If 13 was lucky (ASOUE)

2: A Word With You?

I rubbed my eyes when Sunny shook me to wake me up. I got up and saw everyone was still sleeping.

"Sunny," I whispered in a raspy voice as I had just woken up. "What are you doing?" Sunny stared at me then the clock. I looked at the clock also. It said 5:06. It was earlier than we anticipated waking up, but Sunny had a reason. I looked around the room. I couldn't figure out why Sunny wanted to wake me up this early.

"Knock." She said and pointed at the door. She said she heard a knock. I slowly walked over and opened the door. It was the librarian.

"Hello?" I asked. It wasn't the librarian from a few months ago, but it was someone I would believe to be a librarian.

"Sunny enrolled in our daycare program and just to let you know we can take her and start." The woman who had a long skirt to her ankles and a ruffly blouse said.

"Sure." I said waving bye to Sunny as she walked to the librarian. I closed the door. I went back to sleep.

***

I woke up to a violent knock on the door. I jumped out the bed. Isadora was up writing poetry on the armchair but didn't care to open the door. Of course, it was Nero at the door.

"A genius is at the door!" He announced so loud I bet Sunny could hear it. "Violin recital at 6 o'clock sharp and if you're late you have to give me candy!"

"Ok Vice Principal Nero." I said, slowly closing the door.

"Was that Nero?" Isadora said once the door was closed. I nodded and went to wake the boys up. I shook Klaus.

"Yes?" He said, sounding tired. I didn't say anything and went to wake up Duncan.

"Wake up." I said sternly. Duncan woke up and frowned.

"Where's the sushi?" He said, sitting straight up. I would've liked context, but I guess all I got was "Where's the sushi?". I looked at the clock.

"Let's go to class." I suggested. Everyone nodded even sushi wanting Duncan. We walked to our classes I stayed with Duncan while Klaus stayed with Isadora. I turned to the door where Mr. Remora's class was.

"Honestly, I like writing down notes about his stories." Duncan said, smiling. "It's kind of like journaling, which you know I love." He smiled even bigger. We opened the door. There was no one there except Mr. Remora sitting on the floor eating a banana.

"Where is everyone?" I asked, looking around the room. Mr. Remora jumped up.

"You're just early." He said and gestured for us to sit in our seats.

***

After our boring class about boring stories, we were dismissed for lunch. I was relived Carmelita wasn't here screaming about me being a "Cakesniffing orphan in an orphan shack!" or whatever. I met Klaus and Isadora at the lunch tables.

"I had to measure a ruler in the metric system." Isadora complained. I looked at her and chuckled. She wasn't lying though as Klaus had reassured me, they had to a gazillion times.

"We have a test today after this." I said, looking at Duncan.

"Same!" Isadora said, picking up a piece of salad with her fork and putting it in her mouth.

"Honestly, I wrote down all the measurements in my commonplace book so I'm ready." Klaus said, holding up the commonplace book he got when we were on Mount Fraught and saw Quigley. Isadora smiled and laughed.

"We won't need those." She said jokingly. "She'll make us measure on the spot." She put down her fork and picked up the cup of water she had.

"What?" Klaus asked, flabbergasted at the point Isadora made. "No, no, no!" He spent all that time writing down measurements just to not need them. "I wasted three pages of my commonplace book!" He whined. I ate my lunch and when I was finished, I had to take the test.

"Are we ready?" I sighed.

"If we wait until we're ready we'll be waiting the rest of our lives." Klaus answered. And so, we walked into our classrooms.

***

"That test was not that hard." I said, walking out the classroom to a hall flooded of children. Duncan nodded. We tried to find Klaus and Isadora in the crowd. We failed. So, we resorted to calling out their names until we would in earshot of them.

"Klaus! Isadora!" Duncan called out. No answer.

"Let's go to our room." I suggested and put a hand on Duncan's shoulder.

*+* Isadora's POV *+*

I rushed out the classroom holding Klaus' hand as tight as I could to not lose him in the crowded halls of Prufrock. We looked everywhere for Duncan and Violet, but they were nowhere to be found. We went out to the field where Violet, Klaus and Sunny had to run S.O.R.E so long ago.

"It's better than it was left." I said, looking for the circle of paint. I couldn't find it. I put my hand on Klaus' back. "And Violet is going to be okay." He turned to face me and could muster a smile. Even though it was so bare and gray it still seemed like a magical place. I turned to Klaus. He put his hand on my cheek.
"And Duncan will be okay." He smiled and I did too. He took his hand off and chuckled. "Let's go back to the room." I slowly nodded. I could not process what just happened. I rubbed my cheek where he put his hand. I followed him to the room. Violet and Duncan were there.

***

We heard a knock at the door. Violet opened it because I was too lazy to get up and answer the door.

"I need a word with Mr. Baudelaire and Ms. Quagmire." I heard Nero say. I jumped up and ran to the door. "Come with me." He said once Klaus was also there. We were led into Mrs. Bass' classroom. He pointed to marker on the desks that said, "Loves Isadora" on Klaus' desk and "Loves Klaus" on my desk.

"I-" I was full of fury, but I could not muster up words.

"That's not Isadora's or I's handwriting." Klaus said writing what his desk said on a piece of paper. I wrote what was on mine on there too.

"Give me a bag of candy by tomorrow or I'll have no mercy." Nero said and walked out.

"Who wrote this." Klaus said, sounding annoyed and angry. I shrugged.

"Let's wash it off." I said, pouring water from lunch I was holding on it. I rubbed it with my sleeve. My sleeve was slightly tinted but it was fine. I did it on Klaus' desk also.

"This is stupid." Klaus said while we were walking back to our room.

"Life is stupid." I replied. Whoever did this needs to get punished. I hope this isn't a Carmelita Spats situation either.

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