After sleeping through most of her studies of Royal Woods Junior High School, Lynn was determined to set out again, even while school was still in session. As she tossed her tennis ball over and over again, she started to ponder a lot of things, the new guy, the mask assailants, and most importantly the condition of her brother. She lied under the tree, alone and away from everyone.
Lynn's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a coin tossed her way. With her fast reflexes, she caught it. Then in front of her appeared, her jokester sister. "Hey Lynn, can I offer a penny for your thoughts, get it?" Luan cackled and Lynn rolled her eyes at that lame pun. Luan took a seat next to her sister.
"Not in the mode Luan." Lynn said, slightly annoyed.
"Oh I just thought that I could brighten up your day." Luan cracked another unfunny joke.
Lynn scoffed, "Ugh, give me a break. Look, I don't want to talk about it Luan."
"Jokes aside, you're worried about Lincoln aren't you?" She was right on the mark, so there was no way Lynn could possibly deny it. Lynn didn't respond. Luan did speak reasonably while she was not too busy trying to make humor out of everything. "Come on, you should not that it wasn't your fault, it just happened…"
Lynn rose up and shouted at her sister, "Just what…happened randomly, what do you know, you weren't even there? I could have prevented it!"
It was without a doubt that Lynn was still upset. But for once, the joker didn't have a combat line. Lynn's annoyance measured up to frustration as she faced Luan. When Luan tried to call out to her, Lynn immediately left her and school grounds. Where she was going was up for debate at the moment.
"Lynn! You should try to at least visit Lincoln in the hospital. He can use a friendly face right now." Luan called out again. Lynn didn't answer as she walked away.
"Right now, he is the least of my concern."
After her falling with her sister, Lynn retreated away. She didn't know where, she just wanted to get away from her sibling. The last thing she ever needed at the moment was sympathy. Walking home by herself, her ear caught a sound. The second she heard a rustle in the park bushes, she gripped her bat in her sports bag. As she held it tightly, already she was assuming the worst.
She proceeded to walk towards her path, pretending that she didn't notice a thing. With the tip of her fingers, she was waiting for the foe to come out, but didn't want to make it look too obvious. When the sounds drew closer, she started to slow down. Then out of the bushes emerged the same guy, she integrated. Without a moment of hesitation, she foot sweep the guy and held the bat to his neck while pinned down.
"Alright fess up scumbag, why are you following me? I have the right mind to kick your butt because of this!?" Lynn exclaimed.
"Take it easy, I want to help you." He answered muttering under the bat.
Lynn raised an eyebrow as she loosen her grip, letting him talk clearly. "What are you talking about?"
"Listen to me; I want to help you find the people who did this." He said. Lynn got off of him as she let him talk, but her guard was not completely down as she still held her bat to the guy.
"Five minutes, and counting." Lynn stated, trying to calm down. From her glance, he didn't look that bad. He was a dark skinned, fade cut boy, and didn't look like someone to do any wrong, let alone attack and threaten someone. He was a few inches taller than Lynn and maybe a year older. "How do I know you're not the same exact person who attacked me and my brother?"
"Then search me if you have to, but I'm not the one." He replied, offering himself like a guy being frisk searched. "The name is Brandon Winchester." He introduced himself with a handshake in his soft-spoken voice.
Lynn still was not convinced if not confused, but accepted his handshake nonetheless. "Lynn Loud Jr."
"Look, I know what you must be feeling right now. Even our games have been pushed back due to the investigation going on, and even I was questioned by the police. I want to get to the bottom of this as much as you do. Our teams should not have to suffer because of this."
"Our teams…" Lynn inquired looking at the Brandon with disbelief.
"Okay my team, but I promise you not all of us are like that. I don't like cheaters, especially the sore losers of that kind. I know that from experience."
Finally Lynn lowered her bat, "So Brandon, do you know any of your teammates who would do such a thing?"
"Sorry No, I don't know all of them too well, just a couple. It seems unlikely they would be dumb enough to repeat the same mistake twice with the investigation going on. But I want to help you, not just for our teams, but your brother sake. Is he alright?"
"He is fine. And I don't need your help." Lynn noticed that the sun was nearly down, so she decided to cut the conversation short. "Aside from that why would I believe someone from the opposite team wants to help me?"
"I have my reasons."
"Right, look it was nice meeting you Brandon, but I got to go before my parents get worried."
"You're not a very good liar because it's still early through the day." Brandon pointed out, trying to catch up to Lynn.
"Stop following me." Lynn demanded.
"I'm not following; I'm actually heading the same way." Brandon said. "Come on, let me help you catch these guys, it will be a lot better than beating up them one by one blindly." He tried to convince. "Come on, what do you have to lose?"
Lynn gave him a dirty look.
"Okay, poor choice of words. Look, just think of me as you're inside guy."
Lynn took a calm sigh, "Alright then, but so help me if I find out you're the guy who was behind it all along, then you better hope that there is a safe place in Royal Woods for you to hide because I will destroy you." Lynn threaten pointing at the guy's chest.
"So how about we meet tomorrow at the park?" He asked.
The jock didn't respond as she walked away from the guy she just met. Lynn didn't know what to make of this situation, especially for a guy she just met or assaulted at first. She also had to keep the boy to herself since her siblings would make a big deal over a possible boyfriend. Plus, she was more focused on other things right now and didn't have time to worry about a crush, even if the guy seem to be charming and humble.
When she made it home late evening, the Loud sisters were in the den doing their usual thing. They chilled happily and loudly without a worry. From their happy faces, neither of them had Lincoln on their mind. Lana constructed more of her mud piles. Lori texted Bobby on her phone. Lisa worked on more of her invention and calculations. Leni knitted a dress. Luna boomed to her rock music. Lucy focused on her dark poems. Lola continued to admire her young beauty.
Lynn proceeded upstairs until she was called. "Hey Lynn, we missed you at the hospital earlier. You know Linky was asking about you."
"Sorry guys, but practice ran late. I visit him again tomorrow, I promise." Lynn replied, not as energetic as her siblings right now. The sisters didn't know if Lynn was being distance or still blaming herself. So they resisted the urge to ask. Lily was the only one to approach, but the jock turned the infant to the other direction and said, "Not now Lily."
When in her room, she accessed her computer. On the search tab, she looked on the team the Chicago Pirates. Not only were they pretty fierce, but they were also unbeatable among some, perhaps a decade or two. Many teams might have come close, but never had claim victory until the Royal Woods Squirrels came in. The athlete had to feel very lucky that her team was able to win. But it still didn't change the fact that one of teammates had just committed a crime. From the assault, it seem like they were so spoiled by their victories that they intended to keep it that way, even if it meant hurting someone.
Much as Lynn didn't like to lose, she would never try to keep her victories spotless. Well at least, she got a clue on what the team really is. Yet as Brandon had confirmed, not all the team members were determined to keep their win streak. As she glanced at her photo of her and Lincoln at a ball game, she set it down.
"I'll come see you Lincoln, but just not right now." She said to herself.
Coming back to school was not easy without a note or excuse since she ditched. It was considered to be resolved thanks to Lisa's invention of imitating their parent's voices, so it would avoid too much trouble. But it didn't stop her from serving detention. Telling her siblings to head home without her, neither of them questioned her motives as they went on.
Around the school parking lot, Brandon stood there with his bicycle. Lynn got her bike as she traveled with him as soon as greetings were out of the way. The two of them rode their bikes together.
"Thanks for coming." He said.
"What do you have?" Lynn inquired.
"Well as far as my team goes, I've narrowed the list of suspects between the ones who are really aggressive, and the ones who are really competitive. Most of them have already been questioned, but one if not some of them is a liar. And lying to the police can have dire consequences."
"Yeah, well it's not like we can just ask them to all empty out their pockets and backpacks."
"Off course not, that is way I narrowed the list. First we have the competitive ones consist of Daniel, Max, and Ivan. Since I've been with them, they were always very tough but fair. Max was always the more cunning one, meaning that when it came to the game, he was always five moves ahead. Ivan was known of a having really mean throw arm, so he could toss a ball very fast before the batter could even react." Brandon explained.
"What about the last guy?"
"Daniel had a Juvenile conviction of tagging with graffiti and has been clean ever since.
"Now getting to the aggressive types at least the ones I know, Malcolm, Jared, Ned, and Fletcher. These are players that are twice as competitive. Maybe on your level of being an athletic junkie, no offense."
Lynn chuckled a bit over that remark, "Some taken."
As Brandon took Lynn to the field, the two of them went for a rest stop. Brandon went to put air in his bike tires, while Lynn was so quick to rush to the restroom. He spent a couple of minutes waiting for the young athlete out of the restroom. It gave her great sigh of relief that everything was out.
"Seriously, I don't know why you had to drink that whole gallon of strawberry soda." Brandon wondered.
"So sue me, I needed the energy." Lynn said back.
On their way towards another path, Brandon spotted one of his teammates at an alley. One of the teammates held a large bag, when dropped it revealed a sharp object. The glance of the object was the only thing to make Lynn react to the boy as she rushed over. Brandon tried to run after her.
Lynn pinned the guy to the wall same as Brandon. "So did you think you could get away with this?" Lynn accused angrily to the confused player. He barely had any words to say about this attack.
"Lynn calm down, you misunderstand." Brandon tried to stop her, but she shoved him back.
Lynn continued to badger the guy, "So what's to stop me from hurting you the same way you hurt my brother?"
"Lynn, look again." Brandon reminded. The athlete looked to reveal the item was not a knife, it was a scrapper. And because of that, she let go of the guy. "What I was trying to tell you is that even if Daniel did commit a crime just not yours, he was scheduled to do his after school community service today."
"Oh…" Now Lynn was embarrassed, but not as the innocent that she attacked.
"Sorry about that Daniel, my friend here is just heavy on edge; just forget any of this ever happened." Brandon simpered, leading Lynn away.
"Yeah, well you should consider putting that beast on a leash." Daniel gibed at the jock.
Lynn chided as Brandon held her back, "What was that?" Together the two of them walked away. When they were out of sight, Brandon gave Lynn a stern look and said, "Look I understand you're under pressure, but this isn't the way to do this. You need to be more careful Lynn. You can't just beat up any random person with the team jersey." He lectured to her, much to her disapproval.
"Fine, what do you suggest?"
"We take it slow, one way or the other they are bound to be careless. So we got to make sure we catch them in the act."
When she was about to follow, she received a text from one of her siblings. Luna had sent the text. It was an update on Lincoln's condition. No exact details were given. From the sad emoji face, it sounded urgent. Reluctant at first, she had to check and see what it was. So for now, her pursuit was off.
"Sorry Brandon, but I got to go, it's a family emergency." As she rushed to the hospital, she could only fear the worst at this point, she only hope it was not the last.