Prufrock Prepatory School ✓

prologue

Day 1 at Prufrock

Bree followed her sister down the long school hallway. They were about to meet the new orphans at the school and give them a tour. When they arrived, Bree could tell these siblings were hoping for a fresh start. Unfortunately, they would not get that here.

Bree's sister Carmelita introduced herself rather rudely. Bree rolled her eyes.

"I'm Bree Spats, Carmelita's sister." Bree introduced herself.

"I'm Violet Baudelaire and these are my siblings Klaus and Sunny." The older girl introduced.

Bree looked at the Baudelaires and noticed that they had a toddler with them.

"Oh no."

"What's 'oh no'?" The boy, Klaus asked.

"That toddler, Sunny." Bree sighed. "We don't have a preschool here. Vice Principal Nero said she could come?"

Violet shrugged. "That's what our banker told us."

"There's a preschool down the road. Maybe she'll attend there." Bree suggested.

"Ugh!" Carmelita exclaimed. "Can you cakesniffers stop talking so we can start the tour?"

Carmelita started walking away. The kids followed her.

"Ignore my sister." Bree told the three new kids. "She can be a handful sometimes."

Violet chuckled. "It's fine. You're here, and you seem fine. You can keep us sane."

Bree laughed. She liked these kids. She hoped they wouldn't be anything like her sister.

×××××××

Francine exited the library with books. Her older sister Olivia followed her out.

"So, I think we could start with a letter anonymously sent to Nero first." Francine was explaining to her older sister her plan to get the library open longer. "Then a protest. We could get--"

"Francine?" Olivia interrupted. "I love that you're passionate about the library, but doing this can get me fired. And we can't have that."

Francine sighed. "No. We can't."

"How about you hang out with kids your age instead of me all the time? You do have friends, don't you?"

Francine hesitated. She didn't, but that's not exactly something you tell your sister. Or any adult for that matter.

Just as she was about to lie, a group of 5 people walked down to them.

"I never go there." Carmelita told the group. "Oh, there's the librarian and her sister. They smell funny."

"Carmelita." Olivia sighed. "Always a pleasure."

Carmelita whipped her hair and continued with the tour, walking away from the sisters and the new kids.

"We can go there later, when Carmelita's gone." Bree assured the Baudelaires.

They nodded and followed Carmelita. Bree waved to Francine and followed the others.

"You do have friends." Olivia noted.

Francine sighed. No she didn't. Bree was an acquaintance. They probably would be friends if Carmelita wasn't so controlling. But, Francine couldn't worry about that now. She had more important things to worry about.

×××××××

Meanwhile, Wyatt was in the cafeteria. Yes, he was skipping class to draw. So what? It was better than sitting in Mr. Remora's class listening to him tell boring stories that would not help them later in life.

He heard someone approaching. Afraid they would catch him, Wyatt grabbed his stuff and hid under the cafeteria table.

Carmelita led her peers through the cafeteria. They were out of there pretty quickly. But not quickly enough for Bree to spot something out of the ordinary.

She walked over to a table and picked up a colored pencil. Glancing around, she bent down.

"You forgot this."

Wyatt let out a gap of terror. "Bree! You scared me!"

Bree smiled. "Sorry. Next time, make sure you grab everything before hiding."

"Wait, you're not going to tell on me?" Wyatt asked the Spats sister.

"Why would I?" Bree handed the colored pencil to Wyatt. "I want to hide sometimes, too."

×××××××

Jenny and Isadora sat in Mrs. Bass's class, passing notes. On those notes were couplets and rhymes. The girls were trying to write a song together. They made a good team. However, they had not time outside of class, so they had to work on class.

Out of the corner of Jenny's eye, she saw five figures walk by the window. Bree and Carmelita Spats were two of the people. The school's welcoming committee.

Jenny sighed. New students. Hopefully they would be nice like Bree, and not mean like Carmelita.

There was no way to tell for sure. Jenny could only hope the three new kids would be nice to her for once.

×××××××

The tour concluded outside, where some students were doing jumping jacks. Pheonix was in charge of them.

"This is the PE area." Carmelita explained to the Baudelaires. "Our coach is away for a game, so I make everyone do jumping jacks whenever I want."

"Actually Carmelita, I make them do jumping jacks." Pheonix corrected from his spot on the bleachers. "You do your nails while you yell at me to make them do jumping jacks."

The Baudelaires and Bree let out a little laugh. Bree knew that was true.

Carmelita flipped her hair. "Whatever, cakesniffer." She walked away. "Come on, you four!"

Pheonix held his hand out. "Pheonix Walker."

The Baudaires shook his hand. "I'm Violet Baudelaire and these are my siblings Klaus and Sunny."

"Well Baudaires, welcome to hel-"

"Pheonix!" Bree warned. "Sunny is a toddler, and you can't say that."

"Right. Sorry." Pheonix sighed. "Cursing is a bad habit I'm trying to stop doing."

"It's fine." Klaus said. "We all have bad habits we try to fight."

"We should get going." Bree told the Baudelaires. "Or you're going to be late for your meeting with Vice Principal Nero."

The Baudelaires nodded and followed Carmelita, Bree following them.

Little did the Baudelaires know, Pheonix would be a big help to them in the future. They were lucky to have him in their lives.

For now.

×××××××

Word Count: 949