Reversal of Fortune: Chapter 23: School Dazed
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7; 12:00 PM
ROYAL WOODS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CAFETERIA
As Clyde, Lincoln, Ronnie Anne, and Paige walked to Clincoln McCloud's usual lunch table, they discussed the events of the morning together.
Clyde asked Lincoln, "Yo… mans really got blessed with finished homework, eh? Jheeeez!"
Ronnie Anne added tensely, "Yeah, Lame-O, how does it feel to have your own private team of girls doing your homework for you?"
Lincoln then mused appreciatively, "Yeah… that was nice of them," before muttering, "If only Mrs. Johnson would allow it."
Clyde then reminded Lincoln, "True say, she said you only have to bless her with last night's homework, fam. Get a sweeter ting to bless you with the work, and you're kickin' up, styll."
Lincoln chuckled, "Fair enough," as he sat at his usual lunch table alongside Clyde, Ronnie Anne, and Paige. However, as the four of them took their seats, they immediately found their table swarmed by 30 girls, most of whom were the Cannonball Gang and their friends. They rushed to the table and tried to take their seats next to Clyde so quickly that Lincoln found himself practically smushed between girls. The table was so crowded with excited, squealing girls that some of the girls even sat on each other's laps.
As Lincoln felt his body get squished and his ears get assaulted with the loud, excited chatter of girls, he deadpanned to Clyde, "Just like back at my old house."
Feeling sorry for Lincoln's situation, Clyde quickly got the chattering girls' attention by yelling, "Ey! Give da bwoi some air, eh?! Mans need ta breathe out here! Not tryna suffocate, styll! Ya pree the bandaid on a man's headtop!"
When the girls glanced at the bandage on top of Lincoln's head, they gasped in shock. Many of them murmured, "Oh my god!", and, "Sorry, Lincoln!"
One girl, Cookie, even asked, "Lincoln, what happened?"
Clyde, now sensing he had the girls' attention, asked them, "Ya really wanna know?"
The girls, now concerned, nodded frantically.
As they did, Liam and Zach walked up to the table, expecting to take a seat alongside Lincoln and Clyde as they had done so many times before.
Liam chuckled, "Aww… dang! Clyde's really lucky with the ladies now, huh?"
Zach chimed in bitterly, "I know! It's been like this for four days! First Clyde… now Lincoln! I swear, those two were abducted by aliens."
As Liam and Zach approached Clyde, many of the girls gave them dirty looks. However, knowing that Clyde was their friend, Liam and Zach decided to ignore these looks and continue to march towards Clyde, personally hoping to score whichever girls Clyde decided not to hang out with.
Liam asked, "Hey, uh… Clyde! What's goin' on, buddy?"
Zach chuckled nervously, "Yeah, McBride! Uh… we were just wondering…"
Liam interrupted him, beaming, "Can we…"
All of the girls seated at the table, or on another girl's lap for that matter, immediately glared at Liam and Zach and roared, "GET! OUT!" The girls yelled at the two redheads so loudly that it caused everyone in the entire cafeteria, even the teachers, to stop what they were doing and turn to the table to listen to the commotion.
With their pupils shrunk in terror, Liam and Zach froze before Liam giggled nervously, "Umm… yeah… so… we're just gonna scram and see you at…"
The girls immediately yelled, just as loudly as they did last time, "NO!" The looks of rage and disgust on the girl's faces, combined with their fierce, furious yells, were enough to startle Lincoln and Clyde into tensing up.
Zach chuckled nervously, "Heh… heh… heh… see ya," before he and Liam ran away from the table as quickly as they could as the girls glared smugly at them.
As Liam and Zach ran away from the table, they quickly scanned the cafeteria looking for another place to sit, only to see practically everyone at the cafeteria glaring at them. Liam and Zach took the hint and shuffled off to the only table available for them to sit at: the Sticky Table.
As Liam and Zach took their seats at the Sticky Table, back at Lincoln and Clyde's table, the girls tried to comfort the duo with cutesy murmurs of, "Are you OK," or, "Did the mean redheads scare you?"
Clyde heartily chuckled at the girls' concern for him before reassuring them, "We're bless, fam. We're all bless out here."
Cookie then asked Clyde, "So… you were gonna tell us what happened to Lincoln," with the rest of the girls saying in response, "Yeah!"
Clyde then sighed before addressing the crowd of girls, "So yo, take this in," before starting to tell Lincoln's story.
(Time Skip: 15 minutes later)
After Clyde told, or in some cases retold, Lincoln's story to the girls at the table, all of them gave Lincoln sympathetic looks, with many of them simultaneously saying, "Aww, poor Linky!"
Rachel, who was sitting in between Clyde and Lincoln, surfed on top of a couple of girls' laps to sit on Lincoln's lap. When Rachel sat on Lincoln's lap, she cupped his face before saying in a babyish voice, "Let me kiss your boo-boo better!", before proceeding to kiss the bandage on top of Lincoln's head. As a couple of other girls, including Gabby and Emma, gave Lincoln the same tender, loving kisses, Ronnie Anne and Paige crossed their arms and glared at the girls in envy.
Ronnie Anne whispered to Paige, "Bimbos," with Paige murmuring back, "Yeah, I know."
As if the day couldn't get any weirder for Lincoln and Clyde, Chandler and 2 of his goons, suddenly approached their table. One was a black-haired boy in a red hoodie named Matthew. The other one was a big blonde-haired boy in a green shirt and pale yellow undershirt named Todd. Smirking at Clincloln McCloud, Chandler said, "Hey. Word on the street is, you two Lame-O's are the new cool kids in school."
Clyde replied, "Yo, ya dun know! So what are you saying, fam? What's your motive?"
Chandler offered Clyde, "I've got a birthday party coming up next Friday, at the Royal Woods Sewage Plant. 7:00 PM."
Clyde asked, "Jheez, so you tryna get mans to pull up?"
Chandler, Matthew, and Todd laughed before Chandler corrected Clyde, "No, not 'mans'. Girls. LOTS. Of. Girls."
The girls seated at the table traded excited glances and began to squeal before Chandler addressed Lincoln, "Speaking of girls, I've seen your IP, Grandpa. Always around 10 hotties. Never knew a guy could have 10 girlfriends."
The girls at the table immediately gasped in shock at Chandler's callous remark before Lincoln grumbled at Chandler, "I don't wanna talk about them right now."
Chandler chuckled heartily before joking, "Oh, so they're your ex-girlfriends?", with Matthew and Todd letting out "oohs" in response, causing the girls to start to scowl at Chandler and his goons.
When Chandler saw Lincoln glaring at him, he laughed once more before saying, "Alright, alright. Look, how about this? Make up with your girlfriends, tell them to each bring about… erm… 5 of their friends, and we're good."
In response, Lincoln scowled at Chandler as he growled, "Hard. Pass."
Chandler then offered, "There's 50 bones in it for you if you pull it off, Larry."
Lincoln repeated himself, "Again: Hard. Pass."
Clyde backed Lincoln up as he told Chandler, "Yo, you're movin' super wassi, fam. I know you're not bringin' those talks to me. Go find your own shorties, ya fuckin dutty yute!"
After the Cannonball Gang yelled, "Yeah!", to back Clyde and Lincoln up, Chandler shrugged his shoulders and said, "Suit yourself." After that, he motioned to his followers to leave the table, which they did.
Clyde saw the anger on Lincoln's face and asked him, concerned, "Yo, you bless fam?"
Lincoln told Clyde, "No, I'm not 'blessed.' Come on, let's get out of here."
In support of his friend, Clyde replied, "Yo, I'm marved right now, but say less."
As Lincoln and Clyde got up from the table, the table's supports buckled under the weight of all of the girls sitting there, causing it to lift to the left side. When it did, the girls on the leftmost edge of the table dropped to the floor as everyone's food also fell to the floor, causing all of the girls to groan in annoyance. This caused Haiku to get up from the floor and deadpan, "Yeah… crowd the table to try to get to Clyde. Best idea ever. If you need me, I'll be over with my friends, helping Lincoln out."
Meanwhile, Ronnie Anne and Paige crossed their arms and smugly huffed at the rest of the girls, "Karma."
As Haiku stormed away from the table, she saw Rocky walking out of the cafeteria with Lucy. Perfect, she thought to herself. With Lucy out of the way, Haiku approached the Junior Morticians Club and began to tell them Lincoln's story.
(Scene Change: Royal Woods Elementary School, Boys' Bathroom, 1st Floor)
Meanwhile, in the boys' bathroom, Clyde asked Lincoln, "Yo, so what are mans sayin?"
Lincoln told Clyde, "I don't know how to feel right now! It's just you… being so popular…"
Clyde immediately interrupted him, a little offended, "So what are mans saying, you not rating the fresh look?"
Lincoln nervously explained to Clyde, "No, it's not that. It's that life's honestly been so… well, more hectic for me than it usually is. In the past week, I've been kicked out of my own house due to being 'bad luck', had my own furniture sold, been taken in by a random family, forced to get brain-chip removing surgery to hide from my ex-housemates, and now I find out that the pets back at my old house are dead."
Clyde gasped at that, and let out a stunned, "What? Repeat that last part."
Lincoln repeated himself, "The pets back at my old house. They're dead."
Clyde stammered, "O-oh. Oh man. I'm so sorry, Lincoln. How did they die?"
After glancing up at the bathroom to look for security cameras, and seeing a device on the bathroom's ceiling that looked like a small camera, Lincoln then whispered to Clyde the whole story of everything he knew about how the Loud pets died.
(Time Skip: 5 minutes later)
Clyde's eyes popped out of his skull as he processed the horror of the Loud pets' apparent fates. After regaining his composure, he said in shock, "Holy… yo, that's messed up, styll."
Lincoln said, "Yeah… I… I know. Don't get me wrong, I'm still angry at them, and there's no way in heck I'm forgiving them. But after that… wow. Like, did they really deserve that?"
Clyde then explained to Lincoln, "Yo, that's a lighter issue now, OK? What's done is done. Those pets are dead, and if the gyaldem find out, mans are getting merked."
Lincoln continued to try to convince Clyde, "I know, and that's what scares me. I mean, I know Mr. Sweetwater did everything he could to try to keep our involvement in the plot secret. But at the same time, I can't help but wonder. I mean, red heard Mr. Sweetwater call Marcus Quick to have him meet up with her. What if she figures it out and tells the others? You know how scary my ex-housemates can be when they come together."
As Clyde reflected on his previous encounters with the Louds, he said, "Yo, that's a true ting, styll. But yo, real talk, do you really want to kill your family?"
Lincoln paused before stammering, "W-w-well… w-when you put it like that," before sighing and explaining, "Look, I never wanted it to come to this. I don't take comfort in the idea of killing people. But this is all their doing. If they want to live, they have to prove themselves. Prove that they're truly sorry, they won't bully me again, and that they'll treat me as an equal, valuable, individual human being from here on out, no matter what. And frankly, I just don't think they can. So, what choice do I have? I can wish all I want for things to be different, but it's just not going to happen. My ex-housemates aren't typically the type to realize what they did wrong and apologize."
Clyde simply said, "Szeen. But yo, take care of yourself, fam. And kick up with the Sweetwaters. I don't wanna see mans on the chalk outline, eh?"
Lincoln murmured in agreement, "You got that right," before suggesting, "Now, come on… let's finish lunch where we can get a little more privacy. You wanna go eat outside? It's sunny today."
Clyde accepted his friend's invitation by saying, "Yo, say word, fam. We'll be off this, still."
As Lincoln and Clyde walked outside to finish their lunch, they managed to go through the hallways relatively undetected and undisturbed. This gave Clincoln McCloud the opportunity to reflect on whether the Louds would either admit they were wrong or admit that they truly didn't care about Lincoln at all.
(Scene Change: Royal Woods High School Hallways)
After discussing their plans to both distract the Loud sisters and tell Lincoln's story to their friends, Whitney, Carol, Becky, Dana, Melissa, Jackie, and Veronica broke their huddle. While Carol headed over to one of the music classrooms, the rest of the girls headed into the cafeteria.
First, when Veronica saw Lori shuffling through the cafeteria by herself, she quickly asked her, "Hey, Lori, I know yesterday was rough, but you want to go to Sushi Shawarma?"
Lori gasped, "S&S?! I've literally been dying for that!", before warily asking, "Wait… why are you doing this?"
Veronica sighed before telling Lori, "I saw everything on Instapic and Snaptalk yesterday. Girl, everybody roasted you. I just wanted to check up on you… see if you're alright."
Lori quickly pulled Veronica into a hug before sniffling, "That's literally the nicest thing anyone's said to me in the last 24 hours. Come on, I'll drive."
Veronica, however, offered, "No, no, I insist! I'll drive! We can eat in class if we don't get back on time, you know that!"
Lori chuckled, "Fair enough," before the two left the cafeteria to head to Sushi Shawarma.
Meanwhile, over at the Fashionistas' Table, Becky approached Leni and asked her, "Hey, wanna go to Java Juice? On me!"
Leni gasped in joy before excitedly squealing, "Java Juice?! Totes!"
Becky chuckled, "Well, alright, then!"
Leni then waved goodbye to her friends, "Sorry guys! Becky's taking me to Java Juice! Don't worry, I'll come back and get something for you guys! You guys want anything?"
Dana quickly assured Leni, speaking on behalf of the rest of the Fashionistas, "No, no, we're good."
Leni replied, "Oh, ok. Well, if you need anything, just text me, ok?"
Dana chuckled, "We will. Now, go have fun, you two!"
Leni assured her friends, "We will! Bye!", as she walked off with Becky to head to Java Juice.
Once the girls made sure Lori and Leni left the cafeteria, Jackie took a seat with the juniors and seniors in the Theater Club, while Whitney took a seat alongside Lori's friends. While all that was going on, Dana told the remaining members of the Fashionistas, "O-M-Gosh… you won't believe what Leni, her sisters, and her parents did to their brother last week!"
(Scene Change: Music Classroom, Royal Woods High School)
After Carol knocked on the door of Room 118, Mrs. Vaporciyan opened the door and smiled, "Ah, Ms. Pingrey! What are you doing here?"
Carol smiled back, "Mrs. Vaporciyan! So nice to see you! Is Sam Sharp here?"
Mrs. Vaporciyan said, "Umm… yeah! Why? What do you need her for?"
Carol glanced to the side nervously before explaining, "Uh… Student Leadership follow-up! Yeah! That's it!"
Mrs. Vaporciyan responded, "Well, why didn't you just say so? I'll get her right now!" She then walked over to Sam and said, "Sam, Carol Pingrey wants to see you. She's saying something about a Student Leadership program follow-up from last year."
Sam smiled as she stood up from her seat, "Oh! OK!"
After Sam walked out of the class, she made sure to slam the door behind her. As she did, she greeted, "Hey, Carol, what's up?"
Carol motioned for Sam to follow her as she told her, "Come on. Walk and talk."
While Sam was a little suspicious of Carol's motives, she ultimately shrugged her shoulders before walking with her away from the classroom. As she did, she asked Carol, "So… what's the deal?"
Carol then asked Sam, "Remember how you told me about the Moon Goats thing you, Luna, Sully, & Mazzy wanted to start?"
Sam smiled at that and started, "Oh, yeah! Well, we're doing great now! We play Saturday nights at Banger's & Mosh, & we're looking to expand to doing Friday nights at The Burnt Bean!"
Carol gasped, "Wow, that's awesome! I knew you guys had the talent to go far!"
Sam chuckled, flattered, "Thanks!" Sam then grew sad as she then explained, "But, Luna's told us she's not going to be at band practice for the next little while because she said all her pets died."
At that, Carol sympathetically gazed at Sam and told her, "Oh my gosh! Well, send Luna and the rest of the Louds my deepest condolences."
Sam assured Carol, "I will."
Carol then sighed before starting, "And while we're talking about that… what has Luna told you about her little brother, Lincoln?"
Sam asked, "Wait, how do you know about that? I thought you were feuding with Lori!"
Carol reminded Sam, "Oh, we put that silly rivalry to rest! We even took a selfie together! Go check out my Instapic!"
Sam smiled, "I will! And hey, speaking of Instapic, did you see those pictures of Lori pooping in the trash can?!" She then chuckled, "Whoever set that up deserves a few thousand more followers!", causing both her & Carol to burst into full-blown laughter.
Once they were done laughing, Carol asked again, "So, again, what has Luna told you about her little brother, Lincoln?"
Sam quickly explained, "Well, she said that the guy can be a handful to deal with, but that's all little brothers. I even told her he's just like my little brother, Simon!"
Despite Sam's smile, Carol's face remained serious and dark. Catching onto this, Sam asked Carol, "What? What's wrong?"
Carol sighed before saying, "Sam… there's a few things you need to know."
(Scene Change: 15 minutes later, Royal Woods High School Cafeteria, Theater Club Table)
After Jackie told the Theater Club about Lincoln's story and the plan her and the rest of the Loud siblings' friends had to get back at the Louds, their mouths remained agape in stunned silence.
Errol broke the silence by starting, "Holy…"
(Scene Change: Royal Woods High School Cafeteria, Fashionistas Table)
Similar looks of shock, disgust, and horror were passed around the members of the Fashionistas as Mandee said, "Fucking…"
(Scene Change: Royal Woods High School Hallways)
Sam gasped, "Shmoly. Never hurt Lincoln again?"
Carol nodded, "Mm-hmm."
Sam gasped once more before scoffing, "Look, I know Luna and the rest of her sisters deserve to pay for what they did to Lincoln. But if you guys are serious about going through with what you just told me, you're no better than those Louds. As a matter of fact, you might even be worse. Why don't you guys just call the police and have them sort it out?"
Carol seethed, "Need I remind you that Lisa put a tracking chip in Lincoln's brain, and Lynn Jr. almost had Lincoln arrested for stealing the squirrel suit? The police are not on our side here, so we have to handle business on our own."
Sam quickly shook her head, "No, no. This is crazy!" She then faced Carol and told her, "I'll tell you what: tomorrow, I'm coming to the addy, I'm going to ask Luna if all of that is true, and if it is, I'm going to ask her and the rest of her sisters to apologize to Lincoln. I mean, I've heard it can get a little rough at Luna's house, but that just sounds like too much… on both sides!"
Carol pled with Sam, "Are you kidding me? Do you know how dangerous that house is? You can't tell them you know about what they're doing to Lincoln!"
Sam sighed, "Look, unlike you, I've been over there before on friendly terms. Stay out of my way, Carol. I know what I'm doing," before walking away from Carol.
Carol then called after Sam, suggesting, "Oh, and one more thing: if you're going to visit that house, go and get yourself checked out to see if Lisa put a tracking chip inside you."
Sam huffed in annoyance as she briskly walked away from Carol back to class, causing Carol to groan in frustration.
(Scene Change: Royal Woods Elementary School Cafeteria, Junior Morticians Club Table)
Despite their penchant for stoicism, the jaws of the Junior Morticians Club members remained agape as they struggled to process what Haiku had just told them.
Persephone simply said in shock, "Wow."
Boris added, "Treason is the last circle of Dante's magnum opus for a reason… and I'm afraid Loud just became its latest visitor."
Morpheus responded, "Gasp. What Lucy and her sisters did to the Louds is undoubtedly dark beyond comprehension. And while we do handle corpses, making them, that's new territory."
Haiku balked before telling her fellow club members, "I know. And deep down, I want Lucy to be redeemable. But you heard me: Lisa literally implanted a tracking chip in Lincoln and Lucy's brains. She could have implanted them in all of us. Well, I know I'm clean because I got checked out at the hospital. The rest of you, I don't know. As for the rest of that family, well, Lucy has told us about what Luan pulls on April Fools' Day every year. And as for Lynn Jr., she tried to get Lincoln arrested for stealing the squirrel suit. So as much as we might want to save our fellow sister of darkness, the circumstances are so dire that she must expire."
Bertrand suggested, "Why don't we work together to break Lucy off from the rest of the family?"
Haiku pointed out, "Sigh. With how quickly we'll need to work, there'll be no time. And even if there were, again, tracking chips. Lisa, Luan, & the rest of them could easily kidnap Lucy, putting all of us at risk. Now, ask yourselves: do you really want to live your lives, or afterlives, at the mercy of people who are that dark?"
The rest of the Morticians Club members traded glances before looking back to Haiku in silent agreement with her.
When Haiku saw the agreement in her fellow goths' eyes, she instructed them, "Good. Meet me after school, same time, same place. With Lucy taking some time off to grieve the loss of the pets, we may not need to worry about anyone spying on us. Now, I'll have my mom drop the rest of you guys off at the hospital to get checked for tracking chips tonight."
(Time Skip: 2:00 PM, Royal Woods High School, Room 232)
As teenagers took their seats in a classroom, Dana and Jackie decided to sit next to each other.
Dana asked Jackie, "So, you told your Theater Club friends?"
Jackie assured Dana, "Yeah. They said they're going to tell the freshmen & sophomores after school, & go to the hospital to get checked for tracking chips tonight. Other than that, they're down. Something about Luan always pulling pranks on the cast."
Dana said, "Good. Pretty much the same response from Leni's friends. So yeah, those doctors might have their hands full. I just hope Luna's band and the rest of Lori's friends are going to hold up their end of the bargain."
Not long after Dana's remarks, the teacher walked into the classroom. He was a tall, skinny, pale-skinned man with medium-length brown hair and brown eyes. He wore black gloves, black dress shoes, and a plum-colored overcoat draped over a black shirt with a W-shaped pin and black dress pants. Today, he decided to complete the outfit with a black top hat and white cane, which made him seem like he was wearing a Halloween costume more than an actual outfit.
As the man walked up to the class, he wrote the current date, Friday, October 7, 2016, and the subject name, AP World History, on the whiteboard. After doing so, he greeted his students, "Good afternoon."
While some students in the class greeted in kind, "Good afternoon, Mr. Majors," one lanky Caucasian student with light blonde hair, a blue baseball hat and a black track suit with black sneakers, coughed before he muttered under his breath, "Faggot."
Mr. Majors turned to the student, glared at him, and asked him, "Is there a problem, Yves?"
Yves nervously responded, "Uh… n-no, sir. No problem at all."
Mr. Majors kept staring down Yves, causing him to shrink in his seat. When Mr. Majors took note of Yves' submissive body language, he then commanded his class, "Alright, students, today, we're going to be learning about the use of propaganda in revolutions." While doing so, he wrote, "Today's Topic: Propaganda – pg. 401". After writing that on the whiteboard, he instructed the class, "So if you'll turn your textbooks to page 401, we can get started."
The class did as Mr. Majors said, with Dana and Jackie smirking at each other as they did so. Dana whispered to Jackie, "Ooh… this is gonna be good."
Jackie nodded, "You bet."
While they did so, Yves groaned under his breath, "Ugh…", causing Dana and Jackie to turn around and glare at him furiously. Mr. Majors did the same, causing Yves to again shrink in his seat. When he did, Mr. Majors turned back to the whiteboard and began to write his lesson plan for the day.
After writing down his lesson plan, Mr. Majors explained, "Take the example of the Russian Revolution. Normally, I'd regale you on the dates, key figures, etc. But today's not about that. We can study those during the week. It's Friday, and I know everyone wants to go home, myself included. So, we're going to cover some key concepts, leave you to think about them over the weekend, and then we'll get back to it on Monday."
Yves immediately interrupted Mr. Majors, "Are you seriously using a Communist revolution as an example of the use of propaganda? In America? We fought those Russian bastards for 50 years! Why don't you use the French Revolution? Or the American Revolution, because we're in America, leftist trash? What are you trying to do, subvert America?"
Mr. Majors and the rest of the class glared at Yves. However, Mr. Majors kept his composure and explained, "Yves, you'd be happy to know that those Russian revolutionaries stayed in power for 70 years, and set the blueprint for other countries like Nazi Germany, China, North Korea, and Cuba, among others."
Yves bitterly chuckled, "Nazi Germany? Oh, that's rich. Hey, look everyone, it's Mr. Majors, trying to become dictator of America!"
Many students continued to glare at Yves, with Dana and Jackie looking the angriest of said students. Mr. Majors calmly warned Yves, "Mr. Forte, one more outburst like that and you're out of my classroom. And keep in mind, this lesson might be useful to help prevent a dictator from rising to take over America. Especially with the elections coming up, and you-know-who being the candidates."
Realizing that he agreed with Mr. Majors' point, Yves slumped into his seat and muttered to himself under his breath, "Stupid election."
Sensing Yves backing down, Mr. Majors said, "Thank you," before explaining, "Now, the main thing that propagandists did during a revolution was to cast themselves and their fellow revolutionaries as freedom fighters. They might not have been 'freedom' fighters, as our friend Yves here pointed out, but the point stands. Winning the hearts & the minds of the people is one of the key aspects to a successful revolution. So, what these revolutionaries would do is tie every possible positive attribute to their own side. They portrayed themselves as champions of courage, battle, literacy, industry, and pretty much anything that we would see as an improvement in quality of life. More importantly, they urged the people that if they joined their movement, they would become champions in these respects as well, and that everyone would share in the spoils of their victory."
Dana and Jackie glanced at each other, nodded, and began furiously taking notes. While writing, they were pressing their pencils down on their papers so hard while writing that their desks began to shake. When Mr. Majors noticed this, he paid it no mind, as he took it as a compliment that these students were so interested in his lesson.
Mr. Majors then explained, "But what unites people more than a common cause is a common enemy. Case-in-point: the election going on right now. The Russian revolutionaries knew this, and took every possible opportunity to demonize the old order. They used the common word, 'burzhui', or as we'd know it, 'bourgeoisie', to mark class enemies. They tied every negative aspect of life to this class of people to make it easier for average people to understand who their enemies were and why the revolution was necessary."
While Yves muttered under his breath, "Communist," Dana whispered to Jackie, "The Louds. That's our common word."
Jackie agreed, "Mm-hmm. This is going to be easy."
When Mr. Majors heard Dana and Jackie whispering amongst themselves, he asked, "Um.. girls… are you OK?"
Dana and Jackie quickly responded, "Yup," before Dana asked, "What if the burzhui had good qualities about them? You know, qualities that you liked about them before, and that could benefit the people again in better circumstances?"
Mr. Majors complimented, "Good question, Dana, and that actually brings me to my next point." He then explained, his face darkening, "The Russian revolutionaries presented themselves as working against a constant 'other' whose very essence was to destroy the lives of everyone in the movement and ordinary citizens themselves. Because of this, the policy of the revolutionaries was to never give the burzhui an inch. The revolutionaries' propaganda would always proclaim that they never did a good thing, were corrupt from the start, and that everything they stand for is bad. Every negative action of the 'burzhui' class, who were defined as the royals, aristocracy, and capitalists, had to be shown to society in amplified, exaggerated forms. This would whip the masses into enough of a hateful, unforgiving frenzy to do the revolutionaries' bidding against these classes of people."
With this, Dana and Jackie gasped in understanding before Jackie whispered, "So that's why you, Becky, and the others told me about Lincoln's situation the way you did!"
Dana confirmed, "Exactly."
Mr. Majors turned to the whispering girls again and briefly glared at them, asking, "Is there a problem, Ms. Fletcher? Ms. Nguyen?"
This caused the duo to stop and say, "We're sorry, Mr. Majors!"
Mr. Majors sighed, "Apology accepted." After that, he explained, "Once the masses were brought forward to the revolutionaries' way of thinking, anyone and everyone who stood by the old regime was executed. Even 'good people.'"
The rest of the class gasped before Jackie asked, "Why would good people who stood by the regime be killed? They're good people!"
Mr. Majors explained, "Because a saint for the crown was the most insidious enemy of the revolution. Take for example, a nameless Russian countess renowned for her extreme kindness, generosity, and love of the poor, who also happened to be a devout monarchist. Now, propaganda would have to emphasize her flaws, real or fabricated, to make her out to be the worst kind of person. This is because to the revolutionaries, a person like her is the worst. She shows that the old order could be kind, and that through people like her, there is a possibility that the old order can be kind and possibly better than the revolutionary order. Though it may be unpopular, she must be destroyed for the good of the revolution, and for the good of the people."
The rest of the class gasped again before Yves stood up from his seat and chanted loudly, "Justice for Anastasia! Justice for Anastasia! #JusticeforAnastasia!"
The rest of the class, including Mr. Majors, gave Yves weird looks before Mr. Majors cleared his throat and continued, "As I was saying, according to the revolutionaries, class enemies who wish to live must renounce the old system altogether, and only then will they be capable of doing good. I'm not going to get into specific details, you can find those in your textbook over the weekend."
Yves again stood up from his seat and chanted, "#JusticeforAnastasia! Ima start it on Chirper right now, #JusticeforAnastasia!"
The rest of the class again turned to Yves and gave him weird looks, causing Yves to respond, "What? Mr. Majors is a communist! A COMMUNIST! What's he doing… teaching you children to turn America communist! Shame on you, Mr. Majors!"
Mr. Majors glared at him, hissing, "Yves…"
Yves interrupted Mr. Majors, "NO! YOU LISTEN TO ME, YOU COMMIE BASTARD!"
Mr. Majors hissed through his teeth, "That's it! I'm calling the vice-principal right now!"
The rest of the class went, "Ooh," while Yves went, "Go ahead, you commie bastard! I'm going to go ahead and tell the principal that you're a Communist! Then we'll see who she sides with!"
Mr. Majors, however, paid no mind to Yves as he called Oliver Eteru, one of the vice-principals of Principal Rivers. When Oliver picked up the phone, he answered, "Hello?"
Mr. Majors responded, "Hello, this is Mr. Majors, Room 232."
Oliver smiled before answering, "Aah, Mr. Majors. What can I do for you?"
Mr. Majors informed Oliver, "Sir, Yves Forte here is disrupting my class, repeatedly calling me a 'Communist bastard', and…".
This was before Yves interrupted Mr. Majors, "YEAH, TELL THE VP YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A COMMIE BASTARD!"
Mr. Majors huffed, "See what I mean?"
Oliver groaned, "Understood. Have him meet me in my office at once. You'll send the written report over, right?"
Mr. Majors sighed, "Yeah. Gonna have to stay over a little late, but you know, you gotta do what you gotta do."
Oliver let out a chuckle at that before telling Mr. Majors, "Take care."
Mr. Majors said, "Bye," before hanging up the phone. When he did, he turned to Yves and told him, "That was the vice-principal. Go to the principal's office, and get out of my classroom."
Yves said defiantly, "NO! I AM NOT LEAVING THIS CLASSROOM, YOU COMMIE BASTARD!"
Mr. Majors shouted at Yves, "GET OUT OF MY CLASSROOM, AND NOT ANOTHER WORD!"
Dana and Jackie glared at Yves while Dana snarled, "You heard Mr. Majors. Out."
As the rest of the class turned their attention to Yves to see what he would do, he snapped, "YOU PSYCHOPATHS! MR. MAJORS, YOU'RE A COMMIE BASTARD, AND ALL OF YOU ARE COMMIE BASTARDS! SHAME ON YOU LEFTISTS! YOU'RE THE REASON WHY AMERICA'S DYING! I HOPE YOU ALL DIE OF EBOLA AND GO TO HELL!"
Mr. Majors warned, "Yves, if you don't stop and leave the classroom right now, I'm calling the police to have you forcibly removed."
Not wanting to get in trouble with the police, and feeling the glares of the rest of the class on him, Yves packed his bag, stormed to the front of the class, and yelled at Mr. Majors as he handed him his slip to meet with the Vice-Principal, "Give me that slip… you commie bastard!" As Yves passed by Mr. Majors, he snatched the slip from his hand and walked towards the door. When Yves reached the door, he turned to the class, gave them two middle fingers, and slammed the door shut.
After Yves left the class, many of the students exchanged remarks of, "Finally!", or "Ugh, finally!"
Mr. Majors sighed in agreement before quickly telling his class, "Moving on." He then went on to explain, "Once the old order has been thoroughly crushed and humiliated, they begin to disappear in purges, usually to the gleeful celebration of their former underlings and fellow countrymen."
Dana and Jackie continued to write notes about Mr. Majors' subject matter furiously in their binders while exchanging evil smirks, which Mr. Majors noticed. When he did, he asked Dana and Jackie, "Ladies, what's going on? You seem to be… especially enthusiastic about my class today."
If Mr. Majors looked down at Dana and Jackie's binders, he would have seen a plot being formed by the two of them against the Loud family, using the propaganda tips he had given them. Since Mr. Majors didn't look down at the girls' binders, all he saw was Dana and Jackie smirking at each other before Jackie asked, "Oh, nothing. It's just… I wanted to ask… how well does this work?"
Mr. Majors answered, "Good question, Ms. Nguyen. The Soviets were so effective at this that there is a ton of difficulty in even studying the fate of the Russian upper class after the Revolution. This is because no one bothered recording their thoughts and lives. They had become so worthless in the eyes of Soviet society that even marking the death of a former aristocrat in the newspaper was considered a waste of ink and paper."
Dana and Jackie exchanged more evil smirks between each other as Dana whispered, "That fate… for the Louds."
Jackie whispered back, "Totes."
After a few more minutes of lecturing, Mr. Majors instructed the class, "Alright… now, for Monday's class, I want you to read over the pages on propaganda during the Russian Revolution, pages 417-422. Again, this weekend, don't focus on specifics, focus on the concepts. And write an 800-word essay on how these concepts can be applied and/or defended against to preserve democratic traditions."
The rest of the class groaned before Dana asked Jackie with a sarcastic, goofy grin, "Did you hear that? 800 words!"
Jackie snarked back, "Yeah, I know!", before the two girls giggled.
As the bell rang signifying the end of the school day, Mr. Majors told his class, "We'll iron out the specifics over the course of the next week. Now go forth and have fun… but not too much fun. Don't wanna make a man like me jealous."
As Mr. Majors observed his students walking out of his classroom, he reflected on the peculiar behavior a few of his students had exhibited during that class. Sure, Yves had always been a disruptive troublemaker. But Dana and Jackie, despite occasionally gossiping with each other and distracting each other from the class' content, had been typical students for Mr. Majors to teach. Just attentive enough to avoid getting in trouble, but not so attentive that they would be considered "teacher's pets". However, there was a certain zest that Dana and Jackie had seemed to approach the class with from the moment that they heard the word, "propaganda". Looking into Dana and Jackie's eyes, Mr. Majors could see a glint of fury hidden within them. If Mr. Majors was not mistaken, it was almost like Dana and Jackie were planning on applying these techniques themselves. Deciding not to make a big deal out of their behavior, and assuming it was a one-time thing, Mr. Majors decided to note down their behavior on a separate piece of paper for later. After writing up Yves' behavior as "disruptive", "repeatedly calling teacher a 'commie bastard'", and "wishing his classmates died of ebola", he pulled up Dana and Jackie's student files. On both of their student files, he wrote:
"Oct. 7 – seemed especially enthusiastic about Russian Revolution propaganda content. Gave plotting looks and repeatedly giggled and whispered to each other throughout the class. Content indeterminate. Will observe students next week for sustained behavioral changes."
(Scene Change: Royal Woods High School Hallway, 1st Floor)
As Jackie and Dana met up with the rest of the Gal Pals, they talked about their friends' responses to the news of Lincoln's abuse.
Melissa started the conversation by asking, "So, how did it go?"
Whitney informed her friends, "Great. Teri, Zoe, and Penny were shocked, but they came around," before groaning, "Apparently, Luan's April Fools' Day pranks hit them as well."
After Dana and Melissa shuddered at the memory of the Paint the Town Red incident, Melissa said, "Figures."
Then, Dana explained, "On my end, a lot of Leni's friends said that she was a total sweetheart and could never see her doing such a thing to Lincoln, especially with how much Leni used to claim she loved him. But then they thought about the Sister Fight Protocol, how Leni recklessly had sex with Marcus Quick, as well as the 'fashion show'. They told me they wanted to apologize to Lincoln for making those pictures of him in the manotard go viral. I told them they had to get checked for tracking chips first, and that they could see him when they were clean."
Jackie then added, "And like I told Dana, the Theater Club's down with us. All of them. Luan's built up quite the reputation as a prankster, huh?"
Becky snorted, "Yup," before groaning, "At least the drinks they had at Java Juice were good. I swear, if I have to listen to Leni calling Lincoln 'the best luck ever in that cute squirrel suit' one more time…".
Veronica grunted, "Oh my god, tell me about it. Lori went on and on about how some spell from her little gothic sister is going to wake Bobby up as soon as she kisses him."
The rest of the girls groaned at that before Whitney snapped, "That's what Lori thinks she is now? A Disney princess?! Sure wish she had the compassion of one."
The rest of the girls groaned before Dana interrupted them, "And hey, at least Mr. Majors was kind enough to teach a class on propaganda today. Trust me… the stuff that he caught is pure gold."
The senior girls gasped before Becky remembered, "Oh yeah… I thought I heard you say Mr. Majors was going to be your History teacher."
Whitney remembered, "Wait, Mr. Majors?! That weird teacher who would rant about the World Wars AND the Cold War? And how it had 'two sides'?"
Dana and Jackie nodded, "Mm-hmm."
While the discussion was going on, Carol remained noticeably silent and trailed the group. Given that Carol usually was the outspoken leader in social situations, this unnerved the rest of the Gal Pals, who quickly noticed Carol's somber mood. Becky turned to Carol and asked her, "What's wrong, Care-Bear?"
Carol solemnly said, "Nothing."
Whitney quickly reassured Carol, "Come on girl, tell us."
Carol sighed, "Fine," before saying, "It's Sam. You know, Luna's bandmate?"
Becky admitted, "Not really," before asking, "What about her?"
Carol sighed once more before explaining, "Sam insisted that she couldn't believe that Luna is just like the rest of those Louds. She's going to visit that crazy house and ask Luna if everything I told her actually happened. If Luna admits it all happened, she's going to ask the Louds to apologize to Lincoln. And if they don't, Sam wanted to call the police."
The rest of the Gal Pals gasped at that before shouting that apologizing or trying to reason with the Louds was impossible.
Dana shrieked, "NO!"
Melissa wailed, "They'll kill her!"
Becky exclaimed, "You saw what they did to Lincoln! They'll arrest her, too!"
Carol then groaned before shaking her head and whining, "And you know what's worse? She said she's going to go over there… without checking to see if she's been chipped."
The rest of the Gal Pals flew into a panicked frenzy at Sam's cavalier attitude. Veronica begged Carol, "You can't let Sam go over to the Loud House by herself! Possibly chipped! That's bait!"
Jackie cried, "Right after the pets were killed? If she tells them to apologize for the luck incident, they'll probably cut her up into pieces and send each of them to us!"
Whitney panicked, "What if they mind-control her to act against us? I've seen Lisa at work, she can do that!"
As the rest of the Gal Pals worried for Sam, Carol interrupted them, "Listen to yourselves! Do you not notice what's going on here?"
Becky responded, "No, I don't. How could anyone possibly want those monsters to live after what they've done?"
Melissa backed Becky up, "I concur. The Loud sisters and parents are absolutely barbaric, especially towards their only son. Reasoning with them won't work. Nor would subjecting them to social shaming or legal consequences."
Carol insisted, "It's not that! Why do we know that, but Sam doesn't?"
The rest of the Gal Pals looked at each other stupefied. As a result, Carol groaned before explaining, "Look, I know Sam. I mentored her in Student Leadership class last year, remember? She was my freshman?"
The rest of the Gal Pals mused in thought before Melissa remembered, "Oh yeah."
Carol sighed before pointing out, "During that time, and I hate to give away this secret because she told me not to tell anyone, but she told me that she was crushing on Luna… big time."
The rest of the Gal Pals gasped at this before Dana asked, "Wait, LUNA?!"
Carol nodded, "Mm-hmm. Luna. I'd watch those two play together from time to time. They had such great chemistry on stage. And she never had any negative experiences with the Louds that she told me about."
Becky pointed out, "You only talked to her for 15 minutes, at most, about Lincoln's situation. Of course she wouldn't have time to delve into her negative history with the Louds."
Carol explained, "Look, I've known Sam for a year and change, and she's had nothing but positive things to say about the Louds. Maybe she doesn't have negative memories of the Louds… unlike us. Look, what I'm trying to say is, because the Loud sisters are so talented, there's plenty of people who still admire them and have no real negative memories of them. It's like being famous: others see what's on camera, but don't see what happens when the lights go down."
Melissa agreed, "Yeah, that's true. And that means that for now, the Louds are still popular." She then pointed out, "That's why I'm working on putting together a video of the Louds' worst moments."
Carol smugly asked, "A video of the Louds' worst moments, huh? How are you going to get that footage, you little hacker?"
Melissa looked up at the security cameras before telling Carol, "Believe me… I have my ways. And you, Queen of Colon Storm… you should know."
The rest of the girls giggled at Melissa's reference before Carol continued, "There's that. Secondly, talking with Sam gave me a new perspective on the whole thing. And I have something to ask you guys."
Becky encouraged, "Sure, what's up?"
Carol then asked Melissa and the rest of the girls, "We're so insistent on humiliating and killing the Louds ASAP because they're irredeemable monsters. But are we saying that because we know that's who they truly are, or did we just jump to conclusions because we were already angry with the Louds in the first place?"
That gave the rest of the girls pause as they reflected on the unresolved conflicts they had with the Loud sisters prior to learning of the luck incident. Becky quickly explained, "Look, even if that were the case, at this point, we need to strike fast, before the Louds can retaliate. Due to the danger the Louds pose to Lincoln, and all of us, really, we can't give the Louds a chance to group together and fight back. Unfortunately, that also means we can't give the Louds the chance to prove themselves as worthy of our own forgiveness, let alone Lincoln's. They'd have to do something really extreme to prove themselves in time. And I mean something on par with what Lincoln went through, for his sake. Trust me, girls, there's no chance of that happening."
Carol countered, "But how fast are we willing to strike? Are we willing to strike so quickly that we end up getting ourselves thrown in jail, or worse? Are we willing to strike so quickly that we lose the support of the townspeople we're depending on to make this work? Think about that."
The rest of the Gal Pals paused to reflect on what Carol had said before Melissa suggested, "I see your point, Carol. Look, we've all got to get to our extracurricular stuff. Dana and Veronica have work, Jackie and I have Theater Club, Whitney's got tennis practice, Becky's got Comics Club, and you've got golf practice. So, here's the move: we'll let Sam do as she pleases, but somebody's going to have to spy on her to make sure she doesn't screw up everything."
Carol immediately volunteered, "I'll do it." As the rest of the Gal Pals stared at her, Carol explained, "Look, I know Sam the best. And Luna. Plus, I've got the music thing in common with them. If anyone can watch over those two, it'll be me."
Melissa sighed, "Fair enough."
Becky then offered, "Alright. I'll text you guys on Signal to let you know when we're linking up next. In the meantime, stay safe, and remember: if you see the Louds, none of this ever happened."
After that, the Gal Pals went their separate ways.
(Time Skip: 4:05 PM, Royal Woods Elementary School Hallways)
As Paige closed her locker door, Haiku snuck up on her and blankly said, "Hi, Paige."
Paige yelped before stammering, "H-Hi, Haiku. What's going on?"
Haiku asked Paige, "Can you keep a secret?"
Paige assured Haiku, "Sure, what's up?"
Haiku sighed before asking, "Are you sure that none of the Loud sisters are redeemable? I mean, there ought to be some Loud sisters that can be saved." Just as Paige opened her mouth to speak, Haiku pointed out, "Before you answer that question, remember that one of them's a baby."
Paige sighed, knowing that Haiku had a point. Paige then admitted to Haiku, "When you put it like that, honestly, I don't know anymore. That's why I was telling everyone to spy on the Loud sisters: I was secretly hoping that at least one of them would eventually come around, recognize that they were wrong, and do everything they could to make it up to Lincoln. But with the danger the Louds pose, not just to Lincoln but to all of us, we have to deal with them as they are and not as they could be. If we show sympathy towards them, it could mean very bad news for Lincoln. So, at least for now, we have to do what we have to do."
Immediately after Paige mentioned that, she heard the horn of Becky's car honking. When she did, she told Haiku, "Now, I've got to help my little sister prepare for her pageant, and you've got to go to Junior Morticians. Think about what I said. I'll text you on Signal to let you know when we're meeting up next."
With that, Paige walked off, leaving both Paige & Haiku alone with their thoughts.
Closing A/N: And that's a wrap on another school day! What I had planned for the next chapter, I wanted to write here, but there's so much going on here and so much that's being set up for the future of the story that this needed to be its own chapter.
A/N 2: The "treason" quote came from Reacting to the Loud House.
A/N 3: Peep the name of the disruptive student in Mr. Majors' class. Go back & read that entire section with Mr. Majors closely.
A/N 4: Mr. Majors? Based on a certain "major" contributor to this fic! I know, I know. Boo me.
What's in store for the Louds now that every one of their friends knows about the 'luck incident', among others? And how will Lincoln's first weekend with the Sweetwaters begin? Find out next chapter on… REVERSAL! OF! FORTUNE!