Because She Likes You

by Superfloxes

'If a girl picks on you, that only ever means one thing: she liiikes youuu' What if 'Heavy Meddle' didn't end so well for Lincoln? What if his sisters weren't right for once? Lincoln follows his sisters' advice, and ends up in a horrible relationship he may not escape from. AU, NOT about Ronnie Anne.

7. Operation: Break Up!

Author Notes - And now here we are, arriving at the 'climax' of the story. Again, if you're worried about the story getting too light in tone, it'll get light right after arguably the darkest scene in the whole story. The light tone may end up being a bit of a relief, if anything.

CHAPTER SEVEN - OPERATION: BREAK UP!

'Code Maroon, Lincoln. CODE MAROON!'

'You tried to catch Cleopawtra but instead she climbed up a tree and now you're both stuck up there?'

'My acrophobia is kicking in so hard right now!'

'It's okay, Clyde. I'll be there in a- HEY!'

Bella swiped the walkie-talkie out of his hand and smashed it against the ground, stomping on it a couple of times for good measure. To say the least, this 'date' at the park was not off to a good start.

'Bella!' Lincoln yelled. 'What did you do that for?'

The girl rolled her eyes and groaned. 'Pay attention to me! God, you talk about those guy friends so often that, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you cared about them more than me. Your own girlfriend!'

Lincoln clenched his fists so hard it quickly began to hurt. If he wasn't worried about accruing a second black eye, he would've screamed as loudly as he could: 'THAT'S BECAUSE I DO!' But he remained quiet, as he was sure Bella would've wanted him to.

'How'd you get such an awful black eye, by the way?' Bella asked, in that obnoxious 'innocent' tone.

The boy took a deep breath. 'Bella, I'm not sure if you even remember anything anymore, but this was your fault.'

'Why would I punch my own boyfriend?'

'I don't know! YOU TELL ME!'

He stood up to give this girl a piece of his mind, until he realised all the other families nearby giving him odd and somewhat horrified looks. Keeping himself calm, he plopped down into his seat. He knew too well that if he started a fight, he'd be labelled a violent miscreant in seconds.

Yet, if she started a fight, she might be labelled as a girlboss or something…

While Bella giggled that annoying laugh, Lincoln thought about his plan over and over. It must've been the only plan he had ever come up with that his sisters hadn't mocked in anyway. At all. Not even Lisa made any remarks regarding his supposed lack of intelligence.

'Hey, we're getting a little… heated.' He said, trying his best acting. 'Maybe the park isn't quite the place for our dates.'

Bella rolled her eyes. 'Ugh, tell me about it. Any moment now, you'll do something stupid and embarrass me.'

Lincoln had to try extra hard not to get angry. 'MMMMM, indeed. I think we should go somewhere else.'

'Linky, remember, I'm the one who calls the shots here. Gimme some suggestions, and hope they're good ones.'

'Well, we could go see my sisters again-'

Bella slammed her hands down on the table hard enough to make Lincoln's Flippee fall over. Luckily, it was already almost finished. He was so used to such behaviour that he barely even flinched. This shouldn't need to be said, but that wasn't a good thing.

'No.' She said. 'No way in hell am I ever going back into that… hell house again. Your sisters are absolutely insane, and I can't believe you actually live with them.'

'LET ME ATTA!'

Lincoln cringed, just a little. That was Lola, yelling from a distance. It was so far away that Bella didn't pay much attention to it, assuming it was just some random six-year-old who didn't get her way (which wasn't really inaccurate), but Lincoln just knew that Lynn had to use all her strength to hold her back.

Bella groaned like a child half her age. 'Why did you choose to take me to the park in the first place? It's so… boring!'

Lincoln couldn't even muster up the strength to sigh. 'It was your idea. It's never my idea with you. Unless it's bad.'

'Only an idiot could come up with an idea this bad.'

The white-haired boy could only hope that such a remark did not apply to his big plan. Speaking of which, it was finally time to kick it into action, if only because he was getting so sick of her berating and condensation already.

'Hey, I've got a good idea.' He said. 'Maybe we should go somewhere a little nicer. Like… a fancy restaurant or something? OR, maybe we could go where my big sister likes to take her boyfriend.'

Bella gave him a look. 'Your sister? I hate this idea already.'

'No, it's actually a really nice place! You get this beautiful view from a cliffside, getting a view of the entire town. As my sister would say, it is literally the most romantic thing in the world.'

She rolled her eyes. 'Okay, fine. I guess that could be kind of neat. Maybe I'll consider you less of an idiot if it's good.'

'Come on!'

He took her by the hand, and the feeling left him uncomfortable. Even holding hands with his lady was almost like the bitter aftertaste of touches - just an unpleasant sensation that refused to leave, long after it should've disappeared.

'Are you sure you can make it there without getting lost?' Bella asked, her tone flat.

'How dumb do you…? Actually, don't answer that.' Lincoln replied. 'Trust me, I know the way. It's a simple path, alright?'

'Geez, your hands are like girls' hands.'

Lincoln sighed, only partially because of the bizarre sexism. 'I live with ten sisters. Why are you shocked? And besides, it's our dad who buys our soaps. He's really particular about skin care.'

She grunted. 'That explains sooo much.'

The boy ignored any possible implications of such a response, seeing as she was insulting his family enough and he was already so close to getting furious.

'Come on.' He said. 'It's kinda a long trip, so we better get going now.'

'If we get attacked by any kind of wild animals,' Bella said. 'I'll make sure to run away as fast as possible. I can't outrun a bear, but I could probably outrun you.'

It almost sounded like something Lynn would say, except without that 'teasing out of love' tone that made it clear she didn't really mean it. If anything, Lynn would probably beat up the bear before she let it eat her little brother. Lincoln tried to pay it no attention, and simply guided Bella along the path he had already planned out. Luckily, Lori and Leni - who had known the town quite well thanks to their constant shopping trips around the place - could plan the perfect route, after Lincoln's own route seemed a lot more complicated than it needed to be.

As he walked through the town to his desired destination, he could occasionally see flashes of black in the corner of his eye. If someone who dealt with a certain sneaky sister on a daily basis could just barely see her following them, no way Bella would sense her presence for a moment.

The 'girlfriend' groaned loudly by the time they passed Flip's. 'UGH, are we done yet? Look, maybe we should just get some Flippees or something.'

Lincoln shook his head. 'Believe me. Flip's is just about the least romantic place in Royal Woods. It'd be more romantic if we dined behind a dumpster. My little sister Lana would certainly agree.'

'What is wrong with your sisters?'

'I've been asking myself that for years. The answer is that they're awesome. That's what's wrong with them. Also the most annoying people on the planet, but mostly awesome.'

The path to their destination was quite long, and Lincoln slowed his step down only a little, just enough that Bella wouldn't notice. It must've been the first time since this 'relationship' started weeks ago that he could call the shots, and he was taking advantage of every moment.

Gotta make sure no one else sees us… He thought. She would never reveal her 'true form' with other people watching. Well, if she thinks no one is watching, anyway.

After a 'quick' walk, all they had to do was vault over a gate and they were right at their destination. Bella's disregard for potentially trespassing did not fly over Lincoln's head, though he was expecting her to at least ask why they had to vault over a fence.

'And… here we are!' He said, putting his fists on his hips like some sort of superhero.

Bella looked around, and wasn't too surprised to find that the path that hadn't elevated once did not lead to a cliff. There was a garage, a big tree, what appeared to be a couple of small graves… and a big two-storey house with white walls. A house she recognised almost immediately.

'This is just your backyard!' She yelled. 'Are you really so stupid that you went the completely wrong way?!'

Lincoln shrugged. It wasn't nearly so scary to provoke her when he knew that his sisters would be there to back him up if something went wrong. No way she could deal with Lola.

Bella narrowed her eyes. 'You did this on purpose, didn't you? You can't get over the fact that I want you away from your insane family. All because you can't detach yourself from them.'

'Bella, they're my family.' Lincoln said. 'I'm not going to leave them just for you.'

She groaned, but almost immediately adopted the eyes of a beaten puppy. It may have seemed genuine to an outsider, but Lincoln had seen that godforsaken face so many times that he could see right through it now.

'B-But Linky!' She said, getting a little too close to him. 'I'm your girlfriend! Why aren't you willing to make some sacrifices for me? Don't I matter to you?'

With the safety of his sisters around him - even if he couldn't quite see them - he knew that he could now tell this girl exactly what he thought of her. No more need to hide what he really thought in fears of unnecessary retribution.

'No.' Lincoln said, speaking the most seriously he ever had. 'No, you don't. I'm not saying I would leave you to die or anything like that, like you probably would. But compared to my family and friends, you are nothing.'

'What?!'

The look on her face was heartbreaking; even Lincoln would admit that. Her shimmering eyes, her quivering lips, her shaking arms… if Lincoln didn't know any better, he'd be fully-convinced and even offer her some cookies. But since she was the person he had spent the most of the last few weeks with, he knew well it was just a facade.

And he was sick of forcing himself to fall for it.

'You're awful!' He yelled, flailing his arms about in emphasis. 'You bullied me before we even met. You acted like I was the one doing silly things even though you did, and drove me crazy because of it. You stopped me from seeing my friends. You threatened to ruin my reputation. You gave me this black eye!'

He paused for a moment to take a breath, since his breath had grown quite heavy. Bella trembled before him, and for just a split second he wondered if he really was going too far. It seemed so convincing, and his heart ached for the young frightened girl. But he ignored all of that, since he knew it was all fake. And, even if it was all genuine, she didn't deserve mercy.

So, he glared directly at her. 'But, worst of all, you want to take me away from my sisters. Yes, they're crazy. Yes, they tease me a lot. Yes, there've been plenty of times when I wondered if I'd be any happier as an only child. But you know what? I wouldn't, because my sisters are the most awesome people this side of Royal Woods, and possibly the world. I don't care how much they annoy me, or if I'm the only boy. I love my sisters, and I won't let you get between me and them.'

If only he had a mic to drop, it would've been perfect. He ended his speech right there and went quiet, waiting for Bella to respond. Knowing her, she could've responded in so many different ways. Lincoln expected either fake tears or blinding rage, backing away a little in case her first response was to punch him again. At first, she went with the former option. She made weeping and snivelling sounds, which would've made Lincoln feel bad for her if he couldn't see her lack of tears. It didn't take her long to realise that he wasn't falling for her manipulation, so she glared at him instead.

Even Lola would be jealous of such a death glare.

'You think you're so tough!' She yelled, clenching her fists and gritting her teeth. 'Don't you?! You really think that you have a chance against me. Look at you. You're pathetic. I've seen noodles with more depth than your excuse for muscles, and you look like you'd snap like a twig. You're a crybaby. A wuss. A weakling!'

Lincoln flinched. He thought his sisters had toughened him up against any kind of insult thrown his way, but never had they delivered their jabs relentlessly and viciously. Even when angry, it never felt like anything more than tough love. Heck, even Lisa - who really had a habit of insulting everyone's intelligence with a genuinely-frustrated tone - merely didn't understand just how mean she could be sometimes.

But this?

'You hear me, Lincoln?!' Bella shouted, veins popping. 'Do you really expect anyone else to date you? No one would be seen with an embarrassment like you! Don't you realise the good I'm doing? If it wasn't for me, you'd have no one!'

He could feel his eyes beginning to sting, just a little, and he felt ashamed. Ashamed that he was letting those words get to him, when he knew they weren't true and were just meaningless words. But he tried to remember that he wasn't his fault for 'being weak'; it was Bella's for not letting up. He clenched his fists too, and stood his ground.

'That's where you're wrong, Bella!' He yelled, making her flinch. 'Even if you're right about everything else - that I'm pathetic, a loser, and will never get a date - I will always have someone. And do you wanna know why? Because no matter how many times I've screwed up and made them upset with me, my sisters will never leave me!'

Bella didn't even allow any time for the lesson to sink into her, and - without a warning - seized Lincoln by the collar of his shirt and pressed him up against the tree. His heart rate jumped to unhealthy degrees for just a second, but it did not return to normal once he realised what position he was in. As much as he would love to think that he wasn't really in danger, he couldn't be certain.

Just remember that your sisters are here. If things get really bad, Lori will kill her. If Lola doesn't kill her first.

Bella kept him pinned against the tree, but didn't press his neck against the trunk too hard at all. He could still breathe just fine, aside from the inevitable hyperventilating that came from the panic circulating in his veins.

It didn't make him feel any better.

'B-Bella,' He said, sweat pooling on his face. 'I-I-'

'No!' She yelled. 'You don't get to speak, if that's how you're gonna talk to me. If you're all gonna do is disrespect me, you don't get to say anything. How about you just be a good little boyfriend, and stay quiet?'

'Well, if you hate me so much, why don't you break up with me?'

'I told you, you idiot! I'm the only person in the world who would be caught dead with a boy like you.'

He struggled against her grasp for a moment, but he could feel her grip tightening in response. So, he stayed perfectly still. He settled for giving her a death stare instead.

'You know what?' He said. 'If you're the best girlfriend I'm ever gonna get, then I'm happier to be single for the rest of my life. There's more to life than just getting a girlfriend. I won't be alone with people like my sisters by my side. My parents, my best friend Clyde, even my pets… I'll be happy alright. And I think it's about time I say, I wanna break up.'

Her grip on his shirt tightened even more, making every nerve in his body tense up and cringe. Now, Bella grinned like a crocodile ready for its next meal.

'You really wanna do that?' She asked. 'Do you want everyone in school and this entire town to believe you punched me? I'll make sure that no one dates a loser like you, because everyone will know you as the boy who punched his own girlfriend.'

He grinned. 'Are you sure about that? If someone heard you saying this stuff, wouldn't they be able to see right through your plan?'

She chuckled. 'Really? No one's around. Except for maybe your angry neighbour guy over there, but I don't think he's listening. And who would believe you?'

'I repeat… are you sure about that?'

Before Bella could even begin to think about what the heck he meant, the hatch to the bunker flung open.

'Alright girls!' A voice called from within. 'I think we got everything we needed. This girlfriend is literally in trouble now.'

Lori emerged from the bunker first, with a devilish grin on her face. She was looking at her phone, chuckling a little to herself. As she approached the 'boyfriend'-and-'girlfriend' duo, Bella dropped Lincoln to the ground in complete shock.

'Y-You…' She stammered. 'Y-You heard that?'

'Oh yeah.' Lori replied. 'I heard that. The whole thing. But I wasn't the only one.'

Out from the bunker popped out another girl, one much younger than the first. Bella couldn't be certain, but she had to assume that bespectacled girl was the one prone to the lab explosions. The young girl wore a microphone and a massive grin on her face.

'Check-mate.' She said.

One by one, so many sisters emerged from that bunker. Luna, Lana, Leni (who was also carrying Lily)… Bella's confidence faded away with each girl who revealed herself. Luan practically jumped out, with a little smirk typically only seen on her around April Fools' Day.

'Are you a painter?' She asked. 'Cos I think we've caught you red-handed! HA HA, get it? I know it's a stretch, but you don't deserve my A-game.'

While Bella backed away, her eyes darting around for a way out, Leni rushed over to her only brother and looked him up and down for any more injuries. Aside from the bruised eye - which still needed a couple of weeks to heal - he had noticeable hand prints on his chest where Bella had him pinned, and the top of his back had some minor scrapes from being pressed back against the bark of the tree. Other than that, he seemed just fine.

As to be expected from someone living with his ten sisters.

Still, it couldn't hurt to ask. 'Are you okay, Linky?'

'Winky okay?' Lily asked, seemingly about to cry.

He smiled. 'Yep. A little bit of pain, but nothing I'm not used to.'

'I'll get you all nice and patched up,' Leni said. 'Once we deal with… where is she going?'

Bella made the foolish mistake of thinking that she could possibly escape ten sisters, and ran for the fence. She had hardly vaulted over it before a red-and-white blur hopped out from the bushes and pinned her to the ground. Not too harshly of course, because then it'd be a little hypocritical, but just enough to keep her in place.

'You're not getting away with this.' Lynn said, glaring down upon her.

'DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!' Lola yelled, jumping out of the bush too.

And then, all of the Loud sisters - except for Leni and Lily, who were still tending to Lincoln, and a still-absent Lucy - surrounded Bella and blocked any chance of her escape. Unless she went underground, but there was no way she could outdig Lana.

Despite the horrible situation, she laughed. 'You think you girls scare me? What proof do you have? It's just you. Who's going to believe you over someone who says she got punched?'

'Oh really?' Lori said. 'Then what do you say about this?'

She spun her phone around to let Bella see what was on the screen, and the bully gasped when she saw the video that was currently playing.

'You really wanna do that? Do you want everyone in school and this entire town to believe you punched me?'

Bella gritted her teeth. 'Delete that video right now!'

'Alright.' Lori said, doing just as she was told. 'We've literally got about a hundred copies of this video, so it doesn't matter.'

'GAH! How did you even get this footage?!'

Lisa stepped out from the crowd, and pointed at the tree, where a camera - painted brown for a little bit of camo - lay. It was aimed right at Bella too. Then Lisa pointed to a couple more painted cameras, like one on the garage, another next to the back door to the house, and even one peeking out of Charles's doghouse (much to the dog's annoyance).

'I happen to be quite the expert when it comes to security cameras.' Lisa said. 'So I could record any and all incriminating words you uttered to my elder brother. And with how many angles I was able to secure, I could edit together a little movie out of the footage if I so desired.'

Bella gasped. 'Don't you dare show people that footage! If you do… everyone will hate me!'

It was at that moment when Luna and Luan stepped aside so Leni and - most importantly - Lincoln could enter their little circle. He had a rather impressive smirk on that chipped-tooth face of his. Just one look at him made the bully's rage skyrocket.

'Luckily for you, Bella,' He said. 'I'm no hypocrite. I wouldn't want my reputation ruined, so I won't do the same to you… if, you do one little thing.'

She growled. 'One little thing for a pathetic little loser like you? I've been putting up with our blasted little 'relationship' all because you-!'

'Do you wanna cooperate?!' Lola demanded. 'Or do you wanna have your reputation destroyed? Because I can turn you into a laughing stock in a matter of minutes if I wanted to, Little Miss Pony Pajamas.'

Bella cringed. How on earth this six-year-old knew that detail about her life was beyond her, and she would rather not know.

'Is that really that embarrassing?' Leni asked.

'Well, it is to her!' Lola replied. 'And that's all that matters!'

Bella didn't want to admit it, but there was no other choice. With so many people around her, and with her reputation on the line, what else could she do?

The bully sighed. 'Okay, fine. I'll listen to your stupid demands. Just don't leak that footage!'

'My conditions are simple, Bella.' Lincoln said. 'Tomorrow, we officially break up, in front of my friends so they know it's for real. And - this is the important part - I have to be the one to do it.'

'What?! You get to do it?'

'You heard me. With how much you tried to control my life, I think I should get to instigate something for once.'

The worst part of this entire situation, as far as Bella was aware? As she lay there, pinned to the ground by a jock, she realised that she had no other choice.

With a groan, she finally conceded. 'Okay, fine! I'll let you break up with me. Just… just don't share that embarrassing video with anyone!'

'I won't.' Lincoln said. 'I learnt my lesson about not sharing embarrassing videos of people a long while back. I just hope you learn the same thing.'

'But if you dare try to tell anyone that my brother hit you,' Lola said. 'I'll make sure you never forget it!'

'Trust me, she's not bluffing.' Lana said. 'I can tell you the story about my frog Seymor if you really wanna know.' (Of course, the story behind Seymor was a lie made up to scare Lincoln, since Seymor never even existed, but Bella didn't need to know that.)

Seeing as she complied to their requests, Bella was allowed to go free. The moment Lynn let her go, the girl charged across the yard and tried to vault back over the fence again.

'Hello.'

'AHHHH! VAAAMPIIIRE!'

Author Notes - I'm a little worried with how I'm writing Lincoln here. I think I've done a good job with it, but of course Lincoln being a bit of a crybaby when it comes to insults is (on top of being out-of-character) a bit of a fandom cliche. Or at least was; not so sure about now. Granted, Lincoln spends much more time calling Bella out on her awful behaviour, so I think it balances out. That's part of the reason why I tried to make Bella's insults as brutal as possible - the Loud sisters, even at their worst, never belted out horrible insult after horrible insult so brutally without letting up.