Begin!

Universe*

~Normal POV

The days passed the same way for the Baudelaires and the Quagmires. Their routine began with them having breakfast, going to class, then lunch, then back to class, then dinner, and finally ending the day with a terrible violin recital. It was worsened by the fact that Olivia still had not found the book they were so desperate to find. But it wasn't all bad for them because they at least had each other.

Duncan and Violet had started a trend of passing notes regularly during class to entertain themselves from Mr. Remora's boring stories. On more than one occasion Carmelita would drop a teasing note to the two about their rumored relationship, but they ignored her. Though the inventor and the journalist had begun harboring secret feelings for each other, neither one wanted to ruin what they had and kept their attraction silent. Or at least that's how they intended to do it. Klaus could often catch Violet staring at Duncan when they were all together, and Isadora was well aware of Duncan's real feelings for Violet. She could always tell when her brother was interested in a girl. Klaus and Isadora hadn't fared much better the past few days. Their attraction to each other was far more obvious despite how much they wished to hide it.

And Sunny couldn't help rolling her eyes when she watched her siblings interact with their crushes. She was still very young, and didn't understand these feelings yet, but she would change her mind someday when she's older. She was happy for them really; she wanted them to be together. She just thought teenagers were weird.

As Violet sat with Duncan in Mr. Remora's class, her mind was slightly distracted by thoughts of her newfound attraction. Sure Violet Baudelaire was no stranger to cute boys, but she had never had feelings like this before. Something inside her said that there was more to this than just a crush. What she didn't know was that Duncan was thinking the same thing about her.

The bell rang for lunch and Violet and Duncan stood from their desks to leave. Unfortunately, Carmelita decided to play a nasty trick on Violet today, and tripped her just as she started walking. Thankfully, Duncan caught her as she fell.

He helped her regain her balance, "Are you alright?"

Violet smiled at his sweet concern for her, "Yeah I'm fine. Thank you for catching me."

Duncan ran a hand through his hair nervously; her smile had melted his insides, and said, "You're welcome. I wasn't going to let you get hurt."

They met up with their siblings and went to lunch without another word on the incident; although they definitely thought about it more than once afterwards in secret, not that their siblings needed to know of course.

"I think Mr. Remora just went through a pretty bad break up. His last 8 stories today have been about his miserable love life," Violet joked as they ate their lunch.

"Mrs. Bass would have been pissed," Isadora said, "She must have the worst romantic luck because every time someone mentions relationship issues in class she gets super mad."

"She gets so mad she lectures us for an hour instead of having us do her pathetic excuse for schoolwork," Klaus added.

"Perhaps she's just bitter," Duncan suggested casually.

"Good morning cakesniffers!"

The five children held back groans as Carmelita walked up to their table. She smirked and placed her hands on the table and leaned forward slightly.

"I couldn't help overhearing your conversation. I just wanted to say that none of you will have to worry about relationship issues yourselves. Especially you, Isadora, you're so ugly no guy would ever want to date you!"

Isadora frowned, and Duncan glared at the annoying girl. However, before anyone could respond to the insult, Carmelita shrieked out in pain. Sunny had bitten her hand.

"Bosh'tet," Sunny said angrily.

"Sunny Veronica Baudelaire! Wherever did you learn that kind of language," Violet asked her eyes wide with shock.

Sunny looked down guiltily and mumbled, "Olaf..."

"Well don't say it again. You can swear when you're older," Violet replied.

Carmelita was holding her hand against her chest as it was now red, and possibly bleeding, from Sunny's sharp teeth, "The stupid baby orphan bit me!"

"Maybe you should think twice before you call someone ugly. Now go away Carmelita," Klaus said, calmly while glaring at her.

Carmelita gaped at him for a moment before stomping away in her loud tap shoes. Isadora looked down at her food, avoiding eye contact with the others and feeling very self-conscious.

"Thanks for biting her Sunny. She deserved that," Duncan said with a smile. Sunny nodded at him in response.

Violet gave Isadora a sympathetic look, "Don't listen to her, Izzie. She's just a jerk."

"It's ok Violet," Isadora replied, still avoiding her gaze, "I'm used to it. She always tells me that. This is just the first time she's done it in front of you guys."

"Ahem, uh Isadora," Klaus spoke up getting her attention, she glanced up at him, "If it helps, I think you're beautiful, and any guy would be lucky to date you..."

He quickly looked back down at his tray as a deep blush crossed his face. He didn't speak for the rest of lunch. Violet and Duncan smirked at each other, and Sunny rolled her eyes. Isadora simply looked back at her own tray with a shy smile as her insides fluttered at the compliment. All she could bring herself to do was mutter a quiet "thank you" for his kind words.

~...

As Duncan was walking back to class with Violet after lunch he whispered something to her, "Izzie and I were planning on getting some snacks from the teachers' lounge tonight. You want to help?"

Violet gave him a shocked look and pulled him aside in the hall so they wouldn't be overheard, "What are you talking about?"

"Ok so I heard some guys in the boys' dorm talking about how the teachers' lounge has all kinds of sweets inside. Cookies, cakes, and other treats; all the stuff we're not allowed to have at lunch. And it's where Vice Principal Nero keeps his candy stash for when students miss his recitals. I was talking with Izzie about it before bed last night. She wants to see if they have pocky, and we'll share whatever we get with you guys. Do you and your siblings want to help us out?"

Violet contemplated his offer, "What's pocky?"

"Oh, they're these little cookie stick things covered in frosting; my sister is addicted to them. If they do have some she might not be willing to share," Duncan smiled, "So what do you say?"

"What if we get caught?"

He shrugged, "We'll take the blame."

She paused for a moment before replying, "Only if Klaus and Sunny agree."

He nodded, "Of course."

~...

It was night time now after another of Nero's long recitals and the Baudelaires were on board with the Quagmires' plan to raid the teachers' lounge. Duncan and Isadora walked stealthily to the shack to meet up with them.

"You like Violet don't you," Isadora said calmly.

"What? No," Duncan's face reddened in the darkness, "I don't like her."

Isadora giggled quietly, "Yeah you do. That's why you asked her to help out with this."

He avoided her gaze, "I didn't ask her, I asked if she and her siblings wanted to help. You asked Klaus if he was up for it!"

"Yeah because he said he'd never had pocky before; I want to get some and share it with him."

Duncan smirked, "Lady and the Tramp style?"

Isadora blushed vigorously, "N-No!"

Duncan stifled his laughter to avoid them getting caught. They reached the shack and proceeded to lead the Baudelaires through the empty school to the teachers' lounge.

"I can't believe we're actually doing this," Klaus whispered, "If we get caught-"

"Relax, Klaus, we never get caught," Duncan said, "Besides you agreed to it."

"This had better be worth it," Violet said.

"It will be, and we won't take too much, promise," Isadora responded.

They reached the room and looked around carefully to ensure that no one would see them. Violet helped pick the lock on the door and they quickly ducked inside. The room had several tables and chairs, a refrigerator in the back next to what looked like a pantry cabinet and a few countertops along the wall. They didn't turn the lights on to keep themselves hidden. Isadora offered to keep watch and Klaus joined her at the door. Violet set Sunny on the floor and went with Duncan over to the cabinet. As they had been told, inside were all kinds of snacks. Duncan opened his school bag and Violet helped him grab things off the shelves.

"Hey, Izzie, how much pocky do you want," Duncan whispered.

"Do I even need to answer that? You know what I'll say!"

"Right, a shit-ton, got it," Duncan chuckled.

"Someone's coming," Klaus said.

Klaus and Isadora ducked behind a desk, and Duncan and Violet shut the cabinet doors and quickly hid under a table with Sunny. They waited in silence, practically holding their breath as the door swung open to reveal Carmelita had entered the room. She looked at the door curiously for a moment, possibly wondering why it wasn't locked, before shrugging and walking over to a counter-top in the room. From their positions they watched as she pulled a chair over to the counter and stood on it. On the surface was a cake sitting in a container. Carmelita opened the container and proceeded to stick her nose right into it. They had to choke back laughter at the sight. She then pulled back and shook her head, her face now covered in powdered sugar. She put the lid back on the container and quickly walked out of the room shutting the door behind her. The five orphans let their laughter out as soon as she vanished. They finished filling their bag with treats and quickly made their way back to the shack.

"I can't believe that Carmelita did that," Isadora said as she bit into her pocky.

"Yeah too bad we can't call her out on it, or else she'd know we were in there," Violet said.

Duncan passed a few boxes of pocky to the others, "You guys might want to try it before my sister takes them all for herself."

Isadora rolled her eyes, "Duncan I was going to share! Besides if Quigley were here he'd take at least half the bag before anyone else."

"Yeah you're right."

As the five of them ate their snacks they entertained themselves by Duncan and Isadora telling stories about their brother.

"And this one time we had to watch as Quigley walked up to this girl and said the stupidest thing I've ever heard my brother say in my life, 'excuse me miss, do you have a map, because I keep getting lost in your eyes,'" Duncan said rolling his eyes.

Violet laughed, "If a guy said that to me I'd smack him. That's the dumbest pick up I've ever heard."

"It really is, but it actually worked," Isadora added, "She gave him her number and a kiss on the cheek."

Violet and Klaus looked stunned, "How?"

Isadora smiled, "It's easy to break it down. You see Duncan got the intelligence and observational skills, Quigley got the charisma and the sense of humor, and I got the creativity and the bewitching good looks. So everybody wins."

"Yeah Quigley had a way with women," Duncan said, "We're pretty sure that he would have settled down once he found the right girl, but he chose to date around constantly. When we used to go to public school before the fire we went to a school dance because our parents wanted us out of the house that night for some business thing. We suspect it had something to do with the secret organization now. But Quigley went into that dance with one girl on each arm, and left hours later with two completely different girls."

"And somehow he managed to get all four of them to agree to make out with him in a dark corner of the school," Isadora added.

"How on Earth did your parents allow him to act like that," Klaus asked, "If I acted like that our mother would have slapped me."

"Who said anything about them knowing," Duncan replied, "I loved my brother, but damn his attitude."

"Yeah I lost a lot of friends because he would date them, and then break up with them, and they didn't want to be around me anymore because it'd be too awkward to be around him," Isadora said, "Thankfully, Duncan is the gentlemanly one."

Violet blushed a little realizing what Isadora was suggesting. The inventor chose to ignore her comment. Duncan then went into a story about the time that Quigley somehow convinced him to take their father's Ferrari around town for a joy ride. As the five of them stayed up talking they felt more at peace than they had in a long while. This school may have been a miserable place, but they had found people to share happy moments with. Once they decided it was time for bed, based on Sunny falling asleep, Duncan and Isadora went back to their broom closet. Violet and Klaus collapsed on their hay bales in the shack.

"So, when are you going to tell Izzie you like her," Violet whispered.

"I don't like her!"

Violet chuckled, "Right... that's why you keep staring at her like a love struck idiot."

She turned the opposite direction, and pulled her blanket over herself. Her mind immediately shifted back to Duncan again. And as they fell asleep that night, Violet and Klaus came to a realization. Violet had fallen in love with Duncan, and Klaus had fallen in love with Isadora.

~End of Chapter!

Probably be one more part to this short story.