The fatigue that comes with spending hours in the sun had well and truly settled in. So much so that as my brothers and I were sprawled out in the living room- a similar image to how we had been before our beach trip- I almost forgot about our latest plan. But the moment it popped into my head again, I sat up and tried to think of a nonchalant way of asking Quigley what was going on.

But, given the fact I could very easily just crawl into bed at that point, my brain was offering me absolutely nothing. So I ended up just asking outright, hoping that my brother would be just as perceptive as he always was, which (in the nicest way) wasn't very.

"So," I said, scaring Duncan so much he almost fell off the sofa, "did Klaus give you your prize yet?"

Quigley lazily rubbed his eyes before shrugging. Helpful much?

"Well, I was just going to ask if you liked it," I continued.

"Violet's meant to give me my half later," he muttered, clearly wanting to squeeze an early evening nap in before their little meet up.

But now he had taken the bait, I wasn't about to let go. "Oh, is she?" I said cheerfully, "When's that?"

Quigley shrugged again. "She said she would come over at some point."

Jackpot. "Oh nice, that's cool. Actually," I said, changing my tone slightly, hoping it conveyed my faux disappointment, "I left something at the Baudelaires' which I should probably get. Such a shame I'll probably miss her."

"Just get Violet to bring whatever it is," Duncan chimed in. I could've chucked a couch cushion at his head.

"Ah no," I brushed his idea off, "It's fine. I'd rather get it myself. I kind of don't remember whereabouts I left it." Neither of my brothers commented on that, either through being tired or just plain disinterest, but I had set up my excuse. All I needed now was to make sure Duncan would be out of the way, and then everything would be perfect. So I turned the conversation on him. "When are you seeing Liam?"

"Like seven, I think," Duncan drawled, halfway through a yawn. You would've thought we'd all just run a marathon by the way we were acting. But nope. I guess the excitement of the beach will do that to you.

All of a sudden, Quigley laughed. "You know it's already half past, right?"

There was a moment of silence where I think Duncan was processing what he had just heard, followed by a moment of panic, where he leapt up and ran to the wall clock, as if he needed to get as close as possible to believe what the time was. Quigley and I couldn't stifle our evil cackles as we watched our brother rushing around, trying to locate his phone and then his two shoes. He flung himself at the door as he was shrugging on a hoodie, and was met by a scream as he threw the front door open. He screamed back at our guest, caught his breath and then announced that Violet was there, before officially making his leave.

"What was all that about?" said Violet, coming through into the living room. We were past the point in our friendship where knocking was a necessity. Nowadays, the Baudelaires' house was like our second home and vice versa.

"Just Duncan being his usual self," I said, before springing myself up off the couch. "Anyways, I'm off. See you guys later!"

And before either of them could say anything in protest, I rushed to the door, slipped my shoes on and was gone.

The Baudelaires only lived down the street, so despite the summer night air being nippy, I didn't pay it much attention, although that also could've been down to the fact that I had practically sprinted out of the house. There was something about the adrenaline rush of telling white lies and then running away that worked up a bit of a sweat. By the time I knocked on the door I was puffed, needing another sit down despite that being all I had done since getting back from the beach.

I let myself in, knowing that the Baudelaires had similar values to us when it came to guests, and found Klaus in the living room, knelt on the window seat and peering out through the glass.

"Hello," he said without tearing his eyes away from the view.

I frowned. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Spying," he said simply, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

I joined him on the window seat. "Well yeah, I kind of guessed that. But you can't even see anything from here. So what're you doing? Just staring into the darkness?"

And it was true. The street had a slight curve to it that wasn't noticeable on the ground. But when you were higher up, on one end and trying to see to the other, it was apparent that the houses started to drift over to the left. That paired with the fact it was night time meant that you couldn't see anything of use from here. And at that distance, even on a straight road in broad daylight, you would need a bionic eye to spy anything of interest.

Klaus huffed and finally shuffled away. "Spoil sport."

"Yeah, yeah," I said, waving him off. "We've got work to do."

We moved the cushions off of the couch and used them as seats to sit around the coffee table. Klaus' parents and little sister were out so we could've done our scheming anywhere, but the coffee table was our place of choice for no reason other than it was comfortable and Klaus had already dumped a bunch of snacks on it- my kryptonite.

While Quigley and Violet were (hopefully) having a night together without interruptions, Klaus and I were planning our next move, our next grand scheme. Maybe after tonight the two of them would come to their senses and realise their mutual feelings for each other but, if they didn't, we would have another thing ready and waiting. Plus, everything we had put together so far had been good fun, both the planning and the execution, and so whether or not our end goal came to fruition, at least we would've had an interesting summer, jam packed with memories to look back on.

I ended up staying out way later than I had intended, only realising the time when the front door opened and Mr and Mrs Baudelaire strolled in with an already dozing Sunny in their arms. Violet wasn't far behind, walking in with a smile on her face that made Klaus and I share a knowing look between us, and that acted as my cue to go home myself. Klaus quickly packed away our snacks and notes and then I said goodbye to the Baudelaires as a whole before heading back home.

And even though Klaus and I didn't have a chance to have a last word alone before everyone else got back, it didn't matter. Because we both already had our next plan cemented in our minds.

Camping.

A/N:

It feels good to be updating this again, I really feel like I'm getting back on track. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you in the next one!! ❤