I've tweaked this storyline a bit to make it go in a different direction. If you've started reading this story before 6/27/20, please re-read the summary and the introduction chapter. It will clarify some things and you won't understand how this story goes from here if you don't
Klaus POV
The Broom closet.
It's not an ideal place to do school work, but neither is a classroom.
On the back wall was a shelf with cleaning supplies. Against another wall were a couple of mops as well as two buckets we put upside down on the floor so we could sit on them. These buckets were uncomfortable seats and low to the ground, but still not as nasty as the floor.
We first discussed the layout of how we would put our information on the board before we would actually start writing on it. Fortunately, Isadora had brought both a sharpie and a pencil to put our facts on the board.
We began by writing our name in sharpie on the back (like any good student would do with a rectangular paper thicker than a sheet of paper). Isadora's more loopy hand writing was a bit larger than mine, but I doubt anyone would notice other than me.
"I guess we should start measuring now." She said.
She grabbed a tape measure and began to unravel it. She bent over and put the end notch underneath my foot. From there she went up until she got to where my head stopped.
In pencil she lightly put my height as if it had been measured in a blender's height.
Our roles switched and now I had the tape. I did the exact same thing she did for me, except I put the measurements in celery stalks.
Now was width, because it's a totally normal thing to measure your width for a school project. If anyone in this class felt insecure, they had to be panicking while doing this.
Isadora opened her bag and searched around but grabbed nothing.
"I think we only have one tape measure now, I must have lost the other one." Isadora said.
"That's alright."
She handed me the tape and I began to put it around my waist. Still holding it in place, I wrote my findings in pencil.
I grabbed one of the ends to give to Isadora, but she had grabbed the other end thinking it would slide off. She had already wrapped it around her before she realized I was holding the other end.
So now we were tangled together by the waist, being pulled together by each end of the measuring tape. If it weren't for our height difference, are noses would probably be touching.
"That was unexpected." I said.
"It was. We should probably get untangled."
We didn't release the tapes.
"If that isn't going to happen, I'd like to suggest something else." I said.
"And what might that be?" She asked.
"This."
I tilted my head down and kissed her.
I could tell she was surprised since a small gasp escaped her lips. Once I pulled away, I was afraid she would be mad. But instead, she stood on her toes to get our lips to reconnect.
This time when we pulled away, we both smiled at each other like children on Christmas.
Once more we kissed.
I'd like to pause here to point something out. During this, I kept my eyes closed. It's weird to be staring at the other person when this is happening and there was no alternative motive to do so.
At one point, I noticed it get brighter. For reference, if you're in a dark room with your eyes closed and the lights off, you'll be able to know when the light turns off even with the eyes closed.
I parted as much as possible when attached with measuring tapes and opened my eyes. I looked to the door where the source of the light had been coming from.
In front of it was Duncan and Violet, with faces in expressions I would rather not describe.
Holy fuck
Helena's 3rd POV
You already know how this conversation goes from here so it would be unnecessary and would add nothing to the story if it was in a different POV. You can already guess how each one of them reacts and what is going inside their heads.
So instead, this story will jump to after dinner at the time of S.O.R.E and the violin recital.
Sunny POV
"It's about time." Coach Genghis said who was really Count Olaf.
"Wetza." I said meaning. "We didn't want to come."
"You've already wasted enough time time. What I want you to do is paint a circle with this paint." He said enunciating each syllable.
With slight hesitation, Violet grabbed the bucket and slowly began to walk to another part if the grass.
"Today Orphan!" Count Olaf screeched from the wooden stands.
Together, we all began to paint the large circle and was forced to make it bigger each time. After long after the time it should take to paint a circle, we asked if that was all.
"I'd that all.. I can't believe you orphans! Of course that's not all." He said with his fake accent.
"We know it's you Olaf, you don't need to use your stupid voice." Klaus said.
"I have absolutely no clue what you're talking about. I don't know any Count Olaf." He said.
"We didn't say Count Olaf, we only said Olaf." Violet said.
"It's a very common thing to have the word 'count' before 'Olaf.'" Count Olaf insisted.
"Are you implying you know another Count Olaf other than you?" Klaus asked.
"Like I said, I am not Count Olaf but I do know one that isn't the Count Olaf you are referring to."
"What's this Count Olaf's full name?" Klaus asked.
"Count Juntper Olaf the second, like the planet." He said.
"Juntper is not a planet! It's Jupiter!" Klaus stammered.
"Plarty." I said meaning "I'm surprised he knows what a planet is."
"You has just said you didn't know a Count Olaf, but now you are." Violet said.
"I was referring to Count Olaf, not Count Juntper Olaf the second. There is a very foggy difference!"
"Very Foggy Difference? That would be proving our point not yours." Klaus said.
"IT'S A VFD PUN! IT DOESN'T NEED TO MAKE SENSE!" Count Olaf shouted in frustration.
"V.F.D?" Violet and I both said with questionable faces.
"H-he's clearly joking! Or I assume he's only referring to that one brand of paper! We know nothing about a V.F.D committee!" Klaus said forcing out clearly obvious fake laughter.
"Klaus is there something-" Violet started.
"-We know nothing!" Klaus screamed cutting off violet followed by some more dismaying fake laughter.
"Yes I was referring to that one brand of paper. I love it for how it smells. Yes it smells very nice...but you orphans are just trying to distract me so I forget what I'm going to say. But that's not going to work! I'm not that eaisily baffled. Now where was I?"
I heard a slight groan from Violet and saw Klaus roll his eyes. I observed this but did not participate in either.
"Oh right, you three will be running laps around this circle. The baby may crawl." Count Olaf told us.
"For how long?" Violet asked.
"Until I say stop. Now run! Move those legs!"
Quigley POV
Don't you love having assigned seats by alphabetical order where a system for assigned seats is highly dysfunctional? Me too.
If there are assigned seats for seats that don't even have tables, it's absolutely useless.
If one person is missing, we're told to all move down a seat. It's very uncomfortable sitting in a seat that someone had already been sitting in and is now warm. Ew.
The only missing seats were for the Baudelaires, so we moved down 3 seats. Sometimes, I really wish my last name began with an A.
Soon after our readjustments, Nero came to the stage with his violin. The teachers encouraged us to clap because we would never do it voluntarily.
"Thank you Prufrock Preparatory!" Nero said unto the microphone as if he was a singer at an important concert. (He was not a singer or this was an important concert)
"Tonight I will be playing a piece I crafted myself in D Minor." He paused for a moment. "You May now applaud."
A few lonley claps echoed in the auditorium.
"Since this piece is only 20 minutes long, I will play it 8 times so you can tell a different emotion each round."
It was very difficult to hold in my groan and stop myself from rolling my eyes, but I did it anyways. This was going to be awful.
There is one good thing and one good thing only about these concerts, it's the fact that Carmelita no longer participates in it.
I'm not vouching for her or am happy for her, I'm happy for me and any other student that had to seat near her. Since alphabetically her seat was directly behind me and my siblings, she'd kick us in the heads. She means to only kick Isadora & Duncan since I wasn't 'cakesniffer' material, but she still did kick me because my head was like a fellow cakesniffer's that was right next to me.
And that was a good enough reason for her.
It's thought of as rude to sleep during any performance, but if it is horrendous and goes on for hours, it isn't as frowned upon. In fact, it almost seemed encouraged. Majority of the students were like me and take the best nap you can with horrible violin playing.
Sadly, every 20 minutes we would abruptly be awoken when each piece ended by clapping from the students who were unable to sleep.
At the 8th ending, some stood up and clapped because they could get out faster if they were standing. If you see any standing ovations, that would be why.
I no longer stand up and clap at the end because once when everyone did so, Nero thought that he was so good that he played even more 'just for us.'
After Nero's concerts, I always am fine with my hay stacks. I could even go far enough to say I love it and cherish it with my heart. Obviously, it doesn't compare to a real bed, but it is still more comfy than the auditorium seats.
"I'm surprised Violet, Klaus, and Sunny haven't returned back yet." Duncan said.
"Me too." Isadora and I said simultaneously.
We didn't have a clock in our shack, but we could tell it was abnormally late.
"Quigley, can I talk to you about something?" Duncan asked.
I gulped. "Yes?"
"It's about Violet."
"Oh." I said. I was worried this was going to come up.
"Why did you have to kiss her?"
"Quigley kisses Violet!" Isadora exclaimed.
"You shouldn't be so surprised." Duncan said in a monotone voice turning to our sister. "You also kissed Klaus."
"Isadora kissed Klaus!"I exclaimed louder than Isadora had just done.
"We do not need to talk about that right now." Isadora insisted.
"Do you regret it?" I asked her.
"No."
"Than why are you so embarrassed?"
"Because that was none of your's or Duncan's business!" She said.
"So then it's a secret?"
"Quigley, just shut up." Isadora said trying to keep a straight face but failing miserably.
"I guess being serious will have to wait until tomorrow." Duncan said turning away from us.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to-"
"You never mean to. You never mean anything that isn't 'a joke.' Things aren't always that funny." He said to the wall.
"I really am sorry I upset you. And I do mean that."
"Good night." He said ignoring what I had just said.
"Alright I deserve that. Goodnight guys."
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1991 words
Because this was a shorter chapter, it just seemed right to release it earlier. As of right now, I'm only half way through editing this book to how the storyline is now, and I hope to get it done soon. The problem is, I'm a bit of a procrastinator.
Another thing I noticed is how I say 'till'' or 'until' an inordinate amount. Did anyone else realize that too? Oh well.
And lastly, please do re-read the introduction and summary. If you didn't when I told you to, you have no idea what Helena's 3rd means.