Chapter 5: Sticks and Stones
Leni looked directly at Luan.
"Are you ready?" she asked.
"Not really...But we have to try." Luan answered back.
A lot was riding on this moment. Both Luan and Leni knew it. If they were going to fix any of the problems, This conversation needs to take place.
Luan sighed and took a deep breath.
"Alright here we go.." She says and knocked on the door.
*knock knock*
Lori looks over to her door and slowly walks over to it.
"Who is it?" She asks.
"It's Leni an..."
"Go away." Lori said immediately as soon as she heard Leni's name. Right now, She wanted nothing to do with her ditsy sister.
"Lori please...This is important." A younger voice answered this time. She knew who it belonged to as soon as she heard it.
"Luan?" She asked?
"Yeah it's me." Luan replied through the door. A moment of silence occurred and then slowly, The door unlocked and Lori stepped outside of it.
"Why did you bring her with you?" The oldest sister asked with an annoyed tone to her voice.
"Because It's time you two buried the hatchet." Luan replied looking away from her sister.
"No way, Not after what she told me." Lori says bored.
Leni clutched her fists.
"Lori you gotta be mature with this, I know it it wasn't nice, what Leni said, But it isn't something talking to each other can't fix." Luan argued back.
But Lori wasn't having any of this. To her, Leni was getting exactly what she deserved. She was the one that made everything in the house turn upside down. This should be her price to pay.
"What she said to me is something I can't just let go at the drop of the hat." She said looking Luan in the eye while completely ignoring Leni's existence.
"Lori come on..." Luan began again but to no avail.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going out for a bit. Whatever issue Leni has with me can't possibly be important enough for me to care." Lori finished.
"And all of this was again, her fault in the first place." She added and began walking downstairs.
Luan looked speechless. How can they come close to breaking the tension, If Lori isn't even willing to take blame for anything?
She was the one that drove Lynn to leave.
She was the one that hit Lincoln, Lynn and Leni with Glass.
She was the one who started the argument between Leni and her.
How could she be so blind to all of this? It was frustrating. But whatever Lori said, Set Leni off.
"That's it.." Leni said to Luan's surprise.
"HEY!" She yelled as she walked towards Lori.
Lori quickly turned around.
"Look I already told you.."
Leni cuts her off and grabs Lori by the collar of her shirt. Luan quickly snaps out of thought and runs over towards them.
"Leni what are you doing?!" Luan asked completely shocked.
"I've had it." Leni answers while looking Lori dead in the eyes.
"Let go of me." Lori demanded.
"No, You're gonna listen to what I have to say, I'm tired of you treating this family like a Doormat.." Leni replied angrily.
"What are you even talking about!" Lori fired back.
"Are you serious!" Leni tightened her grip around her sister's shirt.
She had been holding back all this anger, Even when she tried to talk it out the day before, Lori had always blamed her for everything happening. The night that Lynn and Lincoln ran away, She let her sister walk over her until she snapped back. If something was going to be done about this, She was going to have to show her this.
"Lori, I'm tired of you being so lost in yourself that you can't even admit you're at fault here." She began.
"That's Not true!" Lori stated.
"Listen to yourself?! Did you even read Lynn's letter?" Leni asked.
"There was no reason to do so!" Lori shot back.
"I've got to tell her this now or we'll just keep going in circles." Leni thought quickly.
"Lori, You're the reason why she even left in the first place!" Leni said coldly.
Both Luan and Lori took a pause. To Luan, It was like her sister was a mind reader.
"When we first fought..I thought the same way you did. But I soon realized that Lynn was trying to fix a problem we should have ourselves." She continued.
"Shut up..." Lori said, finally looking away from her sister.
"And then you threw glass at her! Like how could you treat her like she was a stray cat? That's your sister!" Leni said fighting her voice's urge to break.
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Lori threatened.
"Tell me that's not what happened!" Leni fired back. Lori paused.
"Why does it matter to you what happened between me and Lynn?" Lori asked coldly.
"BECAUSE WE'RE FAMILY!" Leni shouted. "We didn't handle things the way we should have and it caused all of this! We even dragged our younger siblings in it!"
"Leni..." Luan thought in her head.
"Do you even know what happened to Luna?!"
"Leni.." Luan clinched her fists.
She didn't come back last night, And instead of letting me discuss it, You tell me whatever issue I have isn't important to you?!"
"Leni!" Luan breaks her silence.
"NOW, LOOK ME IN MY EYES AND TELL ME THAT'S NOT IMPORTANT TO YOU!" Leni yelled at Lori as tears began rolling down her face.
It was as her sister dropped a nuke inside of the house. Luan had never expected it but she didn't care either. If this is what it took to bring Luna home, She's willing to let it happen.
"And what if I told you it wasn't" Lori asked, Her voice starting to break as well.
"Orrr not". Luan sighed.
"Then I know you're lying to me...But if you're actually serious...I will fight you until you actually mean it.." Leni said.
Lori couldn't take any of this anymore. Why is she the one they're targeting? And a fight too? Game on then...
She goes for Leni's hand and forces it off of her. Leni tries to shift her hand back but Lori knocked it back down. She then grabs Leni and pins her down to the wall, But Luan moves quickly and sweeps Lori's legs from under her. This allows Leni to move towards her little sister.
"Stay out of this Luan!" Lori says with a growl.
"No, I'm tired of fighting with each other. If I have to knock you down, I'll do it...For Luna's sake!" Luan yelled.
"Fine..Have it your way." Lori replies.
She picks herself up throws a punch at Leni, Who dodges and Lori's fist hits the wall. With all of her might, Lori holds down a urge to yell out in pain while shaking her hand.
This allowed enough time for Luan to creep behind her and grab her sister from behind.
"GOTCHA!" Luan says cheerfully.
...Unfortunately, Lori's strength makes this impossible for Luan to get a good grab, So Lori tosses her to the side.
Leni throws a punch but Lori catches it and twists her injured arm behind her back. Remembering something, Luan gets up and runs to her room.
"LUAN!" Leni yells annoyed at being abandoned.
"Give me a sec!" Luan answers back.
She kicks open her door and looks around frantically. Her room was a little messy but not too messy for her to not forget where the stick she showed Luna was.
She looks through all her stuff until finally she gets it.
"Aha!" She says in relief.
Meanwhile, Leni has turned the tables on Lori and the fight heads to the tip of the stairs. Lori goes for a jab but Leni grabs her arm and swings her momentum towards the edge.
This causes Lori to lose her balance and she begins to fall.
Luckily for her, Leni grabs her hand moments before and holds herself up by holding unto the banister.
"Look, Let's end this already!" Leni says, with a few scratches that are noticeable.
Lori looks at her sister and then looks behind her to the stairs. She literally had no options in this case.
"Fine..I give up.." Lori said with a sigh.
Leni took a deep breath.
"Thank you..." She said as she wiped away any tears she had left.
"Yeah, Yeah..Look, I'm sorry for causing all of these problems... If you don't forgive me, I understand...But"
*WHACK*
Lori tried to finish but was knocked down the stairs along as Luan runs out of her room. The trickster had thrown the stick trying to get back to Leni's defense and was unaware of the truce that had unfolded.
The eldest sister look from the bottom of the floor. "Ok I think we're even.." She said, dazed.
"What did you do that for?" Leni looked towards. "She gave up."
"Why not?" "We had to STICK together." Luan laughed.
Leni rolled her eyes and rushed down to tend to Lori.
Finally piecing all of it together, Luan turned away and closed her eyes.
"We're coming Luna." She whispered to herself.
*SCREECH*
Lynn woke up almost immediately after she heard the noise. She looked over at Lincoln. He was fast asleep. She looked down at herself. Her knees were still scrapped up and her shirt was still torn. She thought she looked epic.
"Whoa, You look like hell." A voice behind her said. Lynn quickly turned around. It was a girl. She had blonde hair and emerald colored eyes. She also looked taller than Lynn as well.
"Who are you?" Lynn asked.
"My name is Rina Lawrence, I'm not from here, But the city seems nice." The girl answered with a smile on her face.
"I'm Lynn Loud." Lynn replied. "And this is my brother Lincoln."
Rina looked over at Lincoln. Suddenly, her heart began to beat faster and faster the longer she stared at him. Maybe is was the hair.
"He's kinda cute. I can say that much." She thought to herself.
"HEY!" Lynn's words cut off Rina's thought process.
"I've been asking you all these questions, And you've been in la-la land this whole time."
"Oh I'm sorry Lynn, Please continue." Rina insisted.
"What was that noise? And why are we stopped?" Lynn asked.
"Well, From what I've heard, There was a car crash earlier, So it's jammed the flow of traffic. Other people have said there are flats in two of the bus tires." Rina said.
Lynn got up and walked towards the back of the bus and looked out the emergency exit. The bus driver and a couple of passengers were inspecting the back wheels.
"It's the back ones for sure." Lynn informed Rina.
"Ah.. Yeah that's going to ruin everyone's plans." Rina replied.
A groan came from the seat in front of her and Lincoln popped up.
"Geez what happened.." Lincoln asked, stretching his body.
"The bus caught flats on the back tires, so we're kinda in limbo." Lynn replied.
"Hey Lincoln" Rina said warmly.
"He.." Lincoln stopped as soon as he took a look at Rina. He hid quickly behind his seat.
"L-Lynn, Who is she?" He asked nervously.
"Oh man up Lincoln. Her name is Rina Lawrence." Lynn said rolling her eyes.
"It's a pleasure to meet you" Rina replied with a huge smile.
"Same.." Lincoln said quietly.
"Flat tires, Just our luck.." Lynn said with a slight frown.
"Yeah, Just our luck. Next thing you know, Something worse is gonna happen" Lincoln thought in his head.
And instantly he wanted to take it back. Because almost spontaneously, Three masked men forced their way onto the bus. And they were heavily armed.
"EVERYONE HANDS UP, This is a bus jacking!" The tallest of them said.
"We might be screwed.." Lincoln said looking at the audience while raising his hands.
FINALLY
Done with all the school work, All of the other stuff DELAYING the story.
NEW YEAR= MORE CHAPTERS
Absolutely more to come. It's my 2017 resolution to try to be more productive and fix the areas I've been lacking in.
Stay awesome and keeping letting me know. Hopefully the chapter isn't flat
Titan out :)