Memento Mori

Chapter Sixteen

Duncan and Isadora walked sadly out of their separate classrooms (Felicity making sure to drop a mean comment as Isadora stood up from her chair) and went back down the corridors. The bell had rung for lunch, and everybody had an hour and a half to eat disgusting food and go to back to their rooms before yet another two hours of lessons.

"Hi, Duncan." said Isadora as the two triplets met up in the cafeteria.

"Hello." Duncan replied sadly. "How was class? Made any friends?"

"Bad and no." Isadora answered, frowning. "Class was simply measuring objects and as for friends, a girl called Felicity said we could be friends-"

"That's great!" Duncan interrupted, smiling.

"-a girl called Felicity said we could be friends, but changed her mind completely once she heard I was an orphan."

Duncan frowned. "Oh. I'm sorry."

They chose what they wanted for lunch - dry ham sandwiches and soggy potatoes for both of them - and sat down. Duncan took a bite of his sandwich and winced. 

"I think some of the wetness from the potato would taste good in the sandwich." he said, making Isadora laugh.

"How was your class?" she asked seriously.

Duncan frowned. "Rotten apples, boring stories, and a teacher obsessed with bananas. Enough said?"

"Enough said." Isadora nodded, picturing her idea of the classroom and Mr. Remora in her mind. 

Isadora pierced her potato with her plastic fork and took a bite. The taste made her want to be sick, and she coughed when she swallowed it.

"Are you okay?" asked her brother, concerned.

"Whatever you do, don't eat the potatoes." Isadora recommended, her eyes watering.

"Aw, why is the cakesniffer crying?" asked somebody who was coming over to the Quagmires' table. I am sure that I do not need to tell you who it was.

"She is not crying, Carmelita." said Duncan fiercely. "Her eyes are watering because of the disgusting ingredients in this food!" he stabbed his fork into one of his potatoes and held it up for emphasis.

Carmelita shrieked. "Oh! How dare you! I cooked them!

Isadora did one last cough. "That would explain it then."

Duncan laughed but Carmelita glared at them. "Fine!" she shrieked. "I'll go! But Vice Principal Nero will be coming to see you!"

Sure enough, in about two minutes, Vice Principal Nero came storming over to speak to them looking as untidy as ever. "This is enough!" he shouted, causing the whole cafeteria to look at the three of them. "Two things done wrong?"

"What was the first?" asked Isadora, honestly not knowing.

"First, you miss my five to eleven nightly violin recital! Then, you bully a kind and intelligent student of this school!"

"But sir," said Duncan politely, ignoring the second comment. "we arrived just past midnight. Your nightly violin recital would have already ended."

"Oh, silence!" snapped Vice Principal Nero. "I really do not care! Just... just go and read in the library like orphans! And don't come out until lessons begin again!"

Duncan and Isadora did that.

That is how their life at Prufrock Prep stayed. Noisy. Boring. Cruel. Repetitive.

Until they met three young orphans with talents for inventing, reading, and, er, biting.

That was when their lives changed forever.