The rain cascaded down onto Lincoln's head as he pounded on the door to the kitchen. "COME ON, GUYS! LET ME IN! It's pouring out here, and I'm gonna get sick!"

Lynn responded, "Put the head on and we'll let you in!"

"No!"

"Then I guess you and your bad luck will just have to tough it out!"

Lincoln grimaced and replied, "Okay, FINE! I'm putting the head on now!" Once the squirrel costume was complete, the door opened as Lynn spouted a cheery "Come on in, bro! There's no point in staying outside today; it's pouring rain out there!"

Beneath the mask, Lincoln gritted his teeth and cursed under his breath.

It was like a sauna in the squirrel costume as Lincoln felt the sun beating down upon him. He could feel his heart beginning to race as his family swam in the lake a few yards away. Desperate for some relief from the heat, he pulled the squirrel head off and gasped in a few lungfuls of air before he heard Lynn yell, "Get that head back on, bro! We don't wanna have any shark attacks because of you!"

"Lynn, I think I'm getting heatstroke!"

"Not my problem! Head...ON!"

Once he had the head back on, Lincoln's rage boiled over and he began to scream and rant, his exclamations muffled by the costume's skin.

Lincoln walked over to the cooler and poured himself a cup of Gatorade. He began to take the squirrel head off only to have it shoved back down again as Lynn's voice rang out, "I don't think so! The game's not over yet!"

"Lynn...I'm...THIRSTY."

"So am I!" Lynn grabbed the cup from Lincoln's hand-or paw, in this case-and chugged the drink down in two large gulps before dragging Lincoln back to the sidelines. "Now stay here and stay in the costume! There's still a whole half to go!" As she ran back onto the field, Lincoln snuck out of the costume, stood it upright, and bolted from the game. Luckily, he was able to find a water fountain nearby and drank from it for a solid minute and a half. His thirst satisfied, he returned to the game and climbed back into the costume. When the game ended, Lynn grabbed him and demanded, "Where were you?"

"What do you mean? I was right here!"

"Don't lie to me! I saw you sneaking off! You were gone for five minutes, and I threw two picks in that window!"

"Maybe the defenders had a good read on your route."

"DON'T GIVE ME EXCUSES! DID I GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO LEAVE?!"

"I WAS THIRSTY! Do you have any idea how hot it gets in this thing?! All I wanted was a drink of water, Gatorade, ANYTHING! And you denied me that! What the heck is WRONG with you?!"

"He's right, Lynn." Lori's voice cut through the air as Lynn spun around to face her sisters and parents. "I'm literally not even a fan of football, but even I could tell that those throws were terrible."

"Don't you even think about coming to his defense! His bad luck's-"

"SHUT UP, LYNN!" The sheer anger in Luna's voice stopped Lynn in her tracks. "Do you even CARE about what Lincoln's been through these last few weeks?! We've treated him like absolute crap!"

"Yeah," Lola added. "I'm no angel, but even I know when things go too far!"

Lynn's jaw dropped. "You guys can't be serious!"

"Well, we are," Lucy said, her monotone voice betraying more than a little emotion. "How is it you're the only one who can't see how angry and hurt he is? Look at him!" She pointed at Lincoln, his face flushed and full of rage, ready to boil over at any minute. The sight of it made Lynn realize she was in for a serious reckoning.

"And this all started because of your dumb superstitions," Luan spat. "Did it ever occur to you that sometimes, even the great Lynn Loud Jr. makes mistakes just like the rest of us?"

"Like the mistake I made letting this whole bad luck thing get so carried away," Lincoln added. "It should've blown over after a few hours! How the heck did you let it get to this point?!"

"I...I was..."

"Are your silly superstitions more important than your own sibling?" Lisa asked. "Your own family?"

"I'm so mad, I can't even look at you right now," Lana snarled as she turned her back to Lynn.

"But you all went along with it," Lynn countered. "You could've stopped at any time-"

"And we did!" Lori responded. "Lincoln came to us in tears after the first week he spent in that squirrel suit! He begged us-BEGGED US-to stop! We all saw how badly this was hurting him! Why can't you?!"

"He LEFT, and I threw two picks because of it!"

"OH, COME ON!" Leni shouted. "Are you gonna, like, blame everything bad that happens to you on Lawrence? If anyone should be wearing that ugly costume right now, it's YOU!"

"In a just world, that'd be the case!" Lincoln yelled. "You got cocky! You threw four bad pitches and the Daisies capitalized! And you have the gall to say I was bad luck?!" Lincoln tore off the squirrel costume, not caring that he was now standing in nothing but his socks and underwear, and concluded his outburst with, "YOU forced me to come to that game! YOU screwed up! YOU lost! YOU kept me in that costume! This...all of this...IS YOUR FAULT! YOU ARE THE WORST SISTER EVER AND I HATE YOU!"

Lynn was too shocked to say or do anything as Lincoln stepped back amidst the rest of his sisters. Tears of rage stained Lincoln's face as his remaining siblings surrounded him-they weren't surprised at his outburst in the least, but more than a few visibly cringed at his declaration of hate. A big group hug was initiated by Luna in an attempt to calm him down, and Lincoln's breathing began to calm as they rocked him back and forth.

After Lincoln calmed down, Lynn Sr. announced, "Now that everyone's had their say, it's time for a vote! All in favor of getting rid of the squirrel costume, raise your hands!" To no one's surprise, all of his family, sans one, raised their hands in the affirmative. It also came as no surprise that Lynn Jr. was the only holdout, and even then it was out of shock. As the family piled into Vanzilla, the squirrel costume lying in a heap in the back, his sisters allowed Lincoln to have the sweet spot, not caring that he reeked of stale sweat and B.O. They were just happy to have him back. Happy that his ordeal was over. Lynn, however, couldn't even look her siblings in the eyes. She kept her head down and remained silent for the entire ride home, which felt like an eternity to her.

"He'll forget about it," she assured herself under her breath. "This'll blow over. It always does. Lincoln will be back to his old self in no time flat."

But as she knew, that turned out not to be the case at all.

Lincoln's rage-fueled rant echoed in her head as Lynn began to breathe heavily, the weight of what she had done hitting her like a freight train. It didn't help that, as she looked out her bedroom door, she saw Lincoln leaving Lisa and Lily's room, cuddling the baby in his arms and hearing Lisa thank him for helping with her latest experiment. And just to rub salt in the wound, Lola and Lana approached him with two separate invitations: Lola with a combination tea party/fashion show with Leni, and Lana with a trip to Dairy Land. Hearing Lincoln happily accept both of them twisted the knife even further as Lynn silently closed her bedroom door. As she turned back towards the baseball trophy, a rush of adrenaline coursed through her as she grabbed the award and raised it over her head, intending to smash it to pieces. All the pain, all the humiliation and all the rage Lincoln had felt...it all stemmed from this. Lynn screamed and reared back to spike the trophy into the ground when, all of a sudden, she got an idea.

"Of course," she exclaimed. "That's what I'll do!"

She opened her sock drawer and rooted around for a few seconds, eventually uncovering a small box. Opening it revealed a small stash of money that came out to $239 after Lynn counted it all. She took $150 from the box before hiding it once again and wrote a note explaining what she was doing, taping it to the outside of her door when she was finished. With the trophy tucked under her arm, she left the house and walked to the nearest bus stop, armed with her cell phone and a set of written directions. After a few minutes of waiting, the bus arrived.

Here goes nothing.

Lynn climbed aboard, paid the fare, and rode to the mall.

Two days after her secret trip, Lynn received a phone call from the shop she had visited. "Hello?"

The voice on the other end asked, "Lynn Loud?"

"Speaking."

"Hey, this is Jack from The Trophy Case. Just calling to let you know that your order is complete and it's ready for pick-up."

"Sweet! What time are you guys open till?"

"We're open till 8 tonight."

"Thanks; see you soon!" Lynn hung up, grabbed her money and opened her bedroom door, intending to catch the bus but instead revealing a furious Lori standing in front of her. The eldest Loud sister pulled the note from her pocket and growled, "You went to the mall and didn't tell me?!"

"I know I should've, but..."

"The 50% off sale at Lacy's ended two days ago! The least you could've done is offer to take me with you!"

"Lori, I have a good reason why I didn't tell you...or anyone, for that matter."

"I'm giving you fifteen seconds to tell me, or else I'm literally gonna turn you into a human pretzel!" Lori cracked her knuckles and declared, "Your time starts NOW!"

"Okay! The trophy I got for winning the junior baseball championship...do you see it anywhere?" Lori came in and looked through Lynn's numerous accolades before replying, "No, I don't."

"That's because I took it to The Trophy Case and had it altered."

Lori gasped in shock. "You altered it?! Lynn, these things are literally like your children! Why would you do something like that?" Lynn's face saddened as her gaze drifted to the floor, and she responded with one word: "Lincoln."

The hardness in Lori's eyes disappeared as she knelt down and took Lynn's hands in hers. Lynn continued, "Really, the only way I can explain what I did is to show it to you. Can you give me a ride?"

"Absolutely." With Lori's blessing, the duo climbed into Vanzilla and headed to the mall. Once they found a parking spot, they headed straight for The Trophy Case, a store that specialized in sports trophies of all shapes and sizes as well as repair and custom build services. And as an added bonus, it was located three shops down from Lacy's, which made Lori very happy. Once they entered the store, Lori looked at the sheer volume of sports trophies and memorabilia lining the shelves and remarked, "You'd be right at home here, sis."

However, Lynn said nothing as she walked up to the counter. The clerk, clad in a Calvin Johnson jersey, asked, "Can I help you?"

"Yeah," Lynn responded. "I got a call from you guys saying my order's ready; it should be under Lynn Loud."

"All right, let me check." The clerk retreated to the back room, and after a few minutes, he returned with a trophy wrapped in bubble wrap and cardboard. "Here's your trophy, Lynn. All told, it comes to $144.30." Lynn paid the fee and received her trophy, asking, "Mind if I take a look at it?"

"Go right ahead." She removed the protective coverings and showed the trophy to Lori, who gasped and covered her mouth when it was fully revealed to her. Everything on the trophy relating to baseball had been removed, and in their stead were small pictures of Lincoln and a custom-made figure of him that stood atop the middle spire. The original plaque had been replaced with a new one that read:

WORLD'S GREATEST BROTHER
AWARDED TO LINCOLN LOUD
LOVE YOU BRO

Tears welled in Lori's eyes as she took it in, and she wrapped her arms around Lynn and gave her a big hug. "I'm so proud of you...Lincoln's gonna love it."

"Yeah, well, he still hasn't said a thing to me since the blow-up at my football game," Lynn replied. "I don't know how I'm gonna give this to him."

"We'll just have to look for an opening. Now let's get this home...right after a quick trip to Lacy's." The sight of a 25% off sale banner proved too tempting to resist, and Lori made a mad dash to the department store with Lynn in hot pursuit.