Lincoln awoke with the sound of his alarm. His eyes began to open as he stood up from his bed. He quickly got dressed and checked his phone for messages of Clyde or Luna. To his surprise, he got messages from both. Clyde wrote that they will all meet at Gus's at around 12 but they can meet up at Clyde's house and walk to Gus's. After checking the time and seeing it was a bit more than 11, he checked on the message that Luna sent him. She said that she'll be home to take care of Layla before 12 which was a relief for him. He put his phone away and glanced at the calendar before crossing out another day. He walked to the bathroom with no interruptions.
He soon reached the bathroom and began to brush his teeth and take a quick shower. After the shower, he went down the stairs to the kitchen to get something to eat. He took out a bowl deciding that he would eat cereal this breakfast. But after placing the bowl down he saw a piece of paper beside it. He picked it up noticing Luna's name on it and read it.
Layla's sleeping and there's baby food in the fridge. Good luck Luna. Love Mom
He saw an arrow pointing to the other side of the paper and turned it. It showed the different times Layla needed to eat or sleep and it also showed how to properly feed and hold her. He placed the note back on the table before finishing making his cereal. After eating he looked at the time to make sure that he had enough time to get there. He went and sat down on the couch to watch some tv before going. After a couple of minutes of scrolling through the different channels, he heard a knock on the door. He got up and went to unlock a door. When he opened, he was greeted with a bone snapping hug.
"Hey bro, thanks for asking me to take care of her. I'll promise I will do a great job." Said Luna with enthusiasm which put a smile on Lincoln's face. After letting Lincoln go, she came into the house, Lincoln looked at the time noticing that it was his time to leave. He quickly told her about the note that his mom left and where Layla slept and when he and his mom would be back while putting his shoes on. Meanwhile, Luna was taking note of this in her mind.
Lincoln finally put on his shoes after a big struggle and went out wishing her the best.
"Good Luck Luna. You could do it." He said while exiting the house. After leaving Lincoln could only hope that everything went okay. He soon arrived at Clyde's house and knocked on the door as he thought back, he remembered the last time he was here. He had told Clyde everything from Layla's mother to his plan to hide her identity from everyone. Clyde understood why he wanted to hide it but still wanted Lincoln to tell them all. But deep down even Clyde knew that it wouldn't end well. The door soon opened, and Clyde stepped out.
"Hey Bud, are you ready to beat some records?" Said Clyde exited.
"Of Course, I'm am finally going to take back number 1 place from Ronnie Anne in Dance Battle!" Said Lincoln exited. The two started to walk with Lincoln explaining that he will tell the guys about Layla and that the Casagrande's are visiting on Monday. With Clyde taking it in how hard it must be for Lincoln.
"Dude don't worry about the guys they will, of course, freak out, but I also freaked out when you told me. And don't worry about Ronnie Anne and her family I'm sure that you'll think of a plan." Said Clyde calming Lincoln down. They soon switched subjects and continued walking until they reached the arcade. They looked through the window and saw that Rust, Liam, and Zach. They walked in and got noticed by others.
"Hey, guys." Asked Liam in his country accent.
"Hey, now what do we want to do?" Asked Zach.
"How about we all play some games before sitting down and ordering a pizza. There's something I need to tell you." Said Lincoln while the others minus Clyde gave suspicious looks.
"Well, I don't know about you guys. But I'm going to over there." Said Rusty pointing towards a girl sitting at a table with friends. The others look at Rusty knowing that this will not end well for him. Exactly like the other 50 times.
"I'm going to go play Farming Simulator on the arcade. What about you Zach?" Said Liam.
"I'm going to make sure that we don't get thrown out again because of Rusty." Said Zach. Everyone remembered when Rusty tried to hit on the cashier and they all got thrown out thanks to that.
"We'll be playing Dance Battle." Said Lincoln responding to Liam's question before it was even asked. They all split to do their own things, Lincoln stepped up onto the arcade machine and pressed play. He chose the hardest difficulty and the hardest song. When the song started, he began to move his feet to the arrows corresponding with the arrows on the screen. Clyde looked at how Lincoln was getting faster and faster with moving his feet and how the text on the screen displayed an almost perfect score. But Lincoln could only think about one thing. Ronnie Anne
He would be lying if he said that their relationship isn't confusing. His sisters always told him that she liked him, but she said otherwise. When he was eleven, he knew that he liked her but when she moved their relationship became unsure. He began to think about how the situation would play out if he didn't come up with a plan. If she did like him then he would end up with a black eye probably and if she didn't then he would be in the clear… probably. Somewhere deep down he knew that this was something that couldn't be avoided. After all the Casagrande's are practically their family. Sure, Lori and Bobby haven't married yet but it's only a matter of time.
Lincoln saw that he had two options. Either hide Layla for as long as possible until they find out or tell them yourself. His stomach fell when he thought about telling them about Layla, how would he do it? Should he tell everyone directly or one on one. Lincoln would have gone deeper in his thoughts if Clyde hadn't snapped him out of it.
"It's going to be ok Lincoln. If your family managed this so can the Casagrande's also." Said Clyde in hopes of calming Lincoln down. Lincoln was still dancing flawlessly while responding to Clyde.
"I know Clyde but what will Ronnie Anne think. What if she likes me, then this will ruin my chance with her." Said Lincoln explaining his worry.
"So, you do like her! Anyway, whether she likes you or not, you are still friends and friends support each other." Told Clyde to Lincoln. Lincoln thought about it and realized that friends do support each other no matter what. Lincoln soon finished his game and saw that he was just below her record. He decided to try again later and played one more match with Clyde for fun. After a while both teens got hungry and stopped playing to look for their friends. They both went to Liam first who was still playing farming simulator.
"Hey, guys. Look here I finally got the most expensive tractor in the game." Bragged Liam. Both Lincoln and Clyde look at each other being sorry about bursting his bubble.
"You know that they delete the saves every morning, right?" Asked Lincoln and saw Liam's smile disappear.
"Well screw it, let's go eat." Said Liam before heading to a table and picking up a menu.
"Go and sit down. I'll find Rusty and Zach." Said Lincoln while Clyde looked at him before nodding.
He spent around 5 minutes wandering around the restaurant being mad at Rusty. He tried calling and he tried asking the others. He was about to give up as he leaned against a glass window noticing 2 people sitting on a bench slouched over. He went to the door and went outside to confirm his suspicion. As he got closer his suspicion got confirmed. Both Rusty and Zach sat on the bench with Zach patting Rusty's back.
"Hey, guys." Said Lincoln in a neutral voice.
"oh hey, Lincoln. Guess you came to say that were ordering food." Said Rusty in a sad voice, sounded like he had been crying.
"Yeah, but what happened and were you crying before?" Said Lincoln worried that something might be wrong. Rusty didn't speak and the silence consumed the air for seconds until Zach walked to Lincoln. Once they were at a distance were Rusty couldn't hear Zach said.
"You know how most of the time when Rusty hits on someone they usually walk away?" Lincoln nodded and Zach continued.
"Well, this one girl decided to go insane and told him that he was ugly and not good enough for anyone. And she went on and on again until Rusty started crying." Lincoln was shocked to hear that something like this happened to his friend.
"Go to the rest of the guys. I will talk to Rusty." Said Lincoln feeling bad for his friend with Zach nodding slowly before heading to the exit. He walked over to where Rusty sat and sat down beside him.
"I know that I shouldn't be upset about this. This was bound to happen anyway." Said Rusty.
"Rusty while we do agree that sometimes you are a bit too much when it comes to girls, but no person should treat anyone like that." Said Lincoln
"But I was at fault here. She looked a bit sad so I thought that I would maybe manage to cheer her up. But all I got was her insulting me." Said Rusty
"Trust me. I know that feeling all too well." Said Lincoln sadly while receiving confused looks from Rusty.
"Come on let's go eat. I'll explain it then." Said Lincoln trying to come up what to say to them. They both entered Gus's again and saw their friends sitting there with concerned looks. When they came to the table Clyde was the first one to say anything.
"Zach told us what happened. If you want I could book you an appointment at ." Suggested Clyde.
"No need to. Lincoln and I talked, he helped me vent." Said Rusty sounding a bit cheerier. Then Liam remembered something.
"Lincoln wasn't there something you wanted to tell us?" Lincoln went quiet thinking of ways to explain everything. Suddenly he got an idea and said.
"So, you all know that I haven't been active these past few months." He started Lincoln with all of his friends nodding.
"Well the reason is a bit more complicated, but the short answer was that I was to stressed." Continued Lincoln receiving more confused looks from his friends except for Clyde.
"But why?" Asked Rusty. Thousands of ways to tell them crossed his head that second. When he realized what would be the best way. He pulled out his phone and began to look for something. Once he found it he handed the phone to his friends. At first, they thought that they were looking at Lily's baby pictures until all of them noticed a small detail. White hair.
"Lincoln is that your –"
"Yes, my daughter. Layla Loud." Said Lincoln meanwhile all of his friends minus Clyde got mind blown when they realized that Lincoln had a daughter.
"How, when and who." Were the next things being said. Lincoln wondered heavily if he should tell them the full truth and not what he told his mom. All of his friends were looking at him with anticipation.
"I can't tell you guys." He said sadly.
"Why not. We promise we won't judge." Asked all of them.
"Look all I'm going to say is that her mom couldn't take care because of a problem that arose. So, we decided to give her to me and let her live her life." Now all of his friends were shocked.
"Was it a good reason?" Said Liam. Lincoln had this question in his mind before. The plain answer was yes.
"Yes." He said shortly. Everyone notices that Lincoln won't talk about the mom, so they switch subject to Layla.
"How is she? I mean Layla" Asked Rusty.
"She is amazing, but she is a picky eater." Said Lincoln getting flashbacks to when he tried to feed her.
"How old is she?" Asked Zach.
"She was born 2 months ago. I didn't see her until last Wednesday when I got her. Except for when she was born." Responded Lincoln
"Why? Didn't you want to see her?" Said Liam
"Yes, I wanted to see her but if I did my sister would start to get suspicious. I had to play it smart." Said Lincoln sadly.
"Guys while I'm saying all of this to you there's a little problem that I need feedback on." Said Lincoln.
Lincoln explained the whole situation with the Casagrande's and how he decided to face his fears and tell them instead of hiding her from them. His friends just looked on and listened, thinking about what to say.
"So, what do you think guys?" Asked Lincoln nervously.
"Lincoln, I mean this in a good way but if you tell Ronnie Anne. Then I promise to visit you in the hospital." Said Zach praying for his friend. Everyone agreed and thought that Ronnie Anne would punch him. But that wasn't what scared Lincoln. He could take the punch but what would really hurt him would be to hurt her emotions.
"Guys I can take a punch from her. I must tell her, imagine if she liked me and I waited. One day she might ask me out and I would have to say no and tell her that I have a daughter. I would only hurt her more and waste her time." Said Lincoln with all of the guys understanding that there was no way out for him.
"Sorry, Lincoln we didn't think of it that way." Apologized Zach and the others. A waiter soon approached the gang.
"Hello boys what can I get you?" Asked the waiter. Normally the guys would already have chosen what they wanted in their mind but because of Lincoln's big reveal, nobody was prepared for. They quickly went through the menus while Rusty handed a coupon for a free pizza to the waiter. And asked for a pineapple pizza. Liam ordered a ham pizza, Zach ordered a pizza with bacon. Both Lincoln and Clyde ordered a cheese pizza.
"Can we talk about something else. I don't want to ruin the rest of this day for you." Said Lincoln with a sad tone.
"Ruined? Are you kidding me Lincoln we don't think that you ruined our day. We are just surprised by your daughter. I think it's kind of amazing how you took all of the responsibility so that her mother doesn't." Said Clyde with everyone saying something along those lines which put a smile on Lincoln's face again.
"Also do you think that you can keep silent about this?" Asked Lincoln with his friends agreeing without a doubt knowing that it would make Lincoln's life harder if they did.
Their pizzas soon arrived, and they began to dig and talk about another subject like Lincoln asked to. They talked about new video games that would come out and Lincoln was quite surprised of how much gaming news he missed because of the stress that caused him to become inactive online.
"Dude you have to buy the new Ace Savvy game. An inside leak says that there is an online coop and your friend can join and play as One-Eyed Jack." Said Clyde excited knowing that he and Lincoln would play through the entire game in one week.
"Yeah, but there is also a new Arghh game coming next year Lincoln. But nobody knows anything about it." Said Zach.
As Zach, Clyde, Liam, and Rusty continue Lincoln relaxed in his chair knowing that his plan to tell them about Layla was a success. He finished his pizza at the same time as the others began to finish.
"Lincoln you want to play one last match of death battle. It's getting dark and my dads will be worried." Said Clyde. And indeed, when Lincoln looked outside, he saw that the sky was almost covered in darkness except for the stars which shined wonderfully.
"Sure, I'm going to try to beat Ronnie Anne's record again." He said with a happier voice.
He stepped up to the machine and put in a token. He chose the same difficulty and the same song but this time his mind was clear. Because if he was going to worry about it, he would worry about it tomorrow. He looked at the screen with focus and started moving his feet on the arrows and following those on the screen with his eyes. His feet moving faster and faster as his mind continued to be blank with nothing stressing him now. The score started to go up and up and Lincoln failed to notice close he got to Ronnie Anne's score. And soon it happened.
"DUDE YOU DID IT." Shouted Clyde knowing that Lincoln always talked about beating her score. But now he finally did it. But Lincoln didn't stop there. Why now? So, he continued until the song ended getting perfect on every arrow. When the song died down Lincoln had a chance to catch his breath. He looked at the screen and indeed saw that he was way above Ronnie Anne. He quickly submitted his score to the leaderboard and walked over to Clyde.
"Alright let's head home." Lincoln said.
They began to walk home after saying goodbye to their friends. They talked about everything possible on their way home like games, comics, and tv shows. Lincoln felt happy the entire time remembering how easy it was to be a kid. But soon they had to go separate ways. Clyde went to his house and he went to his. He knocked on the door and heard the locks unlock. When the door opened it revealed Luna who quickly hugged him upon the sight of him.
"Welcome back bro. Don't worry I took care of Layla with some help." Luna pointed out. Lincoln went in and saw that Sam was on the side of the couch. They both noticed each other.
"Hey" She said.
"Hey" He responded.
"How did it go?" Asked Luna quietly. 'Probably because Layla and the others are sleeping' Lincoln thought.
"Pretty great, I got to talk to friends and I even beat Ronnie Anne's score." Said Lincoln proudly.
"Great job bro. Linc do you want to watch tv with us?" Luna suggested.
"I don't want to intrude." Said Lincoln politely.
"Come on we barely do anything together." Begged Luna with baby eyes. With him being unable to resist her baby eyes he sat down on the other side of the couch leaving Luna a place to sit next to Sam. The next hour or so could be described with one word. Silence. Nobody was talking only watching the tv and giving occasional feedback on what they were watching. Luna tried to break the silence sometimes, but it didn't work. He soon began to feel sleepy and decided to go sleep. He wondered if he should go to his parents' room to kiss Layla goodnight but decided against it not wanting to wake her or his parents awake. Soon he stood up with both Luna and Sam looking at him.
"I'm going to bed, night Luna sleep well. Thanks for taking care of Layla for me." He said with his remaining energy.
He quietly walked through the hall and into the bathroom where he yet again brushed his teeth. He walked to his room and changed out to his underwear. He set a new alarm clock to wake him a bit before the Casagrande's would come. That way he could mentally prepare a bit. He laid down on his bed thinking about how everything went successful with the guys and hoping the same for Ronnie Anne. He slowly fell asleep and rested for the day to come. But sadly the unaware danger was getting closer.
"Okay Lisa it took us an entire day, but we did it." Said Lynn standing in Lisa's room with Luan. She pulled out small glass tubes out of her backpack that was given to her by Lisa to store the DNA of all the girls in Lincolns school that Lincoln ever encountered or is suspected for encountering. She handed the tubes to Lisa.
"I must admit that I didn't expect you to do it. But as always my experi- I mean my sibling exceeds my expectations." Said Lisa grabbing the tubes.
"Okay Lisa, who is it?" Said Lynn starting to lose her patience.
"Sadly, older sibling, it will take some time to process all of the DNA. My expectations are that we will have the answer on Monday." Said Lisa. Seeing her sister lose her patience Luan decided to step in.
"And what are the chances that it's one of them?" Lisa put her hand up to her chin and thought about it for a few seconds.
"My calculations say that it is a chance of 98.3% that one of these tubes contain part Layla's DNA." Said the young genius. The two sisters smiled knowing that they were getting closer to the truth.
Hey guys, c0ffeee here again, I don't have much to say this time except thank you for reading chapter 4 which is currently my longest chapter, be sure to give feedback if you want. See you next chapter.