Colin walked out of the basement on Saturday morning, tired from the long week he had just had. He rarely had ever attended school in San Diego, and when he did, he hardly ever bothered to do his homework.
That, unfortunately for him, wasn't the case anymore. He had to write a 2 page paper about himself, finish his civics worksheet, and do math problems out of the book. And there were a LOT of them.
"How am I gonna do all of this?" he thought out loud as he poured himself a glass of orange juice from the fridge and sat down at the table. He hurriedly ate his breakfast, and once done, pondered more.
"I guess I do have all weekend, though. I might as well start-"
"Good morning."
"GOD DA-" he yelled as Lucy surprised him from behind. The chair he was sitting in leaned backwards, spilling him onto the tile.
He picked himself up and glared at the girl.
"Lucy! You know I hate it when you sneak up on me!"
"Sorry," she said in her average, monotonous voice. "It's a habit. I need your help, Colin."
He turned to face her.
"My help? With what?"
"I'm writing another poem, and I need inspiration."
"Me? Inspiration? I dont think those two-"
"Well, you're perfect, considering the title of it."
"Well what's the title, happiness?" He sarcastically asked, dusting bits of crumbs off of his shirt.
"The title, is Loneliness."
"Gee, thanks," he said, slightly weirded out and insulted. "So, what do I need to do?"
"It's simple. Just do what you usually do every day. I'll just observe."
"Hmmm…" he thought, looking back to his backpack.
"Well...I guess the work can wait a while. I'll help you, chica."
"Good. You won't even notice I'm there."
Colin blinked, and in that time Lucy had vanished.
The rest of the day, Colin did his usual thing. He ate his breakfast, watched TV (after checking to see if the glass was really there or not,) went to the courts to shoot hoops, and did his homework. The only catch was that the whole time, Lucy was standing or sitting beside him.
"Uh, Lucy, I think you should leave."
"We had a deal, Colin. You said-"
"Well, I know what I said, but...I'm getting in the shower."
"Ok?"
"Just, wait outside the door!"
5 Hours Later…
At the end of the day, after getting back to the house from the basketball court, he turned to ask her another question.
"So, did you get enough inspiration for the poem?"
"Not yet. I need you to do something extremely depressing and heartbreaking. Then I might have enough."
"Ummm," he said as he tried to think of something really sad and depressing. Unfortunately, he drew a blank.
"How about I, uhhh..."
"Nevermind," she said suddenly. "You're trying too hard."
With that, she vanished with a blink once again.
Colin went back down to the basement, more confused than he had been in the morning.
Monday...
"WAKE UP, KIDS! WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR SCHOOL!"
"Uhhhhhhngh..." Colin said as he checked his alarm clock the family had bought him when he got stuck here.
"7:55?! I'M GONNA BE LATE!" he cried out as he got dressed. He ran upstairs, only to be greeted by mass confusion in the living room.
"Oh my god, Bobby, we are TOTALLY going to be late!"
"According to my calculations, we have approximately 3.43 minutes to get out oof our driveway before we can be considered late. Taking in the fact that..."
"Sorry, Clyde, we're running late for school. Cadet Lincoln, out."
"Has anyone seen my backpack?" He asked, to no avail. Though his height created an imposing figure, no one was paying attention to him.
He finally found his backpack, his English paper on top of it from the work he had done last night. Not looking at it, he shoved all the papers into his backpack and ran out the door to the car.
Later in the day, he walked into English Class, confident that his paper would get him his first A in the class.
"Now to proofread before presenting!" He said to himself as he got his paper out to fix mistakes.
"Oh, no."
Instead of his paper, he stared down at a piece of poetry. The title read, "Loneliness, by Lucy Loud"
"God damn it!" He swore under his breath as he put the paper face down on his desk. "Lucy must have given me her copy to read! My reports on the table!"
He put his head down on his desk, groaning at his own stupidity.
"Maybe I can get lucky and read tommorow!" he reassured himself. "Yeah, that's what's gonna-"
"Colin, would you like to read first?"
"Oh god," he mumbled as he stood up. "I'm done for."
He read the poem, trying to make it sound less dark and gloomy than it was. And say what he might about Lucy, Colin had to admit that she was a terrific poet.
"Well, um, that was... interesting, Colin." his teacher said, a bit confused. "A different way to look at your life, through poetry, nonetheless. I'm giving you an B Plus."
Colin, pleasantly surprised that his presentation wasn't a train wreck, breathed a sigh of relief. He had survived a close call with doom.
3 Hours Later...
After school, he walked back to the house, where none other than Lucy was waiting for him on the front steps.
"You took my poem."
"Sorry, Lucy, but I was in a hurry to get to the car, and I grabbed the wrong-"
"What grade did you get on it?"
Colin, slightly taken aback, answered.
"Uhh, a B+, I think."
"-sigh- once again, my style of writing is written off as weird and strange. Still, I wouldn't have the poem anyway without you. So thanks."
"No problem..." he said as she walked upstairs, this time in plain sight.
"I am NEVER going to understand her," Colin said as he walked back to the basement, mentally preparing himself for another day of whatever the Loud House brings him.
