"Okay, honestly, that went about as well as I expected." Dudley and I both turned to look at Piers, who was now done fighting his urge to laugh at my sassiness, but still smiling a bit. Dudley sighed,

"I was hoping it would go better." I couldn't help but nod in agreement, and Piers winced slightly. We all looked back over at the two adults. Mr. Dursley seemed to have calmed down slightly, but his face was still rather red. Mrs. Dursley was looking around the hallway and smiling reassuringly at the few others who were sitting at the tables nearby. Not that anyone was actually paying any attention to what the two Dursleys were up to. Nonetheless, she was clearly stressed out about the possibility of others judging her and her husband. Dudley deflated a bit as he seemed to realize that his parents were not going to come back over on their own. After giving me a solid pat on the shoulder, Dud ambled on over.

His parents welcomed him into their little huddle, Mrs. Dursley giving him a short kiss on the forehead. Even though I hadn't really gotten a good impression of the Dursleys so far, it was clear that they really truly cared for their son, which was sweet. The moment of domestic-ness was broken as Mr. Dursley said something to Dudley that made him whip his head around and stare at me as though he was seeing me for the first time. He stared for a second and his mouth dropped open slightly, before frantically turning back to his parents and saying something that involved a lot of hand movements. I was bewildered by his behavior, and turned to Piers.

"Jeez. What was that about? Have I grown another head or something?"

Piers looked at me for a second, considering, and I started to wonder if maybe the 'second head' thing wasn't just a joke, but then Piers spoke slowly, almost sounding like he was debating how much he should say.

"If I had to guess, I would say you remind them too much of another orphan, one that they really dislike."

I cracked a bit of a smile, thinking that surely Piers was making a weird joke. But when he didn't meet my eyes, I realized that he wasn't joking. My eyebrows furrowed in bafflement. What kind of a statement is that? 'You remind them of an orphan that they don't like.' Are the Dursley's seriously going around having disagreements with random orphans? How many orphans do they even know for there to be one that reminds them of me?

I looked at Piers closely. Maybe he was just really committed to the bit, and would surely break any second. He was probably just distracting me from the whatever was going on with the Dursley's conversation. If that had been his goal, it worked. Now, instead of wondering what the Dursleys were saying about me, I was busy trying to decode Piers' bizarre statement.

I wasn't left with much time to ponder, though, because the Dursley's had finally seemed to reach some sort of tense agreement. Dudley beckoned me and Piers over, and then the five of us silently made our way over to one of the empty tables and sat. It didn't seem like anyone was going to break the painfully awkward and tense silence, so I decided to take one for the team.

"So..." I tried my best to ignore the way everyone was staring at me, and continued, "I don't think I've ever asked what your favorite color is, Piers. I know Duds like orange, but what about you? You seem like the kind of guy who would like a nice solid red, no?"

Piers blinked slowly at me for a moment before nodding.

"Uh yeah, red is nice, I guess."

I tried not to slam my head against the table at his strained reply, wishing he would have played along a bit more. Now we were back to square one: awkward silence.

Thankfully, I wasn't the one to break it this time. Instead, it was Mrs. Dursley.

"...And your favorite color, Percy?"

Wow! She had actually spoken to me! Albeit awkwardly, and with her face twisted into a literal grimace as if acknowledging me went against her very being, but she had chosen to initiate conversation, which had to mean something.

"Blue ma'am. Like the ocean."

I was about to ask what her favorite color was (if I had to guess, I would say beige), but then Mr. Dursley spoke, so the question died in my throat.

"You've been to the ocean then?"

"Yes sir, sometimes we go on holiday there. I think I'd want to live seaside when I'm older, it's just so pretty, you know?"

Mr. Dursley grunted, but it seemed like it was in agreement. It lapsed into silence again. I looked over to Dudley, and it seemed like he was holding himself back from saying something. He met my eyes, and I raised one eyebrow in a look that prompted him to speak up,

"Mum, Dad, could we go to the ocean on holiday? Now that Har--"

The rest of Dudley's sentence was cut off by Mrs. Dursley exclaiming hurriedly,

"Oh of course Poppykins! We can holiday wherever you want."

Mr. Dursley nodded in agreement, although his heart didn't seem in it. He was still too busy looking at me, less angry now, and more questioning. Mrs. Dursley then turned to Piers, saying,

"And of course darling, you're always invited along." Piers and Mrs. Dursley shared a smile as Piers thanked her. I tried not to be jealous of the almost maternal way that Mrs. Dursley spoke to Piers. Dudley had told me that the two of them had been friends since before they had even started primary school, so it made sense that Mrs. Dursley was familiar and friendly with Piers. Still, I couldn't help the pang I felt at the way Piers was so easily included into their family unit. I was busy trying to convince myself I wasn't at all bitter, when Mrs. Dursley turned to me,

"And Percy, you're also welcome."

Surprisingly, her voice sounded relatively genuine, although the grimace on Mr. Dursley's face showed that it wasn't a unified decision. Dudley's face lit up with excitement and disbelief,

"Mum, really?"

Mrs. Dursley's shoulders tightened slightly at Dudley's enthusiasm. I was mentally preparing for her to change her mind or for Mr. Dursley to speak up in disagreement. Instead, both of Dudley's parents shared a glace and nodded.

"He'd have to get permission from the head of his orphanage, of course," Mr. Dursley said gruffly, but not unkindly. Part of me suspected that he didn't think Madame Wool would allow me to leave, and that was why he thought it safe to extend the offer. To be honest, I wasn't sure that Madame Wool would allow me to go on holiday with the Dursleys-- she always tried her best to make sure we could participate in social gathering, but at the end of the day there was no guarantee. Legalities. All part of being an orphan, I suppose. But still, even to have the offer was thrilling.

"Wow! Thank you so much, Mr. Dursley, Mrs. Dursley! That's awesome of you to include me. I know that you guys've known Piers much longer but really I--"

Mrs. Dursley cut me off with a tight smile,

"Dudley has spoken very positively of you, Percy. Although you're not what we pictured, what kind of parents would we be if we excluded a close friend of our son?"

Mr. Dursley nodded, and it only looked a little pained. I wasn't sure how these two had gone from looking at me like I was the bane of their existence to inviting me along on their family holiday, but I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

I rather like horses.

Not the point, the point is, I didn't want to press my luck. Some sort of switch seemed to have flipped and the Dursleys no longer saw me as a pathetic American orphan boy who was bad news, instead they saw me as a pathetic American orphan boy who was worth keeping around if it meant their son was happy. That was good enough for me!

The five of us had lapsed into silence yet again, but this time it wasn't too tense. I decided I wasn't going to be the one to break it. Dudley sniffed and looked at a clock mounted on the wall before standing,

"Perc, we've gotta head back to the gym, I think the meet is about to start."

I looked at the clock, but I honestly have a hard time reading traditional clocks, so I just nodded in agreement and stood. As I stood, Piers and the Dursleys also got to their feet. Mrs. Dursley wrapped Dudley in a big hug and kissed his forehead,

"Good luck Duddy-kins! I love you!"

Mrs. Dursley's display was followed by her husband hugging Dudley as well,

"You've got this son, make us proud."

Then Mr. Dursley turned and offered his hand to me. I shook it, as thats the polite thing to do, and surprisingly, he smiled a real smile at me!

"Good luck to you as well, Percy. You'll be joining us for a late lunch afterwards, right?"

I nodded, and thanked the Dursleys for everything, saying it was a pleasure to meet them. I got sincere smiles from both of Dudley's parents, and after Mrs. Dursley gave Dudley one more hug, Dudley, Piers and I started to make out way back towards the gymnasium.

1620 words! Wooo! Enjoy!!