Chapter 2

Lincoln was so distraught and depressed that he wanted to stay in his room all day, but he knew that would make his family members concerned. He didn't want to call unnecessary attention to himself, so by noon, he forced himself out of bed – and walked to the bathroom at the other end of the upstairs hall. Once inside, he closed and locked the door and stared at his somber face in the mirror. Lincoln looked down reluctantly pulled up his shirt – and felt more frustrated when he saw the many red, dark red, crusty, and pus-filled zits on his chest – and a few small pink ones on his stomach. He had seen his skin earlier, though, so he didn't act hysterically. He just sighed deeply as he pulled his shirt back down.

Lincoln wanted to go back to his room and wallow in his misery – but knew that he first had to have some face time with his family for a while. Lincoln then left the bathroom and went out into the upstairs hall. As he started to descend the stairs, he noticed that the downstairs was oddly quiet – not even the TV was on.

"Lincoln Loud!" snapped a voice – causing him to nearly jump. Lincoln turned his head and saw his mother, Rita, staring angrily at him from the living room.

"Yes, Mom?" Lincoln asked nervously.

"Did you not finish your Zombie Bran cereal this morning?" Rita questioned.

"Oh, yeah… I guess not." Lincoln gulped and said, "Sorry, Mom."

"If you're not going to finish your cereal, don't eat it! We can't afford to waste $4 on that unhealthy, sugary cereal. If you're not going to eat it, then we won't buy it," Rita said.

"Yes, Mom, I'm sorry," Lincoln said.

"Alright," Rita said. She then walked off to her downstairs bedroom.

Lincoln was rattled by the incident, but on the plus side, it gave him an epiphany. He had been eating that sugary Zombie Bran cereal for a long time, and he thought that he had heard that sugar could cause acne. Maybe that was his cure: abstaining from sugar. He groaned at the thought, though, since doing so would not be easy. There were so many delicious treats that he loved – and couldn't imagine parting from. Still, as bad as his acne was – and how he wished he could enjoy AQUAverse as he normally would have, he had to force himself to go on a sugar-free diet.

For now, Lincoln decided to spend some time with his sisters. He descended the stairs – and nearly ran into Leni, who came into the living room through the dining room.

"Oh, hey, Linky," Leni sweetly said with a smile. "What've you been up to?"

Lincoln shrugged. "Not much – just been reading comics," he lied. Normally, Lincoln loved Leni, but it actually pained him to see her now – knowing that she was disgusted by Bobby's bacne – and likely would be just as disgusted by his own acne. She may have been sweet to him now, but she would disown him if she knew of his own skin trouble. She almost seemed like a traitor to him since he always thought that she was one of his nicest sisters.

"Oh, okay," Leni said. "I was just going to watch some TV. Do you want to join me?"

Lincoln shrugged. "Okay, sure," he said – feigning happiness in his voice. This would give him some face time with at least one of his sisters – and would keep them from suspecting that he was bummed about anything. He also hoped that it would help him keep his mind off sugary foods. He instantly regretted thinking about them. He hadn't finished his Zombie Bran cereal, and now, he was craving sweets – yet he had to abstain to keep his acne under control.

"Focus, Lincoln, focus," he muttered to himself as Leni and he sat on the sofa. Leni kept trying to turn on the TV with the remote, but she pointed it in the wrong direction. Lincoln finally turned on the TV for her – but immediately wished that he hadn't.

"Ooh! Dessert Storm is on!" Leni said excitedly. "I wonder what Linda and Tony are going to make this time." Lincoln cringed – not wanting to know.

"Today, on Operation Dessert Storm, Linda will be making a white cake with vanilla frosting and gumdrops. Meanwhile, Tony will be making a cookie cake with rainbow, candy-coated chocolate chips," the announcer on TV said.

"Mmm…sounds delish!" Leni said – licking her lips.

Lincoln stared at the screen – his eyes as wide as saucers – and started salivating upon seeing scenes of the two contestants preparing their sweet, delicious desserts. How he wanted to eat both desserts so badly – or anything sugary for that matter. He hadn't finished breakfast – and was so tempted to go into the kitchen and pour himself another big bowl of Zombie Bran. However, Lincoln knew that he was caving in to his desire for sugar – and that he had to avoid it to help his acne. Watching Dessert Storm would only fuel his temptations.

All of a sudden, Lincoln practically jumped off the sofa and started to make a bee line for his room. Leni watched as Lincoln abruptly left the sofa for the stairs. "Hey, Lincoln, where are you going?" she asked.

Lincoln stopped halfway up the stairs – and looked downstairs at Leni. "I…uh…just remembered that there was this cool new game at the arcade that I wanted to play," Lincoln said – rubbing the back of his neck and briefly glancing to his left.

At first, Leni looked rather perplexed – but suddenly closed her eyes and smiled. "Oh okay. Have fun, Linky!" She then turned her attention back to the TV, and Lincoln finished climbing the stairs. As he walked to his room to get his housekey, bike helmet, and arcade tokens, he stared at the floor. Leni was so nice – and such a great sister to him. He hated lying to her about the non-existent new arcade game. Lincoln felt that he didn't deserve a sister as nice as her, but then again, Leni wouldn't be nice to him if she knew about the horrific, disgusting pustules that had cropped up on his back and chest. He almost felt like bottling himself in his room again, but he already told Leni that he was going to the arcade. At least now he could wallow in his misery away from the house – and still have an "alibi" without looking suspicious. Better yet, maybe playing some games at the arcade would actually make him feel better. Once in his room, Lincoln grabbed his housekey, helmet, and tokens – and then headed back downstairs. Lincoln hadn't realized that his craving for sweets was dissipating – until he heard the TV again.

"Just look at the icing on Tony's cookie cake! It looks just as sweet as the frosting on Linda's white cake! I can't say whose dessert looks more appetizing at this point," commented the announcer on TV.

Lincoln silently yelped as he galloped down the stairs and nearly slammed the door on his way out – catching Leni's attention and making her raise an eyebrow. Meanwhile, outside, Lincoln's empty stomach was growling. His tongue longed for the sweet taste of sugary foods, and his stomach practically begged to be filled with it. Lincoln salivated – but instead breathed in the smell of Mr. Grouse's freshly-cut lawn – thankfully distracting him. Lincoln went down the porch steps, put on his helmet, hopped on his bike, and rode to Gus' Games and Grub – the local arcade and food joint.

Once at Gus' Games and Grub, Lincoln parked his bike and took off his helmet. He stood in front of the entrance, closed his eyes, and took in a deep breath – but was surprised to not smell the usual delicious scent of hot dogs and burgers cooking. Lincoln was rather surprised but shrugged and went inside the arcade. As usual, it was paradise. Dozens of arcade booths lined the walls, and lots of electronic chirping and buzzing filled the air – as well as bells ringing and various musical tunes playing. The arcade was even cooler at night – when the video arcade flashing screens and neon lights would dimly illuminate the otherwise dark arcade. However, the arcade was nice in the daytime, too, since bright sunlight shone through the many windows, and one could see the walls with its vintage '70s red, orange, yellow, and green angled stripes.

Not knowing what game to play first, Lincoln walked around and looked at some of the various games before finally settling on a car-racing game. Lincoln sat in the driver's seat. His tokens clinked as he deposited them into the appropriate slot, and then pressed a few buttons on the dashboard to get his game started – turning off the attract mode. In no time, Lincoln found himself racing among other cars – rapidly shifting gears and mashing pedals – blazing along winding roads on a faraway planet – all with a fast-paced electronic music playing in the background. Lincoln was so immersed in this virtual world that he had completely forgotten about everything that stressed him that morning.

A few hours had passed, and Lincoln had played all sorts of games – from racing games to pinball games to skeeball games to claw machines to Dance Dance Revolution. Lincoln was so immersed in the games and had become so happy that he had a smile plastered on his face – that is, until he realized that he had only one token left. Lincoln shrugged. He had killed enough time and won plenty of tickets, so he couldn't complain.

Lincoln then felt his stomach rumbling – realizing that he had barely eaten all day, so he went to the snack bar – only to find that it was closed for repairs. Dejected, Lincoln walked around the arcade to look for one more game to play with his last token. He had already played a number of games – while some he wasn't interested in.

Suddenly, a bright, glowing cabinet – somewhat obscured by a basketball game – and standing in the back corner of the arcade – caught the corner of Lincoln's right eye. Lincoln turned his full attention to the glass cabinet – lined with red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and pink neon lights. The cabinet also had translucent panels – illuminated with colorful buttons, chaser lights, and images of fruits. This was a candy-pusher game, and inside were hundreds of wrapped pieces of fruity candy. Lincoln stared agape at all the colorful pieces of hard candy inside the game. His mouth watered, and his stomach tingled. He almost inserted his last token into the game – until he remembered his horrible acne – the pink, red, and dark red pus-filled and crusty zits all over his back, chest, and stomach. Lincoln whimpered as his mouth watered at the delicious fruity candies that sparkled like jewels in a treasure chest. He briefly shut his eyes, turned around, and hurried out of the arcade. He had to avoid any temptation to eat sweets.

Once outside, Lincoln felt a lot less craving for sweets, and he heaved a sigh of relief. He then put on his helmet, got on his bike, and rode home.

After arriving back home, Lincoln leaned his bike against the front porch, took off his bike helmet, went up the porch steps, and walked inside the house. Oddly enough, things seemed quiet downstairs, and nobody was in the living room.

"THINK FAST!" shouted a voice from Lincoln's right. Lincoln started to turn right before he felt a ball slam into his face. Lincoln was briefly disoriented but then saw a basketball near him on the floor. He looked up and, not surprisingly, Lynn stood in the dining room – grinning sheepishly.

"Oops. Sorry, Lincoln," Lynn apologized.

"It's all right," Lincoln snorted. He knew that Lynn didn't mean any harm, but getting suddenly hit in the face with a ball was so infuriating. He wished that Lynn had given him more time to react. In any case, his face was now burning and stinging, so he went to the kitchen, got an ice pack from the refrigerator, and went up to his room. Lincoln then lay on his bed and put the soothing, cool ice pack on his face.

Lincoln stayed in his room for a few hours – applying and removing his ice pack as needed, listening to music on his phone, and reading some Ace Savvy comics. He apparently hadn't realized how much time had passed because his eyes popped open in shock when he heard his father, Lynn Sr., call out, "DINNER'S READY!" Lincoln sat up and felt the emptiness in his stomach. His stomach felt like a vacuum – wanting to eat something – anything. As Lincoln got off his bed, he heard the stampede of his sisters – both upstairs and downstairs. Lincoln went downstairs, put the ice pack back in the refrigerator, and joined his twelve other relatives at the dining room table.

"Hey there, bro! Haven't seen much of you today," Luna said – smiling at Lincoln from across the table. A few of Lincoln's other sisters mumbled in agreement.

"Linky was at the arcade playing a new video game," Leni said. She then turned to him with a smile. "By the way, Lincoln, Tony won this time. I wish we could have had some of his cookie cake. It looked really good!" Lincoln gulped and started salivating.

Then, Lynn Sr. entered the dining room. "Okay, gang, to celebrate the start of summer, for dessert, we're all going to have…ICE CREAM!" He then showed the family a few open tubs of ice cream as everyone, except Lincoln, chattered in excitement. Lincoln stared longingly at the buckets of vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, chocolate chip, and cherry ice cream. It all looked so cold, yet sweet. His eyes fixated on it, and he almost started drooling. Lincoln hadn't eaten anything all day, and he felt disappointed in himself. He wanted to avoid sweet and sugary foods to help his acne, but it was all so delicious that he just couldn't help himself. The cakes, the candies, the ice cream – he loved these foods so much that he just couldn't do without them – not to mention that Lincoln had barely eaten all day. He had to eat something…NOW. Lincoln got up and started to reach for one of the tubs of ice cream – before Lynn Sr. recoiled. "Whoa, Lincoln, hold up – this is for AFTER dinner!"

"Then what ARE we having for dinner, Pop-Star?" Luna asked.

"Well, I know you guys are tired of having goulash all the time, so since today's the first day of summer, I decided to treat us something we rarely have but all love…PIZZA!"

Immediately, everyone burst into cheers. Lana and Lola even jumped out of their chairs and danced around the table – eliciting some laughter from the others. Lincoln himself perked up – and found himself salivating at something other than sweets for once. Shortly after the announcement, the doorbell rang, and Lynn Sr. went to answer the door. The others' faces lit up more when the smell of hot pepperoni pizzas wafted into the dining room. Shortly after, Lynn Sr. brought the pizza boxes into the kitchen and set them on the table – only to be trampled on by the others, who eagerly grabbed their shares of pizza before going back to the dining room. Lincoln himself had gotten five slices of pizza, which was more than he usually ate – even on the rare occasions that the Louds did have pizza for dinner. At last, his stomach was no longer a vacuum – no longer desperate for food. Lincoln's tongue was satisfied by the delicious pepperoni and hot, gooey cheese. By the time he was finished, he didn't even want ice cream – or any other sweets. Lincoln smiled widely. Maybe he could cut sugar from his diet after all. All he had to do was keep a full stomach.

After the family members had finished their pizzas, they went to the kitchen to get ice cream. Lincoln, however, declined to get any, which made the others' eyes bulge and look at each other in shock. Lincoln almost never turned down any ice cream. He worried a little that he was calling attention to himself, but he didn't care as long as his acne went away. With a smile on his face, he proudly went up the stairs and went to his room. Lincoln spent the rest of the day watching ARGGH! DVDs on his laptop.

When bedtime came, Lincoln changed into his orange pajamas – avoiding looking at his chest and stomach as usual, turned off the lights, and got into bed – hugging Bun-Bun. "Well, Bun-Bun, it looks like I might be able to do without sugar after all. And since I've been eating it all the time that I've had acne, I might finally be able to get rid of it once and for all! And I might be able to enjoy AQUAverse after all! Maybe things won't be so bad after all." Shortly afterwards, Lincoln went to sleep with a smile on his face.