The Dursley's adopted son

Chapter 14

As I lay on my bed at the orphanage, I decided I hated Smeltings. I hated the uniform. I hated the classes. I hated the freakishly clean halls. And I definitely hated Dudley. Besides looking and acting like a pig, he was an absolute jerk. All day, as I followed him from lesson to lesson , I saw kids running away for him. He was constantly shoving people out of his way, and acting like he was better than everyone else. It really irked me. Somewhere deep in my heart, however, I knew that I wouldn't be able to leave this kid. He obviously had problems, and I wanted to help him out. I mean, I don't want to, but I feel obligated to. Ugh.

As I stared at the ceiling, I heard Olivia walk into the room. I knew it was Olivia because she never wore shoes, so her foot fall sounds different than other people's. She saw me lying on my bed and spoke,

"Nice outfit Perce." Craning my neck to see what I was wearing, I saw my god-awful Smeltings uniform.

"Olivia, we've already covered this. I don't want to be wearing this. It's the school uniform."

"Why don't you take it off. School is over for today."

"I don't feel like moving," I heard Olivia sigh and felt her sit on my bed next to me.

"Let me guess, you hate your new school."

"What gave it away."

"You're grumpy, but you're never grumpy,"

"Nice observation," I joked.

"Percy, sit up," Olivia demanded. I groaned in response.

"Fine." She stood up abruptly and grabbed my feet.

"I guess I have to drag you to dinner." I sat up quickly.

"It's dinner time? Why didn't you tell me sooner?" I jumped out of bed and shooed Olivia from the room.

"I need to change, get out. Be down in a sec." Olivia just laughed and walked out. I changed in a flash, and raced down the hall. I lept past Olivia, who shook her head at my antics. How she wasn't already in the dining room, I didn't know. I guess I got ready faster than I thought.

When I got to the dining room, everyone but Olivia was there. Madame Wool was bustling in the kitchen, trying to finish dinner. Making dinner was usually a shared chore between three or four kids, but as today was the start of school for many children, Madame Wool insisted that we take a break. As I sat down at the table, I couldn't help thinking about Dudley. I'm not sure why my mind wandered to him, and I'm not sure what my brain wanted me to do about him. Well, I guess it was more like I didn't know what my heart wanted me to do about him. I was shaken out of my thoughts when food was placed in front of me. Tonight's dinner was Madame Wool's famous Shepards Pie. She made sure everyone got a dish and held her hands out as a signal for us to pray. We didn't have to pray if we didn't want to, but many kids did. Normally, I didn't pray, because I didn't believe in God, but today I decided to pray. However, I decided to pray to my father, and not God. I didn't know why, but it just felt right.

Hi dad. I started at a new school today, and I met a bully. I don't know what to do because I think he needs help, but it doesn't seem like he would accept any help from anyone. Anyways, I know you don't care, but I need to tell someone. OK. Thanks. Bye.

In the orphanage, we didn't usually pray as a group because every child has their own things to pray for, so some children were still praying when I finished. Once everyone's head was up, we started eating.

Dinner was pretty quiet. There were a few scattered ted conversations up and down the table, but for the most part, everyone was absorbed in their food. I couldn't blame them, the food was delicious. I was so focused with my own thoughts that I hadn't noticed Olivia had sat down and started talking to me. I tuned in during the middle or her sentence.

"—so then Alicia start freaking out because there was a bird flying around the classroom. Our teacher, Mrs. Buthe, ran out of the classroom and closed the door behind her, so then it was stuck in our room. Everyone was screaming. Then a new kid, I think his name is Alan, picked up a broom- I have no idea where he got it- and started waving at the bird. He almost hit me on the head, but I ducked just in time. He did hit the window though, so now there's a very big crack. That's when we all realized that the bird would probably fly out if we opened the window, so that's what we did. But we were wrong. The bird didn't fly out the window, it just landed on top of Mrs. Buthe's cupboard. We all went sorta quiet, and then Alex decided it would be a good idea to climb the cupboards. She-"

I tuned out again, not because Olivia's story wasn't good, but because I had finished my meal. I looked over at Olivia's plate and noticed that she still had a lot of food, so I decided to sneak some onto my plate. I slowly reached over with my fork and grabbed a small chunk of Shepard's pie. As I chewed, I started listen to Olivia's story again.

"—So there was bird poop everywhere, papers all over the classroom, a cracked window, a broken cupboard and at least two flipped desks. Of course, it was right at that moment Mrs. Buthe walked back in. Needless to say, she wanted to send us all to detention, but Bella pointed out that if 27 kids show up in detention it's usually because of the teacher, not the students. So instead of detention we spent the rest of the hour cleaning. The window is still cracked though, and the cupboard hasn't been fixed either."

When she finished her story, she seemed to notice that her entire Shepherd's pie was gone. She looked at me and rolled her eyes very dramatically. I just shrugged.

"Nice story Olivia. Sounds like a very interesting day." I turned to see Madame Wool. Olivia nodded,

"It was, madame. Thanks for dinner."

"It was my pleasure, just make sure to clear your plates. Percy, dear, you're on dish duty tonight." I nodded, and picked up my plate. I also cleared Olivia's plate because, after all, I was the one who had eaten her food. I gathered some of the plates that the younger children had left on the table, and went to the kitchen to wash the dishes. I actually rather liked washing the dishes, because I was good at it. It was also pretty calming. And, you know, I had water powers. That made things a lot easier.

I was done washing the dishes in no time at all. Most kids had eaten everything on their plate, so I didn't have to worry about leftovers or extra food scraps. I dried them off with a towel, and went to find Alexander and Henry.

I found them in the backyard of the orphanage. OK, I say backyard, I mean a small space behind the building. There isn't any grass or anything, just cement. It's outside though, so it's good enough. Alexander and Henry were sitting in a circle with most of the other kids from the orphanage. Everyone was playing a hand slapping game, with rhyming words. I was familiar with the game, but since they had already started I decided to head back to my room.

I got to my room and sat cross legged on my bed, closing my eyes. I had school again tomorrow. Obviously. I wasn't nervous or anxious or anything like that, but I guess I was feeling apprehensive about Dudley. Obviously he had a reputation of being a bully. I hated bullies. But I loved pissing bullies off. Dudley was fun to piss off, especially because he needed to learn how to treat people. Whatever. I needed to stop thinking about it, because I was starting to sound obsessed with him. That was the last thing I needed. I opened my eyes. The room was darker than it should have been, and when I looked outside, I realized it was raining. That's funny, the sky was clear just a couple of minutes ago.

I walked over to the window and peered outside. On the street below my window was a man. He looked to be about 40 years old, but his hair was already graying. He had a long beard, and was wearing a Hawaiian shirt. He was looking right at me. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed. In that brief second of light, I saw his eyes.

His eyes looked just like mine.

What do you mean I haven't updated in forever??

Word count is 1530, I know it's shorter than normal, and really crappy. I will try to do better.