Later, when Violet and I were able to talk in private at her dorm, I told her Quigley's ridiculous plan.

She laughed. "That Quigley, he's a real character."

Puzzled, I raised my eyebrows. If what was happening was what I thought was happening, then something funny was going on.

"What do you mean character?" I asked. "I thought he was your boyfriend."

She frowned at me. "What are you talking about?" she asked. "We never…oh, look Duncan; it's not what you think it is."

I nodded. "Yes it is. I've always seen you give Quigley the eye and all."

Violet sighed. "Duncan, Quigley's been through a lot. He needs a shoulder. I mean, his parents dead, having lived on the streets, being beaten up in an alley, all that stuff. I'm just consoling him. You believe me, don't you?"

Still puzzled, I looked away.

She touched my cheek and made eye contact with me. "Duncan, look at me. I know you've always liked me over the years."

I was shocked. How could she have known? Couldn't she have thought all I'd done in the past few years was just horseplay? But then again, of course she would know.

"And," she continued, resting her head on my shoulder, "I love you too."

My ears tingled. Could I be hearing what I thought I was hearing? Was it possible? Or…

It wasn't. When I snapped back to reality, I was hiding behind a tree, watching Quigley and Violet embrace each other.

My eyebrows tightened and I sighed. I was off in Fantasy World again.

Fantasy World's a place I always go to in my head when I'm bored. I grinned. My daydreaming was famous for lifting me from reality to fantasy.

I looked at my watch. It was six o' clock. Time for dinner. I snuck behind some bushes and crawled off toward some thick trees, then took off for the school building so Violet and Quigley wouldn't see me.

When I got my dinner, garlic bread and fettuccini alfredo, I plopped down beside Isadora, Klaus and Sunny. "Where've you been all day?" Isadora asked.

I wasn't about to say, "Spying on Violet and Quigley" so I lied.

Lying is far behind my personality. I usually save my best lies and general lying for emergencies. But knowing Izzy, and the rest of my family, they'll leave you alone if you settle for a mere shrug.

So I shrugged.

Klaus said, "Did you hear? VP Nero found out Carmelita was in jail and do you know what he did? He said, 'Good for her. Now stop bothering me so I can get back to work.'" He, Isadora, and even Sunny giggled.

"Nero wouldn't care if Carmelita was executed," I said. Then we all laughed our heads off. Not literally, of course!

After dinner, I was heading back to my dorm to take on Andrew and Brownley in Need for Speed: Underground 2 when I heard soft whispering.

I ducked behind a nearby tree. It was Violet and Quigley, of course. I didn't really bother to listen, until Violet let out a muffled "Duncan." Then I reconsidered, straining my ears to hear.

Quigley said, "I was just kidding with him. But maybe we could make some legal testify on Carmelita." Violet groaned. "Quigley, don't you pay attention in social studies? Mr. Harlow keeps telling us the only way to make a legal testify is to have legitimate evidence regarding the person's whereabouts and notion."

I couldn't resist giggling. Violet usually paid plenty of attention in social studies and science, but it never occurred to me she might actually find interest in law.

Quigley looked in my direction. Thank goodness it was dark for he turned back to Violet. Then he pulled something out. A textbook. A history textbook, I could tell, because the cover glinted in the moonlight.

I could hear him turning pages and he pulled out a flashlight and directed it at the pages. He set the book down on a stump and focused. At last, he said, "Here it is. There's your evidence, Judge Baudelaire."

I heard Violet murmuring something from the book and finally said, "Aha! That may be what that judge thought in 1864 but our city judge's name is Mortimer Kennard, not Pushover Puppet."

"But here's my plan," he said. "Carmelita would be happy to be out of jail, so she'd agree with what we say. We could say that she didn't know it was cocaine, that she thought it was grayish powdered sugar."

"How could powdered sugar by gray?" Violet argued. "Unless she smuggled it from the cafeteria kitchen…" They burst out laughing.

Quigley finally said, "I'll talk to you tomorrow…with more details. Right now I'm heading back to my dorm. Dunn and Andy and Brown must be expecting me for some video games."

Then I heard him quickly crashing through behind me. I flopped down on my belly and lay flat. He walked by without seeing me.

Then I ran back the quicker way to the dorm building. I luckily made it up to the room before he started down our hall.

Andrew said, "Where've you been?" "You're not the first to ask," I answered. "There're some Cokes in the fridge," Brownley said. "I call first game."

Seconds later there was knocking on the door. I opened it and Quigley rubbed his feet on the mat. Then he flopped down on the couch.

A/N: Oh my gosh you guys; I am the worst author ever! I haven't updated in forever! I've been really busy lately. Over spring break, two weeks ago, my relatives visited. Then over the past two weeks I've been juggling social studies homework, science homework, a character analysis paper on the book Eragon, and math homework plus language arts HW. I'm really sorry. I hope this doesn't happen again.