(One)
"Isa-DORA!"
"I'm coming! Could you wait, like, TWO seconds please?" I yelled back down the stairs of the Baudelaire/Quagmire penthouse apartment. We had bought it when Violet Baudelaire had come of age. So I was in my bedroom, putting on my last thing- a small ring, nothing fancy, just a silver band that Klaus Baudelaire had bought for me as a token of our friendship. I had gotten him one just like it. We're best friends. Klaus was yelling up the stairs at me. I quickly slipped it on my left ringfinger.
"Come on Isadora! I can't wait all day!"
"Here I am! Happy?" I said, walking down the stairs.
"Well, you said you'd be here five minutes ago," Klaus said, handing me my purse.
"Hey, timekeeper, you said five-twenty. It's five-fifteen," I said, not bothering to mention that his watch was ten minutes fast. "C'mon, then, if you're so eager, let's get going!" I said, taking his hand and running out the door. I whistled and caught a taxicab.
"Fourteenth and Broadway, please, sir," Klaus said, handing the driver some cash.
"Ahhhh, if it isn't Klaus and Isadora, the famous actors, again, huh?" said the driver.
"Yeah. It's Thursday," I said. "Time for our weekly trip to the other side of town. Thanks, Joe."
"Don't mention it. Happy to drive you two."
Joe drives us to Broadway every week. Klaus and I are sixteen now, and we are professional actors in a Broadway show, The Diary of Anne Frank. I'm playing Anne, and Klaus is playing Peter. We're the stars! That night was our first performance. We needed to be there by a certain time to get into costume and go back over our lines. Of course, acting brings back some bad memories-
Memories of Count Olaf, the most terrible actor in the entire universe.
He had tortured Klaus when he had been his guardian, and then he had pursued the Baudelaires for as long as I could remember. He had then proceeded to kidnap me and one of my brothers, Duncan, and torture us until we escaped in a floating house with a man named Hector. We had then returned, found the Baudelaires and my other brother Quigley, and foiled Olaf for the last time. He's serving a long sentence in jail now.
"Hey, Isadora, we're here," Klaus said, offering his hand to help me out of the car.
"Oh, thanks," I said, taking it and getting out. "Thanks again, Joe."
"No problem, Isadora. Have fun." Joe drove away.
Klaus and I walked in and showed our IDs to the guard. He let us backstage and we found Miss Littleton, the director.
"Ahhhh, here are my stars!" she said, taking us back to the dressing rooms. "Go get changed!"
Klaus and I have dressing rooms right next to each other, so of course we talked through the wall.
"Sooooo... you excited?" Klaus asked me, drawing out the "so" as if he were really thinking.
"Yeah. But what are you thinking about, Klaus?" I asked.
"I'm thinking... tonight's the night of the big performance. That means..." I heard a gulp. "That means I have to... kiss you."
"Oh yeah. I totally forgot that too, Klaus! Don't feel bad for forgetting something!" I said.
"Yeah... but it's not that. It's what I forgot."
"Oh. I get your point. Me too, don't worry." I heard his door start to open, so I started to open mine and we both leaned our heads out.
"Klaus... I'm sure you won't blow it. Okay?" I said, giving him my "comforting" look.
"I'm gonna blow it. You know I am," he said.
"No, you're not. Trust me."
"Will you tell me if I do?"
"Okay, yes. I will," I said.
"You have to promise me!" he said, coming out. He had his trousers on, but not his shirt. I looked him up and down and realized for about the fiftieth time just how good-looking he was getting. He had long since traded his glasses for contacts, messed up his hair, and gotten better clothes. He no longer looks like a helpless orphan, that's for sure.
"Isadora?" he said.
I finally looked up at his face and said, "If you'd put your shirt on, maybe I could make some sense out of what you're saying."
"Oh! Sorry!" he said, putting his shirt on hastily. "There. Now swear."
"I swear, Klaus. I'll tell you everything. Okay?"
"Okay."
"Let's go to makeup, you guys!" said Miss Littleton. "It's your night! Make it last!"
"Don't worry, Klaus. It'll be great."
"Let's hope so."
