Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Restored Image: A tale retold

Chapter twenty: The Chandler tales, part three

Chandler McCann, a student at Royal Woods Elementary School, was relaxing a bit one day during recess as he sat beneath some shade, his hands resting behind his head as he leaned against a wall while sitting on the ground. The eleven-year-old boy thought that he had it made. To his credit, the red-headed boy wasn't too far off the mark. As one of the more popular kids at school, he was someone that commanded respect with his presence alone; getting on Chandler's nerves, or to otherwise be someone he wasn't all that fond of, wasn't too good of an idea.

…Still, the red-headed boy knew when to pick his battles. For starters, Chandler knew better than to try and start any sort of trouble with Ronnie Anne Santiago; anyone who messed with the Queen of Pain would find themselves thrown head-first into the nearest garbage can within very short order, and a rather noticeable percentage (at least seventy-two percent) of RWES's student population considered pranking Ronnie Anne to be a very effective method of suicide.

Chandler also had a less-than-favorable encounter with Lincoln Loud, that white-haired boy who frequently wore orange shirts, a while ago when Lincoln gave him a glare so fierce, Chandler thought that he was looking into the eyes of a violent killer, poised to strike at a moment's notice. Fearing that the white-haired boy might become another Ronnie Anne, Chandler was more than happy to oblige Lincoln his request of staying as far away as possible.

Also, Chandler had to, for the moment of course, refrain from trying to win over the affections of Astrid Ace, the cutest girl at RWES, because Astrid's samurai-like older brother, with the threat of getting Chandler's parents involved next time the red-headed boy made Astrid uncomfortable, strongly implored Chandler to refrain from flirting with Astrid and allow her to have some space. Chandler realized, to be fair, that he was being rather insistent, so he was glad to take the time off from trying to pursue the cutest girl at RWES.

Also, Chandler was glad that he didn't get the deal that Ross, his rival for Astrid's heart, had received. From what Chandler had heard, Ross was visited by Astrid's Viking-like older sister and one of Lincoln's older sisters; all that the red-headed boy knows for sure about that visit is that Astrid's older sister apparently favored a far more intimidating method than what Astrid's older brother had used to get Chandler himself to leave the cute white-haired girl be (for the time being, at least).

Regardless, Chandler had something to keep himself occupied; in recent events, Chandler's dad, who works at the local sewage treatment plant, is competing with one of his co-workers for a new position at work. This co-worker of Chandler's dad's is the father of Francisco, a boy from Royal Woods Middle School. Chandler and Francisco have gotten into something of a rivalry, trying to one-up each other, and whenever one boy looks good (or bad), it tends to reflect on the dad of the boy in question. Luckily for Chandler, only Francisco has had any bad moments, some of which the red-headed boy may or may not have had a hand in orchestrating.

Seeing as how his family's financial strength is tied to the deal he had going with Francisco, Chandler decided to focus on that for the time being, and focusing on that has paid off so far, in the form of not having been met with any physical violence.

…Who ever thought that Lincoln, of all people, would ever become as frightening as Ronnie Anne? Shrugging, Chandler supposed that anything could happen. Anywho, as he sat in the shade, Chandler was approached by Sid and Frank, two of his friends (i.e. goons). "Oh, hey guys," the red-headed boy greeted in a friendly manner as he got up, "What's up?"

"Hey Chandler," Sid began, "You know Rusty Spokes, right?"

Chandler, with a mildly curious look on his face, said, "Doesn't his dad work over at 'Duds for Dudes'?"

"I've always been under the impression that Mr. Spokes actually owns that place," Sid remarked, "But that's beside the point. Anywho, Rusty got himself one of those fidget spinners."

"You don't say," Chandler said before he reached into the front right pocket on his pants and pulled out a fidget spinner himself. It was a gold-colored one that looked rather impressive, even though it clearly wasn't made of actual gold (it was made from the same material as any other similar toy).

Frank, with a mildly worried look, said, "But here's the thing. Rusty's been performing cool tricks with his fidget spinner. He's even managed to gather a crowd of on-lookers!"

The expression on Chandler's face changed just slightly, but it was enough to show that the red-headed boy did not like the fact that someone other than him was the center of attention. "Boys," Chandler said to Sid and Frank as he casually slipped his toy back into his pocket, "It looks like I've got a show to put on."

…

Over in another area of the playground of RWES, a group of kids had formed a crowd around Rusty as he performed a series of impressive tricks with a fidget spinner. In fact, two of the kids in the crowd were Clyde McBride and Zach Gurdle, both of which were friends of Rusty's.

"Wow, Rusty's really good, isn't he?" Zach remarked as he and Clyde watched the tricks.

"Yeah, and there's actually some reports that those spinners are effective stress-release tools," Clyde said as he nodded in agreement. Looking back over to where Rusty was performing tricks, Clyde added, "I can see why people would think that."

"Stand aside, everyone," a voice that was familiar to Clyde and Zach called out, although it wasn't a voice they were fond of. Suddenly, the crowd parted, allowing Chandler, Sid and Frank to walk in. It had been the red-headed boy who had called out. Pulling his own fidget spinner from his pocket, Chandler said, "Let me show you who a real pro does things."

Sighing in a mildly exasperated tone, Clyde whispered to Zach, "Oh great, Chandler's being full of himself again."

"I really wish that someone would put him in his place already," Zach whispered back to Clyde, drawing a nod of agreement out of the African American boy.

Scoffing in a mildly annoyed tone, Rusty said, "What is it this time, Chandler?"

"I heard talk that you're pretty good at performing tricks with that," Chandler remarked in his casual, cocky tone while pointing to Rusty's fidget spinner, a standard red one. Holding up his golden-colored spinner, the cocky red-headed boy continued with a heavy hint of overconfidence in his tone, "Let's see who is better at this, hmm?"

"You're on," Rusty replied, a look of challenging amusement on his face right before taking the first move of the impromptu schoolyard duel. Gently pinching one of the circular pads on one of the outer points, Rusty then flung the fidget spinner into the air; when it fell down, it landed with its middle circle on the tip of Rusty's right index finger, where Rusty proceeded to spin it like he was a pizza maker spinning and tossing pizza dough.

"Ha!" Chandler laughed, "You think that's impressive? Watch this!" Chandler flung his spinner into the air, and then held up his right pinky finger, intending to catch his spinner the way Rusty caught his on his index finger. However, Chandler's spinner landed right on his face with a smack, drawing a surprised yelp from the cocky red-headed boy. As a result of Chandler's epic fail, a lot of the gathered kids began to laugh.

"Umm…what was that supposed to be?" the older Spokes brother asked, clearly amused to see Chandler fail like that so badly.

"Grr," Chandler growled in an annoyed tone, "This isn't over, Rusty." Chandler then proceeded to turn and walk away, his goon-friends following along behind him as always.

After Chandler and his flunkies were gone, Clyde and Zach turned to face each other where they stood in the crowd. "Man, was that satisfying to watch!" Clyde remarked to his friend.

"You know it, dude!" Zach agreed as he and Clyde high-fived each other.

…

Chandler, with Sid and Frank accompanying him, were in the school's library, as the red-headed boy decided that he needed to sulk a bit. "You have to do something to get back at Rusty, dude," Sid suggested as he and Frank tried to reassure their friend/leader, "The fact that-"

To the collective surprise of both Sid and Frank, Chandler held up a hand in a gesture to cut off Sid's plan of getting back at the older Spokes brother. Lowering the hand he had used, the red-headed boy let out a mildly resigned sigh. "…In all honesty, dudes," Chandler began, "I'd rather that we just let this one go."

"Let it go?" Frank said, the mild hint of incredulousness in his tone indicating that he was surprised to be hearing what Chandler had said, "Wow, I figured that you'd be wanting to do something to get back at Rusty, like frame him as a bully, or fake a call over the school intercom system saying that Rusty's mom came to the school with some fresh underwear for him."

Gently shaking his head, Chandler said, "I took a risk and it floundered. No use in being a sore loser just because of one minor setback that, in the long run, isn't going to mean anything given what I'm trying to focus on right now."

Both Sid and Frank knew what the red-headed boy was talking about. Given how much potential good Chandler will be able to benefit from if his plans come to fruition, the slim boy in the red hoodie and the well-fed blonde boy turned to face each other, nodded in agreement, then turned back to face Chandler. "…Yeah, you got a point, dude," Sid remarked, "You got too much stuff going on to put time and effort into caring about a loser like Spokes." Frank said words that, to a degree, showed that he held the same opinion as Sid.

Nodding to his friends that were with him, Chandler said, "Thanks, dudes. It's great knowing that I have you guys, as well as Trent and Richie, in my corner." The three boys decided to just stay in the library for the rest of the break before the next period started, simply hanging out with each other. Chandler, as he hung out with Sid and Frank, realized that being in the company of those he can count on provided a better feeling than he believed he would've gotten out of seeing Rusty embarrassed, either by losing to Chandler or by being the victim of a revenge scheme.

It was a revelation that actually gave the red-headed boy a lot to think about.

The following day, Chandler, as well as Sid, Frank, Trent and Richie, were walking along through one of the hallways of RWES. "Hey Chandler, did you hear how that Francisco jerk you're competing with almost got arrested?" Frank began.

"Are you serious?" Chandler replied, his surprised tone clearly indicating that he found amusement in what the well-fed blonde boy had just said.

Nodding a few times in the affirmative, Frank continued, "Yeah. Word has it that he got into a scuffle with a girl from our school over at Royal Woods Mall. The girl's older brother, who is a student at Royal Woods High, saw what was happening and immediately intervened, easily getting Francisco to back off. According to the police that had arrived on scene, Francisco said that the girl had started it, but the girl's older brother insisted that his little sister couldn't have done so as she, in his words, doesn't have a mean bone in her body. Ultimately, both Francisco and the girl were let off with warnings."

"Well that's lame," Chandler said in a mildly disappointed tone as he snapped his fingers, "I bet that if that jerk had gotten arrested, and the big important guy at my dad's work heard about it, then there would be no way Francisco's dad would get that promotion."

"…I bet that the big important guy will still hear about Francisco's near arrest anyway," Trent pointed out, "I mean, word here in Royal Woods tends to travel surprisingly fast."

Nodding in agreement, Chandler said, "Yeah. People here in Royal Woods tend to be rather close." As the five boys walked, they turned a corner to head into another hallway, but the moment they did, they accidentally bumped into a fairly tall student of the school. If his appearance were any indication of what kind of person he was, he seemed to be trying to make himself the new king of the hill at RWES, similar to what Biff Bizowski was trying to pull back when rumors of Ronnie Anne potentially moving started circulating.

"Hey!" the older student snapped at Chandler and the other four boys in an aggressive tone, "Watch where you're going, turds!"

"With all due respect," Chandler began as he tried to defuse the situation through diplomacy, "You're just as guilty of bumping into my friends and me as we are of bumping into you."

Immediately offended by Chandler's implication that he was just as at fault as Chandler and the other four boys, the older kid raised a fist threateningly, clearly intending to strike at Chandler and the others if they didn't start sucking up to him right away. "Are you saying that I ought to apologize to you?!" the older kid snapped, "Because I've got a really good reason here why not only should I not have to apologize to you turds, but YOU all ought to start apologizing to me for implying that I'm at any fault here!"

"Oh yeah, sure," the red-headed boy remarked in a calm, casual tone that carried a hint of sarcasm, "Go ahead. Hit the smaller kids that didn't do anything. Let's see how well that plays out for you when the teachers and Principal Huggins catches wind of it."

"None of them are going to be finding out because you and your fellow turds here won't be telling them squat!" the older kid threatened, "Do I make myself clear, brat?!"

Giving the older kid the same unafraid, casual look that he's been using so far, Chandler said, "…Yeah, I'm only going to give you one warning. You ought to back down and go the other way right now. If you do try to hit my friends and me, keep in mind that we outnumber you five-to-one." Shaking his head gently, the red-headed boy continued, "Do you really think that trying to deal with that much all at once will work out for you?" As Sid, Frank, Trent and Richie stood behind Chandler, chuckling in self-assured tones, the older kid simply arched an eyebrow, as if he was considering the challenge that the conceited boy just had presented him with.

…

About a minute or so later, Chandler and his four friends were picking themselves up around near a garbage can, with Trent and Frank even having to team up to pull Chandler himself out of said garbage can, into which the conceited boy was thrown head-first. "…With all due respect, Chandler," Trent remarked, "There are some pretty tough kids here at the school. In fact, I heard that one of Lincoln Loud's younger sisters who is in the first grade beat up Ross and two of his goons in a three-on-one fight a while ago, even though those guys are fifth graders."

"Yeah, this is going to call for some more drastic measures," Chandler remarked dryly as he flicked a snack cake wrapper off of his shoulder.

"What do you think we ought to do, man?" Richie asked, a curious and mildly concerned look on his face.

Shrugging, Chandler began to reply, "Well trying to use physical force, or at the very least implying that we're going to try and use physical force, is not the smartest thing in the world to do when dealing with that guy."

"How about we just go and tell Principal Huggins?" Sid offered.

"That would, at best, only be a temporary solution," Chandler explained, "Remember when Biff got in trouble for beating up Astrid's little brother Argent? Biff was back to his old tricks within short order after he was punished for that. Who's to say that jerk won't be the same?"

"Yeah, and while were on the subject," Frank said, "There's something I've been wondering. I haven't seen Biff here at school for a while. What do you think happened to him?"

"I head rumor that Biff was forced to transfer schools out of sheer embarrassment due to having massive diarrhea in the park, and a lot of the kids here at school saw it," Trent remarked with a shrug, "Also, I heard that Biff was attempting to intimidate at least two of Lincoln's younger sisters at the time. Biff probably heard of what Lincoln's been up to since he returned from that extended absence, so he probably got scared that Lincoln would come for him."

Chandler, upon hearing Trent mention that the intimidating white-haired boy had multiple little sisters that were students here at RWES, had a look of sudden inspiration on his face. After thinking about a few things, Chandler said, "…Maybe we might be able to make use of one of Lincoln's younger sisters."

"What you mean, Chandler?" Sid asked, a confused look of curiosity on his face.

"Think about it," Chandler began to explain to his friends in a casual manner, "The student population here as a whole was simply more or less afraid of Biff. Then Lincoln returns from his extended absence, scares a number of us here at school myself included with that Killing Intent of his, and suddenly the other kids here at school think that Lincoln is the next Ronnie Anne."

Placing his left hand on Sid's right shoulder, Chandler said in a knowing tone, "Don't you think that we should inform that older kid who whumped the five of us that one of Lincoln's little sisters, say, the first grader who likes dressing like a princess, had said some rather disparaging things about his mother?" Realizing what their friend was getting at, Sid, Frank, Trent and Richie all started to chuckle amongst themselves.

The next school day, Chandler and his friends proceeded to put their plan into action. The first thing that they did was find out what the name of the older kid who beat them was. Through their investigation, Chandler and his friends had discovered that the older boy's name was Chris, and that he was held back a year due to missing a lot of classes due to getting into so much trouble. Surprisingly, the marks that Chris got on his schoolwork tended to be passable; he wasn't an academically inclined student of Lisa Loud's level by any stretch of the imagination, but Chris would have been Royal Woods Middle School's problem right now if it had not been for all of the time he had spent playing hooky.

Chandler and his friends also discovered that Chris had something of a problem with his temper, and that it was the main reason why the older boy tended to get into so much trouble at school. That was actually a good thing for the plan that Chandler and the other four boys were working on, given that the plan was to trick Chris into physically striking Lincoln's little sister who likes to dress up like a princess. After they got the information that they needed, the red-headed boy and his friends began to carry out their plan to get revenge against Chris.

During recess, Chandler and his friends were looking around the playground for the older boy that they wanted to get back at. "Look, there he is," Richie said to the others, pointing out where Chris was at on the playground. The older boy was currently leaning with his back against part of the wall that surrounded the playground, just alone and giving off an air that made the other kids on the playground give him a wide berth.

"Alright boys, follow my lead and let me do the talking," Chandler remarked before walking over to where the older boy was loitering. After a few seconds, the five fifth-grade boys made their way over to where the older boy was brooding to himself. Upon noticing the arrival of Chandler and his group, Chris sneered in disgust.

"The hell do the five of you want?" Chris began in a mildly threatening tone, "You all want me to give the lot of you another beating?"

Gently shaking his head in the negative, the red-headed boy said, "No, no, you got us all wrong." Casually gesturing to the older boy, Chandler continued, "My friends here and I had just heard something that we figured you would be wanting to know about, especially considering how it might affect you personally."

"What is it?" the older boy said in a tone that was one-quarter asking and three-quarters demanding.

"You know that one girl in the first grade?" Chandler began, "You know, the one with the long blonde hair and has a tendency to dress up like a princess all the damn time? Yeah, I heard that she was going to publish some sort of poem in the school newspaper that's a thinly veiled insult to you, and that the poem also included a few disparaging jabs aimed at your mother."

"Are you for real?!" Chris retorted instantly, his fuse clearly having been trimmed to a noticeably short length.

With a troubled sigh (which was faked, not that Chris could tell), Chandler replied, "As bad as it is, yes. I even heard the princess chuckle to herself in an amused tone while she was writing on some line paper earlier." Shaking his head in a disappointed manner, the red-headed boy added, "She must have been working on the poem she intends to put in the school newspaper to get the other kids here at school to make fun of you."

"Yeah, I'm going to go educate that spoiled brat better," Chris remarked as he got up from leaning against the wall and walked off, clearly intending to find the girl that Chandler had just described to him. When the older boy had left, Chandler and his friends all turned to face each other. The conceited boy shot his goon-friends a thumbs-up and a grin, clearly amused that their plan was working well so far.

…

Chandler's plan went off without a hitch; he and his friends saw Chris go up to Lincoln's princess younger sister, who was with her twin and two boys in their grade, and shove her over onto the ground with a foot slam from his right foot. Not two seconds after that, Lincoln himself, accompanied by his four friends, came onto the scene and, upon the princess's twin and those two boys telling Lincoln what had happened, grabbed Chris by his shirt collar and proceeded to shout angrily at him, giving him a savage, enraged look that could kill.

Even the older boy, for all of his air of self-assured superiority, for all of the respect via fear that he commanded at RWES, faltered instantly when he was on the receiving end of the white-haired boy's Killing Intent. To make things even more amusing for Chandler and his friends, Lincoln looked like he was about to punch Chris across the face in a move that would have undoubtedly resulted in the older boy's nose getting broken.

However, Mrs. Johnson arrived on the scene and, when everyone around Lincoln and Chris told her that Chris had just up and shoved a first grade girl over onto the ground, the fifth-grade teacher took Chris with her to Principal Huggin's office. Mrs. Johnson couldn't really blame Lincoln for losing his temper, given that Chris did bully one of his (Lincoln's) younger sisters, but she did ask the white-haired boy to try and reel his temper in.

"Holy…" Frank said as he, Chandler and the rest of their group were walking home from school that day after school was done for the day, "…If Lincoln wasn't the talk of the school before, he most certainly has to be now, given that he intimidated that Chris kid into peeing himself." With a laugh, the well-fed blonde boy added, "That was the highlight of the day if you ask me!"

"I also heard that since Chris shoving Lincoln's little sister like that was apparently the last straw, he's going to get expelled," Trent added, "It's a good thing that when we were brought in, for questioning, we were able to completely fool the school staff into thinking that we didn't put Chris up to what he did."

As Trent, Frank, Sid and Richie all laughed amongst themselves, Chandler allowed himself a small, self-amused smile. Sure, what he just got away with doing won't affect his ongoing rivalry against Francisco one way or the other. But getting an older kid at school who had a reputation of being a notorious bully expelled, with the added benefit of using an unsuspecting Lincoln (who many at RWES claim is the KING of Pain to Ronnie Anne's title of Queen of Pain) to put said older kid in his place. This was enough to prompt Chandler to think, "Life is good."

END, RESTORED IMAGE: A TALE RETOLD CHAPTER TWENTY

Author's note:

Yeah, the older incarnation of this chapter's plot was a lot longer (by roughly three-thousand words, if the word count function in Word is anything to go by). Although I had cut out a rather considerable amount of content, I still think, or would at least LIKE to think, that I was still able to get the spirit across; older bully bothers Chandler and his group, Chandler and his group plot revenge, Chandler tricks older boy into bullying one of Lincoln's younger sisters, Lincoln gets up in older boy's face, older boy gets himself into very deep doo-doo, Chandler and his friends get away scot free, hooray and huzza, the party is at my place tonight. Anyway, next time will be a rather interesting chapter. Or rather, I am going to try to make it an interesting chapter.