Thursday, June 10, 1976

It was the penultimate day before school was to be out for summer. The students at Royal Woods Elementary School were in the warm auditorium. It was about 90 degrees outside; Lincoln realized that back then his school didn't have air conditioning. On the front stage, at the microphone was Principal Gordan and third-grade teacher, Mrs. Fletcher, who was standing next to him. This was an awards ceremony of sorts focused on student achievement,

"I'm proud to present the third grade, awards for perfect attendance now," Mrs. Fletcher said.

She looked at her papers and looked like she was running the names through her head.

"Please come up when called, Beth Calloway, Richie Forester, Henry Higgins, Hannah Issacs, Bobby Pearson, and Jessica Taylor." Mrs. Fletcher called.

There was clapping as the students came up. When Bobby walked up; Lincoln heard a loud "Woo!" it sounded like it came from Ricky. Somehow, of all the Pearson children, Bobby was the only one who didn't miss school. It's like he fully avoided getting sick, it just somehow never happened on Monday-Friday. Lincoln also noticed that Bobby's best friend, Jet, also was up there to accept the award.

"These six students are a marvel and congrats to them, and to my class for having the highest number of perfect attendances," Mrs. Fletcher said with a tone of pride.

"Thanks, Mrs. Fletcher," Principal Gordan said, he returned to the microphone. The six kids standing in a row looking out to the audience. The was Bobby standing there with a goofy smile.

Ms. Lawrence, his secretary rolled a cart over with some small boxes on top. She walked back to her seat, after Mr. Gordan thanked her. He smiled and grabbed one of the boxes and pulled out a metal. He went over to Beth and placed it over her head. He continued to do the same with each kid. He made it to Bobby. "Good work, Robert, hope you accomplish great things in fourth grade as well," he said. Once the metal was on the Pearson boy, he gave a thumbs up and cheesy smile.

After school, Lincoln was back home. He and the others had to get dressed up, because that evening was a special evening: Russel was graduating from Middle School. Lincoln was going to be a same boat, apparently, in the past, Royal Woods Elementary School held fifth grade graduation ceremonies. A couple days earlier, it hit him how odd this all was.

"I wonder if you go back to your time, will you have to repeat the rest of fifth grade again?" Ricky asked him,

Lincoln was reading a magazine on the couch; it was something to do. Ricky's question hit him hard; he'd spend essentially an entire school year away from his family. There were moments that this time travel thing got to him, and this was that.

"Are you alright? I was kind of joking," Ricky asked.

"Yeah, it's just kind of weird," Lincoln answered, he wasn't sure how else to put into speech.

It was weird. He was going to be graduating without his family there, and without his friends beside him. To be honest, he realized he'd been gone longer than he thought he would.

"I guess it is," Ricky said, pushing his hair back with his hand as he talked, "Guess, you thought you be back, to your time by now."

"Yeah, I mean nothing against your guys, it's still kind of," Lincoln's voice trailed off.

Ricky squeezed his own face with his right hand, before he said anything, he looked at Lincoln, his hand still covering his mouth. "It's a little hard for me too, but more normal, I think," he replied, "I mean, I'm about to leave elementary school for middle school."

A common change, Lincoln had kind of pushed that out of his mind, but it was true. For Ricky and Susan, they were going to be changing schools and that was a big thing. That brought into his mind about Russel as well. It was change for him; he was going to high school in the fall. The Pearson family were going through change.

"I wasn't even thinking of that," Lincoln said, "I'm sorry, I guess I got to caught up in my stuff."

Ricky smiled, "I understand."

"Well, I think you'll do alright in middle school," Lincoln said. The Loud boy kind of lied, but it was kind of reassure himself as much as Ricky. "Anyways, that's a few months away."

"It's funny, I went from wondering if you'd just disappear the way you came, to worrying about that happening to now kind of hoping it won't," Ricky said, "Then, I feel kind of bad for thinking that way."

Lincoln put his hand on Ricky's shoulder, "It's alright, I know."

It wasn't hard to tell the Pearson Family had gone close to him. Recently, they had asked Lincoln's opinions for summer plans. Usually, there would be a line like "If you're still here, or in case you are here, would you like to…?" something like that, but there was just more confident asking. "Hey Lincoln, for summer vacation, have any ideas?"

Lincoln looked at himself in the mirror, the suit he was wearing was a light blue, like the one he had back in his own time. Mrs. Pearson had bought it used, but it looked good and was in good condition. There was call for his name at the attic door. It was Russel, who was holding two ties.

"Linc, which tie do you think works best, this red one, or this blue one?" Russel asked.

"You're asking me?" Lincoln asked.

"Sure, why not?" The eldest Pearson boy asked, "You seem to know about suits more than I do."

He looked at both of Russel's ties and picked blue since it would work with the light blue shirt he was wearing. Russel nodded and went back to his room to put it on. Lincoln then saw Bobby walking from the bathroom. The boy was dressed up but in his own way, with a plaid polo shirt and dress shorts.

"Hey Lincoln," Bobby said as he went back to his room.

Downstairs, Katherine, and Calvin were sitting on the couch. Katherine was looking at her camera and checking it out to make sure it was alright. She had a box of three extra rolls of film. She had used a whole roll, earlier taking pictures of the kids with their school awards. She also seemed to be in a mood to just take random pictures of Russel. Russel's graduating middle school was affecting her. Calvin had a fancier camera to film the events. Lincoln did wonder if he should sneak using his phone, to record the event.

"Oh, well look at that, you look so good in that," Katherine said noticing him.

She walked over with the camera and asked him to smile to take a picture. He did.

"Everything fit alright?" Calvin asked.

"Yep, it's like it was made for me," Lincoln said.

"That's good, it'll be good for church too," Katherine said as she snapped another picture.

"Hold on the film, a little bit," Calvin said.

She set it down. "You're right, I'm going to check on Sherry."

Lincoln has seen both for the past few days, seemingly a little frazzled and in a slightly off mood. The Pearson parents about to see three of their children hit milestones. Their oldest kid was going to high school, their next in line twins were going to middle school. It was a lot. They also showed some concern for Lincoln. A few days earlier, when they were going shopping for the suit, Katherine wanted to know how he was feeling.

"I wanted to take you by yourself, because I think we've been kind of neglecting you this past week," she said.

"I'm good," Lincoln said.

She ruffled his hair. "That's good, I guess, but it's alright if you aren't," she replied, "You had to make a lot of adjustments, and now you're graduating elementary school without your family."

That was another time, it came to him. It had been odd that he'd been essentially living a normal life. He'd been going to school and taking it seriously.

"Guess, I never really thought about it," he answered.

She looked through a rack and pulled out a light blue suit and inspected it for any holes and wear. "I'm proud of you, for all the circumstances, you worked hard."

"Hey, can I try one?" he asked.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

She handed him the suit and he went to a change room to try it on.

"It's prefect!"

"It does look nice on you, then let's get buy it."

On the ride back home, she asked him if he was alright, but not in the way where she meant about the suit or his day, but in general.

"I know you think it's a little much, but I do want to make sure you're alright," she said, and before Lincoln could reply she added, "I meant what I said before, you are like my 6th child, I'm here for you."

He didn't know what to reply with at that point. This family had accepted him as their own with out much question. It was nice, but also kind of bad for him: if he ever got back to his time, he knew he'd miss them.

"I'll be fine," he said.

Friday, June 11, 1976

"Hey, Lincoln, wanna sign my yearbook?" Connie asked.

It was the final day of school, a half day, Lincoln and the other students were in the gym for year book signing. He looked at Connie, and nodded; the boys exchanged yearbooks and signed each other's book. Another moment of strange feeling came over Lincoln, he was signing something where is his picture was in, that was made before he was born. The black and white photo starring back at him.

"Hope I'll see you around this summer," Connie said.

"I'm pretty sure I will," Lincoln replied.

The hippy boy nodded, "I see, that's great! Though, I'm sure my parents will want to take me to some hippy thing," he replied.

"Does that happen every summer?"

"Kind of, though when I was a little kid, we spent most of our time with other hippies."

The conversation stopped as Lincoln felt a tap on his shoulder. It was another fifth grader, one om Connie's class.

"Hey can you two sign my yearbook?" he asked.

"Sure," Connie said, "This is Peter Hogan, he's in my class, cool guy, kind of quiet, but cool."

Lincoln nodded.

"Oh, This is Lincoln Loud…" Connie introduced.

"Yep, I've heard of him, Ricky and Susan's cousin, right?" Peter asked.

"Y-yeah," Lincoln answered.

The boys signed Peter's book and he signed theirs.

While the other students in the other grades got to have their summer start, the fifth graders had to come back to practice their graduation ceremony. The practice was mostly to see where they'd be sitting, when to stand, what songs would be played, and the timing of the speakers. There were 2 fifth grade classes and there were two valedictorians. From Lincoln's class it was Audrey.

"I'm going to feel like I'm going to barf tonight," she said to Lincoln.

"You'll do fine," Lincoln tried to reassure her.

"My dad said I should just imagine everyone in their underwear," she said, "But that sounds more nerve wracking."

"That'd be my cousin, Bobby, you'd be seeing," Lincoln joked.

Audrey giggled.

There was a general sush by a teacher.

"Are your parents showing up tonight?" Audrey asked.

"No," Lincoln answered flatly.

She frowned, "Sorry."

"It's alright, I figured they wouldn't."

"They leave you here and don't even show up for your graduation, that's horrible."

"No, I'm fine, really," he said, "They would be here if they could, I know they would."

Some part of him always wondered if he should have told her the truth about himself. He did think it was kind of sweet she cared about him.

"Quiet please," a teacher said, through the murmurs of students.

"Make sure you meet in your normal classrooms at 6:30," another teacher said.

Lincoln looked in the mirror to check out his suit one more time. It was about an hour until he had to go to the school for the ceremony. The house was in commotion like the day before. He got out of the attic and went down to the living room. Catherine was checking her camera again. Calvin was in the dining room listening to the radio. He spotted the Loud boy. "Hey Lincoln, lookin' good," he said.

"Thanks," Lincoln replied.

"Are you done?" he asked.

"Yeah," Lincoln answered.

"Good, um, come with me."

The boy shrugged but followed the man the back yard.

"Um, I know this evening is kind of weird for you, well everything has been, but you've taken it well, and it's really been nice to have you around," Calvin said, "I think you know that we've felt like you are part of our family now, and I feel we'll always consider you to be." He grabbed a small present from his pocket. It wrapped in a plain but nice brown paper.

"You can open it now," Calvin said.

Lincoln tore open the paper and saw inside a small box was a watch. It was not expensive, but was nice looking, with leather band, the face had a gold outer ring, and it had a little insert in the face for the month and date.

"Thanks, it's nice," Lincoln said.

Calvin nodded, "You see, um it's a little tradition for milestones around here, Russel got a special little gift, for graduating middle school, I'm going to give Ricky and Susan something too; I got you the watch because it's something you can wear, and whenever you end up going back, it will hopefully be on you," he explained, "Plus, get it? Time travel, watch?"

He put the watch on and guessed the time from the clock in his room and set the date, it was easy. "Thanks, I'll be sure to take care of it."

Susan was wearing a skirt and a simple blouse, she was somewhat annoyed, but it a compromise. She was going to be wearing a gown over her clothes anyway. She saw Lincoln sitting on the couch watching TV. "Ready for the big moment?" she said.

"Yeah, I think so," he said.

She flopped down on the couch; she wasn't sure if she just wanted cross her legs or just clinch them together. She went for pushing her legs together but having them extend out in different directions from under her knees.

"I'm kind of sad," she said.

He was taken aback by that, "Really?"

"Yeah, it feels weird, I've spent my whole life at that one school, and now… I won't be going there ever again," she answered, "Well, I guess to get Bobby and Sherry or something, but you know."

She looked at him, "I'm not really wowed by this growing up stuff; you probably think I'm being stupid."

"No, I don't," Lincoln was quick to say.

She moved her legs again this time folded her hands into her lap, "I hate skirts and dresses," she said. "You don't have to be nice, you can say I'm being stupid, if you think I am."

Lincoln tilted his head, "I'm not faking it, but I don't think you're being stupid, I think I even understand."

"I don't know, but maybe I'm supposed to feel this way," she said. She hugged him and got up wiping away a tear.

The boy wasn't sure if she was alright, but she seemed to not want to continue talking about it, the time was getting near.

Lincoln, Ricky, and Susan got into Calvin's car, since they had to be at the school slightly earlier than the guests to get ready. They were dropped off and entered the building going to their classrooms. Lincoln saw the familiar faces; he'd gotten to know the months he'd been there. "Lincoln!" It was Todd who called him. Todd was wearing a simple brown suit.

"Hi, Todd," Lincoln said.

There was something he'd noticed about Todd, it might have happened sooner, but Todd was the same height as him now, versus when they first met.

"Your suit looks groovy," Todd said.

"Thanks, yours too," Lincoln replied.

"Are you ready to graduate?"

"Yep, I think so."

There wasn't a lot of extra time to talk, they had to fitted in their graduation robes. Lincoln was wearing a dark blue gown; the girls had gotten light blue. Russel had explained to Lincoln they used that blue for his, back when it was a sixth-grade graduation. The eldest Pearson child was from the last class at Royal Woods Elementary when it went to sixth grade. It was kind of long in the sleeves, but it otherwise fit. It was the time to head towards the auditorium.