Hi all! This is my last update of the day, and it is the one that I am most looking forward to letting you all read.

This chapter is not from Violet's point of view. It is all in the 3rd person and focuses on Aviva and Zach at the beginning and Zach at the end. Information on Zach's backstory is included in this chapter.

Disclaimer: What I consider to be the most sensitive topic of the story, thus far, occurs in this chapter: underage use of alcohol. At least from the standards in my country, alcohol may not legally be consumed by anyone under the age of 21. The description of the alcohol consumption is not detailed, and the individual, Zach, will not consume alcohol again until he is much older. He will also never use it in a self-destructive manner, as is described within this chapter, at any point in future chapters.

I do not own any feature of the Wild Kratt universe.

"Zach, I need to talk to you," Aviva stated as she stopped him when he walked out of the dining hall after dinner.

"What do you want? Can't you just leave me alone, Miss Smarty Pants?" Zach sneered.

"Please, this will only take a couple minutes," she begged.

"Fine, but not here, if I am not careful the brat will run into me again. She's one of yours, isn't she?" Zach asked as he caught sight of the young girl walking into the dining hall, looking as dazed as when she plowed him down earlier that day.

"Yes, she is, and she is what I want to talk to you about." Aviva stated once they were standing outside the science lab.

"Did she cry to mommy, and did mommy file a complaint against me?" Zach griped and folded his arms ready to, undoubtedly, be handed a grand scolding from "perfect" Aviva.

"She is very smart Zach, look at this, her grades in all her science classes, all her classes for that matter, are off the charts. They are over 100 in every subject except math, and she gets grades in the 90s in math too. Her teachers rave about her. All of this is why she got a scholarship to come here." Aviva handed Zach a file folder filled with information on, "Violet Virginia Tyler," he mumbled under his breath as he fingered through the file.

He was impressed, although he would not admit it, especially to Aviva of all people. "So? I am smart, even you and everyone here are also 'smart,' at least to some degree," he held his fingers up in air quotes around the second smart, "Why are you showing me this?"

"I want you to see that she deserves to be here, and you made her feel like she did not with the way you treated her." Aviva took the folder back, noting that Zach was hesitant to release it.

"So, did she cry to mommy? Poor baby, wah, wah." Zach made a crying gesture with his fists against his face, but he slowed his movements when he noticed Aviva's expression.

"That was not her mother, Zach. It was her aunt and her cousin…her parents died last year. She has had a very difficult time dealing with their loss. That is why she ran into you; she acts dazed most of the time. On top of that, she runs away, and really does not talk because of it." Aviva paused noticing that Zach's expression softened; he himself looked dazed like Violet, or Virginia, looked.

"Are you okay, Zach?" Aviva asked after a few seconds of his silence. She found it unusual that he had not said a word after hearing the revelation about Violet's parents.

"I'm fine, I'll apologize to Violet tomorrow. I should not have treated her the way I did, thanks for telling me." He turned and quickly walked away, leaving Aviva perplexed by his cordial response.

Behind him he heard Aviva call out, "she prefers to be called Virginia!"

VvvvvvVvvvvV

Zach tossed his glass back and downed its contents. He was drinking his father's whisky that he smuggled out of his home, somehow without alerting his mother. He gripped the glass in his hands until they started to shake. He let out a tormented scream and threw it at the wall of the abandoned cabin he refurbished into his own laboratory. As it shattered onto the floor, he collapsed into a heap and sobbed, pulling his knees up to his chest in a fetal position.

His father died on April 15th, and it was June 15th, only two months later. The overwhelming realizations he tried to forget crept back into his mind. He was left to run Varmitech Industries on his own, he was scheduled to start college in the fall, and he had to pick up the pieces of whatever was left of his life. He was not even 18, it was too much.

He knew exactly what Violet Virginia Tyler must be feeling. Losing a parent was the worst thing he ever experienced, and he had only lost his father. He could not imagine what it was like to lose a mother and a father at the same time.

He realized the rumors about him must hold some truth: he really was a jerk.

This is the revelation I promised in the notes of Chapter 3, I do not know if it is what any of you expected, but I hope you like the direction I have taken!

I hope you all forgive me for this chapter, and I apologize if it offended anyone. I felt that it needed to be included to help the story move forward and into more "adult" territory, even though the "adult" themes will be absent for a bit longer.

We now know that Zach and Violet are going through similar challenges at the same time in their lives, and this will be a point over which they bond as friends at the camp and partners in the future.

Please let me know what you think in the reviews, your feedback is very important to me :). – JIG32