A/N:
Special thanks to Nuuo and Blaze1 for beta-reading.
The next Chapter will return to the usual (approx 5000 words) length.
"What is he doing?" Lola whispered to Lana, her eyes on the boy cradling his schoolbag instead of wearing it on his back like everyone else.
"Dunno," Lana shrugged. "Maybe he's got somethin' special inside?"
Lola's 'secret' senses tingled at that, and indeed everything from the way he sat, to the careful pressure of his grip on his bag said that whatever was inside was something precious. But while she would love to take a snoop and find out just what was inside…
"Are you ready kids!?" Dad called out from the kitchen, "five minutes until you need to go!"
"YES DAD!" The girls collectively called from the kitchen table; their chorus only broken by a quieter "yes Lynn" from Lola's prospective stepbrother.
It would be kind of hard to successfully sneak over when they were all there together, and he had stuffed the bag on his lap now anyway. Only Lucy would have a chance, and Lola had the feeling she'd have to give up a really good favour to get her to do it.
Whatever, the boy could keep his secrets for now. If Lola really wanted them, she could get them then. Right then she had other things to do, like make sure she was at an acceptable level of prettiness for daily activities, stopping Lana from embarrassing herself more than absolutely necessary-
And wondering why Rita was back in the house when she'd just gone out to her job.
Her sharp eyes spotted the intruder quietly sneaking back into the kitchen where Dad was cleaning up the dishes, she looked a little embarrassed- so Lola stealthily leant back on her chair and cupped her ear to get the juicy details.
"… Car's not starting… need to ask Dr Feinstein if I can home early…"
"No problem honey," Dad's voice was a little closer and clearer. "The kids'll just have to settle who's going on which seat and everything will be fine."
Lola's stomach dropped, and a nasty scowl crossed her face as she slumped forwards.
"What's crawled up your butt?" Lana clearly noticed.
Dad came in with Rita before she could talk; "girls!" He called out, prompting the table to still, "oh- and you too Lincoln. Rita's car having some problems so we're all going to have to carpool together today. Dr Feinstein's office is the furthest away, so she'll be the one driving and picking us all up after school, okay?"
"Sure thing Pops."
"Works for me."
"Like, it's totally fine."
Most of the table's compliment verbally agreed, though there were an odd two or three who remained silent. Lola of course knew better than to draw the ire of her sisters, but she was surprised to see Lori calmly picking at the remains of her breakfast instead of speaking up.
The eldest's lips were pressed together into a firm line though.
"That's good to hear, but," Dad continued with a stern voice, "that means that Vanzilla's going to be a tight fit and I don't want any arguing about-"
The table devolved into arguing with the instant ease only practice could bring.
"Spiky Seat not it!" Lola was able to claim at least that much, she couldn't risk ripping her dress!
"Dibs on the sticky seat!" Lana gleefully claimed.
"Dang it…" Dad sighed.
Everyone else however was busy scrambling for scraps- the adults would get the two seats up front of course. But thanks to everyone now being back at school; Lori would get the third best seat by right of age/being big enough to push anyone else out as well!
But with the usual system now disrupted; everything else was fair game.
Lola quickly delved into the fierce negotiations with relish, she couldn't just let them give her the next-worst seat to the sharp one after all!
The sole boy meanwhile was left to stare as the table devolved into tense negotiations, utterly bewildered as the sisters ruthlessly debated who deserved which seat with a downright scientific precision.
The boy ended up next to Lily, much to Lori's annoyance. But she wasn't going to get involved, so she just kept her head down and eyes on her phone.
It wasn't a problem for too long anyway, the younger kids were dropped off first. Then Lynn at the middle school and then finally…
"Have a great day at school girls!" Dad called out.
"Sure thing Pops," Luna waved back as he and Rita drove away. "Ah…," she rolled her shoulders under the weight of her backpack, "y'know, I was almost missin' this place.
Almost."
Lori rolled her eyes at her sisters antics, but found a satisfied smile settling on her face as Luna's own lit up like a lightbulb.
"Hey Sam!" She excitedly threw up an arm and waved as she spotted the fellow rocker. Chatting over next to the school entrance with the other two members of Luna's little band, Sam stopped and turned with a similarly sunny expression and waved the purple-clad girl over, which Luna did with open enthusiasm.
"Aww, they're like; totally adorbes!" Leni squealed with glee, "like, you and Bobby should totally do a double date!"
"Maybe," Lori gave it a thought. Bobby was always a sweetheart, and even though he and Sam probably didn't have much in common she knew his dorky charm could make a friend out of anyone with a good head on their shoulders. "What about you and-"
"Oh, hey Jackie, hey Mandee!" Leni suddenly spotted her own friends further in the distance and promptly ran off, leaving her alone with Luan.
"Wow, I guess she really missed them," Luan mused, then chuckled as Leni jumped forwards and all but crushed her friends in a bear hug. "But her aim's pretty good now!"
"Urghh," Lori rolled her eyes and walked away.
"Aw, what's the matter?" Luan chortled as Lori pointedly stalked away, "I think I hit that one out the park!"
"We're not even doing anything sporty!" Lori groaned, but nonetheless she powered through he crowd of students milling about the school until she finally found…
"Becky! Dana" She drew the other girls into an impromptu hug from behind, prompting the redhead to jump a little in surprise before she heard who it was. "I literally missed you both so much!"
"Lori!" Becky turned and gave Lori a quick squeeze in return before backing away, Dana doing much the same. "I know right? I mean, we all had our phones and stuff but-"
"It's just not the same…" Dana sighed. "Like, we should totally make a proper day out next time we get break."
"Yeah, but when's the next time some kid's going to blow up a toilet like that?" Becky gave short laugh, then she drew them closer and gave a half-serious whisper; "you think we can arrange something?"
"Probably, they're boys." Lori rolled her eyes, "if they weren't expelled anyway."
The girls snickered together, and Lori was content for a moment.
Then Dana's eyes brightened with remembrance; "oh hey that reminds me! What happened about that woman and boy who were going to move into your house?"
Lori's stomach dropped.
"Yeah, like, did it fall through or something?" Becky drew back and Lori let her arms fold in close to her.
"They're… there." Lori curtly informed them.
"Ooh," Dana winced, "That bad?'
"You have literally no idea what the last week's been like," Lori sighed. "It started out okay but…"
The Van hadn't been fun for Lincoln. The Loud family lived up to their name after all, and with all of them and him and Mom packed into one small space it was like being squashed in on the schoolbus in Hazeltucky-
Well, not really. No one had tried to kick him or punch under his ribs, or steal his things. But the old instinct to keep his bag firmly in front of him to avoid any prying hands rose up and he clasped the thing close.
He could tell Lola and Lucy were watching him, Lucy's eyes were hidden but her head slightly followed him and Lola's blue eyes would snipe over to him when he wasn't looking. It was kind of unsettling, but the rest of them mostly left him alone, with only Lana and Lisa sort of talking to him, but they couldn't make out what he said back over the background noise so they let their conversations drop after a bit.
Well, Lana did. Lisa just started listing off weird car crash statistics that Lincoln quickly tuned out. He didn't need to think about them all dying or becoming quadruple-amputees today.
At least it distracted him from the sharp poking thing at his bottom.
"Oh, that's the spiky seat!" Lana casually informed him upon seeing his discomforted expression. "Yeah, we've been tryin' to fix it for ages but somethin' about that spot just makes the springs come out."
If this was what going to school was going to be like from now on…
At least it's not the bus in Hazeltucky.
And mercifully enough, the trip was a lot shorter too. It only took a few minutes of tolerating the cramming and atmosphere before they rolled up to Royal Woods Elementary and Lincoln found himself being practically pushed out of the Van by the impetuous collective.
"Good luck little Dudes!" Luna waved them off, "stay cool in school!"
"Will do!" Lana jumped down from the Van.
Lincoln was more apprehensive as the rest of kids in elementary trundled out after him and the Van's door slammed shut. He didn't look in the direction of the entrance, but he could feel the eyes of all the other kids watching him and the Loud girls.
Mercifully though; the bell rang as he and the girls were heading to the entrance, so he wouldn't have to hang about outside. The group split as they entered, all heading to their first classes, and luckily for Lincoln-
His first class for today happened to be art.
He quickly found the door to the studio made his way in just in time, wherein the well-lit room already had easels setup across the room and most of his classmates already sitting behind them. There was even a girl with a purple beret already doodling away in the corner.
"Hi Lincoln," Clyde at him as Lincoln to the free space next to him. "Tight squeeze?"
"We saw you in the front," Lincoln jumped a little and looked behind him to see a slightly chagrined Stella and Rusty. "I'm surprise Vanzilla can even fit that many people in it!"
"Uhm, yes it was…" Lincoln winced as he settled down his still tender behind. "A close fit."
"All right class!" Ms Patterson firmly tapped her desk to get their attention, but she wore a friendly smile. "Today we're going to be expanding on depth and then we can a little free drawing…"
The assignment was individual again, them just sketching out a classic bowl of fruit and seeing how '3d' they could make it. Lincoln could do it in his sleep of course, so he just let his muscle memory do the bulk of the work while his thoughts ran over things.
Yesterday had been long, almost too long for everything that had happened and at the end of it all he'd been so tired in both his body and mind from the park and the revelation of Lisa's lab that he'd just collapsed into his bed. Now he had a bit of time to think about it all and he wasn't sure what to make of it all.
When Chandler and Clyde's friends had said all that stuff about the Louds before, he'd not really believed most of it. Sure, some parts like maybe some of the Louds might have some small town fame and the way that Clyde and Stella obsessed over them made it sure seem like there was at least something strange about them, but the other things about them tearing apart a Van in minutes or Luan being some kind of menace were just silly.
He'd thought the same about the weird trophies too, even when Lynn Jr told him that Lana had 'actually' wrestled a alligator. But maybe she'd been joking, maybe Lynn Sr had just taken Lana to some kind of mechanical alligator wrestling game and that's where the trophy came from?
But then he'd spoke to Lisa and…
Well, now everything was on the table.
The six year old wrestling an alligator, Leni nearly winning an election before she was even out of school, Luan being some kind of ultimate prankster who even the police were scared of- anything that he'd previously thought might have been some kind of exaggeration at best was probably real!
Including that video of them all ripping apart the Van so easily in their anger.
He swallowed and paused to look at his sketch with a critical eye;
Nowhere near his usual standard, and when he looked over to the fruit bowl the teacher had put out as their model he'd missed a few details, like the banana being brown in a few places- but when he snuck a look over at Clyde and the others he could see, it was easily the best in class.
He pushed aside the little glow of pride at that though as he remembered the way Clyde's nose had suddenly bled at the mention of Lori, and how eager Stella and the boys were to talk about the Louds.
For anyone who wants to get close to them….you're their best option.
If the Louds were actually as incredible as Chandler and the others had said, then his words about people wanting to get close to them through him were suddenly a lot more important.
Especially after how Clyde and his friends had acted yesterday.
Lincoln peered over at the others as sneakily as he could.
They all looked normal at the moment, but the obsessive gleam in each of their eyes yesterday- the way that Clyde had obsessed over Lori and how they'd apparently even tried spying on her?
Eve if Lori wasn't the greatest person ever, she didn't deserve that and it was anything but normal.
But Chandler… he couldn't really read Chandler…
Just because Clyde and his friends maybe weren't that great, didn't mean that Chandler was a good guy. Back in Hazeltucky there were loads of groups and none of them were 'good'…
But they were usually good to their own.
…
He would have to wait and watch either way.
"… All right class, I think we're all done," Ms Patterson called out. "Free drawing until the end of period!"
A murmur of approval and the sound of rustling swept through the class as students swapped to fresh paper.
"Lincoln, could you come up for a moment?" Ms Patterson smiled at him and motioned for him to stand up, and he flushed again as he felt eyes on him for the second time that morning.
Having a feeling about what she had in mind, he picked up his bag as he made his way up to her.
"Have you thought about what I said before?" She quietly asked.
Lincoln nodded, and carefully set his bag down to open it up.
Within was the usual stuff one might expect from an elementary school bag, books, a pencil case and a few other nick-knacks. But carefully placed so it wouldn't crease or bend was a larger book-
His sketchbook, which he drew out with the same precision and care he'd used to pack it in that morning. He kept his back to the other students to avoid letting them see- hopefully they'd just think he was talking to the teacher about something else- and opened it up, flicking through to some of his newer pieces before turning it to face Ms Patterson.
"Wow…" her eyes positively sparkled and she reached for the sketchbook. Lincoln reluctantly forced his fingers to relax and release once he was sure she had a good grip, and held his tongue as she began looking through the pages. "This is incredible for someone your age, even better than what I was expecting."
"T-thanks," he blushed, this time out of embarrassment from the praise than anxiety.
"I mean it, any one of these would be good enough for…" Ms Patterson paused as she thought, then looked him in the eye. "Did you think about Great Lakes?"
"Oh, uh…" Lincoln swallowed. "I've never gone to something that big before."
The Great Lakes City Young Artists Competition. Not one of the local free drawing contests, but something only open to young artists who had already gotten in the top three of their qualifying county competition.
And open to everyone under eighteen. Even if he got in, he'd be up against high schoolers and even college students.
"I think you're on that level," Ms Patterson looked at his sketches again, "I'm not saying you'd be a shoo in for the regionals, but you're… you should go for it." She looked back to him with certainty, "I mean it Lincoln. You have a talent, and if you want it, you have my recommendation."
"I…" Lincoln thought for a moment;
He'd never competed on that level before, nowhere close. He'd seen some of the winning pieces of the GLC Competition before, and they were incredible.
He was sure his stuff wasn't good enough to get on that podium, even if he knew he was good.
But… he didn't go into all those contests to get a trophy (okay, sometimes he wanted one). He went into them to put something he'd made up with other people and see how close he'd come to making something as good as them, to get new ideas and be motivated by other kids' imaginations- to push himself to make something even more special than he'd thought of before.
And what could do those better than the ideas and imaginations of artists who were so much more skilled than those he'd competed with before? And he didn't need to win, just getting there would be proof he was in the same league as those amazing artists;
And Ms Patterson thought he could!
"I'm not saying you have to," Ms Patterson offered, maybe thinking she'd pushed too hard. "But if you-"
"No, I… thank you Ms Patterson," Lincoln looked up with a mix of trepidation and resolve. "I-I'll do my best."