A/N
Hey guys.
The ages in order from the oldest:
Lori-18 years
Leni-17 years
Luna-16 years
Luan-16 years
Lynn-15 years
Lucy-15 years
Lisa-14 years
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Lincoln-14 years
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A/N: Sorry for the long delay. I've been learning how to draw figures lately. It's sapping my time.
Future chapters might be shorter so I can keep updating more frequently.
Chapter 4
Feast
Lucy has read too many romance novels to not know what's happening. They all like him. She can see it their eyes; the lust lurking behind their gaze every time they stare at him.
And Lincoln. That boy is clueless as a new born, blissfully unaware that he's been eyed like a piece of meat.
Lucy gets off her bed and walks to the window. She stares down at the driveway, wondering about where he went. He rode off earlier this morning on his bike after the cereal fiasco. He was truly pissed.
Lynn's the worst. She bullies him, torments him at every chance, but it's a façade. A ruse to hide the feelings she harbors within. Of course Lynn will never admit such feelings out loud. It will be an insult to her pride and ego. But deep past her stubbornness, Lucy knows her roommate would do anything for him; even if she won't bring herself say so. She will rip out her tongue than confess to Lincoln.
The others are stubborn likewise. They will never admit it but Lucy can see past their charade.
Lucy sighs and leaves the window like a phantom. She stares at the wall clock. It's way past nine and he isn't back yet. Worse, no one in the house knows that he's gone. She watched him grab his light jacket and helmet but stayed muted. She couldn't ask where he was going. His mood was too foul to talk to. Of course, he walked past her like she was a ghost, so he probably won't have heard her speak.
Lucy sighs and flops down on her bed. Grabbing her journal, she starts writing down a new poem.
I hide in the dark
Waiting in turn to strike…
Her pen taps the page as she thinks of a new line. Nothing is coming to her and Lucy shuts her eyes. Lincoln's distracting her. She hopes he's okay.
Leni is confused about Johnny. The things he's doing to her. Is that what boyfriends do to their girlfriends? Weird cause she never sees Bobby doing that Lori. Maybe he does and Leni just never sees it, but Lori's never talked about Bobby acting like how Johnny acts.
Leni sighs. Love is confusing.
It's almost ten and Leni's still in the bathroom, staring at her naked self from the mirror. It hurts; the bruised skin underneath her boob. She lifts up her left breast, exposing a large dark skin, and Leni frowns. Johnny did this.
His hand was pressing hard on her while they were kissing. Well more like he was kissing her. She couldn't move, pinned down underneath. Leni didn't like their kiss. He was aggressive. And she didn't like him trying to rip her pants off.
Leni tried to speak, but his mouth swallowed hers. At one point, he pinned her hands above her head. Leni thought about screaming, but then she heard Lincoln's voice outside.
Johnny heard him too since he froze and then stop kissing her. He rose off her when Lincoln started calling for Leni. And he sounded very close. Johnny got up and started straightening his clothes. Lynn gingerly put hers back on.
Lincoln never found them in the basketball shed, but Leni felt happy he came to the gym looking for her. She didn't like what Johnny was doing. She actually felt scared.
They both left the shed after Johnny said there was no one there. Leni left school early yesterday and she hasn't talked to Johnny since.
Leni touches the large bruise and winces. It stings with a sharp pain. Who knew kissing would be so painful. And now her perfect skin looks scared, disfigured by this bruise. Leni glances down at it. No amount of make-up can fix this.
It hurts. She needs to put something on it. Lisa would know what to do. She's the doctor in this place. Yeah, she's going to show it to her. Leni's face brightens for the first time all morning, but then she frowns again. The others, Leni doesn't want them to know about this. For some reason, she feels they won't like Johnny anymore if she does.
Leni steps into the bathtub and turns on the showerhead. The warm water flows around her and she basks in it. This feels nice. She smiles. The water numbs the soreness in her body. It drips around her large breasts, avoiding the skin underneath, including her bruise. Leni looks down. She can't leave it uncleansed. That would be like gross.
Hesitating and expecting pain, Leni gingerly lifts her breast, exposing her bruise skin to the showerhead. The water beats down on it; making her scared skin burn. But it feels good. Leni doesn't move. She lets the water run against body, battering her bruise skin.
Leni enjoys her shower longer than usual, slowly cleansing her body. But the pain under breast returns after she lets go of it. She can't keep hiding it. Lisa, the doctor, needs to examine this.
Conjuring up a lie, Leni knows she has to tell Lisa something different other than the truth about the origin of her bruise. She doesn't know why but she figures she has to.
Half an hour till eleven and the smell of deliciousness draws everyone to the kitchen, like moths to a light bulb. Lynn's the first to rear her head. "Oh that smells fantastic!" She sniffs the air and beam with a smile that says it's good to be alive.
She walks around the dining table, pulling back the seat next to Luan to claim that spot as hers; a forced habit in this house, like predators in the jungle, marking their territory to warn intruders. Well the less extreme version of that. Lynn leaves her seat and heads over to the dishwasher to fetch herself a clean plate and fork.
Of course she will be the first one here. Luna glances at her while she's at the dishwasher."Nice of you to join us Lightning McQueen." She mocks Lynn, taking a sip out of her warm cocoa.
The nickname catches Lynn by surprise but she's not one to shy away from a daily morning name-calling challenge.
"Nice to be here, Slut Queen and speaking of being here, it seems someone wasn't here last night?" Lynn just throws that out there for the heck of it and Luna nearly spits everything out.
"How did you…." She turns to the sport jockey, her eyes wide in horror. Lynn only grins at her; knowing full well she has something on her. Lori looks behind; slightly intrigue at what Lynn's going on about but keeps all questions to herself.
"Bitch…" Luna hisses, shooting death glares at Lynn, but the brunette is not bothered by the threat. She resumes her actions of fetching plates for the impending feast, whistling all the way.
Both Lori and Luan stay mum; aware of the little dispute flaring between the two, but ignoring it. Both equally busy with their own tools; Luan, deeply buried in that the old riddle book she found in the basement a couple days ago and Lori, trying to pour herself a cup of herb tea to sooth her digestion.
Luna turns to Luan, about to ask how Lynn found out.
"It wasn't me." Luan says like she was a mind reader, ending that argument Luna was about to start with her. The last thing she wants is getting involved in this hissy fit. She's busy trying to come up with new material and this old book is gold. No way I'm stepping in this shit. Hehe. That's a good one. She chuckles and Luna knows her bunkmate is not remotely interested in this feud brewing between her and Lynn.
"I don't know why you look so worried." Lynn plops down on her seat next to Luan, a cup in hand. "I mean it's not like I'm going to go and tell mom." She shows her genuine Lynn's trademark grin.
"Oh really? Like you wouldn't." Luna doesn't buy it, especially with that mocking grin plastered on her face right now.
"Hey if you don't believe me…" Lynn shrugs and then gulps down on the orange juice in her mug. She slams it on the table like she's in a bar—the mug half empty—and then wipes her lips with a sleeve.
"Of course, you can always buy my silent." Lynn wiggles her brows, smiling at Luna who only glares daggers back; gritting her teeth. She would like nothing more than to wipe that stupid grin off her face; if she could. Mom will kill them both if they start throwing punches.
Luna gives up on this one. Besides with Lynn knowing about her outing last night, the punk rocker knows she will end up buying to keep the moron quiet.
Lisa smells the scrumptious odor emanating from downstairs and immediately she registers the smell to be that of Lori's cooking. The grumbling in her digestion tells her it's time for more sustenance. Weird that despite her morning cereal, she still craves for more food. Maybe it's a testament to Lori's improved skills in preparing delicacies; the ability to induce a momentary hunger in her and others.
Interesting indeed. She will have to look into it at a later date in the future. Lisa marks it down in her notes.
She turns off her Bunsen burner and removes her goggles and surgeon size gloves. If she delays any further up here, everything will be gone when she gets downstairs. Her siblings are akin to blood thirsty hyenas. Nothing escapes them especially if it's food and smells nice.
Lisa puts on her slippers, leaves her room and almost bumps into Leni standing outside her door. "Leni?" Lisa sounds, startled to find the airhead of a sister standing there. Is she still sleep-walking, Lisa wonders. That shouldn't be since she already injected her with an antidote to the test serum.
"Lisa…um can I…..can you do something private for me?" Leni speaks and Lisa notes the hesitation in her sister's voice; the way her eyes were shifting nervously. Whatever it is that Leni wants, Lisa's intrigue.
"Okay, but can we do it after breakfast?" Lisa says and then heads for the stairs. Leni follows in tow.
"Sure. I was heading there myself." Leni says, rushing to be in steps with her sister as the two sisters with the same height walk in tandem.
"If you don't mind, may I inquire what this is about?" Lisa asks and Leni glances around, like she is checking to see if they were alone.
"Um….I prefer if we talk somewhere private." She says and Lisa raises a brow. Interesting.
"Okay." Lisa agrees. This is really interesting. Leni rarely asks for anything or acts too shy to speak her mind. This is really interesting.
Reaching down the stairs, the TV is on, but no one's in the couch. They all must be in the kitchen as predicted, Lisa surmises. Both sisters enter the kitchen in sync and Lisa immediate detects the tension in the air. She glances around; Lynn, Luna, and Luan sitting at the dining table and Lori at the counter, adding finishing touches to her dish.
No doubt this tension has Lynn written all over it if that grin on her face says anything and Luna's scowling face means she's involve as well. Lisa decides to ignore it and moves past them towards the fridge.
"Oh that's smells heavenly Lori." Leni shouts with excitement and rushes towards her twinzy as she calls her. She latches onto Lori's back—much to her disliking—trying to peek over her shoulder and see where that smell's coming from. "Ouh, you made French toasts as well. My favorite."
"Get off Leni." Lori sounds displeased but not angry. Leni's the only sister she tolerates. She's like the kid you can never get angry at. Mostly because Leni's an airhead and so innocent and clueless about so many things that it makes Lori always want to protect her. She's the reason why she chose to stay home and commute to campus.
"Oh, it smells like Lori made breakfast." Their dad loudly proclaims from the living room and everyone turns to the entrance connecting to it.
Both parents soon emerge, dressed up like they were heading out. "Morning my girls!" Mom greats her lovely creation; filling in the greetings for her nimrod of a husband who only noticed the food and not their kids.
"Hey mom!" "Hey…" "Hi…" "Morning mom" "Hi mom!" A flurry of greetings from everyone to their smiling mother. She seems to be in a great mood this morning.
"Lori!" Dad walks over, trying to find out what his new chef made this morning. "Is that a bacon and sausage omelette?" He says, sounding surprised and happy. So happy that he starts sniffling, tearing up like he might break into tears. "I'm so happy." He wipes a fake tear from his eye. "My baby has grown so much."
Everyone—but Leni—rolls their deadpan eyes.
"Knock it off honey." Rita tells her husband, but he doesn't listen. Instead he wraps an arm around Lori. "Did I ever tell you, you're my favorite?" He whispers to her but everyone hears.
Lori's glaze eyes look on, knowing full well he's doing this cause he wants that omelette.
"Hey I thought I was your favorite?" Lynn jumps in, slightly offended after he said the same thing to her two days ago so she could fix the lawn mower he broke in his cat fight with Grouse.
"He told me the same thing last week." Luna reveals, not even shocked by his betrayal.
"That's what he said to me when he wanted use my wax gun to make Vanzilla look like new again." Lisa says as she grabbed the orange juice from the fridge. "As if that was going to work on that old ancient relic of a vehicle. She mumbles under her breath.
"And I meant it." Lynn Sr. says.
"Really dad? Not even gonna try and deny it?" Lori asks, trying to put him on the spot.
"I love you all equally." He gives the typical dad answer but then leans in and whispers. "But I love you the most. Is that ketchup on the omelette? I love ketchup." Again his whispers are loud enough to be heard.
Lori sighs and gives up. No use in trying to box him in. "You can have it."
"Yes!" He peels away from her and quickly grabs the plate for himself. It happened so fast that Lori felt bamboozled.
"Lori, you're too easy." Luan chimes in, still reading her book, and Lisa nods along. "Agreed." She says, pouring orange juice into a glass.
Lori eyes Lynn Sr. like she wants to grab the plate back but doesn't follow through. She made that plate for Lincoln. He loves omelette. Weird that he hasn't showed up yet. He's normally the first with Lynn, but Lori's glad he's isn't here. She doesn't know how she will react if she sees him. Oh god, what's happening to me?
"Can we eat Lori?" Leni asks, feeling her stomach twisting in hunger and Lori is dragged back from her sickening thoughts.
"Yeah sure!" Lori says and then begins to bring everything to the table. Rita and Leni helps.
They set everything up; placing the numerous dishes in the middle of the table. Everyone moves around. Grabbing plates or grabbing a seat. It's chaos but Rita stands there and looks on; so happy to see her family together. Wait! Something feels off.
"Something's not right." She says but in the noise no one hears her. "WAIT!" She speaks again; this time her voice's loud enough to grab everyone's attention. "We're missing someone."
Everyone shares confused glances among one another.
"Lincoln!" Rita's eyes widen in realization. "Where's my only boy? Why isn't he here?" Rita looks around again to be sure and then checks the living room—an ear shot away—he's not there or here. Surely, Lori's meal would have woken him up. "LINCOLN!" She yells for him.
"He's not in the house." Lucy says, appearing next to Lynn and everyone jumps, yelping in shock as well.
"Fuck!" Lynn cusses after nearly falling off her seat.
"Lucy!" Lori angrily calls her after she nearly made her spilled her tea.
Lynn Sr. almost lost his precious half-eating omelette. "Luciiii….." He drags her name out. "How many times have I told you to stop doing that?"
"But….I was right here the whole time." Lucy quietly replies.
"Well whatever you do, can you stop that?" Lori says and then gets up to pour herself a new cup of herb tea.
"But…." Lucy tries to speak but gets cut off by a rapturous laughter from Luan. "It was so funny when Lucy did this in class and gave Mr. Franklin a heart attack." She breaks down, just remembering that episode.
"Oh yeah, that was hilarious." Lynn joins the chorus of laughter. "Did you see how high he jumped?" She asks Luan who nearly falls off her seat replaying that part from her memory.
"Wait, wait…" Luna breaks in, halting the two laughing hyenas. "Lucy's the one who cause Franklin to be sent to the hospital?" She asks; bewildered by the fact that she was hearing this now; that her sister was the one who caused a 60 year old history teacher to be sent to the hospital.
"Yeah, didn't you know?" Lisa responds instead.
"No!" Luna replies, shocked. "Why didn't you guys tell me?"
"I thought you already knew since practically the whole school kinda knows. Well not everyone since it's possible the higher grades students probably won't know exactly how he got sent to the hospital, because of different social circles." Lisa finishes and then takes a bite out of her French toast.
"Wait a second Mr. Franklin got sent to the hospital by Lucy?" Lori asks like she was hearing it for the first time. Well now that she had her tea, she could pay attention to their conversation.
"Yeah and worse Dad had to pay his medical bills." Lynn reveals, still chuckling along.
"Wait, what?" Rita turns to her husband who turns to Lynn Jr. "Lynn, I told you that was a secret."
"Sorry dad." Lynn apologies but through her laughing fit, her apology feels hollow.
"Why didn't you tell me honey?"
"I was going to. I just wanted to wait till he got better." Lynn Sr. says.
"Hold on! He's still in the hospital?" Rita freaks out and Lynn Sr. shrinks in his seat. That explains why their monthly expenses and costs were never matching the books. Her husband was siphoning money for hospital bills.
"Poor Mr. Franklin!" Leni speaks, feeling downhearted for the old history teacher who was always nice to her. "He's so lonely. He has no family!" Leni words cool Rita's anger slightly.
"You and I will have a long talk when we get back." She tells her husband and he wished he never kept it from his wife. He assumed the man will be out before long.
"Right now, I only care about my son." Rita returns her attention to the one thing still nagging the back of her mind. "Lucy!" She turns to the Goth teen. "Did you say he's not in the house?"
"Yes." Lucy replies.
"What?" Lynn Sr. puts on his man of the house pants on. "That boy better have a reason for leaving this early without letting us know."
"Did he tell you where he was going?" Rita asks.
"No, but he looked really angry." Lucy says.
"Angry?" Rita repeats.
"Yeah." Lucy replies.
"Might have been because Lynn took his cereal and the two argued over it with Lynn threatening physical harm." Lisa chimes in and Lynn chokes on her bite.
Rita's eyes bulges in fury. "LYNNNNNNN!"
A/N: Lynn is so dead.
