Loud laughter echoed through Lincoln's little room. However, it was not coming from himself, but from the speakers of his laptop.
"That's not funny, Ronnie Anne" the white-haired boy said seriously.
"Oh, it TOTALLY is!" she said between fits of laughter. "I mean have you looked into a mirror?" It took a long time – even longer for Lincoln – until she was finally exhausted from her laughter. Taking in a deep breath Ronnie Anne calmed down, though she still snickered occasionally. "So, your sister blew your hair away, a-and your head turned green?"
"Only a part of it. She assured me it was only temporary and gave me a hair growth serum." Raising his arms, Lincoln patted the sides of the large, curly white afro on top of his head. "Of course, she didn't tell me it was an experimental hair growth serum."
"So you ended up as her guinea pig, huh? Ouch."
"Well it's still better than the one time she tinkered with my game controller: Every time I took a hit in a game, I got an electric shock."
"Why would she do that?"
"She said she wanted to see if my performance improved – but I think her experiments really have no purpose but torturing us for her personal amusement. One time, she snuck all sorts of chemicals into our cookies. Lori's hair turned green, Lynn's face started to swell like a balloon, Lucy got polka-dots all over her face and I grew hair on my feet!"
"Was that the week when you wore those giant shoes?"
"Yes! She may have a giant brain, but sometimes I wonder if she really is right in her head. We once found her as she tried to switch out Lana's and Lola's brains while they were asleep – she wanted to see if someone noticed the difference if the twins swapped bodies."
Ronnie Anne's eyes widened. "No way!"
"It's true! Luckily, we could stop her before she cut into the skull."
Looking at Lincoln with his giant afro, Ronnie Anne giggled. "Oh man, I'm so glad I don't have a maniac like that in my family."
Suddenly, the door to her room swung open. "Oh, Ronnie-Anne! I just found this new French line of make-up in the super market for girls your age, and the moment I saw it I knew it'll look great on you! Now hold still…"
"Wait Carlotta, I'm in the middle of-"
The next thing Lincoln saw was Ronnie Anne's cousin dashing through the screen, before both of them vanished from the monitor. He could hear some weird noises, a mixture of Carlotta squealing in excitement, Ronnie Anne struggling to escape her and some undefined sounds he interpreted as Carlotta putting make-up on Ronnie Anne's face.
"Oh, you look so great!" he could hear Carlotta exclaim gleefully. "Drop by my room later and we'll do something about your clothes." Lincoln saw the teenage girl walk through the screen with a very content look on her face before leaving the room. Shortly after, Ronnie Anne reappeared, her deeply frowning face decorated by lipstick, eyeliner and a heavy layer of rouge.
His cheeks blowing up, Lincoln had to bite his lip not to laugh out loud.
"Not one word, lame-o!" Ronnie sternly commanded. It still took a moment for Lincoln to calm down, causing Ronnie Anne to sigh. "So, after that big roommate shuffle everything is back to normal in your family?"
Swallowing his laughter, Lincoln nodded. "Yep. Everyone's in their old pairs again. But to be honest, I kind of have a bad conscience about it – everyone seemed so much happier with their new roommates, and now it's the same as before."
"Well I'm sure it'll be fine. I mean, you guys are still family and all. And just because some test of your mad scientist sister says they are better off like that doesn't mean it'll always be perfect."
"Yeah, you're probably right. I can't imagine Lucy coping with Luan's jokes 24/7, or Luna staying cool when Lana's animals start crawling into her instruments. Also, now that I think about it, Lucy and Lynn once had such a big argument that Lynn moved out, but after a few days they missed each other and moved back together." He decided to keep his own involvement in this story, from his role as Lynn's new roommate to his clumsy attempts to scare her out and end their argument (which resulted in both of them bunkering his room for a night) a secret from her.
"See? They'd probably have all have moved back on their own eventually. When girls fight it can get pretty intense – but just wait for it to calm down and it's like nothing ever happened."
"I kind of feel like I've learned that lesson before." Rolling his eyes up, he could see the front of his afro towering above him. "Well, I gotta go and get a haircut – I hope the green glow won't show with shorter hair though..."
"And I need to get this French stuff out of my face. Smell ya later, Lame-o."