Unless you happen to have been kidnapped from a remarkably young age and trained into a secret organization with no definitive schooling system, in which case I pray you are on my side of the schism and apologize for being born at an awkward time in the V.F.D., you have likely had a first day of school.
If you have, you likely know how nerve wracking your first day of school is, nerve wrecking being a phrase which here means 'frightening and awkward feeling'
You also likely know this feeling does not fade or lessen between years of school, at least for some. How the first day of kindergarten is just as, if not more, nerve wracking as your first day of second grade, or seventh grade, or tenth grade or college.
It can even be more nerve wracking, as you know you have a harder curriculum ahead of you and a bigger social life surrounding you, and how some people might not form a social life and instead wallow in sadness through their entire schooling life, mooning after a girl and learning how fast he can type with a typewriter when in complete solitude, barring perhaps a sibling.
Well, the Baudelaires and Quagmire children all felt that nerve wracking feeling, as they got into Dewey Denouement's car, for the upcoming change of pace, change of pace being a phrase here meaning 'move into Prufrock Preparatory School'.
It was at Kit Snicket and my insistence. The Baudelaires and Quagmires needed an education, and although the kids tried to argue with me and my sister, we assured them we'd handle things.
And so there they were, a car with two seats in the front, two in the middle, and three in the back, like some taxis, albeit rarer than normal taxis. Dewey was the driver, logically, a word here meaning 'because it was his car and his gas and he was the only one at the location with a driver's license, so of course Dewey wouldn't let the children drive'. Klaus sat in the passenger's seat, Quigley and Duncan sat in the middle row, and Sunny, Violet and Isadora sat in the back.
The drive was spent talking, sleeping, doing karaoke, and Dewey and Klaus telling jokes, and neither of them will have the pleasure of having their subpar jokes written down in this book.
"My wife still misses me," Dewey said, smirking.
"But her aim is getting better?" Klaus asked, finishing the joke. The two of them got along too well, and seemed to be thinking on a similar wavelength, which is to say they had similar thoughts, not that they were telepathically delivering messages via light and radio waves through the air.
Dewey glared at the boy out of the corner of his eyes, keeping his eyes on the road and Klaus at the same time. "Come on, that's four in a row!"
"And since we're almost there," Klaus pointed out, smirking, "I win."
Dewey chuckled. "He says to the driver. But yeah, Violet, can you wake up Sunny? We're almost at Prufrock."
Indeed they were. The children — barring Quigley, who had never actually been to Prufrock before — couldn't help but notice the hundreds of vines that once ran along its walls were gone, and that the place just looked… nicer. Clean.
The children — once again, barring Quigley — started to hope things would be different this time around.
"Looks like you won't be in the Orphan Shack this time." Dewey commented.
"Orphan Shack?" Quigley asked curiously. Dewey sighed.
"You should've warned him." The Denouement triplet pointed out.
"It would be nerve wracking. But yeah, the old vice principal, Nero, made orphans sleep in a shack, away from the dorms." Duncan said.
Dewey laughed, a mirthless laugh. "By shack, he means a wooden box with fungus dripping from the ceiling. I would know, I lived in that thing both before and after it became the Orphan Shack."
Quigley glared at Duncan. "Now you tell me."
"It's probably gone though. We have an… interesting choice for the new Vice Principal." Dewey said, smirking. "You know them, actually." I, of course, writing this after the fact, know the new Vice Principal's name, but I, reader, will leave you in suspense solely out of hope the suspense will make you frustrated enough to close this page.
So they arrived. The children walked underneath a sign reading out 'memento mori', a phrase which you likely knows means 'remember you will die'. They noticed the sign, despite the very morbid message, looked clean for once, and the letters weren't being highlighted by the vines curling around them.
The six children and sub-librarian made their way to a familiar office, the former office of Vice Principal Nero. The office for the principal — Ishmael, the Baudelaires very well knew, not that he would be using his office often — was still run down, but it was one fault in an otherwise rather nice renovation.
At last, Isadora knocked on the door to the vice principal. The door opened.
"Ah. Hello children, hello Dewey." I said, quietly mourning the loss of my comfort in this stiff uniform. "Nice to see you again."
As I wished Dewey good luck with the child, I started to guide the Baudelaires and Quagmires to their new rooms.
"Pardon me if I don't have time for long talks," I started, ironically taking up more time. "But I must be quick with this, as I have matters to attend to with Mr. Poe. This was Kit's idea, as I did always remember Prufrock fondly. It's where I met… her." I said. Violet looked at me almost wistfully. We both had good memories with the same person — Beatrice Baudelaire. "I became Vice Principal so I could watch over you and protect you from the horrors of the world. That, and it was about time someone replace that incompetent fool Nero — interestingly, he's a Feint." I added, as an afterthought.
"Regardless, due to an very in-depth analysis of the policies, that I rewrote, you will be the only six children is your section of the dormitories. I managed to get this approved citing various mental and physical reasons, as well as anxiety. Which, while I imagine is right, I technically lied since I don't know for sure. I imagine you don't mind." I said, continuing. "So, here we are. If you ever need anything, ring. I will do everything in my power for you six. I must insist you take this advice though; In all trying times, leave V.F.D. matters to me. Remember, ring if you need me."
"Goodbye, children. May we meet again soon." I said, before briskly leaving the dorm area, briskly being a word here meaning 'quickly'.
The Baudelaires stepped into their dorm, and couldn't help but notice it was designed almost exactly like the secret library's home, albeit smaller.
The Baudelaires and Quagmires smiled. Prufrock Prep wasn't gonna be perfect.
But it would feel like home to them, and with that and the secret library, that was enough.
Mr. Snicket would like to inform you that he takes requests, and that if you PM me or leave a review on this story asking for him to cover something specific, he gladly will, even if just to stop you from researching it yourself.
