In The Cold

[Xavier Jeffreys]

Xavier was glad classes were over for the semester. It meant could spend more time outside, exploring the grounds and scouring for new bug friends to add to his collection. Despite the stress of exams looming over his shoulders, and his desire to do well in them, he wanted nothing more than to be outside no matter how detrimental it would be to his grades to spend his precious time digging his hands into dirt, rather than studying everything he should know from the semester. All that he cared about in the moment was having fun, and looking for bugs was the perfect way for Xavier to have fun, even if his grades would eventually face the consequences.

Xavier walked through the great lawn to the lakefront with a stack of glass jars in his arms and his gumboots squishing in the mud beneath each of his steps. As he arrived to the water's edge, he put his jars down, then opened one of them as he gathered his bearings. He noticed the dirt on the bank was muddy, so he stepped towards it with the jar in hand, deciding this would be his first stop. He put his jar on the ground and knelt down, digging his hands into the mud and moving clumps of it in a pile beside him, hoping he would eventually find a worm or some other dirt-dwelling creature that he could keep in his jar. ​

 

[Kauri Morales-Tipene]

Kauri didn't know if he'd ever get tired of exploring these school grounds. There always seemed to be something new to discover, or something else to explore. He supposed it was a side effect of the school being magical, but it was thrilling nonetheless. Whenever he didn't know what to do he would go outside and just wander. He found himself wishing pretty often that he had his bike with him, but walking was still pretty good, and there was always something that turned out to be entertaining enough to keep him busy.

On this particular day, the thing that happened to catch Kauri's attention, was the friend he had made at the Halloween feast. The older boy had been so nice, and it was unexpected fun, being in matching costumes with someone. What had he said his name was again? Kauri took a moment to remember, before greeting him. "Hi, Xavier!" He said cheerfully, approaching to try and see what the older boy was doing. Something with jars and dirt? "What are you up to?"

 

[Xavier Jeffreys]

Xavier was yet to see a bug as he dug into the dirt with his hands, but that didn't phase him. He instead continued to move clumps of mud to one side hoping he would find something sooner or later. Though he was soon distracted from his task as a familiar voice greeted him. He looked up from his dirt ridden hands to see the boy Kauri, who he'd met at the Halloween feast and unintentionally matched costumes with. A smile burst onto Xavier's features as he greeted the boy back. "Kauri! Hey! I'm just looking for worms today. Or maybe some other kinda bug, I dunno." He moved the dirt he was holding into his pile, then looked back towards Kauri. "What are you up to? How have you been since Halloween?" He asked, excitedly. It was nice to see Kauri again. Xavier had thought the younger boy was lots of fun the first time they had met, and he very much wanted to be his friend.​

 

[Kauri Morales-Tipene]

Kauri crouched down next to Xavier, looking over his project curiously. Bugs were pretty cool, but not something he had really spent much time thinking about for a while. "Why are you looking for bugs?" He asked, with genuine curiosity. "Do you like, collect them? Or do you need them for... a magic potion or something?" Kauri hadn't been in the magical world for very long, but he was already learning he should never discount magic as a reason for something strange to him. Nothing in the world here seemed to work the way he had learned to expect it back home.

"I'm good!" Kauri said happily, and it was the truth. "Everything we're learning in class is so cool, and this place is awesome. I don't think I'm ever gonna get used to seeing magic every single day, it's the COOLEST." Kauri realised that most of his classmates were very used to the idea of magic and didn't seem to think it was any big deal, but he couldn't see the shine ever wearing off for him. He was at magic school! That was exciting!