I Won't Let Him

BASIL Pancakes

"HEY, GUYS! OVER HERE!"

BASIL stood by nervously as he saw AUBREY shout and wave at a group of kids who were just arriving at the park.

When the group finally noticed the pink-bowed girl, they all started happily waving back to let her know they saw her.

BASIL couldn't help but feel a bit intimidated at the size of the group. Four kids, and two of them seemed much taller and older than he was...

"Come on, BASIL! Let's go meet them! I wanna introduce you!" AUBREY giggled excitedly as she pointed at them.

BASIL nervously fiddled with his hands, "A-Are you sure, AUBREY? I mean... I don't think this is a good idea. I don't want to intrude or do anything to embarrass you. I'm not exactly a social-"

AUBREY quickly interrupted him by pulling on his arm, insisting as she said, "Don't be like that! I promise you that they're all really awesome and friendly! You'll get along great with them! Don't you trust me?"

Trust her? Of course! BASIL felt he could trust AUBREY to do anything!

Trust himself, though? That was what he was having trouble with. There was no way such a large group like that would welcome a weird kid like him. He always tended to keep to himself, and people always considered him weird because of that.

Honestly, he'd prefer just being AUBREY's friend in secret instead. That way, they could still hang out together and he wouldn't do anything to hurt AUBREY's reputation...

AUBREY seemed adamant about introducing him to her group of friends, though... BASIL had no choice but to follow along with her.

As she led him closer to the group, she cheerfully waved out, "Guys! Guys! I want you to meet my new friend, BASIL! I met him in school! He's really smart and cool!"

Smart and cool? Agh, jeez... AUBREY shouldn't need to lie like that. If she went ahead and set up expectations like that, how was he supposed to live up to them?

Still, he did his best to give a friendly smile as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

Agh, jeez, he was sweating so much! He really hoped nobody noticed.

The small tan boy of the group greeted him first, "Hi there, BASIL! My name is KELSEY, but everyone calls me KEL! Nice to meet you!"

"Oh, uh... Nice to meet you too." BASIL respectfully nodded back as he reached out for a handshake.

KEL seemingly mistook this as a sign for a high five and gave it a big slap instead, "Aw yeah! New friend acquired! And it's a boy too! Finally, we can outweigh the girls in our group!"

BASIL did his best not to show pain as he pulled his hand behind him and rubbed it soothingly. "Uh... Thanks?"

The next person to introduce themself was a tall boy who seemed to exude charm and confidence, "Hello, BASIL! Nice to meet you! AUBREY likes to talk about you a lot whenever we hang out. I'm HENRY, KEL's older brother."

BASIL felt himself blush when HENRY mentioned that AUBREY apparently talked about him a lot to the others. He didn't realize that AUBREY had been bragging about him before.

Nobody ever brags about knowing BASIL before... This was a first...

"H-Hi. I-I'm not that special, but thank you." BASIL felt the need to downplay himself as he waved at the tall boy.

Agh, jeez... Looking over him once more, BASIL felt incredibly inadequate. HENRY looked so tall and handsome, like he was someone you would expect to be really popular with people. Compared to him, BASIL was just a skinny-looking weirdo...