ROYAL WOODS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

12:00 PM

The school bell rings for the last time.

It's summer vacation.

All the kids rush out of the building, cheering with glee as they charge towards the buses and cars outside.

Lincoln Loud and his younger sisters, Lucy, Lana, Lola, and Lisa, are among them.

"LET'S GO, EVERYONE!" Lincoln shouts with pure excitement.

"This summer will be very interesting," Lucy says with a smile.

"Bugs, bugs everywhere!" Lana digs through the dirt for worms.

"Just keep them as far away from me as possible!" Lola yells.

"If you never come into contact, your immune system will never adapt," Lisa states to her.

Lola rolls her eyes. "She gets her bugs on me ALL THE TIME!"

"DO NOT!" Lana retorts.

"DO TOO!" Lola responds.

Lincoln just chuckles. "Relax, Lola. I'll make sure you get a nice warm bath if she gets too much mud on you."

"Well, OK I guess..."

"Besides," says Lana, "Lincoln's birthday's coming up! I wanna make him a cool mud cake for the party!"

"I appreciate the offer, Lana," her older brother responds. "But I already told Mom and Dad I wanted a double chocolate fudge cake."

Lana doesn't seem too bothered. "Eh, chocolate's cool too."

"I'll ask for gummy worms!"

Lana gasps. "AWESOME!"

Lucy turns to him. "Cookies and creme bits shaped like gravestones."

"...I'll think about it, Luce."

"Fair enough."

The five kids run as fast they can towards the Loud House, handing out invitations to Lincoln's party, scheduled for the next weekend.

"Thanks dude!" Clyde shouts to Lincoln. "I knew I'd get one, but thanks!"

Lincoln gives him a thumb up, still running. "I never forget you, bud!"

"Thanks, Lincoln!" Stella says as she gets hers.

"I'll be sure to not attract too much attention." Haiku sighs, with an invitation in her hand thanks to Lucy.

"WOO!" Skippy leaps into the air. "Party time!"

"Thank you, Lola..." Meli Ramos smiles slightly. "Maybe I can make some friends."

"YAY!" Darcy squeals with excitement. "I love parties!"

Lincoln hands his remaining invitations to Rusty, Liam, Zach, and Girl Jordan.

"HEY STELLA!" Jordan calls out to her from a distance. "You get one too?"

"Sure did, Girl Jordan!"

"Excited to see you there!"

Chandler sees Lincoln and his siblings running down the sidewalk.

"Well... there he goes. Not surprised he didn't give me one."

"Yeah..." his friend Trent shrugs. "You guys never exactly had the best interactions throughout the school year."

"Right..."

Chandler is quiet for a moment.

"Y'know, there's a weird feeling in my gut that something serious is gonna happen."

"What do you mean?" Trent asks.

"I dunno... just a feeling."

As the kids eventually arrive at the Loud house, the rest of the siblings pull up in neighbor Mr. Grouse's car, lent by him personally to the eldest sister, Lori.

Lori helps baby Lily out of her booster seat, with her graduate cap and gown giving her pure glee.

"This is literally gonna be the BEST summer ever!" she exclaims.

"Sissy pass!" Lily giggles.

"It's gonna be a busy season at the mall!" says Leni, as she brushes her hair gently to preserve its smoothness.

"Better get some gigs ready for the fans!" Luna yells out. "I was born to be wild!"

"Just be sure to get some peanut butter for your JAM!" Luan laughs at her joke, but Luna only rolls her eyes in response.

"I'm SO pumped right now!" Lynn pumps her fists in the air as she jogs into the house.

"Hey guys!" Lincoln greets them.

"Hey Lincoln." Lori waves to him, and looks around for a moment. "...where's Mom and Dad?"

They suddenly pop out from the upstairs hallway, wearing flower shirts and necklaces.

"WE'RE GOING TO HAWAII!"

The kids all start to cheer.

Lola is particularly excited. "A TRIP TO PARADISE!"

"But we're already in Hawaii!" says Leni. "See? There's the hula girl!" She points to a solar-powered dancing hula girl toy.

"Sorry, kids," Rita responds to their cheers, "but it's just gonna be the two of us."

"Awwww..."

"We wanna try and save money for future trips," Lynn Sr. explains. "So we're gonna be going by ourselves for now. I'm sure the older sisters especially can save up enough money for later on."

The kids shrug and nod in agreement.

"So..." Lori approaches her parents. "This is gonna be the last time I'm in charge...?"

Lynn Sr. begins to tear up. "I guess so..."

Rita sighs. "Let's stay focused, honey..." She hands him a napkin, and he wipes his eyes.

"It's just... I remember the day she started spoon feeding Lincoln like it was yesterday..."

"DAD!" Lincoln and Lori both yell, slightly bothered, although they understood why Lynn Sr. was crying.

"S-sorry..."

Rita continues the conversation. "Now, Lori... I want you to make sure nothing bad happens while we're gone. You've been doing this for a while, so we can trust you to handle."

"Mind if I get the sergeant outfit for her?" Lynn smirks.

Lori grunts. "I've moved past that, Lynn..."

"I know. Just messin' with ya."

Rita looks towards the other kids. "So can we trust you all to behave yourselves for the next week while we're in Hawaii?"

"Funny you should ask!" Lisa smiles and unrolls a large sheet of paper. "I've got a pie chart right here. Taking each sibling's usual antics throughout the year into consideration as well as how we've been able to work with or around them, you have an 86% chance of returning to a perfectly normal Loud family residence."

Rita takes the chart and looks over it with a raised eyebrow.

Lisa maintains her confident smile. "Happy travels!"

Lynn Sr. puts his hands on his wife's shoulders. "Honey, relax! I'm sure they'll be fine. It's not like Lori hasn't been in charge before..."

"I know..." Rita glances at Leni. "But I wanna be more confident in Leni's ability to take over when Lori goes to Fairway. She won't always be here anymore, so SOMEONE has to take charge."

"Don't worry Mom!" Leni responds to her reassuringly. "We've got this. No goof-ups, no explosions, no bat swarms, no Jell-O traps, no fires, no floods..."

Rita stops in a sudden burst of stress. "Wait. I didn't think about floods..."

"Rita, they'll be FINE!" Lynn Sr. tries to calm her down. "Let's go! This vacation ain't waiting on us!"

"I guess you're right. Lori..." She turns to her one last time. "If you need anything, you know who to call."

Lori smiles at her. "I always keep my phone by my side."

"Good... because if anybody were to get hurt-"

"OK! Thanks Mom! Goodbye!"

Lincoln gives her a little weird look as Lori chuckles.

"...OK..." Rita shrugs and opens the door. "Stay safe, everyone!"

The kids say goodbye to their parents as they head outside to the cab waiting for them.

"At least we can keep Vanzilla..." says Leni. "It'll be helpful for us."

"Maybe I can help you learn to drive so you can help out the others while I'm away!" Lori tells her.

"I dunno... I did horrible last time."

"Aw, that was only because I interfered. But I'm not THAT kind of sister anymore... I promise I'm not."

But Lori shivers a bit as she finishes.

Luna is concerned. "Uh... you OK sis?"

"Y-yeah... I'm fine."

Lincoln tries to change the subject to ease Lori's tension. "So, my friends and I are going to an End of the School Year party at Girl Jordan's. You're OK with that, right?"

"Yeah, sure. Just make sure you head back home as soon as it's over. I wouldn't want anything happening to you."

Lincoln is quiet for a moment. What is Lori so nervous about? He takes a moment to ponder the situation at hand, until...

"Got it?"

"Yeah! Of course. I'll see you guys later!"

Lincoln heads out the door to meet up with his friends.

Lucy glances at Lori, seemingly sensing something. "Are you sure you're OK?"

Lori takes a deep breath. "Yeah... just gimme a moment."

She heads upstairs into her room, closing the door behind her and sitting down on her bed. Reaching to a side table drawer, she breathes in, then out, and pulls the drawer open.

Inside the drawer is a single Polaroid photograph, showing Lori herself as a small child with an older companion, a boy with dirty blonde hair. The picture showed them wearing warm coats and earmuffs as they posed in front of their snow creation - an army of snow aliens waging war against brave snowman warriors.

Lori sheds a tear as she focuses her eyes on the boy. "I can only wonder where you are right now..."

At Girl Jordan's party, Lincoln meets up with his other friends.

"Hey guys!" he greets them, giving each of them a high five. " Sorry if I'm late. Did I miss anything?"

"Not really," says Stella. "We only got started a few minutes ago."

"Oh cool. I've still got time then... who else is here?"

Rusty tries to remember. "Well, I know I saw Mollie and Kat. I think Jordan's twin Jordyn is still here too."

"Jordyn with a Y?" Clyde attempts to clarify. "Slightly shorter? With the flower shirt?"

"Yeah, THAT Jordyn."

"And what about Boy Jordan?" asks Zach.

"Yep, he's here too."

Lincoln scratches his head. "Well, THAT'S gonna get confusing..."

"Well, technically, Boy Jordan has an E in his name," Liam explains. "So his name is Jorden."

"Uh..." Stella glances at him. "I don't think he has an E in his name, Liam."

"Well, I guess it's up for debate..."

Lincoln grabs a chip from the table next to them and dips it into a bowl of nacho cheese. "OK... anybody else?"

Clyde tries to think. "Hmm... oh yeah, Cristina was able to come!"

Suddenly, Lincoln freezes in nervousness. He hadn't heard that name since the event he referred to only as the "video incident".

"Cr... C-Cristina...?"

"Yeah..." Clyde sighs. "Apparently she had to be homeschooled for the rest of the year because something serious happened with her family and her parents weren't sure if she'd be able to deal with that AND the school environment at the same time."

"I guess that makes sense..." Lincoln eats another nacho chip, pondering the situation. "I'm worried about trying to talk to her again, though... she probably doesn't wanna be around me at all after the video incident."

"I'd say it's worth a try, at least." Stella tries to talk him into it. "I've heard about that incident, but you've definitely been able to right your wrongs since then."

"Yeah, you're probably right. At the same time, though, I can't help but feel like it happened for a reason... like some outside force was writing my actions and making me seem like an attention-obsessed jerk, or even a human scapegoat or punching bag."

Stella raises an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

Lincoln turns his head to a certain invisible someone, or perhaps a group of people.

"You guys know what I'm talking about, right?"

Now Stella is even more confused. "Why are you talking to a wall?"

Lincoln snaps back to reality. "Never mind... I'll see what I can do about Cristina."

He looks around the house to figure out where Cristina is, taking a couple slices of pizza and putting them on a Styrofoam plate, with a can of Kel's Best orange soda to go with it. He takes his food along with him, passing other kids at the party as they groove to the music that fills the whole place.

Lincoln sees the familiar curly brown hair and yellow clip, but suddenly-

"Hey 'Tina! Still no luck finding a guy?"

"Shut it, Chandler," Cristina snaps at him. "Just because we're cousins doesn't mean you get to push me around like that."

Lincoln stops for a moment to process what he just heard. Cristina and Chandler are cousins... a weird turn of events on his part.

He tries to initiate a conversation anyway. "H-hey, guys."

Chandler doesn't seem too thrilled. "Oh... hey."

Cristina only remains silent.

"So..." Lincoln chuckles. "How about that... homeschool thing? What's that like for you?"

"I'm guessing you're talking to her, so I'm just gonna... dip out." Chandler quietly leaves the area to find something else to do.

Lincoln glances all around, at anything but Cristina, to avoid any possible awkward eye contact. Sweat begins to cover his face as he worries about what could possibly go wrong, and he braces for impact-

"It's OK."

Lincoln loosens up a bit at Cristina's simple, but comforting statement. "Are you sure...?"

"Of course," Cristina gives him a slight smile. "You're not the first one who's had that kinda crush on me, and I don't think you'll be the last. A lot of boys were crushing on me last year... and the year before that... y'know."

Lincoln finds himself gradually more able to talk to her like anyone else. "Yeah... I was so desperate for love back then, I even had a crush on the substitute teacher."

"You mean Ms. DiMartino?" Cristina giggles. "I can kinda see why. Girl Jordan sent me photos and, well... I gotta admit, I thought she was kinda cute myself."

"Right... I've moved past all that, though."

"Well, what about that girl Ronnie Anne?"

"...that's a whole other story."

Cristina shrugs. "Eh, I get that. I guess you don't wanna rush into it."

"Well, it's a little more complicated than that..."

"You're just friends for now?"

"Yeah... I wanted to try and ask her out on a visit to Great Lakes City, but she was clearly nervous about it so I turned it into a magic trick."

"Ooh, that's clever!"

They both laugh at the irony of their situations, realizing they may not be so different after all.

Lincoln, having gained the confidence to interact with her more often, decides to pop a question. "Cristina... can we be friends?"

But before she can answer, he overhears a conversation nearby, the kind that instantly grabs his attention...

"You heard that rumor going around among class earlier today? That Lincoln probably has a missing brother?"

Lincoln found Chandler to be the source, talking to his friends Trent and Richie. He approaches them slowly, trying not to make too much of a scene.

"Hey, uh... you said something about a missing brother, right?"

Chandler gives him a weird look. "Yeah... what about it?"

"Where'd you get the information? You seem like the kinda guy who would be an insider."

"Does it... matter?"

"Well..." Lincoln remembers how nervous Lori was about something she wasn't talking about before he came to the party. "It's a family kinda thing."

Chandler still isn't sure what to make of Lincoln's eagerness. "I mean... Tina's got an older sister who goes to Imperial Grove University and a few kids have linked the rumor there, if that means anything."

"Has anybody found a possible name?" Lincoln's eyes are wide open with interest.

"A lot of names have been circulating," Richie answers. "Lucas, Larry, Loki, Lenarr, Luigi..."

"The Luigi one was a joke," Trent corrects him.

"Oh."

Lincoln tries to control his shock at what he is hearing. "This... this is big! I gotta go..."

He makes a run to the front door, accidentally dropping his pizza as his friends watch him leave.

"What's up with Lincoln?" asks Girl Jordan.

"Hope he gets back soon..." says her twin, Jordyn.

Clyde heads to the door.

"Where are YOU going?" Stella questions him.

"I'm gonna figure out what's going on. I've known him since we were little kids - when he leaves THAT fast, I know there's something serious that's on his mind."

Clyde rushes out the door in an attempt to catch up to his best friend.

Lincoln rushes into the house through the front door as his sisters turn to him.

Luna is the first to ask. "You OK, dude?"

"I-I guess... there's something important I gotta talk about."

"Are you worried about your friends leaving you again?" asks Lynn.

"Did you forget to turn in an assignment?" asks Lola.

"Are there zombies or vampires roaming outside?" asks Lucy. "Preferably vampires..."

"No, it's nothing like that..." Lincoln breathes in and out and tries to get his thoughts together.

Lori comes in from the kitchen, hearing the conversation. "Well, what is it? You came home pretty quick."

Lincoln prepares himself to speak up, releasing a last deep breath.

"Do you guys think we might have a missing brother?"

His sisters all give him weird looks... except Lori, who slowly turns away for a moment.

"A brother? What do you mean?" Lana asks.

"Yeah bro, what are you even talking about?" Luna is staring at Lincoln as if she just heard the weirdest thing she'd ever heard.

Lincoln tries to maintain his calm stance. He does NOT want to sound like a madman right now. "Well... there's been a rumor kids my age have been talking about. I heard about it at Girl Jordan's party. All the possible names started with an L, and apparently Cristina has a sister who go-"

"What makes you think we have a lost brother?"

Lori is the one to interrupt him.

Lincoln turns to her, slightly irritated. "I don't know... I thought you would probably know out of all of us."

"Well, we don't have a lost brother. I don't know why this is such a huge concern to you."

Lynn chimes in. "Well, you WERE acting kinda weird after school today..."

The other sisters nod and murmur in agreement, with Lori rolling her eyes.

"What does that have to do with this lost brother thing Lincoln's asking about? Mom and Dad don't even talk about it."

Lisa pushes her glasses up. "Well, technically, there is the possibility that they don't talk about it because they don't want to, due to the emotional pressure that they would feel from doing so."

Lori swiftly snaps her head to her, almost like an owl. "No there isn't..."

"You never said they didn't know."

"B-because he doesn't exist to begin with!" Lori tries as hard as she can to sound as authoritative as possible, but she is breaking on the inside...

Lincoln stays persistent. "If he doesn't exist, why are you getting so tense about the subject?"

"Hey, does anybody want some Flippees?"

"And now you're trying to change it."

"We don't HAVE a lost brother! Period! End of story!"

"Oh, the story just got started! You're gonna tell me what's going on!"

"You are not in charge here!"

The other sisters watch Lincoln and Lori's argument, nervous about the outcome.

"Guys, just calm down..." Luan grips the arm of the couch, squeezing it to release her growing stress.

Lincoln glares at Lori with the rekindled flames of an old irritation. "You can't just yell at people to hide from your own stress, Lori!"

Lori gives him that furious stare she now gives people only when she is reaching her limit. "You're still asking the same question over and over again! The answer is no!"

"This isn't about the lost brother thing! Just loosen up!"

"You don't get to decide when I loosen up!"

"Is this what you think Mom and Dad want?"

Lori is panting with anger, her right eye twitching. "Don't make me say it, Lincoln..."

"Why are you acting so aggressive right now? It's helping no one! Not even yourself!"

"Stop talking about it..."

"I NEED to know! I want you to be happy!"

Lori pounds her fist on the wall. "I SAID SHUT UP, TWERP!"

Twerp.

Lincoln has to freeze and let that sink in. It feels like it's been years since Lori last called him that.

Twerp.

He realizes what he must do.

"I'm gonna find him."

Lincoln rushes upstairs to gather supplies.

Leni tries to follow him. "Lincoln! What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna try to find our brother and bring him back to the Loud House! I don't want Lori to be upset like this any longer!"

Lori can only stand there in silence as her sisters try and fail to stop Lincoln from running outside.

They all turn to her, glaring.

Lori is devastated. "This is not good..."

Lisa sighs.

"Eldest sister, I believe it's safe to say that you... screwed up."