Lincoln shut the front door behind him and resisted the urge to slump down onto the floor. His encounter with Hank and Hawk had been enough to redefine the word 'unnerving' and he was just so grateful to have managed to escape unscathed. Not that it hadn't taken some very strong negotiations on his part.
After taking a moment to recuperate from the hasty ride back home, Lincoln ventured into the kitchen and grabbed a juice box from the fridge. He poked the straw inside and siphoned out the sweet refreshment, savoring it's flavor and feeling it help him cool down a little bit. Once he finished it, he tossed it into the trash and then went up to his room. There was still work to be done and he now had to deal with a delay thanks to his unforeseen meet up with the bullies.
The house was uncharacteristically quiet at the moment. Many of his sisters were still out and about. But he knew it would only be a matter of time until they all came back home. He would need to take full advantage of this opportunity to compensate for lost time.
Retrieving his hidden plans, Lincoln quickly reviewed them and crossed out the things that had been attended to thus far. Next, using one of his favorite Ace Savvy comics to hide his plans, he began to walk around the house. He checked the bathroom, the living and dining rooms, the kitchen and then he walked out into the back yard. With each step he was mentally piecing things together and keeping an eye out for any sign of his sisters. Finally he reached the garage and opened the side door, stepping inside and turning the light on.
"Alright, things don't look so bad so far." he thought. "I may not need as much time as I originally planned. If I can get a head start tomorrow, then I can everything ready before my sisters are even halfway to the mall. On Saturday morning, I'll start with the basement and work my way up."
Feeling satisfied with his little walk, Lincoln chose to return inside and actually reread his comic to try and unwind a little. He had earned it, especially with how well he had done handling himself with...Hank and Hawk. Oh, right. There was still something else he needed to take care of first.
It looked like he'd need to head back out after all.
He made a run up to his room to stash the plans back into their hiding place, taking a minute to review the changes he had made just a few minutes prior. Then he grabbed his bike helmet again and went back out to his bike. He'd need to make this quick. If his sisters caught him when he got back, then he'd really be in for it.
They'd never let him just walk past them with any amount of chocolate without asking for some. And with the amount he needed to get, they'd be all over him before he could have enough time to blink.
The candy store, a charming little building that was oddly enough next door to the dentist's office where his mother worked, was not too busy at the moment. Many of the customers that day had been kids who had just completed classes and sought out something sweet to rewards themselves after enduring another school day. So Lincoln was able to get right up to the counter where a familiar face was running the register. Joey, a classmate of Lori's as well as a fellow Ace Savvy fan like Lincoln. He couldn't have planned it out better if he tried.
"Hey, little Ace!" Joey greeted with a wave. "How you doing?"
"I'm good." Lincoln replied. "But I am going to need some help. I need to make a big purchase."
"How big are we talking?"
"Very."
A short while later, Joey was helping Lincoln tie a medium sized cardboard box to the back of his bike. The two boys checked to make sure that it was secure and then Joey held out his hand towards Lincoln, which the boy shook.
"Pleasure doing business with ya." Joey said. "Just do me a favor and keep it under wraps that I cut you a deal. I can't have everyone thinking they can do the same."
"Consider my lips sealed. And thanks again! See you on Saturday?" Lincoln asked.
"You know it! Later, little Ace. Don't eat that all at once!"
The teen turned and reentered the store while Lincoln got back onto his bike and began planning out his ride. He could take the sidewalk down a few blocks before reaching Ketcham park. There he'd cut through in order to try and save himself some time. After that he'd need to stick to the main roads to avoid getting lost since he wasn't too familiar with the area.
He walked his bike for a bit, checking to make absolutely sure that the box wouldn't come loose at all. It would be a real shame if it fell at any point before he got to his destination. So far it seemed to be holding up okay. Hopefully that would remain unchanged once he got going for real.
As he passed by the alley next to the candy store a noise caught his attention. He turned to see the lid to a dumpster had suddenly flipped up. Then a pair of dirty hands reached up and gripped the edge. Lincoln stopped in his tracks as he recognized who they belonged to.
Lana was there.
His younger sisters dirty face popped out of the dumpster. It was stained with brown smudges, and once she hopped out, he could see brown smudges covering every inch of her. She saw him and waved, wiping her mouth on the back of her other hand.
"Hey Lincoln!" she said cheerfully. "Did mom and dad send you to come get me?"
"No." Lincoln said. "What are you even doing here? I mean yeah, it's a dumpster so I know you'd be inside one in your spare time. But why are you in this dumpster right now?"
"It's Wednesday." Lana said holding up a small brown cube. "The candy store always throws out the stale fudge on Wednesday. And I scored big time!"
She was just about to stuff the cube into her mouth before noticing the box on the back of his bike. "Hey, whats that?" Lana asked as she dropped the cube and ran up to look into the box.
"Hey hey!" Lincoln said as he pulled her away from the box, "Keep out of there!"
But it was too late, she had already seen its contents. With a bar of chocolate in each hand, Lana drooled like a waterfall. "Whoa!" she said as Lincoln took the chocolate bars away from her. "Looks like you scored pretty big yourself."
"Not really." Lincoln said as he put the bars back in the box. "These aren't for me. I'm delivering them to someone else."
Lana reached back towards the box. "Milk chocolate." she read. "Crisped rice, peanuts almonds, coconut, caramel, cookie bits, peanut butter, walnuts. I'm getting cavities just looking at them. Can I have some?"
"No way." Lincoln said. "I just told you these aren't for me."
"I know." Lana said. "That's why I asked. I figured if they were yours you'd says no, but since they aren't you'd say yes."
Lincoln stared at Lana blankly. "Since they aren't for me, that means they aren't mine to give away." he said. "What kind of logic are you using?"
"The kind that convinces you to give me chocolate?" Lana said hopefully.
"Afraid not." he said turning back to his bike.
"C'mon." Lana said, locking her fingers together and putting on her best set of puppy dog eyes. "Please! What do you want me to do? Cry? Because there's half an onion in that dumpster I can use."
"Don't get greedy, Lana." Lincoln said. "You've had plenty of fudge already. Although it looks like you got more of it on you than in you."
Lana looked down at the brown smudges that covered her clothes "Actually most of this is mud." she said. "See?"
She swiped a finger in one stain and sniffed it before sticking it in her mouth. "Oh wait." she said. "That one was fudge."
As Lana searched over the stains on her clothes, Lincoln looked out into the horizon. The sun was just starting to set. "I don't have time for this." he thought.
Lincoln looked past Lana to see a small group of what looked like grubby, balls of fur scampering around in the alley. "Lana, look." Lincoln said "Rats!"
Lana gasped. "Where?" she said looking around frantically.
As soon as she turned, Lincoln set off on his bike, pedaling as fast as he could. He had a lot of ground to cover and the sooner he got where he was going, the sooner he could be on his way back home. He'd need to get back before the street lights came on as always, and he expected to be able to do so.
His ride was pretty uneventful for the most part. A good thing as he didn't want to risk any further delays or distractions. He wasn't sure just how the two older, and much stronger boys would react if he took too long. With luck they would be satisfied with the haul Lincoln was bringing them and not care about the wait.
Soon enough, Lincoln arrived at the base of a large tree that held a wooden structure up in its branches. The tree house where Hank and Hawk lounged about when they weren't off bullying in their free time was just as Lincoln remembered it from his unpleasant visit on Halloween. At least this time he was told to come over so he wouldn't need to worry about things going as poorly as last time. At least that's what Lincoln kept telling himself. He really hoped that he was right.
"Uh, hello?" He called up to the tree house, cupping his hands around his mouth as he spoke. "I'm here with the payment you asked for!"
Hank poked his head out of the opening that served as a window. His eyes locked onto the box Lincoln had brought and he grinned. He climbed down halfway and then jumped the rest of the distance down, landing right beside Lincoln who jumped in surprise. Hawk followed shortly after, also taking a leap down to the ground.
The two bullies took the box off of Lincoln's bike and inspected their goods. Hawk ripped the wrapper off of a Herschel's chocolate bar with almonds and biting into it. Hank meanwhile looked over the rest of the variety Lincoln had provided. There were Herschel's, Munch, Ms. Finebar and Asteroid Belt bars among others that filled the box. Hank nodded approvingly and gave Lincoln a pat on the shoulder.
"Way to pull through on the deal, squirt. We've got enough here to last us the rest of the week!"
"Or not." Hawk added, finishing off his candy bar. "We might eat them all before Friday."
Lincoln laughed nervously. "Well it's a good thing I still owe you guys the other half of the payment. You'll get it on Saturday, as promised. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to be going. My mom will be upset if I don't get home before dark."
He turned to get back onto his bike and got ready to leave. But before he could start pedaling, he felt a strong grip take his shoulder. Hank had him in an iron grip that left Lincoln feeling too afraid to move a muscle.
"Hang on a minute, kid. You forgot something."
"I did?" Lincoln asked, his voice nervous as could be.
"Yeah, you didn't tell us what time we'd meet up on Saturday ." Hawk said, unwrapping another bar of chocolate.
"Oh! I should be ready by one in the afternoon."
"Well we'll be there at noon." Hank said. "So don't leave us waiting. Got it?"
Lincoln nodded timidly. "Got it."
"Good. See you then, squirt."
Hank released his grip and Lincoln started to leave. He kept a steady pace at first. But once he was no longer in the line of sight of the other two boys, he booked it like crazy. it wasn't until he had gotten halfway back home that he finally slowed down again. He decided to take a little detour to Flip's to get an ice-cold Flippee to help calm his nerves. Even though the bullies hadn't done anything, he had still been intimidated by them. But at least now that was behind him.
-The next day-
School had ended, and all eleven Loud Siblings had scattered around the house.
Lincoln peeked out of his room, his eyes locked on the entrance to Luan and Luan's room. He crept outside, tiptoe-ing his way over to the entrance. He stuck his head inside and looked around, the room was empty. Lincoln grinned for a moment before making his way over to Luan's side table. He opened the drawer, pulled out a notebook, and began flipping though it until he found the page he was looking for. He smiled at it.
"Gotcha." he said to himself.
"Hey Lincoln!" said a nasally voice. "What do you think you're doing?"
He looked up to see Luan's beloved ventriloquist dummy looking down at him from its place on Luan's dresser.
"With all time you spend in only your underwear." said the dummy "I'd have thought you'd know it's rude to go through someone elses' drawers!"
Lincoln turned to see Luan standing in the doorway with a smile on her face. She laughed at the look on her brothers' face. "I've been working on my long distance ventriloquism. So, what are you doing going through my stuff?" She asked.
"Sorry, I wasn't trying to snoop." Lincoln said. "But I've got plans this weekend and I just wanted to make sure you didn't need an assistant this Saturday."
"You could've just asked." Luan said. "I don't have another gig until next weekend."
"Lincoln!" called his father. "Can you come down and help me in the kitchen really quick?"
"Sure dad!" Lincoln said. "I'm on my way!"
Lincoln ran past his sister, sped down the hall and stairs and into the kitchen. Lincoln walked up to his father, humming casually as he cooked dinner for his family. He motioned over to two cooling dishes of lasagna on the counter.
"Got your order ready." he said "Two dishes of Lynn-sagna. One with double cheese and one with extra garlic and mushrooms."
"Thanks dad." Lincoln said as he grabbed the dishes. "I'll be right back."
Lincoln took out some aluminum foil and covered the food. Then he took a pair of oven mitts and used them to pick them up, balancing one in each hand. He went outside and headed next door to Mr Grouse's house. He kicked the door a few times since neither of his arms were free.
"I'm coming!" called an elderly voice, "Hold your horses!"
Mr Grouse opened his door to see Lincoln standing on his porch holding the payment for his services. He frowned at the boy, but licked his lips at the sight of the food he was holding.
"C'mon in." he said.
He stepped aside and allowed Lincoln in, taking a moment to inhale the intoxicating scent of the two dishes of hot food. Lincoln went into the kitchen and set them down onto the counter. Mr. Grouse immediately peeled back the foil on one of them, helping himself to a nice, large serving. He sat down at his kitchen table and gestured for Lincoln to join him.
"So, what was it you needed now?" Mr. Grouse asked.
"Just everything written here." Lincoln answered, handing Mr. Grouse an envelope. "There should be enough money in there to cover everything."
Mr. Grouse opened the envelope, pulling out a folded piece of paper. He adjusted his glasses and took a look over it, nodding as he did so.
"Seems easy enough. Alright Loud, I'll have all of this set for ya on Saturday. And tell your father to make sure he makes my next payment just the way he did these ones. This is dang good lasagna!"
He scooped big forkful into his mouth, his tastebuds going wild from the zesty, yet hearty flavor. Lincoln thanked his neighbor and then showed himself out. He turned left as he approached the sidewalk, heading not for home but instead towards downtown. His leisurely walk brought him to Flip's Food & Fuel, where the greedy proprietor was awaiting his arrival.
When Lincoln walked into the store he saw a long line going up to the register. Flip was clearly too busy at the moment, so Lincoln began to browse around while he waited for the line to go down. Once there was only a few people left waiting he stepped up to the counter to wait for Flip to finish up with them.
A couple minutes later Flip took care of the last person in line, stashing away his latest profit into the register. He shut the drawer and put up a 'Back in 5 minutes' sign onto the counter.
"Okay kid, let's make this quick. I got the paperwork out back." Flip said, walking past the counter and towards his employee only area in the back.
Lincoln followed, needing to sidestep around another customer who just entered the store. The newcomer, a middle aged man with a portly stature, took notice of the sign on the counter and frowned a little. Then he saw Flip heading out back and raised his hand to try and get his attention.
"Excuse me." he said.
"You're gonna have to wait a bit there, Chief." Flip flatly replied. "I'm on a break."
Flip kept going into his back area, ignoring the customer he had left waiting. Lincoln followed, feeling a little bad for the man at the counter, but just told himself that this would be nice and quick. Well...it would be quick anyways. Knowing Flip, odds were that he'd need to make use of his negotiating skills again.
The two went up to Flip's desk where a solitary piece of paper sat along with a pen. Flip sat in his chair and pushed the pen and paper towards Lincoln. The boy began to read through the document carefully. Something that Flip found to be annoying.
"The heck are ya doing? Just sign it already!" Flip said.
"Not until I read what it says." Lincoln replied. "My sister Lisa taught me how to look for little things in the fine print that I may not like. Like this for example. What's with the hourly fee, Flip?"
"What? It's fair!"
"Not when you already have me paying enough in the first place." Lincoln countered. "Sorry, but this is a little too rich for my blood. Maybe another time. It's a shame though..." He said, a canny grin coming to his lips. "I really thought this would be a good deal for us both. You do something to help me out and then you get a nice little boost for your business."
Flip scowled and grabbed the paper. "Okay, okay!" He griped, using the pen to scribble over part of the paper. "There, I got rid of the stupid fee! But you had better be right when you said this would be worth my investment!"
"It will, don't worry." Lincoln said, taking the pen and paper back. He reviewed it a second time and signed his name at the bottom, finding it to be satisfactory. "Thanks for your help. I'll see you on Saturday."
"Yeah, whatever. Just don't think I'm giving a refund if you cancel on me last minute." Flip grumbled, taking the paper and tucking it into a folder for safe keeping.
Lincoln left the convenience store and made his way back home. As he walked back onto Franklin Avenue, he checked his watch and tried to think over his sister's schedules. Many of them would be home at the moment, which would make things a little complicated. But he already had a good alibi if any of them happened to think he was up to something.
Lincoln walked with a bit more spring in his step, trying to get home quickly. His quick walk became a brisk jogging pace until he reached his house. He stopped for a moment, hunched over with his palms on his knees, breathing heavily.
"I really gotta get into better shape." Lincoln thought.
Lincoln looked up at the slightly beat up house that he called home. He rubbed his chin in thought as he looked at the building. He made his way around the side, and looked up at his window. He put his thumbs and forefingers together in a square shape and looked through them.
"Let's see." he thought. "With that slide still built into my room, I might be able to fit a..."
"Hey Lincoln!" called out a rough, raspy voice. "Can you come here for a second?"
Lincoln stepped back and looked over at Lana laying on her back in a large mud puddle. She motioned for him to come closer, which he did with his hands stuffed in his pockets. Lincoln's eyes widened a bit as he looked over the size of the puddle.
"Whoa." he said. "This puddle is way bigger than any I've seen you make before."
"It's actually a mud pit." Lana corrected him. "Not a puddle."
"What's the difference?" Lincoln asked.
"A mud puddle is a small pool of mud." Lana said. "Something you can step in or slip on. A mudpit is a big hole filled with mud. Something you can swim in."
Lana demonstrated the difference by doing a quick backstroke in the pit. She took a deep breath and dove down under the mud, only to pop up a few seconds later. Just as she surfaced, a series of large bubbles burst behind her in the mud. Lincoln snorted with laughter, which Lana quickly joined in.
"Cafeteria burritos." Lana said, fanning her mud-covered behind with her hand. "The lunch lady scored me one with triple beans."
"I can tell." Lincoln said as he wiped a mirth induced tear from his eye. "So what can I help you with?"
"My mud is starting to dry out." she said. "Can you get the hose and water it for me?"
"Sure." Lincoln said. "No problem."
He walked over to the hose, turned it on, and sprayed a fountain of water into the air where it landed neatly in the mudpit. Lana swam around in the mud happily, rolling around, scooping it up in her arms, and tossing it in the air, letting it rain back down on her. Lincoln laughed a bit.
"Rolling around in the mud like that." he said. "You like like a piglet in overalls!"
"Aww, thank you!." Lana said, blushing a little.
Lincoln rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Hey Lana." he said. "Are you gonna fill in that mudpit anytime soon?"
"In a few days." Lana said. "It took me way too long to dig this baby out. So I'm gonna enjoy it for a while. Why do you ask?"
"Just curious." Lincoln said as he made his way over to the the front of the house. "See you inside."
Lincoln walked up the steps to his house, and opened the door to hear a fit of obnoxious sounding sneezes. Lincoln looked to see Luan sitting on the couch next to a chubby girl dressed like a clown. Both of them had watery eyes, and were sneezing like crazy.
"Hi...Lincoln" Giggles said in between snorks and sniffles.
"Are you guys OK?" Lincoln said.
"We're just fine." Luan said as she dabbed her streaming nose and eyes on a gaudily colored handkerchief. "Giggles just brought me a few cans of sneezing powder. She wanted me to test it out with her and...and..." She sneezed again. "And it works really well!"
Luan handed the handkerchief to Giggles who loudly blew her nose into it. Lincoln cocked an eyebrow as he heard what was unmistakably the sound of a bike horn as she cleared her sinuses into the cloth.
"How can you do that through your clown nose?" Lincoln asked.
Giggles wrung out the cloth before blowing her nose a second time, the bike horn sounding again. "It just takes practice." she said.
Lincoln was no less confused, but decided to let it go. There were more pressing matters which needed to be attended to. The question was how to go about it without raising any suspicion from Luan.
"Anyway, I'm glad you're here, Lincoln." Giggles said. "I need to ask you a few things."
"You do?" Lincoln asked. "About what?"
"About Zach. I want to surprise him for his birthday."
"But...his birthday isn't for a few months." Lincoln said.
"I know, but I want to have a head start with planning his party. The more I know now, the better I'll be prepared when it's almost time."
"Thatagirl!" Luan said, giving her friend a pat on the back. "There's no such thing as planning to early! Not with birthdays or with pranks!"
"Too true!" Giggles agreed, giving Luan a high-five. "I'll see you later, Luan. I'm gonna walk and talk with Lincoln. You don't mind, do you Lincoln?"
"Not at all." He said. "So, what do you need to know?"
"Let's start with the cake." Giggles said as she and Lincoln started to head for the front door. "Any suggestions for decorations?"
"Well...Zach is really into aliens. Maybe something like that?" Lincoln suggested.
"Ooh, that's a good idea. Maybe that can be the theme for the party!"
The two left the house, Lincoln closing the door behind them. The moment they were out of earshot of Luan, and Lincoln's other sisters as well, he discreetly whispered to Giggles.
"Good idea bringing up Zach's birthday for us to talk about. I was worried that we wouldn't be able to talk without Luan nearby."
"Thanks. But I'm actually serious about throwing him a party. But we can talk later. Zach gave me your screenname so we can chat online. As for Saturday, I was able to get you what you asked for."
Lincoln smiled. "That's great! We can discuss that later on. I should be on around 7 o'clock, just after dinnertime here. That a good time for you?"
Giggles nodded. "Works for me! I'll see you later!"
She left and Lincoln waved as she walked away before returning to the house. When he opened the door he noticed that all of his sisters were gathered in the living room, spread about and either sitting or standing. He would have paid it no mind if not for the fact that Lori walked over to him and stood directly in front of him. She scowled at him and crossed her arms, quickly making Lincoln realize she was displeased with him.
"Okay little brother. You have some explaining to do." she stated frankly.
Lori's attitude gave Lincoln the impression that she may very well be onto his secret plans. He should have been nervous, but fortunately he spent a good amount of time thinking ahead. As long as he played his cards right, he could talk his way out of this with little to no trouble.
"Hey, it wasn't me." he replied a touch defensively. "I didn't leave the seat up."
"Of course you didn't." Lisa said from her place on the couch. "You rarely ever lift the seat when necessary. Approximately 97.43 percent of the time as a matter of fact."
"Too much info, Lisa." Lori said, a mild look of disgust on her face. "But back to the subject at hand. We know you're up to something. Lucy told us she heard you talking to your friends while she was in the vents." She leaned forward a little, narrowing her eyes at him. "What are you really up to on Saturday?"
Lincoln narrowed his eyes at his goth sister. "Why were you spying on me?" he asked.
"I wasn't spying." Lucy said. "You know I like to write my poems in the vents, I just happened to overhear you that day."
"And besides, bro." Luna said. "After living with your for all your life, do you really think we can't tell when you're up to something? Heh, It's a Laugh."
"Sneaking around in our room for example." Luan said.
"Yeah!" Lola piped up. "And whatever it was you were trying to keep secret with your friends at lunch on Monday!"
"And that fact that you have vacated the premises on multiple occasions within the past ninety-six hours" Lisa said .
"Not to mention whatever you were up to the basement" Lori said "Do you really expect me to believe you're spending Saturday doing chores? How stupid do you think I am?"
"Do you really want me to answer that question?" Lincoln asked flatly.
Lori frowned so deeply you might've mistaken her mouth for Lucy's. "I'm gonna let that slide." she said through clenched teeth. "Now out with it! What are you doing this Saturday that you're trying to keep secret from us?"
Lincoln's face became a look as blank as a fridge door. "What's it to you?" Lincoln asked.
Lori's face began to turn red. "Lincoln." she said hotly. "I am literally not in the mood for your attitude so you had better..."
"No." Lincoln said cutting her off. "No no no no. I mean that literally. What's it to you? You all have plans this Saturday, plans that don't involve me. So... why do you care about what I'm doing?"
The red slowly receded from Lori's face as his words sank into her mind. "Uh.." she said "I...well...I...I mean we care because..." She turned to her sisters. "A little help here guys?"
The other nine Loud Sisters looked around at each other curiously. None of them saying a word until Lisa spoke up. "I believe we are at a loss here, Elder sister."
Lori turned back to Lincoln "That's what I thought." he said. "I'm just doing stuff that I want to do in my free time! And you guys come in here acting like I'm doing something wrong?! You're acting like you deserve to know what I doing even though didn't care before. You've got your plans and I've got mine. So maybe you should just let it go already!"
And with that, Lincoln pushed his way past his sisters and headed upstairs to his room. There was silence for a moment until the sound of someone's throat clearing caught the attention of the ten girls. They all turned to see their father standing in the dining room, his arms crossed and a look of disapproval on his face.
"Care to tell me what that was all about?" Lynn Sr. asked of his daughters.
Lori smiled sheepishly at her father. "Well...it's just that Lincoln has been acting a bit supsicious."
"Oh? And just what makes you think that?" The father replied. "Because he has been going out after school this week? What's so suspicious about that? Lots of kids go out to do things they like to do."
"Yeah, but he was keeping secrets at school too!" Lola said. "He and his friends were talking about something during lunch!"
"So? I used to talk to my friends during lunch when I went to school. Heck, I still do when I'm on break at work. It's just something people do. And if he's having a private conversation, then that's his business."
"Well I caught him snooping around in my and Luna's room earlier today!" Luan piped up.
"Okay, so he was in your room without your permission." Lynn admitted. "But to be fair, how often do any of you just let yourselves into each other's rooms?"
The girls went silent again. Lynn Sr. let out a 'hmmm' as he waited for them to answer, knowing they already knew the truth. After giving them plenty of time to say something, and getting nothing, Lynn Sr. nodded.
"There you go. Now, I'll admit that he shouldn't be just going into your rooms when you aren't in there. And I'll talk to him about it. But you need to let him just do his thing. Because if you keep getting on his case about it, your just going to end up in the same situation as now. He's just trying to do his own thing and he's going to get defensive about it if you gang up on him like this."
"But..." Lori began.
"No buts!" Lynn Sr. interrupted. "I'm going to talk to him about going into your rooms, but aside of that I haven't heard anything else that he's done wrong. Now please just drop the subject and go and do anything else until dinnertime. Alright?"
His daughters all nodded and slowly dispersed. Once they were all gone, Lynn looked up the stairs and saw his son sitting on the top step. Lincoln gave a thumbs up to which his father winked in return. And as Lynn walked off, Lincoln smiled to himself. Now his sisters were off his back again, just as he planned.
Please review
And dont forget to send some love to my co-writer Twisteddarkness225