Chapter Seventeen
Lincoln took deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. It was the day of his SAT and he was beyond
nervous. Lisa was working with him on trying to calm him down. She had him sitting and meditating. She
knew that he just needed to relax a bit. Lisa played binaural beats in her room that she'd designed herself.
They didn't necessarily work any better than standard binaural beats. They were designed to relax the
listener and help them focus on whatever task they had ahead of them. Finally, Lincoln calmed down and
went to the school, riding there on his bike, sitting down in the classroom.
He saw Jordan, Clyde, Rusty, Zach and his other friends there who, just like him were there to take their exams. They had almost half an hour before the test.
"Hey, guys." Lincoln. They all sat down together. They were arranged in classrooms alphabetically, so they were split up into different classrooms. Clyde and Lincoln were in the same classroom and Stella and Jordan were in the same classroom. Otherwise, they were split up. But could meet up after the exam.
"You guys ready for the test?" Stella asked.
"As ready as I can be." Lincoln chuckled. Rusty shrugged. He wasn't really good at testing. They'd all studied and most of them had gotten help from Lisa. The prodigy wanted to expand her studying method, and thus she had offered her services to Lincoln's friends as well as to Lincoln. So Stella, Rusty, Zach, Stella, Clyde and Jordan had all availed themselves of Lisa's methods. Lucy had recommended Lisa to Haiku, who popped by the Loud House occasionally for tutoring.
Lisa had some extra time these days since Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan and Lynn no longer needed her tutoring. Lori was a golfer now, Leni was out of school and working on her clothing line while working at Reininger's. Luna's band was starting to take off. That didn't require much in the way of higher education. Luan was in college, but was doing well since she was largely focusing on performance courses. She hardly needed it. Even the teachers said she was one of the best students they'd had. Lynn had already been in the Olympics once and gotten a silver medal in triathlon.
She was aiming now for gold though. When she got silver, it wasn't due to a lack of ability to do better. It was because she'd sprained her ankle. It hadn't been her fault. She had been doing some relatively light training that day and during her run, her leg slipped and she twisted it. She still insisted on competing in the Olympics. She'd gone there to test herself and she'd more than acquitted herself. Even injured, she was the second best in the world. Towards the end, her ankle was killing her and she was limping at the award ceremony. But when she got home, Lisa treated her and now she was stronger than ever.
She would compete in the 2024 Summer Olympics and would in all likelihood take gold. Lincoln smiled. He couldn't remember ever being more proud of Lynn.
"How did your studying go, Linc?" Clyde asked.
"Good, good. Lisa's studying program worked well from what I can see. She gave me a past SAT exam each Sunday and graded it, giving me a packet of things to study based on how I did on the practice exam. She said I did a good job. I have no reason to think she was lying." Lincoln said.
"How about you, Clyde?" Lincoln asked.
"Well, between Lisa's packets of study material and the SAT coaches my dads hired for me, I'm pretty confident. More so than I usually am." Clyde said. Clyde's confidence had grown over the years. He was still shy and had some anxiety issues. But he was far more confident. He'd gotten in pretty good shape and was tall now. Taller than Lincoln, standing at 6'1".
"That's good. You're confident that you'll do well?" Lincoln asked.
"Pretty confident." Clyde said. There were no guarantees in life. But he'd taken multiple past SAT exams, including ones from 2020, 2019 and 2018. So he had a pretty good idea of what would be on the exam. Lincoln turned to Stella.
"What about you, Stel?" Lincoln asked.
"Well, my parents made sure that I studied as much as I could. Lisa's study program really helped. I had a coach, but she said that the program that I showed her was as good as anything she could give me. She actually asked who this other coach was. She wanted to correspond with them. So I'm betting Lisa will have a few other SAT coaches on her speed dial pretty soon." Stella chuckled. Lincoln laughed.
"Well, Lisa has people from all over the world on her speed dial. She can teach almost anything. She knows seven languages, has a bunch of science degrees and has tutored pretty much the whole family."
Lincoln sighed. Having such a big family wasn't always easy. He loved them though, and he wouldn't wish any of them away.
"How did Lisa's methods work for you, Rusty?" Lincoln asked.
"They worked okay. I'm not as confident as you guys are. Studying often doesn't work for me. I'm just not good at taking tests." Rusty said helplessly.
"You can do it, Rusty." Lincoln said, patting him on the back. Rusty had always been tall, but he'd really shot up even more. He was 6'4" now, but still a bit gangly.
"Yeah. We have faith in you." Clyde said.
"Oop! We better get to our classrooms. Tests are gonna be starting pretty soon and they'll be closing down the classrooms." Lincoln said, checking his watch.
They split up and went to their classrooms. Lincoln kissed Jordan lightly for luck. They had been a little awkward since their failed attempt to do anal. But they hadn't broken up and Lincoln considered that a good thing. Lincoln and Clyde went to one classroom. Stella and Jordan went to another classroom, while Rusty and Zach went to their own classrooms. Rusty was really nervous and was practicing breathing exercises to try to calm himself down while going through what he knew he knew, but was afraid he would forget once the test was handed out.
"Remember to hand in your cell phone at the front desk. I'll give you a ticket for your possessions. Make sure you have at least two #2 pencils, an eraser and blank lined paper in case you need extra room for your essay. Other than that, you have no need for any supplies. The test will start in about 15 minutes." The main proctor said as Lincoln and Clyde walked in. They went to their assigned seats, which had their name written on a sheet of paper on the desk for them.
Lincoln and Clyde were across the classroom from each other, which was for the best really. Nobody was talking at the moment. Lincoln saw a few people that he knew. Most of them, he didn't know well. They were just other students whose faces he recognized. Finally, the teacher called everyone to attention.
"We're going to be handing out the test in a minute. It starts in five minutes. We'll be placing the test and the Scantron face down on your desks. Do not turn them over or touch them until I give the okay to start the test.
Remember to fill in the bubble completely. No putting a line or an 'X' through the bubble, or filling half of it. The Scantron machine will mark it as wrong even if you've answered correctly, and I know you don't want that. If you need to change an answer, erase fully and then fill in the new bubble. The proctors began handing out the test.
"Okay, we're handing out the test. You have three minutes before the test starts." The head proctor said.
Finally, the proctor said to start. Lincoln turned the test over, sighing and calming himself down. As he looked over the questions, he smiled. He knew the answers to most of them. He wasn't nearly as worried as he had been that morning. He filled in the bubbles carefully, going back every few questions to make sure that he hadn't skipped ahead or missed a question but kept on the bubbles. He didn't really like Scantrons. They made it difficult because you could skip a question, but if you didn't skip the bubble, you would be giving the right answer to the wrong question.
Still, he was very cautious and went over each question carefully, finally getting to the end of the first part. They were allowed to take a break then. Lincoln took a few minutes and walked around, getting some fresh air, sighing and easing himself up before heading back into the classroom.
-0-
Finally, the test ended. He was fairly happy with how he'd done. He met up with his friends outside. Rusty was still looking anxious, twitchy. He wasn't confident at all in how he'd done. He kept telling himself that he knew the answers to most of the questions and that he had nothing to worry about. But tests were one of his weakest points in school.
"Hey, deep breaths, Rusty. However you did, you'll be fine. I'm sure of it." Lincoln said. Rusty nodded, trying to convince himself of the same thing.
"How-how did you do, Stella?" Rusty asked.
"Oh, I did pretty well. I think. I guess I'll have to wait to find out, right?" Stella said modestly. Zach was still suspicious of the SATs. He knew he had to take them. But he didn't trust any test that was graded by the federal government. He'd done his best on the test. He wasn't great academically. He cared more about conspiracy theories and proving alien myths and conspiracy theories correct. He already had a YouTube channel of conspiracies that was actually pretty popular.
"What about you, Clyde? You and Lincoln were in the same classroom." Rusty said.
"Oh, I think I did well." Clyde said. He was a little nervous. But I also learned calming techniques from Doctor Lopez and from my SAT coach." Clyde said.
"What about you, Jordan?" Lincoln asked. Jordan shrugged. Academics weren't her strongest point. She was smart. She did fairly well in school. She tended to get A-s and Bs in most of her classes. But she was pretty sure that she did well. She certainly studied hard enough to do well.
"What about you? You're the one who's been acing all his classes since he was 9." Jordan teased. Lincoln chuckled modestly.
"Well… I guess I did okay." Lincoln said. He was pretty sure he did well on the test. Though he couldn't be sure just yet. He would have to wait the 13-ish days for the results to appear on the website.
"Why don't we go out to get something to eat?" Lincoln suggested.
"We can get food at Lynn's Table." Clyde said. It was Lincoln's father's restaurant. But they all liked the food there and the food wasn't expensive and the service was good. Everyone was friendly and helpful.
"Yeah, sure!" Stella said.
"Sure. I could use some food. It'll get my mind off the test." Rusty said.
"Sounds good." Zach said. He trusted the food at Lynn's Table. It was Lincoln's father after all. They headed to the restaurant, being seated pretty quickly.
"Hey! I'm Chelsea. I'll be your server. So, can I get you guys any appetizers?" The waitress asked. Rusty blushed heavily. This was the girl he had a crush on. He hadn't been able to tell her yet. She was a bit older than him. She must have been about eighteen. But she was beautiful. She had long blonde hair that she kept in a braid. She had cute freckles and almost honey colored eyes and she had a smile that could kill.
"I-I… Just… Just water…" Rusty stammered.
"And for the rest of you?" She asked.
"I'll have milk please." Stella said.
"Water. In a bottle if you have them." Zach said. He was still Zach. He was always going to be a bit paranoid.
"Root beer." Lincoln said.
"Sprite please." Clyde said.
"Got it. Anything else?" She said.
"No thanks." The group said. She went back to the kitchen to put in their drink orders.
"Rusty. You should tell Chelsea how you feel." Clyde said. Rusty gasped.
"What? No! I couldn't! She would never go for me. I'm too young and she's too cool." Rusty said helplessly.
"What? No she's not. Whatever she says, I'm sure you'll feel better after you tell her." Lincoln said.
"We believe in you." Stella said. Rusty took a deep breath.
"Okay. But I can't do it here. Not while she's on duty." Rusty said.
"Got it. How about you meet her tomorrow. I know she doesn't work tomorrow." Lincoln said. He knew most of the people that worked in his dad's restaurants and knew the schedules of at least the people that worked in this one, since it was the one closest to their house.
"Okay. I-I'll ask her to meet me… In the park? That way it's open." Rusty said. He didn't want her to feel locked into anything. Lincoln had never seen Rusty so anxious. He was always so confident and sure of himself. He knew who he was and didn't apologize for it. He was kind of nerdy, but he was a good dancer and was a good salesman. He worked at his dad's store and he did a good job convincing the customer.
"Alright. We'll slip a note into her apron pocket. I'm sure that she'll get it and we can meet her." Rusty said nervously.
"No. You should be up front about it. Ask her when she comes back." Lincoln said.
"We're all here for you." Clyde said. It was a risk. But he knew Chelsea from chatting with her and he didn't get the sense that she had a partner.
Chelsea came back with their drinks, putting the drinks in front of each of them.
"Can I get your orders?" She asked.
"I'd like the Lynnburger Blue Cheeseburger." Lincoln said.
"Lynntil Loaf please." Clyde said.
"Mozarella sticks and French fries please." Rusty said.
"Hamburger with extra onions please." Zach said.
"Onion rings and fries please." Stella said.
"Hot dog and fries please." Jordan said.
"Got it." Chelsea said.
"Tell her."
"Ch-Chelsea? Can I… Can I… Do you think."
"I'm off at 3." Chelsea said, smiling at Rusty. Rusty blushed. Did he really have a chance? She was older than him, but not that much. Was she too much older? Or was he too much younger?" He was nervous. But he would be there at 3 when she got off to chat with her.
She went back to the kitchen and put in their orders.
"Hey, good job, Rusty. You want us to stick around?" Lincoln asked.
"No. I-I can handle it." Rusty said. He wasn't certain at all of that. But he wanted to do this on his own.
They got their meals pretty quickly, eating and enjoying their time together after the test. They stayed for almost an hour and a half just talking and enjoying the break. They had school on Monday, but for now, they could just relax. They hadn't been given homework that weekend because of the SATs. For those who wanted to get some last minute studying in, the teachers wanted to let them have that time.
Finally, everyone except Zach left.
"Here. Take this. It's my Gramma's lucky silver coin. She found it in France when she was travelling. It's older than France itself. A historian said that it was created back in the middle 16th century. It brought her luck in finding her husband, in getting a successful job as a secretary. Her husband was a lawyer and he was successful when he had the coin in his pocket. Maybe it will help you. Just return it when you're done." Zach said.
"I'm sure you'll do great, Rusty." Jordan said, heading home. The crew split up. Lincoln walked Jordan home and the rest went to their homes while Rusty waited outside for Chelsea.