The Dursley's adopted son

Chapter 23

For once in my life, I didn't jinx it. Talking to Dudley was easy. When I walked into the school's courtyard, Dudley, Piers, Malcom, Dennis,  and Gordon were all sitting on the school's front steps chatting. When Piers saw me, He jumped up and called me over. I ignored some of the other students' stares of disbelief. Honestly at this point it shouldn't have been surprising to see Dudley's gang being friendly with me. I mean sure it had only been a couple of days, but like how long did it take people to realize it was literally none of their business. Anyways, I made it over to the group of bullies (hopefully soon-to-be-ex- bullies now that I had some semblance of influence within their group) on the stairs, and sat down between Piers and Gordon. I prepared myself to start a conversation with Dudley, although a large part of me expected. to be ignored by him again today. But before I could even open my. mouth, Dudley started the conversation first.

"So Jackson,  are you gonna be at tryouts on Friday??"

It took me a second to remember what tryouts he was talking about, but then I enthusiastically nodded,

"Yeah!  I'm super hyped for it, although I'm still shocked that you and Mr. Vilgar think I'll be good at it. I have my signed info sheet in here somewhere...".  I dug around in my backpack for a second before pulling out a slightly wrinkled sheet. "I really have to remember to give this to Mr. Vilgar today."

Dudley smiled at me, and it looked surprisingly genuine.

"I can remind you when we're in gym class later. Maybe we'll be paired to wrestle again and I can give you tips for tryouts!"

I smiled back at him and thanked him for the offer, internally wondering what had happened that made his attitude towards me change so drastically. Honestly it almost feels like Dudley has a new opinion of me everyday.

The 5-minute bell rang and I stood up to head to class. The rest of Dudley's gang followed. It was only as I was walking into the school that I realized the 6 of us had essentially been completely blocking the stairs for the other students, so now there was a mad rush to get inside. So much for trying to influence the group into being kinder people. But hey, at least they hadn't been stalking the schoolyard looking for someone to beat up, so this was an improvement, albeit a small one.

My first few classes passed by slowly. I was preoccupied thinking about what might happen in gym class today. Was Dudley actually gonna give me wrestling tips? Or was his new, friendly attitude just a facade to get me to lower my defenses so he could beat me into a pulp? Was Dudley even capable of making a plan like that? Was he actually gonna remind me about my signed wrestling sheet?

When gym class finally started, I was satisfied to have remembered that I needed to turn my slip in, but I decided to wait to see if Dudley would remind me. Like a test almost, to see if he actually considered me a friend.  Maybe it's not fair to test people like that, but at the end of the day, Dudley was clearly the school's number one bully, and I know from experience that I make an easy target, so I find it somewhat necessary to take precautions.

Luckily, the first thing that happened upon walking into the gymnasium, was Dudley smiling and waving at me,

"Hey Jackson! Don't forget your paper!"

I felt my face light up with a smile.

"I have it right here! Thanks Big D!"

Dudley let out a short, loud burst of laughter at the nickname. My smile widened as I trotted over to Mr. Vilgar and handed him the sheet. He looked it over and nodded,

"Wonderful, can't wait to see you on Friday." He even reached over to give me a firm pat on the shoulder.

"Off you go, warm up today yeah? You're gonna wrestle with Dursley again."