The Quagmires

Chapter 8: The Faithful Friends

In a life filled with misery, sorrow, and woe, a word which here means misery and sorrow, there are some people that can bring you happiness, even if it is only for a short time.

As Duncan and Isadora waited for their untalented vice principal to let them into his office, Isadora pulled out what seemed to be half of a spyglass. In fact, not just any spyglass, but the same one her father took out of the drawer several hours before his death.

"What's that?" asked Duncan.

"I don't know, I found it on our way out of our house when it was...was burning," she replied sadly.

After a long time of silence, Duncan spoke up.

"I feel like we've been sitting on this bench for months." Isadora looked at him and nodded in agreement.

"I think we should just go up to him," stated Isadora, "Besides, I just saw three students leave his office.

"I guess," said Duncan, and they walked up to vice principal Nero's office. Isadora knocked gently on the door only to hear her vice principal yell 'children' in annoyance. He opened the door, a look of disgust on his face. 

"Vice principal Nero," she said, "You said you wanted to see us?" she continued in an asking manner.

Duncan looked at his sister then said, "We've been waiting for a really long time."

"Come in, come in, come in," replied their vice principal. Isadora walked into the poorly organized office, followed by her brother, Duncan.

"So, orphans," said vice principal Nero, a smile forming on his face, "How would you like to move into a broom closet?" By the time he finished his question, a smile was clearly on his face.

"We'd like that," said Isadora. The Quagmires were indeed happy, although they also felt sorry for the orphans that had to move into the haphazard shack. 

After they finished their conversation with vice principal Nero, they left knowing not only that they were upgrading into a broom closet, but also that they had missed one of their vice principal's violin recitals, meaning they now owe him candy they didn't have. 

When it was time for their classes to begin, the two triplets each headed to their designated classroom. Duncan went to room one, where Mr. Remora taught irrelevant lessons about his life, while Isadora headed to room two, where Mrs. Bass made them measure various random objects.

Duncan took his seat and waited for Mr. Remora to show up.

"Good morning class," said Mr. Remora dreadfully, "Including our latest orphan." All of a sudden, the entire class turned their heads towards an uncomfortable-looking girl sitting in the back of the glass. They gave her dirty looks, similar to the ones Duncan and Isadora had to manage. Duncan decided to give the girl a sympathetic smile, knowing what it's like to be an orphan attending Prufrock Prep. The girl smiled back at him and Mr. Remora began explaining what they would do during that lesson.

Similar events occurred back at room 2, where Isadora was.

Mrs. Bass had entered the room and stated, "Good morning, children. May I have your undivided attention?" "And that includes you, Daniel," she added, turning her sight towards the boy sitting right in front of her. "I understand we have a brand new orphan today." Similar to what happened in room one, all the students turned towards a boy with reading glasses, who looked very puzzled. Isadora, however, gave the boy a sympathetic smile, just like her brother did to the girl in his classroom. He returned a very small smile to her. Afterwards, Mrs. Bass made a very disturbing remark. "It must be difficult for you to measure how unhappy you are without your parents, but we're gonna try." The boy seemed shocked, but Mrs. Bass didn't seem to care. She then went on with explaining what they would be spending their lesson doing.