Walking down the sidewalk of Franklin Avenue, Royal Woods, was a boy wearing a yellow t-shirt, blue jean shorts, black sneakers with white socks, and a blue bandana tied around his head that matched his shorts, holding back his brown shaggy hair. His face was showing that he was deep in thought, and absolutely guiltridden. 'I can't believe I did that,' he thought, looking down to the bouquet of white lilies in his hand. 'I never meant to hurt her like that… and we were such good friends, too. She must hate me right now.'


The previous day, the boy was walking from one class to another, when he bumped into a girl wearing an orange blouse, blue skirt, white socks and red slip on shoes. She had long, white hair that had an orange clip holding some of her snowy locks in place, and freckles adorning her cheeks that he found to be quite cute. "Hey, Linka," he greeted, getting her to look at him and smile.

"Hey, Boy Jordan!" She greeted back, her chirpy voice making his heart flutter. "How are you?"

"Good, thank you. How are you?"

"I'm good too, thanks. So, history class was a bore, huh?"

"Oh my God, tell me about it! I'd take math class over that lesson! I mean, seriously, why can't they teach us about something cool, like vikings or Romans?"

She giggled. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I get that it's on the curriculum or whatever, but liven it up a bit! Victorian times are so boring!" He laughed, which made her giggle some more. "You know, I like talking with you, Jordan."

His cheeks heated up a bit. "You… you do?"

She nodded. "Yeah, you're a pretty cool guy. Most of the guys at this school aren't like you, and when you live with ten brothers who don't really get me that much, it's nice to talk with a boy that does."

His cheeks went even redder as a small, goofy grin appeared on his face. "T-thanks. You're pretty cool too, Linka. For a girl, that is."

She laughed heartily, pushing light on his shoulder, which he thought would honestly turn him into putty, with how goopy his heart felt being around her. As they continued talking, they eventually reached the gymnasium. "Well, guess I'll see you later, then."

"Oh, okay. I'll see you later, Linka." He waved to her and she waved back as they went to their respective changing rooms. Putting his gym bag on a bench, he walked over to four guys, all wearing the school PE kit of red shorts and shirts- one with light skin and short black hair, one with dark skin and black dreads, one with light skin and long brown hair, and one with light skin and short brown hair spiked up. "Hey, guys."

"Hey, Romeo," Marty, the one with spiked hair, greeted with a douchey grin. "What, was Snow White keeping you busy?"

Jordan rolled his eyes. "Ugh, you guys are the worst."

"Seriously, dude," the one with short black hair, Matt, said. "Why haven't you made your move on her?"

"Yeah, you're gonna miss your chance if you don't soon," Joe, the dark skinned boy, added. "I've heard rumours that Ronaldo had his sights on her before he moved away, so who knows who's next to step up to the plate."

Jordan growled, both from the memory of Ronaldo Antonio Santiago, a boy of Latin descent who used to bully Linka before he moved away, and from Joe's choice of phrase. "First of all, don't say stuff like that about her, or I'll kick your ass." Joe simply stuck his tongue out as Jordan traded his yellow shirt for his red gym shirt. "But, yeah, I don't want to ruin it. She's my friend at the moment, and I don't want to screw that up if I tell her how I feel. I don't even think she likes me like that."

"You spend so much time staring at her, yet you can't see that she likes you?" The long haired boy, Brady, quipped. "You're the only boy in our grade that she actually talks to. The only other boys in the whole school that she talks to are her little brothers."

"That doesn't mean she likes me. Also, I don't stare at her." The four other boys all laughed, as if to say, "yeah right". "Plus, how could I even talk to her without her brother's beating me up?"

"By doing it when they're not around," Marty suggested. "Pretty simple. Though, yeah, how do her parents deal with that many kids?"

"The same way they had them," Matt told Marty, both of them laughing while Jordan just groaned.

"You know, ever since you found your dads catalogs, you've become such pigs," he pointed out, pulling up his gym shorts.

"Please, like you don't think her mom's hot," Joe argued with a raised eyebrow.

"Not really."

"That's 'cause you're too busy fantasising about you and Linka," Brady quipped, prompting him and the other three boys to start making kissy noises, much to Jordan's chagrin.

"Dicks."


"Alright!" Coach Pakowski shouted out, holding her whistle in her hand as the students lined up in two teams on either side of the gymnasium. "When I blow my whistle, run forward to try and grab one of the balls, then get back to the red line at the edge of the floor. When I blow my whistle a second time, the game starts. You hear me, Boy Jordan?" He rolled his eyes in response, then threw a thumbs up her way. "Alright. Get ready…"

She blew her whistle, and the kids all ran forward to the centre of the floor, where six red dodgeballs lay waiting. As he reached for one of the balls, he felt a hand on top of his, and looked up to see Linka looking back at him, both kids blushing madly, before he held out the dodgeball for her to take. "Here, uh… you have it," he shyly offered.

"Thank you," she replied, accepting the offering. "Uh… good luck."

"Y-you too." They then ran back to their teams, where Jordan was met with the snarky grins of his friends. "Sh-shut up."

"Alright!" Coach Pakowski called out once more. "You get hit in the head, arms or chest, you're out. You catch a ball, they're out and your teammate comes back in. If I say you're out, stand to the side- you argue, you do twenty push ups. Last team standing wins. Ready?"

She blew into the whistle once more, and the game was on, which meant Jordan became cocky- it was no secret to anyone in the school, and even some outside of it, that he was the dodgeball king of Royal Woods, and he wasted no time in showing it. The second he was clear to, he took a ball from Marty and used it to hit a kid square in the chest, eliminating them. He followed this up by catching an oncoming ball and throwing at another of his opponents, taking both out of the game. The game didn't last long, as even though his teammates were nowhere near as good as he was, and a good few of them were also eliminated, many of Jordan's opponents fell to him and him alone. At one point, when it was his team versus Linka, Joe and one of Linka's friends called Liah, Jordan caught a ball thrown at him by Linka, who cheekily stuck her tongue out at him, before walking away. While he felt a little bad for her, he had to focus on the game, rolling to the side to avoid a ball aimed for his head. Picking a ball up off the floor, he had Joe in his sights, took aim and threw.

The scream that came, however, definitely did not belong to Joe. Upon hearing it, Jordan looked and his stomach dropped when he heard it. "Linka!" He yelled, throwing the game to one side so he could run over to her. She was laying on the floor, shivering as she audibly sobbed with her hand covering her eye. "Oh my gosh, Linka, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

She looked up at him, her teary eyes making his stomach sink even lower. "Why did you do that?"

"I'm so, so sorry! I didn't mean to, I-" She chose not to listen, instead getting up and running out of the gymnasium. "Linka!"

He wanted to run after her, but a hand on his chest made him stop. He looked and saw a dark skinned girl with glasses and curly hair in two pigtails, who he recognised to be Linka's best friend Claudia, and she did not look happy. "Don't even bother," she coldly told him, before running after her friend. Before he could say anything else, he felt a hand on his shoulder, which belonged to Coach Pakowski.

"You better come with me," she told him, leading him towards her office.


'I don't even care that I almost got detention,' he thought, as he neared his destination. 'I just wish I could have apologised to her, but... she didn't want to speak to me. I don't blame her… I just hope she'll let me speak today.' As he reached the end of the street, he saw a house that had toys littering the front and back yards, including a few on the roof. 'This must be what it's like with eleven children… can't say I envy her. Still, that's not why I'm here.' He took a deep breath and said to himself, "this is it. I'm gonna say what I have to say, and... if she doesn't want anything to do with me..." He could feel his stomach sinking at the thought of it. "... so be it."

As he approached the front door, he steeled himself to knock, but before he could, he felt someone tap his shoulder, causing him to turn round in surprise. Stood in front of him was a boy a few years older than him with brown hair that had the sides shaved. He was wearing a purple shirt with a skull under a denim waistcoat, black jeans with two white studded belts, purple boots and what appeared to be paperclips for earrings. He stared down the elementary schooler. "What are you doing here?" He asked, his voice gruff.

Jordan gulped, feeling intimidated by the boy. "I, um… I-I came to see Linka. I need to tell her something."

This didn't seem to sit well with the older boy, who narrowed his eyes. "Oh, really? And, why's that? You think you can take advantage of my sister while she's upset?"

"What?! No, I would never do that! I-" He paused for a second, letting the rocker's words sink in. "She's upset?"

"Yeah, some jerk at school hurt her, and she was crying for hours yesterday. She wouldn't tell us anymore than-" He stopped when he saw the younger boy look down, seemingly in guilt, and when it clicked in his mind, his vision turned red. "YOU!" He grabbed Jordan by the collar of his shirt and forced him into the house through the door. "I'M GONNA BREAK YOUR BLOODY TEETH IN, YOU JERK!"

"What's going on in there?!" They heard a man shout, and a moment later, a man and woman walked into the room. One was a balding, brown haired man, wearing a pink button up shirt and purplish brown trousers, and one was a long haired blond woman, wearing a green chequered shirt under a dark green sweater and brown trousers. Upon seeing Luke lifting the boy off of the ground, he frowned at his son. "Luke, let him go."

"No way, Pop Star!" Luke argued. "This is the jerk that hurt Linka!"

"WHAT?!" a collection of voices yelled from upstairs, and within seconds, nine more boys of varying ages made their way down the stairs, surrounding the defenceless Jordan and yelling at him. Jordan could only cower in the rocker's grasp and close his eyes as they yelled their threats and prepared to pummel him, until they heard a loud whistling sound.

"Boys! Let him go!" The woman yelled, to which the ten Loud boys argued. "NOW!" Knowing not to push her any further, the boys relented, with Luke putting Jordan back on the ground, but not without shooting him a death glare. "Upstairs."

They begrudgingly made their way up the stairs, muttering how that Jordan had gotten off easy. Once they were gone, Jordan turned to the two adults. "Thank you, Mrs Loud," he told her.

"Don't thank her yet," Mr Loud told him back, crossing his arms and shooting him a stern glare. "Is what my boys said true? Did you hurt my little girl?"

Knowing there was no way to hide it even if he wanted to, Jordan looked down and sadly nodded. "I'm afraid so… I never meant to, I swear. I thought me and Linka were good friends, and I never did anything to hurt her before."

While Mr Loud looked ready to kick him out, Mrs Loud stopped by holding a hand in front of him. "Let me handle this, Lynn," she told him, then approached the boy and lifted his head up so she could look him in the eye, allowing her to see his guilt. "Young man, my daughter is very important to me, and I get the feeling she might be to you." His cheeks heating up betrayed him, confirming that idea. "So, please... can you tell me how it happened?"

With a gulp, he spoke again. "Yes, ma'am. We were playing dodgeball in gym, and when I went to throw the ball at someone else, I don't know if I missed or they dodged, but I accidentally hit Linka. I didn't realise until I saw her on the floor, and I ran over to check on her, but… she ran off before I could apologise properly." She could hear the slight crack in his voice, letting him know that he was quite upset over this. "I wish I could take it back, more than anything… but I know that I can't. I don't even know if Linka will forgive me, but I just want to try and tell her how sorry I am."

While hearing that he had hurt her daughter, intentionally or not, had made her upset, she could tell that the boy was being genuine. "Are those lilies?" She asked, confusing him but he nodded anyway. "I think Linka would really like them." She turned to her husband. "Lynn, would you get Linka for us? And make sure the boys stay in their rooms."

Begrudgingly, he accepted, making his way up the stairs. When he returned a moment later, Jordan saw Linka following, wearing her usual attire. However, it was the bruising over her eye that stood out to him, making his already immense guilt grow even more. She saw Jordan, and became confused. "Jordan?" She asked, her voice quieter than he was used to. "What are you doing here?"

'Here goes nothing,' he thought, taking a deep breath. "I, uh… I came to… to see you," he told her as she approached him. "Uh… here, these are… for you."

He presented the flowers to her, and as she took them, he saw her eyes light up a little. "Lilies… they're my favourite."

He nodded. "Yeah, I… I think I remember you saying that."

"We'll be upstairs if you need us," Mrs Loud told them, before leading her husband up the staircase, causing a stampede of feet on the landing.

"My brothers," Linka sighed with a shake of her head, then looked to her 'guest'. "Do you... want to sit down?"

He nodded, taking his seat on the couch next to her. "How, uh… how is your…"

"My eye?" He nodded. "It's okay. Bruised, but it's not sore today." Turning to look at him, she saw his head hung low. "Jordan… why are you here?"

"I came, because… I wanted to apologise," he confessed, finally looking up to look at her. "When I saw you on the ground, covering your eye… I felt awful. I never wanted to hurt you, and I never meant for the ball to even hit you- Seriously, ask Joe. I made sure to hit him for real after that." She gave a small giggle at that, which made him feel slightly better, before he sighed. "I'm so, so, so sorry, Linka."

She looked down at the lilies in her hands, and told him, "I'm sorry too, Jordan. I overreacted."

"No, you didn't."

"Yes, I did! I should have known it was an accident. You're too sweet to do this on purpose." He felt a blush come to his cheeks. "Besides, I probably should've expected it. It's dodgeball, and it's you- you throw like a freaking tank."

This made the two kids laugh loudly, then look at each other, and in any other situation, Jordan would have gotten lost in her eyes. "So… do you forgive me?"

She nodded. "Come here." She held her arms out, and the two kids hugged each other, smiles on their faces now that the situation was resolved, while Jordan's heart was beating faster than ever from the contact. The two held it for a good five seconds, before Linka let go. "So, do you need to go back home, or do you have time to hang out? I got the new Crush Sisters game on the Flip."

He thought about it for a moment, then decided, "I think I can spare an hour." So, as she got up to set up her console, he sat back and let his smile grow even bigger and a content sigh escaped his lips, knowing that things had worked out in the end.