It's no secret that Lynn Loud Jr was a very sporty girl. If it involves physical activity and pushing oneself to their limits, Lynn was all for it. She considered herself to be her own greatest enemy and was constantly scratching and clawing to one up herself. Always trying to prove that she was the best at whatever she tried at. Safe to say, she usually succeeded in her efforts. The drive to be the best was too great for her to ignore and anyone who tried to undermine her or make her look weak would quickly learn why she shouldn't be underestimated. Really, it was a matter of resolve at this point and Lynn had plenty of it. Anything she tried, she excelled at. Of course, with Lynn's many successes came a few enemies. Whether they were jealous of Lynn's victories or rubbed the wrong way by her admittedly unsportsmanlike gloating, there were a few who wanted nothing more than to see Lynn fall. To see Lynn be humiliated and pay for her supposed transgressions.
As mentioned earlier, anything Lynn tried she excelled at, no matter what activity she ventured into. However, there were a few activities that Lynn would rather keep under wraps. Activities that she kept private from everyone aside from her most trusted friend, Chris. Not even her family knew how much she enjoyed this pastime or how good she was at it. Lynn felt that she would die of embarrassment if this secret ever got out and that's what made it the perfect material for someone to use against her. Lynn's plight began on at school on a rather uneventful Wednesday when she returned to her locker following a rather rigorous gym class. Pumped up and full of adrenaline, Lynn was surprised to find an envelope with her name on it taped to her locker. The sight would've struck her as odd were it not for that Chris was known to occasionally send her notes in between their classes. However, her hopes that Chris was the sender of this letter was quickly dashed when Chris approached her.
"Hey, what's with the letter?" He asked.
"You mean you didn't send this?" Lynn asked.
"No," Chris said, shaking his head.
"Hmm, that's weird," Lynn said. "I hope this isn't another secret admirer note. I'm still kinda creeped out by that Batson boy who was crushing on me a while back."
"Well, there's only one way to find out," Chris said. Lynn opened the letter and immediately let out a shriek upon seeing what was inside before quickly holding the envelope close to her chest. "Whoa, what's up?"
Lynn pulled Chris close and whispered to him "Look at this," before showing Chris a photo that depicted her playing a game of Dance Dance Revolution at the arcade and obtaining the highest score. "This cannot be happening, I thought I'd made sure no one else knew about that!" Lynn then turned to Chris and asked "This isn't a joke by you or something, is it?"
"No, of course not," Chris insisted. "Why would I be behind this?"
"Well, you're the only one who knows about me being a dance queen," Lynn pointed out. "Not even my siblings or parents know and I sure as heck haven't told any of my teammates!"
"You make a good point," Chris admitted. "But I would never take a picture of you during a time like this! I know how much keeping this secret means to you and would never do anything that could endanger it."
"I know you wouldn't," Lynn said. "But I'm curious: if you didn't take this picture, who did?"
"Is there anything else in that envelope that could maybe give you a clue?" Chris asked.
"I don't know, let me see," Lynn said, looking into the envelope and finding a letter. A letter that made her blood run cold once she read it. "As my brother would say… oh crapbaskets."
"What?" Chris asked.
"Listen to this," Lynn said, showing Chris the letter while quietly reading it out loud. "Well, well, well, what have we here? I never would've thought that little miss number one could be such a dance queen. I've gotta admit that you've got some pretty sick dance moves. Still, I wonder what would happen to your tough girl reputation if word got out just how much you like to bust a move. I know that you'd rather die than be looked at as a weak little girly girl. What would you be willing to do to keep this information from getting out? You'll be hearing from me again soon. Until then, toodlepip"
"Yikes, that's not good," Chris said. "From the sounds of it, someone wants to blackmail you for some reason. The only question is who would wanna blackmail you?"
"Heheh, about that…" Lynn said, chuckling nervously.
"Lynn, how many enemies do you have?" Chris asked.
"Well there's Charli, Yolanda, that Batson boy, Nicolas, Hannah, Laura, Diego…" Lynn said, trying to remember everyone who'd have reason to trifle with her. "Oh, not to mention the entire girls' basketball team from Bayside Jr. High."
"That's a… lotta suspects," Chris said. "I think we can count out the Bayside Junior High girls, I don't think they'd be willing to come all the way to Royal Woods just to get revenge."
"That only slightly narrows the list," Lynn said. "Oh my god, what am I going to do?"
"Don't worry, we'll figure out a way out of this," Chris tried to assure her.
"I sure hope so," Lynn said. "When I find out the person who took that picture, I swear I'm going to-," to demonstrate her frustration, Lynn punched her locker, leaving a huge dent in the metal.
"Maybe go easy on them," Chris said. "I don't want you to go to jail."
"I can't make any promises," Lynn said.
Lynn couldn't concentrate on anything for the rest of her day. That letter she received had left her rightfully worried. What did this blackmailer even want? Was this just about revenge or did they want something more? For the rest of the school day, Lynn continued thinking about who had it out for her. When she arrived home from school that day, she was still trying to wrap her head over what was going on. She was so focused on the situation that she failed to notice she still had the photo and letter tightly grasped in her hand as she walked through the door. Until she was unintentionally startled by one of her brothers.
"Hey Lynn!" Lio greeted her, causing her to drop the photo and the letter in surprise. "Oops, sorry, I didn't mean to startle you, let me help you with that."
"Wait, don't!" Lynn protested as Lio reached down to pick up the photo and letter, catching a glimpse at what they displayed in the process.
"Hmm, what is this?" Lio asked before Lynn grabbed him roughly by his collar.
"Listen to me, if you think of telling anyone what you saw, I will-," She started to threaten him.
"Whoa whoa whoa, calm down," Lio said, trying to calm her down. "I was just trying to give these back to you and I certainly wouldn't tell anyone!"
Lynn relaxed a little bit and loosened her grip. "Well, now you've seen it so I guess there's nothing I can do about that," She said. "But I'm serious, you can't tell anyone about this!"
"To be honest, I didn't even know you were into DDR," Lio told her. "You don't strike me as the type to be into that game."
"Which is exactly why you can't tell anyone," Lynn said. "I can't have anyone knowing that I play such a kiddy game. I'd never hear the end of it."
"Hold on a second, I have one question," Lio said. "You wouldn't happen to be the player known as Nyl, would you? The player with the highest score on the game leaderboards by far and who keeps beating their record with each consecutive play?"
"Well duh," Lynn said. "Do you think I'd settle for anything less than first place?"
"Man, Lincoln would be so ticked off if he found out it was you," Lio said. "He's been trying for three months straight to beat your high scores and become number one at that game."
"You're not thinking about telling him, are you?" Lynn asked. "Because if you're thinking of blackmailing me like this other dweeb, you've got another thing coming!"
"Never in a million years," Lio said. "Wait, what do you mean you're being blackmailed?"
Lynn groaned and explained "There's someone who has it out for me who spied on me to take that photo of me dancing."
"And now they're using it against you?"
"Pretty much."
"Why?"
"I don't know why!" Lynn said. "Chris and I have been trying to figure that out for hours!" She groaned again and said "I don't even know what this person wants from me."
"So what are you going to do?" Lio asked.
"I don't know," Lynn said. "I guess I'll just have to wait until this person tells me what they want from me."
"Do you even have an idea on who they might be?" Lio asked.
"The list of suspects is way too long to list out everyone," Lynn said. "It could be anyone for all I know."
"Even Flip?" Lio asked, sounding hopeful.
"After what my team did to his bathroom, yes, even Flip," Lynn said before she stopped Lio from getting overly excited. "Don't get your hopes up though. I doubt that geezer has anything to do with it."
"I could always play a couple Luan style pranks on him just to be on the safe side," Lio offered.
"Let's save that for when he actually does something warranting retaliation," Lynn said. "Like I said, I doubt he's behind this whole blackmailing thing."
"Hmm, if you say so," Lio said with a shrug. "Is there anything I could do to help you get to the bottom of this?"
"Right now, no," Lynn said. "Well, aside from keeping your mouth zipped shut about all this."
"You have my word," Lio assured her.
"You know what really sucks about this?" Lynn asked.
"What?" Lio asked.
"I was going to head back to the arcade to beat my high score this afternoon, but now I can't even do that," Lynn said.
"Beat your high score in what?" Lincoln asked, entering through the front door. "And why can't you do it?"
"Oh, my high score in Street Fighter," Lynn lied quickly to save face. "And the reason I can't do it is because… because… because the arcade machine is down!"
"No it isn't," Lincoln said. "Clyde and I were just at the arcade 10 minutes ago. We were competing against Chandler and his friends in a Street Fighter tournament."
"Chandler," Lio hissed, speaking the boy's name as if he'd kicked his dog as his hand curled into a fist. "Please tell me you beat that pompous blowhard."
"Nah, we came up just a little short," Lincoln said, mumbling "Stupid Zangief," before telling Lynn "But you should be able to play Street Fighter now."
"You see, I would, but I…" Lynn said, struggling to think up an excuse. "I umm…"
"Didn't you say that you had some really hard math homework that you needed Lisa's help with?" Lio covered for her as he stuffed the photo and letter into his pockets to hide them from his brother.
"Yeah, that's right, thanks for reminding me," Lynn said before she walked up the stairs. "Oops, look at the time, time for my tutoring session. Talk to you guys later!"
"Is she okay?" Lincoln asked.
"Yeah, she's fine," Lio said. "She Just has to start hitting the books, you know?"
"Right…" Lincoln said, not completely believing Lio's account. "So you know how I've been trying to beat Nyl's record in DDR?"
"Yeah," Lio said.
"Well, it happened again," Lincoln said. "I was so close to toppling her high score only to come up short again! I swear it's like the universe itself doesn't want my to break the record!"
"No offense Linc, but why can't you just let it go?" Lio asked. "Maybe you just aren't meant to beat Nyl's high score."
"Are you kidding me?" Lincoln asked. "DDR is the only game I know for a fact that Lynn doesn't play, meaning that it's a game where I have a chance to stand out as number one for once and I cannot let that opportunity slip through my fingers!"
"I must admit, I admire your determination," Lio said, "but don't let this whole becoming number one thing go to your head."
"I won't," Lincoln promised him. "But you know what they say: persistence pays off."
"Well shine on you crazy diamond," Lio encouraged him, giving Lincoln a pat on the back before retreating to his and Lincoln's room.
The following day, Lynn couldn't keep her mind off of the letter she'd received. Her only hope was that her mysterious blackmailer would send her another letter today. If she ever found the person behind this, Lynn promised that she'd smash them into the ground. Once her first two periods were over, Lynn head to her locker and was not disappointed when she found another letter taped to her locker.
"Looks like you've got another note," Chris said, standing beside Lynn.
"Maybe this time I'll be able to recognize the coward's handwriting," Lynn grumbled as she opened up the note to read it. "Are you kidding me right now!? I can't believe this!"
"What?" Chris asked.
"Listen to this," Lynn said. "I didn't see you at the arcade yesterday, guess you're too afraid of being caught in the act. Don't tell me I've made you lose your passion for dance, that'd be such a tragedy. You were so good at it and it'd be a shame if you gave up the ghost. Though if that's the decision you want to make, I guess I have no choice but to show the world just how sick your moves are. Unless that is, you agree to show up at the arcade for one last final show. Maybe I'll be willing to show you who I actually am. Or maybe I'll just keep you guessing some more. See you then. Toodlepip!"
"So what are you going to do?" Chris asked.
"I don't know," Lynn said. "I really do wanna find out who this is, but at the same time this could just be a trap set up so that they can get more dirt on me."
"This is quite the conundrum," Chris said. "Maybe we could set a trap for them."
"How are we going to do that?" Lynn said before hatching a scheme. "Actually, I know exactly what to do." She said before leaning into Chris' ear and telling him her plan.
"That's brilliant, but do you think he'll be willing to go along with it?" Chris asked.
"I'm sure he will," Lynn said. "As annoying as he can be sometimes, he's always reliable."
"So let me get this straight," Lio said. "You guys want me to dress up like Lynn and play Dance Dance in order to draw out-,"
"In order to draw out the blackmailer, yes," Lynn reiterates. "Chris and I will be keeping watch over the arcade in disguise and when we find the idiot behind this whole thing and expose them."
"You don't mind dressing up as Lynn, do you?" Chris asked.
"No, not at all," Lio said. "I don't mind anything about this plan being honest, but there is one thing that could cause it to fall apart."
"What's that?" Chris asked.
"I can't dance," Lio said. "Like at all. Last time I played DDR, I got an E score with negative 837,000 points. What if my terrible playing ends up giving away the ruse and the blackmailer bails?"
"Just fake it until you make it," Lynn advised him. "You don't have to do flawless, just make it look like you know what you're doing. You can do that for me, can't you?"
"For you? Of course I can do it!" Lio said confidently. "I'll do the best I can and bring that coward out of hiding, this I swear!"
"Was… was that an El Tigre reference?" Chris asked.
"Yes," Lio admitted. "Lincoln and Ronnie Anne were talking about the show and it encouraged Linc and I to binge the show for nostalgia."
"Anyway…" Lynn said. "We've only got a few hours before the arcade closes and I have a bad feeling that if we don't show up like they wanted, they're going to release those photos to everyone in Royal Woods." She then handed Lio a spare of her outfit as well as a wig and said "Quick, change into this. I included elevated cleats in order to make up for the height difference between us."
"Do you think this'll work?" Chris asked.
"I hope it does," Lynn said.
A few minutes later, Lio returned from getting changed into the disguise. Admittedly, he pulled off Lynn's look rather well with the only real noticeable difference being his relative lack of muscle compared to the real Lynn. Other than that, his disguise was actually convincing.
"Okay, I don't mean to be creepy or anything but these clothes are actually kinda comfy," Lio said as he took a look at himself.
"You actually look more like Lynn than Lynn looks like Lynn," Chris joked.
"Haha, very funny," Lynn said before flinging open the door. "Come on, let's get going."
The group hurried to the arcade, with Lynn and Chris clad in a hoodie and hat taking a seat close to the DDR machine while Lio patiently waited for the game to be cleared of players so he could step up. As he did so, he, Chris and Lynn looked around them for anyone who seemed out of place. Lio made sure not to look around too much, otherwise he'd look like a shifty drug dealer on the lookout for cops or something. After a few minutes of waiting, the game was all his and Lio stepped up to play.
"Alright Lio, just remember what Lynn said," Lio said to himself. "Fake it till you make it. Make it look convincing like you know what you're doing. Do not let her down." That's when Lio noticed the addition of a new song to the game. "Ooh, is that Love and Joy?"
"Do you see anyone?" Lynn asked Chris.
"So far no," Chris said. "So far everyone looks like they're just having a good time. I don't see anything suspicious in the slightest."
"Guess we'll just have to keep our eyes peeled," Lynn said. "The blackmailer is bound to slip up and expose themselves sooner or later."
"If they even showed up to begin with," Chris said. "Who's to say this isn't a ruse to make you look like a fool?"
"That wouldn't surprise me," Lynn muttered before she heard the song Lio had selected, causing her to let out a groan.
"What?" Chris asked.
"Do you hear the song he chose to dance to?" Lynn asked. "I swear he's trying to make me look like a pansy."
"Maybe he chose that song so that the blackmailer would be more likely to out themselves to capture the moment," Chris suggested. "I mean, seeing you do that dance to that song would be pretty embarrassing."
"Oh please, there's no way Lio is that smart," Lynn said before there was a bright flash accompanied by the click of a camera shutter.
Lynn, Chris, and Lio all looked in the direction of the flash and spotted a figure in a hat cursing to themselves "Darnit, I thought I had turned off the flash,"
"Hey photo girl!" Lio shouted, stopping mid dance and making a beeline for the photographer.
"Oh man," The girl said before turning and running away with Lio chasing after her.
"Come on, we've got 'em now!" Lynn said, she and Chris getting out of their seats and chasing after the unknown girl. "Get back here, you coward!" She shouted at her.
As Lio and the girl ran out of the arcade, they ran past a confused Lincoln, who was unaware of what was going on, having only seen "Lynn" step away from DDR before chaos ensued.
"Wait a second, Lynn?" He questioned before the real Lynn and Chris ran past him. "What the heck did I just see?"
"Get back here!" Lynn shouted at the girl as she ran into an alleyway with Lio hot on her heels. There was a crash followed by the sound of someone dropping to the ground with a thud. "Oh man, that can't be good."
As Chris and Lynn rounded the corner into the alleyway, they found that said alleyway was a dead end and that the blackmailer had nowhere to run. Of course, the girl must've realized that seeing as she was holding an unconscious Lio by the shirt collar, a heavily dented metal garbage lid discarded to the side.
"Using your own little brother to try and trick me?" The girl said, with Lynn instantly recognizing her voice. "Are there any depths you won't sink to?"
"Charlotte?" Lynn asked. "What's all this about?"
"Wait, you know this girl?" Chris asked.
"Know her, she was my first teammate in basketball," Lynn replied. "We were the best players on the team before she decided to quit."
"Yeah, because despite the fact that I was just as good as you are, they decided to make you the team captain instead of me," Charlotte hissed.
"Is that what this is about?" Lynn asked. "Listen, that wasn't my decision to make. We could've been the best team in the state if you hadn't quit. We could've still been friends."
"Oh please, you were never my friend," Charlotte said. "If you were my friend, you would've quit the team when I did, but no~! All you care about is being the best and winning championships and proving that "I'm NuMbER oNE"! From that day forward, I vowed that I'd get my revenge one way or another and when I found out that a renowned tough girl like you was into some cheap dancing game, I knew I hit the jackpot."
"So let me get this straight," Chris said. "You planned all of this to humiliate Lynn just because she was picked over you as basketball captain? That's what this is all about?"
"I wouldn't expect you to understand," Charlotte replied. "You always have been blindly loyal to that dog since you met her! I see her for what she is: a selfish narcissist who only cares about being on top and nothing else. I bet she doesn't even care that I beat her brother senseless."
"You did what?" Lynn snarled, rolling up her sleeves.
"Oops, did I strike a nerve?" Charlotte mocked her before pulling out the camera she used to snap the picture. "I wonder what you care about more… your brother or your reputation?"
"If you don't let him go, you'll have to wonder how you're going to be able to talk without your tee-," Lynn started to say before she noticed that Lio had awoken and was giving her a wink.
"Ah Ah Ah, let's not be hasty," Charlotte said, rearing back her hand as if she were going to hit Lio with the camera. "You wouldn't want anything else to happen to your brother, would you?"
"You wouldn't…" Lynn hissed.
"Do you wanna take that-," Charlotte replied before Lio sprang back to life and bit her hand before snatching the camera out of her other hand. "Ow, you stupid little brat!" She tried swinging at Lio but the latter quickly returned to Lynn and Chris' side.
"Thanks little bro," Lynn thanked him before destroying the camera. "Looks like you lost the dirt you had on me."
"You think that'll stop me?" Charlotte replied. "I can still tell everyone that you're the one who made all those high scores at Dance Dance and your reputation will crumble before your very eyes."
"Do you really think threatening me is a good idea?" Lynn asked, walking up to Charlotte and socking her in the gut. "Especially someone who knows her way around a fight."
Charlotte instantly lost all her bravado and began pleading with Lynn. "Hey, hey, I was just kidding about all that revenge stuff! Please don't hurt me!"
"So I take it you're not going to tell anyone about this?" Lynn asked.
"Right, right, I won't utter a single peep about this to anyone," Charlotte promised.
"Hmm, I don't know if I can trust you," Lynn said. "Especially after you tried to hold my brother hostage…"
"You have my word, I won't tell anyone else," Charlotte cowered in fear. "You'll never hear about this again!"
"Wait a second," Lynn, Lio, and Chris heard a voice say, turning their heads to see Lincoln. "Lynn, you're player Nyl?"
"Oh god dangit!" Lynn muttered before admitting "Yes, I'm the player who set all those high scores you've been trying to beat for the past three months."
"Are you kidding me!?" Lincoln yelled. "This whole time, my nemesis has been my sister!? Is this some sort of joke!?"
"To be fair, brother, in hindsight, it was kinda obvious," Lio said. "I mean, Nyl is literally just Lynn's name spelled backwards and missing an 'n'"
"To be fair, how long did it take for you to figure it out?" Chris asked him.
"Touché," Lio said with a shrug.
Charlotte tried taking the chance to sneak away only for Lynn to grab her by her hair.
"Hold on, where do you think you're going?" Lynn asked.
"Oh come on, we kissed and made up, I apologized, you can let me go now," Charlotte said.
"Actually you didn't," Chris pointed out.
"Well, I'm sorry," Charlotte apologized. "Really, really, really, really sorry!"
Lynn looked Charlotte in the eye and said "If you ever try something like this again, I'll make good on my promise to knock out your teeth, got it?"
"Yes, yes, I understand," Charlotte said before scurrying off.
"Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag," Lynn muttered.
"Don't worry, we won't tell anyone," Lincoln said. "Although, I stand by my promise, I will beat your high score!"
"Hey, knock yourself out," Lynn said with a shrug. "See if you can pull off a pitch perfect game like yours truly."
"I still just have one question though," Lincoln said.
"Shoot," Lio said.
"Why are you dressed as Lynn?" Lincoln asked.
"We'll explain later," Lynn, Chris and Lio all said simultaneously.
"You know, I'm starting to notice that I get hit in the head a lot in these stories," Lio said. "It's a miracle I haven't suffered any major brain damage… although then again."
"I know you're just joking, but it's kinda hard to hear you saying stuff like that," Lincoln said.
"Sorry," Lio apologized.
"It's cool," Lincoln said. "You know, being identical twins has really come in handy sometimes."
"Yeah," Lio said. "I remember pulling the old switcheroo when we were kids."
"Even after you dyed your hair, we still pulled off that trick from time to time," Lincoln said. "Like when Clyde and I wanted to see the Ace Savvy movie."
"Awwww man, of all the days for the Ace Savvy movie to come out, why does it have to be on a school day?" Lincoln moaned as he and Clyde stared at the movie poster that hung on his wall.
"I was really hoping for it'd come out on a Friday or Saturday," Clyde said.
"I was looking forward to seeing our cameo in the movie as part of the Royal Flush gang," Lincoln said.
"Maybe we can go see it during the weekend," Clyde suggested.
"Or maybe we could convince our parents to let us take a day off from school to go see it," Lincoln said, sounding hopeful.
"I wouldn't be so sure," Clyde said. "My dads would probably say something like "You need your education, it's important. Not to mention that we don't want you to get hurt by skipping school. You may come across a panhandler or something,""
"Yeah and now that I think about it, my parents probably wouldn't let me skip school either," Lincoln said. "Ughhhh, there has to be something we can do."
"I couldn't help but overhear your plight," Lio said, appearing from out of nowhere and causing the boys to jump in fright.
"Lio? Where did you come from?" Lincoln asked.
"Nevermind that," Lio said. "As I said before, I couldn't help but hear your plight and I thought I'd offer you my assistance."
"Assistance?" Lincoln asked. "How so?"
"The answer is simple, my dear brother," Lio said before undoing his combed back hair and arranging it to resemble Lincoln's, complete with the turkey tail. "It all lies in the hair."
"I'm not sure I follow," Lincoln said.
"The answer is simple," Lio said. "We pull the old twin magic trick from when we were younger. I pose as you, take your place in all of your classes while you and Clyde get to take the day off to experience "Ace Savvy: Ace in the Hole" in full cinematic glory."
"That sounds great and all, but you forgot to account for one thing," Lincoln said, pointing out that Lio's hair was dyed with black stripes.
"I can always just wash out the dye for a day, Lincoln," Lio retorted. "It's not that difficult"
"Don't you think that Mom and Dad will find it just a little suspicious that you undyed your hair?" Lincoln asked.
"Maybe," Lio admitted. "But I'll probably come up with some explanation that'll keep them from getting suspicious."
"How are you going to explain away wearing my orange shirt?" Lincoln asked.
"Another simple question with another simple answer, my good twin," Lio said. "I'll simply wear one of your shirts under my pink shirt."
"One more thing you're forgetting," Lincoln said. "How are you going to cover for both Clyde and myself?"
"Already thought of that," Lio said before pulling out a balloon model of Clyde. "I had Luan create this handy little duplicate to take Clyde's place. I also had her give me some ventriloquism lessons just in case I ever needed them. I can even give you do an impression."
"Let me hear it," Clyde said.
"L-Lori! Systems reboot! Abort abort!" Lio said, doing his best to imitate Clyde's speech.
"Could definitely use a lot of work," Clyde commented.
"Meh, I'll just say that you were suffering a cold that day," Lio said nonchalantly with a shrug. "So Gentlemen, what do you say?"
"It sounds like you put a lot of planning into this," Lincoln remarked.
"Well of course," Lio replied. "Anything to help my favorite brother and his best friend see the big movie based off of their favorite superhero."
"What do want?" Lincoln asked, suspecting Lio to be up to something.
"What?" Lio feigned innocence.
"What do you want?" Lincoln asked again. "There has to be something you want from me out of this."
"I assure you that this is no trick, dear brother," Lio promised. "I'm doing all of this out of the kindness of my heart. To help you and Clyde for nothing in return whatsoever."
"You have an oral presentation tomorrow, don't you?" Lincoln asked.
"You know me so well," Lio admitted. "But I am serious, I'm willing to take both you and Clyde's place so you two can see the movie for nothing in return."
"Well, we do really want to see that movie," Lincoln said, taking some time to think over what he wanted to do.
"The way I see it, it's a win-win," Lio said. "You and Clyde get to see yourselves on the big screen, I get out of having to stand in front of the class and if you two hurry, you can make it back to school before anyone even notices. Everyone gets what they want."
"When you put it like that, your offer is rather tempting," Lincoln said.
"So what do you say gentlemen?" Lio asked, offering a handshake to both boys. "Won't you shake my hand? Won't you shake a poor sinner's hand?"
"One more thing," Clyde said. "How are you going to explain your own absence?"
"I'll lie and say that I was hiding in the bathroom all day," Lio said. "Hopefully you two will be back before the school day lets out."
"You know what, bro, you've got a deal!" Lincoln agreed, he and Clyde shaking Lio's hand.
"I promise you two that I won't let you down," Lio said. "No one will even know that you're gone."
The following day, the first part of the plan went off without a hitch. The twins went to their respective first two classes as per usual just as they would any other day. However, when recess rolled around, Lio head into the bathroom, slipped out of his pink shirt and into Lincoln's familiar orange polo. Having washed out his hair dye the night before, Lio styled his hair until it perfectly resembled his brother's.
"Alright, this shouldn't be too hard," Lio said to himself as he pulled out balloon Clyde. "I know Lincoln like the back of my hand. Imitating him will be easy."
Just to be on the safe side, Lio met with Lincoln and Clyde before he was set to take their places to do another rundown of the plan.
"You know, seeing you without your hair dyed crazy and wearing an orange shirt reminds me just how much you look like Lincoln's clone," Clyde remarked upon seeing Lio. "I might have to mark the real Lincoln with a marker to keep from getting confused."
"You know what to do, right?" Lincoln asked Lio.
"Relax, I've got this all under control," Lio said. "No one will even know you're gone." He then told them "Just make sure you're back before the final bell so that no one finds out."
"We'll be back before you know it," Lincoln said.
"Have fun," Lio said.
With that, Lio reported to Lincoln's third class while Lincoln and Clyde took the opportunity to sneak off of school grounds and go to the movie theater.
"I don't know about this," Clyde said. "I'm starting to have second thoughts about this whole ditching school thing."
"We've come too far to back out now," Lincoln told him. "It's either now or never."
"Not really," Clyde said. "I mean, we can always catch the movie some other time, we don't have to see it today."
"I know, but that doesn't sound nearly as cool," Lincoln said.
Back with Lio, the young boy was sitting comfortably at Lincoln's desk, waiting for the lesson to begin. Aside from being seated at the front of the class, this wasn't so bad. He did his best to keep from showing signs of nervousness as the teacher walked into class. That was when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Lio looked behind him to find that the tap had come from Lincoln's friend, Liam.
"Say, Lincoln, I forgot my pen at home," Liam said. "Do you think you could lend me one?"
"Sure thing," Lio said, reaching into his bag to pull out a pen.
"What was that?" Liam asked. "I couldn't quite hear you."
"I said, "Sure thing"," Lio repeated a little bit louder. He'd forgotten that compared to Lincoln, his voice was considerably quieter.
"One more time?"
"I said "sure thing!"" Lio said as loud as he could as he handed Liam the pen, getting the teacher's attention.
"Excuse me, Lincoln, is there something you'd like to share with the class?" The teacher asked.
"Um… no ma'am," Lio said quietly, shrinking back into his seat.
"Since you want to interrupt my class, perhaps you'd like to answer this next question," She said. "Which of these is not a neuron: the interneuron, Motor neuron, the sensory neuron, or the perceptual neuron?"
"Um… perceptual neuron?" Lio took a random guess.
"That's… correct," The teacher said. "However, I would appreciate it if you paid attention going forward and refrained from talking during class."
"Will do, sorry," Lio said, placing his head down and thinking to himself, "Well that happened. I'm going to have to be more careful not to make any more screw ups, unless I want to blow my cover."
Lio did his best to act as Lincoln would for the remainder of class, engaging in idle chit chat (by far, the hardest part of the masquerade for him) with Lincoln's friends, completing assignments and answering questions whenever the teacher called on him. Considering the fact that he was currently missing out on having to give an oral presentation, anything Lio had to go through would be worth it. He just had to make it until after lunch when hopefully Lincoln and Clyde would be back from the movie.
Over at the movie theater, Lincoln and Clyde had bought their tickets and were comfortably seated waiting for the show to begin. The boys were practically bouncing out of their seats with excitement.
"Oh my gosh, I can't believe we're actually going to see our favorite hero's silver screen debut!" Clyde squealed.
"I know, this is going to be great!" Lincoln agreed before the two received a "Sshh" from other moviegoers.
"I take back what I said earlier," Clyde whispered. "Whatever trouble we get into is going to be so worth it!"
"Totally," Lincoln whispered back as the movie started. "Oh man, here we go!"
"By the way, how long is this movie?" Clyde asked.
"An hour and a half," Lincoln answered. "Meaning we should make it back to school just before our final class is set to begin."
"Alright, cool," Clyde said before the two focused all of their attention on the screen.
Back at school, class had let out and it was time for lunch. While he would've loved to enjoy the company of Kat, Lio had to keep up appearances by sitting with Stella, Zach, Rusty, and Liam. That didn't stop him from shooting Kat a text explaining the situation to her. As he walked over to the lunch table where Lincoln's friends were sitting, Lio was accosted by his rival, Chandler.
"Look what we have here, everyone's favorite dysfunctional brother," Chandler said. "I'm surprised you and your boyfriend Clyde aren't off at the new Ace Savvy movie."
"Well, you know, we'll probably go see it this weekend," Lio said, hating every second of having to pretend to play nice with their jerk rather than tell him off like he wanted too.
"Sucks for you, my friends and I are going out to see it as soon as school lets out!" Chandler bragged. "And why so quiet? You're starting to sound like your lapdog of a brother." Chandler then looked around and asked "Speaking of which, where is your brother? I'm surprised he isn't prancing around at your heels like you're his master."
"How am I supposed to know what he's up to?" Lio replied.
"Typical, you can't even keep up with your own brother," Chandler said. "I don't know how you manage to keep up with 10 crazy sisters without losing your mind. Although then again, considering how bonkers they are…"
Lio wanted nothing more than to punch Chandler in the face then and there. Sure, there were times when they could annoy him, but no one was allowed to insult his sisters. Instead of hauling off however, Lio kept his cool and continued the facade.
"If I were you, I'd watch your mouth," Lio advised him, something that seemed to take Chandler by surprise.
"Or else what?" Chandler replied.
"Why don't you insult my sisters again and find out… please," Lio said, practically daring Chandler to test him before Stella grabbed him by his arm and pulled him over towards the table.
"Lincoln, what the heck's gotten into you?" She asked.
"He was talking about my family," Lio said. "I couldn't just let him get away with that."
"Are you feeling okay, Linc?" Stella asked. "Normally you don't let Chandler's trash talk get to you like that."
"Crapbaskets!" Lio thought you himself. "I messed up again! I've really got to keep my emotions in check." Lio then thought up a quick explanation and said "Sorry about that, I've kinda had a bit of a rough morning."
"That's understandable," Rusty said. "Just don't let that jerk get to you. He thinks he's all that because he's popular. He'll say a lot of things to get under your skin."
"Yeah, I wasn't expecting you to try picking a fight with him," Zach said. "Normally, it's you having to keep your brother from picking a fight with him."
"Maybe a bit of Lio has rubbed off on me," Lio said, chuckling nervously. He checked his watch and thought to himself, "Come on, Linc. Please come back soon. Turns out impersonating you wasn't as easy as I thought."
Meanwhile at the movies, Lincoln and Clyde were ecstatic as their cameo scene finally came.
"Look Lincoln, there we are!" Clyde said excitedly, pointing at the screen where Lincoln, Clyde and the rest of the Loud sisters appeared as the Royal Flush gang to assist Ace Savvy.
"That's it, it's official!" Lincoln said excitedly. "This is officially the greatest day of my life!" After calming down, he looked at Clyde and asked "You know what's funny?"
"What?" Clyde asked.
"I was so caught up in actually being a part of the movie that I totally don't remember anything about shooting that scene," Lincoln said.
"Me neither," Clyde said. "Which is strange because we were right there."
"Guess we were just so caught up in the moment that we forgot to savor the memory," Lincoln guessed.
"Maybe so," Clyde said.
Back at school, lunch had ended and it was time for Lio's second least favorite class, gym.
"Yare yare daze," Lio thought to himself. "At the very least, I got to skip English class, meaning I skipped that presentation… but now I have to endure this barbaric class. Why is this required again?"
"Alright class, listen up!" The Coach yelled. "Today we're going to be climbing the rope so I hope you're all ready!"
"At least it's not dodgeball," Lio thought.
"And then after that, we'll be playing a good ole fashioned game of dodgeball," The Coach announced.
"Oh, I just had to think that, didn't I!?" Lio cursed himself. "Can I just do what I normally do and Nigerundayo?"
"Loud!" The Coach said, interrupting Lio from his thoughts. "You're up first!"
"And this day just keeps getting better!" Lio muttered as he stepped up to climb the rope.
Lio knew he wouldn't be able to climb the rope, but he still had to give it a try. In the process, Lio ended up making himself look like a fool when he managed to scale halfway up the rope before slipping and getting his foot caught up in it. The end result was Lio hanging upside down by his foot while the other students pointed and laughed at him.
"At least Linc doesn't have to go through this," Lio thought to himself. "I hope he and Clyde are having fun because I'm sure as heck not."
Once Lio had been untangled, he tried sneaking out of class before the dodgeball game was set to begin, only to be beaned in the back of his head by a dodgeball.
"Where do you think you're going, Lincoln?" Chandler asked, holding another dodgeball in his hand.
"Let it go, Lio," Lio said to himself. "Don't let that jerk get to you. If anything, do it for Lincoln. Speaking of which, I wonder what he and Clyde are up to right now."
"Yo, that movie was awesome!" Clyde said.
"Movie of the Year contender for sure," Lincoln said. "Heck, forget contender! Give that movie all of the Oscars!" Lincoln then asked "How much time do we have left before school's over?"
"30 minutes," Clyde said, glancing at his watch.
"Wait, really?" Lincoln asked. "Man, that movie ran longer than expected. We've gotta get going now!"
The boys didn't waste a single motion and rushed back to the school; making it back just 10 minutes before the final bell was set to ring.
"So how was the movie?" Lio asked, sporting a small cut over his right eye.
"It was amazing, it was wonderful, it was everything we thought it would be!" Lincoln exclaimed before asking "What happened to you?"
"Have I mentioned that I hate gym class?" Lio replied, scowling in anger. "Glad that at least one of us was able to have a good time."
"Tough day, huh?" Clyde asked.
"You don't know the half of it," Lio said, putting his signature pink shirt back on. "On the bright side, at least I got out of that report so that's a plus."
"Honestly, everything about today has been perfect," Lincoln said. "Thanks again for taking our place."
"Don't mention it," Lio said. "Although I will say that being you isn't as easy as you make it look. Seriously, how do you keep your cool all the time?"
"You almost got into a fight with Chandler, didn't you?" Lincoln asked.
"Again, you know me so well," Lio said.
"You know, the funny thing is that we still got busted when we got home that day," Lio said.
"Still worth it though," Lincoln said.
"Yeah, it really was," Lio smiled.
"I still don't quite know why you did what you did for us that day," Clyde said.
"I told you, I wanted to-," Lio said.
"Yeah, you said you wanted to get out of your report, but you could've just hid in the bathroom or library," Lincoln pointed out. "What's the real reason?"
"Because you're my brother," Lio answered. "And I owe it to you."
"What do you mean you owe me?" Lincoln asked.
"I owe you for putting up with me," Lio answered, looking down.
"Is that the reason you help all of us?" Lucy asked. "Because you feel you owe it to us?"
"Partially," Lio answered. "I just feel this constant need to make up for all the crap I put you through. For how annoying I can be."
"I don't know if you know this, Lio, but we're siblings," Luna pointed out to him. "We're practically obligated to annoy each other. It doesn't mean we hate you."
"I know, but I feel like the only time I'm ever of any worth is when I'm doing something for you guys," Lio said. "Anything else I do is worthless. Anything else I do is us-,"
"What did I say about calling yourself useless?" Lola reminded him.
"Right, sorry," Lio apologized.
"Anything else you do is worthless, you say?" Kat asked him. "Does that apply to our friendship as well? Is that useless too?"
"No, of course not," Lio said. "Our friendship is anything but worthless." He blushed as he said "It's honestly one of the best things that ever happened to me."
"Glad to hear it," Kat said, grabbing Lio by his hand and telling him "Honestly, it was one of the best things to happen to me too. Do you remember the party we met at?"
"Yeah," Lio said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I was so nervous when Lincoln dragged me along, I just wanted to crawl into the darkest corner."
"You did crawl into the darkest corner," Kat laughed. "That's where I met you."
"Yeah," Lio said, "I love how gravity brought ya together."
"Hey, I have a question," Leni said.
"Huh?" Lio asked.
"I kinda read a little further into your diary," Leni said, "and do you ever think of…"
"Think of what?" Lio asked, even though he knew very well what Leni was going to ask. Everyone knew what Leni was going to ask, despite her attempts to be delicate regarding the subject.
"So you know the Show 13 Reasons Why?" Leni asked. "Do you ever think of, well, you know?"
"You're asking if I've ever thought about killing myself?" Lio asked and Leni nodded.
What followed were two or three minutes of silence as Lio didn't exactly know how to answer the question. Instead, Lio turned his back to his family as if he were too ashamed to face them.
"Well, have you?" Lori asked, dreading the possible answer she'd receive.
After a few more seconds of silence, Lio quietly said "Yes…"
Naturally, that took everyone aback, leading to a few more seconds of silence. Kat was the first to speak up, asking "Colonel, please tell me you're joking."
"I wish I was," Lio said, "but I'm not. Don't get me wrong, it's not like every day I wake up and think to myself "How can I kill myself today?", quite the opposite actually. It's like, I can be drawing or otherwise minding my own business when I just suddenly have the idea of just ending it."
Lio didn't know what to expect when Kat wrapped her arms around him and said "I don't care how worthless you think you are, promise me that you'll never actually hurt yourself."
"Kat, I-" Lio started to say, being surprised when he heard that she was softly crying. He became even more surprised when he noticed that Lola was crying as well, something that caught him offguard. "Um, are you…"
Lio didn't finish his sentence before even more of his siblings started crying and before long, all of his siblings were in tears, leaving Lio confused. Kat hadn't let go of him and in fact, held onto him even harder. Lio didn't know what to say, didn't know what to do aside from stand completely motionless. Pretty soon, Lio himself started to cry, mentally berating himself for upsetting his family. If he'd just been a little smarter when it came to keeping his journal a secret, none of the would've happened. Why was it that he couldn't do anything right?
For a full thirty minutes, the only sound in the room was that of the Louds and friends crying. None of them knew exactly how to take the news that their brother/friend was suffering from suicidal thoughts and had been suffering from this for quite some time. The Louds were used to comforting one another, but didn't exactly know how to approach a sibling who had thoughts of ending his life. That's not even getting into the fact that none of them would know what to do if they lost one of their own. It'd be as if their world was literally turned upside down. When the Louds calmed down and had gotten ahold of themselves, Luan joined Kat in hugging Lio.
"If you think that that was sad," she told him, "that was only a taste of what would happen if you ever killed yourself."
"Are you serious?" Lio asked, not quite believing her.
"Remember a few months ago when I was crying on the couch and I told you I was thinking about running away from home?" Luan asked.
"Yeah?" Lio replied.
"Do you remember what you told me?" Luan asked.
"I told you that the family wouldn't be the same without you," Lio recalled that night, "and that it would be like ripping a chapter out of a book, it'd be incomplete."
"Do you think that you're an exception?" Luan asked.
"Yes!" Lio said emphatically. "You don't get it! I don't add anything to this family! I'm just an expendable loser who could easily be replaced!"
"I don't know how you could still think that after everything we've told you," Luan said, grabbing Lio by his shoulders and forcing him to look her in the eyes. "Look at me. Do you honestly think that we would tell you how much you mean to us if it weren't true? You're not some useless idiot who we barely tolerate! You're our brother, who we love no matter what."
That finally seemed to get through to Lio and the boy broke down into tears once again. Luan pulled him into a hug and was joined by Kat and the rest of the Louds shortly afterwards.
"I don't care what anyone says," Kat told him, "I don't care if you think it, you're not useless. You're not worthless."
"And you're not expendable," Lori told him. "I never want to hear you say anything like that about yourself again."
"None of us do," Luna added, "because it's a lie."
"Thank you," Lio said through his tears, finally getting the picture. "Thank you so much!"
After a few minutes, Lincoln asked his twin "Are you going to be alright?"
"Yeah, I think I'll be alright," Lio said, wiping tears from his eyes.
"You know that we'll always be here if you need us," Lincoln told him.
"Thanks," Lio said.
"I'm serious," Lincoln said, "Whenever you start getting those feelings of worthlessness, you can come talk to us."
"Thanks," Lio said, sheepishly saying "but you do realize that I could end up coming to talk to you guys a lot, right?"
"That's literally what we're here for," Lori said.
A few hours later, after all was said and done, Lio was writing a new entry in his journal. Having a renewed sense of hope and feeling slightly more confident in himself, Lio let out a genuine smile for the first time in a long while. The feeling of knowing that his family and friends loved him unconditionally and that nothing would ever change that, gave the otaku reason to perk up and smile. He knew he was far from perfect and that there'd be plenty of times where he'd argue with them, but if they could accept him for who he was, flaws and all, then it was time for him to do the same.
I don't exactly know how to go about this, but I guess it's worth a shot. For most of this journal, I've only written about how worthless I am, but maybe I'm not so useless after all. If I can get my family to be as supportive of me as they are, I have to be doing something right. Maybe I was wrong when I said I didn't deserve them. Words can never describe how much I truly love and care for them. Nor can words sum up how thankful I am for their presence in my life. Not only them, but a certain Lieutenant of mine who makes dealing with my depression a hell of a lot easier. At the end of the day, I'm one helluva lucky guy and while I'm a long ways away from being completely okay, I know that with these guys by my side, I'll make it through. I owe it to them to keep living and to be the best version of myself that I can be. There'll still be some things that I'll never feel comfortable opening up to them about and I'll admit, I still feel like the inferior Loud compared to all of them, but I know for certain that I'm truly loved and cherished. No matter what that voice in my head says, I'm not listening to it anymore.
End