Forced Staycation

And just like that, I dawdled into another fandom to write for!

Yeah, after years of writing for only one fandom, I figured it was time for some expansion, or at least something else and that something else turned out to be The Loud House; wow, it's one of those shows that you hit yourself on your head for for not getting invested in earlier! It has already given me so much story ideas, some of which I certainly hope to post soon.

So yeah, this is my first Loud House fic, and I hope I'll do everything justice. And if I don't, feel free to leave a review or shoot me a PM!

Go read away, and leave a review if you like!

Chapter 1: Bad Graces

How much longer anymore?

Classes at Royal Woods High became harder to bear for Luna Loud as the day went on. The tedium; the stuffy rooms; teachers droning on and the endless stream of schoolwork numbed her normally virtuosic soul. She just finished hopefully the last of today's many tests which so happened to be her least favorite subject; history. She anxiously waited to be allowed to go home; her fingers itched to strum some guitar strings and to contain her urge for a musical fix, began to rap on her desk.

''Miss Loud, would you please stop doing that?'' her teacher Mr. Crespo requested, not needing to look up from his papers to know who was tapping on their desk.

Lovely, were they really trying to drive Luna insane or what? Sitting still and remaining quiet were not her strong suits.

Fortunately, today's torture didn't last much longer. The clock that has been going agonizingly slow for her. But there was an end to everything and it finally struck three, immediately followed by the liberating ring of the bell. Its shrill chime has never sounded so sweet.

It was official: Luna had endured another arduous day at school, only a little more than a month to go before summer vacation and a family road trip she looked forward to a lot. She quickly gathered her papers and headed out to leave… but Mr. Crespo needed her to stay a little longer.

''Luna? Can I talk to you for a minute?'' He requested.

Luna breathed quietly but bitterly. She really wanted to follow the rest of the class out to freedom after such a grueling day and having to spend much longer in here was the exact opposite of that, but she knew she couldn't decline. ''Sure. What's up Mr. K?''

''It's Mr. C.'' Mr. Crespo corrected her before handing Luna the test she just made, and to her faint annoyance saw that her teacher had given her a D. Her parents weren't going to be happy if they found out. ''Luna, I've noticed that your grades have been falling lately and it concerns me. The school year is ending soon and you're averaging a D- for history.''

''History has never been my strong suit, dude. It all sounds the same to me.''

''Yes, but you only have little time left and if you don't improve and the consequences are harsh. You risk having to go through extra classes or even being held back.'' Mr. Crespo warned Luna, whose lack of interest was on clear display. ''If you wish, you can get some extra tutoring.'' He nonetheless offered.

Luna quietly scoffed at the suggestion. ''That won't be needed teach. I got it all under control.''

Mr. Crespo was not very reassured. ''Luna, I'm leaving this responsibility to you because I'm confident you can deal with it, but please do consider supplemental training to avoid trouble.''

''Don't worry Mr. C I'll get to homework first thing when I get home!'' Luna promised as she was almost in the hallway already. Her teacher still didn't really believe her, but he wanted to leave Luna to her own devices.

Extra classes… like Luna could bear to be at school even more. At the same time she knew she should heed Mr. Crespo's warning. But she had enough of this for today and school work could wait. The first thing she needed now was to unwind with some rock music; her biggest passion in life. Luna dreamt of becoming a great rock star, one so great that she'd bring rock music back to the mainstream. Luna almost broke through not too long ago in America's Next Hitmaker, but then she was demanded to be something she wasn't. It was a sign that her dream wasn't impossible, she just needed to practice as much as she could and then one day she absolutely would make it big.

The weeks passed quickly. Summer officially reared its head and made its presence known by treating the town to a few early days of unusually hot weather. It made school all the more difficult; because it was a bitter reminder as to how close summer vacation was and worse, the heat made the schoolrooms even mustier. But Luna endured it all as well as all the tests she needed to do, strengthened by her daily fix of music, an awkward date and the prospect of a family vacation awaiting at the end of the line.

The Loud family vacations were always fun to begin with. She loved her parents, her nine sisters and sole brother dearly and having a good time with them was always well worth a long ride tightly packed in a car that was a danger to itself and others. But this year was special, on their road trip through the eastern United States they were finally going to a place she had dreamed of visiting for a long time; Graceland, the estate of the great Elvis Presley. Mick Swagger would always be her number one, but visiting this landmark, the home of the King Of Rock And Roll was like going on a pilgrimage to Luna she had to take. She was so excited, she couldn't help but hum to herself as Mr. Crespo gave his end-of-the-year lecture to the class.

''I've got reason to believe we'll both will be received in-''

''Miss Loud…'' was all Mr. Crespo needed to say for Luna to understand the remainder of his unspoken request. He resumed his lecture as Luna watched the clock count down for one last time. Once the buzzer rang, the students either cheered or breathed a sigh of relief; summer vacation had finally started, and they were finally free from the burdens of school… for the coming six to eight weeks.

Luna wasted no time collecting her belongings and shot up from her desk, ready to dart off. ''Have a rockin' summer, dudes!''

''Just a minute, Miss Loud.'' Mr. Crespo halted her departure, noticeably sterner than he was earlier.

''What's up Mr. K?'' Luna asked, taken by surprise and reporting to her teacher's desk as the other students slowly but surely left.

''A month ago, you assured me that your grades would climb again, but they didn't. Which means that your mark for history is not good enough to advance.'' Mr. Crespo explained grimly. Luna was not yet fully aware of the catastrophic scenarios haunting her. ''I have to say I'm disappointed in you, Luna. You promised me improvement but you didn't seem to have applied yourself at all. Luckily, this school is lenient with failing grades. We'll provide remedial classes for-''

''Aw man, summer school?'' Luna whined, properly interpreting her teacher's words into what it boiled down to and it was the worst thing that could happen to her.

''Yes, but not for the entire summer, only a few weeks. However, there'll be a final test on the last day; the nineteenth.''

''On the nineteenth?'' Luna repeated, most of her worries all but evaporating, and doing so completely when her teacher confirmed it with a nod.

''Here is a list with dates and times for the extra classes.'' Mr. Crespo said, handing Luna a schedule. ''Do attend them, Luna; you'll need a B to pass. If you score anything lower than that, you'll have to redo this year!'' He warned her once more, not needing to be remembered how active she responded to his last caution.

Luna briefly read the schedule, nodded and quietly walked out of the class room, speeding through the now empty halls to meet up with her other sisters attending high school. No way was she going to those classes; she had better things to do the coming weeks. Luna wasn't concerned at all. It wasn't good news that she was at risk of flunking history. It would be of no use to keep this quiet, her parents were probably informed already, but there was no reason for alarm. The nineteenth of July is the day after they plan to come home from their vacation, so that wouldn't be a problem and she could learn for the test while they were on the road. And besides she didn't need to attend any extra classes with some tutoring from her little sister genius Lisa. Nothing bad came from this and it was all going to work out!

When Luna exited the building, everyone had long left except for her sisters, who waited on the parking lot at their family's trusty jalopy Vanzilla, standing or sitting in or around the vehicle.

Lori looked up from her smartphone, a rare feat, when Luna approached. ''What kept you? We have the others to pick up as well!''

Luna jumped into the back and buckled up. ''Mr. Crespo kept holding me up with his lectures.''

''Ugh, don't get me started. He is literally the most annoying teacher. His classes are so boring.'' Lori agreed before she turned the ignition on.

''By the time he's done, you're a part of history! Hahahaha! Get it?'' Luan quipped, which was met with the usual lukewarm response.

''Finally, we're officially done with school. I could use some vacay.'' Lori grumbled as they went on their way to pick up their younger siblings.

''I got my bags packed!'' Luna cheered, her anticipation being well-known with her sisters.

''I'm happy we're getting out of town. I've checked the weather forecast and it's going to be hot in Royal Woods, like, really hot!'' Lori explained before she breathed a quiet chuckle. ''Imagine having to sit in school with that heat! It's almost unbearable now!''

Lori drove the family minivan onto the driveway of the Loud residence, passing by their neighbor Mr. Grouse. He was dressed in a Hawaii shirt and carrying suitcases; he was obviously going on a holiday like the Louds were. Once the car came to a stop, most of the ten siblings stormed out and ran for, and all but ran down as well, the front door.

''Thank you dad for doing this on such short notice!'' The Loud children could hear their mother say over the telephone, hanging up just as they entered and greeted their parents.

''Hey mom!''

''Hi hi!''

''What's up?''

''Hello children…'' Their mother greeted them back. But unlike her usual warm and cheerful demeanor, her children noticed that lingering condemning undertone. She and her husband appeared to them with a piercing glare, leaving their children nervous and confused. They exchanged looks to find out who was meant to be the target of their parents' wrath, if they all weren't.

''Luna, is there something you have to tell us?'' Their father asked. Immediately, the other children cleared out a straight line between Luna and her parents. Luna was almost certain what they were after, she just had to bring it as delicately as possible.

''Yeah…'' Luna said in a sheepishly elongated fashion. ''I may've slipped up with my history up a little.''

''Really? A little? Her mother repeated with a skeptical eyebrow. ''Luna, your teacher called and you have an F; you slipped up very much!'' Her mother summed up, wrapped up in a rebuke.

''History is hard! It always has been!''

''But your teacher offered you extra classes, which you denied.'' Her mother pointed out, getting increasingly sterner. ''We wouldn't be angry if you really struggled with it, but to us it seems like you didn't really put in any effort!''

''I did!'' Luna rejected, a little too vehemently to be believable, before she turned to her siblings, on whom she could always fall back during situations like these. ''Dudes? You know I did my homework, right?''

But her sisters and brother didn't say or do anything. As per usual when someone was being told down by this magnitude, the others had up to this point wisely decided to remain spectators. Luna was shocked, confused and started sweating; she was on her own against her parents.

''Well, if I ever claimed to be wise; it surely meant that I didn't know!'' She reasoned, her mother's scolding making a very anxious feeling creep on to her that this wasn't going to end as well as she imagined.

''Luna, your father and I expect you to take your education very seriously and you just throw it away! Now you have to take another test and if you don't score well enough, you flunk and have to redo an entire, year!'' Her mother almost shouted at Luna.

Spooked by her mother's raised voice, Luna winced a little. ''Okay, I'm in trouble!'' She quickly admitted, making a few soothing gestures even if she didn't say it with full sincerity. ''I need to study a lot to catch up, but I've got a good idea for that! I can study for the test while we're on the road! And Lisa is smart, she can tutor me a bit too!'' Luna offered, hoping for success while Lisa crossed her arms and scoffed at being made a volunteer.

''And what if circumstances make it that we're back home too late and you miss your test?'' Her mother inquired.

Luna remained awkwardly quiet and her mother's conundrum remained unanswered. Granted, her plan sounded a lot more thought-out and charismatic in her mind, but Luna saw clearly that her parents were not impressed with it at all. She turned her head in the direction of her siblings, her expression dire as was her need for their support. ''Dudes?''

Her father shook her head and breathed a sigh. ''Lunes, we know how much you wanted to go on this trip. But your mother and I have decided that as punishment, you are not allowed to go on vacation with us.'' He calmly but strictly announced. The other Loud siblings froze up in horror, but Luna herself remained unusually unphased, as if her mind didn't copy.

''Heh, good joke pop-star!'' Luna remarked, followed by a short chuckle until her expression gradually grew more dejected and her chuckling quieted down. ''Unless, you, aren't…''

''I'm not joking, Luna.'' Her father confirmed with a frown.

In the seconds of silence that followed, the graveness of her situation dawned on Luna and it hit her like a bat to the back of her head. All this time she has been excited for nothing. She withstood everything only to be taken out of the race right before the finish line. The realization that she wasn't in fact going to her beloved Graceland, a Mecca to her, was too much for Luna, and she fell on her knees.

''No. NO!'' She screamed in agony as she crawled up to her mother's feet, fighting her anger; her grief; and her tears. ''You can't do this to me! I've waited so long! I've behaved myself like I promised!''

''But keeping your grades up is part of that good behavior. You didn't keep that up, and now you have to stay in Royal Woods and go to summer school.'' Her mother lectured Luna. The mention of that dreaded program alone made the Loud children gasp once more.

''Did she say the S.S-word?'' Lana shuddered.

''There's nothing worse with those letters than that!'' Leni anxiously creaked.

''I beg to differ.'' Lisa flatly disagreed.

''Please let me join! I'll do everything! I'll even do everyone's chores for the rest of the year!'' She begged, clasping her hands and shaking them in her parents' direction. Luna didn't care anymore for her self-respect, she just wanted to hear them say yes at all costs.

The grins forming on the children's faces showed that the offer Luna proposed was met with generous interest, but their curiosity was dashed by their father holding his hand out to them.

''No.'' Their father resolutely denied, but Luna didn't even hear him. All she was focused on was how her siblings weren't coming to her aid, they only looked on. She'd always have their backs, happily so, but why didn't they have hers now? That... betrayal in her trust stung badly, almost worse than this rude awakening to a perfect dream.

Even with everything said and done, her mother sympathized with her thirdborn daughter's despair; her excitement had gained an infamous reputation over the months. She had to be rigid, but could afford to put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

''We're sorry dear, but you need-''

''No! You're not sorry! This is all a cruel joke!'' Luna spat. She shot up and showed her face, red with anger and tears of fury pouring out of her eyes, to her mother. She didn't want her sympathy after being punished; it felt like another insult. She only wanted to not be treated to all of this. ''You rile me up for months and then tell me I have to stay at home the day before we leave!''

''Luna, I really do not like that tone!'' Her mother warned her; the pity she had for her draining quickly.

''I'd rather take all of Luan's pranks on April Fools than have this happen to me! Kin'ell'!'' Luna continued raging as she kicked the carpet in a huff. The cussing was the final nail for her parents.

''That's it! Go to your room Luna!'' Her father commanded, pointing up to the stairs. Luna shot him a dark frown, but obliged and stomped up the stairs.

Later, Luna sat on her bed, breathing heavily. She was crunching her pillow to contain her anger and keep herself from unleashing her anger on her other, more fragile belongings. Being punished this hard because she only had a bad mark for history! She knew all the history she needed to know for her career of choice; legendary concerts and other important events. Why study things that happened in the past? How was it going to help her when she was going to be a rock legend someday? As she got lost in her own profanity-laden thoughts, someone knocked on her bedroom door.

''Get lost!'' Luna roared. Whoever knocked opened the door nonetheless, to Luna's understandable frustration.

''Peace! I've brought you some dinner.'' Leni carefully announced, bringing her next-youngest sister a plate of steak. Upon this declaraction, Luna inched closer. "Bone up the teeth!" She cheerfully said when Luna took the meal.

Luna appreciated her sister bringing her some food, but it wasn't significant enough to let her anger simmer down. In fact, seeing her sister made Luna grow the need to have a good word with all of them.

''Get the others together. Now!''

It didn't take long for Leni to summon the others and amass in her and Lori's room for their sibling meeting as per usual. Even Lily was brought along, who should not yet be really aware of what was going on.

''I hereby declare this-''

But before Lori could officially start the meeting, Luna took center stage and interrupted her. ''Okay dudes, what the hell?'' Luna started; in the bluntest, most straightforward way possible.

''Luna! Language! There are children here!'' Leni calmly rebuked her, covering up Lisa's ears.

''My vocabulary is already familiar with these terms…''

'I'm getting torn apart by mom and dad and you just stand there and watch!'' Luna continued, all but ignoring them.

''Luna, we feel really bad for you but what could we do?'' Lincoln wondered.

''Just anything! When you told me you were drowning, I would always lend a hand! But you just left me to sink to the bottom!''

''It's not nice to say Luna, but Lincoln is right; mom and dad's words are final and there was nothing we could do for you.'' Lori solemnly explained. Most of the others nodded their heads in agreement.

Luna gritted her teeth. This conclusion was a very unsatisfying one for her, and she slowly lost her ability to reason with her anger flaring up even more intensely. ''Come on, what a bloody cheap excuse to hide behind! What happened to Loud 'Till I Die? You all know how much I wanted this, and you let me down when I needed your support the most!'' She growled, in turn making her siblings quickly growing annoyed with her inability to give it a rest.

Lisa approached Luna and stuck up a finger. "Us supporting you is irrelevant. You did not invest in your assignments. You did not ask for anyone's help and even rejected classes you were offered. Ergo, If you did any of that, you wouldn't be in this situation in the first place.'' She concluded, hoping that Luna would finally understand and give it a rest. The others agreed was with a firm nod; a clearer statement that they were not on Luna's side was not possible.

Luna flinched, did she hear this correctly?

''So you're saying it's my fault that you left me hanging?'' Luna asked.

''...Yes.'' Lisa plainly answered. By now, the others were very irritated with Luna for either not wanting to understand the point or legitimately not getting it.

''I've heard you shout 'It's going to be awesome dudes' or 'I can't wait dudes' iover and over again but I've never seen you do anything for school.'' Lola added, putting up a poor English accent to spite Luna, which coupled with Lola's overall bratty delivery only served to even worsen her mood and her faith in her siblings reached new lows.

''The only thing you really did was making it harder for us to focus on our own homework.'' Lynn added.

''Shut up, Gremlin! You needed Lisa's tutoring to make good grades!'' Luna vilely spat at Lynn, having been badly aggravated by Lola. Lynn did no appreciate being called that at all.

''But unlike you, Lynn did get those good grades.'' Lisa countered, standing up for her student, but the already volatile mood was escalating further when Lynn, who wasn't known for her emotional self-control, lunged towards Luna with her fist drawn and it only took the timely intervention of the other older sisters to keep them from engaging in a full-on fight.

''Luna, you need to stop this! Accept that you've messed up! You're literally acting even less mature than Lily!'' Lori chided her as she held the renegade sister in a lock.

''Poo-poo!'' Lily agreed, crossing her arms and frowning.

Luna forcibly broke free of Lori's hold and watched her siblings. Fine, she'd stop; but on her terms.

''You know what dudes? Up yours! All of you!'' Luna grumbled, sticking up her index and middle finger and turned the back of her hand to her siblings. They, except for Leni, gasped before Luna left; she had nothing left to say.

''What? What's wrong?'' Leni naively wondered, confused by the shock. ''She only wants to make peace!''

''That wasn't a peace sign Leni, Luna flipped us off the British way.'' Luan pointed out.

''Ohmigosh! So rude!''

''So what do we do with Luna now? I think she'll stay mad for a while.'' Lincoln predicted.

''When she has no one but herself to blame.'' Lucy remarked.

''It's good that she's going back to school, because she's got a lot to learn! Hahahaha!''

''Not now Luan.'' Lori said calmly, but not any less annoyed.

''I don't have to take her chewing us out for her own mistakes!'' Lola snarled as she angrily crossed her arms.

''Agreed. It was so uncalled for her to fly off the handle against us!'' Lori allowed herself to vent her frustration before she returned to a more diplomatic mood with a brief cough. ''But we'll leave tomorrow and that she can't come is punishment enough for Luna. Just don't provoke her and put up with it until we're gone or she apologizes.'' Lori suggested with the others murmuring in agreement, which was made official by a hit from Lori's shoe on the side table.

Unbeknownst to them, Luna listened on from the other side of the door and scoffed. Never was she going to apologize to her sisters. Why should she in the first place? Luna didn't let anyone down, unlike them. Let them stick that apology in places where the sun doesn't shine, Luna heard enough and went to bed so she could finally end this day that started so well, but ended equally awful.

Luna had tucked herself in when Luan entered their room not too much later, dressed to go to sleep as well. She didn't know if her anger had simmered or if her drowsiness mellowed her out but she didn't want to end this day on a completely sour note.

''Night'.'' Luna mumbled. But Luan remained silent as she agreed to do and even did her best to show that she ignored Luna until she climbed into her own bed.

''So you're really going to play it like that, huh dude? Fine.'' Luna grumbled before she twisted onto her other side. She was mad for everything but she actually started to feel happy that she'd be separated from her siblings and have the house all for herself for the coming days.

As with Luna in the actual show, she makes the occasional musical reference. She does here too. There are three. Have fun finding them!

About her, if you find Luna to be acting pretty out-of-character with her anger, I understand. But I wouldn't have written this if she didn't show anything like this on the show, which she occasionally did. Of top of that, do remember that the sense of betrayal fuels her anger and that she has been denied something that she had wanted for a long time at the last moment as well, which I can assure you is something that can really make your blood boil!

Now, I hope you've enjoyed my first foray into the Loud House fandom, and let's see if this story will be a success! I hope to upload the next chapter soon!

:D,

L.W. (A name that might change soon)