Chapter 1: Graduation
It's been about a month since I started my webcomic and I can finally say I'm really proud of myself for getting this far. Of course I wouldn't be here without the help from my friend, Clyde, who has been my editor for multiple projects I've done. He's been my friend for more than a decade and I'm sure we'll be friends for many more.
Originally I wanted to do a comic about superheroes like Ace Savvy but I found the genre too oversaturated with all its reboots, retcons and the various crossovers which came with it. So I wanted to switch it up and that's when I decided to make my comic a "slice of life" because it's simple and easy story-wise. There aren't any alternate dimensions or time travel involved. Characters go about their daily lives and nuances. Sure, they face the occasional drama here and there but overall it's just about regular people like you and me.
But that's not important right now. What's important is making it to my sisters high school graduation. Her name is Lucy Loud and she just turned eighteen, she's smart and loves poetry. Also, she's been going through a goth phase her whole life, which has recently toned down ever so slightly. She has excelled in all her English classes and even won a few scholarships for her outstanding essays. I'm really proud of her and I hope she likes my graduation gift. I bought her some clothes that I believe will fit with her aesthetic. To be honest I'm a little nervous about this whole endeavor. I haven't really talked to anyone in my family for nearly two months but it felt like two years. I assume nothing much has changed. I do not expect anybody is mad at me for not talking to them. We used to be so close. As you get older, your family starts to drift apart. They move away or divorce or die(luckily that isn't the case so far) we all live within a few hours of each other so it's not too bad.
I better make good memories of this, I want to be there for my family, like how they've been there for me.
I come to an abrupt stop to see the freeway jampacked and it's barely moving an inch. I pull out my phone and call my mom.
"Yes? Hello? Lincoln, where are you? Are you on your way?" she asked. I couldn't help but hear lots of chatter in the background. She must be in the lounge area of the auditorium.
"Mom, I'm running a little late but I should be there soon, when traffic starts moving. Is everybody there?" I ask.
"Yes your father is currently trying to find a parking space. Lori and Bobby plus their two kids are on their way. Other than them everybody else is here." She replies.
"That's good. Oh hey my lane is starting to move again. I think I see an accident on the side of the road from the looks of it." I tell her.
The scene had a firetruck, police officers and paramedics. Whatever happened here must have been bad, I think to myself. "Alright mom I gotta go! I'm almost off the freeway - I'll text you when I'm in the parking lot. Oh! And say thanks to Leni for helping me pick out clothes for Lucy." I tell her.
"Alright honey I will. See you soon. Love you!"
"Love you too." I end the phone call then place my phone in the cupholder. I see my exit and take it.
Almost there.
It takes me another ten minutes to reach the parking lot, luckily Lucy's class has roughly 500 students so I'll have plenty of time to find a parking spot. That is, if I can, this place is jam packed. Christ... looks like I'll have to park at the grocery store across the street, and just my luck-it looks packed too. I do not think this auditorium has adequate parking space, the parking lot itself is three football fields long. Holy hell, some students must've brought their entire extended family to this thing.
I park at the grocery store and get out, I grab Lucy's present, lock my car, adjust my shitty tie that I bought at goodwill and start walking. The street is really busy due to the influx of cars trying to get in and out of the auditorium. There seems to be a lot of people who are guiding traffic.
It took me another ten minutes of light jogging before I finally make it inside the plaza area of the auditorium. To my surprise there are bunches of people still trying to find seating. I whip out my phone and send a text to my mom, telling her that I made it and asked where she is sitting so that I can find her. She texts back that she's on the left side, row 49, seat 28. I am forced to walk in a slow line before I'm inside the beast's belly. Inside are hundreds and hundreds of seats. Of course, this place is a concert hall where shitloads of popular bands play all the time.
I'm stopped by a woman asking me for my ticket. I give it to her and she takes a glance at it, momentarily she points me in the direction of where my row is.
Soon enough, I spot my mom, and almost everybody else. My mom waves at me before giving me a big hug.
"Oh there's my handsome boy." My mom exclaims.
"I'm twenty one years old now mom I'm not a boy anymore." I tell her. She's gotten grayer hairs, and her face is getting wrinkles, plus she's put on some weight. It's common with women her age.
"Oh I know that but you'll always be my favorite son." She says.
"I'm your only son." I say.
My little sister, Lily, rushes towards me and squeezes me really tight.
"Oh Lincoln I've missed you so much!" She yells.
"Oh I've missed you too Lily. Look how much you've grown!" I exclaim.
"Do you like my dress?" Lily asks, "Leni helped pick it out for me."
She really did have a cute dress. It seems like Leni has been the go-to for fashion advice these days.
"Yes I like it very much you look really beautiful." I tell her.
She blushes.
"Alright Lily, Let your brother catch up with the rest of your sisters." My mom tells her.
"Yes mom." She says, looking slightly disappointed.
"Hello Lincoln. How are you doing thish fine evening?" Lisa asks.
Out of all my sisters, Lisa is the only one who's the least like us. She's smart, like, really smart. She was a child prodigy at the age of four. She excelled in mathematics, engineering, biology, chemistry, physics, you name it. She didn't get this from my dad, that's for sure. She might've gotten it from my mom but even my mom is nowhere near Lisa's level. I've read about how child geniuses usually fall into obscurity as they got older. How they lose their charm once they go through puberty, how everybody had such high expectations for them and how it gets harder and harder for these kids to fulfill them.
When I was younger, Lisa wasn't the easiest to get along with. She disregarded her own safety for the sake of her experiments and nobody liked being her guinea pig. But as of lately she's mellowed out. She actually has braces now. Mom told her she was trying to cure her of her lisp.
"I'm fine Lisa, it's so good to see you again. How are the braces treating you?" I ask.
"They're okay. They hurt when the orthodonisht adjushts them though." she replies.
"You'll get used to them. It took me years before they corrected my buck teeth. Remember those?" I ask her. God, those buck teeth. I got hit with one of Lynn's baseballs one summer and it chipped my tooth too, to add insult to injury.
"Heh, yeah, thoshe were the daysh." She reminisces.
"Hi Lincoln! How are you doing?" Lana Asks.
She's not wearing overalls or her hat anymore. But she's wearing a dress to my surprise. Looks like mom forced her to dress formally for once. "Hi Lana, I'm doing fine. How are you? Do you still want to be a plumber?" I ask.
"Nah, I wanna be a veterinarian now! I mean, animals, or toilets? Which one would you rather work with?" She asks rhetorically.
"Well, with animals, the ground is their toilet when you think about it." I tell her.
"True, true." She admits.
"Hi Lincoln." Lola says, not even looking at me. She's on her phone texting. Of course her dress is pink and glittery.
"Hi Lola!" I exclaim. "Who you texting?"
"My boyfriend." she says while not even lifting her eyes to meet me.
"Ooh what's his name?" I ask.
She finally looks up. "His name is Steven and he's graduating with Lucy." She tells me.
"Oh so you're into seniors huh?"
"Yeah I am. You should meet Steven, he's so dreamy."
"I bet he is."
"Yo! What's up Linc!" Lynn yells. Lynn's still got that pony tail going on. I mean, she makes it work though. She punches me in the arm. Really hard I might add.
"Ouch Lynn, Jesus, take it easy on me." I complain.
"Oh sorry Linc I just love doing that." She says with a devious smile.
"How's college softball treating you?" I ask while rubbing my shoulder.
"Oh it's been going great. My coach says I'm one of the best on her team." She says.
"That's wonderful." I say.
"How's your webcomic thing coming along?" She asks. This caught me off guard. Out of all my sisters she is the first to actually ask me about it. It never occurred to me that my family would be interested in my drawings let alone my comic.
"It's great actually. It hasn't gotten much traffic yet, I mean, these things rarely do but I hope that soon enough I'll get plenty of readers. If I do I'll be able to sell t-shirts and posters."
"So like, selling out?"
"...No! I'll be... I'll be making money out of doing what I love!" I tell her, a bit offended.
"Okay, sorry." she replies.
Jeez Lynn. She always manages to piss me off somehow.
"Hi Lincoln!" Luan said excitedly. She wasn't wearing her usual ponytail but decided to let all of her hair fall down. Luan was always the funny one. Recently she managed to go on a small tour for her stand-up routine. Her dream is to write for Saturday Night Live though. She said that a lot of successful comedians get their start on that show.
"Hi Luan, how are you? I ask.
"I'm doing fantastic! My manager is currently working on getting me to appear in movies. Just minor roles for now but hey, it's a start!" She says.
"That's wonderful Luan, I'm really proud of you." I tell her.
I really mean it. She's worked hard for it.
"Hey little bro! What's up?" Luna asks.
"Hi Lincoln." Sam waves.
"Oh hey you two. How's it going?" I asked.
Luna and Sam lived together. They were in a band called Homeless Rodeo and were currently working on their second album.
"We're still working on our LP." Luna says.
"Yeah, we rented a studio!" Sam exclaims.
"Oh wow a whole studio? I ask.
"Yup!" Luna says while nodding.
She has her arm over Sam's shoulder.
"Hi Lincy!" Yells Leni.
"Hi Leni! Hey, thanks again for helping me pick out clothes for Lucy." I say.
She's as bubbly as ever from the looks of it. She's actually a very successful fashion designer these days. "Where's your muse?" I ask.
"She's visiting family. Hey Lincoln, why's your hair always so white?" She asks.
"I get it from grandpa, you know that."
May he rest in peace.
At the end of this crazy line I call family sits Lori and Bobby. Their two kids are sitting beside her, Carlos and Ruth. Our huge family just kept getting bigger and bigger. I wave at her. She waves back.
"Hi Lincoln. Kids, you remember your uncle Lincoln?" She asks her kids.
"Hi Uncle Lincoln!" Carlos and Ruth say in unison.
"Hey kids! You can just call me uncle Linc for short if you want." I tell them.
"Hey Bobby, what's up?" I ask her husband.
"Oh hey dude. Nothing much just here for my sister in law's graduation from the looks of it." He tells me.
I get close to him and whisper in his right ear, "How's your sister doing these days?"
"She's doing okay. She misses you the most. Why'd you stop talking to her?" he whispers into my right ear.
"She stopped talking to me." I whisper back.
"Oh." He doesn't whisper that.
The lights go dim, I head over to my seat which is between Lola and Lynn. My dad finally shows up, I wave to him and he waves back. Suddenly on stage, all the students in their gowns and caps fill the chairs. I try to locate Lucy but it's really hard to see her from way up here. Wow, has it really been ten years since she was that eight-year-old who kept sneaking up on me? It's been one year since Ronnie Anne has talked to me. I definitely have to talk to her again.
Time really does fly.