Part 2
Lincoln reviewed his plan again. He had spent the past hour or so thinking through everything he would need to get and need to do to make it happen. It was ambitious, that was for certain. He'd need to get straight to work right away and unfortunately have to put in extra effort to keep his sisters in the dark about it all. Things would only be more difficult, probably even impossible, if they caught wind of anything he was doing. Each step would need to be taken carefully, starting right then and there.
"Okay, let's see..." he thought, tapping his pencil against the notebook page. "I think that should do it. Now, where should I hide this? I don't want to take any chances."
He took a quick look around his room, his eyes settling on a box of comics inside sealed mylar bags. Those would do nicely. Lincoln picked out one at random and carefully opened the bag. Then he tore the notebook page out and folded it twice before tucking it into the middle of the comic and then resealing it. He put the treasured item that now hid his plans into its proper place among the other comics and shut the box. After that he put the box beneath his bed for good measure. Even if any of his sisters decided to snoop around his room for any reason, they'd overlook the box once they knew what it contained. Not that he'd expect them to do any snooping. Well, except for Lola. She had been caught a few times already, but Lincoln was confident she would have no interest in his box of comics should she find them.
Satisfied with his work so far, Lincoln decided to return downstairs to enjoy a little more time with the t.v. There was an episode of Operation Dessert Storm that he still needed to watch and he was eager to see what the next challenge would be for the remaining competitors. And since his sisters had still not gotten back from the mall yet that would mean zero interruptions and zero chance of spoilers.
As he got to the staircase, he heard the front door open. For a moment he thought that his sisters were back and he let out a sigh, giving up on having more time to himself. But then he saw that it was his father who had entered the house, a stack of envelopes in his hands and a newspaper tucked under his arm. The man of the house saw his son and greeted him with a smile.
"Hey there Lincoln. Didn't realize you kids were back...wait." he stepped back out onto the front porch and checked the driveway. "Where's Vanzilla? Don't tell me, stuck somewhere after breaking down again?"
"No." Lincoln said, shaking his head. "I just left early and took the bus home."
"You did? Why?" Lynn Sr. asked.
"I didn't want to be at the mall, so I just left."
"I see. And that's all? You just felt like leaving? No other reasons?" the father pressed, sensing something was up.
"Well...Lori and I may have had a fight before I left." Lincoln admitted.
Lynn Sr. walked over to the bottom stair and beckoned his son to come down.
"How about you and I sit down and have a little talk? It sounds like something I should know about."
"Yeah. That's..." Lincoln trailed off a moment, his eyes suddenly lighting up. "A great idea! Can I talk to mom about it too?"
"Oh, um, sure thing kiddo." Lynn replied. "She should be back any moment now. We were just next door, joining the Yates' for lunch. Let's take a seat on the couch and wait for her."
"That works for me." Lincoln said. "And I have something else I want to talk to you about too."
- A short while later-
Vanzilla pulled into the driveway. The vehicle came to rest and was shut off, the rumble of it's engine slowly dying. The Loud sisters climbed out of it and made their way to the door. Lori took out her keys and unlocked it for them, swinging it open. Once they began to walk inside, they found their parents waiting for them in the living room.
"There you are." Rita said. "Did you girls have fun today?"
"We totes did!" Leni said excitedly. "Except for the part where Lori and Lincoln were mad at each other."
"Yes, we heard about that." the mother said. "And on that note, we'd like to have a quick chat with you Lori."
"Oh, okay." Lori said, turning to hand her bags to Leni. "Here, could you put these on my bed for me?"
Leni nodded and began ascending the stairs with her and Lori's things. Lori followed Rita and Lynn Sr. into their bedroom and took a seat on the bed. She already had a good idea what was going on and she was mildly irritated by it.
"So, what did Lincoln tell you that I did?" she asked with a calm tone.
"Basically he said that while at the mall there was some tension between you two. And that things got a little hairy when you caught him away from Lucy when he was supposed to be looking after her. Then you two had an argument while at the food court and he left to take the bus home." Lynn Sr. summarized.
Lori blinked. "Oh, that's literally what happened." She said with mild surprise.
"Were you expecting your brother to have lied to us?" Rita inquired.
"Not necessarily. Maybe left some things out. But, then why am I here? I didn't do anything wrong. I was just upset with him because he was being difficult during lunch. And for leaving Lucy alone."
"And we're glad that you took care of that and spoke to him." Rita continued. "We spoke to him about it too. But you also allowed him to just leave by himself."
"I followed him to make sure he got onto the bus alright." Lori politely defended.
"But you didn't let either of us know that he would be coming home early, by himself." Lynn Sr. countered. "We just would appreciate being given a heads up about something like that in the future, that's all."
"And we think it would be a good idea for you to go talk to your brother too." Rita added. "He's in his room and he knows you'll be coming to see him. So why don't you please head up there and you two can resolve this now."
"Consider it done." Lori said, getting up. "And I'm sorry too. I'll make sure to let you know if something like this happens again."
"Thank you. We'd appreciate that." Rita said just before Lori left the room.
Lori went up the stairs and turned to head to Lincoln's room. But then she stopped and turned around, heading for her own room first. Then she went over to the other end of the hall and knocked on the door. Lincoln opened the door for her and then went to sit on his bed, pulling his laptop back onto his lap and putting a headset on as well.
"Really?" Lori said. "You're playing a game when you know that I came here to talk to you?"
"I can talk and play at the same time." Lincoln said. "So, I guess you want to hear an apology?"
"I would. But it can be after I give you mine."
Lincoln looked away from his laptop's screen. That had caught him a bit off guard. He took his headset off again and looked up at his big sister, signaling for her to go on.
"Listen, I get it, okay? You don't have as much fun as the rest of us at the mall. It feels unfair to you, but keep in mind that eleven of us are trying to come to a decision for our weekend plans. And the mall is the one thing that most of us can agree on. But that doesn't change the fact that Luna would rather go to a concert or Lucy would want to go for a walk in a cemetary. They can settle for something different than what they want so we can all have a good time. Please try to do the same."
"But I still don't get to have a good time!" Lincoln said, a touch of anger to his tone. "The things I want to do are things none of you want to do! While you guys are off shopping together, I wind up by myself or watching Lily!"
"I know, I know. You told me before. And if you want we can talk about that at the next sibling meeting."
"So, we could do something I want to do next weekend?" Lincoln asked hopefully.
Lori hesitated. "About that...we already decided to go to the mall again on Saturday. But we can see to it that you won't be stuck with Lily and you can have a little time to go do the stuff you want to do by yourself."
Lincoln sighed. "Then I may as well just be at the mall by myself. So thanks, but no thanks. I'll just stay home that day."
"If you're sure." Lori said. "But you're welcome to come along if you change your mind. Oh, and before I forget, here's your share of the money from the mall. I may have spent a little of it."
"Lori!"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm such an evil witch of a sister." Lori said, rolling her eyes. "It's all there. I took a little out of my rainy day savings to pay you back. I only borrowed some because Lynn stole my lunch."
Lincoln snorted in annoyance before turning back to his laptop. "Whatever." he said. "Thanks for paying me back. Now I'd like to be left alone, if you would be so kind."
Lori frowned at him before giving annoyed snort of her own. "Fine." she said. "Be that way!"
She turned around and left his room. "Ugh!" she groaned. "That kid can be such a pain. So he had to go to the mall, what's so bad about that? He's so whiny! Why can't he just grow up and..."
"What's up with Lincoln?" said a raspy voice.
Lori looked over to see Luna standing up against the wall near her room. "He's still complaining about not getting to do what he wanted." she said as she fished her cell phone out of her pocket. "Why doesn't just let it go? We're already back from the mall so there's no point in him being such a brat about it."
"To be fair," Luna said. "Having the meeting without him wasn't a nice move, Lor. At least before we waited until he was actually at the meeting before we shot down his ideas."
Lori's quickly texting fingers slowed down as Luna's words reached her. "Well it's not like it was personal." she said as her fingers trembled on the touch screen. "We all know it would've gone the same way if he was there, so why waste time? I was just speeding things along."
"Still..." Luna went on. "Just because he'd have different ideas on how to have fun, that's no reason to treat him like Everybody's Fool."
Lori bit down on her lip as the guilt began to bubble up in her chest. "Well it's already over." she said. "So there's no need to talk about it now."
Lori marched past her sister and into her room and Luna shook her head at her. She looked back at the door to Lincoln's room.
-Inside Lincoln's room-
Lincoln tapped furiously on the keys to his laptop.
SoloSon6 has logged on
RedRunner has logged on
CountryBoy11 has logged on
Rusty10Speed has logged on
ZeroAngerCavalryHero has logged on
SoloSon6:Glad you could make it guys
RedRunner:No problem
Rusty10Speed:Just woke up, what going on?
ZeroAngerCavalryHero:I've been online all day anyways
CountryBoy11:Anything beats helping my Meemaw blow dry her wig collection
SoloSon6: I was wondering if you guys are doing anything this Saturday?
ZeroAngerCavalryHero: Does homework count?
CountryBoy11: Or chores around the farm?
SoloSon6: I meant like going out to see a movie or something. Because if you aren't...I have a suggestion for something we can all do. But I'll need your help.
RedRunner: What kind of help?
SoloSon6: We can talk about it in greater detail later tonight when my sisters are at dinner. That way its less likely that one of them will interrupt. That and I want to play some Swords & Cyborgs until then Need to let out some steam.
CountryBoy11: Uh-oh, I'm sensing some sister issues.
Rusty10Speed: Is this going to be as bad as the thing with the leftovers?
SoloSon6: No, no. We resolved that a while ago. This is something different. I'll tell you about it tomorrow. But for now, who wants to join me in a game of S&C?
RedRunner: Count me in buddy!
Rusty10Speed: Ditto!
ZeroAngerCavalryHero: Sure, Wynaut?
CountryBoy11: Hardy-Har-Hariyama
SoloSon6: Really guys?
ZeroAngerCavalryHero: Hey you can't spend time with someone like Giggles without starting to like that sort of humor. Besides, you like those games too Lincoln!
SoloSon6: Yeah, I do. Anyway I'll meet you in-game in five minutes. Log in as your best characters! And later we can continue talking about my idea.
RedRunner: You got it!
SoloSon6 has logged off
RedRunner has logged off
Rusty10Speed: Hey, someone let them know I might be a few. My dad is calling me.
ZeroAngerCavalryHero: sure thing.
CountryBoy11: no problemo partner
Rusty10Speed has logged off
ZeroAngerCavalryHero has logged off
CountryBoy11 has logged off
-A few hours later-
Lynn Sr walked over to the three cooling dishes of his famous Lynn-sagna, inhaling their collective intoxicating aroma. He began doling out servings on several plates at the table, humming to himself casually. Once he finished preparing the table, he then turned around and shouted towards the stairs.
"Come on downstairs kids! Dinner is ready!"
The entire house began to shake ominously as ten of the eleven Loud siblings ran into the dining room, slavering for their food like a horde of hungry zombies. The sight of them so eager for his food was enough to warm his heart. And even though he knew that he and his wife didn't condone the kids fighting, it did make Lynn Sr laugh a little to see so much competiveness over who got the biggest piece.
"C'mon kids." he said. "Calm down now. Those are all equally sized portions. Besides, there's plenty of Lynn-sagna for everyone!"
As his children grabbed their seats an began to eat, theer father took notice of something odd.
"Hang on a second, why is there an extra plate? Who's missing?"
"Lincoln." Lori said. "He's been holed up in his room for hours."
"How peculiar." Lisa noted. "He should have at least left to use the bathroom. Perhaps my bathroom files need updating."
"Or maybe he still has that hose to pee in set up in his room." Lana suggested.
"Can we change the subject? I'm trying to eat my dinner if you don't mind!" Lola complained.
Lincoln trudged into the kitchen with his eyes set on his phone. Without looking up at his family, he took his plate off the table and approached his parents.
"Hey dad, would it be alright if I waited a little bit before eating dinner?" He asked. "I'm not feeling too hungry right now."
"Sure thing son." Lynn Sr said, getting up from his seat next to Rita. "I'll cover it in foil and leave it on the counter for when you're ready."
"Thanks." Lincoln said as he left the kitchen, his eyes returning to his phone.
Luna watched him leave before turning back to Lori and frowning at her. Lori frowned back before shoveling a forkful of lasagna into her mouth. The other Loud daughters chatted amongst themselves while they continued to enjoy the meal. Luna and Lori meanwhile ate in silence while exchanging glares between bites. Eventually Lori put her fork down, growing sick of it.
"Would you stop looking at me like that?" Lori snipped.
Luna rolled her eyes before returning her attention towards her food. Lori clenched her teeth, feeling irked by her sister's rude response. She almost gave the girl attitude back, had she not noticed that the rest of the family was watching them.
"What's wrong guys?" Leni asked.
"I'd like to know that myself." Rita said. "Is something going on between you two?"
"It's nothing." Lori said. "Luna just thinks Lincoln is mad at us because he didn't get to do what he wanted today."
"Actually, I think he's mostly mad at you for not letting him come to the meeting." Luna said.
"Why don't you just let it go?" Lori said. "He already has!"
"Whatever." Luna said, turning back to her dinner.
Lori again suppressed the urge to bite Luna's head off. She instead focused on her own plate and the rest of the family followed suit. After a while, they were finished with dinner and ready for dessert. Lynn Sr had sliced twelve equally sized pieces of a rich, chocolate cake and handed them out to his children and wife. Rita shared her piece with Lily while Lynn Sr. retrieved the plate with Lincoln's dinner to go along with his own piece of cake.
"Would one of you girls please go and see if your brother is ready to eat?" The father asked. "Whatever he's doing up there, he's got to be a bit hungry by now.
"I'll take his dessert up to him." Luan eyeing his slice of cake hungrily.
"No, I want to!" Lola said wiping drool off her lips.
"No, let me!" Lynn said standing up.
"Don't even think about it!" Rita said firmly. "That cake is for Lincoln. Lori, would you please take his food up to him?"
Lori nodded and walked over to her father, taking the plates that held Lincoln's dinner and dessert. She made her way to the stairs, licking her lips as her gaze fell to the delicious, chocolate masterpiece in her left hand.
"And that cake had better reach him, young lady." Rita called out, giving Lori a startle. "Don't you touch a single crumb of it."
"Yeah." Luna added with a smirk. "He's mad enough at you already."
Lori cast one last glare Luna's way as she left the girl's sight and went up the stairs.
-Inside Lincoln's room-
Lincoln looked at his friends videochat screen with a proud grin on his face. Clyde, Liam, Rusty and Zach looked at their friend with varying expressions. Rusty was grinning, Clyde and Zach both seemed to be thinking about something, and Liam was nodding with a satisfied look on his face.
"So what do you think of my plan guys?" Lincoln asked of the other boys.
"Wow." Rusty said with glee evident in his voice. "Just...wow. That's really cold, Lincoln."
"Well, to be fair." Zach said. "Keeping him out of their meeting was pretty cold too."
"Cold or not, it still sounds like it would be fun for us!" Liam said.
Clyde bit down on his lower lip, still unable to decide on what he thought.
"Does that mean you're in?" Lincoln asked.
"I'm in." Liam said.
"Same here." Zach said. "No way am I missing this!"
"I'm in." Rusty said. "Fun aside, I can't wait to see the looks on their faces!"
"You haven't said anything, Clyde." Lincoln said. "Are you in?"
Clyde sighed heavily. "I still feel kind of bad for doing something like this to Lori." Clyde said."But I'm not gonna turn my back on my best friend when he needs help. I'm in!"
"Great!" Lincoln said. "So we can get started tomorrow at school."
A loud knock sounded at the door. Lincoln looked up from the screen and quickly muted the sound on his laptop. He permitted the knocker to come in and the door opened, Lori stepping inside.
"Your dinner is getting cold Lincoln." She said, holding out the foil covered plate to him. "And I brought you your dessert too. Unless you don't think you'll have room for it."
"You can leave them over there." Lincoln told her, gesturing to his dresser.
Lori set the plates down. Then she faced him, placing her hands onto her hips. She stood there for a moment before tapping her foot impatiently, the noise gaining Lincoln's attention. He looked up from the screen and found her looking at him as if awaiting something.
"What?" he asked bluntly.
"Isn't there something you'd like to say to your big sister who just brought you your food?"
"Oh, right. Thanks." Lincoln said, looking back down at the screen.
"Just what are you doing that's so distracting on that thing?" Lori asked, leaning over to peek.
Lincoln's hand swiftly shut the screen. Not entirely, but enough to keep Lori from seeing anything. He didn't know why he did it. They were in a video chat after all, it's not like their conversation had been written all over the place for her to read. But it was too late now. He had done it and as a result, Lori was now much more interested in what he was up to.
"Lincoln. Loud." She said, using her most authoratative big sister tone. "Just what are you doing on your laptop?"
"I'm not doing anything!" Lincoln quickly replied.
"Is that so? Then why are you hiding it from me?" Lori countered. "Because if it's what I think it is, then our parents are going to freak out!"
"I'm not doing anything wrong!" The boy defended. "I was just in a video chat with Clyde and a couple of my other friends. I was hiding you from him! If you just suddenly popped into view, you know what would happen!"
Lori crossed her arms. "Well if that's the case, then just have him cover his eyes and let me see."
"Fine! Give me a second."
Lincoln opened the screen again and unmuted his end of the call. Then he instructed Clyde to close his eyes and put his fingers in his ears. Once the other boy was all set, Lincoln allowed Lori to look at the screen, showing his four friends in one window with another in the background which showed a game screen. Clyde had his eyes shut tight, his fingers in his ears and was humming as loudly as he could, the sight of which almost made Lori grin.
"So you've just been sitting here this whole time chatting with your friends about whatever stupid things?" Lori asked.
"Swords and Cyborgs." Zach said from the screen.
"And just like that, I've literally lost interest." Lori deadpanned. "Just make sure you eat and bring your plates downstairs when your done."
"I will." Lincoln said, watching her as she left his room. But just as she stepped out the door, something suddenly came to his mind. "Hey Lori, just one more thing."
"Yeah?"
"What did you think I was doing on my laptop?" Lincoln asked, one eyebrow piqued in curiosity.
Lori's face turned red. "Uhh, um, well...I was thinking...Oh look at the time! I need to call Bobby! Gotta go, bye!"
She took off, leaving Lincoln just as bewildered as before, if not moreso. He looked back to his friends, his confusion all over his face.
"That was weird." he told them.
"Dude, girls are weird." Zach said.
"Tell me about it." Rusty added. "Anyway, can we get back to our game now?"
"Sure." Lincoln said. "Just give me a second to let Clyde know he can stop now."
Lincoln went to inform his best friend that Lori was gone. But then he realized there was a little problem. With his eyes closed shut so tightly he wouldn't see them or any messages they sent to him. And he wouldn't hear anything either so long as he kept his fingers in his ears and continued to hum constantly.
"Uh, this might take a moment."
-The Next Day-
Lincoln and his friends had made it through the first half of the day and were sitting together at lunch. They chatted with each other, all of them hunched over an opened spiral notebook set on the table. Lincoln flipped through the pages, writing down notes and ideas that his friends had brought up.
"So how much time is this gonna take?" Liam asked.
"Well, so long as everything goes according to plan..." Lincoln said. "Setting everyhing up should take two hours. Maybe one and a half if we're working fast enough."
"And you're sure that your sisters won't get in the way?" Rusty asked.
"I'm sure." Lincoln said. "Once they leave to go to the mall, they won't care what I'm doing. And by the time they get back home, it'll already be too late."
"And you've already found a way to make sure of it?" Zach asked.
Lincoln frowned. "No, not yet."
His friends all groaned in frustration. "We still have four more days." Lincoln said. "That's still plenty of time to figure out a way to keep them out."
"But what about all the other preparations?" Clyde said. "Our deadline is this Saturday. We need to sort them all out ASAP, and if one is gonna take longer than the others..."
"Just relax Clyde." Lincoln said. "I'm the man with the plan, remember? I'll find a way to keep..."
"Lola." Clyde said.
"Not just Lola." Lincoln repeated. "Luan, Lucy, Leni, Lana, Lori, all of my sisters. I'll make sure that all of them..."
"No." Clyde said pointing behind him. "It's Lola! She's on her way over!"
Lincoln looked to see his pink, glittery gowned sister stomping over with an angry look on her face. He quickly shut his notebook, and stuffed it into his backpack just as she arrived.
"Lincoln!" she said hotly "Lana stole my dessert!"
Lincoln cocked an eyebrow at the younger twin "But today's desserts are cupcakes." he said "You actually let Lana steal a cupcake from you?"
"I didn't let her do anything!" Lola said. "She bumped into me and my cupcake fell off my tray. I didn't want it then, so she ate it off the floor. The janitor just mopped the floor so she said it gave the cupcake a lemony fresh taste."
Lincoln chuckled at Lola's disgusted shudder. "So I told her to give me her dessert to make it fair." Lola said. "But she wouldn't do it. Will you make her give me her dessert?"
"Why don't you just ask your teacher?" Lincoln asked.
Lola scoffed. "Please, he's useless. And we both know that Lana will definitely listen to you. So just come over and set her straight already!"
"I have a better idea. You can just take my cupcake instead."
"What? No! That means that Lana will get to have two when I only got one!" Lola exclaimed.
Lincoln sighed and turned to look at Clyde. "Any chance I can get your cupcake, buddy? I'll pay you back with one of your favorite candy bars."
"Sure. Here you go." Clyde said, willingly passing over his dessert to Lola as well.
"There, happy now?" Lincoln asked.
"Very. Thank you Linky! You too Clyde." Lola said.
"Good, now go and sit back at your table. I'm busy."
"Busy?" Lola repeated. "Busy with what? It's lunchtime, Lincoln!"
"It's just geeky boy stuff that wouldn't interest you." Lincoln said.
Lola shrugged and turned to head back to her table. Lincoln watched her and once she was far enough away, he turned back to his friends. He opened his notebook again, looking for the page he had been on prior to Lola's arrival.
"Okay, so where were we?"
-A little later that day-
Lincoln had arrived home a little later that day than usual. He had needed to make a couple stops that required him to go out of his way. And since his parents would both be home later on, closer to dinnertime, he had to text Lori so she'd know he was going to be out for a bit. Otherwise he'd be facing her the moment he walked through the door, a scowl on her face as she awaited his explanation for being late. And he didn't need anything interfering with his efforts today. He was a man with a plan and that plan required a lot if it were to be accomplished.
He stepped into his room long enough to ditch his school bag and then he went back into the hallway. Taking the string that dangled from the attic door in hand, he gave a pull and made his way up. If his memory served right, and he was fairly confident that it did, then what he was looking for should be easy to find.
After only a minute or two of searching he found his quarry. But he then realized that he had forgotten his notebook and let out a small groan. It didn't do him too much good if he wasn't completely sure that he found what he needed. He'd just have to make a quick run back to his room and get it before putting everything back the way it was.
Lincoln turned around and was met with a surprise. A pale face with hidden eyes was only mere inches from his in the dimly lit attic.
"Hey Lincoln."
Lincoln stepped back, his pulse quickening for a moment. "Hey Lucy." he said as he grabbed his chest and took deep breaths. "What are you doing up here?"
"Writing haikus." Lucy said, lifting her book of handwritten poetry. "Traditional japanese poetry. Three lines with seventeen syllables. Five-Seven-Five. And I find that the smells of dust, cobwebs and solitude helps me think."
Lucy inhaled deeply through her nose, only to snort and choke on the musty air. Her tiny form was rocked by an enormous sneeze, making Lincoln step back to avoid the spray of droplets from her mouth. She snorted back the mucus threatening to fall from her nostrils, dabbed at her nose with a hankie using one hand, and wrote in her poetry book with the other.
"I take a deep breath"
"The scent of inspiration"
"Irritates my nose"
"Sorry to interrupt you." Lincoln said as he turned to leave.
"Wait." she said. "If you're leaving then why did you come up here?"
"I was going to look for something up here." he said. "But I don't wanna interrupt you with all my noise. I'll come back later."
"That's very considerate of you." Lucy said turning back to her book.
"My brother walks out"
"Leaving me in the attic"
"Alone with my thoughts"
Lincoln left the attic, grumbling a bit as he thought to himself. "Well that was a bust." he said. "But I can go back later. And there are still a few other things I can take care of around the house."
He ran back into his room, grabbed his backpack, and ran down the stairs. Once he made it to the livingroom, he ran over to the basement door and ran through it, making his way down the stairs. He dropped his backpack onto the floor,took a tape measure out of his pocket, and began measuring the inside of the room.
"The washer and dryer are in this corner." Lincoln said. "The radiator is over here. There are a few boxes of stuff that I can move to the attic to make room."
He retracted the tape measure and put it back into his pocket. "It might take some rearranging." he thought. "But it should work."
Lincoln went over to his backpack, pulled out his notebook and large piece of grid paper. He took an pencil and began sketching out his plan.
"If I put it over here." he mutter to himself. "And move these things to the sides, up against the walls, that should still leave enough of the floor open."
Lincoln smiled as the ideas began to form in his mind, and his hand raced over the paper, drawing the vision of his plan.
"I'm sure this'll work." he thought aloud. "And if it doesn't, then I'll find a way to make it work."
"Make what work?" Came a voice.
Lincoln jumped, startled for the second time that afternoon. He turned and found Lori standing behind him, the teen halfway between the stairs and the washing machine. Lincoln silently scolded himself for not keeping his thoughts in his head and then quickly thought up an answer for his sister's question.
"Uh, I'm planning on tidying up the basement as a favor to Mom and Dad this weekend." he told her. "And I figured I'd plan out what I'm going to do today so I can make quick work of it."
"So let me see if I have this right." Lori said. "Instead of joining your sisters on a trip to the mall..."
"Again." Lincoln cut in.
"Whatever. But you're literally telling me that you'd rather do an extra chore than at least try to have a little fun with us this Saturday?"
Lincoln nodded. "Yup. Now if you'll please excuse me, I really should be heading upstairs. I have a little reading to do before class tomorrow."
He rushed past Lori and back up to the second floor of the house. He shut his bedroom door behind him and let out a sigh of relief.
"That was close. I'm going to need to proceed a lot more carefully from here on out." he thought. "I better start thinking up ways to duck my sisters and keep them out of the loop until Saturday."
He jumped onto his bed and laid back, staring up at the ceiling. This was starting to be a little more difficult then he thought. But he wasn't going to let that deter his efforts. This was going to happen. It needed to happen. And if that meant taking extra measures to avoid suspicion from his sisters, then fine. It would just make his eventual success all the more enjoyable.
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