I was honestly surprised by the negative reception of "Change of Heart"; personally, I thought it was really good how Clyde tried to get over his obsessive crush on Lori. Plus, Lori and Leni dressed as each other was both hilarious and adorable.
Anyway, a warning, this is rated T for some rather heavy themes. You have been warned.
It was a nice Spring day in the town of Oakdale. People were out and about, enjoying the absence of Winter, before the insane heat of Summer.
At the local grocery store, a woman, who at first glance appeared to be in her late 50's/early 60's, was pushing a shopping cart to her car; it was quite full. In contrast, the parking lot was almost empty of people; plenty of cars, but the woman was essentially the only person seen.
As she got to her car, she heard a voice call out, "MOTHER SUPERIOR!" The woman turned, and her eyes went wide.
"Becky?" She asked in shock, as a much younger woman approached her, fury in her eyes.
In a bar on the outskirts of town, a few people stopped in before heading home from work. Most kept to themselves or with their friends, but a few sat at the bar and watched the news report on TV.
2 young gentlemen who appeared to be around 30 were some of the few watching the TV.
"This just in, the Oakdale Catholic Orphanage has reported that Shelia O'Bannon, their Mother Superior, has been missing for 2 days. Shelia was last seen in the Ruby's Supermarket on 8th Street on Monday around 1:00 PM. If you have any information on her whereabouts, please contact the police."
"Some people," One guy muttered, sipping his beer, "Kidnapping nuns. What lows won't people stoop to?" After a moment of silence, he looked at his friend, who was staring at the TV, which now had a picture of Mother Superior on it. "Yo, Earth to Monty! You ok there, bud?"
His friend, Monty, shook his head, snapping himself out of whatever trance he had been in. "Sorry, man, zoned out for a sec," He apologized, "I, uh, gotta use it." He got up and headed to the back of the bar, where the bathrooms were located.
There were 2 bathrooms, both for one person. Knocking on the door, Monty heard nothing, so he opened it and went inside. Upon trying to lock the door, he noticed the lock was busted. Rolling his eyes, he figured he'd be quick; hopefully if anyone needed to go while he was in there, they'd knock first.
After relieving himself, Monty started washing his hands when the door behind him opened. "Just a sec," He said over his shoulder, as he began drying his hands.
"Hey, best friend."
Monty froze. It had been over a decade, but he'd recognize that voice anywhere, and he thought he'd never hear it again. Before he could turn around, he saw something coming towards his head out of the corner of his eye. The blunt object collided with the back of his head and he dropped to the ground, out like a light.
Looking around, the lady yelled out, "Someone give me a hand, here? My friend had a bit too much to drink, and I can't carry him to the car by myself."
A well-meaning older gentleman, who had had a bit too much to drink, himself, helped the young woman carry her "friend" out to her car, where she tossed him in the backseat. She then thanked the man, before getting in the car and taking off. The man nodded, before turning and heading back inside the bar.
If the man had stuck around outside just a second longer, he may have heard a 'thunk' from the woman's trunk as she drove off.
It was a normal Saturday at the Loud house; meaning, of course, completely chaotic. Each of the Loud sisters was doing their own thing, happy to have the day off of school and life in general. A couple of them were upstairs, but most of them were outside. Mom and Dad were currently out running errands.
In the living room, Lincoln and Clyde were playing their newest video game, Ace Savy in Total Cardtastrophe. The two were happy to have some time to relax. Lincoln was surprised yet grateful that his sisters didn't have half-a-dozen activities to drag him to, and Clyde was just glad to be spending quality time with his best friend.
As they were fighting one of the first bosses, they heard, "That is literally ridiculous, Carol! How could he say no to you?" Lori came down stairs, talking to her former rival turned best friend Carol Pingrey on the phone. As she walked by the couch, Clyde surprisingly didn't freak out.
Oh, he almost did. But, remembering what all Leni had taught him, Clyde looked straight ahead, focusing solely on the TV. Once Lori walked into the kitchen, Clyde sighed in relief.
"You're getting better, bro," Lincoln smiled at his friend, "Not even a drop of blood from your nose."
Clyde smiled, "Well, I just figured it was about time, ya know? I still wanna marry Lori someday," Lincoln rolled his eyes at that, "But until that day comes, I'm fine just being her friend."
"Whatever you say, buddy," Lincoln chuckled, going back to the video game. After a couple more minutes, they finally beat the boss they were fighting.
"Bathroom break," Clyde said, getting up and heading up the stairs. Lincoln nodded, saying he would get them some sodas as he headed into the kitchen.
Clyde got to the bathroom and did his business. As he was washing his hands, he heard what sounded like something being thrown at the door. Curious, he opened it and stepped out…
Only to be knocked to the side as Lynn rushed past him. She zoomed into the bathroom on her roller skates, jumping in the tub to act as a roundabout which she used to zoom back out of the bathroom, her hockey stick swiping Clyde's feet out from under him as she swiped at the puck she had shot against the door, which Clyde had been standing right by. As Clyde staggered to his feet, Lynn zoomed by him again, causing Clyde to spin around uncontrollably.
Clyde lost track of where he was as he spun around, unable to get a solid footing. Finally, he crashed into something, hitting his head hard as he fell to the ground.
As Clyde held his throbbing head, he let out a groan of pain, "OOOOOOOOOHHHH!"
Suddenly, something landed on Clyde's face. In his dazed state of mind, all he could tell was it was some article of cloth, likely a piece of clothing.
"OH…MY…GOOOOOOOODDDDD!"
Snapping out of his dazed state, Clyde realized Lori was standing in the doorway of her room, looking at him in shock. He then realized he was IN Lori's room, on the ground next to her dresser. And then, the look of horror/anger on Lori's face caused Clyde to put 2 and 2 together…
Slowly, Clyde reached up and grabbed the cloth off of his face, and sure enough, it was a pair of Lori's underwear.
"L…Lori, I c…can explain," Clyde stammered out. However, before he could say anything more, the rest of the family, drawn by Lori's cry, appeared in the doorway, and their eyes went wide upon seeing the McBride boy holding a pair of their oldest sister's panties.
"Inexcusable!" Howard shouted, "You crossed a line today, young man!"
Clyde was sitting on the Loud family couch as his fathers paced back and forth. Needless to say, as soon as they caught Clyde, Lori immediately called his parents and ratted him out (Lori stated it was one of the few times that "tattling" was acceptable). The 10 Loud siblings that were home (Lisa was at a conference) were standing on the stairs, all casting glares at Clyde. Even Lincoln was extremely disappointed with his friend.
"I mean, really, son!" Harold stated, trying not to yell a curse with all the young Louds present, "I get crushes, I really do! And I get wanting to be near them, and even their personal items. A bit weird, but not necessarily wrong. But PANTY RAIDING!? REALLY?!"
"Not to mention he was getting off!" Lori snapped, "I heard him moaning in pleasure as he smelled them!"
Lana quietly tugged Lincoln's sleeve, causing her brother to look down at her. "What's "getting off" mean?" She whispered curiously.
Lincoln, who only had a sliver of an idea himself, winced as he whispered back, "It's a teenager thing. I'll tell you when you're older." Lana merely shrugged as the two turned their attention back to Clyde and his parents.
"Son," Howard shook his head as he and Harold held each other's hands for support, "I won't lie, you've done some stupid things before. All kids do stupid things from time to time, nothing to be worried about. But this…this is too much. You are grounded for a month! And afterwards, if he'll even forgive you, then Lincoln will have to come to our house to hang out, because you clearly can't be trusted to come over here! And I'm sure Lynn and Rita will feel the same way when they hear about this."
"They'll be back from running errands in a little bit," Lori spoke up, still glaring bitterly at Clyde, "They said they'd be home by dinner at the latest."
"Well," Harold nodded, "Be sure to tell them what happened, and that we are handling our son appropriately."
"Will do," Lori nodded, "Just make sure that you teach that little pervert of yours some manners!" She cast one last glare at Clyde, before heading upstairs, muttering something about a lock on her dresser.
Clyde, who had stayed silent in shame this whole time, finally spoke up, "But…but Dads, this is a misunderstanding. I didn't-"
"Save it!" Howard held up his hand sternly, "Whatever you have to say, you can save it for the apology letter you're going to write Lori, as well as the one you're going to write Mr. and Mrs. Loud. Now, come on. Your father and I have to get back to the BnB. We've got a convention coming through tomorrow and have to get ready."
At that, both men reached down and grabbed one of their son's wrists, yanking him off the couch and towards the front door. As he was pulled out, Clyde cast one last look at the Louds, all of whom turned their backs on him.
As the front door slammed shut, Lincoln sighed. This would take some damage control. At the very least, he'd have to avoid his best friend for a while, and then, like Mr. McBride said, they'd have to stay at Clyde's house whenever they hung out, because none of the sisters (or his parents, for that matter) would likely want to see Clyde for quite some time. And even worse, this was NOT how Lincoln wanted Clyde to get over his crush on Lori: by Lori hating Clyde's guts.
"Why, Clyde?" Lincoln muttered miserably as he entered his room, "Why'd ya have to do the one thing that's almost impossible to forgive?"
That night, Clyde sat on his bed, his cat Nepurrtiti curled up on his lap. His fathers were at their BnB, getting things ready for the convention they mentioned. Clyde was, of course, ordered to stay in his room for the whole night. His dads said they WANTED to trust him, so they weren't gonna put any locks on the TV or lock away the sweets. They said he could have a glass of water and could leave his room to use the facilities, but that was it.
Understandably, Clyde was miserable. He had FINALLY been making strides to get over his obsessive crush on Lori, and now because of a misunderstanding, his best friend's family thought he was a creep. Being the sweet guy that he was, Clyde didn't feel any resentment towards Lynn, as she didn't mean to knock him into Lori's dresser, and she clearly hadn't been paying attention, hence the reason she didn't come to his defense. But still, it hurt knowing that everything had gone down like it had because of a simple accident.
He looked over to his desk, where two sheets of paper lay. One was to be an apology to Lori for doing something so perverted and heinous, the other was for Mr. and Mrs. Loud, apologizing for breaking their trust after they invited him into their home. As he thought it over, Clyde figured he would at least TRY to explain what happened. If after one try they didn't believe him, then he would apologize and work to rebuild their trust in him.
Gently slipping the sleeping kitten from his lap onto his pillow, Clyde hopped off his bed and grabbed his walkie, which was on his desk. Taking a deep breath, Clyde pressed the button, "Nosebleeder to Man-with-a-plan. Come in, Man-with-a-plan."
After a minute of silence, Lincoln's voice finally crackled through the walkie, "Clyde, I can only say this once: Lori is never going to have feelings for you. I would say that, at least up until today, she did love you…LIKE A BROTHER. In fact, I'm sure that's how all my sisters see- er, SAW you. Anyway, you need to accept that your feelings for Lori are just your first real crush, NOT true love. So please, stay away from my house for the time being, and after you're done being grounded, we can hang out at your place and I can help you rebuild my family's trust. Actually, after a week or so for Lori and them to cool down, I'll start doing some damage control for you. But please, use this month of grounding to think over what Leni taught you. Goodnight, Clyde. And just know, I'm not angry with you, but I am a bit disappointed."
At that, Clyde's face fell. Even Lincoln had all but given up on him. As Clyde thought over what Lincoln had told him, his door creaked open. Instantly, Clyde shoved the walkie down the side of his pants, not wanting to get caught using it while grounded.
"Dad?" He nervously called out, "I was…uh…just getting up to use the bathroom." Clyde hated to lie, but he was nervous about getting in even more trouble than he already was.
At the sound of his voice, the door stopped, and Clyde heard someone shuffling off down the hall. Curious, Clyde got up and went to his door. Peaking out, he saw the hallway was still completely dark. At that moment, Clyde heard a 'thump' from the living room, almost as if someone bumped into the couch.
Clyde nervously walked out, hoping one of his dads was just really tired and stumbling around. He didn't WANT to think about the possibility of a burglar, but you could never be too careful.
"Dad? Dad?" The timid child called out nervously, as his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness. Carefully stepping into the living room, Clyde looked around, but saw no one. He headed to the kitchen, thinking maybe they were in there; though who exactly "they" were was still a mystery.
As Clyde stepped into the kitchen and turned on the light, he heard someone rush up behind him. Before he could even move, he felt he "whack" of something smack against the back of his head. He fell to the ground, his vision slowly going dark.
As Clyde blacked out, he heard his assailant crouch down to his level and rub his head. "Aww, did the baby get an owie?" The woman cooed, "Don't worry, Mommy's here."
So, two people were kidnapped. Then due to an accident, everyone thought Clyde was panty raiding Lori. Followed by this, our dear, beloved nerd was also kidnapped.
What's going on? Who kidnapped Clyde and those other people? Who are those other two people? Maybe find out next time.
R&R