The Garden of Heathen

Change in the Wind

Luckily the new girl was just out of it enough that she didn't notice her new friends frantically passing her piece of paper back and forth, having whole conversations with their eyes when they weren't having them under their breath.

She was about as tall as Aussie but meatier, stronger, which didn't take much. Aussie stayed close to her as they all walked toward the house. She was surprisingly quiet and calm as she looked around her new home, unaware of what had taken place there over the past month. It felt like a dark secret they couldn't reveal to someone who was practically born today.

Before they entered the house Aussie pulled Gally aside by the front door.

"Could you do me a favor?" She asked, still holding onto his wrist gently. "Could you find Georgia and show her this and explain what's going on?"

She placed the note in his hand and he held onto it and her fingers as well as she spoke.

"I don't know for sure because I've never been in this situation before, but she might be more comfortable with just girls around. Is that ok?" She bit the right side of her bottom lip as she looked up at him.

"Yeah, absolutely," he nodded.

Aussie sighed in relief as she released her lip from the death grip of her teeth.
"Thank you, you're a peach!"

"I thought I was a moose?"

"You are a peachy moose, Gally gallant," Aussie smiled at him as she went for the front door.

"Between you and Gertie I get called the weirdest things..." he teasingly complained as he backed away, throwing her a small smirk before she finally disappeared into the house, still grinning at him too.

He honestly hoped nothing she just called him would actually stick, he had no idea why he reminded her about the moose thing. Still, it was nice to make her smile before she had to deal with a newbie.

"Did something good happen?" A sweet little voice spoke up, catching his attention.

He turned to see a familiar girl standing there, her smile a bright white crescent amidst her extremely dark complexion. She had been there helping with Lanie after the incident.

"Sorry?" He quirked his brow in confusion.

"You were smiling," she explained, seeming more shy. "You don't do that very often, so I wondered if something good happened."

"I don't smile?" He asked even more confused. This was news to him. He felt like he was always smiling at-

"You do when Aussie's around, but she's not here," she said as she went up and down on her tiptoes nervously.

"What's your name again?" He asked her, relaxing his furrowed brow so as not to intimidate her.

"Rosa," she supplied, putting out her hand.

"That's right, you help with, uh.." he faltered as he shook her hand, and she luckily saved him.

"Yeah I was there," she nodded.

"Yeah. Hey, by any chance have you seen Georgia around?" He asked her.

"Umm, not that I recall, but I can help you look. If you don't mind, that is," she ground the toe of her shoe in the dirt.

He felt a little nervous. She seemed nice, but he really didn't need another Hedy situation on his hands either. She seemed much younger though, possibly even younger than Gertie, and far too innocent, so he didn't have the heart to shoot her down.

"Sure, that would be... helpful," he said with his best impression of a friendly expression.

"Oh thanks!" She lit up with excitement as she walked with him. "Sorry, I don't mean to be weird. I just- I had this conversation with Aussie a while ago, about boys, and I thought maybe I should practice talking to one before I get out of here and meet more. Sorry, is that weird?"