Pre-chapter author's notes: Earlier today (3-16-18), one of my other stories, 'Restored Image', came to an end. However, I saw from come of the comments that the ending not only shocked and confused a fair number of people, but I could tell that a fair few were somewhat disappointed. I forgot to put things in context, and this is my fault. I'm very sorry about that. To clear things up, the ending of the last chapter of 'Restored Image' actually hinted at the start of this story; this story, along with 'A collection of Loud House one shots' (another one of my Loud House stories up on this site), are set in a different universe than where the 'Broken Mirror' stories and 'Restored Image' are set. Long story short, in the universe where this story and the one-shot collection are set, Lincoln never ran away from home. Also, the VYG is/was nowhere near as much of a threat (they weren't even a VYG, just a YG), but that will be covered in further detail at some point later. Anywho, without further ado, here's the first chapter of 'Ten reasons'.

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Ten reasons

Chapter one: Big sister bully part one- I am not a bully

Lynn Loud Jr. was known as a number of things. She was the youngest of the five oldest Loud sisters, a 'meatball grinder vacuum' as some of her sisters said, and an athlete. Oh yeah, Lynn was very clearly the athlete of the family; always active, always turning everything into a sport, and always earning accolades and awards for her performances in sports.

There was something else, however, that Lynn was also known as, at least among most of her siblings. It wasn't something that Lynn was aware of herself, and if any of her siblings who were in the know tried to confront her with it, the sporty Loud sibling would flat out deny such an accusation. …Regardless of how much truth such an accusation would carry.

But enough of that messy business. Lynn woke up one Saturday morning in her and her sister Lucy's bedroom at the Loud residence. When she awoke, Lynn instantly had one thing on her mind; the big football game that her team was going to be playing against a rival team on Monday. The sporty Loud sibling knew that she would have to train and exercise as much as she can before that big game.

After processing the fact about her big upcoming football game, Lynn instantly had another thought pop into her head; any training she did, as much as it would help, wouldn't be as effective if she trained on her own. Lynn thought that in order to get the most out of her training, she would have to get at least one of her siblings to join her. The sporty Loud sibling then began to go over a mental list of her siblings to see who would be the best training partner for her.

Lynn first thought of her older sister Luna, who Lynn thought was arguably the second-strongest of the Loud sisters in terms of pure physical strength (Lynn, of course, considered herself as number one in that department). However, the sporty Loud sister remembered that Luna and her band had a few gigs to take care of during the weekend. There was also the fact that Luna had a date with her crush Sam tonight (yay for Luna!), so the musical Loud sibling was out.

Lynn then considered Luan, another of her older sisters. Lynn figured that the comedic Loud sibling should have some strength; some of those pranks that Luan had pulled off in the past required some degree of strength in order to set up. But almost as soon as she considered Luan, Lynn had to think otherwise. Like Luna, Luan also had a full schedule for the weekend; the comedic Loud sibling had a birthday party to perform at today, another one tomorrow, and one on Monday as well.

That Monday party also meant that Luan would have to miss going to Lynn's big football game, something that troubled Lynn more than a little, as she wanted all of her siblings, both the older ones and the younger ones, to be there for her.

…Wait a minute, that's right. Lynn was only considering her older siblings as potential training partners. Lynn's older siblings usually have other obligations to handle on weekends. A younger sibling would not only have a far lesser chance of having some sort of weekend obligation that would otherwise make helping Lynn impossible, but a younger sibling would also be more likely to agree to help Lynn train.

Turning her head, Lynn faced the other side of the bedroom she shared with her younger sister Lucy. The gothic Loud sibling was already awake, and was writing something in her book; as far as Lynn knew or cared, it was yet another gothic poem of some sort, or some depressing, poetic interpretation of a dream that Lucy had the previous night. "Hey Lucy," Lynn began, getting the eight-year-old's attention. Closing her book, Lucy sat up on her bed and turned to face her older sister.

"What is it, Lynn?" Lucy asked in her usual monotone.

"You know that big game that my football team has on Monday?" Lynn began, "Well, I need as much training and practice before then in order to be ready, and it's be best if I can get a partner to work out and train alongside me." With as much of a hopeful-looking expression as she could manage, Lynn asked, "You in?"

The gothic Loud sibling reached behind herself to grab something. Pulling up what she had grabbed, Lucy revealed it to be a small…smoke bomb? The heck is Lucy doing with a smoke bomb? Either way, Lucy tossed the smoke bomb at the floor of her and Lucy's bedroom with all of her might while shouting, "SHIIINRAAA!"

The smoke filled the room quickly enough, and Lynn coughed as she waved the smoke away from her face. When enough of the smoke cleared, the sporty Loud sibling noticed that Lucy had run away under the cover of the smoke. Walking out of her and Lucy's bedroom, Lynn remarked aloud to herself, "Geez. All she had to do was politely decline."

It wouldn't be until sometime on Monday that Lynn would realize she wouldn't have taken 'no' as an answer.

Walking down the stairs, Lynn made a quick turn for the kitchen to grab something to eat. Upon turning into the kitchen, Lynn saw three of her younger siblings; the twins Lola and Lana, and Lincoln, the sole Loud boy. The twins were, one again, arguing about something, which Lynn deduced was the wrapped brownie snack cake sitting on the table. Lincoln, as per usual, was acting as a mediator between the two twins.

"It isn't for either of you girls," Lincoln said as he tried to get the twins to stop arguing, "The last brownie is Leni's, remember?"

"How come?" Lola complained.

"She's the only one who hasn't had one yet," Lincoln pointed out to the pageant princess Loud sibling, "It wouldn't be fair if Leni didn't get one while everyone else did."

"…Oh yeah, Lincoln's right," Lana remarked as she nodded her head a few times, "Think we should put a sticky note with Leni's name on it on the last brownie?"

"Last what now?" Lynn interrupted, getting the attention of Lincoln and the twins. When they turned to face her, Lincoln and the twins saw that Lynn had taken the last brownie snack cake and had eaten it; she was already walking over to the trash can to toss out the now empty wrapper from the brownie.

"Lynn, you already had your brownie!" Lola said as she pointed at Lynn in an accusing manner, "That last one was mine!"

"Leni's," Lincoln quickly corrected in a deadpan tone.

"What he said," Lola remarked while facing Lynn as she pointed to Lincoln.

"Well I needed the extra fuel," Lynn defended in a casual tone, "You see, I have that big football game on Monday."

"Yeah, so?" Lana replied.

"I need to train and exercise as much as I can until then," Lynn continued.

"Uhh-huh," Lola remarked.

"However," Lynn went on, "I realized when I woke up a short while ago that I can only do so much with my training and exercise if I do it alone." Pointing to her younger siblings, Lynn said, "Which is why I was wondering if any of you would be interested in joining me."

"SHIIINRAAA!" Lana exclaimed as she reached behind herself for something, pulled out a smoke bomb, and threw it at the floor as hard as she could. When the smoke filled the room, the sporty Loud sibling could hear Lana exclaim, "Come on, Lola! Let's scram while the smoke keeps us covered!" Lynn could then hear the sound of two sets of little feet scamper out of the kitchen as quickly as possible.

After most of the smoke cleared, Lynn saw that only Lincoln was still in the kitchen, waving what smoke remained away from his face. Coughing, Lincoln remarked aloud, "What was Lisa thinking, making those smoke bombs for everyone?"

"Hey Lincoln!" Lynn said in a cheerful tone, getting her younger brother's attention.

Realizing that he was stuck, Lincoln said somewhat nervously, "Oh, umm, hey Lynn. What's up?"

Walking over to her little brother, Lynn threw her arm around his shoulders and said while pointing to him, "It's you and me this whole weekend, Lincoln! Nothing but training exercises, strength building and tossing around the pigskin from dawn to dusk! Sounds pretty good, don't you think, little bro?"

"I wish I had asked Lisa for some of those smoke bombs," Lincoln thought. Realizing that nothing short of a miracle would get him out of this, Lincoln said, "Alright, Lynn. Just let me grab breakfast first."

"Awesome!" Lynn said happily, "I'll be waiting for you in the backyard! Don't keep me waiting too long, alright Lincoln? I'll come back in here to find you if you do."

The sole Loud boy gulped as Lynn went off to gather some supplies and to set up some exercise courses in the backyard. Lincoln silently prayed that Lori needed a golf caddy for when she went to practice at the golf course, or that Leni needed a buddy to go shopping with her at the mall.


Lynn had one of the best weekends she could recall over that weekend. Not only was she doing what she loved, but she was also doing it with a sibling. And it wasn't just practice and training for football that she did either; Lynn did all sort of sports stuff with Lincoln, including lucha libre and a little bit of karate. When she woke up on Monday, Lynn was pumped for her team's big football game.

Lincoln had one of the worst weekends he could recall over that weekend. Not only did a surprise request from Lynn crash any plans that he had, but by the time he woke up on Monday, Lincoln felt aches all over, not to mention the fact that he sported more than one bruise. What in the heck made Lynn think that lucha libre would help with getting her ready for her big football game today? Further remembering that he and his siblings had to go to Lynn's game to cheer her on (sans Luan, who had scheduled a party she had to perform at today), Lincoln realized that, as he felt more aches as he got out of bed, that he was not going to have a good day.

He had no idea how not good his day was going to be.


When most of the kids were up, Lynn Loud Sr., the patriarch of the Loud family, went upstairs to check on Lucy, Lola and Lana, the only ones to not be awake yet. To his worry, Lynn Sr. saw that the girls had all come down with some sort of sickness, which the Loud family's resident genius Lisa quickly identified as a stomach flu. With his wife Rita, the mother of the Loud kids, away in California (Rita had brought Lily, the baby, with her) to help a close friend of hers manage the final affairs of a relative who had just recently passed away, Lynn Sr.'s options were limited.

"So, here's the thing," Lynn Sr. told his kids who weren't sick, "With Lucy and the twins being sick, one of the older kids among you will have to stay here to look after them." To Lori, Leni and Luna, Lynn Sr. said, "I'd prefer it if one of you took the job."

"We actually have the day off of school due to some sort of teacher holiday," Lori replied, "So the three of us literally have all day."

"But what about my football game later today?" Lynn asked, "Everyone will be able to come, right?"

Regarding his athletic daughter with a sympathetic expression, Lynn Sr. turned to face Lynn Jr. "Oh junior," Lynn Sr. said as he bent down on one knee and put a hand on his sporty daughter's right shoulder, "I know how much it would mean to you if all of your siblings were at your big game to cheer you on. But I'd rather that Lucy and the twins stayed here so they could recover. Also, at least one of your three oldest sisters will have to stay here to keep an eye on them."

"You can leave that to me, dad," Lori volunteered as she raised a hand, "I mean, I am literally the oldest, so I have something of a responsibility to look after my younger siblings."

"Thanks, Lori," the Loud patriarch remarked, giving his oldest child a nod of acknowledgment. Looking to his wristwatch, Lynn Sr. said, "Oh, I got to head off to work now! Have a great day, kids! And good luck with your game, Junior!" Without another word, the Loud patriarch was out the door, leaving his children to get themselves ready for school.

When the Loud sisters were all alone, Lori said, "Alright, Lynn. You, Luan and Lincoln still need to get ready for school. Gonna be a pain in the rear to drop you and Luan off at the middle school, Lincoln off at the elementary school, and Lisa off at the college."

"Yeah, I gotta get ready," Lynn admitted, "There's that big game after school. I've been training for it all weekend."

"Yeah, about that, little dude," Luna began with a look of mild disappointment on her face. The look did not go by unrecognized by the sporty Loud sibling.

"What are you on about, Luna?" Lynn asked, a suspicious look in her eyes.

"I saw that you managed to snag our bro as a work out buddy," Luna remarked as her gaze became similar to that of Lynn's, "And to be honest, from what I saw over the weekend, you looked like you were kind of having trouble telling the difference between Lincoln and a punching bag."

"What?!" Lynn nearly exclaimed out of offended shock, "I was not treating Lincoln like he was a punching bag!"

"You were, like, totes mean to Linky over the weekend, Lynn," Leni said as her and Lori's respective gazes started to become like the one Luna was aiming at Lynn. And like the musical Loud, Lori and Leni were drilling holes into Lynn with their eyes. The sporty Loud started to feel a little unnerved, what with the three oldest of the Loud kids staring her down. Leni made it especially unnerving, as she very seldom ever has such an expression.

"I was not being mean to Lincoln," Lynn retorted as she found some resolve, "In fact, he joined me because I asked him and he said yes."

"Because he totally knew you wouldn't have given him a choice in the matter, brah," Luna remarked as she arched an eyebrow.

Scoffing in an offended tone, Lynn shot back, "I so would have given him a choice!"

"No, you wouldn't have," Lori said, "Face it, Lynn. You have trouble taking no for an answer." Lori then held a hand to her chin as she shot her gaze upwards, a sign that she was considering something. "Hmm," Lori remarked aloud, "I wonder if there's enough gas in Vanzilla for me to swing in a trip to the arcade, and maybe the comic book store."

"Wait a minute," Lynn said, both her tone and expression showcasing confusion, "Why would you want to go to the arcade and comic book store? Those are places Lincoln likes going to."

"Because I was planning on taking Lincoln to those places when he gets out of school," Lori explained as she shot Lynn an accusing glare, "I figure that he deserves to have a nice day to compensate for all of the bullying that he received from you during the weekend."

"Wait, what?!" Lynn nearly exclaimed, her expression a healthy mix of shock and being offended, "I was not bullying Lincoln."

"You totally were, dude," Luna said, her casual tone carrying a somewhat stronger hint of disappointment.

"They're totes right, Lynn," Leni said to the sporty Loud sibling in the sternest tone that the fashionable Loud has ever been known to use, "You're, like, a bully."

Lynn gasped in shock, but just as quickly, she regained her nerve. "You take that back," Lynn said, her gaze narrowing somewhat.

"Leni, don't," Lori ordered near instantly when she turned her head in Leni's direction. Turning to face Lynn, Lori said, "Leni's right, Lynn."

"I am not a bully," Lynn growled, her temper just starting to spark.

"Yes, you are," Lori replied.

"No, I'm not," Lynn shot back instantly.

"You totally are, brah," Luna said.

"No, I am not," Lynn reiterated, her temper flaring a bit more as it was not only clear that the sporty Loud was trying not to blow, but was doing an atrocious job of it at best.

"You, like, totes are a bully," Leni said firmly, "The worst I've ever seen, in fact."

"I'M NOT A BULLY!" Lynn yelled.

"YES, YOU ARE A BULLY!" another voice shouted, getting the attention of Lynn and the three oldest Loud sisters. They all turned to see Lincoln, the owner of the voice who has just shouted, standing at the base of the staircase. The look on the sole Loud boy's face was not a happy one, that's for sure.

Luan was descending the stairs at the time everyone turned to face them. "Did…did I miss anything?" Luan asked nervously, a mildly lost look on her face.

"It's nothing, Luan," Lincoln said in a neutral tone. Shooting a quick look at Lynn, Lincoln turned to face Lori and said in the same tone, "I'm ready to go to school now."

The drive to Royal Woods Elementary School, which was closer than Royal Woods Middle School, was eerily silent as far as Lynn was concerned. The sporty Loud felt, for lack of a less vulgar metaphor that carries just as much impact, like shit. There are very few things in the world that Lynn Loud Jr. truly, without reservation, abhors. Meatball grinders that skimp on the meatballs. Cheating in sports.

Bullies.

Lynn absolutely hated jerks who would use their size and strength to put down others who were both smaller and physically weaker than themselves. Lynn would always, upon hearing that anyone was partaking in bullying others at RWMS, track down the offending person, pick them up, and shove them head first into a trash can, just to drive home the point that, so long as Lynn Loud Jr. was around, bullying just did not happen.

In fact, back when Lincoln was being picked on a while ago, Lynn was more than ready to go to war until Lincoln confessed that his bully was a girl. Lynn, despite being ecstatic because this obviously meant that her little brother had gotten himself a female admirer, was still more than willing to go out, find the little bitch who would dare to bully Lincoln, and rearrange said bitch's face until it was unrecognizable.

A good thing that didn't occur. Lori would have literally torn Lynn a new one.

But this is getting off the subject. Lynn did not consider herself to be a bully. If anything, the sporty Loud hunted them. Not in a literal sense, but the point remains. And yet her three oldest siblings were accusing her of bullying Lincoln, their little brother.

Their only brother.

Starring out the window, Lynn's mind wandered as she went over bits and snippets of her weekend-long training session with Lincoln. All Lynn did were exercises and practice plays with Lincoln. There was even this one strength training the two siblings did that involved throwing around tires. Nah, there was no way that Lynn had bullied Lincoln.

…Right?

"Okay, here we are," Lori said as Vanzilla pulled into the parking lot of a school, "Royal Woods Elementary School. This is your stop, Lincoln."

"Thanks for the ride," Lincoln said in the neutral tone he had been using since right before they all left for school. The tone, though not sounding malicious, still made Lynn feel upset. Hoping to at least make an effort, Lynn got her little brother's attention.

"Umm, Lincoln," Lynn began, but was cut off when the sole Loud boy held up a hand.

"I'll see you after school," Lincoln said before he closed the van door, turned around and proceeded to walk to the school building. Right when Lincoln reached the front doors of the school, Vanzilla took off for Royal Woods Middle School.

"Wow, who put a bee in Lincoln's undies?" Luan asked, a confused look on her face and her tone three parts confused, seven parts concerned.

Gently shaking her head, Lori said, "It's nothing you should concern yourself with, Luan. Just some messy business between Lincoln and Lynn."

"What happened?" Luan asked.

"Please just drop it," Lori replied, "Anywho, don't you have a gig to do afterschool?"

"Oh yeah!" Luan nearly exclaimed in an excited tone, "I've been hired to perform at the birthday party of a child whose family recently moved to Michigan from Arizona."

"Wow, talk about new frontier," Leni remarked in a casual tone (Luna was left at home to look after Lucy and the twins).

Within a few minutes, Vanzilla reached Royal Woods Middle School. "Okay, Luan and Lynn, here we are," Lori said as she pulled into the parking lot, "Lynn, your game later today after school will be a home game, right?" Seeing the sporty Loud nod in the affirmative, Lori said, "Alright, then. I'll leave Luna at home again to look after Lucy and the twins, then I'll head to the elementary school first to pick up Lincoln. We'll make a quick trip over to the college first to see if Lisa's available to come watch the game, then we'll head over to where the game's going to be at."

"Sounds like a plan," Lynn replied, her tone somewhat subdued.

Catching the bare hint of subdue in her little sister's tone but deciding not to act on it, Lori said, "Alright, we'll see you at your game."

"Come on, Lynn," Luan said as she hopped out of Vanzilla, "We don't wanna be late!"

"Yeah, alright," Lynn said as she got out of the van and followed her older sister into the middle school. It was going to be a long day for the sporty Loud, and not just because she couldn't wait for the football game.

"Yes, you are a bully."


During lunch later that day, Lynn was sitting in her school's cafeteria, dejectedly poking at her food with a plastic fork. This got the attention of the three kids sitting with Lynn, one of which being Luan. The other two were friends of Lynn's, Mitzie and Ulfric.

Mitzie, her full name Mitzie Cornwell, had moved with her family to Michigan from their home country of England. The British girl was roughly the same height as Lynn and had fair skin, blue eyes, and hair as blonde as Lynn's sister Lola's hair. Mitzie's hair was in two curly side-pigtails that almost reached halfway down her torso. Mitzie wore a white long-sleeved shirt under a light-gray sweater-vest, a plaid skirt that reached close to halfway down her legs, socks that came up to about an inch under her knees, and brown shoes. Like Lynn, Mitzie was also on the football team and would be playing.

Ulfric, his full name Ulfric Aesir, had moved with his parents to Michigan from their home in Sweden. Despite being close to Luan in terms of height, Ulfric was actually still thirteen, same as Lynn and Mitzie. He wore a light-gray long-sleeved shirt (the ends of the sleeves hung loosely around the wrists, not clinging tightly) under a somewhat baggy t-shirt that resembled the Swedish flag, loose-fitting cargo pants held up with a belt, and brown boots. Ulfric had black hair, long and somewhat wild, and he wore a necklace that had three bear claws as charms. Ulfric was also noticeably, but not excessively, strong of body (i.e. muscular). Lynn also had a crush on Ulfric; the sporty Loud sibling does not like to talk about Francisco, her ex-crush. Do not even try to bring that subject up around Lynn.

"You seem down, gov," Mitzie remarked to Lynn in a British accent that was real and not practiced like Luna's, "What's troubling you?"

Sighing in a resigned tone Lynn decided that she might as well talk to her friends. "I want to ask you guys something," Lynn began, "And I want you to be completely honest with me." Sighing once again in a resigned tone before she continued, Lynn asked, "Do you think I'm a bully?"

The confused look of Ulfric's face conveyed a mild amount of shock mixed with a generous amount of confusion, and more than a dash of worry. "That is a rather troubling thing to accuse yourself of, Lynn," Ulfric remarked, his accent bringing to mind proud and mighty warriors from a northern land of snow and cold, "What makes you see yourself in so dishonorable a light?"

"…Before I left for school this morning, my three oldest sisters accused me of bullying my little brother Lincoln over the entirety of last weekend," Lynn explained in a mildly somber tone, "I needed a work-out buddy to help me get ready for the big game later today, so I asked some of my siblings if they wanted to join me until one of them agreed. I ended up getting Lincoln."

"Yeah, sorry, sis," Luan said in a mildly apologetic tone, "I'm going to have to side with Lori, Leni and Luna on this one."

"Wot are you on about, mate?" Mitzie asked (at a near exclamation level) in an offended tone as she eyed Luan suspiciously, "Ya got the gull to accuse the poor bird of being a bully? Has your mind done a runner?"

"Lynn somehow got it in her head that doing some lucha libre with Lincoln would help her train for the game you guys have later today," the comedic Loud pointed out, her tone slowly starting to match the tone that the three oldest sisters used on Lynn earlier. Turing to face her younger sister, Luan said in a mildly suspicious tone, "Call it a hunch, but I think that all this talk about you being a bully is why you and our sisters were shouting earlier before we left for school."

Looking down at her food so that she wouldn't have to look at anyone sitting with her, Lynn went over her weekend with Lincoln in her head more thoroughly. Although close to Lynn in terms of overall size (one of the reasons why Lynn is somewhat inclined to pick Lincoln to help her), Lincoln was nowhere near Lynn's level when it came to sports. There were a few instances during the weekend, like when Lynn did the tire throwing exercise or when she and Lincoln did lucha libre, where Lincoln cried out in pain, either because Lynn accidently hit Lincoln with one of the tires, or if she got into the lucha libre a bit too much.

Lynn, in every one of those instances and others like them, told Lincoln to walk it off and get back into the game. The sporty Loud was slowly starting to realize that, because she had allowed her worry about the big game to cloud her judgment, not only was she was rougher on Lincoln during the training than she ought to have been, but that she had failed to show any concern at all for her little brother.

Her only brother.

Hitting Lincoln with stray tires. Going all out during 'deluxe' lucha libre. And all of the other things. Hell, Lynn even woke Lincoln up on Sunday with a Dutch oven! Lynn was realizing that the disapproving looks from the three oldest sisters, the accusations of being a bully, the cool neutral tone Lincoln was using earlier…was all justified.

"They're…they're right…" Lynn said in a sad tone, barely loud enough for Luan, Ulfric and Mitzie to hear. The three of them became mildly alarmed when they saw tears running down the sides of Lynn's face. "I…" the sporty Loud said, "…I am a…bully…"

"This is a troubling revelation, Lynn," Ulfric said, getting her attention, "However, there is hope for you yet."

"What do you mean, luv?" Mitzie asked, regarding her Swedish friend with a curious look.

"Lynn has just admitted to being at fault, to having a problem," Ulfric explained, "Admitting to being at fault, to having a problem, is often, if not always, the first step to making amends." Turing to face Lynn, Ulfric said, "I trust that you're interested in making amends for what you have put your younger brother through, right?"

"Totally," Lynn replied, her mood lifting just a bit, and only just.

"And I further trust that you'll make a conscious effort to refrain from bullying your younger brother, or any of your siblings for that matter, right?" Ulfric continued. Seeing Lynn nod in the affirmative, Ulfric replied as his expression relaxed somewhat, "Good. I'll trust you to keep to your word, Lynn." The sporty Loud relaxed visibly but quickly shot back to attention when Ulfric continued in a foreboding tone, "I pray that I will not hear any further talk that you have been pushing any of your siblings around in the future. Bullies are a dishonorable lot that have no place on the gridiron, or at school, or especially at home, where one is supposed to be as far from such strife as possible."

Lynn knew that Ulfric was the only person aside from herself who actively doused out any bullying going on at Royal Woods Middle School. In fact, there was this one incident where someone had attempted to bully Ulfric. Key word being attempted. It was a boy who used to be on the school's football team, but was kicked off by the coach, along with a number of other kids that were on the team, when Ulfric had exposed cheating that they were doing.

Embarrassed and wanting revenge, the boy, on his first day back at school after his suspension due to his role in the cheating, went up to Ulfric in the halls and shoved him in the back as hard as he could. The bully was not only about six inches shorter than Ulfric, but nowhere near as physically well-conditioned as the Swedish boy either; the bully was skinny whereas Ulfric was strong. Having been shoved from behind, Ulfric turned to see who was challenging him.

Things did not end all that well for the (would-be) bully.

Bully. A title that Lynn realized to her great regret could now be applied to her. "I'll keep my word," Lynn said with steeled resolve as she stood up. To her friends and Luan, Lynn said, "I swear that I will do my utmost to refrain from using any of my siblings, or anyone who doesn't deserve it for that matter, as punching bags. And if I fall back into pushing someone around, I want you guys to promise me you'll smack me back into place."

"I…wouldn't go so far as to smack you around, luv," Mitzie said, "At most, I'd get an adult who would get results and tell them that you're being a loon."

"Mitzie's right, sis," Luan agreed, "We wouldn't quote unquote 'smack you around' unless forced, although I see that you got your heart in the right place."

Smiling, Lynn said, "Heh, sorry. I just wanted to get my point across."

"There is still the matter of making amends with your younger brother," Ulfric pointed out.

"Well, me and Luan's sister Lori said that she was considering taking Lincoln to the arcade and maybe the comic book store to make up for the crappy weekend that I regretfully put him through," Lynn began, "Maybe I can-"

Lynn was cut off when a number of teachers came into the cafeteria, with two of those teachers blowing on whistles to get everyone's attention. "There's been an emergency!" one of the teachers who had blown on a whistle shouted in a commanding tone, "We need all of you to head to your next period classes right now!"

"An emergency?" Mitzie whispered to Lynn, Luan and Ulfric in a panicked tone, "What the bloody hell is going on?"

"I have no clue," Lynn replied, "But come on. We can discuss this in our Language Arts class."

"A good thing the four of us are all in the same Language Arts class, huh?" Luan remarked, "It's a real class act. Get it?"

"Emergencies are seldom ever good times for cracking jokes, Luan," Ulfric whispered as he and the girls proceeded to make their way to their Language Arts class room.


When Lynn, Luan, Mitzie and Ulfric got to their class, they noticed that all of the curtains were drawn, the lights were all out, and the little rectangular window on the classroom door that was on its end was covered completely. Furthermore, when the kids entered the classroom, they were told by their teacher to get down on the floor and not make a sound.

"Guys, I'm scared," Luan whispered to Lynn and Lynn's friends as loudly as she dared (it wasn't all that loud).

"It is important to remain calm and remember that our teachers know what they're doing," Ulfric replied to Luan at approximately the same volume as the comedic Loud sibling, "They have our best interests in mind."

"Man, the teachers are acting like a school shooting is going on or something," Lynn whispered to her group, drawing a very frightened 'eep!' out of Luan.

"I highly doubt that," Ulfric whispered to Lynn, "I didn't hear any gun fire, nor did anyone else for that matter. This is most likely a drill."

"Or the school's worried that something's going to blow," Mitzie whispered in a worried tone, drawing the attention of Lynn, Luan and Ulfric; the three of them saw that Mitzie was fiddling around with her smart phone. "There's a breaking news report that I'm looking at here, mates," Mitzie continued quietly. Shaking her head as if she thought what she was looking at can't be right, the British girl whispered, "You are not going to believe this."

The other three kids in the group all read what Mitzie had up on her smartphone; what they saw had all of them shocked, not to mention the fact that it set a particular degree of fear into Lynn and Luan's respective hearts.

BOMBING AT ROYAL WOODS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, AT LEAST TWENTY CONFIRMED DEAD

END, TEN REASONS CHAPTER ONE

Author's notes:

…Well, that's frigg'en ominous.