Chapter 638.

"A choice on Spokes."

(July 30. The Loud House.)

Seems like the usual and simple day for the folks at the Loud House. Lori is with Jessica at the restaurant helping out, and Leni is hanging out with her friends and that would leave Luan in charge of the house, because Lynn Sr is at his job and Rita is at her job as well.

Lincoln comes out of his room and then he closes the door and he takes a moment to think about what he along with the others have chosen, and so he goes down the stairs. He spots the twins watching TV, and Lily playing next to the snoozing Black Panther, Bernardo.

Michelle comes from the dining room with a basket of laundry. "Oh, hey there Lincoln. Headed to the park?"

Lincoln nods. "Yeah, I have to meet up with the others, and then we're gonna go and speak with… Rusty Spokes, on what we have chosen, and I did also told this to Ronnie Anne and Sid, and they have their own choices, and one of them is to never ever let Rusty near their home or each other."

Lola scoffs. "Well, if you ask me Linky. Rusty doesn't deserve anything. After what he did to make himself into the mess he is now, he doesn't deserve any form of respect. He's a living joke, at least his little brother has more class that he does."

Lincoln didn't like how she spoke about that, but then Lucy comes out of nowhere and startles them. "Lola, we don't know for sure if Rusty deserves anything from everyone or not. We know he did something stupid that got him into trouble and into a joke, but we can't be sure."

"Also, might I remind you that Rusty Spokes is the friend… Well, currently former friend of our brother, so this is the choice of Lincoln, and his friends and not ours." Lucy looks to Lincoln. "You sure that this choice that you and you're friends made is wise?"

Lincoln sighs. "We're not fully sure. We spoke about it the other day, when we visited Great Lakes City and after we met they're Grandpa Danny. We did a video chat with the others back in town, and they agreed alongside Ronnie Anne and Sid."

Lana then stands up. "Still cool, that this Danny Grandpa can do some awesome stuff! Sure would like to meet him."

Lincoln chuckles. "Maybe next time, I'm gonna head out now. Later everyone."

Lola then calls out. "Lincoln, if you do plan to make that moron your friend again, whatever you do, do not ever invite him into this house or anywhere with us involved!"

Lincoln ignores her and he rides off, Michelle looks to Lola confused. "Lola, this is not your choice."

Lola then goes back to watching TV. "You guys do realize this is Rusty Spokes right? Having here in the house is a major red light and the others wouldn't want him here either." They all wanna talk back to that, but Lola does make a clear and valid point.

(Ketcham Park.)

Lincoln arrives in the Park. He spots Luna and Sam by the picnic bench, along with Sully and Mazzy and they're talking about this brand new song that Luna has planned, and they try to find the right tune to make it sound right.

Lincoln walks into the Park with his bike and then he spots his friends. All of them gathered by the fountain. Jordan, Ryan, Gretchen, Hope, Angel, Mark, Simon, Stella, Clyde, Chloe, Liam, Tabby, Zach, Giggles, Emma, Renee, Paige, Lance, Trent, Artie, Joy, Kat, Cookie, Jenny, Flat Tire, Richie, Cristina, Chad, Darrel, Delilah, Mollie and Sadie.

Lincoln goes over to them. "So, are we all ready for this?" They all nod, then Lincoln looks around. "Any word from Polly?"

Renee answers that one. "Polly is… Well, she doesn't seem to wanna, ever… Hang out with us." This shocks Lincoln and he looks towards her, and the others also have nervous looks.

Paige then speaks. "Polly, we did speak to her, and even Haiku, Giggles and Tabby tried. But nothing, Polly doesn't wanna talk to us, and she said…. She said that she's out of the Royal Woods Cool Crew, she said that as long as Rusty Spokes is with us, she doesn't want any part of it."

Jordan then speaks. "But she did inform me, that she's still part of the Royal Woods Eagles, and that she'll continue playing dodge ball with us. Also, she doesn't wanna be on any team with Rusty when we have another dodge ball session at school, so that means she wants to beat him up."

Lincoln sighs, and he pinches the bridge of his nose. "Well, that is bad news. Well, we should speak with Rusty now. Where is he?"

"Over there." Clyde points out where he is and they go over towards him. Rusty is by the pond and skipping stones, but all the stones fall into the pond and sink and this makes him feel upset with himself.

'Great, just great Rusty Spokes. You made things worse, Rocky doesn't wanna look up to me, and doesn't even wanna talk to dad, and mom is the only person he would rather interact with. He doesn't wanna be anywhere near me, and I'm getting so many bad comments from everyone.'

'Well, at my dad and mom aren't getting pitted from my issues, and same goes with Rocky. This was all my fault, and I caused this mess that nearly ruined my family's social life, and now my social life is going down the drain. I doubt anyone wants to be my friend at this point.'

'The whole dang world has probably seen the footage of what I did. Dang puberty and on those dang video game characters who are hot as heck. I made a mess and ruined everything, this is not gonna be an easy life for me anymore. I wonder what the others will think.'

'I mean, I can't blame them if they don't wanna be my friend anymore. It makes sense why they wouldn't wanna talk to me ever again, but for Polly to…' He touches the bandage from where he got the punch. 'I lost her… I lost Polly 'Pain' Wilder. Well, looks like your single again, Rusty spokes.'

"Rusty Spokes." the boy turns around and sees all of his friends and he feels nervous seeing all of them, and some of them look to him sternly and the girls look unpleased by his presence. Lincoln speaks again. "We came with the choice, and we talked about it the other day at Great Lakes City."

Rusty didn't like where this was going, but he knew he had to accept what would happen next for him.

Clyde goes on to talk first. "Rusty, we have known each other since we became friends in the 5th Grade. We've had issues of when Lincoln kept hanging out with you and Zach and Liam and I were pretty chill with Zach being our pal, and you were kinda annoying."

Liam is next to speak. "Because if I have to be honest, and I have to. You kept ranting to us about being the ladies' man, when clearly you ain't. We watched you try and woo some ladies, and none of them worked, even when the Sadie Hawkins Dance started for us, and it turned down bad for the crew."

Zach speaks after him. "But it was Lincoln who brought us the ladies, and yet after all of that you said that this was your plan. When clearly, the whole thing wasn't. You always try to be cool and come up with some excuse to be awesome and prove something, but it's gonna end so horribly."

Jordan goes next, even though she doesn't want to. "You were the kinda kid who wanted to make a meaning of yourself, but made a fool of yourself. Then we all became one big group of friends, and all because I met with Lincoln on that day of May 9. We had to tolerate you and you're ways."

Mollie was next. "Even though you have been trying to ease up on the whole thing of you being the ladies' kinda guy, it still got on some of our nerves. Some of us have been thinking if you could stop acting like that, but we know it was your dad's doing because he's a bigger dork than you are."

Jenny then mentions. "She is not wrong, Roland Spokes was a total joke and nitwit back in his Elementary, Middle School and High School Days. He never was a guy with talent, skills and popularity. He literally sucked, sorry Rust."

Rusty sighs. "No, no. It's all good. I know about it, and…. I guess my biggest mistake, was to follow in my dad's advice. He did make me into him, and it… The whole thing makes me feel like literal garbage."

Lincoln then talks. "Rusty, we made the decision that you can still be part of the group. But the term of friend, is a thing that can't be yours anymore. I mean, you can be there as the guy whose sorta with us, but we're not calling you our friend. Because some of us don't like you, after what you did."

"Some of us still see you as someone who can be redeemed, but redemption is a task that'll take a long, long way. I voted to give you the chance, and same with Clyde, Liam, and Zach and… Well, Flat Tire. But the others… They all don't seem to agree, we're nearly outnumbered with the vote, sorry dude."

Rusty looks to the others, and they all do not like him, much. Even former Music Club leader, Darrel is disgraced by what Rusty did, and he saw the talent in Rusty for the piano. Then he asks. "So, is this fine with you, Rusty?"

Rusty nods. "Yeah, this is fine and makes sense too. I mean, I was chill about you guys not being my friend. I made some dumb choices and wrong moves. I guess it seemed fair for me to be left with no pals to chill with."

Sadie is about to speak, but Jordan stops her. "Yeah, we get it Rusty. You can be part of the group, but not in the name of being our friend. Do you understand?"

Rusty nods. "Yeah, all cool. Also, everyone saw the video of Linc talking to my little bro, Rocky." He then looks towards Lincoln. "Thanks man."

Lincoln nods. "Rocky had nothing to do with what you did, and needs friends who can support him and have his back. So, how did your folks feel about that video?"

Rusty sighs. "Well, my mom is glad that she's not getting the stink eye from others. My dad however, he's sorta getting bad eyes from everyone, and they are being careful with their kids going near him, and even teen girls are avoiding him at all costs. They're afraid of his dumb advice, and I can't blame them."

"My dad was the reason for who I am now. Rocky was not influenced by him, and he made his own choices and seems to be in the chill ways as my mom is. At least the family is still together, because I don't know what would happen if… If the whole thing ended in a divorce."

They all couldn't imagine that either. Because they know that Rocky wouldn't want any part of Rusty or Roland spokes if the divorce did actually happen. Lincoln then looks to the daylight and then his watch. "Well, I guess we said what we wanted. See you guys around."

Lincoln, along with Jordan, Gretchen, Ryan and Hope ride off on their bikes, and soon the others do as well. They all have other stuff to do, leaving Rusty alone. 'Well, at least they didn't ditch me after what I did. But I will do what I can to earn back their trust and also their forgiveness.'

'I'm such a mess for what I did. At least some part of my social life isn't a messed up thing anymore. Time for me to try and make a change, and maybe… Maybe Polly won't be so mad at me anymore… Wait, I forgot to ask them if Polly was still in the group!'

As they all go along with what they plan to do, they all didn't notice a lady hiding in the bushes and she looks towards Lincoln and the others ride off, using her binoculars. 'So, you think that you can say no to me and not let me take what I need for my greatest discovery?!'

'Well, you will regret not making that deal. I will get those eggs, and I will be remembered and Incognito Labs will be revived and everything I have worked on will be back in action. The rest of you, are not worth the history or anything to the world! Not even the FutureTech will stop me!'

She goes back into hiding, she comes out of the bushes and runs off, but she accidently steps on the tail of a Houndoom and the large fiery demon horned dog growls at her with its mouth on fire.

"Umm, nice fire dog?"

To be continued…

A/N: Well, Rusty is still their friend, sorta. He's gonna need to do something to prove he can be their friend once more, and trust is not an easy thing to deal with. He made himself into a fool, and made himself into a joke, and got into trouble. But how can he fix this issue? I guess we'll see where else this goes. Leave a review and tell me what you all think.

Date made: 6/24/21.