After such an outrageous night, the next day comes normal as usual. Autumn arrives like a soothing breeze. Leaves scatter around the Royal Woods vicinity. And most are preparing for the upcoming Halloween celebrations, or just excited for the next Halloween movie to come out.
But the Lincoln gang just cannot get enough from Lincoln's confession last tonight. They even take this topic during reading class.
"Alright class, let us all turn to page 143," Ms. Johnson instructs the class. But Clyde, Rusty, Liam and Zack cannot stop giggling from the teasing and the unintentional wording from their teacher.
"Guys, be cool," Lincoln whispers to them insistently.
"Okay boys, what's with the laughing? Did we miss something from your chats?" Ms. Johnson derisively asks.
"Nothing, Ms. J," Rusty replies, "I think Lincoln would love to read that 'page' of the book."
"Rusty!" Lincoln scolds at him.
But whether or not is this teasing, Ms. Johnson finds this amusing. "Really? Alright, Lincoln, step forward and read our poem of the day."
Hearing this, Lincoln proceeds nervously with a gulp on his throat.
"Just be cool, buddy," Clyde whisperingly advises him.
"I am trying," Lincoln replies from the teasing from the boys. As he steps to the front, the 11-year-old flips his book to that page to see this age-old poem:
The rose is red, the violet's blue,
The honey's sweet, and so are you.
Thou are my love and I am thine;
I drew thee to my Valentine:
The lot was cast and then I drew,
And Fortune said it shou'd be you.
However, the 11-year-old gets baffled at himself for reading a timely poem. He expresses his thoughts to the readers, "Why does this part have to be so timely? This already a tired story cliché."
Throughout reading that poem, the whole class notices Lincoln's face getting redder, realizing that he feels touched by the love poem. This prompts for the boys (except a little bit from Clyde) to snigger at him, followed by his class.
"I think Lincoln has his cheeks redder like a rose!" one classmate teases him, making him try to cover up his blooming redness.
"It's a love poem! What do you expect?!" Lincoln defends himself.
But thankfully, Ms. Johnson takes over the situation. "Okay class, we had our share of laughs. Let's not take this out of context." She then tells Lincoln, "Thank you Lincoln for reading that page for us."
As Lincoln goes back to his seat, the boys continue to chuckle at him, "Yeah…page…contrived…"
Later, during lunchtime, the boys continue to laugh over that simple incident. It is a good relief that Lincoln has grown patience over their antics.
"Hey guys, do you know who my favorite wrestler is?" Rusty asks them a joke, "Paige!" With that, he, Liam and Zack laugh over it, while Clyde let out a little chuckle.
Then, Liam doubles it down with the joking, "Yeah, too bad. If she's in a supermarket, and somebody's looking for her, they might say, 'Paging for Paige'." The boys laugh a little bit more, if not too much.
Finally, Zack contributes to the jokes, "Well, she could have used her 'page' to do all the shopping for him." And at the final blow, the boys holler loud that even Clyde cannot hold his breath from laughing.
It is then that Lincoln cannot hold his patience from his pals nearly exposing the name of his new crush. With that, Lincoln holds his breath to rid the anger and pleads to them, "Guys, please! I told you so!"
"Sorry Lincoln, we can't help with you in this page-turner," Rusty says, trying to hold back his laughing.
Clyde, however, notices Lincoln's compunction of his confession. "Guys, Lincoln's serious. We have to lay low. His secret is on us. So, he's counting on us." He then apologizes to Lincoln, "We're sorry, buddy. We promise we'll stay cool from now on."
Lincoln is happy at that statement.
But Zack is having trouble figuring out Lincoln's sudden switch. "But I don't get it, Lincoln. You said you like Ronnie Anne last time, even though she moved out of Royal Woods."
"She is. I still like her. I mean we're still friends," Lincoln explains.
"But what made you switch to Paige? And what is with Paige that you liked her now?" Rusty asks validly.
"It was…a long story," Lincoln replies hesitantly. "But…she was…a good friend."
But Clyde is able to support him, "We met her in Gus' Games and Grub. She tried out Dance Dance Battle, and boy, she was good! And right up, ladies' man Lincoln here challenged her, and boom! She clicked."
But Lincoln interrupts him, not wanting anymore awkwardness, "Okay, thanks there, buddy. That's too much already what they need to know."
"That's it? I thought there would be some of your moves. You know, how did you show interest in her? Or did you ever ask her out? Or talk to her?" Liam nitpicks.
"Or if you took her for a walk in the park and maybe have cotton candy and get yourselves cavities…" Rusty assumes, though the others are stumped by his choice of words. "What? It could be…"
"I just like her. That's it!" Lincoln clarifies, "Just a normal, simple crush. It's not that Paige could be anything to me other than a friend."
Suddenly, someone overhears their talk from behind. It is Girl Jordan. "Wait, Lincoln, do you like Girl Jordan?"
"No!" Lincoln denies, "I mean she is a good friend. But that doesn't mean I 'like' her that way. You know?" That is the way he tries his best to hide his admiration for Paige.
No wonder Girl Jordan is not that convinced. "Well, soothe yourself. But I have to remind that we have a haunted house to work on. And no, I don't you can use your time to talk to her." But she tones it down, "Well, depends on Coach Pakowski."
Just having been reminded of that, Lincoln remembers, "Dang it!"
"Wait, Coach Pakowski is heading this year's haunted house?" Liam asks. "Boy, he picked me to help the school attraction. Can't wait! This sure will be fun."
But Liam's expectations are downright the opposite when later, he and Lincoln assemble with the rest of the students in charge of the school's haunted attraction and watch Coach Pakowski rant.
"Darn City District thinking they will be good at their zombie apocalypse marathon!" the coach berates about their rival school for the Halloween attraction, "No way are we losing to them!"
"Why does it matter? I mean there's no contest…" a bespectacled boy asks.
"It's a matter of excellence! Don't you want to make Royal Woods Elementary proud?!" Coach Pakowski chides the boy. "This is it, people! We can't waste any moment! We must create the scariest thing ever that even Blumhouse can't even make into a movie. Let's move!"
With that, everybody disperses and goes to his or her designated areas. All the while, Lincoln spots Paige from a distance inspecting a wooden platform to be used for the haunted attraction. Instantly, with this gaze, the boy feels butterflies on his stomach. Heavenly tunes are in his mind when he sees her pale orange hair, her sharp lashes and her shimmering smile.
"Awww…" he sighs, feeling the cuddles of puppy love.
Awkwardly, Liam ruins the scene. "Man Lincoln, rarely do I see Coach Pakowski that angry. Guessing he didn't have a good lunch."
"Ohhh, right. Right right," Lincoln stutters.
Then Liam realizes where his true attention is on. "Oh, still thinking about Ms. Paige? I'll say that she sure looks so 'charmed'. My dad used to say those jokes."
But Liam is right about Lincoln not paying attention to him as he remains at gaze towards Paige.
"Well, if you feel like it, why don't you talk to her?" he suggests. "Have you talked to her? I mean after you met her?"
"Nahhh…there was lunch…once…"
"Oh boy, that sure is a girl you really like."
"Quit it, Liam. I can get through with any other girl, well, except those you sent me. And Ms. DiMartino. And besides, Paige is a good friend. And I don't want to say my feelings and ruin it for her. There are some things you just can't ruin."
"Like what?" somebody utters to him from out of nowhere, which is obviously Lucy.
"AHHH!" the boys scream.
"Lucy, can you stop appearing out of nowhere?! It's already gotten under my skin," Lincoln begs.
"Why don't you tell that to great-great-grandfather Stoker?" Lucy sardonically utters.
"What are you even doing here?"
"Of course, it's a school Halloween attraction. And we are in charge of preparations and logistics. Me and Haiku are." She then points towards her goth acquaintance Haiku from "Dance, Dance Resolution".
"Oh. Hi Haiku," Lincoln nervously greets her.
"I can sense the tremors inside your heart, Lincoln," she monotonously utters. "Every beat is a representation of a reach to the apex of your soul. Could be the passionate effect of…"
However, Lincoln tries to sway away from compromising his secret. "That's good hand-reading, Haiku! Thank you! But me and Liam have to go, help stuff on that side. Okay?" And with that, Lincoln drags Liam to the area where Paige is.
"I am sensing something different about your brother," Haiku shares.
"He is always excited. A kind of extremity for reading too much comics and a watching too many zombie shows," Lucy explains.
"Indeed, how drastic his heart will grow weary. A joy shining like gold will go eerie," Haiku adds.
"I agree," Lucy replies, "But let's proceed inspecting the homemade costumes."
What the siblings don't know is that Lynn is also helping out in preparing for the school's haunted house attraction, mostly on carpentry.
"Man, who needs a nail gun when you got these guns!" the athletic junkie brags as she spits a nail to a wood and hammers it faster. Thanks to this skill, and with help from her roller derby team, she is able to construct a framework of a house. "That's how to do it! Glad Coach Pakowski placed me here. Chemistry's boring."
Speaking of chemistry, Lynn spots Lincoln from a distance; he is approaching to a girl with pale orange hair. Not wanting to assume things, Lynn gets a closer look, and she cannot believe what she sees: Lincoln actually talking to another girl privately. Well, it is indeed reasonable for her to think since she still thinks that her brother and Ronnie Anne are a couple.
"Lincoln, what are you doing?"
Thus, such sights like the two giggling and joking at each other are disgusting for her. She even sees the two of them whispering.
"No, it's not true, that's impossible!" she mutters. And with this disbelief, Lynn lets go of her hammer, dropping to her foot.
"AHHHHHHH!"