Klaus looked up from his little notebook. The second bell was due to ring any moment, but Isadora was nowhere in sight. He feared she would be forced to eat her meals with her hands bound. Although he would do anything he could to assist her as she dined, eating with your hands tied behind your back couldn't be very comfortable.
A smile graced his gentle face as Isadora rushed through the door and across the room into her desk. He was often upset that he couldn't sit near Isadora. Instead, he sat behind Heather Weehawken, who gave off a faint odor of rotten cheese. It was not a pleasant experience.
"Measure!" Mrs. Bass cried, striking her desk with a large ruler. The crack was deafening, ringing in Klaus's ears for several minutes after. He moved his ruler from his satchel and placed it juxtaposed to the hideously perky pink ankle sock Mrs. Bass had assigned him to measure. He recorded his measurement of eighteen centimeters in his notebook and stared at the page in his book.
Monday
Soap: 8 centimeters
Navy blue scarf: 38 centimeters
Lime green scarf: 380 decimeters
Tuesday
Pencil #1: 21 centimeters
Pencil #2: 21 centimeters
Pencil #3: 21 centimeters
Pencil #4: 21 centimeters
Pencil #5 21 centimeters
Wednesday
Pink ankle socks: 18 centimeters
The monotony of the class scratched at his brain. He yearned to learn something useful and relatively intelligent. His mind drifted to his sisters. Violet must surely be learning useful information from Mr. Remora. He heard Carmelita Spats telling Suzy Ann James about how wonderful and interesting they were. Although Violet surely couldn't be learning anything sitting next to Duncan. Her crush was so blatantly obvious that a blind person could see it from a mile away.
Sunny must surely be learning something. She was being trained as an administrive assistant to Vice Principal Nero. Although it was ridiculously cruel for a baby the age of Sunny to be a secretary, such an opportunity could come in handy in later misfortune, which was sure to catch up to them.
Straying from thoughts of Violet and Sunny, Klaus's mind wandered to Isadora. He picked his head up from his notebook and looked back. He saw Isadora glance down, as if she did not want to look into his eyes. Her dark black hair graced her shoulders and framed her face, giving it a gentle and friendly appearance. He smiled and looked at her. Although he couldn't see her face, just the sight of her made his heart flutter and mouth bend into a smile.
With an iron grip, Mrs. Bass pulled Klaus out of his fantasy world and back to reality-- unfortunately.
"Your notes are quite neat," she complimented. "Maybe you could gives some tips to that twin over there.
"She's a trip--" Klaus didn't finish because Mrs. Bass had walked away and moved to the next person, who happened to be Heather Weehawken. He sighed. Mrs. Bass -- and everyone else at this dreadful school-- would continue to see Isadora and Duncan as the Quagmire Twins.
He looked back and caught Isadora's glance. He stared into her dark eyes, taking in her beauty. He smiled and she smiled back. Her smile was a toothy grin, making her look like a little kid in a candy shop. She rarely smiled, depriving Klaus of that happy flutter every time her lips bent into a smile, revealing her straight pearly whites. He averted his gaze when Mrs. Bass began speaking. He winked at her, letting her know that he cared.
As he pretended to listen to the teachers boring monologue, Klaus thought about Isadora's smile. It gave him a flutter, almost as if he was walking on a cloud. That's how he felt around her. Nothing could ruin the moment. It was just Isadora and Klaus. When they were alone, no one could pop his bubble of joy.
He'd gladly give his entire fortune to be with Isadora. But he couldn't do it. Violet and Sunny walked into his thoughts. He loved his sisters. No matter how many girls ever entered his life, Violet and Sunny had been there in good times and bad. Although Isadora had recently entered his life, it seemed to brighten just a little. A heavy fog or misfortune still covered his existence, but it lifted when he was with Isadora. And that's what he loved about her. The power to bring sunshine to his cloudy life.
Before he closed his notebook for the day, he wrote a poem that would do Isadora proud. Another reason to love her was the inspiration she gave. She opened his eyes to poetry.
You brought sunshine into my life,
Maybe someday you will become my wife.
