The Fourth Quagmire

Chapter 1

I'm Charlotte Quagmire. I'm the fourth Quagmire triplet. I exist, though it's a safe bet nobody's heard of me. I was separated from my siblings at birth, but I'm still not sure why. From a young age, I was with a kind guardian, who cared for me for a long time. For a long time, I thought my name was Holly. But then, one day she picked up a newspaper and went pale.

"Holly. I need to show you something." she said. She handed me the newspaper. "The Baudelaire mansion has burned down. Police suspect arson." I nodded, reading the article. 

"Why does this matter for us? Did anybody die?" I asked her.

"Yes. The Baudelaire parents. Their children are fine, however." she said.

"Mother, why are you telling me this? It seems like you're more than casually saying this."

"Well, my love Holly, I'm going to start with the basics. You're name isn't Holly.It's Charlotte. Charlotte Quagmire. And I- I'm not your real mother."

"!" I said. That's not a word, but you understand. "Why did you lie to me my whole life? Where are my parents?"

"They asked me to. Your parents are the Quagmires. And-" she was about to say more.

"And what?" I asked.

"Nothing." she shook her head.

"So, why are you telling me this now? And why did they send me away? And what does this have to do with the Baudelaires?" I asked, not 100% sure if I really wanted to know.

"I don't know why they gave you to me. The Baudelaires were good friends of ours. And I'm telling you this because, well..." 

"Spit it out."

"I have to send you away." she finished simply.

"Why? And why now?" I asked.

"Because things have been put in serious jeopardy. Get your commonplace book. I'm going to buy you a uniform and then we're going to Prufrock Preparatory School. If anything happened, your parents said that's where I was to take you." she said.

My commonplace book is a dark red notebook that I write stories in. I still have it now, but now I don't always write stories. I ran up to my room and gathered my commonplace book and a pen. I also got a hair tie, because my hair has never wanted to work with me, so I typically just let it loose, but whenever I really want to concentrate on something, I like it out of my face.

When I went back downstairs, I got in the car and we got me a uniform, then we were on our way to Prufrock Prep. I'll spare you the details, but when we got there and my guardian took me inside, I asked her one last question, "What is your name?" and I wanted to know because she never told me. I'd always just called her Mother.

"Call me Jacqueline. Jacqueline Scieszka. And take this." she said, handing me a metal cylinder. "It may come in handy. Here's your permission slip for the dorms. Goodbye." she said, then she went back down the hall and left. 

I sat down on the bench and played around with the cylinder. A bit later, the door opened and a squeaky voice said, "Come in."

I stood up, straightened my skirt, and entered the small office. A man with a violin said, "Well hello. Do you have the permission slip?"

I dug it out of my pocket and handed it to him. He looked at it, then proceeded to list a bunch of ridiculous rules. I just stood there, waiting for him to let me go. As soon as he said, "Well go, I don't have all day!" I got the heck out of there. I went to Mrs. Bass's room and saw a wide variety of different sized objects. 

"Now class, sit down and take out your rulers and measure the length of Gray Sock #1 in centimeters." a woman who I presume to be Mrs. Bass says. This is gonna be a long year, I think.