Xander looked around himself at Traverston, his new home. He was to live here with some distant relative of his. Wesley Wyndham- Pryce was his name, according to the man, who had met Xander at the airport this morning.
Xander's mother had died when he was just a baby, leaving him with just his dad. Then, three weeks ago, his dad had just disappeared into thin air one day. Xander wasn't entirely sure what had happened to him, everyone seemed to avoid the subject. He figured it was probably just one of those things that always seemed to happen around his hometown.
The people who had come to see him after his dad's going away had told him that he was going to go and live with a relative in England. They had assured him that he was going to be staying with a very nice man, who was his mothers third cousin, or something along those lines.
That was the closest relation who was willing to take charge of a 5 -year- old boy. So Xander had been uprooted from his home in Sunnydale, America, and shipped off to this little town in England. It had all happened so fast that Xander was still confused about any details of the matter.
Xander didn't know what to think. Wesley seemed like an OK person to him, even if he was an adult, and a little stuffy. But he hadn't seen any kids around, or at least none younger that about ten. And all the ones he had seen had been girls.
Xander had nothing against girls, but he didn't want to be the only boy around. Who would he play boy games with? But just girls was better than no children at all.
Xander liked to have people around him. He loved to make people laugh. How could he do that if there were no kids there? Adults didn't usually like his jokes and things.
Xander's dad had been one of the exceptions. He had called Xander his "little comedian' and said that Xander was the funniest little guy he knew. Xander had liked that, but had liked making the children at his pre-school laugh more. They were his age, and understood him better.
Xander dropped into loneliness for a moment. He really did miss his dad. It had been just the two of them for as long as he could remember. But now he was gone. Xander may not have known what exactly had happened to his dad, but he was fairly sure he wasn't coming back.
Wesley looked down at the small boy walking beside him. The child looked sad. But obviously that was to be expected, after losing his father, then being carted off to a strange place. Wesley felt sorry for the child. It must have been a hard few weeks for him.
Wes hoped he had done the right thing by agreeing to look after the child. It was another child to look after, which meant more work, but the child was a part of his relatives, albeit rather distant.
Wes hadn't even known that the child existed, until he had been contacted two weeks ago. He still wasn't entirely sure how the people had managed to find his name and contact him. But they had told him that he was their last hope. That if he didn't take the child he would either end up in an orphanage somewhere, or being passed from foster family to foster family.
Wes had decided that surely one more child couldn't cause too much extra trouble. And anyway, family was family.
So the boy had been put on a plane, and Wesley had gone to meet him at the airport this morning.
The other 5 children had been told that a relative of Wesley's was coming to live with them. They had reacted happily at the prospect of receiving a new friend for them to play with.
Oz had been happy to learn that he was to have some male company. The girls had been getting rather pushy lately, and he hoped another boy would help even the playing field somewhat.
Faith looked out the window, hoping to be the first to catch a glimpse of their new housemate, and hopefully, friend. He sounded interesting. She liked having boys to play with, but Oz was kinda boring at times. He was a bit too serious for her taste, and kinda quiet. She liked guys who were loud, and could make her laugh.
She liked it when people made her laugh. It hadn't happened all that much before she had come to Traverston, and though all her friends here were fun, none of them really liked jokes and stuff.
And she hoped he had brown hair, like hers. Faith liked dark haired guys, like she figured her dad would have been, 'cept she never actually met him. She had always wanted a brother too, one with hair like hers. Guys were fun to play with, when you weren't in the mood for being 'round girls. And she already felt kinda connected to this new guy for some reason, even though she didn't know why that could be.
Xander was feeling a little more cheerful now, since a couple of minutes ago, Wesley had told him whom he was going to be living with. Four girls his age, and, what he was most happy about, a guy. The boy was 6 apparently, but hey, 6 isn't far from 5. Oh, plus Wesley and some other guy called Giles. But he wasn't really bothered about the adults. Kids were what he cared about.
He hoped they were nice, and hey, maybe if he was lucky one of them might like his style of jokes and such. He hoped none of them were like a girl at his pre-school in Sunnydale. She was so mean to him, but most of the kids seemed to like her. Plus she laughed at his name. Which wasn't fair, considering hers was Cordelia. That was way, way sillier than Xander any day.
Well he wouldn't have to wait long to find out. Wesley had said that they were only about 5 minutes away from the house.
Even as he was thinking that Wesley pointed to a pleasant looking house and told him that that was the one.
Xander could see a little dark haired girl sitting in the window, obviously looking for something. On an impulse he lifted his arm and waved at the girl.
Faith was slightly surprised. The boy had waved. That was a good sign. It probably meant he wanted to be friendly. She waved back to him, then ran off through the house to find the others, who were also waiting in anticipation of meeting the new boy.
Once Xander saw the girl run off, apprehension started to creep over him again. What if they didn't like him? What if they thought he was dumb? Well, there wasn't exactly a lot he could do about their opinions, he realised, but he just hoped they wouldn't be mean if they didn't like him. He could live with being ignored, but teasing, he really didn't like teasing.
There was a small gang waiting outside the house, wanting to meet the new guy. Giles had to smile at the looks on the children's faces. They looked so excited. Especially Oz, whom Giles suspected had been feeling rather out numbered ever since he had arrived.
Xander looked at the kids standing out the front of the house, and his apprehension melted away. They all looked happy to see him and Wes. Excited to meet the new child, who, Xander hoped, was soon to become one of them.
When Xander reached the house he was instantly enveloped in a swarm of kids. He was led away happily to get to know all of them and his new home.