The Loud House/Casagrandes FanFiction

A Rough Phase - ACT III

Maria sat herself down on Ronnie Anne's bed, while her daughter stood in front of her with a tense, slightly nervous look on her face. Sid was standing behind her bestie as the two Santiago ladies began to converse.

"So, what is it you wanted to tell me?" the mother asked.

"Okay, it's confession time… mom, do you remember when we lived back in Royal Woods?"

"Yes, what about it? Are you feeling homesick?"

"What?! No no, living here is great! It's just, I wanted to talk to you about something, or some things, I did back then."

"Oh…" Maria then replied, raising her eyebrow as her curiosity grew.

"You see, I kept this side of me hidden from you back then because I was worried that you'd be mad with me… or even worse, ashamed."

"Ashamed? Of what?" Maria questioned.

"Back in Royal Woods, I wasn't the little saint you thought I was! In fact, I was a bit of a bully! I hate to admit it, and I still wish I could take it back, but… yeah, I was kind of a jerk back in Royal Woods." Ronnie Anne revealed.

"But she did realise she was wrong, and she apologised to everyone she bullied, and…" Sid then said in defence of her friend, but was cut off.

"Sid, it's okay. I've got this!" Ronnie Anne told her.

Maria then sat there in silence, gradually forming a sterner and sterner expression on her face as her daughter continued to elaborate.

"I guess I just felt a little lonely back then, and I used to take out my frustrations on the other kids, especially Lincoln. Sometimes I wonder if I truly deserve a friend like him. Anyway, I just thought you had a right to know about what I was up to back then. So, are you angry?" Ronnie Anne then finished with a question, reluctantly awaiting the response from her parent.

The Santiago mother then stood up and walked two steps forward towards her daughter, still retaining the stern and serious look on her face, before dropping to one knee and looking Ronnie Anne in the face, eye to eye. Ronnie Anne and Sid looked on and waited for the inevitable scalding of a lifetime. But then…

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Ronnie Anne and Sid then looked on, completely weirded out by Maria's laughter…

"Um, okay… that wasn't exactly the reaction I was expecting." Ronnie Anne said.

"Sorry, it's just that it's really amusing. You looked so scared right there." Maria claimed.

"Right… it's just that I didn't expect you to find it funny."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Ronalda. It's just that, quite honestly, your confession really doesn't surprise me as much as you probably thought it would. In fact, this is something I've been half expecting to happen for quite some time." Maria told her.

"What do you mean?"

"Ronnie Anne, let me explain. You see, you're not exactly the only one in this family to have a bit of a hidden rough side. I had that same fire in my gut at your age, too."

Ronnie Anne and Sid then adopted a very surprised and shocked expression on each of their faces in response to Maria's confession.

"Mom?!"

"Ronnie Anne's mom?!"

"It's true. You're not the only one who's been keeping this side of herself a secret from the rest of the family. To this day, I've never told your Abuela about it, but I actually had a bit of a phase myself where I was a real tough girl!" Maria elaborated.

"Get out!?" Ronnie Anne said, still struggling to absorb this information.

"Who would have guessed that?!" Sid followed.

"*Sigh* Let me explain…" Maria then softly said as she sat down with her daughter on the bed and began to elaborate on the matter.

Maria then began to recollect her childhood memories via mental flashbacks as she shared her past with her daughter.

"Some years ago, when I was around the same age as you were when we lived in Royal Woods, I had a brief phase when I was the toughest girl in school…"

Maria then began to remember her 11-year-old self. She was dressed in a plain white tank top, with a black leather jacket worn above it. She was also wearing blue jeans and big black boots. She very much looked the part of a little thug, someone who wasn't to be messed with. She even sported the grin of arrogance blended with intimidation that was expected from someone playing that role.

"I used to do some pretty nasty stuff to the other kids. I gave them atomic wedgies, I played mean pranks on them, I threatened to beat them up if they didn't give me their lunch money, I even poured hot soup down their pants!"

"*Yeowch*! And I thought shoving sloppy joes down there was rotten enough!" Ronnie Anne commented mid-story.

"Anyway… there was one kid I used to prey on more than the rest. A little boy named George Mild. And no, before you ask, it wasn't because I had a crush on him or anything like that! It was mainly just because, well… his reactions were the most overblown and hysterical. He was a sensitive kid and it was easy to push his buttons, and with me being a bully, that was exactly the sort of prey I was looking for."

The boy in question was a timid looking child with light blonde hair and a blue shirt, as well as green shorts and white sneakers. She remembered him rolling over and taking her abuse until he finally reached his breaking point.

"George took a lot of punishment from me. Looking back, I really was a jerk to him, he didn't deserve all those things I did to him. Anyway, even for someone as passive and forgiving as he was, everyone has their limits. One day, after I sabotaged his chance at winning a science competition he had worked so hard on with one of my little pranks, he said that was the last straw!"

"Woah! You mean…?" Ronnie Anne interjected again.

"Yes! He challenged me to settle it once and for all! The whole school gathered around us in the playground to watch us battle it out! George didn't back down, he was finally standing up for himself. Committing to it, he went straight for me…"

"And… let me guess. He beat you in front of everyone, and that taught you a lesson about not being a bully?" Ronnie Anne predicted.

"*Pfft* No! I whooped his butt! Anyway, that's not the point…" Maria clarified, before shifting her focus back towards her story.

"Let's just say that I might have went just a little overboard in that fight… like, to the point where I ended up putting him in the hospital." Maria awkwardly admitted.

"WHAT?!" Ronnie Anne and Sid blurted out in response.

"I know, I know… not my proudest moment! I mean, they weren't really serious injuries or anything, just a few broken bones, but the whole thing was enough for me to finally realise that what I was doing was wrong, and that I needed to change my ways! I was suspended for two weeks by the school and grounded for a month after your Abuela found out what I did, which I think was more than fair, but not before I was forced to apologise to George and his parents."

Maria then had memories of visiting the boy she had beaten in his hospital bed, sporting all the wounds and bruises she had inflicted upon him, and feeling very sorrowful and remorseful over her actions.

"Thankfully, they were a very forgiving family, but I wasn't going to let myself off the hook so easily after what I did! I made a deal with your Abuela that if she would allow me to go out of the house occasionally during my grounding period, I would use it to visit George in the hospital and keep him company while he got better. It was the least I could do for him."

"Anyway, in case you ever wondered why I became a nurse, that's the reason why. While I was at the hospital with George, I watched as the nurses there took great care of him, nurtured him, helped him to get better… I came to admire and respect what they did. It was there and then that I decided… I wanted to be just like them. In a way, I guess you could say my days as a bully shaped me into who I am today. I softened up over time and grew up to be who I am now… just like you're softening up now we're here in the city."

"Wow, I can't believe it! Here I was, worrying about what you'd think when you found out I had a mean streak, and it turns out, compared to you, I was nothing!" Ronnie Anne reflectively stated.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that… *Psst* but between you and me, if you picked a fight with me when I was your age, I would have creamed you." Maria then leaned over and quietly joked in her daughter's ear.

"I still think this is weird!" Sid commented.

"Yeah, I mean, I never would have expected this from you…" Ronnie Anne said.

But then Ronnie Anne recalled a few instances which indicated her mother was more boisterous and rough around the edges than she realised, like when she rocked out furiously after struggling to gently play the harp, or all the times she was seen roughhousing with her brother, Carlos Sr.

"Actually, come to think of it, maybe it makes more sense than I'm giving it credit for." she admitted.

"Look, the reason I'm telling you all this… is because I want you to know that having a checkered past or a bit of a rough side doesn't make you a bad person. What matters is who you are, right here and now!" Maria reassured her.

"Yeah! And since I've known you, you've always been the coolest, kindest, most awesome friend ever!" Sid proudly declared.

"It's true. I'm not ashamed of you, Ronalda. I'm proud! I'm proud of you for telling me the truth, but I'm even more proud of you for how much you've changed and grown as a person. You came to understand that bullying was wrong all by yourself, and it didn't take anything nearly as extreme as a brutal fistfight to make it happen, at least to my knowledge. I understand it was a struggle for you back in Royal Woods, given how Bobby and I were out of the house a lot… and I guess the divorce didn't help, either. Your behaviour was wrong, but you knew that, and you took action to make sure you didn't repeat your mistakes! How could I possibly be ashamed of that?" Maria inspiringly told her daughter.

Ronnie Anne formed a tear of happiness in her eye that she wiped off with her finger, moved by her mother's praises.

"I guess it was a good move coming to live here in the city. You've got so many people in your life now, and that's brought out the best in you." Maria then said.

"She's right!" Sid followed.

"Aww, thanks you guys, that means the world to me." Ronnie Anne replied, before the three girls embraced in a heart-warming hug.

During the evening, after Sid had returned home upstairs, and the rest of the Casagrande family had retreated to their respective bedrooms, Ronnie Anne was using her laptop in her room to talk to an old friend.

"Hey, Ronnie Anne!"

"Hey, Lincoln!"

"So, what's up?"

"Oh, not much. Just thinking about my time back in Royal Woods."

"Heh, yeah. I sometimes do that, too. Trust me, you gave me more than enough memories back then."

"Yeah, about that, I just wanted to say sorry." Ronnie Anne then said.

"Sorry? For what? I already told you I forgive you for bullying me back then." Lincoln reminded her.

"Yeah, I didn't mean about that."

"Then what do you mean?" he curiously asked.

"SHE MEANS THIS!" a third voice then suddenly shouted.

Lincoln then turned around to receive a pie to the face, courtesy of his prankster sister, Luan.

"Ha ha ha ha ha! Yeah, that's the thing, I called Luan just before I turned my laptop on. It was the perfect way to get you to let your guard down, and then…" Ronnie Anne explained.

"Ha, ha! Okay, you got me real good, Ronnie Anne! But I prepared something for you, too." Lincoln then replied, his cocky and devilish grin appearing through all the cream on his face.

"Huh?" she asked before turning around to receive a face full of make-up.

Lincoln then laughed loudly as he could see Ronnie Anne's face now resembled a weird, botched cross between a clown and a pretty princess.

"Ha ha ha ha ha! You see, that's the thing. I called your cousin Carl just before I contacted you. It was the perfect way to get one over on you."

But as Carl stood there with the make-up kit in his hands, his cocky and amused grin suddenly transformed into that of pure dread and terror after he heard his sister yell his name…

"CARL!"

"Uh-oh!"

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY MAKE-UP KIT?!"

"I gotta go…!" Carl said as he quickly dashed off, not wanting to be the recipient of his sister's wrath.

But the two kids found the moment to be amusing rather than annoying. It was just a little bit of light-hearted pranking at the end of the day, a far cry from the mean-spirited bullying that used to occur between them.

As both Lincoln and Ronnie looked back at each other through the computer screens, with their faces covered in pie cream and make-up respectively, they both shared a brief chuckle and mutually said to each other…

"Good one!"

Author's Footnote:

And that's it. That went by fast. Still, it was interesting to experiment with a much different format than the more extended and expansive stories that I normally do. This is the story that most closely resembles a real episode to date, even more so than The Quest for Glory (which would be more like a Loud House movie or something alone those lines).

Let me know your thoughts and if you thought this short type of story was good, or if you preferred the longer stuff. If people did like it, I may make a few more like this.

Speaking of which, I do have a few other ideas for stories floating around in my head. Currently, I have three primary story concepts that I'm considering working on next. Let me know which of the 3 following options would interest you all the most…

1: A story where the Loud family goes on a hiking trip on a mountain and during an avalanche, Lincoln and Lynn end up separated from the others. They find themselves trapped in a cave together and have to figure out how to survive and escape, through teamwork and trust. Obviously this would be a story to focus and build on the somewhat strained relationship between these two siblings. This would also be structured as the equivalent of a 22-minute special episode of the show in length.

2: A story where Lincoln assists Lola in a tag-team pageant competition where Lola must team up with a newcomer named Beth to defeat the competition. Lincoln commits to making sure his sister prevails, but maybe our protagonists will need the help of an unexpected ally to make it happen. Hilarity and plot twists ensue, naturally. This one will share the same continuity as The Quest for Glory. How? Well, that would be spoiling, wouldn't it? P.S. This one would be structured like a typical 11-minute episode.

3: A story about Lincoln and Lisa travelling to a parallel universe (using the same wristwatch device that was used in One of the Boys). They arrive in a world where the Loud family is comprised of a mix of both male and female siblings, but that is the smallest of the changes they encounter. There are cloud cities, the sky is purple, and everyone is wearing strange glasses that have 'odd' side effects on their minds, while the evil counterpart of a familiar face is plotting something big. This story would probably be structured with roughly the length of two 22 minute long episodes. A little less 'short' than the other options.

Let me know your preferences and give me your feedback! Until the next time…