This is your fault, Lynn, thought the athlete as she threw a punch at Ronnie Anne. Her strike connected, causing Ronalda's head to sway to the side.
Lincoln's memory is all messed up because of you. No one else. The athlete didn't falter in her attack— while Ronnie Anne's head was still turning, Lynn threw another punch, this time to the gut.
You're a horrible sister. You don't deserve such a kind little brother like Lincoln. Wasting no time, Lynn opened her palm, grabbed the Santiago girl's face, and thrust her head back into the wall.
The room shook and Ronalda cried out in pain. The Hispanic girl slowly slid down the wall and onto the floor. She tasted nothing but the bitter tang of blood.
Lynn looked down at Ronnie Anne. Realizing just how hard she had attacked, the Loud froze in place. Oh, no. What did she just do?
Concerned that she had gone too far (yet again!), Lynn extended an arm down to her visitor.
"Hey… you good?"
Ronnie Anne did not respond.
"Hey! Talk to me!"
Ronalda's eyes opened. Tried to get up, but faltered and fell back to the floor, letting out a groan of pain in the process.
The door burst open, and the entire collection of Loud siblings rushed into the room. Lincoln was in front.
"What the hell is wrong with you two?!"
Lynn's mind was in a different place.
Over the next couple of hours, her mother had rushed in her room and yelled at her for twenty minutes in front of Ronnie Anne. She then called the Santiago mother and forced Lynn to give a formal apology on the phone. Of course, the young Hispanic girl didn't get off easy, either. Although she was on the other side of the room when it had happened, Lynn still heard Ronnie Anne's mother screaming at her over the phone. She'd no doubt be in a lot of trouble when she returned home.
Even though it was Ronalda who started it, Lynn's mother simply lead her to the door, saying that it was not her place to punish her.
Despite all that was happening to her, Lynn went through the entire ordeal without really even paying attention to it. It wasn't because she was in pain— the athlete had suffered much worse from sports. It was because Lynn, as much as it pained her to admit it, knew deep down that she deserved all of her punishments.
Sure, Ronnie Anne had started it, but Lynn was older and stronger than her. After being thrown on the wall for the first time, Lynn went way too hard on the Santiago. She smashed the poor girl's head into the wall, after all!
Now, it was night time. The last of the Loud children were wrapping up their nightly preparations for bedtime. Of course, the atmosphere was much different than normal. With Lincoln's memory loss, and Lynn's fight, how could it be normal?
She was grounded to her room, but that wasn't going to stop Lynn from trying to make things right. She was way too rough with Lincoln. She was way too rough with Ronnie Anne. Well, that ended now! It was time to make things right.
With a newfound confidence, Lynn jumped out of her bed, and walked into the empty, dark hallway. Looking at the crack under Lincoln's door, she saw that his light was still on.
Being careful not to make any noise (she was supposed to be grounded to her room for at least the following month), Lynn made her way down the hallway. Once at Lincoln's door, she carefully turned the doorknob, paranoid of making too much noise. She couldn't alert anyone that she was out of her room.
Once there was a crack of space in Lincoln's door, Lynn was able to peek in. Lincoln was sitting on his bed. In his hands was a family photo album. Lynn looked at his face. Was… was that a tear in his eye?
"Hey, Link!" she whispered.
Lincoln's head shot up. He quickly closed the photo album and threw it across the room.
Opening the door all the walk, tiptoeing inside, and closing it behind her, Lynn looked at her brother. This was the moment of truth. It was time to apologize to Lincoln, not just for making him lose his memory, but also for losing her control again and beating up one of his best friends.
"Look, I'm sorry about… well, everything. I'm sorry about knocking you out. I'm sorry about—"
"Get out," he quietly said.
Did she hear him right? Did he really just tell his own sister to leave when she was trying to apologize?
"What…? Lincoln, it's me—"
"I don't care who you are! Get away from me!" Lincoln said, louder. His tone carried a certain weight that it had never before.
"Linc—"
"Get away!" The white-haired boy swung his arm out, pointing to the door.
Overcome with emotion, Lynn ran out of her brother's room and didn't look back.
Come Monday, while the rest of the Loud siblings prepared for school by completing their morning routine, Lincoln was still in his bed. Although his memory of academic subjects didn't suffer much, it was still pointless for him to go to Royal Woods Elementary is he didn't know his schedule, his locker combination, or any of his peers or teachers.
He reflected on the events of last night. He had been minding his own business when he felt his room shake. Curious, and a bit scared, he had left his room to investigate. Soon enough, after following the rumbling, he and his sisters had gone into Lynn's room only to find her fighting with another girl, one that Lincoln did not know.
It was explained to him by the sister called Luna that Lynn was fighting none other than Ronnie Anne, one of his best friends. Lincoln could only wonder to himself why the people he knew were so violent.
After that, 'Lynn' had come into his room later that night trying to apologize. Lincoln did not want to hear it. He acted tough, speaking with authority when he told Lynn to go away. The truth was, though, that he was scared. He wanted Lynn to leave because he was unsure if things would escalate again and, for the third time that weekend, his athletic sister would beat somebody up again, that person being Lincoln himself.
All day that day, Lincoln stayed in his room, trying to make sense of things.
When Clyde heard of the news, he was on his couch watching Ace Savvy and feeling bad for himself that Lincoln and him would not be able to watch their favorite show together anytime soon like they so often did. He felt sick to his stomach as he considered the fact that there was a chance that Lincoln would never again know who Clyde was. Their long history together would become meaningless. Their friendship that they had spent years building would be ruined.
He was shocked when Ronnie Anne told him everything that had happened over the phone. She and Lynn getting into a fight was not what Clyde expected to happen during a simple visit of hers to the Loud household. Sure, the Santiago was rough around the edges, but getting into a fight with one of Lincoln's sisters was not what Clyde expected to ever happen. Of course, Clyde knew that under the circumstances, anything was possible. With Lincoln in the state that he was… the McBride boy knew he needed to stop being surprised.
Anger grew inside of him. Why did such bad things happen to such good people? Why was this brought on by one of Lincoln's own sisters of all people? Lincoln was possibly the kindest boy Clyde knew. Why him?
One of Dr. Lopez's biggest lessons was that anger was only a good emotion as long as Clyde was able to channel it into something good. Rather than jumping off of his couch and smashing his television, Clyde instead thought of what he could do to help.
An idea popped into his head. It would take a lot of work, but, thinking about it, Clyde knew that it was worth a shot. Wasting no time, he got to work.
