Sorry I've been silent. I visited my Dad for a couple weeks, and while I'm glad I did so and enjoyed myself, there were few opportunities to try and get some work done. Now that I'm back home, though, I can watch the episodes I missed, and go back to my slightly less slow update frequency on this and World of LoudCraft.
Now, one more thing to talk about before the story: Since the last chapter, I've been told that Mr. Savino revealed that the Loud family was already aware and accepting of Luna's sexuality and Sam's identity during 'L is for Loud'. While I hoped to not have to use this response in my fanfic, it's really the only one for this: alternate continuity, so it'll be ignored. I also gotta admit that I had my hopes up for a heartwarming "coming out" episode.
However, he also revealed on Instagram that Sam would be back due to popular demand, so that's good news! :D Hopefully the ship sets sail for real. And hopefully, I'm sure you guys are thinking, I'll shut up for now so we can see what's up with Lynn! Wish granted.
Lynn: Very, Very Extraordinary
"Ugh!"
At a table in the middle of the Royal Woods mall food court, a young girl got up and stormed off. She didn't look behind as the other five people watched in bewilderment.
"Why should I sit there and listen to their bullcrap?" she said to herself in her mind. It was bad enough her sister turned out to be bi, she thought, but now she's gonna try and sell her family some sappy love story to make it all seem normal?
Screw that. Let Luna play her pity cards and get everyone on her side so she can look like the good guy and make Lynn look like the bad guy.
"One footlong meatball, please." she said to the guy at the Expressway counter. She had been so deep in thought, she barely recalled standing in the line to get there.
Lynn watched the man as he prepared her sandwich, trying to take her mind off things. This was way more than she was ready to deal with. Why couldn't it have just been a secret boyfriend, so they could get excited about that for a day, forget about it, and let things stay normal?
After a few moments, the guy finished making the sub, and Lynn paid for it and walked away. However, when she looked back at the tables, she saw that all the empty ones were right in the vicinity of her family's. The scene earlier must've caused people to keep their distance.
Sighing in defeat, Lynn went and sat about two tables away, behind Luna and Sam. She tried to ignore them, but she caught a glance of her sisters all trying not to cry. God, is that sob story really working on them? Even Lisa, the one who should be on LYNN'S side with all her science and stuff? Weak. All of them.
In her anger, Lynn practically destroyed her sandwich. She had eaten half in less than a couple minutes, and the sauce would've went everywhere if the paper wrap wasn't unfolded to catch it all. From the occasional bits of audio she could catch, she heard Luna talking about that whole love letter incident. If only she knew the truth then, she could've stopped this whole mess.
Lori listened carefully to Luna's story, She almost felt jealous, Luna and Sam's was WAY more romantic than her meeting Bobby at that golf game. It was like something out of those rom-coms she loved so much. And just like with those movies, she couldn't help but shed a few tears.
But while her ears were fully trained on what Luna was saying, Lori kept her eyes on Lynn. Now that the shock of Luna's reveal was clearing away, she found her attention focusing on that girl. What is up with her? How did nobody know she was a homophobe before? Why was Sam so defensive when Lori wanted to confront her about it?
This matter would need to be looked into further. At the very least, Lynn shut her mouth and left instead of trying to start a fight. For now, she figured, best to enjoy the story and give Luna the support she deserves.
"Thank God it's over!" Lynn thought to herself, finishing the last few bites of sub as Luna finally shut up. As expected, her sisters were starting up the waterworks. Even Lincoln was crying. Pussy.
The girl got up to throw away her trash. She wanted so badly to go over there, knock some sense into everybody's head, and confront Luna about her little freak show. But even with all of this, Luna was still her sister, and Lynn still had enough respect to not make a public show of it all, unlike the rest of them.
After scoring a beautiful 3-pointer with her balled-up papers that lifted her spirits, Lynn turned around, ready to presumably head home, when...
Oh, Jesus Christ...
They were kissing again. The other girls, Lincoln, and some complete strangers were even celebrating that bullcrap! But Lynn... that sight, combined with eating her sub way too fast, was starting to make something else rise up inside her.
"Hrgh-BLAAARGH!"
Thankfully, she made it to the trash can in time. Kinda ruined the fun of her earlier sport, though.
Turning back around again, Lynn saw... nothing. The girls and Lincoln had left.
"They didn't leave me behind, did they? Come on, I don't deserve THAT!"
Lynn looked around frantically, trying to see where they had gone. She eventually found Luan, the comedian approaching with an uncharacteristically disapproving look on her face.
"Where'd everyone go?" Lynn asked.
"We're all heading back to the van and going home."
"Thank goodness, I couldn't take another second of watching Luna and that dy-"
Luan's face turned more stern. "Sam is coming with us. We're dropping her off at her house."
Lynn looked shocked. They didn't seriously want to spend MORE of their time with that bimbo, did they?
"And you'll be sitting in the far back row with me." Luan added.
"What!? Why? You gonna tell me dumb jokes and stupid puns the whole way!?"
Luan's serious face wavered for a moment, showing a bit of hurt. But the girl remained steadfast. "For once in my life, Lynn, I'm completely serious. You've been a real jerk about this, and until we get home and meet up without Luna, we're keeping you quiet so you don't ruin the progress we've made with her."
"Oh, I see." Lynn said with a laugh. "You think you're gonna muscle me out so I can't speak my mind! What makes you think you can control me like that?"
In an instant, Luan completely changed her emotional state. She went from being serious and angry, to looking like a sad puppy orphan or something. The comedian tucked her head down and began shaking, like she was scared for her life.
"M-mom! D-Dad! I was tr-trying to test out my new joke at the mall, an-and Lynn just came up and hit me! Sh-she said my puns were the worst and that if I d-didn't shut up from now on, she'd shut m-me up!"
Lynn's jaw dropped as she watched her sister drop her face into her palms and begin to cry in pain. She knew she didn't even do anything, and she believed what she was seeing!
"You... you're completely deranged, you know that?"
Luan looked up, giving her younger sister a smirk. "Being crazy is my whole schtick. Now, let's go home, shall we?"
The older girl began to walk away, looking as if nothing had happened. Lynn followed far behind, a little afraid to get too close.
"Thank goodness she doesn't do that more often..." Lynn thought.
"Man, I should do that more often!" Luan thought at the same time.
As the group reached the door, Lori stood and held it open. Lisa, Lincoln, and Luna walked by, all giving her thanks as they did. Lastly, Sam walked out, and Lori shut the door and ran up behind her.
"Hey, Sam? Mind if we talk a sec?"
The girl turned to Lori and smiled. Despite their horribly rough meeting, Sam had nothing against her now.
"Sure. What's up?"
"Well, first of all, I'm really sorry about, you know... spying on you, and then threatening your life... all that stuff." Lori looked away nervously as she talked.
"It's ok. You did both those things because you really care about your sisters and your brother. Honestly, I really respect you for that."
Lori couldn't help but blush a little. Though a more serious issue drew her attention back.
"Second of all... Why did you want me to keep quiet about Lynn? Luna's gonna find out about her sooner or later."
Sam's smile died when she heard that question. "I-I know that it's gonna be unavoidable, but I just... I'm really worried about how Lunie will take it..."
Lori nodded. Luna was upbeat and confident in almost every other aspect of her life, but she'd always been a nervous wreck about romance, even before her realization.
"Luna's still not really... adjusted to her sexuality yet, you know? I've known about myself for a while, so I'm a little easier with it... but she's still afraid to go on public dates with me. I almost talked her into it today, but she insisted on inviting our friends to make it a double date, so people wouldn't judge us. I kinda had to force that first kiss outta her."
"But her biggest fear was always... always you guys. She was so scared that some or even all of you wouldn't accept her, or even hate her, and it gave her nightmares... Once she even cried herself to sleep on the phone with me over it... I was afraid that if we told her at the mall, after the rest of you guys got her hopes up, that she'd... break down..."
Wow... Hearing all of that made Lori feel like somebody put a bunch of weight on her heart. How could their sister be hurting so much, and they didn't even notice? SHE didn't even notice.
"Some big sister I am..." she said to herself. Sam didn't seem to catch it.
"Well," Lori continued, louder this time. "We'll try and do something with Lynn. Worst-case, we'll have her keep quiet until we can help Luna come out."
"Thanks, Lori." Sam said with another smile. "You guys really are as nice as Luna said."
As they reached the van, Luna was standing there holding a door open for Sam. The girl gave her a hug and a little peck on the cheek before getting in. Sam got into the front row, and Luna sat close next to her.
Lori smiled, happy to see Luna more open with Sam now that the present company knew. She got into the driver's seat to wait for the remainder of their company. And after a few minutes, Luan came into view, followed by a very disgruntled looking Lynn. The two got into the far back row.
"Hey, Lynn!" Luna said, her better mood not being deterred. "You feeling all right, sis? I was worried about you."
Everybody else's eyes snapped to the thirteen year old in fear, either directly or through a back-view camera. Lynn was about to speak up, but movement beside her caught her eye. Luan was sitting there, holding up some sort of... make-up? Luan doesn't wear...
The words "Fake Black Eye" on the container stood out to her.
"I... uhh... didn't feel very good. Sorry... about that." the girl said through her teeth.
"Oh, it's ok, sis. You still sound kinda sick, though."
"Yeah, I feel sick alright..." Lynn mumbled, causing a dirty look from Luan.
Thankfully, Lynn heeded her sister's warning and stayed quiet through the ride. She was far back enough that she couldn't see Luna and Sam cuddling together affectionately, which was warming everybody else's heart.
Eventually, they got to Sam's house and dropped her off, with Luna promising to text her as soon as they got home.
"Man, you two are just like me and Bobby, now." Lori said to herself as she started driving again.
Luna blushed a little. "I-I guess... I mean, I thought you were just crazy when you first hooked up with him, but now I kinda get it..."
Lincoln smiled. As crazy as this day started, it really couldn't have ended better... Unfortunately, seeing Lynn in the row behind him, angrily pushing up against the door away from Luan, reminded him that it isn't quite a happy ending yet...
"Why is she like this? What happened to her?"
Eventually, the van pulled up back at the house. It was the early evening, so it was still fairly active inside. Everybody got out and headed inside, but they were stopped by the siblings who had stayed home waiting inside.
"So, did you find anything out!? Does she have a boyfriend? Is he cute?" Lola bombarded them with questions right away.
"I bet he's a rocker like her!" Lana added.
"No, I think he'd, like, be a classical music guy! Compacting personalities, you know!" Leni tried to explain.
However, as Luna came in behind them, they all shut up.
"I mean... I hope you guys had fun... at the mall... doing nothing wrong!" Lana said, trying her best to recover.
"Relax, guys, Luna knows we were spying..." Lori sighed.
"But did she have a boyfriend?" Lucy said, causing everybody else to jump.
The crowd looked at Luna expectantly, causing her to become nervous and uncomfortable. Lynn looked ready to speak up, but she didn't. Eventually, Lincoln stepped forward.
"No, she didn't have a boyfriend. She was just hanging out with her friends after all!" he said. He figured he wasn't TECHNICALLY lying.
"Aww..." the other sisters said, disappointed, before going back to their business. Luna silently hugged her brother, thanking him for the rescue.
The current group headed upstairs. Luna split off to head to her room, already sending a text to Sam before shutting the door behind her. The rest went into Lori's room.
"Ok, now that we can talk about this..." Lori began. "What the heck do we do!?"
Lisa was looking through a notepad. "I must admit to you, siblings... I did determine a while ago that, between the ten of us females, there were decent odds that one of us would grow to be homosexual or bisexual... And I did believe Luna to be among the most likely in such an instance. However, I apologize for not taking that into account today... And especially for not foreseeing circumstances regarding Lynn's reaction."
Lynn sighed, knowing this would be the main topic. "And what exactly is WRONG with my reaction? Why am I supposed to just accept this like it's normal?"
"Because there's nothing wrong with it, Lynn." Lori said angrily. "Who Luna loves does not change her at all."
"Wait... Why are you only just now talking about this?" Luan chimed in. "You've gotten along fine with Clyde's parents, and they're gay."
"W-Well... I mean... It's different with guys!" she shouted out. "Two dudes decide to bone each other? Who cares! But girls should be better than that!"
The other three girls just looked at her with their mouths open, surprised.
"Uhh... what does 'bone each other' mean?" Lincoln asked.
"NOTHING!" Lori shouted out, louder than she intended. "Just... forget you heard that... And Lynn... We'll try and think about this tomorrow. Until then, keep your mouth shut to the others, and ESPECIALLY to Luna!"
"And why would I do that?" Lynn said.
"One, because the three of us are perfectly willing to be witnesses for Luan." Lori said, pointing back to the comedian. "And two, even if you're homophobe or whatever else, you should still have the very basic respect for your sister to not do this to her."
Lynn stood there, angrily thinking about all of this. Why are they being do defensive? Why are they trying to quiet her.
"...Fine! Only because she's my sister!" she finally said. "But I'm only giving you until tomorrow night. After that, I'm going to Mom and Dad!"
As she said that, she angrily stomped out of the room, shutting the door loudly behind her.
Lori sighed. "What are we going to do about this... We need to help Luna come out and accept herself, but we need to deal with Lynn and her homophobia too! We can't do both at once..."
The four still there thought about it. Suddenly, Lincoln walked up to Lisa.
"Hey, Lisa? Do you know anything about psychology?"
Lisa responded with a scoff. "Please. Did Marie Curie have knowledge on ionizing radiation?"
...
"...Yes, Lincoln. I know things about psychology."
"Well, I have an idea, if you're willing to help me. I just need to call a friend, and we can do this tomorrow..."
The next day began about as you'd expect. Luna was still in a good mood. Despite how it happened, she still felt... free after some of her siblings responded positively to her sexuality. Like somebody took some serious weight off her shoulders. Unfortunate that she didn't know that things weren't all happy behind the scenes.
Lynn, being the opposite right now, kept a sour mood. She still couldn't understand how her siblings were so defensive of that... nonsense, that they'd go so far as to threaten her as they did! But sadly, they were winning, and she'd keep her mouth shut for right now.
"Hey, Lynn! Feelin' any better?" Luna said as she practically skipped behind the couch.
"Hrmph." Lynn simply grunted, not wanting to talk to the girl who so betrayed her and her family.
"Oh, guess not... Don't worry, you'll get better soon!"
"Yeah, as soon as I tell Mom and Dad tonight and they put a stop to this bullcrap." she thought to herself.
Lynn sat there, half watching a baseball game, when she heard a knock at the door.
"SOMEONE WANNA GET THAT!?" she yelled out, not wanting to be bothered.
Eventually, she heard someone coming down the stairs. She didn't quite know how she could tell it was Lincoln. But the boy opened the door.
"Hey, Clyde! Glad you could come over."
"I'm here to help however I can, buddy." Lynn heard the other boy say.
Wait, help? They didn't drag him into this mess, did they? Lynn was never too close to Clyde, but she'd hate to have to deal with him being against her, too. With two gay dads, he'd probably be angrier than anyone else.
She tried to listen to the two boys whispering, but couldn't catch what they said. Eventually, they went upstairs.
"So, you need me to help Lisa talk to Lynn? Why?"
Lincoln listened as he walked up the stairs with his friend.
"Well, we're trying to figure out something about her, and we think that, since you know therapy, you could help us out a bit."
"I guess I ca-"
"And... I hate to say this, but I'm worried that it's something you might know better than us."
That caught Clyde's full attention. What could Lynn be dealing with that Clyde knows better than them?
"You see, we recently learned that... one of... Luan's friends..." Lincoln fabricated another half-lie to keep the truth covered for now. "Is bisexual... and we found out that Lynn wasn't quite accepting of it."
"Wait, what?" Clyde said, surprised. "Lynn's a homophobe?"
"Yeah, I think so... But I don't think it's just that simple. We think there's a reason for it."
"Man, I never knew... My parents like her, too... But I'll help!"
As they got to Lisa's door, Lincoln knocked and opened the door, and both boys went in.
After a while, Lincoln came back down the stairs, alone.
"Hey, Lynn? Could you come help me and Clyde with something?"
Lynn looked at him. She was fairly suspicious about this.
"What do you need MY help for? You two don't play sports or anything."
"Well, we kinda wanted you to give us some advice about something. You know... in private?" he responded nervously.
Yeah, this was definitely weird. Lynn and Linc got along and all, but she was never one of his go-to's for advice, unless he was truly desperate and couldn't find help from the other girls.
"Fine, I guess..." Lynn said, reluctantly getting up and following her brother.
They went upstairs silently, and Lynn followed Lincoln as he turned right. She figured he was headed to his room, where Clyde would be waiting, but instead he went to Lisa and Lily's room.
"Uhh... why are we-"
Looking into the room, she saw that there was a long black chair in the middle. Lisa was sitting at one end, at her desk chair. Clyde was sitting at the other end, holding a notepad.
"Good afternoon, Lynn." Clyde said. "Please, sit down."
"Ok..." Lynn walked into the room and sat on the chair. "What the heck is all this?"
"Lincoln and Lisa told me you were having some problems. We want to try and help you."
"Problems? What pro... Oh my God, they told you about it?"
Clyde nodded.
"And I guess you're perfectly fine with Luna dating a chick?"
"LUNA'S THE-" Clyde began to yell out, before Lincoln managed to cover his mouth.
"We hadn't told him THAT much!" Lincoln said.
Lynn's response, however, was to burst into laughter.
"Oh man, this is so rich!" she said between laughs. "You guys brought Clyde in because you thought the guy with gay parents could 'fix' me? There's nothing wrong with me!"
"We believe that your feelings regarding these recent events may stem from something that has happened to you." Lisa explained. "We aren't going to forcefully 'correct' you, we merely want to see if we can help find a solution that is positive for both of us."
Lynn stopped laughing. She glared at her younger sister for a moment.
"Yeah... no. I'm outta here."
As she got up to exit the room, she found herself being tugged back.
"Lynn, please! Come on!" she heard Lincoln saying as he pulled her arm back.
"No, Linc, I'm not doing this crap!"
"Come on, please! For me?"
There he goes, trying the "for me?" thing. Lincoln always used it on his older sisters for stuff, and all the girls would use it on him, Lynn included. She likes to think that she's the only one immune to it, though.
"Just keep walking, Lynn. Don't look back. Don't look ba-"
Unfortunately, she did, and she saw his face, sporting big eyes and a pout that would give Charles a run for his money. Even with her tough exterior being even tougher than usual right now, it melted right though.
"Dang it."
"Fine! I'll play along for 10 minutes. But after that, it's over!" she yelled.
Lynn flopped back down on the seat. Clyde began looking through some notes.
"Ok, Lynn. To start with, why don't you explain your current feelings." he said.
"Take a guess, genius." she snapped back.
"Well, my hypothesis would be that you are feeling agitated and possibly being emotionally influenced by your p-"
"Uhh, Lisa, I think that was rhetorical." Lincoln stopped her.
"...Yes, of course." she responded.
Clyde cleared his throat.
"Ok, well... Lynn, why do you think you feel so upset about Luna's sexuality?"
Lynn sat up. "Because it's gross? It's unnatural? It's freakish? Take your pick. Honestly, you guys should be explaining to me why I SHOULDN'T think it's wrong!"
Lisa and Lincoln both looked over to Clyde, who seemed rather stunned. Lynn noticed and looked over to him to.
"Oh, I didn't mean YOUR dads, Clyde. That's different, their relationship is fi-"
"No, no. I understand." Clyde interrupted her. "I've dealt with this before. Let's just keep digging."
"Now, when do you think you began feeling this way?"
Lynn thought for a moment. She couldn't really pinpoint a starting point.
"Dunno." she said.
"Ok... do you remember the first time you can recall feeling that way?"
Lynn looked back. She knew Luna and Sam wasn't the first time she felt that way... But at the same time, she couldn't think of anything else.
"Now that you mention it, I don't really know that, either..."
Lisa nodded, taking down some notes.
"Yes, as I expected, I believe we will have to try something else... Clyde, could you please fetch the materials Lucy lent us?"
Clyde got up and walked to Lisa's desk, grabbing a small ornate box. The thing gave off a creepy vibe, so Lynn could definitely tell it came from her roommate.
Opening the box, Lisa pulled out what looked like pocket watch, along with a small book that said "Introduction to Hypnosis".
"What? You're gonna try and hypnotize me!? Since when do you believe in that kind of stuff, Lis?" she asked.
"Actually, hypnosis has been shown to ba verified method of psychology. While Lucy's purposes for this kit stem from her superstitious hobbies, I believe I should be able to make proper scientific use of it."
Lynn scoffed. "Yeah, and what are you gonna do? Make me act like a chicken? Brainwash me so I can be some kind of puppet for Luan?"
"Negative. That is the purely ridiculous side of hypnosis. We are merely going to open your mind, so that you can further reach into your memories and we can discuss these topics more effectively. Now, please lay back..."
Lynn considered getting up and leaving. After all, why should she deal with this garbage? But she promised them to play along for 10 minutes, and she has at least been trying to be a girl of her word...
So she, reluctantly, listened, laying back on the seat. She expected Lisa to jump up onto the arm of the chair, dangling the watch inches from her face, but the little girl instead handed it to Lincoln.
"You're gonna make Linc do it?" she asked.
"I feel that Lincoln's voice and presence will be more calming than mine, and be beneficial to the process. Plus, I'm too short to do it." Lisa responded. "He's read the instructions, so I have faith in his ability to do this."
Lynn sighed. "Let's just get this over with."
Lincoln stood at the side of the chair. As Lynn expected, he dangled the watch down, and slowly moved it side to side.
"Ok, Lynn. Focus your eyes on the watch, and your ears on my voice. Drown everything out, and keep your mind clear." the boy said.
Lynn was tempted to just play pretend, get this over worth, and get the F outta here. But for some reason, she felt compelled to listen to her brother's voice. Her eyes stayed on the watch, going back and forth with it. It was kinda creepy how it was always facing her, instead of turning in different directions.
"Now I want you to try and relax. Keep yourself calm, and take some deep breaths. Don't worry about anything else but me and the watch..."
She thought she heard Lisa talking, but it was out of focus, like she was in another room. The watch, she noticed, began to slow down.
"If you're feeling relaxed now, go ahead and close your eyes."
Lincoln noticed that, as he was saying that, Lynn already allowed her eyes to shut. She wasn't asleep though, merely laying there, breathing steadily.
Lisa began to attach what looked like suction cups with wires on them to Lynn's arms and head, being gentle so as to not disturb her. All of the wires went to a small metal box, which Lisa grabbed and carried with her as she walked to sit next to Lincoln.
"She is now prepared." she whispered in Lincoln's ear. "I will speak in whisper now, so as to not risk my voice breaking her current state."
"Ok... Lynn, I'm going to ask you some questions now. Stay relaxed, and answer the best you can..."
Lincoln listened as Lisa continued to whisper.
"Gross! Do we really have to talk about that?" Lincoln whispered back.
Lisa nodded, making Lincoln frown.
"I want you to think back on when you started puberty, Lynn." he said. "What was it like for you?"
Lynn didn't really move or open her eyes, but she began to respond.
"It was really sucky. I felt all cranky, and Mom had to talk to me all about my 'special friend' visiting every month... which really just means a bunch of bleeding and bloating. And she STILL yells at me for not wearing my training bra! It ain't like there's anything there to-"
"OK, OK, THAT'S ENOUGH!" Lincoln said loudly, his skin nearly turning green. "T.M.I., Lynn..."
Lisa's machine began making a few noises, and a green light came on.
"Let's focus on romance... Did you begin to feel attraction to others around you?"
Lynn seemed to think for a moment.
"Kinda, I guess... I did start checking guys out more than usual. I figured out I like guys with nice butts." she said, not really realized it was her brother she was telling these things to.
"Alright..." Lincoln said, still feeling ill. "Now, don't flip out at this question..."
"Were you feeling anything towards girls, too?"
That question caught Clyde's attention. Considering Lynn's open homophobia, she expected her to totally break out of the hypnosis and ruin everything. Quietly, he walked over to Lincoln and Lisa.
"Why are you asking her something like that?" he whispered to them. Lisa was about to respond when Lynn began talking.
"...No. If you're trying to figure out if I'm a lesbian in denial, the answer is no, I'm not."
Lisa looked down at her machine, which still had a green light on. "One of my theories was that Lynn may also be a homosexual or bisexual, but in extreme denial. But it would seem that this is not the case, as you can see by my lie detection device."
Clyde checked out the detector as Lisa resumed giving Lincoln directions.
"...Oh, God! No way am I bringing that up!" he whispered back to Lisa.
"I'm her brother, I'm already learning to much abou- ...Fine. But only to help Luna..."
Lincoln cleared his throat, turning his attention back to Lynn.
"Lynn... Have you been in any romantic or sexual relationships?" he said, barely managing to not choke on the words.
Lynn didn't really even think before responding.
"Nope, never. I don't have time for hand-holding and smooching and all that crap! And sex could throw my game off even IF I had a guy to do it with, so heck no to that!"
Lincoln couldn't help but sigh with relief. However, Lynn continued.
"Besides, it's bad enough all the other girls on my baseball team are getting boyfriends and crap!"
The three couldn't help but take notice of the annoyance in her voice. Why would she care about her teammates getting into relationships?
"Why does that upset you so much?" Lincoln asked. "Did something go wrong?"
"Uhh, yeah it did! It all started a while back..."
It was the second to last practice before our first playoff game. I was the team captain, so it was my job to get the girls kicked into shape!
"Ok, ladies!" I yelled, standing in front of them. "We got one more practice to go, and we want to make sure we're at 150% capacity! So, I expect to see you all here bright and early Saturday, got it!?"
Usually, I'd get a nice little cheer of "Yes, Ma'am!" But today, most of the girls were acting a bit weird.
"Uhh, Lynn? We can't have practice on Saturday." my friend Holly told me.
"Practice is ALWAYS on Saturday! What's so different this time!?" I replied.
That's when Rhonda spoke up.
"Saturday is the Jr. Prom!" she said.
I remember getting pretty peeved by this point.
"So? Who cares if some sissy dance is on Saturday? We're in the play-offs!"
"I care! Francisco already asked me out, and I bought a dress. Sorry, Lynn, but I can't cancel on him!" Rhonda said.
"Yeah, and I'm going with George! It's almost our 3-month anniversary!" Holly said.
After that, probably over half the team started gushing about this crap! All jabbering on about their boyfriends and dresses and make-up! It was like being tortured by a million Lori's!
"Aren't you going to go, Lynn?" someone asked. I don't recall who.
"Uhh, heck no! I've got better things to do than put on a dress and twirl around with some loser for 6 hours!" I yelled at them. "I'm gonna be practicing so we can go to the finals!"
And then, it began.
"Pssh! I bet Lynn didn't even get asked out to the dance!" Laila said. We never liked each other, and she was jealous that I always did better than her.
A few girls started laughing, and then she continued.
"You know, maybe they all thought that Lynn was a boy! That would explain a lot!"
"SHUT UP!" I yelled at her. But they kept laughing at me. "I coulda got any boy I wanted to go with me! I just don't want to!"
"Don't want to? ...Oh, I see!" she said, with this stupid, ugly, evil grin on her face.
"You want us girls to skip the dance so we can get all dirty and sweaty with you... You like girls, don't you!?"
Suddenly, all the girls stopped laughing. I heard a bunch of gasps, and I started to get really mad.
"Uhh, no, I don't like girls!" I said.
"Then how come you're blushing?" Laila replied. I guess I was red 'cause I was angry. "C'mon, Loud, just admit that you're gay!"
I was gonna yell something REALLY bad, but there were whispers coming from my team...
"You know, now that I think about it, I think she checked me out in the locker room once!"
"You think she has a thing for any of her sisters?"
"What if Ronnie Anne Santiago was secretly dating HER, instead of her brother?"
I don't know if anything ever made me that angry before. The whole team thought I was a lesbian now! They were saying all these gross things, making fun of me!
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" I recall yelling, and everything in front of me being a blur, except Laila. And then suddenly, I'm tackling her, throwing her down onto the ground and landing on top of her.
I felt something soft, and I look down and see my hand right on her boob! The one thing she had me beat in, I guess.
"Eww, stop groping me!" she yelled out, grabbing my arm and pulling it off.
"I-I didn't mean to-"
"See, girls! I told you Loud was a dyke!"
Before I could do anything else, I saw the team standing around us. They all started chanting...
"Dyke! Dyke! Dyke! Dyke! Dyke! Dyke! Dyke! Dyke!"
It was all just... so infuriating. I just began growling.
"GrrrrrrrrrrAAHHHHHH!" And then I hit her right in her face. That shut those bitches up real quick.
I hit her a couple more times, and then suddenly I got lifted up off of her. I looked back, And Coach Pacowski was pulling me away.
"What in the Desperate Housewives is goin' on here!?" he yelled.
"Loud tried to sexually assault me!"
"Nuh-uh! I was just gonna REGULAR assault you!" I said back to Laila. I tried to get back at her, but I was still being held away.
"Ok, that's enough! Laila, and the rest of you girls, you go run 10 laps for egging this on! Don't think I didn't hear you all chanting those slurs!"
"And you, Lynn..." Coach said as he put me down. "Since you LIKE running laps, your punishment is to just go home early today! See you on game day!"
"Game day!? But we got one more practice on Saturday!"
"Nah, today was the last one after all. I forgot about the dance! Hope you have fun at it!" he said. And then I heard him mumble something like "I wonder if Agnes will chaperone with me."
I was just really mad, though, and I stormed off. Right at the edge of the field, I walked past these two girls. I knew one of them from class, this emo chick named Margie or something. And she was holding hands with another girl.
Seeing them after all of that suddenly made me even angrier
"OUTTA MY WAY, QUEERS!"
I pushed one of them out of my way and went right by. And then-
"Ok, Lynn, that's enough." Lincoln said. The girl stopped talking.
"Man, I wasn't expecting all of that." Clyde whispered to the group. "That Laila girl sounds really nasty."
Lisa was deep in thought, and didn't really respond right away. Lincoln went back to speaking to Lynn.
"So, is that the first time you can recall feeling angry at anyone for feeling gay?"
Lynn stayed silent for a moment.
"...Yeah, I guess that's the first." she responded.
"That's that, then." Clyde said. "She's homophobic because of what her baseball team did to her... As much as I hate to say this, I can get how it happened..."
"Hold on." Lisa finally spoke up. "I have one more question to ask before we settle our conclusion."
"Lynn!" she said, speaking up so the girl could hear her. "Who is Francisco?"
Although Lynn's eyes were still closed, she visibly showed confusion.
"Uhh, he's the dude I have a crush on from my baseball team. Remember? I told you all about him before!"
BEEP!
The machine in Lisa's hands made a small noise, and the light turned red. Lincoln and Clyde both gasped, while Lisa continued.
"But there are two contradictions present, Lynn. One, you have been referring to the baseball team in your story as being all-female. And two, Francisco was mentioned as the name of another girl's love interest."
Lynn nervously shifted. "W-Well, I... I must've been confused."
BEEP!
"He's actually on the football-"
BEEP!
"H-He didn't return my-"
BEEP!
"OK!"
Lynn shot up out of the chair, opening her eyes. The stress removed her from hypnosis.
"Ok... I'll tell you the truth..." she said. "There is... There is no Francisco..."
The trio looked to the device, which didn't beep. Instead, the light turned green again.
"But..." Lincoln started. "Why did you make him up? Who was your crush during that whole love letter thing?"
Lynn simply sighed.
"I... I didn't have a crush during that. I made it all up. I don't even know a guy named Francisco, I just picked the name I remember one of the girls saying..."
"Why make up the crush, though?"
"Cause I didn't want to be left out! You were all so excited about it... Even Luna got her hopes up! How could I tell you all that I never had a crush on anyone!?"
"Never... You never had a crush before?" Clyde asked. Lynn seemed to become sadder.
"No... I haven't..." The machine didn't beep. "I don't even know what it's like... Sure, I've found guys hot and stuff, but I never really... You know... LIKE liked anyone before. I didn't want you guys to know that I'm some sort of freak like that."
"Aromantic."
Everybody turned to Lisa's voice.
"Aero-what?" Lincoln asked.
"Aromantic. A term for an individual who experiences little or no romantic feelings or attractions toward others. It is independent from sexual orientation."
"See!?" Lynn yelled. "There's even a science-y label for it! I really am just some kind of weirdo!"
Lynn began to do something that the others rarely saw from her. The last time of note being when Nana, Pop-Pop's wife, died.
She began crying.
Clyde just sat in stunned silence, this view being completely new to him. Lisa was taking notes. Lincoln, however, walked forward, slowly reaching out and hugging his sister.
"Lynn, we don't think you're a freak..."
Lynn allowed herself to be hugged, lifting an arm around her brother to wipe tears from her eyes.
"Y-y-you don't?"
"No, of course not! No matter who you like, or even if you don't like anyone, you're still a part of our family. We still love you, and we always will."
Lynn continued sobbing into her brother's shoulder as he plucked a few of the lie detector wires off of her. Eventually, she lifted herself out of the hug.
"Th-thanks, Lincoln..." she said, wiping her eyes with her arm again.
"Now... I need to ask you something difficult, Lynn." the boy said.
"Wh-what?"
"Now that we've gotten all of this out... Do you think that, maybe, you know what Luna is going through?"
Lynn, still sobbing a little, didn't answer right away, just looking around at the three watching her expectantly.
"Luna..." She finally said. "Oh my God... I was so... I was so horrible! She doesn't deserve that..."
"It's ok, Lynn." Lincoln said. "Now that you're over it... why don't you help us help her? That way, you can support her and be the great younger sister she DOES deserve?"
Lynn couldn't help but smile a bit. "O-ok, I can do that..."
"Most excellent!" Lisa said. "If I may, shall I propose that we celebrate these uplifting results with some ice cream?"
"Sure!" Lincoln said. "Ice cream for all of us! And then we can get together with Lori and Luan to start planning!"
The three Louds cheered as they exited the room. Behind them, Clyde stopped to think.
"I didn't really help out all that much..." he said to himself. Meanwhile, Lincoln looked back into the room.
"You can still get ice cream with us, buddy!" he said.
"Well... OK!" Clyde said as he followed them out.
Well, it's good to see Lynn feeling a little better about it all. I only wish more people with resentment in their hearts could be cured in one good session of amateur therapy.
Now, there'll be one more chapter in this section, but it'll be more of an epilogue. After that, we'll likely go back to the one-shot formula I pretty much forgot about after my Lana story for a while. Since we're now over the halfway-point with the Loud girls, I think our favorite halfway-point will be the subject I use next.