Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Restored Image
Chapter two: Uncanny Resemblance
The following morning, Lincoln was down at the dining table, eating a bowl of cereal for breakfast before his first day back at school before running away. The white-haired boy had a feeling that his sudden return to Royal Woods Elementary School would be the talk of the school for at least the rest of the week, and that this first day back would be when the talk would be at its peak. As such, Lincoln figured that it would be best to get something to eat before he faced the day. As he ate his cereal, Lincoln's father, Lynn Sr., was trying to make small talk with him.
"So, umm…" Lynn Sr. began somewhat nervously, unsure on how to go about talking to his son, "…Today's going to be a big day, huh?"
"I suppose that would be accurate to say, sir," Lincoln replied without bothering to look away from his breakfast.
"Heh," Lynn Sr. said as he gave a nervous chuckle, "I didn't figure you'd be so respectful this early in the morning, son."
"Am I?" Lincoln replied, a mild hint of bitterness that Lynn Sr. failed to recognize seeping into his tone, "Am I really?"
"Umm, well yeah," Lynn Sr. answered, "Yeah, you're very respectful, Lincoln."
"…That's not what I meant," Lincoln said, the bitterness in his tone still undetected.
A confused look on his face, Lynn Sr. asked, "What do you mean?" Before Lincoln could answer, Rita and the Loud sisters walked into the dining area, distracting Lynn Sr. and Lincoln. Seeing his daughter Lynn Jr. walk in, Lynn Sr. sighed in a resigned tone and said, "Junior, your mother and I need to talk to you."
"Yes, dad," Lynn replied in a dejected tone, knowing full well what was going to happen.
"Now your mother told me everything that happened last night as we were settling down for bed," Lynn Sr. began in a stern tone, "So I'm not going to bore the rest of us here with the details. Let me first just say that I am very disappointed in you. What you did that day was totally uncalled for, and you should be ashamed of yourself." The sporty Loud sister didn't even try to object; she knew that she had to take this.
"Now originally, your mother was considering grounding you for about two months," Lynn Sr. continued, "However, I came up with a different idea that, after your mother and I discussed it for a bit, we decided to go for instead." Gesturing to Lincoln, Lynn Sr. said, "We're going to let your brother decide how you're punished."
Hearing their dad say that made some of the other Loud sisters all go "OOOOOOOOOOH!" in clearly amused tones; Lincoln was going to get to decide how Lynn was going to be punished? Oh, this ought to be good! In fact, some of the girls were even kind enough to offer Lincoln a nice variety of suggestions for Lynn's punishment.
"Make her volunteer as a test subject for some of my experiments!" Lisa said.
"Get mom and dad to take her off all of her sports teams!" Lola offered.
"Make her dress up in a superhero costume and go with you to one of your comic book conventions!" Luna suggested.
"Let me punch her other eye!" Leni nearly begged.
"Girls, girls, calm down," Lynn Sr. said to his daughters, "This is Lincoln's decision." Turning back around to face Lincoln, Lynn Sr. said, "So what do you think, son? If you don't have an idea right now, you don't have to make a choice. Feel free to give it some time while you're at school today."
After regarding Lynn Sr. for a few seconds, Lincoln said, "Personally, I don't really see why I should care."
"…Lincoln?" Lynn Sr. said in a concerned tone.
Taking his now empty bowl over to the sink, Lincoln deposited the dishes before turning back around and saying, "Why should I care how you punish your daughter, sir? Shouldn't something like that be decided by you and your wife?" The Loud patriarch, upon hearing what his son had just said, felt as if someone had just ripped his heart out, threw it very hard onto the ground, then proceeded to grind it under the heel of their foot. Lynn Sr. realized then and there why Lincoln had suddenly taken to calling him 'sir'; it was a realization that broke his heart.
Seeing the looks on Lynn Sr.'s and Rita's respective faces, as well as seeing Rita cry softly, Lincoln sighed in a resigned tone. "…Go ahead with the original idea of grounding her for two months," Lincoln said with an indifferent wave of his right hand, "Also, feel free to add Lisa's suggestion if you want."
"What about what we offered, bro?" Luna asked as she gestured to herself, Lola and Leni.
"From what I can tell, your sister needs to stay on her sports teams so that she has some outlet for her energy that doesn't involve violence," Lincoln began, "As for the other two, I don't think physically striking her is really called for…" Casting a bitter glare at Lynn, Lincoln added, "…And I wouldn't be caught dead with her at a comic book convention. Or anywhere, for that matter." The rest of the family, Lynn especially, could feel the bitterness radiating off of the sole Loud boy. Bitterness that was their fault. Bitterness that made them guilty beyond measure.
Turning to regard Lori, Lincoln said, "You're driving everyone to school, right? I'm ready to go when everyone else is."
"R-right," the oldest Loud sibling said, her tone sounding mildly unsure, "Let me just get something to eat first." Lincoln nodded once in understanding before the other Loud sisters went about getting something to eat before heading off to school for the day. That breakfast was a rather awkward one.
A short while later, Lincoln was walking through the halls of Royal Woods Elementary. To the surprise of the white-haired boy, his friend Rusty Spokes was the first of his friends to meet up with him. "Man, you have been gone for ages!" Rusty said as the two fifth-grade boys walked and talked, "What happened to you, dude?"
"It's not something I'm really comfortable talking about, Rusty," Lincoln replied, the look on his face and the sound of his tone making his discomfort obvious. To his credit, Rusty recognized that it was a touchy subject for his friend, and decided to let it be.
"I'm guessing that it's something of a personal matter?" Rusty said. With an understanding nod, Rusty continued, "Don't sweat it, Lincoln. I ain't gonna-"
"So, you're Lincoln," a mysterious voice called out, getting Rusty to stop midsentence and prompting both boys to look around. Eventually, they both spotted a third-grade boy come walking up to them. He had brown hair that roughly reached the base of his neck, he wore a reddish-brown long-sleeved shirt under a green t-shirt, a pair of cargo shorts the same color as his long-sleeved shirt, white socks and black shoes. He also wore a pair of glasses. Apparently, Rusty recognized the boy, because he waved at him.
"Oh, 'sup Argent," Rusty greeted, "Rocky told me that the two of you got a pretty good grade on a group project."
Turning to face Rusty, the third-grade boy, apparently named Argent, gave a small smile as he said, "Yeah, Rocky and I got the best grade in class."
"I…take it that this is a friend of your little brother's?" Lincoln said to Rusty as he gestured to the third-grade boy that came up to them.
Turning to regard Lincoln, Rusty nodded before saying, "Yeah, man. This is Argent Ace. He's in the same third-grade class as Rocky and Lucy." Lincoln turned to get a look at the third-grade boy. For reasons that escaped him, Lincoln couldn't help but feel as if this Argent kid looked kind of familiar, yet he couldn't for the life of him figure out why.
Shifting his gaze to focus on Lincoln specifically, Argent said, "I'm going to assume that you're related to that Lucy girl in my class, seeing as how Rusty just mentioned her by name. That would make sense, seeing as how Lucy's been acting kind of distant for the past few months, and the most that I've heard about it is that it had something to do with someone named Lincoln."
"Yeah Argent," Rusty explained as he made the introductions, "This is my pal Lincoln Loud. He's Lucy's older brother." After hearing this explanation from the older Spokes boy, Argent simply shook his head.
"…Yeah, I figured as much," Argent said, "I figured that Chandler guy in the fifth grade was lying about someone named Larry. I never trusted a single word that Chandler said ever since I first saw him."
"You're a smarter kid than most, Argent," Rusty remarked with a nod of approval, "It still beats me how that jerk is so popular."
"Not to mention creepy," Argent continued, "My sister told me that Chandler tried flirting with her at least twice, and it kind of creeps her out since she isn't even all that familiar with the guy."
"Your sister?" Lincoln said in a mildly confused tone.
"Oh yeah," Rusty said as he turned to face Lincoln, "Argent here has a sister in the same grade as you and me. I think her name is…Anna?"
"Anna is my sister in the first grade," Argent corrected, "My sister in the fifth grade is Astrid."
"Heh, sorry about that," Rusty replied to the third-grade boy, "But me and everyone else in my class hardly ever see her."
"Mmm, that's understandable," Argent said in an understanding tone, "Astrid's got some sort of kidney problem that I'm not all that familiar with that keeps her home sick a lot. But this is kind of getting off subject." To Lincoln, Argent continued, "You've been gone for how long?"
"Roughly two months or so," Lincoln replied.
"Two months, huh?" Argent said, "…Yeah, that'll do it. You being gone for that long, then suddenly coming back to school, will undoubtedly get people talking. Your sudden return will probably be more of a discussion topic during lunch and recess than the rumors that Ronnie Anne Santiago was going to move."
"People were actually talking about that?" Lincoln asked, a mildly surprised look on his face.
Crossing his arms over his chest, Argent explained, "When word gets around that a girl with a reputation like Ronnie Anne's might be moving, people will be talking, especially those who fear the quote unquote 'toughest girl in fifth grade'."
"Yeah, I'm kind of afraid of Ronnie Anne myself," Rusty admitted. To Lincoln, Rusty added, "It beats me how you aren't afraid of her yourself, dude."
"I…have my reasons," Lincoln said.
A look of piqued interest spread across Agent's face after hearing what Lincoln and Rusty had just said. "You were gone for two months then suddenly return," Argent began, "And you aren't afraid of Ronnie Anne? Even Chandler and his goons give that girl a wide berth, out of fear for their own wellbeing." With a chuckle, Argent continued, "You sound pretty cool, Lincoln."
"Thanks, I guess," Lincoln replied, mildly surprised by the third-grade boy's words of praise.
Nodding a few times in acknowledgement, Argent said, "You're welcome. Well anywho, I ought to be heading to class. We're expecting to start another group project, so Rocky and I should discuss what we're going to do for it." Turning around, Argent said as he walked away, "Later."
After Argent was out of sight, Rusty turned to face Lincoln. "He's got a point about getting to class, Lincoln," Rusty began, "Besides, I bet that everyone will be excited to see you finally back in class, especially Clyde, Zach and Liam." It's true that, due to his being gone for so long, that Lincoln hasn't seen any of his friends. The white-haired boy figured that he and the others had a lot to catch up on, preferably during lunch or recess. Nodding in agreement, Lincoln followed Rusty over to class.
During recess later that day, Lincoln was talking to all of his friends, who seemed eager to ask him question after question about what happened to him. Of course, given the true nature of why he was gone for so long, as well as what he did while he was gone, he wisely picked which questions to answer fully, along with which lines of questioning he asked not go any further. As it was with Rusty, the other three boys respected Lincoln's feelings on the matter when he said that he didn't feel comfortable answering a certain question.
"Lincoln, dude, with all due respect, you're going to have a lot of homework to catch up on," Clyde said, "If you want, I can help you out with that."
"There's no need for that," Lincoln explained, "Form what I've been told, Lisa's been handling my homework for me while I was out." The white-haired boy figured that his genius ex-sister did his homework for him while he was gone in hopes that it'd help make things up to him. As far as Lincoln was concerned at the moment, if Lisa was as smart as she oh-so often claimed, then she wouldn't have fallen for the whole 'bad luck' bit in the first place.
"Isn't she only four-year-old?" Liam asked, a mildly confused look on his face.
"You have no idea how smart Lincoln's little sister is, do you?" Clyde said in something of a dry tone as he turned to face Liam.
"Well I-" Liam began, but he was cut off when he heard a kid cry out in pain, followed by some shouting from other kids.
"Sounds like a fight might be breaking out," Zach remarked, prompting the other four boys to nod in agreement with him. As a group, the five boys ran in the direction they heard the noises come from. When they arrived where a group of students had formed something of a ring, the boys had to push their way in towards the center so they could see what was going on.
When they got a glimpse of what was going on, they were shocked with what they saw; Argent, who only Lincoln and Rusty recognized, was covering his left eye with his hand as he stood about several feet away facing a kid that was somewhat bigger than him. This boy looked like a typical schoolyard bully, what with his short hair, somewhat well-fed size, and a general air of meanness that practically radiated off of him. Seeing that the supposed bully's right hand was curled up into a fist, the five boys in the fifth grade figured out what was going on.
"Feh, how typical of you, Biff," Argent said in a casual tone to the boy who stood before him, acting defiant towards this supposed bully, "Starting trouble like this just because I unknowingly embarrassed you in front of the class. If you had that much of a problem, then why didn't you try talking things out instead of going straight to violence?"
"Because you're supposed to know better than to make me look dumb in front of everyone, you little snot," the supposed bully, apparently named Biff, said as he pointed an accusing finger at Argent. Biff spoke in a tone that clearly conveyed the message that Biff thought himself to be Argent's superior, as well as the superior of every other kid that he's familiar with at school.
Despite covering what was most likely a black eye, Argent cracked an amused smile. "Technically, no one ever ran that memo by me," the young Ace boy replied, "So I had no way of knowing that. For what it's worth, I'm sorry I gave the correct answer to the question that our teacher asked in class earlier after you gave a wrong answer, even though you volunteered to answer the question first." As the two boys traded dialogue, Lincoln turned to regard his friends.
"Hey guys," Lincoln whispered to his friends, "What's going on here? Who's that kid that talking to Argent?"
"That's Biff Bizowski," Liam whispered back with a hint of fear and worry in his tone, "He's a third grader with a really mean reputation for giving trouble to the other kids in his grade. Even kids in the fourth and fifth grades are wary of Biff."
"That's a third grader?" Lincoln whispered in a shocked tone to Liam while pointing to Biff, "What the heck do they feed him? He looks big enough to pass for a kid in our grade!" As Liam and the others nodded in agreement with what Lincoln said, they were surprised when they heard a vast majority of the kids in the gathered crowd gasp. Turning to see what was going on, the five friends saw that Argent was knocked over, and Biff was on top of him, giving the Ace boy a good few blows to the face, only to be stopped when Mrs. Johnson came running over.
"Alright, break it up!" Mrs. Johnson said in a very firm tone, clapping her hands together quickly and loudly to get Biff's attention. When the large third-grade boy got up and let his victim go, Mrs. Johnson said sternly, "You'll be coming to the principal's office with me, young man. There is no excuse for hitting one of your fellow students like that." Half guilty and half annoyed that he was going to be punished, Biff reluctantly followed the fifth-grade teacher into the school. After the two of them were gone, the students still on the playground started to disperse, although Lincoln and his friends went over to Argent.
"You okay, Argent?" Rusty asked as he helped Argent up. When Rusty did that, Lincoln and the others saw the extent of the damage that was caused by Biff; Argent had bruising around his left eye, there were a few good bruises in various areas of his face, and his glasses were broken. There was also a bit of blood coming out of his nose.
"I'll be fine," Argent replied calmly, "Buffoons like Biff don't know any better."
"Wow, you're taking getting beaten by a bully surprisingly well," Clyde remarked, clearly impressed with the maturity that the younger boy was showing.
"I still say Argent should have let me take a crack at him!" a random male voice called out, prompting the fifth-grade boys to look around in confusion and Argent, who recognized the voice, to sigh in a resigned, knowing tone.
"And I say that you would have gotten into just as much trouble as Biff if you got into a fight with him, Andy," Argent replied to the voice that had just called out. At that prompting, another boy came walking up to the group. A little taller than Argent, indicating that he was slightly older, this boy had scruffy brown hair, wore a red and white jersey with the number 10 in the center, a pair of red sports shorts, white socks and black shoes.
The boy also wore a necklace that had the traditional Thor's hammer charm on it, indicating some interest in Norse mythology. Aside from the necklace the boy wore, Lincoln was put off by the boy's appearance for reasons that escaped him. "Relax, bro," the boy remarked to Argent after coming up to the group, "At most, I would have been given a reduced punishment since I had the excuse of sticking up for you against a bully."
"Who are you, kid?" Liam asked, pointing to the boy who just showed up.
"This is my older brother Andy," Argent explained as he made the introductions, "He's in the fourth grade." Turning to face Andy, Argent continued in a knowing tone, "And he'd look for any excuse to get into a fight."
With a shrug, Andy said, "Oh come on, lil' bro, don't be like that."
"Do you really want to get afterschool detention for the rest of the week again?" Argent asked his older brother.
"It would have only been afterschool detention for today only," Andy replied, "Because, like I said, a bully was beating you up, and you're my little brother, so the teachers wouldn't hold it against me too much if I got into a fight with said bully. Allison would have approved."
"I bet," Argent replied in a knowing tone. Turning to face Lincoln and the other fifth-grade boys, Argent said, "Sorry about you guys having to bare witness to this little bit of family drama between my brother and I just now."
With a shrug, Lincoln remarked, "You aren't the only one to have had family drama like this."
With an amused chuckle, Argent replied, "I bet." Turning to face Andy, Argent said, "If you want to do something as a good older brother, then it'd be nice if you saw me over to the nurse's office. I did get hit in the face a few times, and I think my nose is bleeding."
"I'd have liked to have given that jerk a bloody nose myself," Andy said as he took his little brother with him into the school. After the two Ace boys were gone, Lincoln and his friends all turned to regard each other.
"Has that Biff kid always been a problem?" Lincoln asked, "Because I don't seem to recall him prior to my…absence."
Shaking his head gently, Clyde replied, "No, dude. That Biff kid acting like he owns the place is actually something of a recent development. It started at around the time that rumors of Ronnie Anne moving away started to go around." With a shrug, Clyde continued, "My guess is that Biff figured that with Ronnie Anne going away, he'd be able to take her place and make the school his personal stomping grounds."
Shaking his head gently, Lincoln said with a chuckle, "Well I'm not going to be the one to tell that Biff kid that Ronnie Anne isn't going to move."
"She's staying?" Zach asked, a mild hint of fear in his tone.
Nodding once in the affirmative, Lincoln replied, "I heard from my sister while she was talking on the phone to Ronnie Anne's older brother."
"Oh yeah, Lori," Clyde remarked. Giving a love-struck sigh, Clyde continued, "She is one beautiful girl, dude. I'm still available in case Lori's interested."
"Mmm hmm," Lincoln replied casually, knowing that Clyde crushing on his older sister was normal. Rusty was about to say something to Clyde, but the bell rang, indicating the end of recess. Knowing that they had to head back inside, Lincoln and his friends all moved to go to their next class.
END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER TWO
Author's notes:
Before anyone says anything, yes, I made Argent and Andy look like that on purpose. It's something of a theme that they and their siblings will be sharing. Speaking of siblings, the Ace siblings are my attempt to introduce supporting characters who'll be helping Lincoln with his recovery from what he went through, as well as supporting the Loud siblings as a whole. Only time will tell how well of a job I'll end up doing with their characters, I suppose.
