The sound of scratching echoed through the air, whining followed just shortly afterwards. The white haired boy stirred from his slumber, rolled onto his side, then looked down to the bottom of the door. Charles was there pawing at the door, begging to be let out to use the bathroom.

As per normal whenever he slept in the same room as Lincoln. Knowing better then to ignore his long-time friend Lincoln sat up as he ripped the covers off of him. He sluggishly walked over to the door, gave Charles a scratch behind the ear, then opened it up for him.

He was quite lucky that the backdoor had a doggy door on it, as it meant he wouldn't have to go downstairs to open the door for him. However, Lincoln's biological clock decided it was time for him to wake up fully anyway, leaving him to slowly awaken as he sat on the edge of his bed.

The white haired boy couldn't help but feel like he was forgetting something. After smacking his dry lips together, he concluded that if he forgot about it, it probably wasn't that important.

Snagging a clean navy blue wool hat from his clothes - his brown one had gotten dirty yesterday - he placed in on his head, covering his white hair. Knowing better then to fight against his biological clock, he decided to just go and get something for breakfast so he could start the day.

Stepping into the hallway he found a very peculiar sight. Lori was standing outside the bathroom, rapidly tapping her foot on the floor as she waited impatiently. As Lincoln began to walk towards the stairs, Lori grew impatient and proceeded to knock on the bathroom door.

"Hurry up Leni! You've been in there for almost half an hour."

Deciding that it was none of his business he descended downstairs, where the chatter of the houses other occupants grew louder the closer he got. No-one reacted to him entering the room, not that they had a reason to, as they were all far too busy talking it up with each other.

He took his seat at one of the empty chairs, pulling a bowl from the centre along with the milk and one of the cereal boxes. He poured himself a bowl, then proceeded to eat in silence. Letting everyone else do their own thing as he minded his own.

It wasn't long before Lori came downstairs, seemingly in a better mood then before. Lincoln decided it was best not to even look at her, knowing that he wasn't on the best of terms with her. Around him the girls all talked to each other, Luna spoon fed Lily and each was eating their own breakfast at their own pace.

His mother walked in behind him, adjusting her clothes as she went. Picking up a mug of coffee that had been pre-made by Luan she leaned against the side as she looked at her son.

There was just so much tension in the boy's shoulders, he was so uneasy and so out of his element that she couldn't help but worry. The only thing that could make him forget about the stress and anxiety was Charles. The four year old dog was Lincoln's crutch, his best - and most loyal - friend. He was the one thing that could pull Lincoln out of any funk he found himself in, Rita couldn't be happier about her last second decision to adopt the small dog for Lincoln's seventh birthday.

"Morning everyone." Lynn greeted as he walked into the room, tying a tie to his shirt. Each of the girls turned and greeted their father back, Rita herself received a small peck on the cheek. It made her giggle like a school girl.

Turning towards Lincoln he spoke directly to him. "So champ, are you prepared for today?"

Lincoln paused with the spoon halfway in his mouth, slowly he ate what was on it while multiple pairs of eyes turned towards him. Making him feel uneasy as he shifted while under their gazes. Seeing the uneasiness grow on his face, Rita decided to try to pull everyone's attention away from him.

"We're going down to your new school today, to meet the principal and get a tour of the school. Remember?"

There was a pregnant pause as Lincoln looked down to his bowl, his face heated up in embarrassment as he had a look of realisation cross his features. It didn't take much for the blonde haired mother to realise her son had forgotten all about that. She let out an amused chuckle before drinking another sip of her coffee.

"Don't worry about it, we've got plenty of time before we have to go."

The conversation ended and everyone began to finish their breakfast one by one. Those that were already dressed just went off to the living room to relax while those that weren't went back upstairs to get dressed and ready. By the time the last of those present - save for Lincoln and Rita - had left the room, Leni had finally made her first appearance of the day. Entering the room fully dressed with her make-up all done, her hair also looked freshly cleaned and brushed. This quickly reminded Rita of something, she tapped Lincoln's shoulder to gain his attention.

"Why don't you go freshen up? Be ready for later."

Nodding his head in agreement he got up and placed his bowl in the sink. He made a short trip back up to his room to get some clothes to wear for the day. Since he needed to clean himself up, he decided a shower would be the best way to do that, since he could clean his hair as well. Stepping into the bathroom - after making sure no-one else was in there - he pulled back the curtain to the shower... and instantly found a problem.

He didn't have a single idea how to turn on this shower, it was very different to the one back at his home. The last thing he wanted to do was accidentally break it while trying to figure it out, he would just have to get someone else's help. And hope they wouldn't laugh at him.

As he opened the door he peered out, hoping someone would walk past so he could call to them. Fortunately for him, Luna came out her room and began to head downstairs, unfortunately Lincoln felt himself become tongue tied. He really didn't want to be a burden to anyone but he also didn't want to be the cause of something breaking, so he was forced to speak up.

"Luna."

The rocker turned to him just before she hit the stairs, seeing him halfway hanging out the bathroom door.

"There a problem dude?"

Slowly Lincoln shuffled from one foot to another, his face heating up in embarrassment as he looked to the floor. Luna walked closer as he tried, and failed, to say what the problem was. It wasn't until after a few moments of silence that he managed to speak what was on his mind.

"I, uh... can't turn the shower on."

Luna nodded at this, figures he wouldn't know how to turn on a shower that he had never used before, especially when both Lisa and Lana kept tinkering with everything.

"Not a problem dude, let me show you."

After Lincoln backed up from the door, Luna stepped in then proceeded to show Lincoln the correct way to handle the shower, it was quite simple once you understood it. Not so much when you didn't know.

"There you go," Luna spoke over the running water, steam was already beginning to come off the porcelain tub. "Anyway, I'll leave you to it." Luna turned and left the room, shutting the door behind her as she went.

Lincoln was quick to lock it afterwards, just in case someone else tried to enter. Closing the toilet seat down he placed his clean clothes onto it before stripping down and entering the shower.

Being in the shower left him feeling... disconnected, he couldn't describe it. He felt out of place, yet at the same time, like he always belonged. It was messing with him.

As he began to run his hands through his hair, he felt knots and tangles within, frowning he forced himself to ignore the pain of forcing the hair stands apart. When that was done, he washed his hair, himself and then turned off the shower and got out.

Wrapping a towel around himself he stood on the rug while his exposed torso began to air dry, leaving him shivering slightly. Deciding to use his time wisely he turned to the sink and pulled his toothbrush from his own individual holder and began to brush his teeth just as his mother had taught him.

Having a mother who was also a dental assistant was sometimes a problem, like her continued concern for his dental hygiene. But on that same note, he could always thank her when he would still have near perfect teeth in his late sixties.

Deciding he'd done enough brushing, he towel dried himself down before getting dressed, being sure to cover his hair fully.

Exiting the bathroom, he was meet with... silence. Compete silence.

While he didn't mind the silence itself, as now he could hear himself think, to have the house go from extremely loud to extremely quiet was... disorienting. Like some hidden background noise had suddenly stopped for the first time in his life.

Deciding he'd deal with his pajamas later, he dumped them in his room with the rest of his dirty clothes. He'd ask what to do with it all later.

Considering he didn't know what time they would be leaving he decided to just go downstairs and wait until then, that and his curiosity over the house being silent was too strong to ignore. He found nothing downstairs, literally, no-one else was present and not a thing was making noise.

Unless you counted Charles' gentle snores. The silence was concerning when compared to the noise that had existed not too long ago. Lincoln may not have liked the noisy house but he hated quiet ones, there had always been some background noise at his old house. The T.V., cooker, radio... something. Pure silence in place of that was... he couldn't find a word to describe it.

"Hey Lincoln." He jumped slightly as his mother came out of her room. Spinning on his heel to turn to her, he relaxed after he realised it was her.

Taking note of her son being rather jumpy. She decided to do what she always did whenever he got like this. Silently she sat down on the sofa before patting the space next to her. He took her offer gratefully and before either of them could realise it, they were already leaning into one another.

"You gonna be alright? You look a little on edge." She felt Lincoln nod against her side and she couldn't help but give him a little squeeze.

"It's quiet."

The matriarch rubbed a soothing hand up and down his back in understanding, Lincoln had never done too well with silence. Was always put on edge by it unless he was trying to sleep.

"Yeah, that's because the girls went to the mall while their father's gone to work. So, it's just us for now." As if trying to contribute to the conversation, Charles let out a sudden brief snort while his leg kicked in his sleep. "And Charles too."

After a brief moment Rita leaned on closer to her only child, feeling him try to hold onto her tighter.

"Nervous?" Feeling him nod into her side she sighed in a lighthearted manner. "You'll be fine, I'll be with you the entire way. Besides it will just be me, you and the principal. Ok?"

Guiding the two of them to stand up she looked to the clock, they were going to be just a little late. Aw well. What did it matter?

Arriving to Royal Woods elementary School, Lincoln looked out the window on his side of the car, seeing the building being just before him as the sidewalk was on his side of the car.

The school itself was painted a simple pale yellow, was two stories high with single one story attachments on each side of the main building. But the biggest difference Lincoln could see between RWES and HES (Hazeltucky Elementary School) was how clean it was. No graffiti, no trash, no peeling paint, no cracked windows... nothing was wrong with it.

It actually looked like a real school. Only it was devoid of students due to it being a Saturday but Lincoln didn't mind that at all. The fewer people the better.

He unbuckled his seatbelt before stepping out and standing next to his mother's car, there were two other cars in the parking lot with their own one. So at least they wouldn't have to wait very long.

Once his mother had locked the car and stepped around to him the two of them walked up to the school's main entrance. Where his mother had been told to bring him so they could get a full introduction to the school's premises.

Once inside Lincoln immediately took notice of the three people before him. Two were adults and one was a kid who seemed to be his own age.

The first - and who he assumed was the principal - was a half-bald elderly man whose hair and moustache were heavily greyed. He was wearing a white button up shirt with a baby blue tie, a dark blue suit jacket, beige pants with a black belt and brown shoes.

He had a no-nonsense look to him but he also looked like a man who had years of experience behind him.

The second adult was a, somewhat round, man who had dark skin and his hair seemed to be thinning slightly but he still held onto enough of his black hair to make it look decent. He was wearing a teal sweater vest with a black bowtie over a light blue shirt.

Lincoln wasn't sure of what to make of him, he seemed to give off a very happy yet concerned aura.

The last of the trio, the boy, was roughly Lincoln's own height. He too had dark skin like the man next to him yet he had thick rimmed glasses, his black hair was done similarly to an afro, he had a yellow and blue striped shirt with a white collar, black pants and black tennis shoes.

Admittedly, Lincoln felt a little nervous, he hadn't expected to see any of the other students today... unless the person before him was vertically challenged.

"Ah, Rita, so glad to see you made it, and not a second too late either." The elder gentleman looked between the blonde haired mother and then down to Lincoln, taking in his appearance and features quickly. "And you must be Lincoln, always glad to meet the new students coming in. Principle Huggins."

The older man - identified as his principle - stuck his hand out to shake, not towards Rita but to Lincoln. The boy hesitated for a moment before slowly raising his hand to greet the school's principle properly. Lincoln noted two things during their small handshake; one, he was not trying to rush his greeting and was letting Lincoln set the pace. Two, he was being extremely gentle with the boy, not squeezing his hand too hard nor shaking it wildly.

The two let go and Huggins gestured to the two who were with him. "This is Harold McBride," he gestured to the man. "And this is Clyde McBride, our school's junior administrator."

"Hiya." "Hey there." The two aforementioned people gave a polite wave.

"Anyway, I'm sorry to spring this on you suddenly Mrs. Loud..."

"Oh, you may call me Rita, it's not quite Mrs. Loud yet." Ignoring the interruption, yet taking a note of her words, Wilbur continued.

"Of course, anyway. I figured, since Lincoln's new he would need a guide to show him around. And by meeting Clyde he can have a guide during all hours of the school day, that way he won't have to embarrass himself asking someone should he forget. " The elder gentleman gestured for all to follow him before he began to walk away. Everyone began to follow him, with each child staying by their parents' sides. Yet somehow both ended up walking next to each other.

"Anyway, welcome to RWES Lincoln, I'm sure you'll come to love it here. Here we don't tolerate bullies or harassment of any kind, so just remember if you have a problem you can speak to any of the staff or our counsellors."

As they walked Lincoln looked around, seeing the signs that showed that this was a rather active school. Slightly dented lockers, worn down carpets, slightly faded paint. The small levels of damage actually showed that the school was more or less normal, it had its wear and tear by its age and not from the students themselves... mostly.

One locker they passed had a very noticeable dent on its front, as if someone had delivered a full force punch to it. The damaged locker seemed to attract everyone's attention. Huggins shook his head as he observed it. "That's the third locker this month." He muttered. "I'll have to start ordering them in bulk soon."

"Need me to write that down for you Mr. Huggins." Clyde asked, pulling a small notebook from his pocket.

"No, no. I'll remember." He shot down the boy's proposal before continuing. "Your homeroom teacher will be Mrs. Johnson, she'll be responsible for most of your classes. And Clyde is in that class too, that way you won't need to try to find him."

"Mrs. Johnson is a nice teacher." Clyde addressed Lincoln, pulling the white haired boy's attention over to him. "She tries to make class as fun as possible but also educational, she's also very understanding if you don't understand anything in class. She'll usually try to find the time to explain it further."

Lincoln nodded to him, feeling just confident enough to do so. Clyde did not seem to give off any sort of hostile intentions and genuinely seemed interested in helping him. It was more then he had ever received from someone around his age bracket in the last few months.

"Indeed, several other lessons will be done with other teachers, like art and P.E. As those both have dedicated sections of the school." Lincoln piqued up at that. HES didn't have much in the way of an art studio, as most - if not all - of their funding went directly into the sports teams.

If RWES had a fully stocked, or a normal, art studio then he was bound to be able to do lot more in that class then he could back in Hazeltucky. Things like art and drama classes were not usually respected, unlike the sports teams and other physical groups.

Hopefully those things did not apply here too.

"Of course, I'm sure Clyde will be able to tell you all about that later, for now why don't we show you your homeroom, that way you'll know where to find it come Monday."

The group of five moved past the lockers and eventually got around to Mrs. Johnson's room. Stepping inside, Clyde gave a brief overview of the room, even pointing out the -currently empty- cage of Frank. The class pet tarantula.

"Frank's off with one of our classmates for the weekend, Mrs. Johnson needed a volunteer to watch over him while she went away for a while."

"That's... nice."

Rita smiled as she saw Lincoln try to speak to Clyde, if he could warm up to Clyde that quickly, then she had no doubt that it wouldn't take long for Lincoln to actually befriend him. Especially if Clyde kept being as patient as he was, not once trying to force Lincoln to talk.

"Rita, if I may?" Turning to principal Huggins, Rita took her eyes off of Lincoln. "You wouldn't happen to have that paperwork would you? "

Realising what he was on about she reached into her bag and pulled out the paperwork that she had filled out the day before. Said paperwork had information regarding Lincoln's health, emergency contacts and immediate relatives. Standard information that schools needed. Giving the paper a once over Huggins nodded before tucking it under his arm.

"Very good, I'll sort this out later. Of course, I'll update your last name once you are married."

Out of sheer habit, Rita had placed her current last name on the forms and as such they were... or would be, inaccurate sometime soon.

"Clyde, perhaps it's time to show Lincoln around the rest of the school? Give him a general idea where the gymnasium is, not to mention, the bathrooms."

"Of course." The two boys quickly filed out of the room, the three adults followed easily able to listen as Clyde kept pointing out different classrooms and important locations. Despite the conversation being very one sided, the black haired boy didn't seem to mind.

"Gotta say," Harold spoke, gaining Rita's attention. "The boys seem to be getting along well."

Nodding at his words, Rita looked over to Lincoln, seeing him listening to everything the younger McBride had to say. While he wasn't hanging onto his every word, he also wasn't looking for an excuse to cut the conversation short. He was still as tense as ever but that was more from his expectations of other people's actions based on experience over actually finding something wrong with his guide.

"Wait until they find some common ground, then they'll really get along." She retorted, earning a chuckle from the man. Rita hoped that Lincoln would expand his social circle beyond just the girls, get himself some real friends, not unlike those...

'No'

No, she wasn't going to think like that. She wasn't going to think so negatively of Lincoln's old circle, despite all they had (and hadn't) done.

This was a new start for the two of them, fresh, clean slates. She didn't need to go about staining them with old messes.

"Perhaps one day these two will be inseparable, Clyde sure could use the company." Rita raised her eyebrow at that as she turned to glance at the man from the corner of her eye. Yes, he certainly came across as a concerned helicopter parent but he didn't seem overbearing.

"Lincoln could too, with us having just moved to Royal Woods and all."

The older McBride hummed as he rubbed his chin in thought, giving a nod he turned his attention to watching his own boy.

As the group continued to tour the school, Clyde kept pointing out important areas all the while that Huggins was explaining about the school. Stating how, thanks to budget increases, they were able to do more to fix the school up and get the appropriate equipment for each class and topic. Although most of that washed over Lincoln's head, all he cared about was the way the school handled bullies... and the art studio. He really wanted to see it but they had passed it instead of entering and the boy had to settle for getting just a peak in the room through the glass window in the door.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to satisfy his curiosity. So he would have to suffer in silence for the time being.

On the other end of Royal Woods, separated just slightly from other buildings, was the Royal Woods Mall. Its large size indicated that it held a large number of stores of all kinds.

Throughout the entire store the Loud family's many girls were wandering about, shopping, browsing or looking after their younger sisters.

Those last two things certainly applied to Lori Loud, the eldest of the girls. Her hands were holding onto the handles of Lily's pram, where the one year old was happily chewing on one of her toys. It wouldn't be long until more of her teeth came through and then Lori would have a few more sleepless nights for a while, not that it bothered her. Someone had to do it after all, better her then Lisa.

Accompanying the seventeen year old was Lucy, who followed by her side quietly. The rest of the younger girls were split up between the older girls, resulting in everyone having someone to look after for the duration of their trip. Especially so in the case of Lana having to look after Leni.

Lori loved Leni, in the same way she loved all her sisters but there were times were Lori wished she could just snap her fingers and sort Leni out. She wasn't stupid, just ditzy every now and again. Her passing through each school year without fail was proof of this, not to mention Leni working at Reininger's too. Lori remembered when she used to work, before she had to stop to look after her siblings. She remembered that she loved it, because it was both as hectic as home - just how she liked it - yet didn't have any of her siblings about. While it was mediocre work, it was still paying work.

"Sigh." Lucy's monotone voice called out. For the fifth time in the past fifteen minutes.

Lucy usually did that when she was bored, in that scenario she would only do it once or twice within half an hour but now she had more then doubled it in half the time. So something was bothering her.

"Got a problem Luce? You're sighing more then usual." She prodded her gothic sister in the shoulder as they walked, Lori keeping her eyes open for any stores that she may have wanted to visit.

"Just thinking about Lincoln."

Oh here we go. Lori didn't respond, the last thing she needed to be thinking about was the boy who lived under their roof. Taking Lori's silence for confusion, Lucy continued.

"I think I ruined my chances of getting to know Lincoln after I scared him. I've been sensing some tension from him for a while. "

"He'll get over it." Lori replied in a brutish manner, guiding the pram and Lucy over to a clothing store.

"What?"

"I said, he'll get over it. Give him a few days and he'll calm down eventually, then you can try again."

Lucy shook her head, not quite feeling that Lori was understanding the situation properly. In fact, she felt like her oldest sister was trying to disregard the topic entirely.

"But-"

"But nothing Lucy." Lori interrupted as she finally entered the shop she had seen. "It's no surprise that you scare everyone you meet, except for your goth friends, so it shouldn't surprise you that you scared him. If he doesn't get over it on his own... then it's his problem if he chooses to fear you over getting to know you."

"Although I'd rather it be that way. " Lori may have thought she had whispered that extremely quietly but Lucy still managed to hear her.

The black haired girl opted to remain silent instead of argue her own case, despite Lori not listening to her in the first place to begin with. From behind her bags the goth stared at Lori trying, and failing, to gauge what her eldest sister was thinking.

For now she had nothing to do but watch her littlest sister until Lori was done with her own shopping, after all, Lori had been patient enough with her when she was trying to find some new shoes that fit her and her style.

It was a shame she knew nothing about her new brother, she would have loved to get him something to apologise.

A/N: Chapter seven complete, Would have had this out sooner but.. Well family tend to come first for me, that and they just won't shut up half the time, even right now as I write this I keep getting called for trivial BS.

Again, let me know if you spot mistakes so I can fix them, see you next chapter.