Begin!

Universe*

~Violet's POV

Isadora and I took Sunny with us into the bathroom in the girls' dormitories to get ready for the day. As I helped Sunny get ready, Isadora was standing at a sink fussing with her hair in the mirror. Thankfully, we were the only ones in here at the moment.

I smirked at the sight, "Trying to impress someone?"

She looked at me with shock, a pink blush tinting her cheeks, "No!"

I rolled my eyes, "Right..."

"Wugatoo," Sunny said, I quickly translated her meaning, "I'm only one and even I know that's a lie."

Isadora looked embarrassed as she shakily asked, "Don't be silly, Violet, why would I need to impress someone?"

I set Sunny down and went to join her at the sink and straightened my uniform, as I calmly replied, "Because you wouldn't stop staring at Klaus since the second you two laid eyes on each other."

Isadora's face went from pink to red, "Oh, you noticed that?"

I chuckled, "Yeah it was pretty obvious."

She sighed, "If it bothers you at all I can just-"

"What are you talking about? Of course it doesn't bother me! Why would I want to stop my new best friend from having a crush on my brother?"

"Sorry I know I just met him; I just saw him in Mrs. Bass' class, and he well... he looked really cute. I may have spent the rest of class writing a few couplets about him."

I snickered, "Oh, now you're being honest?"

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sunny roll her eyes, and she mumbled something that I couldn't hear to translate. I suspect she wanted to scold us for acting like normal teenage girls. After a while of steady conversation as I too started smoothing out my hair, with Isadora explaining to me how the school worked, she reached into her school bag and pulled out what looked like a brand new make-up kit. I glanced curiously at it for a moment.

She noticed me staring as she started applying some light eye-shadow, "Oh, I'm sorry did you want some too? You can help yourself, I've got plenty," She set the kit closer to me.

"Where did you get this?"

She stopped for a moment and looked around before softly asking, "Promise you won't tell anyone?"

"Uh, sure?"

"I stole it."

"What?"

"It was Carmelita's; I stole it from her dorm," She finished.

I laughed, "Oh, so you guys are the thieves that we were warned about."

Isadora smiled, "Yeah, Duncan takes stuff from the boys' dorms all the time. We started because last winter I got the flu, since the shack was so damn cold. Duncan got frustrated, and when he came back he had stolen a couple blankets from the dorms for us. After that we just decided enough was enough and now we have a habit of taking things we need for survival while we're here. We don't take money, and we don't take anything too valuable."

"I suppose that makes sense," I said, "In a survival situation, sometimes you have to sacrifice your personal principles for your safety. But why did you take this? Surely you don't need it."

"I took this one out of spite; Carmelita tripped Duncan as we were walking to class one day and he got a nasty bruise from the concrete. I wanted to get back at her so I took some of her stuff."

I looked at the small kit for a moment, contemplating if I should take some or not, "Well, Carmelita is a jerk... I suppose taking a little wouldn't hurt."

"That's the spirit," Isadora said, "But I'm sure Duncan won't care if you're wearing make-up or not."

I felt a blush cross my face, "I don't see why Duncan would care about what I look like to begin with."

Isadora smirked, "I've seen dogs drool less over a rib-eye steak."

As I started applying some light make-up, Isadora's words got stuck in my head like glue. Did Duncan like me that way? Did I like him that way? I don't know. It felt like it should be too soon to tell. But then Klaus and Isadora were obviously enamored with each other the second they met. I don't necessarily believe in love at first sight, but there was definitely a spark between them. At the recital last night they spent the whole time talking to each other about their shared interest in poetry. After we finished getting ready, we met up with Klaus and Duncan outside the building and went to breakfast.

~…

Class with Mr. Remora was just as boring as the previous day. But as I sat there taking down details from his stories I felt something warm on my leg. I looked over to see Duncan looking completely forward, and his hand was on my leg holding a note. I glanced at Mr. Remora for a moment to ensure that he wouldn't see and took the paper. I opened it on my lap.

I see Izzie told you about our little kleptomania secret.

I quickly wrote down my reply and passed it back to him while our teacher wasn't looking: How did you figure it out?

You're wearing the same make-up as my sister. It looks good on you by the way... not that I think you need it or anything!

I smiled at his response and looked over at him. He avoided my eyes and I saw a blush on his cheeks. I felt a little jolt inside as I wrote out a reply, Thank you. We didn't continue our note-conversation, but after a while I noticed Carmelita reached over me and quickly dropped a piece of paper in my lap. I felt annoyed at first, and wanted to ignore her note, but I got curious and opened it.

So you cakesniffing orphans are dating already, huh?

I blushed deeply at that. We are not dating! I only just met Duncan yesterday! I looked and noticed that Carmelita had passed a similar note to Duncan as he looked embarrassed as well. Neither of us responded to Carmelita's taunting notes. But as the lesson went on I came to a silent realization: I have a crush on Duncan Quagmire. When class finally let out for lunch, I walked with Duncan to meet up with our siblings.

"Uh, Violet," Duncan spoke up getting my attention, "I'm sorry about what Carmelita said. I hope it didn't make you too uncomfortable."

He was avoiding looking at me as I smiled and replied, "Oh, it's ok Duncan. It didn't bother me that much really." It was true; I wasn't bothered by the insinuation.

He grinned, flashing me that wonderful smile of his, "Ok, good. I just didn't want to make things awkward after we just became friends."

I giggled, "Of course I mean we practically just met."

"Yeah, but people are going to believe whatever Carmelita says so be prepared."

I rolled my eyes, "I'm not worried, and you shouldn't be either. She can't hurt us."

~…

The five of us made our way to the library to find Olivia ushering Carmelita out the doors and carrying a small box.

"You told me you liked To Kill a Mockingbird so I did it for you," Carmelita said.

"That is most certainly NOT what I meant," Olivia said sternly, "Now go give that thing a proper burial!"

Carmelita turned to us and smiled evilly, "I smell people whose parents were killed in fires!" She then skipped away.

Olivia smiled at us, "Quagmires, Baudelaires, it's nice to see you, and together I might add! What can I do for you?"

Duncan held up his journalist notebook and showed his notes, "We're looking for a book. It's called The Incomplete History of Secret Organizations. It's important that we find it."

"Well come on in and I'll see what I can do for you. We have to be careful though, it's almost closing time and I wouldn't want you kids to get in trouble."

We followed her inside and she went to her filing cabinet, "Do you know the book's Dewey Decimal Number?"

"No, we don't even know who wrote it," Klaus responded.

Olivia nodded and flipped through her files as we waited. She then turned to us with a sad look.

"I'm sorry children, I'm afraid I don't have it," She said, "But if you're willing to wait a few days I do have a friend who sends me books regularly and I can ask her if she has it."

"I guess it'll have to be that way," I said.

"In the meantime you're welcome to any other books here that might interest you. If I find it I'll let you know immediately. Now you should get going before you miss Nero's concert."

We thanked her and left. Once again we talked through the entire recital and again the Quagmires walked us back to our shack after it was over. However this time something else happened as we were trying to sleep that night. We heard a soft knock on our shack door; Sunny was already out cold, probably tired from her work day, so Klaus and I opened it to see that the Quagmires had returned.

"Is something wrong," I asked.

Isadora smiled, "Nope, we just brought something for you guys."

They reached into their school bags and pulled out three blankets.

"It's not much but we just wanted to give you something to help out your stay here," Duncan said, "It's been pretty cold at night recently and we know how it feels."

Klaus and I smiled at them and accepted their gifts. "Thank you," I said.

"But we really shouldn't be letting you guys steal like this," Klaus said.

"Oh, no these were spares from the broom closet," Isadora said, "They're not from the dorms, honest."

I chuckled, "Right, we believe you."

"Hey you don't have to believe us, but it is the truth," Duncan said.

~Duncan's POV

After my sister and I gave the Baudelaires our gifts and said good night, we stealthily walked back to our broom closet. I haven't stopped thinking about Violet since I met her. She's so nice, intelligent, beautiful... I could go on about her for hours. I think I might have a crush on her. That only made the note Carmelita gave me in class today more awkward. I couldn't stop imagining the beautiful inventor as my girlfriend.

I had also noticed Klaus seemed a little too interested in Isadora. As the oldest triplet, it's my job to look after her. I could tell she likes him too because she kept staring at him, and I'm positive that Klaus' name has made it into more than a few couplets. Not that Isadora would ever let me look at her precious notebook; it was just an observational guess. Quigley and I swore that we would never let a guy near Isadora without our express permission. I guess it falls to me though since my brother isn't with us anymore. I know he's up there in heaven laughing at how pathetic I acted around Violet today. I inwardly sighed; Quigley was the one who was good with girls, not me. I'm just a shy dork. But maybe I can get Violet to like me too... I hope.

~End of Chapter!