Best In Show - Chapter Two

He couldn’t take it off and before bed he realized he needed to use the bathroom. Not only had he been wearing it for hours he had also learned that doing everything while wearing a pair of mittens was almost worse than the fact it was a humiliating poodle costume. Eating with a knife and fork was a challenge and the mittens got in the way of everything. He couldn’t play video games with the controller and even simple things like using his tablet was next to impossible.

He went to the washroom and stared at himself in the mirror. His face was surrounded by poodle fur although this was the first time he noticed that his nose had been painted black like a dog’s. Just when he thought it wasn’t going to get any worse.

Patrick struggled to brush his teeth with the mittens, he was almost surprised that he didn’t have dog fangs or something in his mouth. He then tried to at least tug the hood of the costume off, but the hole left for his face was too small to get his head through, and it didn’t stretch at all. He eventually gave up and stared at the toilet, he really needed to go.

He pulled at the bottom of the outfit, like he was pulling down his pants, nothing happened. Everything was completely attached. He grunted and growled but remembered what the fairy said. He stood awkwardly in the washroom and lifted up his leg. Nothing happened.

“I’m going to pee myself in this stupid thing.” Patrick muttered to himself.

He thought back to what the blue fairy had said about needing to go like a dog. That alone made his face turn pink, but he was getting desperate. He knelt down onto all fours and lifted his back leg. He finally felt the material separate enough for him to go. The only issue was that in the bathroom there was no way he could do anything other than pee on the floor, and he wasn't that desperate.

The indignity of the situation made him feel like he had to get back at his sister somehow. He just didn’t know how yet. He went down the stairs and luckily no one was there and was able to go into the backyard and walk to where there was a big tree. Just like a real dog he got down on his hands and knees again and this time was finally able to pee. It felt all wrong though. His leg felt tired just holding it up and there was a cold late October breeze in the air. He shivered a little.

When he was finished he tried to imagine that it had never happened and rushed back to his room. Having his own room at least felt like some type of victory since he at least had the privacy he needed to crawl into his bed and pretend he was just wearing a pair of warm pajamas.

***

He had hoped the whole thing had been a dream but when he opened his eyes one of the floppy poodle ears covered his face. He got up and walked around his room. Knowing there was no way he was going to get out of school, but it was October 30th. If it was actually Halloween he would have been able to just lean into the ridiculous costume, today he would look like some kind of poodle boy.

His door opened to reveal Evie, she had already gotten ready for school and was watching him. "I can't go to school like this." He told her.

Evie looked at least a little empathetic. "You could stay home sick." She suggested.

"I had to pee outside!" He growled at her. "I can't do that there."

Evie snorted.

"Stop laughing, I'm serious." Patrick complained.

"Well then you got to go before school." She said.

Patrick just growled at her and went to make his breakfast. He was lucky that his Mom and Dad trusted them enough to get ready on their own so he didn't have to explain to them why he was dressed like a dog to go to school.

After a series of jokes from his little sister about how he should have his breakfast from a bowl on the ground he was on edge. He tried to put on a jacket and shoes before heading out but they were no where to be found. In fact he couldn't find any of his clothes, just like the ones he was wearing they seemed to have vanished.

"What about my baseball uniform?" He asked his sister.

Evie just shrugged. "I guess you can be the mascot."

"It's the panthers, not the poodles." Patrick grumbled. Again she just shrugged.

Luckily the paws weren't totally uncomfortable to walk in. They obviously had some way of protecting his feet from the harsh concrete. "Did you want to go before we get to school?" Evie suggested.

"Umm... No..." Patrick said. He didn't want to admit he had already taken a trip to the backyard that morning.

They were lucky on the way to school to not run into anyone but when it finally came into view he felt a pit in his stomach. He had made a plan to tell everyone he thought Halloween was today but he didn't think he could pull it off. Plus that still left the problem of why he was a fluffy white poodle!

He snapped out of it when he saw his best friend Adam rush up to him. "What are you wearing?" He spat out.

"Uhhh..." Patrick stammered as they got closer to the school and he could tell some others on the playground were also curious. "It's for... Halloween."

"Dude, that's tomorrow." Adam told him.

"Uh, I know." Patrick said, dropping the lie almost immediately.

"Did you lose a bet or something?" Adam ask with a smug grin on his face.

"Something like that." Patrick admitted and shoved past him and went into the school.

He knew he was getting stares and whispers from everyone, Adam was one thing but he was pretty sure all his credibility wasn't going to survive the day.

The rest of the day was a series of humiliations. His homeroom teacher told him to go change and he truthfully told her, 'This is all I have.' His gym teacher marked down he didn't have the proper uniform. Then all his classmates were making snide jokes or trying to cozy up to him to give him a pet. It also didn't help that the mittens on his hands made everything difficult. He had to hold a pen awkwardly making his writing sloppy and barely legible. He was practically racing for the door when the bell wrang.

He knew he needed to talk to Zoe. It was her wish tomorrow and he needed her to find a way out of this situation. He didn't know what yet since the fairy didn't seem too keen on undoing wishes. He didn't wait around for his sisters and ran home, trying to beat the crowd of students plus he had been holding it in all day and really needed to pee at his tree. He grimaced at the thought but he really needed to go!

When he got home he rushed into the backyard to relieve himself in privacy before heading inside. Only a few minutes later his sisters got home. He made his own way inside, not wanting to be out in the open for everyone to see.

"We need to talk." He told his sisters.

"That you're going to join us for Halloween tomorrow?" Evie asked.

"Well... I will, if you fix this costume." Patrick bargained.

"I think it's perfect." Evie said. "Maybe tomorrow we add a collar with a tag or something?"

Patrick scoffed. He didn't mean fix the costume. "It's humiliating and embarrassing. It's making act like a dog!" He complained. "We need a new wish."

Evie and Patrick looked at Zoe who was smiling, the last chance to fix this situation was up to her when the blue fairy visited tomorrow.

Patrick spent the rest of the evening in his room with his sister's. Those two were putting the finishing touches on all three of their costumes now that Patrick had actually agreed.

When he woke up the next morning, Halloween morning, he was greeted by Evie. She was already dressed in an important looking suit with her hair bound up high. "Time to wake up!" She demanded as she shook him awake. "Geeze this is soft." She sounded surprised as she ran her hands through the fur of the costume.

The sensation felt really strange in a good way to him, calming and relaxing which made him want to go back to sleep. He closed his eyes for a moment but was awakened when Evie shoved him off his big bed. "Get up!" She demanded.

"Why?" He asked and made a big exaggerated stretch.

"It's Halloween." Evie told him.

"It's Halloween!" Patrick exclaimed. "Where is the fairy?"

Evie just shrugged like she always did.

Patrick decided to race down the stairs looking for her, only to be greeted by his Mom. "It's nice to see you dress up with your sisters." She told him a placed her hand on his head, which made him feel all calm again, quelling the idea that he needed to run off and find the fairy.

"It's not like I had a choice." He mumbled.

"It's not like they made you wear that." She told him.

Patrick just rolled his eyes, parents never understand what's going on even if you tell them.

Zoe and Evie came downstairs, Evie in her suit and Zoe was sporting an athletic outfit with a contestant number around her arm. She had a dog whistle around her neck and was holding a leash in her hand. "Patrick isn't ready yet." Zoe announced, holding up the leash.

Patrick still needed Zoe's wish to get out of the costume. "Oh... Okay." He agreed.

Evie was fast to take that as permission. She had all kinds of accessories to complete his 'dog show' look. It took almost half an hour, but his fluffy fur was brushed, a pink collar was put around his neck with a dog bone tag and Evie even tied matching ribbons to his ears and tail. It was so much worse than he imagined when he looked in the mirror, not that yesterday was any better.

"Come on girls, I think that's enough." His Mom interjected, stopping his sisters from trimming his fluffy fur into more of a standard poodle look. The last thing they added were the pink leash and a big ribbon that had 'Best In Show' on it.

The two girls giggled, he just looked miserable. "Try to have a good day at school, I'm sure everyone will think it's funny." She told him as the three of them made there way down the street.

In some ways today was better and worse for Patrick. On one hand at least he wasn't the only one dressed up. On the other he was definitely the only one who looked like a prize winning poodle boy. His main worry was Zoe. What if the blue fairy visited her when she was in class. He never did figure out a wish that would undo the costume wish and his main plan was to bargain his new bedroom in exchange for freedom.

"Two days in a row?" Adam asked. "You must love poodles or something."

"I guess." Patrick said distracted.

"What's with all the bows?" He asked.

"I'm like... Part of a dog show." He explained vaguely.

"What's with this?" Adam asked and picked up the leash and gave it a tug.

"Hey!" Patrick barked at him and yanked it out of his hands. He couldn't get the clasp to work through his mittens.

"Hey man, I was just going to like take you for a walk or something." Adam said laughing at his own joke.

Patrick just stared at him like he was being serious. It made him think of trick or treating and running around having fun. At least after this whole ordeal was over he would have a lot of candy.

Adam just stared back at him. "I'm not actually going to take you for a walk." He said feeling the need to explain.

"Oh..." Patrick grumbled.

Adam just rolled his eyes and walked away.

Patrick didn't really get any opportunity to find his sister at school throughout the day, it was another humiliating day of girls calling him adorable or cute and boys teasing him and asking him to do tricks like play fetch or roll over. The worst part was when he was going to use recess to find his sisters, but someone had tied his leash to a pole. He spent most of it trying to work out how to untie it, but eventually someone took pity on him. The bell rang moments later.

After school, he met up with his sister's in a usual spot to walk home, kids in all kinds of completely normal costumes started filling the sidewalks. Patrick realized if he couldn't find a way out of the costume this might be the closest he's going to get to looking normal, even if he was decked out in bows and dressed like a poodle. At least today he had an official excuse to be wearing a dog costume.

"How was school?" Evie asked with a smirk.

"Oh, just great." Patrick lied. "Everyone loved the outfit." He held his arms out, the leash still dragged behind him. "But it's pretty inconvenient, so we should ask the fairy to take it away."

"Think it'll be back?" Zoe asked.

"He said he would be!" Patrick said, his cool guy act wobbled with a hint of worry.

The three of them walked home. Zoe had changed topics and her and Evie had begun discussing the plan they had to collect the most candy during trick or treating. The plan now had Patrick up front and center since they agreed he would collect the most candy.

"I think we should wait for the fairy." Patrick said now sounding worried. "What if he comes back and we aren't here, we won't get our wish."

"Our wish?" Evie said incredulously. "You mean Zoe's wish."

"Yeah, but like... I need to get out of this" Patrick told her. "I can't live like this forever, I bet it's a big prank. We should wait."

"I wanna go trick or treating." Zoe whined. "It's my wish, so I wanna go!"

It didn't take long for Patrick to end up agreeing to go out. He didn't really think it would work out anyway. He did find time to go back outside to his tree before the three of them went out together.

"This is a dumb group costume." He complained to Evie. "I'm not just saying that because you wished me to be a poodle, the whole thing is stupid."

"But you look so cute." Evie disagreed.

"I like it!" Zoe agreed.

Even though his sisters disagreed with him, they still ended up having to explain the outfit to everyone.