Chapter 13: Unexpected Allies
Ah, the unlucky number 13. Hopefully for the superstitious Loud sister, that doesn't mean bad news for her in this chapter. Not after everything this story has already put her through. Of course, she did have a minor moment of relief in the previous chapter, thanks to the counsellor session she had with Dr Ramirez. Of course, the advice she was given could backfire, so she'll have to be careful.
Lynn is an interesting character to place into this whole situation since prison/juvie is a place which doesn't suit her in the slightest. Firstly, because she's rowdy and a little bit reckless, and she's the sort of person who would probably get herself into trouble or make enemies. Secondly, because sitting in a cell all day is the epitome of boredom (and intentionally so), so for someone like Lynn, that really would be like hell.
Still, she might be getting out of jail soon. Well, I wouldn't just leave her in prison at the end of the story (or would I?). But even if that happens, there may be some unfortunate consequences that come with that. But that's for another chapter.
Another night and morning had passed for the fallen sports star. Lynn had slept relatively well the night before, in part due to the somewhat cathartic therapy session she had with the counsellor the previous afternoon.
Lynn wished she had a ball, like the little one she would normally use to bounce off the wall for a while whenever she was bored or when she wanted to go to sleep. It would at least be something to do to pass the time in the mornings, when she was just in the cell by herself. It would be something to focus on, something to take her mind off all the haunting thoughts.
She patiently waited in her cell for the morning before her lunch hour was set to start. Eventually, that time of the day had arrived and Lynn was sent out for her lunch time again. The guard, as per his routine, used a key to open her cell and let her out, along with the other prisoners.
Curiously, Lynn noticed there were small electrical boxes attached to the outside of each cell, as if there were another way of locking and unlocking the cells without manually using a key. It would make escape attempts far easier to pull off if the system were compromised. Still, she didn't want to question it, and just decided to get on with her day inside juvie.
Lynn then went to the courtyard once again. When she eventually received her serving for the day, her reaction was the typical "Ugh!" that was starting to become daily from her.
"Okay, time to hit the weights!" LJ said to herself as she prepared to pump some iron after eating.
As Lynn approached the weight area, a familiar face appeared…
"Sup, Loud?" Mamba asked as she approached.
"Nothing much." Lynn replied.
"Mind if I join you again?" Mamba requested.
"Knock yourself out." Lynn responded.
The two began to work out together, egging each other on when performing various exercises. When Lynn was doing bench presses, Mamba would give her some encouragement to push herself and do a couple of extra reps, and vice versa. This would continue during the entire workout.
After they were exercised out, Lynn and Mamba decided to rest at one of the tables in the courtyard area for the remainder of their hour of free roam time. Both girls took the opportunity to talk to each other some more. Mamba because she was enthusiastic about being Lynn's friend, and Lynn because she was following the counsellor's advice about being more open to the possibility of making friends inside juvie.
"These babies are getting nice and bulky." Mamba mentioned, looking at her biceps.
"I know, right? Working out is the best! I just love the pump you get from working your muscles." Lynn said.
"It's good to be strong, and tough!" Mamba added.
"It's nice to have someone who gets that." Lynn replied.
At that point, the two girls briefly shared a chuckle. Lynn found it really odd, that somehow the same girl that gave her such an unpleasant welcome just a few days before, was now becoming one of her closest friends.
"Just think! A couple of days ago, we were fighting like cats and dogs." Lynn pointed out.
"Oh yeah, and I kicked your butt!" Mamba gloated.
"Yeah? You and two other girls!" Lynn argued.
"Hmpf. You think I need them to knock you out!?" Mamba said as she stood right in Lynn's face with an intensely angry look.
"Try me, snake girl!" Lynn bit back, staring the intimidating criminal down with a livid look of her own.
After 3 seconds of mutual staring, the girls begin laughing again, revealing their brief argument to be a gag executed by the duo…
…It was quite fortunate for everyone around them, too. If they clashed again, mayhem would be inevitable.
While Lynn and Mamba enjoyed their precious one hour of free time in the detention centre, Lincoln was having his lunch break at school…
"Lincoln, what are you doing?" Clyde asked.
"I'm going over my notes from yesterday from my sisters." Lincoln said.
"What notes?" Clyde replied.
"I had a talk with my sisters about how I could find out what the coach is up to and how to expose him, and they had some… very interesting advice." Lincoln said.
"Like what?" Clyde asked.
"Like…" but as Lincoln was about to say, he was interrupted.
"Hey, bro!" shouted Lana as she approached her older brother along with her twin.
"Are you going through everything we told you yesterday about digging up dirt?" Lola questioned.
"Yes, I am." Lincoln told her.
"Look, all you need to remember above all else is this! Be sneaky, but tactical, and don't be afraid to resort to dastardly measures if necessary." Lola insisted.
"Thanks." Lincoln said with a slight sense of unease to the advice.
"And when you're confronted with the man, don't hesitate to get up in his face and break him down and make him tell you whatever you want!" Lola followed as she jumped onto the table where Lincoln was eating his lunch and got right up close to Lincoln's face.
"Geez, what kind of pageant contests are you having, Lola?" Lana asked.
"Yeah, um, Lincoln already tried that, and it didn't work. Coach Henry just shoved him away and locked the door when Lincoln confronted him at his house." Clyde said.
"Hmm, maybe it would be worth it if I came along and pressured the truth out of him!" Lola firmly declared with a sinister smile.
"Yeah. I think I'll handle it myself. Thanks anyway, Lola." Lincoln told her.
"Hey! That dumb coach didn't just screw you and Lynn over! He screwed with all of us! I have just as much right to deal with him as you do!" Lola told her brother.
"Actually, that's a pretty fair point, Lincoln. Lynn is our sister, too." Lana inputted.
"When you mess with one Loud, you mess with all of us!" Lola declared.
"Okay, okay! Look, let me try it my way for a while. I'll do what I can to find the evidence I need to find out the truth and prove Lynn's innocence. If my way doesn't work, I'll let you guys go to town on the whole thing." Lincoln proposed.
At that moment, Lisa and Lucy, Lincoln's other sisters who attended school with him, made their way to the table…
"What are my siblings doing talking together at school? I suspect there is a subject of great mutual interest that is being discussed concerning the whole family unit." Lisa stated as she joined in the conversation.
"Lincoln and Lola are continuing yesterday's sibling meeting where we gave Lincoln pointers on how to expose people." Lana answered.
"I thought we already concluded this debate. I already told you the best way to discover and expose things is to place hidden cameras in every corner of his house! That's the best way to gain evidence of anything he's hiding." Lisa conclusively stated.
"Wow, and people call me spooky." Lucy remarked.
"I heard that!" Lisa responded, annoyed.
"I know, you're standing right there." Lucy snarked.
"Lisa, I'm not gonna do that! One that's creepy. Two, how would I even manage to do that?!" Lincoln responded.
"I'm a little sceptical of all this. I don't see how we're going to get close enough to this coach to be able to gather any proof of his guilt, if he even is guilty." Lucy said.
"He IS guilty! And I don't know how I'm realistically going to prove it yet, but I will. Him and whoever is behind all his dirty work!" Lincoln claimed.
"Huh? I don't get it. Why would someone else be in on it with the coach?!" Lana questioned.
"When Lincoln last confronted the coach, he let it slip that somebody had told him about Lincoln." Clyde revealed.
"Wait, so that coach was ordered by somebody else to frame Lynn, and this person knows who Lincoln is, too?!" Lucy asked.
"So, that means this guy could know all of us! He may have a vendetta against all of us Louds!" Lola suggested.
"Not necessarily. The coach seems to have a specific interest in me. Come to think of it, it was a little odd that the coach told the prosecution specifically to ask me up to the stand at the end of the trial. Why would he do that? It's like he somehow knew what about me, and my rocky relationship with Lynn." Lincoln questioned to himself.
"But who would have such an interest, or intense hatred, for you?!" Clyde asked.
All of the Louds and Clyde then pondered that thought for a brief moment, before the family genius came to a suggestion…
"Siblings, and Clyde, it occurs to me that there is one person who comes to mind who meets the criteria of the identity we are trying to uncover." Lisa stated.
"Who?" Lucy asked.
At that moment, when looking at Lisa, Lincoln could tell exactly whom she was referring to. For a brief moment, a sense of intense fear and panic set in as he came to suspect she may be grimly correct…
…however, that moment passed, and he began to think otherwise, for his own sanity's sake…
"No!" he simply responded.
"Huh?" Clyde asked.
"I know who you're referring to, Lisa. Honestly, no. Let's not even go there!" Lincoln said, refusing to believe what Lisa was implying could be true.
"Brother. He does fulfil the requirements." Lisa bluntly pointed out.
"Who does?" asked Lola.
"Who are you guys talking about?" Lana questioned.
Lisa then raised her eyebrows at her sisters, inferring as if the suggestion she was making was beyond obvious. After a brief moment, the other sisters caught on to what Lisa and Lincoln were discussing.
"Lisa, just… no! It can't be! He's gotta be locked up, far away from here!" Lincoln insisted, albeit very unconvincingly.
"Yeah, I bet he's in Guantanamo Bay or something!" Lana said.
"Ugh! Such a grimy, horrible place! Suits the jerk perfectly!" Lola commented.
"How can you be sure?" Lucy asked her brother.
"Look, let's just drop it, it's not him! I'll find out who it is, and I'll bring them to justice, but I know for a fact that it can't be Viribus!" Lincoln firmly told everyone present.
"Why is that?" Clyde asked.
"Because if it were… we'd probably all be dead already!" Lincoln grimly concluded.
As Lynn's free roam hour came to an end, she and Mamba shared a few parting words before they would each go off and be forced to spend multiple hours alone in a cell…
"Killer workout today, ponytail. Same again tomorrow?" Mamba asked.
"You bet!" Lynn replied.
"Good. It's great having a workout buddy like you, Loud. You're just so driven and motivated. It's cool having another girl around who's as strong as I am." Mamba complimented.
"Thanks. You have some pretty good discipline yourself." Lynn said.
"Yeah, well, I have to be the toughest I can be. I don't have anyone else to depend on, so…" Mamba said, before Lynn interrupted her.
"What do you mean by that?" Lynn asked out of interest.
"Eh, not important. You don't wanna hear about some whiny stuff like that." Mamba concluded.
"Come on, Mambs. You can tell me. We're amigos, remember?" Lynn assured her.
"I'm just saying, I had to be a bit of a bad girl! When your dad runs away and your mom overdoses when your 13, it's gets pretty tough for ya!" Mamba said.
"Oh, wow. Sorry to hear it." Lynn said sympathetically.
"Like I said, don't worry about it. Old news. All that matters is right here, right now, and that I'm the big dog of this yard!" Mamba bragged.
Lynn sensed that behind the confidence and the tough exterior, lied a charade.
"That's rough! So… did you have anyone at all you could count on?" Lynn asked out of curiosity.
"Eh, not really. I guess there was my grandmother. She was alright. She's been sick for a while, though." Mamba mentioned.
"That sucks. What's the cause?" Lynn asked.
"Kidney disease. Chronic illness. She's been in a hospital bed for many months now." Mamba told her.
"Just so you know, if there's anything I can do to help, you can ask me anytime." Lynn reassuringly informed her newest friend.
"That's nice and all, ponytail, but in case you don't remember we're all stuck in a prison together! What are you going to do to help from in here?" Mamba replied as she gave Lynn a reminder and a reality check.
"Hey! I'm just offering a helping hand! No need to be a jerk!" Lynn said back.
"Ugh! Forget about it! It's none of your business, and it's not something I want to think about anymore. All that matters for me is right here, right now." Mamba insisted.
"Okay! Sorry! I'll drop it, alright?" Lynn said.
"It's cool. Let's just forget about it." Mamba told her.
Mamba and Lynn both then began walking towards the other juvie inmates who were present in the courtyard at that moment. The free roam hour was just about over, but first, Mamba wanted to introduce her new friend to her gang…
"Yo! Viper, Mamushi, look who's now one of my buds!" Mamba shouted as she approached her cronies.
"Looks like freckles has realised who the top dogs are around here!" Viper commented.
"Good thing, too! She wouldn't want to be on our bad side twice!" Mamushi said.
"Yep, she knows where it's at in here! Ponytail's alright." Mamba complimented.
After each of Mamba's friends gave Lynn a friendly fist-bump, the time for socialising came to an end. As such, a message was blasted from the speakers in the facility all over the courtyard…
"Attention, all inmates of Royal Woods Juvenile Detention Centre and local prison, the designated hour for free roam time is now over. All inmates must return to their cells immediately."
Of course, this message played at the same time every day, so the prisoners were more than used to hearing it…
"Great, time to go back to our rotten rooms again!" Viper moaned.
"Nice meeting ya, kid." Mamushi said to Lynn.
"I'll see you again, Loud." Mamba told Lynn.
"Great, I'm here all week." Lynn joked as she too began to part ways with the other girls.
As all the girls began to walk their separate ways and return to their cells, Lynn thought to herself that there was a silver lining to her predicament, however small it was. At least, if she was going to be in a cell for many months to come, at least she was making some valuable allies in there, albeit some very unexpected ones, given what happened between them and herself when they first met. Still, it was better to be friends with these girls than enemies with them.
Besides, developing new friendships and having social interactions with them prevented her from being alone too often, which stopped her from clouding her mind with uncomfortable thoughts… like the fact that next door contained a psychopath who was out for revenge against her entire family.
As Lynn left the courtyard with the others, she took one final glance, and could vaguely see from the other end of the area the fence that separated her from the adult prisoners. From there, she could barely make out the face that was there…
…it was him. She knew it. Viribus was still watching her.
And that's chapter 13. Probably one of the more relatively upbeat and carefree chapters of this story, actually. But make no mistake, the current stage of the narrative is simply the calm before the storm. But for now, that will do.
As usual, thanks for reading. Constructive feedback is always welcome. I always aim to improve, after all. For now, I will be back online next week for chapter 14.