Chapter Synopsis: The Louds head back to school
The 2-week respite is over, the dreaded words no adolescent should ever have to hear echoes off the walls of the Loud house. Those words?
"Back to school!"
A collective groan is heard from all the Loud siblings. After packing away a literal mountain of homework between the (now) 10 of them. They each head off to their respective schools. Lincoln, Lucy, Lola, and Lisa head to the Royal Woods Elementary School. As for why Lisa is tagging along? Well, take it from her, she would rather be working on solutions that would benefit humankind, but even though she has a medical doctorate from an esteemed university, she IS still 4 years old, and society expects her to be in kindergarten, so unfortunately for her, she has to be there to avoid truancy charges. Lisa is not amused by this societal norm.
Lincoln escorts his younger siblings to their respective classrooms. Once he gets to Lola's classroom, he talks to her.
"Are you going to be alright?" Lincoln questions
"Yes, Linky. Are you?" Lola responds with another question
"Yeah, I'll be fine, we've had 2 weeks to air out our grievances. I think it's time for us to have some semblance of normalcy in the aftermath of the tragedy."
Lincoln glances over at the clock. Oh no! He only has 1 minute to hightail it to Mrs. Johnson's class before he's counted absent! He speeds down the hallways and bursts through the doors, he takes his seat next to his best friend Clyde with 8 seconds to spare! The bell rings and Mrs. Johnson enters.
"So, Slick…what plan did you have to not be tardy on your first day back?" Clyde smugly asks Lincoln
"Didn't have one, I just raced down here as fast as possible." Lincoln responds
"Alright, class. Let's continue on with our psychoanalysis unit. Lincoln, I believe you have something to give me?" Mrs. Johnson asks
Lincoln walks up to her and gives her a large stack of homework.
"Good luck."
"Alright then, first, we'll continue to explore the- "
Mrs. Johnson's lecture is interrupted by the intercom suddenly becoming operational…
"Lincoln Loud, principal Huggins would like to see you in his office, now." The school's secretary, Cheryl, announces
Every student in Lincoln's class, with the exception of Clyde, let out a teasing "ooh". This denotes that everyone thinks Lincoln is in trouble. Considering that principal Huggins considers him a juvenile delinquent that disrupts the "sanctity of a formal education", this might not be far from the truth…Lincoln leaves Mrs. Johnson's classroom and heads down to the principal's office. He opens the door and sits down. An older man with a slightly receding hairline and a mustache turns to face him, he's wearing his signature dark-green jacket and sky-blue tie over a white t-shirt (You can hear his ominous theme in the background). This would be the principal of Royal Woods Elementary, Wilbur T. Huggins!
"Loud, I just have one thing to say…"
Lincoln is so afraid that Huggins is finally going to expel him for disrupting the learning environment.
"…welcome back."
"Huh?" Lincoln questions
"I just wanted to offer my condolences to your family."
"So, you AREN'T going to expel me?"
"EXPEL YOU?!" Principal Huggins says, flabbergasted "I may consider you a delinquent, Loud, but you haven't committed any offenses that would even come close to receiving expulsion! Usually, detention is more than enough to set you straight. Remember the Anura Insanity incident of March 14, 2017?"
"Anura insanity?"
"Yeah, you stole 50 frogs from the school and hid them with Lana. I gave you a week of detention of after I recovered them from your house. Although…I should have given you a DAY of detention and given Lana a WEEK, since it was HER plan, and you just went along with it. If your sister HADN'T shown me that heartstring pulling video she made, well…we'd be down 50 frogs. But hey, they would've died in the name of science, so it's ok!"
"Lana proved to you it ISN'T ok, though."
"Right, Loud. Now I expect great things from you. Mrs. Johnson told me you're one of her best students. That's all I have to say to you. Go back to class."
Lincoln leaves principal Huggins' office and heads back to class. It seems like he's a lot nicer ever since they worked together on that Ace Savvy fanfiction for a "meet the creator" contest. Who knew that the creator, Bill Buck, was principal Huggins' childhood hero? Lincoln and his sisters also got to meet Bill, but the experience was sort of diminished when Lola tried to work out some sort of merchandising deal with Bill concerning Lincoln's OC that he based off of her, the Queen of Diamonds. Speaking of Lola, we should see how she's doing.
Just like that depressed drifter drowning his sorrows with Flippee's™ at Flip's Food and Fuel said, the 1st grade has become less like a school and more like a prison. The students are inmates, the warden is the teacher, the gross food is well, prison food (though ironically, prison food tastes better than school food), the desks are jail cells and recess is "The Yard", so yeah, school has become prison for these first graders.
"Oh no, the Queen of Mean is back."
"As if we aren't miserable enough."
"There's no silver lining this time."
"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."
"I'm gonna make a jump for it."
One of the students tries to commit suicide by jumping out the window. It fails horribly because the window is made from reinforced plexiglass and the classroom is on the first floor, so even if they broke the window and escaped, a truancy officer would just arrest them and put them back in jail, I mean class.
"Class, we have a new student joining us today, everyone, this is Leif." The teacher said sweetly
"Hello, Leif." the students said in deadpan tone indicative of people who have lost the will to go on
"Why don't you sit next to Lola?" The teacher asks nicely
The boy agrees and sits next to Lola. He looks like the spitting image of Lana; The only difference is that his shirt is sky blue instead of sickly green like Lana's was. One of the students talks to him.
"You poor soul, you have to sit next to Lola Loud."
"What are you talking about?"
"Lola is known as the Queen of Mean by everyone in this school!"
"Really? But she looks so sad…"
"That's because her twin sister died recently."
"Oh…"
"We're sad that Lana's gone too. She made this place seem not so bad, even with Lola's tyranny over us."
"Kid, follow my advice, AVOID LOLA! She is NOT in the mood to talk. If you do…well, it was nice knowing you."
"Lola?" The teacher chimes in "Do you have your homework?"
Lola walks up and deposits a large stack of homework. She heads back to her desk.
"Alright, let's play a game of word association to raise your spirits! I say a word, and you say the first word that comes to mind, ready?" The teacher said, trying vainly to convince the students to persevere with school
The 12 students begin to ponder the word they're going to associate…
"School" The teacher said
"Prison"
"Hell"
"Suicide"
"Suffering"
"Torture"
"Tyranny"
"Confinement"
"Unappetizing"
"Misery"
"Pain"
"Melancholy" Lola states
"Friendship" Leif states
"Wow, Leif!" The teacher says, impressed "That was the only response that wasn't depressing!"
"Hey kid, since you feel that way, can you try to befriend Lola?" One of the students said in a mocking tone
The classroom bells ring, it's lunchtime! Yes, food that's somehow WORSE than prison food! Before Lola heads down to the cafeteria, Leif catches up with her.
"Hey, Lola…" Leif avers nervously
"Oh, new kid, it's you." Lola states solemnly "What do you want?"
"Do you want to be friends with me?" Leif asks
Lola is absolutely stunned! No one would EVER want to be her friend, especially with the way she acted towards them in the past. And yet, some random kid had enough bravery to walk up to THE Lola Loud and ask her something.
"…I don't know. I'm usually not this nice in person. I just need some time to myself." Lola responds
"I heard what the other kids were saying? You had a twin sister?"
"Yes."
"What was her name?"
…
"Lana"
"I had a twin brother too, his name was Lexx, he spelled it with 2 "x's" because he thought it would make him sound cooler. Actually… you kind of look like him."
"You kind of look like Lana, too. I was too preoccupied with other stuff to notice the teacher say your name, what was it?"
"Leif"
"Leaf? That sounds like a girl's name! But…ok, I won't judge you for it, nice to meet you, Leif."
"I don't want to sound like I'm trying to pry into your life or anything but…I'm curious…how did Lana die?"
Lola starts to cry. Apparently, Leif must have struck a nerve! He quickly tries to backpedal.
"If it's too traumatic for you, you don't have to tell me! I don't you to relive any painful memories! Look, I lost my twin too, so I thought I could help you overcome your grief!"
"You lost your twin too? How?"
"Accidental drowning. He wandered to the deep end of the pool, me and my older sister tried to revive him, but it was too late. I blamed myself for it for a time, but I realized there was nothing I could have done to prevent it." Leif explained "Alright, do you want to stop the conversation, because I can continue on if you want me to."
"Let's continue." Lola reassured him "Since you told me about your twin's death, I'll tell you about mine, it was a firecracker discharge."
"4th of July celebration gone horribly wrong?" Leif questions
"No, it happened on April 26."
"What happened?"
"I don't know! I just heard a bunch of explosions nearby, so I joined my siblings to find out what was going on, but our parents wouldn't tell us. I now know it was because they didn't want us to realize the awful truth. I had just reconciled with her just before it happened, too."
"I'm sorry, Lola. My brother, Lexx wanted to be an actor. He joined our previous school's drama club. He was pretty decent at it. I think he would have been content with any job in the film industry though, of course, the lead role was preferred, but he would take director and cinematographer, as well. Once, we had to help him finish a theater production. So, while he was fine-tuning his acting, me and Levi were working behind the scenes to make sure the film went smoothly. Levi taught me how to operate all the special effects and how to manipulate green screens in the background. The movie went well and Lexx got an A plus!"
"Really?"
"Yeah, what did Lana want to be when she grew up?"
"She had 3 choices, plumber, veterinarian and steamfitter. Lana always loved fixings things. So, repairing pipe infrastructure seemed like a good fit. Lana also loved animals, so being a vet seemed like a great choice. But, she also had a human anatomy book, I think she also had doctor in the back of her mind. Though, I don't think Lana would be patient enough to last through 12 years of med school…"
"I wouldn't underestimate her, I think she could've done it."
"Yeah, you're right. But what do YOU want to be when you grow up, Leif?"
"Well, I love being in nature and the great outdoors. I consider myself an outdoorsy adventurer. So maybe a park ranger or a trail guide. I also love helping people, so those 2 would probably be the best choices for me, now, what about you, Lola?"
"I possess a commanding aura and am great with people, so anything involving mass communications would seem like a good fit. But I also think I'm most likely going to be pursing something in the business field. So, putting 2 and 2 together, it seems like maybe marketing is the best fit for me." Lola ascertains to Leif
"Well, I look forward to seeing your creativity for whatever future company you decide to work in, Lola." Leif confidently states "Now, back to my original question: Do you want to be friends with me?"
"Yes…I'd love to be friends with you, Leif." Lola answered "So, shall we head to the cafeteria?"
"Sure" Leif responds back
Author's Note: When Lola says that Leaf is a girl's name, she's referencing the games Pokémon Firered and Pokémon Leafgreen, the generation 1 remakes. "Leaf" is the default name of the female protagonist in the remakes. They should have either changed her name to "Green", since the original protagonist from gen 1 was named "Red" by default, or change Red's name to "Fire", because "Leaf" is the name of the female protagonist in the remakes. Though, it would be weird calling Red "Fire". Lola could also be a human resources manager when she grows up, that would give her the authority to fire people, and we all know how much Lola Loud likes to be in control.