Chapter 2: Vanzilla Raids Again

After school Lynn had caught up to Emmy and Margo just as they exited the school, telling them that she was going to have to bail on them. She made up an excuse about forgetting that she had karate practice, though the truth was that she just wanted to go and kick around a few bags to silence those thoughts that had crept into her mind earlier. Whenever the self doubt and issues with her physical appearance had popped into her head, sports had always managed to shut them up, it was one of the many reasons she was so obsessed with them. There was also the extra bonus of getting in a bit more training before the tournament, she wanted to make sure she was going to be able to hand Cory his own ass on a silver platter. They told her it was no sweat and that they could always catch up during the weekend. Lynn hated to bail on her friends, especially Emmy who really had not made alot of friends outside of her and Margo.

The family van, or vanzilla as the Loud family affectionately called it, pulled up in front of the Royal Woods Middle School. The old clunker lurched to a sudden stop, sending the kids already inside, crashing to the seats in front them. The old blue and white beast of a van had seen better days, those days being some where in the mid seventies of so. Once their dad got the van it was so far past it's prime that it was a wonder the damned thing was not held together with duct tape and pushed by a team of wild dogs. Yet some how, between Lana and a team of well skilled and cheap mechanics, vanzilla had manged to continue to sputter and jerk around town. As much as the kids would have loved a new van that did not try to kill them with every stop at a light or stop sign, they had a hard time tossing the van aside, as there were more memories in that thing then they could actually remember.

For a short time there was talk about Lori getting her own car, feeling that a second vehicle would be a good thing for the family. Yet the families bank account seemed to only laugh at this idea, which was a way of saying they were skirting the edges of being a broke ass family. Having eleven kids was a mighty big drain on their parents wallets, not to mention all the bills to keep the house, and of course there were those lovely mechanics that kept poor old vanzilla on life support. Many of the kids who could get jobs had done just that, Lori working as a waitress where her father worked, but only part time do to school. Leni did something to make some money, though no one was able to figure out what it was exactly. Luna also got a part time job, working at Flips, which of course paid poorly. Luan and Lana had side jobs, with the latter's Funny Business, and Lana picking up odd repair jobs here and there for all the neighbors. She had done multiple work on Mr. Grouses house. All of this had added up to still not be enough to afford a car, but they kept plugging away anyways in the hopes that soon they could get a second vehicle.

Lori was sitting in the drivers seat, having plenty of time to help her parents by picking up the kids and dropping them off as she was taking online classes from home and her part time job was mainly on the weekends. In the passenger side was of course Leni, with Luna, Sam and Luan in the seats behind them. Luan had graduated from middle school the year before, now joining her sisters in high school. Lynn was a little sad at first, as they always ate lunch together when she was there, but thankfully she had her friends to help her get through all of that. Lynn climbed in and took the next available seat, not caring too much about the sweet spot since they were not going to be in the car all that long any how. Lynn assumed that Sam was coming over to hang out and continue work on her and Luna's song out in the garage. Ever since the two decided to try and start a band they had become even more inseparable then when they were just dating.

Lynn liked Sam, as she seemed like a down to Earth kind of girl and alot of fun to hang around. She was also happy for her sister, finding someone that made he smile as much has she had since dating her. Though Lynn had to admit, it was starting to get annoying seeing them act like a couple of love sick puppies all time. It played at her nerves like a violin slowly being scratched along the strings, sending a depressing shudder throughout body. Her low self-esteem nipped at her with every kiss, hug, and hand hold. That was why she spent most of her time in the backyard kicking around Doug, her training dummy.

Lori smashed down on the pedal, making the tires smoke and scream as they burnt their marks into the pavement. The kids were all flung back with such force that Leni's white trimmed sun glasses flew off her and knocked Luna in the head, prompting Sam to kiss her forehead to make it better. Lynn just sat in her seat and chuckled to herself at her sisters misfortune. Not in a mean way, but in that way where it's always funny to see a sibling take a minor bump that did not result in any major damage.

After swerving out of the way of traffic, and nearly breaking the sound barrier on a few occasions, the van then screeched to a sudden stop again, this time in front of the Royal Woods Elementary School. Standing by the curb were Lucy, Lola, and Lana. Lisa was able to skip her class as she was giving an online lecture about her multiverse theory. The tiny genius had tried to explain it to her siblings numerous times yet eventually gave up when Lana kept joking about how the universe could not handle more then one Lola Loud. This prompted a fight that was broken up by Lori, followed by a sigh from Lucy, a joke from Luan, and song reference from Luna, and Lisa wondering if she was adopted. Although Leni did try to follow along as best she could, the young blondes intelligence appearing to improve a bit after Lisa had taken her under her wing. She still had the occasional outbreaks of simple mindedness that the family had loving dubbed "Leni moments". The girls had all piled in to the van and took their seats, they were now just waiting on Lincoln, who was still standing near the doors of the school saying goodbye to his girlfriend. Lincoln had tried to tell them time and time again that he and Kat were just friends, but none if his sisters believed him. They could all see that Kat was head over heels for Lincoln, and their brother as falling fast for his "friend".

The sisters all looked on as Lincoln hugged Kat, the girl giving him a small peck on the cheek, which burned a bright red as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head and smiled at her. Lynn was not one for the so called cute moments, but even she had to admit, it was damn cute watching her brother get all shy and awkward around girls. He walked towards the van with a wide devilish grin on his face, a grin that faded like a fart in the wind when he noticed the adoring smiles on his sisters faces.

"Awwww." The girls all gushed at their little white haired Romeo.

"Cool it you romantic vultures." Lincoln quipped.

"But you two are so cute Linky." Leni squeaked.

"Yeah lame-o, you two are soooo adorable." Lynn said in a mocking tone. "Kat and Lincoln sitting in a tree." Lynn sang.

"I will remember this when you get a boyfriend." Lincoln told her.

Lynn shut her mouth, slumping back in her seat, trying to hide the fact that her brothers comments had stung like jab from out of nowhere. She hated to let the others see her weakness, how certain things could get to her, or how those creeping thoughts had whispered hurtful things to her. She was pretty sure no one in the family was aware of the fact that she was having issues with her self-esteem, and she wanted to keep that fact a well guarded secret. It was her problem to deal with, and she would do just that. She would deal with it on her own terms.

"Alright guys, enough teasing Don Juan there." Lori said. "Mom and dad said I can take you guys out for burgers and shakes before we go home if you want. Dad is going to be late and mom had a stressful day. So we are on our own for dinner."

There was a rousing roar of cheers at the thought of greasy meat and cheese soon filling their bellies, to be followed by the cooling and creamy taste of milkshakes. Fast food was a treat to their family, with a tight budget and their parents liking the kids to eat proper, things such as junk food only came along when they were being treated or because they were just too tired to give a damn. Though with both parents working more, and the older kids trying to balance school and part times jobs, being too tired to give a damn came up alot more over the past few months.

"I need to go to the dojo and train for my competition." Lynn pointed out.

"Fine." Lori sighed. "How long is that going to take?"

"Gimme about an hour, hour and half maybe." Lynn said, shaking her hand in a "so-so" kind of manner.

"Dudes, we could hang at the mall while Lynn chops them up and chops them down." Luna suggested.

Leni's smile widened at the thought of going to the mall, she was in need of some new fabric for a few new outfits she was working on. There was also the new line of winter clothing coming out, and she had to see what the hot color for the cold season was going to be this year.

Lori simply pinched the bridge of her nose and let out another sigh. Lori had gone through many mood swings as of late. Things appeared to get better when Bobby came back from the city to visit during Halloween, but then she went right back to moping around the house in sweatpants while eating pints of ice cream and doing power marathons of Webflix shows in between her school, work, and family duties. She was starting to look more and more like a hot mess. She told her siblings it was just the stress of the long distance relationship and not getting into the schools of her choice. She assured them that the phase would pass and she would return to the same Lori they knew and loved. Luan of course added that it would be nice of the she could instead become a new nicer Lori who didn't yell and throw things as much. This, of course, made Lori yell and throw things.

"Fine, we will hang out at the mall and wait for Lynn to finish beating people up." Lori said. "Now buckle up, I want to see if we can make it before traffic gets bad."

"Uh guys, whose watching Lily?" Lincoln asked.

"Lisa." Lori stated. "I picked her up after her lecture and dropped her off at home."

"And were all just fine with the the fact that a four year old who conducts experiments on her family is watching our baby sister?" The boy asked again.

"Yeah, after the incident with the tail, mom told her she would feed Ricky to one of Lana's reptiles if she performed another experiment on her." Lori said, referring to the cockroach that Lisa had apparently wiped the mind of with one of her experiments.

"I hope she was just saying that." Leni said. "I kind of like Ricky."

Lynn thought it was odd for her older sister to suddenly grow fond of a cockroach, seeing as how spiders made her damn near wet herself in fear, even if it were just a picture of one. Arachnophobia was something that she apparently inherited from her father, who also ran around in circles and screamed like a little girl when the eight legged creatures skittered across the walls or ceiling. He, unlike Leni, had not taken a liking to the the families new pet, trying on a few occasions to exterminate the poor creature with extreme prejudice. He eventually stopped, growing tired of being out smarted by an insect that was supposed to be brain dead.

Vanzilla once again lurched forward, then jerked back as Lori slammed on the gas, sending the metal monster racing out of the parking lot amidst a cloud of dust and the lingering smell of burning rubber. The kids all jerked back in the seats as gravity pushed liked it were a bully trying to show the kids whose the boss. Once again Leni's sunglasses flew off her head and smacked the rocking teen sibling in the head, to which she received another kiss from blonde girl friend.


Hope you guys liked this chapter. I almost cut it, as it really did not need to be in the story, but I liked it too much to drop it. And if you get the reference in the title you get gold star and a big thumbs up.

Guest - The Lynn in most of these fan fics and on the show would indeed suck it up. But my Lynn wouldn't, as we would not have story then.

If your still reading, then thanks for sticking around and I hope you come back again.