(The following is a nonprofit work of fanfiction and is outside of the original canon. All names, characters, businesses, places, events, and/or incidents of any kind depicted within this story are being used for entertainment purposes only.)
(The Loud House and all related characters were created by Chris Savino and all rights belong to Nickelodeon.)
If you had recently read this chapter and are wondering why it had suddenly disappeared, that is because I had to delete it as a means to do a little more editing. I apologize greatly for anything that may have been an inconvenience.
- Chapter Two -
Forward to the Past
The Loud House, thirty years ago...
Friday, May 29th, 1987.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
The sound of my alarm clock suddenly buzzed nice and loudly within the confines of my bedroom.
The noise startled my mind, as well as essentially making my heart almost skip a beat. I groaned annoyedly under my breath. One would think that I would have gotten used to that by now at this point. Alright, alright. I'm awake. Just be quiet already, I mentally groaned, and with all the strength I could muster, I raised my right arm and pressed down on one of the buttons of my alarm clock on my nightstand, shutting the thing up for good.
The sweet sound of nothingness came back into my room. Slowly, I rotated my head to the right to get a good eye at the face of my clock. It was seven O-three in the morning. A smile crept across my face. Another day in the life of a Loud. I rubbed the tiredness out from my eyes and let out a deep yawn, widening my mouth open to its limit, with the addition of stretching my scrawny arms out. I took a quick peek over to my left and locked my gaze on the calendar that hung on the bright, blue-painted wall. It displayed the month of May and all thirty-one days.
So far, only twenty-eight had been marked with an X, all except for the one that was enveloped in a drawn red circle. In that instant, my eyes jolted wide open, realization taking over my brain.
Is this happening? Is this really for real? Or am I still asleep? Just to be sure, I pinched myself on my rear. And yeah, it really did hurt. But it also proved that I was truly awake. I could not believe it. Today was the last day of school. And it was also the day that marked the start of something greater. Something other kids my age around the world always looked forward to after having been forced to trudge through months upon months of endless, brain-rattling schoolwork.
The inevitable yet welcoming phenomenon that was known famously as summer vacation. Excitement began to swell inside me.
At long last, today was officially the last day of school. And then right after that, nothing but three straight months of freedom, playtime, and soaking up the warm summer sun. I hurriedly leapt out of bed and then grabbed my towel and loofah sponge inside my dresser drawer. Right before heading out, I gleamed over and noticed my Back to the Future movie poster spread out from top to bottom, covering up a certain portion of my bedroom door.
"Morning, Marty!" I greeted, smiling at the printed image of Michael J. Fox. "No time to stick around and chat, McFly, I've got to get ready! Today's the last day of school! And boy, have I got some plans for this year!" Wasting no more time, I swung open my door and rushed out into the hallway. Thankfully, my sisters had not come out of their own bedrooms yet, so this gave me the chance to run a straight line for the bathroom on the other side of the hallway.
For a long time, I've always made it a top priority to wake up early in the morning as possible and use the bathroom before anyone else did, as a means to try and beat the morning rush. Believe me, it was way better than having to be forced to wait in a very long line just to use the toilet and the shower. Especially if that line mainly consisted of eleven kids, the ten of them being my older and younger sisters. I'm the middle child and the only male of the bunch.
After reaching the bathroom, I closed and locked the door, and then undressed from my orange pajamas until I was butt naked. I maneuvered over to the bathtub and carefully turned on the shower faucet and waited for a few seconds until the cold water turned nice and hot, just the way I liked it. And so, I hopped right into the bathtub, and the warm splashing water quickly relaxed my entire body. When it came to having one bathroom in a house of thirteen people, having a long shower was a luxury for us.
So, I tried to do whatever I could to enjoy them as best as possible, like I was doing right now. "The power of love is a curious thing!" I sang to Huey Lewis and the News as the warm water flooded down my body. After seven straight minutes of scrubbing myself with my loofah and washing my snow-white hair with shampoo and conditioner, I toweled myself dry and headed back to my bedroom with my pajamas and loofah in hands. After putting my towel away, I stopped for a second and looked over at my clock again.
It was now seven ten. Dad was going to start serving up breakfast in about twenty-four minutes. This information gave me the opportunity to kill whatever some of the spare time I had left until then. So, I went and put on my best pair of clean white underwear and socks. I then grabbed for my Sony Watchman from the bottom drawer of my nightstand, flopped back onto my bed, and tuned my little handheld device to the desired channel right after pulling the aerial antenna up.
And wouldn't you know it, a rerun episode of the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon had only just started, much to my joyous of delights. It may be a huge contrast from the original Eastman and Laird comic books in terms of tone, but I still enjoyed it for what it was. And plus, the theme song was addictively catchy. Heroes in a half-shell! Turtle power! After seventeen minutes of staring at the little two-inch screen, I checked the clock one more time. What I saw almost made my stomach drop: seven twenty-five.
Breakfast will be in five minutes, I quickly realized.
Sweet mother of Ace Savvy! I had been so caught up with my show that I almost lost track of the time. If I had to guess based on an estimate, I would say that all the girls were more than likely already finished using the bathroom at this point. So now, that meant Mom and Dad must have only started getting the food ready downstairs. Wasting no more time, I turned off my Watchman, pushed down the antenna, and scrambled out of bed again.
I scanned around through my dresser for a more suitable set of clothing I was going to wear today. Thankfully, I had a very good selection. In a matter of time, I got dressed in an orange buttoned-up plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up to my elbows and a simple red T-shirt underneath. And lastly, I wore a pair of light blue denim jeans and my favorite white sports shoes.
As I was just about to neatly comb my feathery white hair, a grown man's voice rang out, seconds passed the five-minute mark. It was Dad.
"Kids! Breakfast is ready!" he called out. Upon hearing that, I dropped my comb and made a dash for it back outside into the hallway. Before I even had the slightest smidgen of a chance to reach for the stairs, each and every one of my older and younger sisters came out from each of their respective bedrooms, all refreshed and dressed up in their own personal choice of clothing and now ready for whatever today had instore for all of them.
Up first, there was Lori, the first-born oldest, tallest, and self-proclaimed leader of our siblings. She was eighteen years old, and her blond hair was done up in a curly shag style. Her choice in clothing mainly consisted of an oversized light blue sweatshirt, high-waist jeans, and white tennis shoes.
Following closely by her was Leni, the second-born, and Lori's roommate. She was seventeen years old and was a total fashionista in almost every sense of the word. Her long pale-blond hair had a mild perm, and her clothes were of two colors: the seafoam green of her off-the-shoulder crop top, nylon belt, and leggings, and the light pink of her leotard outfit and leg warmers.
Coming up in third was Luna, a sixteen-year-old rock and roll fanatic like you would not believe and her choice in strongly reflected that. She was dressed in a sleeveless denim jacket with some rock band buttons, a purple tiger-print shirt, and a pair of black acid washed jeans and leather Doc Martens boots. Her brown hair was shaggy and shoulder-length, and she wore a purple headband.
Right with her was Luan, a fifteen-year-old aspiring comedian in the works. Adorned on her brown, ponytailed-haired head was a banana yellow hairclip, and her clothes came with a white buttoned up dress shirt and a knitted yellow sweater vest. A brown tweed skirt trailed down past her knees her knees. Just like Lori and Luna, she and Luna were also roommates.
Lynn Loud Jr, a fourteen-year-old girl with a deep religious-like passion for sports. Her feathery brown hair was tied into a high-short ponytail, and her attire consisted of a white athletic top that was worn over a red short-sleeved shirt, a pair of red gym shorts, and black Adidas running shoes. Red and white elastic wristbands covered both of her lower arms, and a red sweatband crowned around her head.
Following behind her was Lucy, who was really something else. She lived and breathed all things gothic and spooky. Just looking at her made me shiver sometimes. She had pale skin and long black hair, her bangs completely covering the top half of her face. Her attire came in all black, those being her maxi dress, knitted cardigan, and black and white-striped stockings. In a nutshell, she appeared like a nine-year-old version of Ally Sheedy from The Breakfast Club.
The twins—seven-year-old Lola and Lana—could not be more different from each other, in regards of tastes and personalities. Lola had a very strong and passionate interest for beauty pageants, as evident with the shoulder-padded, long pink dress that she was wearing. A light pink sash was slung across her little torso, and her blond hair was long and feathery. And also, she was missing her front teeth.
Unlike her identical twin sister, Lana was an utter tomboy, through and through. Her blond hair was rather short with little pigtails and covering the rest of her head was a red and white trucker's cap. She wore a red padded down vest and a murky green T-shirt that was nicely tucked underneath her light blue jeans. One thing she and Lola did have in common though, other than having the same face, was that she too was missing her front teeth.
Lisa was something of a surprise in her own right. At only five years of age, she was already a child prodigy with a ridiculously high IQ, and was a total scientific genius. I wish that I was exaggerating on that last part, but I wasn't. As she wore a pair of large, rounded eyeglasses, her brown hair was tied up with a little green scrunchie, and her clothes came with a green sweatshirt and a pink skirt that reached down to her little shins.
And finally, there was the newest addition to our family, the smallest and youngest of us all. The ever-adorable Lily Loud, only two years old and was just starting to speak in full sentences. Her creamy blond hair was nice and grown, tied up at the top of her head by a little pink bow, and she wore a small lavender dress with short sleeves and four little purple buttons that went down.
Instead of going in a straight and organized line from oldest to youngest, they all eagerly raced over to the location of the stairs at once in a tight crowd, pushing past each other in a daring attempt to be the one to make it to the bottom first. Well, almost all of them. I say that because I had to be the one to safely carry Lily in my arms so that she would not get hurt. She may have been only two years old at that point, but she was still considered a little baby, you know.
"Coming through, slowpokes!" Lynn yelled competitively, sliding down the wooden rails past the other girls and me.
As we finally reached the bottom of the stairs and turned sharply to the left towards the dining room, with me being in last place—guess that makes me the rotten egg today—we were all greeted with quite an amazing sight. The dinner table was all organized with glass plates and silverware, as well as a brown glass cup that stood closely next to the cups. Carefully placed around in the middle of the table was none other than the culinary craftsmanship that was our morning breakfast Dad had cooked up for all of us.
On occasions like this, whether it was on the first and/or last day of school, our dad would go all out and create a feast big enough for an army. And believe me, he made some of the best food we could ever have. At the very center of the table, there was a large pot that was filled to the top with scrambled eggs. The rest around the table included browned sausage links, buttermilk biscuits, pancakes and waffles, a pile of oven-baked bacon, a gallon of orange juice and carton of milk, and thick slices of ham.
There was even a large porcelain bowl filled with freshly baked chocolate chip muffins and the sweet smell drifting off into our noses. Lily stuck her little tongue out and drooled hungrily as she and the rest of the girls stared googly-eyed at the food, just waiting to be chowed down on. Could not say I blamed any of them. Wasting no time, and after I securely placed Lily inside her highchair, the rest of the girls and I went for our respective seats around the table.
However, as we were just about to grab our plates and chow down this fantastic banquet, we heard a very loud and clear "Ahem!" coming from the kitchen doorway.
It was the kind of, "Ahem!" people would make to try and grab ahold of your attention. All of us looked over to the kitchen doorway, and there stood our mother, Rita, hands placed firmly on her hips, a stern-looking frown on her face. Our mother was a grown woman close to her mid-forties, possessing short blond hair that was done up in a style that strongly made her resemble Linda Hamilton from the Terminator. She was dressed in a pair of high-waist denim jeans, a slightly oversized pink sweatshirt, and off-white flat shoes.
Standing closely next to her with a near matching countenance on his face was our dear father, Lynn Loud Sr, our sister's given namesake, garbed in his favorite chef's apron and holding his metal spatula in his hands. He was a grown adult man who was also close to his mid-forties just like Mom was. His short and curly brown hair was thinning at the top and he had a long pointy nose. He was clad in a sea green dress shirt and a black necktie, both contrasting nicely with his brown dress pants, and matching loafers.
"We know you kids are excited for breakfast," Mom said to us in an almost stern-sounding tone. "But would it really kill you all to remember to say Grace before you eat?" Upon hearing that, the lot of us felt rather silly and embarrassed for having forgotten about that in our excitement. Lola, on the other hand...
"Aw, do we have to, Mom?" she whined. "I'm starving."
"Yes, you do, young lady!" Dad said to his and Mom's daughter, not even missing a beat as he nodded his head in firm affirmation. "Surely you and the rest of your siblings can spare a few short seconds of your time to give thanks where thanks is due, right?"
As far back when I was old enough to remember, our mother and daddy never once messed around when it came to praying right before a meal, and we all knew very ding dang well not to argue with them about it. For a long time now, the two of them always told us that "God is watching us," And believe me, I have taken those words to heart, even during the next thirty years of my life. I still do.
"Lori, would you be kind enough to do the honors?" Mom said to the teenage girl in question, as she and Dad took their own respective seats.
"Yes, ma'am," Lori complied, nodding blond-haired her head. With that, all of us folded our hands together, and we bowed our heads, even Lily had done so with a smile on her face, which I thought looked really cute and adorable, copying us like that. As Lori prayed away, I snuck a quick peek to my right and noticed Lola's pink arm-gloved hand just a few inches away of stealthily grabbing the plastic ladle from the pot of scrambled eggs.
From under the table, I lifted my leg up and swiftly kicked against one of the legs of her chair, stopping her once and for all. She jerked her blond-haired head over in my direction, and I gave her my best scowl. A scowl she very well knew that read, "You'll be in serious hot water with Mom later if you don't do as you're told, little missy." Thankfully, she begrudgingly complied and folded her hands with a pout. Once Lori was finished with a clear, "Amen", Dad looked up at all of us and smiled.
"Okay, NOW you can all dig in." he happily declared.
In less than two-point-five seconds, we filled our plates with as much food as possible and chowed it down to our hearts' content.
By the time we were all finished with our breakfast, there was practically not a single crumb, or a full dish anywhere left on the table. All of us laid back against our seats, the sense of complete satisfaction clouding our senses.
"You really did yourself good, honey," Mom complimented Dad.
My sentiments exactly.
"Oof," Dad slightly groaned before making a small belch, patting his stomach. "I think I might need a bigger belt."
We all smiled proudly at our old man. Lynn Loud Sr. had triumphed once again. Truly, another awesome job well done. We all helped with putting away our own dishes as a means to save Dad some of the hassle of having to do so himself and we all ran up one by one to our rooms to get ready and gather up our school supplies. Back in my own room, I picked up from where I left off and combed my hair as neatly as I could make it.
I then collected an appropriate number of my schoolbooks, a few freshly sharpened pencils, a notepad, and my trusty calculator. As I was stuffing them neatly into my backpack, I noticed from the right corner of my eye that my Sony Walkman cassette player—possibly one of my most prized of possessions—was laying halfway out from below my bed.
"Can't forget about you," I muttered as I grabbed the little handheld device. I then went over to the top drawer of my nightstand, and I found lying inside my headphones and a cassette tape of the soundtrack for Back to the Future. "Mustn't forget you guys either." Three loud knocks suddenly came from my bedroom door, almost startling me.
"Hey, Lincoln!" came Lynn's voice from the other side. "Are you ready yet? Everybody's just heading outside right now!"
"I'll be out there in a sec, Lynn!" I answered back. And so, after slinging my backpack behind my shoulders, I hooked my Walkman to my pants, plugged in my headphones, and inserted my cassette tape. I rewound the tape all the way to the beginning as I was carrying my skateboard until it finally it finally reached the very beginning. I quickly hit the pause button. With everything now in check, I headed out my door and into the hallway.
"Race you to the car, Lynn!" I said to my sister as I was darting past her down the stairs, putting on my headphones. And that was when I was too late to recognize the mistake I had just made.
Taking up the offered challenge, my jock for a sister followed on after me as had suddenly transformed into Speedy Gonzales. As we both zoomed out through the opened front door and out into the front patio, I noticed that everybody had just started climbing into our family van, Mom and Dad sitting up in the front. I got so distracted that Lynn zoomed on ahead of me almost in a red and whit blur, and she made it over to the family van.
"Ha! I win!" she declared rather smugly. I playfully sneered and rolled my eyes. That's what I get for challenging my one sister who has a religious-like passion for sports. Could you blame a guy for at least trying? The two of us climbed into the second back row of the family van, whom we had affectionately named "Vanzilla", and took our seats at the left side close to the back window. We called it such a name because of how large this thing was. It looked and felt a lot more like a bus than a van.
After we fastened our seatbelts nice and securely, Dad, sitting in the driver's seat, twisted the ignition sideways bringing the car to life within seconds. The engine purred smoothly like a mighty panther. And just like that, we were off. While everyone was spouting on about their own plans for this summer, all I did was sit back in my seat next to Lynn and pressed the play button on my Sony Walkman, tuning everything around me out.
At first, there was a small couple of seconds of low hissing. And then boom, "The Power of Love", by Huey Lewis and the News—which happened to be one of my many personal favorites—started playing at a balanced volume in my ears. I smiled and lightly tapped my foot to the rhythm of the music. I gazed out the side door window and watched as many of the neighborhood houses and street lights pass us by, the warm sun shining down on my face and the wind blowing against my snow-white hair.
Ah, Royal Woods. A quant little town located just south of Saginaw Bay. It was a town that was everything I knew about and cared for. This was the town where I was born and grew up in, where I rode my first bicycle, went to my first school, and made my first friends—as well as a few enemies. A town that I would always gladly call home. If somebody attempted to pay me a hundred thousand dollars to move away, I would laugh at their faces. No amount of money could make me trade the life I had here for anything else in the world.
There were some things that had too much sentimental value to part ways with, you know? I sighed under my breath as I continued to blissfully take in everything that passed on by me. I wish moments like this would last forever, I mentally said to myself. If only I had somehow known back then that sometime in the near future, I would soon learn the hard way that nothing in this world lasted forever, no matter how badly I wanted them to.
"You don't need money, don't take fame!" Huey Lewis continued to sing in my headphones. "Don't need no credit card to ride this train!" Right before the song was about to reach its crescendo, Royal Woods Middle School finally came into our line of sight.
Other groups of kids my age were being dropped off by their own family and they walked into the building in droves. Dad carefully parked Vanzilla up against the curb in front of the schoolyard. And with that, I put away my Walkman and stuffed it inside my backpack. I opened the side door and both Lynn and I climbed out, feelings of excitement for the summer barely being contained within us.
"See you later, sport!" Dad called out from the passenger seat, waving his hand. "Have fun at school!"
"And try to stay out of trouble, okay?" Mom added. I snorted with a smile and then casually rolled my eyes. As if we hadn't been told that enough already.
"Hey, Lincoln!" Lynn said to me. "I'll race ya!" Before I could even have the chance to protest, she was already gone, darting straight ahead for the front doors of the school. It was amazing how she was able to run so fast despite carrying a heavy-looking backpack on her shoulders. I snorted with a smile and shook my head.
That's the power of love! I mentally sang right before chasing after her.
So anyway, what did you guys think? Do you all like it or did it need some more work done?
Let me know in your reviews and tell what you think could be improved.