Chapter 7: First Day from Hell
So, now that the prologue is done, it's time we dive into the main meat of the story, as Lynn Jr finds herself heading to the local juvenile detention centre, after being deemed guilty of her crimes from the previous chapters. Needless to say, things aren't exactly going to get any better from LJ from here, as she experiences all new kinds of problems on the inside.
Anyway, let's get this chapter started.
Her darkest fears had become a reality. Lynn Loud Junior, the sports star of Royal Woods, had become an inmate of the town's juvenile facility.
…she was dressed in a typical prisoner attire, which oddly enough, looked very similar to the outfit she would wear when playing with the Turkey Jerkies team for Basketball games. Except it was orange instead of red. Certainly not the star image for a star player.
She started walking into the building, when she noticed something about the sign outside…
It said 'Royal Woods Prison and Juvie Centre' owned by Grip…
"Must be Flip's brother." Lynn said to herself, being aware of Flip's money saving tendencies and predicting Grip was a relative, or alter ego of his, resorting to similar tactics.
That's what it seemed like to her, why else amalgamate adult prison with juvie? It saves money, something many places in the world need to take into account considering economic standings…
"I don't like the looks of this place." Lynn said out loud, as she observed the surroundings as she entered the building.
She began to feel intimidated, even paranoid of the horrors that was likely to encounter under the roof of the troublesome domain…
"Loud, here's your cell!" the prison guard told her as he shoved her into her cell, before proceeding to close and lock the barred door.
Lynn then sighed as she stared at the small and dull space that surrounded her, seeing only one narrow window, a small single bed, and no more. She then sat down on the mattress as she absorbed her new life, a life in juvie.
She looked up at the ceiling of her cell room, dwelling on the events which had caused her to be locked up in there in the first place. It's not like there was much else she was going to have to do for the foreseeable future. She began to have flashbacks in her head, remembering the worst actions she had committed.
She started by thinking about recent events. Her weakness when it came to giving into temptation and her resulting violent behaviour. The way she scared her family and even savagely beat those random kids. It was truly one of the worst weeks of her entire life, and one which exposed everything wrong with her as a person. She emitted a shockingly sad and depressed facial expression as these thoughts floated around her psyche, plaguing her emotional state…
…then it got worse. She started to think further back, to some of the other dishonourable things she had done. She remembered her ultra-competitive, heavily vexatious behaviour when playing board games, ruining what should have been fun and enjoyable bonding activities between the family. She was the reason so many of her siblings dreaded playing family board games, all because she couldn't keep her competitiveness in check. Then there was the time she let her superstitious nature get the best of her. Because of her paranoia and selfishness, her own brother was locked out of the house by the family and left in the cold.
The sad fact was, those were mere examples. Others included all her roughhousing and aggressive moments, her obsession with ensuring victory in any given competitive event, even at the expense of others close to her, like when she forbid Margo from using the bathroom because of her 'number 2' superstition. Her family and friends tolerated all her character faults all her life, because they were so fond of her…
…she decided, maybe she didn't deserve all that love and respect from those closest to her. Maybe her sentence, and some time in isolation, was what she needed, and what she deserved. As she came to conclude this, tears visibly began to run down her face, as she was emotionally overwhelmed and distraught from the inside out.
But then her dwelling came to an end, for the time being…
"Loud! Out of your cell! Lunch time!" the prison guard yelled.
Lynn got out of bed and was released from her cell, and then she walked with the other inmates over to the designated lunch area. Lynn knew she would need to get used to her new routine, because it's all she was going to experience for the next few months onward…
"Alright, you got one hour to eat and roam. Then you return to your cells! Understand?" the prison guard asked all the juvie inmates present.
"YES, SIR!" all the inmates responded.
Lynn then lined up with the other juvie prisoners to grab her grub. When the lunch lady put her food on her tray, it appeared to be a large lump of puke. Even by the disgusting habits of Lynn Jr, this was just too gross to eat…
"Aw, come on! No meatball subs, no burgers, no pizza?" Lynn questioned.
"Yeah, there is something else on the menu." The lunch lady responded.
"Thank you!" Lynn blurted out in relief.
But her sense of relief was misguided, as the lady then snorted and shot a snotty spit into Lynn's food.
"There you go. Only the special little children like you get the deluxe!" the lunch lady joked.
"Thanks." Lynn sarcastically replied, knowing exactly what she was going to do with that food.
Throw it on the floor in the corner of the room.
After everyone had eaten, all the juvie inmates made their way to the court yard. At least, it wasn't completely uneventful. All juvie inmates were allowed an hour of free time in the courtyard, which consisted of an open area where they could all hang around in groups, and even a set of weights and exercise equipment, because prisons are gymnasiums, after all…
"Well, this isn't so bad!" Lynn said to herself.
As Lynn looked around, she took her first good look at her fellow inmates. As expected, they were all tough, fit, muscular, rough characters, all of which you didn't want to mess with. Because there was already a divide in the building between adult prisoners and juveniles, a further separation between genders was not deemed necessary, so male as well as female child prisoners were present in the area.
Lynn looked to her far right, and saw a large fence, covered with barbed wire. It was in place to separate the children from the adult prisoners. Noticeably, no fellow juveniles were seen anywhere near the fence, as even the roughest kids didn't want to tangle with the deadliest of the adult criminals.
What Lynn didn't notice, was that from behind the fence, was a pair of eyes, looking at her, taking an interest in her presence. But he wasn't going to make his presence known just yet…
"Alright, Lynnsanity! This is just middle school again." The sporty Loud girl tried to reassure herself as a sense of intimidation began to take over.
Lynn's anxiety attacks, those which she hadn't suffered from since beginning her time at middle school, had resurrected themselves inside her head. She was feeling the way she used to. Timid, afraid, uncertain, and vulnerable. She remembered how badly she suffered, and for a moment, that scared little girl mentality she used to have when backed up against the wall had begun to resurface.
"No! Come on, LJ! You can do this! You gotta show 'em who's boss!" Lynn instructed herself, knowing what she had to do.
She did what she would normally do when faced with a potential downfall, the same thing she did when her board game winning streak was under threat. She told herself she needed to be tougher and stronger, and not to let someone get the better of her…
…as far as she was concerned, the days of her being a punching bag or a victim were over. Juvie was just another middle school in her mind, so she had to adopt the same strategy. She didn't care how bad any of the other underaged offenders were, she knew she was the baddest; the toughest. She HAD to be. If not, she was doomed.
"Alright, guys. Lynnsanity in the house!" Lynn paraded to herself as she walked up to the gymnasium area.
Lynn felt like working on her upper body strength, but the barbells and benches were taken by a trio of teenage butch females who appeared to be a group…
One was a 12 year old girl, about Lincoln's height, with short blonde hair and a scar on her cheek, indicating she had a rather rough past. Her name was Viper, as indicated by a tattoo on her arm, which was a feature all 3 girls shared.
Another was a tall girl, probably about 12 or 13, who had long brunette hair as well as an eyepatch of all things, suggesting she actually had a missing eye. Her name was Mamushi.
Finally, there was a girl about an inch taller than Lynn herself, appeared about 13 or 14, who had really short buzzcut hair and a really gruff, deep voice. She went by the name of Mamba. Needless to say, this trio didn't look like they were ones anyone would want to get on the bad side of…
"That was a killer workout!" Mamushi told her friends.
"Yeah, I'm really getting a good pump on these muscles!" Viper said aloud.
"That's cool. Now we'll go and pump some iron into these bad boys!" Mamba said as she looked at her biceps.
Lynn overheard this little conversation between the trio, and believing the barbell equipment was about to become free, decided to approach them and ask if she could use it next.
"Yo, girls. Can I use the barbells if you're done?" Lynn asked.
"Nah! We're using it!" Mamba bit back, looking Lynn in the face and taking pleasure in brushing her off.
"But I just heard you guys talking and…" Lynn tried to say but then she was cut off.
"HEY! You've been listening to our conversation? Hasn't anyone ever taught you that eavesdropping is rude?!" Mamba accused Lynn as she stood up, raised her voice and got right in the sporty kid's face.
The young Loud girl did not wish to back down. She could tell this girl meant business, and was a tough cookie. But Lynn knew that she had to make it clear that she wasn't a pushover either, that she would stand up for herself. It's what made her different from what she once was.
"Hey, watch your tone with me!" Lynn snapped back, refusing to back down.
That line earned Lynn a disrespectful, condescending smirk from the alpha of the juvie centre. Mamba was used to people practically kissing her feet, and this little girl with freckles and a ponytail was giving her lip. She found it humorous if different.
"Hey kid! You better step away if you don't want an ass kicking!" Viper told Lynn.
"That's right! No one messes with Mamba in here!" Mamushi added.
"Yeah, that's right. I'm the alpha dawg in this dump. What I say goes. If you got a problem with that, speak up!" Mamba demanded.
"Yeah, I have got a problem with that! I'm number one, and that doesn't change no matter where I go!" Lynn insisted to her new adversary.
"Ha, alright. Have it your way." Mamba calmly but sinisterly said as she slowly began to turn around, making it seem as if she was going to walk away…
…but then, Mamba delivered a mean right hook to Lynn's chin from out of nowhere.
"OOOHHH!" the surrounding juvie kids collectively shouted as they reacted to the punch.
Lynn staggered from the force of the blow, but was used to taking heavy shots from opponents. She wasn't going to go down that easily…
"BRING IT!" Lynn yelled as her ultra-competitive, violent disposition raised to the surface.
Many juvie inmates gathered around as the two girls went toe-to-toe. Each of them throwing a fury of punches intended to knock the other girl's head off. Both Lynn and Mamba were incredibly tough, durable girls and both had brutish fighting styles, so the battle quickly became a slugfest.
"You're mine, ponytail!" Mamba yelled at her opponent.
Mamba went to grab Lynn's hair and pull it, but the Loud girl saw it coming and evaded her grab attempt, before springing back with a headbutt to the face. Mamba stepped back upon impact and absorbed the blow, before responding with a knee to the gut, followed by three solid punches to the face…
Lynn then went for a takedown and tackled her opponent to the ground, where she attempted a ground and pound assault, but the slightly bigger girl soon overpowered her and reversed the positions, so she was on top.
A collective "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" was heard around them as all the other boys and girls in the courtyard were looking on excitedly, egging the two girls on to continue.
Lynn took a few punches before suddenly capitalising on an opening and applying a kimura lock to Mamba. Mamba could sense her arm was seconds away from being broken, which would significantly lower her chances of winning the fight. But before Lynn could snap her limb and injure her…
"GET HER!" shouted Viper.
Viper and Mamushi joined in the fight and began kicking Lynn in the side of the head. Lynn then let go of Mamba, who stood up and momentarily grabbed hold of her arm, which was still in pain. Her two cronies then got on top of the sports girl and punched her in the face and mid-section repeatedly.
"THIS IS WHAT YOU GET!" Viper screamed in Lynn's face.
"Okay girls, back off! She's mine!" Mamba declared as her two friends got back up and left the beaten Lynn to Mamba as a plaything.
Mamba then got right in Lynn's face and told her…
"This ain't no school, ponytail! Round here, I command respect! I rule the yard! If you don't show me respect, THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS!" Mamba harshly put it, before starting to constantly pound Lynn Jr in the face.
Lynn had two black eyes, a bloody nose, multiple bruises, and two knocked out teeth for her troubles, and it looked like the beating would only continue from there. Until…
"Everyone, out of the way!" one guard commanded to the other kids as the prison guards had finally saw the commotion, made their way through the crowd and managed to break up the fight.
The guards then all surrounded the bloodied and beaten Lynn and forced the others to retreat…
"Eh, fights over, anyway! That little runt learned her lesson the hard way!" Mamba snickered, as she and her cronies left the scene unscathed, along with the other onlookers.
She was right about that much. Lynn had learned a lesson. That juvie was no middle school. It was much, MUCH worse. And it was taught in the harshest way possible, that her rough attitude and attempts to be number one didn't always help her in life. This was a life lesson she would never forget…
"Alright, kid. You better get back to your cell! That will teach you for getting into trouble. A word of advice we give to all inmates. Just behave yourselves and your stay here will be relatively pain-free." the guard told Lynn.
Lynn figured at that moment that she ought to listen to the man. She was beaten and bruised, and aching all over, and already had 3 enemies, and counting…
…and it was only her first day!
But that was only the beginning, and little did Lynn know at that point, she had a much bigger role to play in events to come.
A bit of a dialogue light chapter, featuring sequences involving Lynn's hellish first day inside juvie, where a lot of the eventfulness is her emotional turmoil and reflections upon her new surroundings. Indeed, with the conclusion of this chapter, poor LJ has hit her lowest point in the story. Of course, the bright side is she can surely only pick herself up from here… right?
The next 2 chapters will be a two-parter. You will see why when I upload the next part of the story, but let's just say some significant events will unfold in those chapters. Anyway, for now, I will leave you to your own thoughts.