A Picnic By Myself

[Yevheniy Kharchenko]

Being somewhat of a loner, the boy had yet to find some friends. Well, it wasn't so much that Wes was a loner, more that he realised how much he disliked people in general. He did't really enjoy the stresses of having friends. Keeping up with them and just generally being civil while around them. Wes was not very social. He struggled with it, though his mother always claimed that the core function in life was friends. Wes didn't entirely share the opinion of his mother. He was less interested in having lots of friends, and more interested in having a few people who could just give him a hand. Make his look like less of a loner. Which would be easier said than done, because he wasn't interested in really making the effort. He was more interested in a lot of other things. He was good enough in classes, and he was just happy to have the one guy to talk to instead of several people. He didn't need that many people, but he was going to admit, that no matter how much time he spent alone claiming he didn't like having friends, the boy felt kind of alone and lonely. He didn't know what was better, not having any friends and never dealing with the stress of it, or having a few friends that he would just be able to have fun with. He didn't know what to do, or how to make friends. He also realised that he didn't entirely care. Wes had never cared about having friends. Sure he had, had them before. He had some friends at his last two schools, but that was easier, he'd had them when he'd cared about people, now he no longer did it was harder. Though he did stay somewhat loyal to the people he counted as friends. He was happy with that, just at school he lacked the first few friends to get started.

Wes had gone to the kitchens earlier, and instead of spending lunch with others in the great hall, he'd taken his lunch, the lunch he'd gotten from the house-elves and just decided to go somewhere new. To go somewhere that he didn't know. Which was fairly easy considering that he didn't know anywhere. He didn't know anyone, so it was easy for him to just pick somewhere. In the end, he decided to go to the cliffs. He loved places that people weren't really allowed to go to. He was happy to just go somewhere that most others wouldn't go. A quiet picnic alone. A place to call his own. A place that was new and different. The walk was fairly long, but it was worth it when he got there. He put his bag down beside him as he took a seat right on the edge of the cliff. Swinging his feet off the edge of the cliff. He turned to his bag and pulled out a small ham sandwich. He was content for now to being alone at the cliffs with no one around but him. It was good. But, maybe it would be better if there was someone, just one person that he could pretend to be friends with. Pretend to like for a bit of time. Or even actually like. It would be pretty interesting if he actually met someone he in the end liked. How proud would his mom be then.
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[Rowley Cairns]

Typically, being the grubber that she was, Rowley had over-eaten tremendously at breakfast and found that when lunch came, she wasn't too hungry at all. Having finished all classes for the day, she decided she'd do a bit more exploring of the grounds and took a blueberry muffin to go, leaving the rabble of the Great Hall behind her.
Breathing in the fresh, cool air, Rowley smiled, taking a bite out of her muffin. So far she'd greatly enjoyed her time at Hogwarts New Zealand, it was everything she'd hoped for and more, it exceeded all of her expectations and she knew the excitement at being there wouldn't wear off for at least another few weeks.
She was finding all of her subjects fascinating, though give it a month or two and she'd probably be thinking differently. She reckoned Herbology would become an annoyance pretty quickly, seeing it as a waste of time. It definitely wasn't her cup of tea and in her opinion should be an elective choice, being more of a hobbie than required magical knowledge.

Humming to herself, she walked on down to the Lakefront, standing at the edge of the lake and looking out over the still, calm, glitterin water. It was her favorite place and she'd spent a fair bit of time down there since arriving, finding it an ideal spot to think and complete homework, it being so peaceful. Despite being a fun-loving, energetic young girl, Rowley also enjoyed a bit of peace and quiet. She liked to read, adventure novels mostly, and a few years ago had discovered a love for writing. She had a large notepad full of all her own short stories and was finding life at Hogwarts great inspiration for new ones.
Looking right along the lakefront and beyond, she could see the cliffs in the distance. She knew they were out of bounds to students, but she'd never been one to pay much attention to rules and guidelines and she was yet to visit that area, so off she went, finishing off her muffin and ridding her hands of crumbs on the back of her trousers.

On approach, Rowley noticed a lone boy sitting on the very edge of the cliffs. He appeared to be eating, but she couldn't really tell from behind at such a distance, though as she neared she was sure that he was.
It seemed a curious thing to be doing, when there was a hall designed for eating, full of students, back at the castle. But Rowley couldn't judge anyone on being slightly odd or weird and her first thought was that the boy must have his reasons and would probably be pretty interesting.
Not wanting to startle the boy while sat in such a risky position, she walked to the edge of the cliffs and made her way towards him, hoping he'd see her coming out of the corner of his eye.
She'd never seen this boy around before, and she was willing to bet he'd be a first year the same as her.
Eager to make friends and get to know people, Rowley cleared her throat, and smiling a wide, slightly goofy grin, said "Hey" in her heavy Australian accent.

 

[Yevheniy Kharchenko]

Fact of the matter was, Hogwarts had so far proved to be pretty boring. He didn't know how it was possible. Since everyone he had ever talked to, only had praises for it. Hogwarts was this, and it was that. It was amazing and it was incredible. He didn't know how people could be so wrong and end up not knowing at all what anything was really like. Maybe it was just that he thought like that. That his views on the matter was more that it was boring. He hadn't met anyone interesting. He hadn't really met anyone. Plus the boy pretty much thought that the ratio of boy to girl was pretty off. He didn't mind. Wes, despite his young age, and immature state of mind, loved girls. He had specifically soft spot for the incredible girls that were in california. No matter how much he had tried to see the same in the girls he'd seen in New Zealand in his brief time wondering around, they were nothing compared to the girls he was used to back home. There was just something about his home that made him love the people. He just knew he needed to get use to New Zealand. Once the weather brightened up and people were a lot more adjusted to school life, the boy knew things had to pick up from then on. He was pretty much the kind of guy who could just stand around, watching the world around him burn and say that it was actually pretty boring. He needed to find someone like him. Who didn't really care about getting into trouble. Who wasn't bothered about getting into trouble. But, who also wouldn't care that Wes wouldn't care about them. It was a long list of demands that he knew where never ever going to get filled. He just had to for now consider mischief on his own. Since he was pretty good at doing that already. He just had to find a way to start. however, his thoughts were broken, when he realised that someone was walking towards either him, or just the edge of the cliff. As much as he was feeling pretty alone, he really hoped it wasn't someone who would talk to much, or make him think too much. It was a day where he didn't have classes. He wasn't dressed in uniform, and he really wanted to find an easy friend. The boy was pretty picky, he just didn't really like a lot of people and the way they acted. It wasn't his best trait.

The person walking towards him, seemed to make herself known to him. As if he would fall off the cliff if she didn't and then surprised him. He found that pretty hard to believe since he was sure he would at least fall backwards and not make the idiot mistake of leaning forward. However, she did then say hello, which then prompted him to look up. Finishing the bite of his sandwich that he had been chewing way too long. He noted that in the one word she spoke to him that she was from Australia, or maybe New Zealand. The accents sounded very similar to the young Slytherin. He smiled ever so slightly, waiting for her to say something else, maybe introduce herself to him, but she didn't. Instead she said nothing. Which then meant that Wes was going to have to do the talking. He moved slightly indicated that if she wanted to, she could sit with him. He was sure that would be better. "Hi" He said simply. The boy had fairly clear American accent, which contrasted from the Australian accent that the girl seemed to have. "I'm Wes," He always introduced himself as such. Most asked whether Wes was a nickname or just his name. It was just his name. Which was quite boring as far as names went. He's just Wes. The boy smiled however. "And you?" He asked waiting for her to sit, and hopeful that he'd prompted more conversation out of the girl.
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[Rowley Cairns]

There was a bit of a silence and Rowley realized she should have introduced herself, it seemed as though the boy were expecting it of her but he returned her greeting and introduced himself none the less. Sitting down beside him, she smiled, "Nice to meet you Wes, cool name by the way! I'm Rowley" she told him. Tucking a stray strand of wavy dark blonde hair behind her ear, she leant forward over the edge of the cliffs, looking at the mound of rocks far below. "Long way down, eh.." She commented, unconsciously swinging her legs slowly back and forward, thinking how exhilarating it would be to take off from that spot on broom. It was so peaceful there, quiet, as if time stood still, this suited Rowley on that particular day. She hadn't been sleeping well at all since arriving at the school and had gotten only a few hours the night before, her own fault for turning in so late, so was feeling rather slow.

Noting his accent, "Where abouts in America are you from?" she asked, stifling a yawn as she did so. It hadn't even occurred to her until that moment that it would have been good manners to, before flinging herself down and beginning conversation, first ask if it was okay with the boy, he could be waiting on someone joining him after all. "Sorry, I didn't even think.. do you mind if I join you? I'm not gate crashing some private picnic party am I?" she asked, joking slightly, hoping Wes would have no objections to her company. He seemed nice and could be the type of friend she was looking for, one she didn't have to try too hard with, an easy friendship, simple talking and being. That being said though, she was just itching to explore the forbidden forest and would also need to find someone who would be up for that and possibly more frowned upon excursions!

 

[Yevheniy Kharchenko]

Wes didn't expect her to like his name, much less say it was cool. He raised an eyebrow at her slightly. Wondering if she really did think that, or if she was just trying to be polite to him. He didn't know. He also didn't really care. If he was honest, he thought it was really pretty silly to care. After all he was just another person she would meet. The boy smiled and nodded at her name. It's was a pretty boyish name is he was honest. It wasn't what he really imagined a girl's name to be like, but he couldn't exactly say anything. He wouldn't be the one to bring up the fact that she had a boys name. Wes was sure that he wouldn't be the first, or the last to tell her, and he didn't really want to be part of the pack, so he didn't really want to say anything. He really didn't. The young boy instead reached over to the bag of food that he had and took out a rather large, green apple. He took a large bite as he watched her swing her legs over the edge. He looked over and shrugged. In his eyes, it wasn't exactly that it was a long way down, he didn't think of it like that. He just saw it as a wall, that was neither high nor low. It was just something. A cliff. Sure, cliffs were lacking in L.A., but it wasn't like he'd never seen them before or speicifically gone to them. He liked adventure, and so wasn't exactly going to just not sit somewhere because if he fell he probably wouldn't live to tell the tale. "I guess" Wes shrugged and leaned back slightly. He took another bite of the apple. He looked at the girl, she looked somewhat tired. He couldn't imagine what from, since the classes weren't exactly hard yet. He himself looked well rested. Mostly because he spent most of the day asleep anyway. Winter was sleeping time for him. His father was always pretty close to tell him that he went into hibernation when it came to winter. And while technically this was his summer, he was in winter, and therefore hibernation.

Wes looked at the girl as she asked where he was from and then stifled a yawn. That sort of an odd question. He was born in one place, but split his time between two. it wasn't really a fair thing for him, since he was never in one place more than six months, but it was the way things had ended with his parents, and it hadn't really ever bothered him. it was just another factor of life. Just another thing that happened. Wes looked at the girl, about to reply, when she asked if she was even able to sit there. Wes laughed slightly, as he took another bite of his apple. While the girl seemed nice, he really didn't care. She was talking to him, and this was an opportunity to make some friends. To meet people who would be willing to hang out with him, despite his sometimes fairly cold and distant personality. He smiled at the girl. "I haven't asked you to leave, so, no I don't mind you joining me Ley." He shortened her name, hoping she wouldn't mind, also remembering that it would matter to him. He would call her Ley. "And I was born in Salem, Oregon. But, I live in New York city, and Los Angeles. My parents are split so I split my time between them." He answered, there was little point in lying. His parents were split, that was the fact of the matter. He looked at her, and gave a very small smile. "What about you Ley? Where abouts are you from? I'm always getting mixed up between Australian and New Zealand accents, so forgive me." Wes gave a small apologetic smile, before taking another bite of his apple. He would offer food to her, but he didn't really have anything left. he hadn't really brought much for this small lonely picnic. Even though now, it was slightly less lonely.
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