Aster rested his chin on top of his folded arms and glared gloomily out at the white world that lay beyond the window of his new room as a shiver ran down his spine. It was so cold here and snow was everywhere! He'd only been around the white stuff for a few days now and he already hated it. He missed Australia. That was home, not this weird place where he had to wear four layers just to leave his own house.
"Made you a hottie, sweetie."
Aster turned to see his mother standing behind him with a hot water bottle in her hands and scowled.
"Wouldn' need a hottie if we'd stayed home."
"Emmie, this is home. You've gotta stop spittin' the dummy over this."
The scowl deepened and the six-year-old turned to fully face his mother, crossing his arms as he did so.
"I should be in my togs at Crescent Head learnin' how ta surf, not here."
Mrs. Wilder sighed and set the water-bottle down before coming to sit by her son's side. "Emmie…"
"And stop callin' me that. I don' like it."
"Fine, Aster, I know this isn't what you wanted, but we're here to stay. I'm sure you'll make some new mates right quick once you start school next week."
"Spiffy," the child replied in a deadpan before looking back out at the white hell that was his new town.
Mrs. Wilder pursed her lips. At first she'd allowed her son to mope around the house, but it'd been almost a week now and enough was enough!
"Alright, that's it ya lil' ankle bitter, we're goin' out."
"Wha?" Aster asked, swiveling back to face his mother again.
"Ya heard me. It's Easter today and there's an Easter egg hunt in an hour. You're gonna be there."
"Mum, I don' wanna go lookin' for goggies in the snow!"
"Too bad! Ya been mopin' round too long. Time to do somethin' fun!"
Aster tried to protest, but his words fell on deaf ears and he soon found himself shoved into the family car while bundled up in his warmest winter gear. Apparently he was going Easter egg hunting whether he liked it or not.
Ana giggled and nodded as Sandy pointed out yet another egg. Though the hunt hadn't started yet, the golden-haired child had already spotted half-a-dozen of the hidden treasures from where they were standing and she couldn't wait to see what was inside of them.
"Ana, Sandy!"
At the sound of their names, the duo turned around and grinned. Nick, the final member of their little band, had just arrived and was rushing over to great them while his parents started talking with some of the other adults.
"Nick! We were worried you'd miss out on the start of the hunt!"
The brunet laughed at the suggestion and shook his head. "You act like it's a big deal, Ana. It's just some painted eggs."
Ana exchanged a smile with Sandy as Nick spoke and then joined in with her friend to chorus the familiar, final words of "I mean, it's got nothing on Christmas!"
Nick blinked in surprise and then grinned. "Glad to see you agree with me!"
Ana giggled and Sandy laughed, but then the blonde's eyes fell on a new arrival and her giggling stopped. The new boy was scowling as his parents exchanged glares and harsh whispers, which made Ana feel bad. The Blacks never looked happy.
Seeing where her gaze had wandered, Nick called out, "Hi Pitch!" Only to have the other child glare at him and stalk off in the opposite direction, making all three of the trio frown. None of them understood why he disliked them so much.
The Blacks followed after their son while still arguing and Ana's eyes widened. Now that the tall couple was gone, another scowling child had been revealed, but this was someone new. She'd never seen the boy with the spring-green eyes before.
"Who's the new kid?"
Nick and Sandy had turned their gazes to the egg field after Pitch's glare, but they looked where he'd been standing once again at Ana's question.
"I don't know, but he sure is wearing a lot of clothes." Nick replied as Sandy shrugged.
Ana tilted her head to the side, still staring at the boy, and then her violet eyes sparkled as she realized that she did know him! She'd only seen him briefly while her mother had been driving her home from the doctors, but she was almost positive that the boy was her new neighbor.
With an excited giggle she declared, "Well, I'm gonna go say hi!" and then rushed off towards the new boy while Nick and Sandy stared after her with bemused grins.
Aster glared at the snowy ground. He was really starting to hate the color white. When would spring get here? It was April! That was supposed to be spring time this side of the equator, right?
"Hello!"
The cheerful greeting made the Australian look up from the ground in surprise. He didn't know anyone here so who was talking to him?
A girl in a sparkly green coat stood before him with a wide grin on her face and, when their eyes met, that grin grew even wider. Aster didn't say anything, he just stared at her. Why was she talking to him?
The grin faded a little at his silence and the girl asked, "Don't you know how to talk?"
Aster bristled at the question and then he gruffly replied, "Course I can talk! Don' be a whacka!"
The girl stared at him for a moment before breaking out into a fit of giggles, making Aster's tan face flush crimson. She was laughing at him!
"Why are ya laughin' at me?"
The girl only giggled harder and Aster felt like he wanted to run away and hide. He turned to do just that, but the girl grabbed his hand before he could.
"Wait, stop, I'm sorry!"
He turned back towards her, still frowning, and waited for her to speak again.
"I didn't mean to laugh at you!"
"Then why did ya?"
The girl grinned, clearly fighting more giggles as she said, "Your voice is funny!"
"No it's not! You're the one with the funny voice!"
Now it was the girl's turn to frown. "My voice isn't funny! It's normal. And I use real words, not made up ones."
"So do I!"
"No you don't."
Aster was mad. Who was this girl to tell him he sounded funny and that he made up words? He was about to yell at her when his mother, who'd been watching the exchange with a hand over her mouth, bent down to their level and said, "We're from Australia, dear. That's why our voices sound funny to ya."
The girl's violet eyes widened as she whispered the word, "Australia?"
Mrs. Wilder nodded and the violet-eyed she-devil cried, "Does that mean you've seen a kangaroo before?"
Aster's mother smiled and said, "I've seen a roo or two, but only at the zoo."
The girl looked puzzled now. "But don't kangaroos just wonder around down there? I would have expected that you'd see them all the time."
Aster frowned and said, "Roos don' wonder into cities."
"Cities? There are cities in Australia? I thought that everyone just lived in the dessert or the, um, outback. It's call an outback, right?"
Mrs. Wilder opened her mouth to reply, but her son spoke before she could, letting out an indignant cry of, "The outback? I'm no bushie!"
"You're making up words again."
"No I'm not!"
"Yes you are! There's no such thing as a bushie."
"Yes there is!"
"No there's not!"
"Is too."
"Is not."
"Is too!" Aster shouted, glaring at the girl with all his might.
After a few more seconds of glaring, the girl smiled brightly and said, "I like you. Do you wanna hunt eggs with me and my friends?"
"Huh?" was all he could think to say in reply.
She pointed to two boys who were standing by the rope that separated the children from the eggs and then repeated her offer.
Aster was too surprised to reply and the girl seemed to take that as a yes because she grabbed his hands and pulled him across the snow covered ground towards her friends as she said, "I'm Ana, by the way, what's your name?"
"Aster."
"Aster, huh? I like that name. It's nice, even if your voice is weird."
The comment should've made Aster frown again, but instead it made him smile. There was something weird about this girl, but he was surprised to find that he liked it.
When Ana reached Nick and Sandy, she let go of Aster's hand and then commenced the introductions.
"Sandy, Nick, this is Aster, his voice is funny cause he's from Australia, but I like him so he's gonna hunt eggs with us."
The duo grinned at the new arrival and Nick said, "Okay! Do you like Easter?"
"I guess," Aster replied with a shrug. "Do you?"
Nick grinned. "Easter is okay, but, it's got nothing on Christmas!"
The answer made Aster smirk. "Christmas, huh?"
"Yes! Nothing beats Christmas!"
Aster's smirk grew devilish. "Nah, mate, Easter's way better than Christmas."
Nick looked at the new boy as if he'd just spouted blasphemy and Ana grinned as the Australian began to laugh a bright, merry laugh. She could tell that Aster was going to fit in just fine.
See, I can write Aster super Aussie if I want to, I just don't because it's no fun to read for long periods of time. Plus, you know, he's probably lost a bit of his accent and slang over the years. I can flesh this story out a bit more if people want me to, but I think this is a good stopping point.
