Phytoremediation

Delta Echo Alpha Delta

Basil followed Mr. Newbury out of the office. "So, the office obviously was where we just left. The office ladies are Mrs. Yao and Ms. Po, and then our Vice Principal... eh... hmm... his last name is a difficult one, I always forget how to pronounce it. We just call him Mr. P."

Basil nodded, and walked with him towards the lobby again.

"So, Basil, this is our lobby. The green doors here are for the primary gym, and down past the office is our counseling services. We just started them last year, you know. Now follow me down red hallway." He said.

He was quite the talkative type, in comparison to Basil's reserved and anxious demeanour.

"We have colour coded hallways, so you'll see each room's number will be coloured for each hall. So Basil, I heard you only just recently moved to Nearburgh!" Mr. Newbury said, prompting Basil to speak.

"Yeah... only a week or two ago, I think. I'm not that good with time..." Basil softly responded.

"You chose a good city, then Basil. Nearburgh's a real nice place. Between you and me, probably the least homophobic city in the province." He chuckled at the last comment, "Don't tell anyone back in Guangzhou I told you that, though, they wouldn't be in agreement."

Basil laughed, Mr. Newbury's warm laughter was contagious enough. He seemed like a sort of grandpa figure. "Now, Basil, the lockers for students in your grade are usually in the green hallway, which is right over here," he gestured to a connected hallway, "I think we have a very easy to understand navigation system, if you ever get lost you can just look at the nearest door to know where you are, after all. The second floor is all grade 11 and 12 electives, and they all are just denoted as "2F" on your schedule sheets, so no need to worry. Stairs are at the end of this hall, and also by all the bus entrances. So Basil, since we're talking about lockers, do you know anyone already enrolled here?"

"Um... yeah, I know... um... Sunny Whitbaker. He's my friend" Basil said a bit awkwardly.

"Ah, I see, both from Faraway I presume?" Mr. Newbury nodded thoughtfully, "Now, is this just a friend, or a friend friend?"

Basil cheeks dyed a subtle pink at this notion, "No, no, he's not like, my boyfriend or anything!" Basil explained, before quieting down and leaning in slightly, "I... I sort of have a crush, I guess, but like... it's nothing too big, so you don't need to worry if he'll distract me."

"No, no, just wondering if I could make your experience here a bit more enjoyable, as long as I don't hear any complaints from Sunny, the situation should work out fine." He chuckled again, Basil blushed deeper, thinking about Sunny, "This is also a great time to ask you to mention to your mother about how school donations are open." He winked jokingly at Basil, making him laugh.

Suddenly a middle-aged white man approached. Visibly in his 40s, but not exactly aged poorly, still having a full head of hair, and also not being morbidly obese or covered in facial wrinkles like the only other 3 middle aged white men he met in his life.

My da- er, Heath, the weird news reporter, and Uncle Tommy.

Basil shook his head, and looked to the man, who Mr. Newbury greeted. "Ah, Robin, great to see you, this is our newest student, Basil!"

"Hello there, Basil, good to meet you." He delivered everything really unnaturally, but it probably wasn't his first language, so Basil ignored it. "I'm Mr. Pea-tur-sen, but you can call me Mr. P."

Wow, that is a weird name.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. P!" Basil didn't really feel like even trying that last name. English was too weird for him.

"Now Basil, I think you've seen everything relevant. I'll just mention, we're currently a part of a psychological therapy testing program. Basically they're trying to find new and effective methods of treatment for people with disorders like gender dysphoria, schizophrenia, and other similar personality disorders. I heard you said "schizoaffective disorder" so if you'd ever feel the need while in school, you can come down to the office, and you can meet with a counselor and they can help you out." Mr. Nearbury smiled at Basil.

"Ah, thank you." Basil smiled back. They returned to the office, and Basil's smile faded as he remembered who was driving him home.

Michelle motioned with hushing and waving away at the principal and Basil, pointing at her phone sharply. It seemed she forgot whose office she was in.

"I'm gonna have to get back to you, Shauna, I'm glad to hear the Norway deal went through! I'm sure those silly fjord guys will love your stuff! Bye bye, hun!" Michelle hung up, then turned to Basil, "Well?"

"The tour's done..." Basil quickly mentioned to his mother, "Also can you donate to the school a bit?"

"Sure whatever, here." She wrote a cheque for 100,000 yuan and threw it on the table in Mr. Newbury's office, then headed out the door.

Basil made a little thumbs up to Mr. Newbury. He chuckled a bit, then went into his office, "Have a good rest of your week, Basil. I think you'll do well in this school. Tell your mother thank you for her generosity, and thanks to you too, hah!"

"I just hope it helped, heh..." Basil left the school, and followed his mother into the mini-limo.

"Alright Basil, I called a repairman for your boyfriend's little trash house. Can't have your boyfriend living in the cold." Michelle said, still staring at her phone.

"Okay..." Basil looked into his lap. Basil beat himself up inside for not dragging Sunny and Mikhael out of there at the first sign of danger.

If we didn't stay there so long, Yuri wouldn't've gone after Sunny and Mikhael... I'm such an idiot.

Suddenly, a force decided to take control of Basil, unknown to him.

Yeah, it's another cliffhanger. Stupid author can't write a good chapter ending without one of these self-indulgent fourth-wall breaking parts.