Rain. It was raining. It had been raining for hours. And that's all that had been on Kevin Price's mind. Rain, rain, and more rain. He was so sick and tired of rain!

It was April in Uganda. And April in Kitguli, Uganda meant more rain than usual. And it was horrible. Kevin wanted nothing more than to be on the sunny beaches of Orlando, Florida right now, and away from the rain.

Honestly, he hated a lot of things about being in Uganda when he first started his mission here. Most of them went away after he, and the rest of District 9, were excommunicated from the church, and he started to become closer to the residents of Kitguli, and appreciate being here a lot more. But there was still one thing he couldn't stand...

Rain.

"Hey, best friend," a voice popped up from behind him, almost causing Kevin to jump out of his chair from being startled, "are you doing okay? You've been staring out that window for a while, now. Is everything alright?"

Kevin spun around in his dinky wooden chair (gifted by one of the local Ugandan residents), facing the source of the startling voice. A stout young man, with short, curly, black hair, wearing a similar uniform to him, stood in the doorway. Recognizing it as his mission companion, Arnold Cunningham, (he should've figured from the unique voice, and having been called 'best friend') he gave a small shake of his head. Kevin stood, dusting off his black pants with his hands.

"Yes, Arnold, I'm fine," Kevin dismissed his companion, standing up, and making his way towards the hallway outside their shared room.

He only made it about three feet out the door, when he heard Arnold following behind him. When he arrived in the mission hut's living room, he spun around to be faced with a concerned Arnold, rubbing his hands together. Crossing his arms as he glared down at his companion, Kevin watched as Arnold refused to meet his gaze, looking rather guilty.

"Why are you following me, exactly?"

"Because you don't sound fine, Kevin," Arnold pouted his lip, crossing his arms as well. "What's wrong? You can tell me! I'm your best friend..."

"It's honestly nothing! I'm just sick of the rain, is all!" Kevin admitted, pointing out the nearest window, coated in beads of rain. "It's always raining. There's like five dry seasons, and three of them still rain some! I hate rain!"

Arnold nodded along, staring out the window for a moment. "Aw, come on. Rain isn't that bad. At least there's no lions outside."

"Honestly, I'd prefer the lions over this crap!" Kevin groaned, letting out a small 'huff'.

"Aw, looks like someone's a bit grumpy today, and is in need of a hug from his best friend in the whole wide world," Arnold outstretched his arms, gesturing Kevin into a hug. When the latter didn't move, Arnold took matters into his own hands, by pulling Kevin into a hug, and squeezing him tightly.

Deciding it was best not to fight against it (and though Kevin wouldn't admit it, he was actually comforted by Arnold being there for him), Kevin lightly hugged him back, before growing a bit annoyed that his companion was showing no signs of letting him go anytime soon. And, it didn't help that Kevin started to feel like he was losing air, from being held onto so tightly. The pair was interrupted by someone clearing their throat behind them.

"Um, Elder Cunningham?"

After finally being let loose of Arnold's tight hold on him, Kevin glanced over his shoulder, behind him. There was a young, ginger man, standing there almost impatiently. His sapphire blue eyes scanning between the two of them. Recognizing the young man as their District Leader, Elder McKinley, the two gave him their full attention.

"Oh, hey, dude," Arnold waved, chuckling a little. "What's up?"

"You have a visitor," McKinley pointed towards the doorway. "Miss Nabulungi is waiting for you outside. I wouldn't keep her out there if I were you, Elder. It's raining bad today."

"Holy moley, I forgot! Neutrogena and I were gonna hang out today!" Arnold gasped, clearly mispronouncing Nabulungi Hatimbi, his girlfriend's, name. "Sorry, Kevin, I-I can be a comforting best friend later! I don't want to upset her. Even though, she is kinda hot when she gets mad. But, don't tell her I told you that. Because, then--, oh, crap, I gotta go."

Arnold darted off towards the door, giving an apology to Nabulungi, before the two of them strolled off together, under her umbrella. Kevin's eyes scanned around the quaint living room of District 9's mission hut. Surprisingly, not many of his fellow Elders were up.

Elder Thomas- who his fellow Elders dubbed, 'Poptarts', Elder Church, and Elder Davis were seated quietly on the couch, playing an oddly silent card game. None of the other Elders were out of their rooms, or even up, yet. Which was a bit strange, to say the least, but still understandable. Ever since the lot decided on not exactly following the rules of The Book of Mormon, almost everyone had started staying up past the usual lights out of 10, and sleeping in later past the former waking up time of 6:30. But, still, it was already noon. Something seemed off to Kevin. But, he decided not to question it. He enjoyed the quiet, which was so rare to earn with Arnold as a mission companion.

Realizing he got distracted, Kevin redirected his gaze to his District Leader, who he found was staring intently at him. A sense of awkward tension filled the air between them, and it was highly noticeable to both parties. Kevin took the initiative of breaking the tension.

"Good afternoon..," Kevin paused for a moment, trying to recall his District Leader's first name.

Then, it dawned on him, that he actually didn't know Elder McKinley's first name, when he had learned everyone else's over time. Kevin supposed it had to be due to the fact that the two of them hadn't really interacted since their ex-communication, and decision of staying in Uganda, anyway. He needed to change that.

"Uh...good afternoon, Elder Price," McKinley bit his lip, and gave him a curt nod, starting to walk past Kevin.

"Err, wait!"

Kevin stood in McKinley's path, causing the latter to stand there awkwardly, unsure what to say or do. Especially since all eyes in the room fell on both of them. "Yes, Elder? I-Is something the matter?"

"I thought all of us agreed to address each other by our first names, as a way to bond and grow closer to each other? Y'know, seeing as how we're spending two whole years together, here." Kevin narrowed his eyes a little.

"My apologies... Kevin," McKinley hesitated before saying his name. "I must not have been there when that decision was made."

"Yeah, you weren't," Kevin crossed his arms, his tone coming off a bit more aggressive than he had initially intended. "Because, you seem to be avoiding me, Elder."

Kevin's bitterness made McKinley wince, and the awkward tension only got worse. Elder Poptarts, who was seated at the other end of the room, stood up, as if wanting to fix the situation, but most likely found it rude to barge in anymore than he already had by eavesdropping. So, he merely sat back down, continuing his card game.

The fact was now beginning to dawn on Kevin that it did seem like McKinley had been intentionally avoiding him since the excommunication. Whenever Kevin was in the same room as him, he would immediately leave. And McKinley was almost always enthusiastically involved in the hut's board game nights, unless Kevin was playing. Then, he would immediately make up an excuse to leave.

"I'm sorry you feel like I'm avoiding you, Elder— Err, Kevin," McKinley tugged at his collar, his face reddening. He looked as if he would rather be anywhere than there at the moment. "I hope you aware that is not my intention."

"And why are you so goddamn formal all the time?" Kevin continued to pry, months of pent-up aggression of the feeling of being ignored by someone boiling to the surface. "We're not apart of the Church anymore, you don't have to be a pretentious asshole, McKinley... And I'd love to be on a first name basis with you, like the rest of us are, but you like to not tell anyone anything about you."

McKinley mumbled something inaudible under his breath, anxiously fidgeting with his tie. "Elder Price..."

Seeing all of McKinley's nerves suddenly spike made Kevin feel bad about what he said, immediately.

"I'm sorry," Kevin mumbled, starting to feel the tension build up heavily on his shoulders, as McKinley just seemed to glare at him, taking heavy, panicked breaths. "I didn't mean to... I'm sorry... It's just that the rain outside put me in a really shitty mood. I shouldn't have talked poorly to you, seeing as you are still our District Leader and everything..."

"Excuse me," McKinley walked past Kevin, seemingly ignoring anything he was saying, "I have work to attend to."

Kevin sighed, raking a hand through his brown hair. Poptarts hopped to his feet, excusing himself from his game, as he walked over to Kevin. He looked up at him, giving a small, knowing smile, before chasing after McKinley, who had shut his room door rather loudly.

"Is everything okay between you and Elder McKinley?" Elder Church turned around to ask Kevin, after setting down his hand of cards down on the table. Elder Davis took that opportunity to peek at his opponent's cards, with a smirk.

"Yeah, James, everything's fine between us," Kevin answered James Church, walking over to the two of them, and deciding not to call out the fact that Davis was blatantly cheating. "At least...on my end, I believe. The guy's been avoiding me for a while. Which is weird to think about, considering how...touchy he was with me, when I first arrived. Has he been avoiding either of you?"

James and Elder Davis, also known as Oliver, looked in between each other, shaking their heads. Kevin sighed, wondering what he messed up between him and his District Leader? Sure, Kevin was most certainly an egocentric asshole, and even his narcissistic ass could admit that. And, even if he wasn't exactly perfect, he was still a lot better than he used to be. So why was Elder McKinley being more distant than ever? Why was he being so distant, when Kevin had done so much work, to try and be a decent human being? He'd have to find out the truth soon. Kevin hated when people didn't like him...

Oh...

"Oh fuck," Kevin dragged his hands down his face, "I'm such an asshole. No wonder he doesn't want to talk to me..."

Neither James or Oliver said anything else, as they returned back to their game, with James blatantly accusing Oliver of cheating. So, Kevin was left alone to his thoughts, thinking of how to make things up to Elder McKinley, and get his District Leader to be his friend. Or, at least, to stop ignoring him.

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