If cleanliness had a taste, it would be the taste of Reilly Williams. She was so clean, you could eat off her. She was also a pretty and intelligent girl, and had been Rain's first kiss, not that he had ever given that much importance, she had seemed to want it, and he was certainly always open for trying new things. They had been thirteen, maybe twelve, and since then Rain was certain that he knew what cleanliness tasted like.

Also, since then, he was always trying to get Reilly to climb trees and indulge in other dirty activities. With Reilly it wasn't easy, so he settled with sometimes sitting on her, or, when he wanted to particularly annoy her, he'd lick her cheek.

Today it was cold outside, and Rain, having spent much of the afternoon knee-deep in snow in search of some treasure he had buried in the grounds two years ago (it was a tin with an assortment of useless items he had collected) had a cold, and after soaking himself in a hot bath, he was still shivering.

Being sick was one of the things Rain hated most. With a box of tissues in one hand, and a frown on his face, he gloomily dragged his feet in search of someone who would be likely to be caring and loving and maybe even make him a cup of tea and tell him stories. All the things his mother would have done were she here. Being sick made him more of a boy than he already was, he felt so miserable when his body was weak he simply wanted to crawl into a ball and have someone cradle him.

Not a simple desire when you were as big a boy as Rain.

But when he happened upon Reilly in the corridor, he suddenly decided that today she was the sweetest honey alive and that she would take care of him now that he was ill. Still dragging his feet, he walked right up to her, grabbed her hand and pulled her into the nearest empty classroom. Once inside, he curled into a ball on the cold floor – a terrible idea – and pawed gently at her ankle.

"I'm dead." He groaned.