Basil had always been kind and quiet, quick to help anyone whenever they needed it. He's been trying so hard to please everyone he can. He tries to change himself for people he doesn't know, and nobody else is able to realize it— or they just don't know how to ask. You've asked him about it, but he always finds a way to make you forget and drive the conversation away to a more comfortable place. You find yourself sitting in his white plastic garden chair, brainstorming every possible way to get him to talk about it. How does he seem so happy? He's smiling as he goes down watering the varieties of beautiful plants on his garden, talking to each one of them, even referring to them by name, saying things like:

" Hi, Tom, good morning. How are you? " ** and " Pretty leaves, Angel. "

You can only find one conclusion: he's lying. There's no way he's happy when everything is happening. Mari died, Sunny's hiding away in his house, Aubrey's .. changing, and Hero and Kel seem more distant. He has no one to talk to except for his grandmother, who he knows he won't have for long.

" Basil. "

You call out to him, and he's forced to rip his tentative gaze away from his plants.

" Yeah ..? "

You explained to him how the two of you needed to have a conversation and he didn't want to, but he was scared to say no to a friend.

You two end up sitting on the carpet in Basil's office. He was pouring his big heart out to you, but you got the feeling there's something he wasn't telling you. He avoided the topic of Mari and could only mention Sunny a few times. He interrupted himself and those thoughts before you could get too far into your Ideas, as if he knew what you were thinking about.

" now this is confusing.. "

Basil muttered, going over all he's said today. " Why? " he asked himself. How and why did you get him to do this?