TRAI

2_DENIAL

{A/N: Hello lovelies, sorry for the late chapter update! Anyways, enjoy!}

The sun shined brightly overhead on a cool autumn day. Mari had already set up the picnic and was sitting in the cool shade, watching everyone else have fun at their hangout spot. Kel laid down next to her with two Orange Joe's already in his system.

Kel turned his head away from the sun and was face to face with Basil's camera. He stared at the lens, deep in thought, before he sat up and pulled out Basil's photo album from the picnic basket.

"Kel, what are you doing?" Mari asked, diverting her attention away from the scenery. He didn't answer, mumbling incoherently under his breath. When he got to the last page he stopped and glanced back at Mari.

"Where's Basil?" he finally spoke.

"Basil and Sunny are chasing Hero with a bug." Mari motioned over in the distance where Hero was cowering on the ground with the two younger boys above him. The two watched as the grasshopper in Sunny's hand hopped off of him and onto his victim. Hero froze completely, unable to move until Basil quickly picked the grasshopper up again. Basil's plan to have Hero get over his fear of bugs was becoming futile. He'd have to rethink his plan.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom," Basil called out to everyone, giving the grasshopper to Sunny and walking out of their hangout spot. Without guidance, Sunny stood there with a grasshopper in his hand, only moving when Aubrey walked up to him and Hero.

Perfect. They're distracted.

Kel turned around and grabbed the camera, fumbling with the buttons on it.

"What are you doing?" Mari asked again cautiously, eyeing the camera.

"I'm gonna take a picture of myself, duh."

"But Basil only likes taking pictures of people-" Mari was cut off as Kel finished her sentence.

"-when they aren't paying attention so it looks natural. I know that already, but Basil takes more pictures of you guys than me."

Mari cocked her eyebrow.

"I'm pretty sure he takes more pictures of Sunny than he does of all of us. Did you even count how many times everyone was in his album?"

"Yeah... well, no. You know I'm not good at math!" With that confession, Kel stood up and held the camera out with the lens facing toward him.

"Kel, you're going into seventh grade...," concern laced Mari's voice at his inability to count.

"Let's not talk about that."

Kel spun around in a circle as the camera flashed, taking a photo. He smiled brightly.

"Now I'll just tell Basil that I took it by accident. No one can even tell I took it on purpose!" Kel explained triumphantly.

"I'm pretty sure everyone can tell," Mari admitted, humored by his behavior.

"No they won't," Kel denied, "Just you wait, Mari. One day, there's going to be more pictures of me than of you!"

===

Hero stopped his car in front of Aubrey's house, unlocking the side door.

"Are you sure you want to be home right now?" Hero asked, worried that she'd be alone in her thoughts with this newfound information. "You can come back to our place if you want."

"I'll be fine," Aubrey muttered, her head kept down low, "Thanks for the ride."

She left without another word and went back into the house void of compassion and life. Whether or not her mom noticed she was gone for an extended period of time was unknown to them, but they definitely had their guesses.