Phytoremediation

Neither of us will be missed

The doorbell rung, making Basil jump, figuratively. He looked to the door as The Maverick ran to answer.

"Ah. Kel Nuo. We meet again." The Maverick said in a competitive tone.

"Hey, Mikhael. Zhang's here, too." He awkwardly smiled. Zhang wasn't in Basil's line of sight.

"Ah, yes. Zhang... I don't know your last name, actually." The Maverick said in a less confident tone.

"Furen. Where do I put this card." Zhang said. Basil felt a stab of anxiety hearing his voice again. He looked back to Sunny, who was looking at him, making Basil blush with surprise.

"Hey, Basil, can you tell me anything about Zhang? I don't know him." Sunny whispered.

Basil felt a pang in his stomach. "I-I don't really know him that well." Basil said quietly.

"Oh, okay." Sunny said with an odd look, "Can we talk in private?"

Sunny and Basil walked towards the hallway, passing Aubrey and Kim. Kim, being in an uncharacteristically revealing swimsuit.

"What happened with you and Zhang?" Sunny asked with concern.

"N-Nothing, Sunny. It's fine." Basil stuttered.

Sunny had his eyebrows raised with worry, "I know it isn't, Basil. What's wrong?"

Basil held his arms tight to his chest, "He... I was never friends with him. He was always just a bully to me, making me feel uncomfortable and being a jerk..." Basil said quietly.

"Stupid prick..." Sunny muttered, "I promise I'll keep you safe, Basil. I love you.

Basil felt his heart flutter, "Okay... thanks, Sunny." He said shyly.

Sunny held Basil's hand as the two returned to the living room, where Kel was now sitting up on the floor, holding his face with a swollen eye.

"What happened!?" Basil shouted incredulously, seeing the state of Kel.

"He said booba." The Maverick stated.

Sunny nodded with understanding as Basil rushed to Kel. "Are you okay? Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"Nah, it's fine, it's fine." He smiled and looked to Zhang, "Never knew Kim had such huge honkers man..." he said, specifically to Zhang. He seemed to think Zhang was the only one who could decipher the meaning of "huge honkers"

"You should've seen them bounce while she punched you, dude." Zhang said with similar glee. They seemed to imitate the laughter of Beavis and Butthead. Sunny decided to go to the backyard and pool while Basil followed soon behind.

"Yeah, that Zhang guy seems like a bit of a bad influence on Kel." Sunny said after he heard Basil close the glass door behind them.

Basil shook his head. "He's more than just a bad influence. He's a whole bad person."

Sunny's expression darkened. He felt awful knowing that this was happening to Basil while he just sat inside sleeping all day, living it easy.

"Sorry." Sunny whispered.

Basil hadn't heard Sunny and walked out into the backyard. "Hey, nerds, get some sunscreen on!" Aubrey yelled from the pool.

Noticing the rather skimpy bikini... well, all bikinis are, really... regardless, it made Basil get anxious feelings about if Sunny would somehow suddenly decide to be straight. Anxiety makes you think some stupid things.

Basil looked to Sunny to see if his fears were coming true, but instead saw Sunny staring at him instead, as if expecting him to look at him with worry.

"Caught ya." Sunny giggled before supplying Basil with the important resource of a quick kiss. Basil immediately blushed.

Kim groaned from the pool at the public display of affection before Aubrey shoved her underwater in a joking manner. Basil couldn't help but laugh.

The two sprayed themselves down with a bottle of sunscreen that Aubrey pointed to earlier when recommending sunscreen to the boys, when soon after Angel came peeling out of the house and doing a cannonball, splashing everyone with water.

Angel came above water and opened his eyes. "Oh, hey, it's the knife kid!" Angel said, addressing Sunny, "Hey Basil! Hey knife kid!"

"His name is Sunny, dumbass." Kim said, turning away from Aubrey to face Angel.

"Ooo! Boobies!" Angel said, wiggling his fingers like a cartoon character.

Kim leaned towards Angel and raised her fist. "You're on thin fucking ice, kid."

"Actually, Kim, why didn't Vance stay for the party?" Aubrey said. The sliding door opened.

Kim looked over her shoulder to speak to Aubrey, "Mom got him a job, so he has to work in the evenings now. It sucks." Kim puffed her cheek out in a mock pout and turned back around.

Aubrey frowned for a moment before getting a goofy grin,"Don't worry, Kim, I'll be your big sis now!" She said, slinging herself over the shorter Kim's shoulder.

Kim laughed before squealing. "Ah! Aubrey, you're pushing me underwater!" Kim shrieked.

Basil and Sunny, meanwhile, had taken their shoes and socks off to sit by the pool. They held hands like the gays that they were.

"C'mere and give a kiss to your big sissy!" Aubrey said, making overexaggerated kissy sounds while chasing Kim around the pool.

"No!" Kim screamed, running away slowly, being hampered by the water. Kel and Zhang made their way towards the pool. They seemed a bit too content watching.

Unfortunately for them, and also the boys sitting clothed at the poolside, The Maverick had an entrance to make. "Make way!" The Maverick claimed from some unseen location. Suddenly, he could be seen rolling across the top of the tent-gazebo structure next to the deck. You would usually walk down the stairs of it to get to the pool, but The Maverick was careening off of it and making a massive splash in the shallow end.

He floated to the surface on his back, and gasped for air. Sunny and Basil were completely soaked.

"Jesus Christ, that almost made my top come off." Kim said sourly, adjusting her swimsuit.

"I hurt my back." The Maverick replied in a smooth tone.

"I need to go to the bathroom." Kel said and ran away, covering his swim trunks.

Basil felt his hair soaked with chlorinated water. He shook his head, splashing droplets of water on Sunny. "Might as well just jump in." Basil said, dropping carefully into the shallow end of the pool, Sunny quickly following, prompting the group to laugh with each other, and Zhang being left as the only one awkwardly on shore.

Maybe this won't be so bad.