Ricky kept looking, and when he found a jar of peanut butter, he decided a PB sounded pretty good to him, so he searched some more. He found strawberry jelly in the fridge, but he couldn't find any bread anywhere.

"Ah ha, there you are." Ricky smiled when he saw a lone piece of bread sitting on the counter. He took it without giving it too much thought and started smearing half the piece with jelly, and half the piece with peanut butter. He folded the piece of bread in half to mix the two ingredients together and took a bite.

"Hmm." He chewed thoughtfully for a moment, something was a bit off with his sandwich, it was surprisingly hard and crunchy, it had even snapped when he tried to bend it, and it had a taste Ricky couldn't recognize. He chewed a bit longer, but the odd flavor quickly disappeared and was replaced by the deliciousness of peanut butter and jelly.

"Mmm," giving it no more thought, Ricky took another bite and returned to the living room. Nini was still typing away on her report, but she did turn away from her screen to glance at him for a moment. "So what did you find?"

"A PB ." Ricky reported.

"And how is it? I thought we were all out of bread."

"Nope, there was one piece left." Ricky reported and then stuck the last bite in his mouth. "So don't ask me to go make you another one."

"No problem." Nini shook her head at him. "But I am going to look at my experiment one more time to record my final observations. You can use the computer for now to write your report."

"Oh yay, how fun for me." Ricky groaned sarcastically.

"Come on Ricky, and I'll even make you a deal."

"What kind of deal?" Ricky asked.

"If you can get the rest of your project done before my moms get home, then tomorrow we can rest up the day before the science fair."

"You saying what I think you're saying?"

"Yep, get everything done today, and tomorrow we can just have a cuddle day."

"You really know how to motivate me, don't you Nini?" Ricky laughed, "but you've got yourself a deal."

"You better get to work then." Nini stood up from her chair at the computer desk and Ricky slid in to take her place while she walked to the kitchen, her notebook in hand, just as eager to get this project over with as Ricky was, even though she would never let him know her plan was motivation for her just as much as it was for him.

But when she walked into the kitchen, she could immediately see that something was wrong. The piece of moldy bread was gone. She glanced around the kitchen, maybe one of her moms had moved it, even though they shouldn't have. Nini had even put a post-it note on the plate with the piece of cheese, labeled Nini's Project, Don't Touch!, but the bread was still gone. Her moms wouldn't have thrown it away, would they? But why would they throw away the bread, but not the cheese, apple, banana, or tomato?

She even checked the garbage, but there was no sign there and strangest of all, the plate the bread was previously sitting on was still in its place, but still no bread. Nini scanned the kitchen some more, but when she reached the sink, she froze.

Sitting at the bottom of the sink was a butter knife, still coated in a few globs of jelly. He couldn't have? Wouldn't have, would he? But Nini knew that they were otherwise out of bread, but not even Ricky, as obvious as he was at times could have accidentally eaten her project, but the only other option was then that he intentionally ate her project for some reason, which made even less sense. Or something else could be going on here, but she didn't know what it could possibly be.

"Ricky!" Nini yelled and ran back into her living room so fast that Ricky jumped in his seat when she appeared.

"What? What is it, Nini? What's wrong?" Instantly reading her concerned expression.

"Are you feeling ok?" Nini reached out to feel his forehead with the back of her hand for a moment, and he looked at her like she was the crazy one.

"Nini? What's going on?"

"Ricky, you said you used the last piece of bread in the kitchen for your sandwich, right?"

"Yeah, sorry, did you want one?" Ricky asked again.

"No, now you have to tell me, where did you find it?"

"Um it was sitting out on the counter, honestly it tasted a little funky, and it was pretty hard like it had gone stale."

"Of course, it's gone stale Ricky. Follow me!" Nini grabbed his hand and turned around, giving him hardly any time to react before she was dragging him along.

"Is this where you found the bread you used in your sandwich?" Nini asked, pointing to an empty plate on the countertop."

"Yeah."

"And do you see anything else around here?"

"Oh, what's all that gross-looking food?" Ricky asked.

"Ricky, what does this note say?" Nini grabbed the bright pink sticky note sitting by the cheese plate and held it up in front of his face.

"Nini's project, don't touch…Oh." Ricky visibility paled.

"Oh indeed. Ricky! Did you eat my science project?"

"I didn't mean to. Oh no! What happens if I eat moldy bread?" Ricky asked in a panic.

"You, you can get sick, it's food poisoning Ricky. And that's assuming you don't have an allergic reaction."

"What? What does that mean?" Ricky reached out to grab Nini's shoulders, as both of them felt their hearts picking up the pace in their growing panic.

"It means…" Nini quickly reviewed all the research she had been working on for the past hour or so. "Look, don't panic too much, but Ricky, you may have just made yourself get super sick soon."

"What? Sick how?"

"Vomiting, actually may be the best thing so you can get it out of your body before it can hurt you too much, but otherwise, we'd just have to wait and see."

Ricky visibly paled even more, "Uh oh, I think I feel nauseous already." He placed his hand on his stomach like it was rumbling painfully and then he started sprinting to the bathroom, and Nini ran right behind him.

But when they made it to the bathroom, he sat down by the toilet and breathed deeply for a few minutes, without anything making a return appearance, but Nini stayed by his side the entire time, ready with a towel to help clean up any mess he made of himself, because honestly she had no real idea what to do for him besides that.

"Ok, I think I'm good now." Ricky finally spoke after a long time.

"Are you sure?"

"No, but I think my queasiness passed for now, mostly." Ricky sighed and shook his head.

"OK, how about we go back to the living room? That way at least you can be comfortable until my moms get home."

"Sounds like a plan." Ricky stood up slowly, and then bent over slightly, "Um could you give me a hand?" He asked, sounding slightly embarrassed.

"Of course." Nini moved to his side to support him with an arm around his waist, and her shoulder resting beneath his arm, which he extended over her own shoulders.

"And um, maybe bring the trash can with us? Just in case."

"Alright." Nini grabbed the trash can in her other hand, thankfully it was empty other than a few Kleenex on the bottom. "Think you can make it to the couch? Because just to warn you, if you puke on me, no cuddles for a month."

"I promise, both of those things are the last thing I would ever want Nini."

Much slower than Ricky's race to the bathroom only a few minutes ago. Now all he could maintain was a slow shuffle down the hall back to the living room. But they made it safely and without incident.

Ricky all but collapsed on the couch, he was already looking miserable, so after letting him down, Nini grabbed a nearby blanket to cover him with and then cuddled up against his side. Trying to give him whatever comfort she could.

"Mama C will be home soon, and she'll know what to do," Nini promised him. "Are you feeling better, worse, the same?"

"Going back to the bathroom situation, I still feel like I could throw up, you may be in the danger zone."

"Well, I'm staying here, but give me a warning if you know it's coming."

"You got it." Ricky reached out a hand to hold her own with. "If I squeeze your hand tight twice in a row, that means you should move, and give me the trash can."

"You got it. Ricky."

They didn't talk very much after that, both focused more on their inner thoughts. Ricky was repeating don't puke in his head, and also calling himself an idiot for eating moldy bread.

Nini meanwhile was entirely focused on her concern for Ricky. They had occasionally seen each other when one of them was coming down with a cold. In fact there had been at least four or five times where one of them got sick, missed a day of school, and then the other was home sick two days later because of how close they always were with each other, but Nini had never seen Ricky like this. Sweaty, pale, yet looking very much green in the face. And there was nothing she could do as far as she knew. All her research had told her that as long as someone wasn't facing life-threatening conditions, the only thing someone could really do was treat the individual symptoms as they came, try to induce vomiting to get rid of the mold from their body or wait for it to work its way through.

Eventually, she saw her mom's car pull up the driveway, and about a minute later, the door between the house and the garage opened.

"I'll be right back Ricky." Nini squeezed his hand once and then stood up to head to the kitchen.

Carol was already unpacking the first bag of groceries. "Hey, Nini. Have you two finished with your science fair projects yet? I can't wait to see your poster boards if they're done."

"No, we were working on them, but then…" Nini trailed off for a moment and then pointed to the empty paper plate on the countertop. "Ricky accidentally ate the moldy bread I was using for my experiment, and now he's sick."

"What?" Carol dropped the cans she was holding in shock. "Why in the world would Ricky eat moldy bread? I mean you have it clearly labeled, and I know you two have had to know what the other's project is."

"I know, and I told him we barely had any food for snacks since you were going grocery shopping today. He said he made a PB with the last piece of bread, and I didn't even think about it until I walked in and saw the bread was gone."

"That boy," Carol shook her head in exasperation, "and he ate the whole thing?"

"Yep, he said it tasted a little weird and was hard to chew, but the peanut butter and jelly masked it enough that he still ate the whole thing."

"Oh dear." Carol speed-walked into the living room and made a B-line straight to Ricky. "Hey Ricky, how are you feeling?"

"Not the greatest Mama C." Ricky grimaced.

Carol then proceeded to give him as thorough an exam as best she could, asking him a bunch of questions similar to Nini's, as well as a few more. He answered them all as best as he could for several minutes. By the time she finished, Mike had arrived with a smile on his face like usual.

"Hey there Bud. How was your day?"

"Not the greatest." Ricky admitted, "I ate something I shouldn't have."

"What?"

Carol stood up to fill Mike in, and he listened fast to every word, he'd occasionally glance at Ricky or Nini to receive confirmation of all the facts.

"OK Bud, I'm going to call Mom real quick, and then we're going to the doctor, just in case."

"You're still able to breathe fine, right? It's mostly your stomach giving you problems?" Carol asked again.

"Yep, my stomach hates me right now." Ricky nodded his head in confirmation.

"OK, still better safe than sorry." Mike walked to the kitchen to talk to Lynne, and right when he returned to the living room, Dana arrived home and so she was filled in on the situation as well.

"Yep Bud, Mom's going to meet us at the hospital."

"The hospital? It isn't that bad, right?" Nini asked in a worried tone.

"I don't think so. I'm sure Ricky has a tough few days ahead of him, but think he'll make it through this without any issues. That's what your project is about, right? How does eating mold affect people long term?" Mike asked Nini.

"Um long term, I don't think it's a big deal, but most of my research is about mold itself, not about best friends who eat rotten food."

"I get it." Ricky said, "I swear I will never do this again. I am so regretting that PB ."

"Alright Bud, we should get going." Mike reached out to help pull Ricky to his feet and then held tight to him as Ricky was a bit wobbly. "We'll keep you three updated too, as soon as we know something, we'll let you know."

"Take all the time you need. Focus on Ricky right now." Dana said, but then glanced down at Nini's concerned expression, "Actually thank you, I can already tell this is going to be a long night for all of us."

"Yep. Nini, can you grab all of Ricky's stuff for me? I don't know what your stuff is, and which is Ricky's."

"Of course," Nini grabbed Ricky's backpack and filled it back up with everything he had brought over today, and also closed up his poster board to hand to Mike. "That should be everything."

"Thank you, Nini."

Nini then walked to Ricky and gave him a gentle hug, rather than their usual bone-crushing hugs where neither wanted to let go, she really didn't want to hurt him or make him feel worse right now. "You better get well soon. You need to be at school tomorrow and Friday for the science fair."

"Hey, nothing will stop me from being there. For once I got to skateboard for a class project. I won't miss the science fair for anything. Besides I have to be there to watch you win first place."

"Please, I doubt I'll get first place."

"Yeah, you're right. I'm shoe-ing for first place with my awesome project, but a strong second place is nothing to sneeze at." Ricky teased her.

Nini giggled back. "I think you should have done your project on psychology instead because you are acting crazy."

"Well no matter what, win, lose, or draw, I will be at school tomorrow and for the science fair," Ricky promised and they finally let go of one another.

Nini watched out the window as Mike helped Ricky out to his car, and they drove away. The rest of the night, no matter how much her moms tried to distract her, all she could think about was Ricky being sick, and there was nothing she could do but wait for any updates, which came too sporadically for Nini's liking since she asked her moms for any new information practically every ten minutes.

She was able to mostly finish her science project, but she didn't have her last data point on the bread, and to be honest, as she looked over her final results and wrote out her conclusion to the experiment, still all she could really think about was Ricky being sick in the hospital. The one thing that was keeping her going was the thought that she was going to see him again at school tomorrow.

Or at least she thought she would. Her moms had told her last night that the doctor's best advice was to just wait for Ricky's symptoms to pass by, and he should be fine in a few days. So he had returned home after being checked out, which Nini assumed would mean he'd be back at school the next day, but he wasn't. The seat beside hers was left empty.

Her hopeful smile fell once the bell rang to start their day, and from that moment on, all she could think about was Ricky, and how she had no idea just how he was doing. Like was he just sleeping in his bed all day? Had he spent the night in the bathroom? Maybe he was even using this as an excuse to play hooky for a day. Nini didn't know, and throughout the day, the more she worried, the more and more potential scenarios her head thought up. She could hardly focus in most of her classes, the only thing she could think about was her science fair project since she should have a good idea of what Ricky was going through from her own research.

She reviewed every source she had, not for her project, but because she had to do something to reassure herself that everything would be fine, and she would see Ricky again soon, hopefully tomorrow. When she found Kourtney and Red at recess they could tell her head was obviously elsewhere, and once Nini explained why Ricky wasn't at school today, they both grew concerned, but they could tell that Nini really needed a distraction.

So all three of them played tag and ran all over the playground for their game, and while it helped relieve some of her fears, it also reminded her of Ricky's absence and her worries. At the end of recess, both Kourtney and Red offered to have Nini over at their houses after school, but Nini declined. She already knew exactly where she was going after school.

When the clock struck 3:30 and classes were dismissed, Nini was one of the first students out the door today. She hopped on her bike, again, feeling a spike of loneliness and worries that she didn't have a certain, curly-haired skateboarder riding beside her as she took the route she had learned by heart over the past year or so she and Ricky had hung out after school just by themselves.

She arrived at Ricky's house about five minutes faster than usual. They were rarely in much of a hurry to get home after school, taking time to talk about anything and everything, stopping to look at clouds, or any cute animals that crossed their path. Today though, Nini didn't even realize how fast she had been pedaling until she got off her bike and finally heard herself panting slightly. She rushed up to the front door and knocked, normally she wouldn't think anything about just walking inside, but today was very out of the ordinary.

Less than a minute later, Lynne answered the door with a polite smile. "Nini, it's good to see you."

"It's good to see you too Lynne." Nini smiled back, "can I come in?"

"Of course you can, and I think I can guess why you're here." Lynne chuckled and stood aside to let Nini come in the house and motioned her towards the kitchen. "Can I get you a snack?"

"No thanks, I'm not hungry," Nini said. She had barely been able to eat at lunch, she was so worried about Ricky. "I just, really want to know how Ricky's doing. I was worried when he wasn't in school."

"Oh, Nini, I'm sorry. I did text your moms to let them know, but I suppose that was already after you left this morning wasn't it?"

"Is Ricky going to be ok though? Because I know most people who eat mold are just sick for a few days, but if they have an allergic reaction it can be much worse."

"Oh don't worry dear." Lynne stepped closer to wrap Nini up in a comforting hug. "Ricky won't be feeling well for a couple of days, but he's going to be perfectly fine. Hopefully, he'll be back at school by Monday, and be back to 100% by the end of next week."

"Really, so you promise he'll be ok?"

"Of course Nini. Mike and I are watching him closely, we want him to get better just as much as you do."

"But he's still going to miss the science fair tomorrow?" Nini asked.

"Yeah, it looks like it. I've already called his teacher so his grade will be fine, but he won't be at school tomorrow for sure."

"OK." Nini sighed, there goes their plans to spend all day together tomorrow. "Can I see him now? Or is he still too sick?"

"Of course, you can go see him, Nini. He was awake about twenty minutes ago when I checked on him, and he'd be sad to know you were here and didn't see him." Lynne laughed lightly, "And I know you need to see him too, don't you?"

"Yeah, I'd…really like that," Nini said, her voice filled with unspoken emotion from all her worries and fears from today. "Thank you, Lynne."

"No need to thank me. Nini, go upstairs, you both need this." Lynne patted her on the back one more time.

Nini walked up the stairway and knocked on Ricky's door. After a moment, she heard a quiet, "Come in," and she walked in with a smile on her face.

"Hey there stranger," Nini said with a happy grin.

"Nini?" Ricky asked, he reached up to rub his eyes. "Wait, am I dreaming?"

"Nope." Nini walked closer and sat right beside him on his bed, close enough that their shoulders were touching. "You're awake. How are you feeling?"

"Honestly, pretty terrible. I don't think I ever want to eat food again." Ricky sighed dramatically, and that was it took for Nini to collapse into giggles against him. If Ricky could still make jokes and be overdramatic, she knew he was going to be alright.

"Wow, then it sounds like you won't be able to complete your bucket list anymore." Nini shook her head in mock sympathy. "I guess that means I'll have to eat three pizzas at once, and the whole dollar menu all by myself."

"What? No way you would do that. You're the one that keeps arguing that those are impossible for me to accomplish."

"At least I know you're still focused enough to know that Ricky." Nini laughed again. "How about we just limit your diet of moldy food from now on?"

"You got it. I will never eat anything moldy ever again. And I won't ever eat anything just randomly left out on your countertops either. Not unless you give me specific permission first."

"That works for me. But how are you feeling, really?"

"Thankfully I think my body is empty of literally everything except sprite and the medicine my Mom keeps giving me. Lets just say, last night was not very pretty. I think I had basically every symptom of food poisoning that you talked about in your project."

"Got it, no more details needed." Nini shuddered slightly. "But now though?"

"Twenty minutes ago Mom said I still have a fever. I feel exhausted, but the only thing I've done all day is walk from my bed to the bathroom like ten times since we got home last night. My stomach still hurts a lot though, like everything is just tied in knots down here." Ricky rubbed his stomach gently for a few moments.

"OK, but you're not in danger of dying or anything right?" Nini finally asked.

"Of course not Neens." Ricky reached out to hold her close. "You've done all the research, so you know that as much as I do, yeah food poisoning sucks, but it's not like I was eating. I don't know, a poison dart frog or mushroom or something."

"I know Ricky, but just coming to school today without you, and not knowing anything more since last night, I just got really worried. Even Mrs. Schultz had to tell me like five times to pay attention in class today."

"Glad you made those up for me." Ricky joked.

"Ha ha. See why I need you around? First all your dozens of skateboarding accidents over the years-"

"Hey, I always wear my helmet, you just think I'm going to break a bone just by falling."

"Oh we are not having this conversation again right now. Says the one who ate a moldy PB sandwich."

"Oh, I'm not ever going to live this down, am I?"

"Not by a long shot. I'm going to be reminding you about this anytime we eat anything ever. Especially if you're being a picky eater."

"Hey, name one time I've been a picky eater."

"Ok, considering you ate a moldy PB , I definitely can't call you a picky eater, can I?" Nini admitted.

"Hah, I win then. Or wait…" Ricky clenched his stomach for a moment. "No I definitely haven't won."

"Are you feeling ok? Should I get your mom?" Nini asked with concern, reaching out to rub gentle circles over his back.

"No, it's just a cramp, it'll pass soon." Ricky said, he grimaced for a few moments longer and then he relaxed again. "Don't worry I'm ok."

"Of you're sure, because I can get your mom and be back in 30 seconds."

"No, I'm… ok I'm not fine, but I'm functioning right now." Ricky sighed.

"Still, is there absolutely anything I can do to help make you feel better?"

"You just being here, with me is all I need right now." Ricky grinned and squeezed her tighter against his shoulder. "How about you tell me everything I missed at school today?"

"I'll try, but like I said, I was in a daze worrying about you all day." Nini said, but she launched into a detailed account of all their classes anyway. Ricky occasionally asked questions or offered his own commentary, but it was largely Nini telling stories and sharing all the latest gossip and drama surrounding the science fair tomorrow.

But eventually Ricky drifted back to sleep, still clutching Nini beside him, and Nini was happy to just sit there in companionable silence with him, just drinking in the fact that he was still right there beside her, just like Ricky had said earlier, he was the only thing she needed.

Eventually Lynne silently opened the door to check on them, her smile visibly warmed when she saw Ricky sleeping peacefully with Nini sitting beside him like a careful guardian. "Nini, Dana's here to pick you up. I called your moms to let them know where you were, but it's time for you to go home."

"Ok. Goodbye, Ricky. Get well soon." Nini gently squeezed his hand for a moment and then slid off the bed to follow Lynne back downstairs. She shared everything Ricky had shared with her about how he was feeling, and Lynne just nodded and said it was about the same as how he had been all day.

She gave Mama D a hug when she saw her, and went home much happier than when she arrived. She had been scared, but she knew Ricky was going to be ok.

The next day, the day of the science fair, didn't quite turn out how Nini was imagining it. She had been aiming for first place, but it was only when she arrived she really noticed the fact that without the last day's data for the bread, her entire experiment was incomplete. While her teachers were understanding, since she knew the whole story from Lynne that the empty table next to Nini, and her missing data were directly correlated. But even though she didn't come home with a shiny blue ribbon to hang on her shelf, and her momentary dreams of being Gabriella in a way were dashed.

But everything was finally better when Monday morning when she arrived at school, Ricky was already sitting in his seat beside hers, and she knew she didn't need glory or fame as long as she always had her best friend by her side.