Author's Note
The Loud House, including its characters, episodes, and dialogue are the property of Nickelodeon and Chris Savino.
This story takes place during Lola's first night as an official member of her siblings' secrets club, which, in turn, takes place just before the end of "A Tattler's Tale."
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Chapter 1: A Tattler's Tailspin
"Hey, Lola, you know, we talked it over and decided...you're in! You've earned our trust!"
To six-year-old pageant princess Lola Loud, those were the best words she heard that night. She gasped excitedly upon hearing her 11-year-old brother Lincoln's news.
"Oh, yes!" she exclaimed. She jumped off her bed and tore off her makeshift prison jumpsuit, revealing her signature pink dress underneath. "Yes, yes, yes!" She also did a couple of elbow thrusts to capitalize on her accomplishment.
The rest of her older and younger siblings then walked into the room and gathered around her bed. Once they were all situated, Lynn, the 13-year-old sports fanatic of the 11 siblings, spoke up and got the ball rolling.
"Aww, man. So you guys won't believe how bad I messed up the other day!" The other 10 siblings leaned forward, their mouths agape and curiosities piqued. "I was in the living room, practicing my pile driver with Mom's ironing board . . ."
As Lynn regaled her siblings with her tale, Lola surveyed the scene around her. It was just like she had always imagined it would be. After always being excluded from these meetings because of her reputation as a tattle-tale, she never thought this would actually happen to her.
So this is what acceptance feels like, she thought to herself. My siblings finally trust me. That thought made her swell with pride. If she were a light bulb, she would've been glowing.
"Don't get used to it, princess," interjected a different voice.
Lola suddenly felt her face drop slightly, aware of the voice's presence. She darted a brief look to her left and then to her right.
Who's that? Who's there? She briefly considered asking her siblings aloud if they, too, had heard something.
"They can't hear me," the mysterious voice replied, as if they had read her mind.
Who are you?
She cast glances at Lynn, her 15-year-old rock star sister Luna, and her eight-year-old Goth sister Lucy.
"Not even close," the voice answered back.
Her eyes then moved counterclockwise to her 14-year-old comic sibling Luan, her four-year-old genius sibling Lisa and her six-year-old twin Lana.
"Cold."
Lola's eyes then shifted to her 17- and 16-year-old sisters Lori and Leni, respectively.
"Getting warmer."
Then she set her gaze on Lily, her 15-month-old baby sister.
"Hotter!"
Then Lola moved her eyes upward, landing on Lincoln.
"You're on fire!"
Lola looked up above her preoccupied brother's head and her eyes finally settled upon her portrait collage. There were at least 10 pictures gracing the wall, each one highlighting a different success in her pageant career. The center portrait was the biggest one of them all. And the girl that was posing in it now had her arms crossed, her eyes narrowed, and a wicked smile on her face.
"You found me!" the girl in the portrait announced.
Lola let out a gasp. At the same time, so did the other siblings. However, their gasping was due in part to something Lynn said in her story.
"Having fun, are we?" Portrait Lola asked her real-life counterpart. The young pageant princess was too stunned to think up a response. "Well, enjoy it while you can."
Lola quickly turned away from the portrait and tried to refocus her attention on Lynn, who had just finished wrapping up her story. As her siblings' applause died down, Luan stood up and took Lynn's place at the center of the circle.
"Well, let me just tale you..."
As Luan began to spin her yarn, Portrait Lola spoke up again. "You know it won't last much longer for you, right?"
Lola tried to maintain her focus on Luan, but her thought process took the bait. What are you blabbering about?
"You know what I mean: you can't deny who you really are. You're Lola Loud! Once a tattle-tale, always a tattle-tale."
Lola cast her eyes downward and meekly thought, That's not true. I've changed! I'm trustworthy now—Lincoln said so himself!
Portrait Lola was heard to scoff. "You know who he thinks is trustworthy? Look at Leni."
Lola did. "That's who he trusts, not you. The girl who couldn't differentiate her elbows from macaroni on a good day. The girl that thinks two plus two equals a ballet outfit. And he puts more faith and trust in her than he does you."
Wow. Lola hadn't thought of it like that before. Compared to her, Lincoln would probably have put Leni on a pedestal. Uncertainty began to plague Lola's mind.
"Don't believe me? Look at Lily."
Lola desperately wanted not to, but found her eyes moving and eventually settling on Lily.
"That's who Lincoln trusts. They say loose lips sink ships and while Lily may have loose lips, at least she wouldn't blab her other siblings' secrets. Unlike you."
Once more, Lola cast her eyes downward. "They've all got a good thing going without you. You really thought you were gonna be an overnight success? Did you really think your siblings were gonna wipe the slate clean just because you wanted to paint yourself as a martyr?"
Now Lola felt her eyes brim with tears. Yes, she thought dejectedly. I just want them to trust me.
"Yeah, and I want to be the Queen of Sheba. But we can't always get what we want, can we?"
Again, the six-year-old pageant princess redirected her gaze at her framed counterpart. "As I said: once a tattle-tale, always a tattle-tale. You can't change who you are. The sooner you accept that, the better off everyone's going to be."
As Portrait Lola reverted to her original pose, Lola hung her head and heard the sound of her other siblings applauding Luan. Once they fell silent, Lincoln hopped off Lola's bed and traded places with Luan.
"As we all know, we have a new member joining our club for the first time tonight." the white-haired 11-year-old announced. This conjured up another round of applause from Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan, Lynn, Lucy, Lana, Lisa and Lily as they all turned to face Lola.
Feeling their eyes on her, Lola wanted nothing more than to fade into the background.
"Lola? Would you like to come up?" invited Lincoln with a wave of his hand.
With great reluctance, Lola raised her head and looked at her other ten siblings. Upon seeing the look on Lola's face, however, her siblings' expressions changed.
"Lola? What's wrong?" Lincoln asked in a concerned tone.
"Yeah, dude," Luna spoke up. "You look like you've just seen a ghost."
"Aah! There's a ghost in here?!" Leni shouted. She quickly retracted her feet from the floor and hugged her knees to her chest.
"That was merely a figure of speech, Leni," Lisa lisped, while readjusting her glasses.
"Is everything okay, Lola?" Lana asked her twin sister.
"I...I...I, I think I should go," she stammered, her voice breaking on the last word in that statement. She then hurriedly got up, threw open her bedroom door and ran out, making a sharp right down the hall.
"Lola, wait!" Lincoln called out before running after her. The other nine sisters followed suit soon after, with Lily being carried by Leni.
Lola ran down the hall, hearing the footsteps and voices of her other siblings behind her. This only made her want to run faster.
She eventually made it to the bathroom door at the end of the hall and tore it open. She ran inside, but came to a screeching halt when she suddenly found herself on a stage in front of a big, wooden table. Her eyes widened in terror and a gasp escaped her upon realizing the ten people sitting behind that table. A spotlight suddenly turned on and shone down on her, drenching her in a bright white light. She also took a brief glance behind her and noticed the banner hanging over the door, which had now transformed into a curtain: Miss Trustworthy.
Lola was used to standing in front of crowds of people at her pageants, sometimes too numerous to count. And during the interview portions, she always had an answer for everything and knew just what to say to win the judges over.
But this was different. This wasn't like any other pageant she had participated in before.
No, the judges of this impromptu Little Miss Trustworthy Pageant were her ten siblings. The ten people whose opinions mattered the most to her. She watched as they narrowed their eyes, judging her performance as she stood on the stage. Lola felt like she was now in the interview portion of the program.
"What makes you a likely candidate to join our secret club, Lola?" Lincoln solemnly asked her.
"Uh . . ." Lola began.
"Can you name any instance where you have shown yourself to be considered trustworthy?" interjected a solemn Lori.
"Well, um, there was that time when . . ."
"For my new poem, I need a word that rhymes with trust," Lucy monotonically stated. "As in, can I trust you to think of one for me?"
"Uh, how about . . ."
"As you know, a strict interpretation of Boyle's Law suggests that the volume of gas at a constant temperature is inversely proportional to its pressure," lisped Lisa in a stoic tone. "Moreover, Charles' Law clearly states that the volume of a gas is proportional to its absolute temperature." She took a second to readjust her glasses. "With this in mind, why should we trust you?"
"I don't, I don't see what this has to do with the dog, but . . ."
"Poo, poo?" Lily solemnly followed up.
Beads of sweat started to form on Lola's forehead. "Um, could you repeat the question?"
Lola felt her heart and pulse start to race. Suddenly, the table curved inward, surrounding her on all sides. Now Lola felt like her head was spinning—or was it the table spinning?
For the first time, she didn't have an answer. There was nothing she could say that would justify them including her as a member of their secret club.
Paraphrasing Lincoln's reminder in her head, she wasn't considered to be among "those of us who can trust each other." And that realization weighed heavily on Lola's heart. Then she heard her sisters begin to chant:
Tattle-tale, tattle-tale,
Little Lola Loudmouth
Tattle-tale, tattle-tale,
Go away and get out!
Lola squeezed her eyes shut and brought her hands to her ears in an attempt to block them out.
"Make it stop! Make it stop!" she desperately pleaded. But the taunting only got louder and faster. Lola suddenly felt her feet move of their own accord, aimlessly wandering forward and backward around the circle she was entrapped in. This momentum continued until Lola accidentally stepped backward on her dress and lost her balance, hitting her back on something solid.
Upon impact, the taunting mimicry of her sisters' voices abruptly stopped. Shuddering in relief, she slid down the wall and sat on the floor. Then she turned her head upward and opened her eyes. As she realized that she was back in the bathroom looking at the ceiling, she heard Lincoln's voice in her head.
Hey, Lola, you know, we talked it over and decided...you're in! You've earned our trust!
But to Lola at that moment, it felt like the biggest lie ever known to be true. And that was the straw that broke the camel's back.
She closed her eyes again and the tears finally fell. She hung her head and began to cry.
Her sisters and brother were taken aback by this unfolding development; this was unlike anything they'd ever seen from Lola. They exchanged sad glances with each other, feeling a sense of déjà vu before turning back to their crying sister.
Lincoln then took it upon himself to slowly approach Lola, kneel down next to her, and gently place his hand on her shoulder. Upon contact, Lola looked to the source of the touch and came face to face with her brother. The concerned look on his face was enough to make Lola's bottom lip quiver.
"Oh, Linky, I'm sorry," she sputtered out. "I'm so sorry." Then she reached out to Lincoln and buried her face in his chest, holding on to him tightly before dissolving into another round of sobs. Lincoln wrapped his arms around Lola, placing one hand on her back and using the other to stroke her hair. He looked back to his sisters and shared another sympathetic look with them.
"It's okay, Lola," Lincoln replied soothingly to her. "It's gonna be okay." Moved by this scene, the other nine sisters walked over and knelt down next to Lola.
"We're all here for you, Lola," assured Lincoln. "We love you."
Lola heard her sisters murmuring in agreement with Lincoln.
This only made her cry harder.
—
Now, I'm sure some of you are thinking that I wrote Lola out of character. Yes, she may be bratty and conceited, but she also has feelings. So I wanted to take that into consideration while writing this.
On a brief personal note, I've been where Lola's been. I know what it's like and how it feels not to be trusted by your loved ones: it's one of the worst feelings in the world. That's why I value trust more than ever now; I never want to be in that position again.
On a side note, Lisa's long-winded science question during Lola's hallucination was taken and paraphrased from an episode of the Nickelodeon game show Get the Picture.
The next chapter will be up very soon, detailing the aftermath.
For those of you who've made it this far, thank you for your support, whoever you are.
If you liked the chapter I've outlined, feel free to leave a review if so inclined.
Until then, thanks again for reading!
