Not canon with my universe; slightly canon to the books. 1. The Baudelaires and the Quagmires reunited after The End on Briny Beach. 2. Jacqueline, the Duchess of Winnipeg, has set them up to live at Whitmore Academy until they come of age, and Sunny and Beatrice Jr. are staying with Beatrice's uncle Lemony. 3. Duncan and Violet are together; Klaus and Isadora are together. They've been living at the school for over 2 months at the start of this story. 4. In this universe, Quigley never tried to kiss Violet, and respected that she loved Duncan, but Fiona did kiss Klaus. (This will be important later.) 5. Ages: Violet 16, Klaus 14, Duncan, Isadora, and Quigley 16, Fiona 17. This will be a multiple part short story. Begin!
~Normal POV
"You should really do your homework before bed rather than at breakfast, Izzie," Klaus noted with a smirk.
Isadora shoved him playfully, "I always finish my homework on time so I don't see the problem."
Klaus rolled his eyes and continued reading his book as his girlfriend worked on her paper. Violet and Duncan were sitting across from them talking softly to each other. It had started off like a particularly normal day here at Whitmore. But that normalcy was about to change in an interesting way.
"Klaus," Violet said causing him to look up.
"Yeah?"
Violet glanced at Isadora before gesturing a specific direction, "Look."
Klaus followed her gaze towards a sight he wasn't expecting to see walking into the school cafeteria: a slightly darker skinned girl with shoulder length raven colored hair and black-rimmed triangle-shaped glasses. This girl Violet and Klaus knew as Fiona Widdershins, a friend who betrayed them in the past. Duncan and Isadora had been told the details of which and were now watching along with them curiously. Fiona, of course, noticed that she was being watched and recognized the two elder Baudelaires. She seemed to think for moment, contemplating if she should actually speak to them, and came to a quick decision and strode purposefully toward their table. Isadora, well aware of the history this girl had with Klaus, subconsciously grabbed his hand just to be on the safe side.
Fiona gave a small, polite smile to Violet and Klaus, "Hello… I'd heard from Jacqueline that you moved here." She looked at the two triplets, "You must be Duncan and Isadora." She seemed to remember that Violet had a fondness for Duncan, hence his arm being around her, and it was obvious that the identical girl next to Klaus was Isadora.
"Yes we are," Duncan replied.
"What are you doing here, Fiona," Violet asked, calmly. Klaus was staring at Fiona with a neutral expression, but his hand gripped Isadora's gently.
"I live on land now with my brother," She replied, "My stepfather is away on an important mission. Fernald and I were left to live on our own until he gets back. He said it'll be a long mission so he enrolled me in school in the meantime." They could tell her statement was accurate since she was wearing a school uniform.
"So you live here now," Violet said quizzically.
"I don't live on campus. I live with my brother in apartment down the street from here. He's found a job downtown and makes a decent living for us."
Before anyone could say anything else, they were interrupted by Quigley joining their table with a tray of food in his hands. He set his school bag down beside Duncan's, set down his food, and gave his brother a stern look.
"Alright, Duncan, we got to talk about the sleeping arrangements in our dorm because if I hear anything else come out of you and Violet's room tonight I'm going to lose my damn mind."
Violet blushed, and Duncan scowled at his brother. Klaus and Isadora smirked a bit in amusement at Quigley defusing the tense situation so easily.
Violet cleared her throat and managed to control the color in her cheeks before saying, "Quigley we have company…"
Quigley turned to look at Fiona. He paused for a second with a neutral expression before smiling and politely shaking her hand, "Sorry about that I had to vent to my stupid older brother. I'm Quigley Quagmire and I don't believe we've been introduced."
Fiona chuckled, "It's alright; I'm Fiona Widdershins." She seemed to open up a bit more at Quigley being more openly friendly towards her as they continued conversing.
Duncan and Isadora watched their brother's interactions with her carefully. It was always easy to tell when Quigley was interested in a girl. He was a rather open ladies' man. Since moving here after Jacqueline paid for their enrollment, Quigley had already been on several different dates with multiple different female students. He was something of a fancy for the girls for some reason. Duncan and Isadora often joked that Quigley got all the charisma and confidence while they both got the brains. After talking for a minute or so, Fiona finally walked away from their table. She seemed to recognize that she was not welcome with them. From a distance they saw her get some food for breakfast and sit by herself away from them.
"So who was that," Quigley asked taking his seat next to Duncan.
It just occurred to Violet and Klaus that they had not shared their history with Quigley, only with his siblings. Klaus especially since he had to tell Isadora that Fiona had kissed him once. They quietly told him what happened on the Queequeg last year after he was separated from the Baudelaires by the Stricken Stream.
"So she's the hook handed man's sister?"
"That's right," Violet said, "When we talked to Olaf at Hotel Denouement he mentioned that Fiona and Fernald betrayed him and stole his submarine. And Kit mentioned that they were on the fire-fighting side again because of a telegram she received before reaching the island. She said that Captain Widdershins forgave his stepchildren."
Quigley nodded, "Ok so she's a fire-fighter again then."
"I guess so," Klaus said. It was the first time he'd spoken since seeing Fiona arrive.
"She didn't seem interested in hitting on you," Isadora said, "Though that might have been because of me. I'm not sure what would have happened if I wasn't here."
Quigley shrugged, "She didn't look interested to me. She looked like a girl who was over you. Speaking of which, is it alright if I ask her out?"
The others stared at him in shock, "NO!"
"Why not?"
"Why do you want to," Isadora asked.
"Because she's gorgeous and she seems really nice," Quigley replied, "What's the problem with me going out with her?"
Everyone paused to think for a moment. Was there a problem with Quigley wanting to ask Fiona out?
Violet smiled, "I have an idea. Quigley you can ask Fiona out."
Quigley smiled and the others gave Violet shocked looks. Quigley then gathered up his things and left to sit with Fiona.
"Violet what the hell," Klaus asked, "You can't let Quigley and Fiona start dating."
"Yeah I can," Violet replied, "Because if you remember Quigley never stays with girls for very long."
"That does sound right," Duncan said, "The longest I've ever seen Quigley date a girl was 3 weeks. And that time she broke it off with him."
Isadora gave Violet a worried look, "But what if she does want Klaus back and thinks of using Quigley to get close to him again?"
"We'll take that chance. I can't say I personally agree with this statement, but Quigley does have a way with women. He might want to date her, but he also seems to understand why we don't want her around. The plan is simple: let Quigley and Fiona date until Quigley eventually breaks up with her. After that, she won't try to come near us again."
It seemed risky, and even a bit cruel, but the others agreed with her assumption. Quigley never stayed with girls very long, and after he did leave them they never wanted to be around him anymore. Isadora knew this all too well, having lost several friends in the past because of Quigley breaking up with them. Duncan was always the gentlemanly one. That's not to say Quigley wasn't respectful; his siblings and friends knew he just wasn't a commitment kind of guy.
~Later, Isadora's POV
Science is my worst subject. Klaus is able to help me with some stuff but unfortunately I don't have this class with him. The only classes I have with him are history, math, and English; and in two of those classes is one, or both, of our siblings so I only have English alone with him. But right now I was a little distracted by the fact that Fiona was in this class with me. She doesn't sit by me, but I'm still a bit wary of her. As Klaus' girlfriend I have to watch out for stuff like this, even though I'm not the jealous type. There's a big difference between jealousy and caution.
"Miss Quagmire."
I looked up from my work, "Yes Mrs. Shultz?"
"I'm assigning Miss Widdershins as your lab partner for this project," My teacher explained, "She's new so I trust that you'll get along, now get to work."
Ok avoiding her was now out of the question. Fiona gave me an apologetic smile and sat down at my lab table next to me. We worked on our experiment as instructed. Thankfully, very few words needed to be exchanged between us. However, as we worked, I couldn't help noticing that she actually seemed to know what she was doing.
After a while, I finally caved and asked, "How are you not confused by this?"
She seemed surprised at my outburst, "Well, I'm a scientist personally. Specifically, I'm a mycologist. Why do you ask?"
"Because this is my worst class," I replied, "What's a mycologist?"
"I study fungi," She explained, seemingly used to having to answer the question.
"Well I'm a poet so this stuff is beyond me."
She shrugged, "Well we're lab partners now, and I can help if you need it."
I considered her offer, "You don't mind working with me?"
"I figured you'd be more upset about working with me."
I smiled a little. She hasn't brought up Klaus once, or treated me unfairly for being with him. Heck at breakfast, it didn't even seem like she was talking directly to him. She seemed to be talking to all of us. Maybe she's not so bad. And having the help with my grade is far too good of a thing to pass up.
"I'd appreciate the help…" I replied.
She spent the rest of class helping me understand what I was doing. I guess being a specific type of scientist didn't hinder her ability to help with other fields. We also ended up talking about some other things. She did at one point mention Quigley, but it was to comment on how nice he was to her. I didn't want to tell her about our plan so I politely agreed. She didn't mention if he'd asked her out yet. I'm sure that he'll do it eventually.
And with any luck I'll be correct in my assumptions that Fiona was truly over Klaus.
~End of Chapter
Another multiple part short story; see you in the next part!
