Lori looked down into her cup of coffee. Her reflection shared back at her, sporting the same dark and baggy eyes.
She and Leni hadn't been able to go back to sleep after hearing Lucy's story about Lynn's nightmare. The stress of it had flooded their minds with so many scary memeories of toddler beatings and monkey cookies that any attempt at sleep would have surely resulted in nightmares of their own.
To make things worse, even after countless bathroom trips and spoonfuls of medicine, Lincoln hadn't improved by sunrise, so Rita and Lynn Sr had taken him to the hospital in the early morning, leaving the kids with strict orders to not cause any trouble.
Lori looked up. Her sisters (minus Lynn) all sat around her, each sporting a cup of coffee (or in the youngers' cases, juice). Like Leni and her, Luna and Luan also looked like they hadn't gotten a lot of sleep. Lucy had gone to the other rooms and told them all her tale of Lynn's nightmare, likely making them just as afraid to sleep as them. Their jock sister in question was still asleep upstairs.
"Okay," Lori sighed, "so, I think it's literally obvious that our plan hasn't been going very well."
"You think?" Lola smirked, jabbing a thumb at Lucy, "i almost wet myself when Little Gloomy over here dropped down from the vents."
"Sorry Lola," the goth girl hung her head, "I just wanted to warn everyone. I didn't mean to scare you."
"Oh, boo-freaking-hoo, you almost peed the bed," Lola mocked, "You know what Lincoln is going through right now?"
"Poor Linky," Leni whimpered. "I've never seen him so sick."
"I offered to synthase a cure," Lisa shook her head, "but Mother said no. Apparently, she and Father would rather do things the hard way."
"Uh Lisa, do you remember what happened the last time you tried to cure one of us?" Luna asked. Luna is jolted from her sleep by a loud, shrill "NEIGHHHHH" from the bottom bunk.
"Well, it cured my hiccups," Luan shrugged. "So what if my voice is a little hoarse now. Hahaha! Get it?" Everyone groaned.
"So…" Lana asked, twiddling her fingers. "Anyone else think it?"
"What?" Lori asked.
"That Lynn did it."
Her sisters all gasped. Lori scowled and put her hands on her hips. "Lana, that's absurd. Lynn wouldn't poison Lincoln!"
"Who could do such a thing anyway?" Leni added.
"I didn't, she did," she pointed to Lola, who received scowls from everyone else. "We talked about it last night."
"The way I see it," the pageant girl explained, "Lincoln was the reason she was able to get away with her Jumbo obsession for so long. Maybe she remembered this and decided to make it happen again. In fact, I bet at some point during her losing streak yesterday, she realized that she would have to come back and try again and since Mom and Dad wouldn't approve of that, she decided to poison Lincoln to keep them distracted."
Everyone gave her the stink eye.
"Come on!" Lola argued. "As if we haven't proven to be that petty in the past. Besides, I've done some pretty crazy stuff to win pageants in the past and Lynn's way crazier than me."
"You've poisoned someone?!" Luna was shocked.
"No!" Lola cried. "It's just… well… are we really the people to call it crazy? I mean, she…" she pointed at Luan, "booby-traps the house every April Fools Day and she…" she pointed at Lisa, "steals our kidneys while we sleep!"
Luan hung her head as Lisa scoffed. "I've never done such a thing, older sister."
"Liar!" Lola barked.
"You want me to get out my lie detector?" Lisa growled.
"You're both being ridiculous!" Lori interrupted them.
"Or…" Luan said, "maybe they're onto something and we're just looking at it from the wrong angle." After a moment of thinking, her face turn scared. "Linc watching TV was the reason she lost Jumbo time in the first place. Maybe she remembered that and decided to poison him in revenge."
"Or maybe," Lana added, "she thinks Linc was bad luck and made her lose yesterday, so…" Everyone hushed her.
"LANA!" Luna barked, "We DON'T talk about that!" Lowering her tone, she added, "And I'm on Lori's side. Lynn may be nutty, but the idea that she'd poison Linc is bogus, right Leni?"
"Totes" the fashion diva said.
"Leni!" Luan argued, "She threw poop at us!"
"And you dumped bleach all over Lucy two years ago!" Leni retorted (not realizing that she'd actually supported Luan with her statement). "Besides, Lynn said she didn't do it!"
"Well, it's not like we've never lied to each other before," Lana brought up, "Speaking of Lucy, what do you think, sis?"
"Yeah, if anyone in this family believes in luck or other "superstity" stuff, it's you," Lola added. "Besides, didn't you curse us to lose our voices after we ignored you a while back?"
For a moment, Lucy was silent. On one hand, Lola was right; Lucy did believe in luck and supersition and had cursed her family for such petty reasons some time ago (not something she was proud of). If she could do that, then surely Lynn doing something equally, if not more vicious, had to be plausible. On the other hand, she still secretly connected with Lynn over having a childish obsession and generally wanted to see the good in her. After
all, she'd been present during many of Lynn's darkest moments, even if the jock hadn't known. "I… ," she finally said, "I don't know. Neutral."
"What do you think, Lily?" Luan asked. Lily babbled to her. "She doesn't think Lynn did it either." "Guys!" Lori protested, "this literally isn't-!"
Lola rolled her eyes. "Oh please, she's a baby. She forgets stuff every day. I'll bet she doesn't even remember half the stuff Lisa's done to her."
Lily blew a raspberry at her and Lisa scoffed. "Don't insult our sister's limited intelligence, Lola! And what 'stuff' are you talking about? I would never harm Lily!"
Lola put her hands on her hips. "Didn't you try and experiment on her because you knew she wouldn't fight back?"
"And didn't you irradiate her that time when we were all stealing each other's food from the fridge?" Lana added. Lisa's eyes went wide.
"You wanna get out the lie detector?" Lola smirked.
The genius hung her head. "Point taken."
"ENOUGH!" Lori cried. Everyone went silent. "At this rate, Lynn will be throwing cookies in no time. Does anybody want that?"
Her siblings all shook their heads.
"Neither do I, but we won't be getting anywhere by fighting. Like I said, our plan is derailing and with Linky sick, it's up to us to get it back on track. Understand?"
They all nodded.
"Good. Now look," Lori folded her arms, "Lola's right on one thing: We aren't angels. We've all done things to hurt each other for literally some of the stupidest reasons."
Some of the kids, such as Luan, Lola, and Lisa, grew looks of guilt.
"However," Lori went on, "I still don't have it in me to believe that one of us would go so far as to poison another, not even Lynn. It doesn't matter whether you think she did or not; we can deal with that later. What matters now is that Linky is safe and in good hands. When this is all over, we'll all pitch in and get him a "Get Well" package. In the meantime, let's focus on Lynn. Alright?"
Once again, they all nodded.
"Lucy," Lori turned to the goth girl, "Anything else happen with her last night?"
"Yep," Lucy confirmed. After relaying the news to the rest of her siblings, Lucy had returned to her coffin and kept tabs on Lynn. What she'd heard was qute alarming.
The jock hadn't gone back to sleep after being ordered back to her room by Lynn Sr. Instead, she'd used the time to dig through all of her belongings until she'd found where she hid her savings.
In a family with thirteen people, all of them still in school, money was tight, to say the very least. If anyone wanted pocket money, they pretty much had three options: get a job, do a job for someone (their parents refused to pay them for chores), or ask for a loan. Officially, only Lori and Leni had jobs, with Lori working at Lynn's Table and Leni at Reininger's, respectively. Luan did freelance work as a party entertainer and Luna's band, the Moon Goats, occasionally got lucky with paid gigs (though because payment had to be split between the four members, there wasn't much to be made of it). All four of them also did babysitting jobs on the side, a hustle Lynn had joined in some time ago.
Between a number of babysitting jobs, a few favors for her siblings, and a number of illegal bets on her own sports team at school, Lynn had scrounged up a small, but decent amount of cash for a 13-year-old. Most of it had gone into her savings (per the advice of their parents), with her only allowing herself to use the small amount left as spending money (at least until she made more).
At the moment, she'd already blown all that spending money on fair tickets and she wasn't waiting for the next job or bet to get more.
Her parents would call her rash and her sisters would call her stupid. Lynn didn't give a darn. "Hoo-hoo, here we go," the girl greedily counted it all up. "$100."
She'd planned on saving that for new sports equipment, but that was all now out the window.
"25 cents a ticket, 100 cents a dollar," Math wasn't the jock's strong suit and her brain wasn't exactly firing on all cylinders at the moment. "That comes together as…" Her eyes went wide, "Four hundred tickets!" She squealed and did a little squat dance. "Hang on Jumbo," she said up to the roof, "Lynn's gonna get you."
She didn't care how long it took, she didn't care how many times she had to throw those damn rings, and she didn't care how much money she had to spend (or where it came from).
No, she'd play that game until she finally won her prize, until she'd finally given that aerobics primate the respect he'd deserved. After 10 long years of neglecting him, Lynn was going to bring him home.
And she wasn't going to let ANYONE stand in her way!
"Okay, think Lynn," The jock breathed rapidly as she processed the next step in her plan. "The fair opens at 10AM and lasts until 9." She picked up her phone. "9AM ought to do it. I'll be the first in line for the ring toss."
She set the alarm and yawned. Now that she had a solid plan, she was feeling more relaxed and sleep seemed much more inviting than before. Tucking her money under her pillow, Lynn climbed into bed and drifted off to sleep.
"She's using all her savings?!" Leni was shocked. "She practically begged for my babysitting shifts!" "Addiction can drive a person to do insane things, sister," Lisa said.
"I took the liberty of unplugging her phone after she'd gone to sleep," Lucy added. "Though considering Lynn's body clock, I wouldn't take any chances."
"That's why we're not," Lori took a big gulp of coffee before checking her phone. "It's a quarter till nine. I want everyone in game mode by the time she wakes up. Lucy will butter her up with the muffins Luan made ("Hey, you stole my pun!") and be the first to invite her along. Got it?"
Lucy nodded.
"Hey sis," Lana piped up, "I almost forgot to ask: how did Lynn not notice you climbing around in the vents for half the night? I'd be suspicious if I was her."
"When Dad sent us back to our rooms, I got in my coffin and pretended I was sleep-walking," the goth girl explained. "I do that occasionally."
"More like sleep- crawling," Luan giggled, before yawning. "Man, I didn't get a lot of sleep last night." "Again, my apologies," Lucy said. "By the way, should I tell Lynn about Lincoln?"
Lola laughed, "Oh, that'll be a nice awakening. ' Morning Lynn, you know that Linky's in the hospital. Did you poison him?' "
"We're not going to accuse her, Lola," Lori rolled her eyes. "Besides, she'd probably get suspecious if we didn't.
"What matters is how we tell her," Lucy explained. "I'll bring it up casually. If she did it, maybe the guilt will convince her to give up on her plan. If she didn't, then maybe sympathy will do the same. Personally, I'm on Lori's side that she didn't."
"Good for you, Luce. One more thing," Lori said to them all, "Nothing about this to Mom and Dad. They didn't help us before and I'm not counting on them to now. If anything, they'll just ground Lynn and make her even worse."
"Fear not, elder sister," Lisa said as they all nodded. "With the average wait time at Royal Woods General, I have a feeling they won't be back until late."
Leni frowned. "Poor Linky."
"It'll be a HUGE "Get Well" package, Leni," Lori promised. She clapped her hands together. "Okay ladies, Phase 2 is back in action!"
Lynn jolted awake. She hadn't heard her alarm, but her body was able to tell it was time. "Wha?" She picked up her phone, only to find it dead. "Dang it! I must have forgot to plug it in!" "A common mistake."
"Ahh!" Lynn fell out of bed. Standing in front of her was Lucy, a tray of muffins in her hands. "Gloomy morning, Lynn," Lucy said, her voice as flat as always. "Blueberry muffin? Luan made them." Lynn eyed her suspensiously.
"Don't worry, Leni taste-tested them. No hot sauce or laxatives."
"Well then, don't mind if I do!" Lynn greedily snatched a muffin up and took a huge bite. She moaned in delight as the sweet mixture of fresh blueberries, melted butter, and soft dough filled her taste buds. These kicked the pants off the funnel cakes at the fair.
Speaking of which.
"If you don't mind, Luce. I'm going to change. Got a big day ahead of me."
"Go ahead," Lucy looked away as Lynn walked over to the closet. Stuffing the rest of the muffin into her mouth, she quickly stripped and put on a fresh set of clothes. As she slipped on her shoes, Lucy eyed her pillow, knowing what lay beneath.
"Just one more quick thing."
Under the guise of making her bed, Lynn reached under her pillow, snatched the money up, and stuffed it into her pocket. "Lola always sprays it with perfume when she does it." With the money secure in her pocket, Lynn stretched. "Well, I'd love to chat, Luce, but I've gotta head out. See yah." She started for the door, but Lucy stepped in front of her, blocking her exit.
She raised an eyebrow. "Luce, get out of my way."
"Lynn, there's something you need to know," Lucy said, making sure to sound as neutral as possible. "Mom and Dad took Lincoln to the hospital this morning. Apparently, it's food poisoning and it's way worse than we thought."
Though she managed to hide it, Lucy cringed. She hated to speak ill of… well, her ill brother, but if it helped stop Lynn from throwing all her money away, she guessed it had to be done. Anything to give Lynn second thoughts.
Sure enough, Lynn's annoyed look turned to a mix of shock and concern.
"Dang," she rubbed the back of her head. "Poor guy. Can't-uh-can't Lisa just whip up some miracle science cure for him?"
"Mom and Dad forbid it after she tried to cure Luan's hiccups," Lucy explained. "According to Luna, she still occasionally neighs in her sleep."
"Yeah, probably best to leave it to the pros." Lynn agreed, before looking her sister dead in the eyes. "Luce?" She sounded scared. "You… you don't think I did it, do you? Cause I swear, I didn't."
Now Lucy was starting to feel a bit guilty. Denial was one thing, but Lynn sounded afraid, as if she was already expecting the whole house to be against her and was pleading for an ally. Lucy was already conflicted on where she stood and this just made it even worse. She could hear her thoughts telling her to forget about logic and take her dear sister's side.
"I know you didn't, Lynn," Lucy couldn't help it. The words just exploded out of her. Letting her emotions take hold, she put the plate down and hugged her sister. "You would never do anything like that."
Lynn smiled and hugged her back. Never had a half-truth felt so good to the goth girl.
"Linc will be fine. He's in good hands. The spirit told me so," Lucy released her sister. "Since you seem a bit down about it, how about you and me hang out? We rarely ever do."
Lynn raised an eyebrow. "Doing what? Exhuming a dead rat?"
"No, I've already got five in storage," Lucy replied. "Tell me, Lynn, do you remember when Dad had that cubicle job, invited us to work, and we zip-lined all over the building?"
"Yeah."
"Well," Lucy held up two tickets, "I got two tickets to the local zip line. I'm going to pretend I'm a bat. How about it?"
For a fleeting moment, Lynn looked excited. However, as quickly as it had come, the gleam in her eye and smile on her face faded and she shook her head. "Sorry Luce, I'd love to, but I'm booked."
Lucy frowned.
"Another time, please." Grabbing another muffin from the plate, Lynn stepped past her sister and left the room-
-only to run right into Lori.
"So Lynn, it's literally a beautiful day," she produced her golf bag, "How about we head to the driving range and hit a few balls?"
' Wha? ' Lynn thought. "No thanks, I'm busy."
"Oh, come on!" Her sister insisted. She pushed something into Lynn's hand. "Here, I'll let you use my lucky golf tee."
"Still no," Lynn walked past her. "Sides, golf is boring."
"You're right, it totes is boring!" Leni popped up, making Lynn jump, and pulled out a small, brightly colored putter. "But you know what isn't? Mini-golf! Come on, winner buys the loser ice cream."
' Leni too? ' Lynn raised an eyebrow. "No thanks, Leni," Lynn passed her, heading for the stairs, only to be held up at laser gunpoint by Luna.
"Gotcha!" She threw Lynn a gun and goggles. "Laser tag, bro! You and me! I got a bunch of saps lined up at the arcade."
' Okay, what is going on here? '
"Tempting, but no," Lynn dropped the gear and went around her. She was about to head down the stairs when Luan appeared in an inflatable sumo suit and belly-bumped her against the wall.
"Hey Lynn, does this diaper make my butt look big?" She laughed as she turned and showed the oversized butt of her suit to Lynn. "Come on, suit up and let's wrestle. I got a ring set up in the backyard."
' Seriously?! ' Now Lynn was starting to get annoyed at the constant requests. "No thanks, Luan." "Aw, come on," Luan blocked her way. "What could be more fun than bumping bellies in giant sumo diapers?"
"A lot of things," Lynn punctured the suit with Lori's lucky tee, sending Luan flying down the hall. "And for the record, a mawashi isn't a diaper, it's a belt."
She'd taken two steps down the stairs when something flew over her head.
"Hi-yah!" Lola landed in front of her and struck a karate pose. "Hey Lynn, my talent this pageant season is martial arts. How about we do a little sparing?"
Lynn's brow furrowed. "No thank you." She was really starting to get irritated.
"Awww!" The pageant girl whined as Lynn pushed past her. "but I just got my pink belt!" "Well, here's your pink slip," Lynn retorted.
"Stair sledding!" The two sisters bolted over the stair railing as Lana came flying down behind them on a shed. She crashed into the front door.
"Whoo-hoo! New personal best!" She got up, shook off, and grabbed the sled. "Come on, Lynn. There's room for two."
"Once again, no," Lynn repeated, now really getting annoyed.
"Bang! Bang! Oooh, aehesive!" Lisa walked in, wearing a bulky, shiny gauntlet and face-concealing helmet. She took it off. "Hello, older sister. Care to try out my Virtual Apocalyptic Training Simulator? I made it in case our ceasefire with the Paltonians of Palto V fails and we resort to nuclear war."
Setting aside the alien mumbo-jumbo, Lynn glared down at the little genius. "Again tempting, but NO," she drew out the last word before turning for the door. "I've got-"
"Peek-a-boo!"
Lynn stopped to see Lily sitting right in front of her. The tiny baby was looking up at her with her hands over her eyes. She threw them off and repeated, "Peek-a-boo!"
"Awww!" All the other sisters gushed.
"Winn," Lily reached up for Lynn, "Peek-a-boo?"
Lynn's annoyance faded a little. She couldn't snap at Lily. However, as tempting as it was to give in to her baby sister's request for playtime, Jumbo was even worse.
"Sorry Lily," Lynn said, more softly than she had to the others. "I can't."
Lily dropped her arms and gave a huge frown, slumping her head down.
"Aw Lynn!" Luan (in the middle of taking off her sumo suit) scoffed. "You made Lily sad!"
Lynn pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. "I don't have time for games." She stepped over Lily and headed out the door.
' Man,' Lynn thought as she shut the door behind her. ' What's gotten into them? ' Turning, she started down the porch steps.
"Hey Lynn!" The jock jumped in surprise. Somehow, Lori was now on the front lawn, about to hit a croquet ball through a goal, "How about some croquet?"
"Wha-? How did-?" Lynn gave up and sighed. "Oh whatever, I don't have time for this. Whoa!" A beanbag soared past her head.
"Yes!" Luan (now out of her sumo suit) was standing next to a cornhole board. "That's what a call an a- maze - ing throw! Haha! Hey Lynn, how about some cornhole?"
"No."
"Lynn," Lucy was standing in the driveway, now dressed in a jersey with a basketball in her hands. "Come play basketball with me. I'll show you how I made the all-star team."
"No thanks, Luce."
"Yeah, who wants to get all sweaty?" Lola was standing next to a water pump. She turned it and the sprinklers came on. She ripped off her karate gi to reveal a one-piece bathing suit. "Come and play in the sprinklers with me, Lynn! I'll show you my water ballet."
Lynn dodged the sprinkler spray. "Not interested-OOF!" Lynn had walked forward, only to run into a tennis net stretched over the walkway.
"Hey Lynn!" It was Leni, now dressed in tennis shorts and holding a racquet. "How about some tennis?" "How about no?"
"Well," Lana appeared next to Leni, clutching a racquet. "Then how about some badminton?" "Do I ever have to say it?" Lynn ducked under the net and was tackled by Luna.
"Up for some rugby, mate?" She held up a roll of tape. "Here, I'll tape your ears for ya." "Do that and you'll lose an ear!" Lynn shoved Luna off.
"Look out below!"
"Aw, come on!" Lynn groaned as Lisa suddenly hovered to the ground, a jetpack on her back. "How about a test flight with my new solar-powered jetpack?"
Rather than answering, Lynn simply pushed the ingition button on Lisa's pack, sending her hurling back up into the sky. By now, she had finally reached the sidewalk and was about to make a run for it, only to halt as yet
another obstacle in front of her.
Lily was sitting on the sidewalk, having covered it in squiggly chalk drawings. Covered in rainbow-colored chalf dust, she handed a piece to her sister. "Olor, Winn?"
Lynn backed up, only to suddenly be surrounded by all her sisters, each with a new activity. "Shuffleboard?" Lori had a shuffleboard stick.
"Volleyball?" Leni clutched a volleyball.
"Football?" Luna dribbled a soccor ball.
"Pogosticks?" Luan bounced up and down.
"Hangman?" Lucy held up a noose.
"Hopscotch?" Lola did a hop.
"Leap Frog?" Lana bent over like a frog.
"Five-legged race?" A multi-legged Lisa offered a beaker of liquid.
"Atty cake?" Lily clapped her hands.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Lynn screamed so loud that the entire block heard her. Her sisters all backed away. "FOR THE LAST TIME, NO! I'M GOT PLANS! I DON'T WANT TO PLAY HOCKEY, RUN A MARATHON, OR HAVE A DANCE-OFF!"
As she fumed in anger, steam coming out of her nose and her eyes red with fury, Leni spoke up one last time. "How about we ride bikes?"
To everyone's surprise, Lynn stopped and smiled. "Sure, Leni," she said sweetly. "Here, let me go get my bike out of the garage."
"Oooh, yay!" Leni clapped in excitement, but froze when Lynn's bike soared out of the garage, it's rider pedaling as fast as she could to get away from the house.
"See ya, suckers!" With a victorious laugh, Lynn disappeared over the horizon.
Her sisters all stood in baffled silence. Finally, Lisa sighed.
"I'll go whip up an antidote," she slowly trudged back towards the house, trying not to trip over her three new legs.
"Hey Luna," Leni said, "You know that's a soccor ball, right? Not a football?"
Luna sighed. "Yes Leni, I know."
As she pedaled, Lynn tried to make sense of what had just happened.
Why were they all so desperate to spend time with her? Was this some kind of bet?
She thought back to Lucy's news about Lincoln. Maybe they were all worried and were looking for a distraction? That seemed possible, though why they couldn't just have settled for hanging out with each other, she had no
answer. Why were they all fixated on her? And the requests had been so constant that it almost seemed… organized. Like the girls were specifically trying to keep Lynn occupied from…
Something.
Lynn almost crashed as she skitted to a halt.
Were… were they were trying to stop her from going to the fair and winning Jumbo?
It may have been a leap in logic, but it still fit (at least in her mind). Thoughts raced through Lynn's head as she sat there on the sidewalk, her heart now beating as fast as a rabbit's, her eyes blankly staring ahead.
How did her sisters know about her plan? And more importantly, why where they seemingly so determined to stop her? I mean, just last night, they'd been defending her love for Jumbo against Mom and Dad, now they were fighting against it? What had…
Lynn jolted as another realization hit her.
Lincoln had gotten sick… and Dad had immediately pointed the finger at her for doing it… right in front of all them all.
But… she hadn't. She knew she hadn't. The funnel cake had been fresh. After all, the vendor had still been open and serving patrons when she'd purchased it with her last few tickets. And even then, Lynn had made sure to keep it wrapped and sealed all the way home. And while she'd admit that she couldn't prove that to her family (she didn't know the vendor's name, their booth had looked the same as the rest, and there had been no receipt), she'd still had sworn that she hadn't.
And Lucy had said she'd believed her. She'd hugged her and given her muffins.
She must have lied to her. Lynn's mouth fell into a frown as she felt something sharp pierce her heart. Lucy wasn't the most physically affectionate sister and her act of love had done so much to put the jock at ease… and it had all been a ruse. Lynn couldn't deny it. After all, it wasn't like the sisters hadn't lied to each other before.
Wiping a tear from her eye, Lynn tried to think clearly, trying to process what to do now that she knew the whole conspiracy.
She'd told herself last night that she wouldn't let anyone stand in her way of winning Jumbo, but she hadn't actually imagined her family being one of those obstacles. Sure, they probably wouldn't have approved of her using all savings (did they know that too?), but the sisters for the most part all had an unwritten agreement to stay out of each other's business (at least if it didn't concern them, that is). Revenge WAS a strong motivator though and who better to avenge than their only brother? Lynn would have done it and she didn't have as close a connection to her brother as some of her other sisters (particularly Luna, Leni, and Lori).
Lynn sighed as she pushed off the pavement and began to pedal again. So her sisters were going to be trying to stop her from winning Jumbo, huh?
Well, as much as it may hurt, Lynn wasn't going to let them. She KNEW for a fact that she hadn't poisoned Lincoln and if they didn't believe her… well, that was their fault, not her's!
Her mind raced back to her dream, to her vision of her sisters taunting her from the stolen couch. Maybe they had a legit reason for defying her this time, but Lynn didn't care. She WASN'T going to let them beat her again. They weren't dealing with wittle, waddling, diaper-wearing Lynn Jr anymore. She was all grown up now and she was going to kick their butts!
Brow narrowing, Lynn increased her speed, her body now filled with fierce determination. She was going to win that Jumbo doll and she was going to flaunt it in their stupid faces. They could blame her till the cows came
home, but they weren't going to break her.
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP ! A car blasted it's horn as Lynn sped past it at the crosswalk. "HEY, WATCH IT KID!" Lynn gave him the finger. Let the whole world come at her, she wasn't going to be stopped.
She'd prove she could do it too. She'd give Jumbo the respect he deserved, the respect she owed him. Trish and Mary had been right; she'd never have become the athlete she was today without Jumbo's guidance.
It was time to pay the piper, or more accurately, thank the piper.
The fairgrounds came into view. Lynn slowed as she entered the parking lot. Locating a bike rake, Lynn parked, locked her ride, and headed for the entrance. After scratching 20 dollars off her budget to pay for admission, she was in.
The fair was just the same as it had been yesterday. Tons of guests, an overwhelming stench of deep-frying oil, and enough noise and flashing light to give even the most extraverted person a headache. Weaving her way through the sea of strollers, little kids, and overweight adults, Lynn fed all her savings into the ticket machine and carefully folded the wads of paper that spewed out into neat, little stacks. She wasn't going to risk any of them tearing and becoming useless. As far as she was concerned, these were more precious that gold coins and she was going to treat them as such. Gently stuffing the stacks into her pocket, Lynn resumed her search. Straining her muscle memeory, Lynn retraced her steps from the day before, passing by all the other childish games and inferior prize walls until she finally saw it.
The ring toss. Behind it was the same kid, topping the prize wall was her beloved Jumbo… and standing in front of her was a small line.
' Grrrrr… calm down, Lynn .' Once again as before, the jock girl forced herself into a tranquil state, breathing and lowering her frustration to a mere shimmer. ' It's not that bad. You'll still get your turn soon enough .'
The guy in front missed on his first toss.
' Sides, it's not like any of these losers will be able to win Jumbo. '
She was right. The first guest was so bad, he didn't make any lands at all! Lynn smirked as he walked away with a frustrated girlfriend in toe. Somebody was going to be browsing dating sites tonight.
The next to try was some little kids and their parents. When the kids, barely able to see over the booth stand, blew all their shots, they screamed and whined for their parents to win it for them. Made Lola look like a saint. After making two lands (the kids screaming after every miss), they finally trudged away with their kids fighting over a stuffed panda. Brats.
The rest of the guests all averaged one or two lands on their tries, with one guy practically jumping for joy after nailing a third. Oh well, they were all still amateurs, at best. Certainly not worthy of winning the great Jumbo that sat above them on the wall, silently taunting them as they left with lesser prizes.
Finally, it was Lynn's turn.
"Oh, it's you again," the boy behind the counter said, a tinge of unease in his voice.
"Didn't think I was giving up so easily, did you…" she squinted as his name tag, "Greg?" Greg chuckled, "Guess not. You must have had like a hundred tries yesterday."
Pushing aside the boy's reminder of her failures, she smiled and said, "And I'm back for a hundred more. Though," she smirked as she pulled one of the ticket stacks out of her pocket, "it probably won't take that many." She unwrapped a line of five, ripped them free, and handed them over to Greg. "In fact, I bet I'll nail it on my first try."
"Yeah, maybe." If there was doubt in the boy's voice as he slid the five rings forward, Lynn didn't care. After all, she wasn't the one stuck behind some silly game booth, dealing with screaming brats for five bucks an hour. No, she was a winner and sitting above her was the ultimate prize.
With a confident flick of her wrist, Lynn sent the first ring flying over the sea of bottles. It flew up and then down and then expertly snagged on a bottle spout before falling to hug it's chest.
"Uno," Lynn congratulated herself.
Another toss. Another hit.
"Dos."
The third ring landed dead center.
"Tres."
Number four spun on a spout like a hula-hoop before going in.
"Cuatro."
She could already feel Jumbo's soft fur pressing against her cheek come bedtime.
With aim and precision that would make Legolas look like a chump, Lynn let the last ring fly- -and watched it clink the sides of two bottles and fall through the crack.
Her ponytail fell. Her eyes slowly moved from the bottles over to Greg, who gulped at the errie sight of the silent, still girl staring at him, her mouth still locked into a premature smile.
"Oh well," Lynn instantly perked up, making him flinch. Shrugging, she handed over five more tickets. "Seems only fair that I miss the first one."
She started again, making two near-perfect shots and two spinning shots. Fighting to keep her adrenaline-surging body still, Lynn smoothly let the last ring go-
-and smack into one of the bottles with a rather loud clang and slip out of sight.
"You can't always nail it, Greg," she tutored. "You gotta train for losses just as much as wins." Another five rings, another five tosses, another five squeals of excitement-
-and another clink as the last one missed it's mark.
"I'm sure the Great Bambino had his bad days too."
Clink! Clink! Clink! Clink! Clang!
"And I bet the Barons aren't missing Jordan."
Four Xs and one O.
"You know how long it took the Cubs to win the World Series? 108 years!"
This time, both the fourth and the fifth missed!
"Seriously, whoever has played a perfect game?"
Nothing.
"Nobody I know, I'll tell you that."
Zilch.
"Would make for a pretty boring game."
Nada.
"Ever heard of the law of averages, Greg?"
Greg was starting to tense up again, just like yesterday, and Lynn was no better. In fact, the girl was sweating up a storm despite the reasonable heat. Nevertheless, she kept smiling as she handed over yet another quintet of tickets to the unnerved attendant.
Nil.
Lynn's eye twitched. Her mouth was straining to keep its smile fixed in place as she reached out to hang over yet five more tickets, her pockets now empty and the stacks in her hand growing smaller and smaller by the minute. Lynn paid them no mind as she took the sacred rings and once again, one-by-one, sent them flying.
Zip.
Five more.
Zippo.
Five more.
Zero.
As her body mechancially went through the motions of tearing off tickets, taking the rings, and throwing them at the bottles, over and over and over again, one single thought raced played over and over in her mind.
'What am I doing wrong? '
Non.
Nein.
Nyeht.
Eventually, she felt her throwing hand touch bare skin. Lynn's eyes trickled down, slowly descending to see that her ticket hand was, to her greatest fear, empty.
With that, both Lynn's smile collasped into a frown. She stared blankly forward, as her mind was overcome with the realization that for the second time in a row, she'd be leaving the fair empty-handed.
And this time, she had no more money to spend.
"Sorry Lynn," Greg said as he watched her eyes glossed over with tears for the second time. He'd learned her name after hearing the phrase, "Lynn Loud never loses" several times in between loses today.
Lynn cast her sad eyes up to look at Jumbo, whom even with his blank expression the girl knew was disappointed in him.
' I'm sorry Jumbo .'
"Yeah, so am I," she sighed. With heavy steps and an even heavier heart, the girl turned and walked off to the exit.
"Nobody's a loser! Everybody's a winner!" Some nearby game speaker shouted.
Great, now the fair itself was mocking her.
"Okay, so obviously, things didn't quite go as planned," Lori said. She and the others were once again back in her room for yet another meeting.
Lola rolled her eyes. "That's an understatement."
Lana sighed. "Lynn's probably going to town on that ring toss right now."
"If it makes you feel any better, she most likely won't be coming home with Jumbo this time either," Lisa stated. "I calculated the odds and they definitely do not appear to be in her favor."
"That's the problem, Liece," Luna said. "Even if she doesn't win again today, she's not gonna' stop until she gets it."
In Luan's arms, Lily babbled.
"That's right, Lily," her buck-toothed sister replied, "She's won't have any money left." "Sigh. Those were all her savings," Lucy looked at the floor.
Leni gulped, "You don't think she'd-"
"Say no more!" Lola jumped up and headed for the door, only to be grabbed by Lori. "Lori, do you want me to get robbed?!"
"NOBODY is getting robbed!" Lori declared, putting her sister down. "Like I said, things didn't go as planned today. Fortunately, I anticipated this during my sleepless night and came up with a backup plan."
She pulled over a chalkboard, revealing a long list.
Bowling_Hide n' Seek_Charades_Cricket_Scuba Diving_Dress-Up_ Skating_Tag_Simon Says_Pool_Chess_Taxes_ Swimming_Ice-Skating_Poker_Tai Chi_Bungee Jumping_Kickboxing_ Diving_Arcade_Mahjong_Snowboarding_Zorbing_Telephone_ Fishing_Yoga_Duck Duck Goose_Skateboarding_Red Light Green Light_Pillow Fight_ Painting_Makeover_Burping Competition_Checkers_Puppet Show_Facials_ Ping-Pong_Shopping Spree_Line Dancing_Basket Weaving_Sewing_Fort-Building_ Karaoke_Rap Battle_Tetherball_Archery_Gym_Cooking_ Frisbee_Lawn Darts_Racketball_Jet-Skiing_Grocery Shopping_Puzzles_ Twister_Lacrosse_Rollar Durby_Fencing_Sculpting_Board Games_Snowball Fight_Debate_Hula Dancing_Sleep
Lori pulled out a piece of chalk. "Okay, so who wants what?"
Her siblings all exchanged glances.
"Lori, those are just more games for her to say no to," Lola complained.
"And half of them are like old people stuff," Lana added.
"And some aren't even possible in our current location," Lisa threw in. "For example-"
"Hey, you try thinking of a plan while fighting off sleep paralysis!" Lori yelled. Leni went over and patted her on the shoulder.
"Don't feel bad, Lori," she said, "I like your plan. Can I have…?"
"If this didn't work before, what makes you think it will now?!" Lola asked. "How about we just chain her up in the basement until she finally snaps and agrees to forget about Jumbo?"
Her sisters all starred at her.
"Seriously sis," Luna said, "Where do you get these ideas?"
"Hmmmpf!" The princess folded her arms and pouted. "You said take it seriously," she muttered to herself, "I take it seriously and everyone calls me crazy."
"We're not going to do anything that endangers Lynn's life, guys," Lori stated. "She may have been crazy, but she never tried to kill us. Now… as for the list-"
"I hate to agree with Princess Pouty," Lana interrupted her, "but she does kind of have a point. Kind of." Her sister glared at her. "I mean, why would Lynn be more open to hanging out with us now that she's gotten deeper into the Jumbo hole?"
"Well, that's the trick, Lana. We'll be using her obsession against her," Lori explained. "Like Lisa calculated, Lynn won't be winning Jumbo today either. Now, not only will she be coming home empty-handed again, BUT also with the knowledge that she is now completely, literally, 100% broke. No savings to fall back on this time. Why, I'm willing to bet that she'll be so rundown and depressed that she'll be open to ANY of these suggestions." She tapped the chalkboard and folded her arms in triumph. "We'll give her so much fun that she'll forget all about Jumbo."
"So… our plan is to basically count on her being so miserable, she'll be willing to participate?" Luna asked. "Yep," Lori smiled, folding her arms triumphantly.
"And you're sure she isn't the least bit suspicious?" Lola added. "I mean, we weren't exactly subtle this morning."
"I'm positive, Lola. No offense to her, but Lynn's not the brighest bulb in the box." Lori playfully tapped the side of her head.
"If you say so," Lola replied, not sounding completely convinced.
"I hate to be that person," Lucy spoke up, "but are you sure we can't ask Mom and Dad for help?"
Lori's smug demenor vanished and anger twisted across her face. "Lucy, I said it once and I'll say it again: Mom and DAD CANNOT find out!" She stamped her foot, making a loud ' bang ' that made her siblings jump. "They were useless back then and they'll probably be even more useless now! Besides, you heard what they said to her last night at dinner; why would Lynn be willing to listen to them after they openly dissed her show and accused
her of poisoning Linky? WE are the only people she trusts!"
"Sigh," Lucy looked down. "Very well."
Lori instantly turned happy again and looked around. "Any other questions?"
The sisters all stayed silent.
"Excellent!" She clapped her hands. "Now, let's get ready, ladies! Phase 2 lives on!"
"Ugh!" Lynn's sadness had morphed into frustration shortly into her ride back home. Now that she no longer had any reason to hurry, she'd decided to take a longer route. At the very least, the exercise may help her cope.
Not only had she once again failed to prove Jumbo's catchphase correct, but now she was COMPLETELY out of money. And judging by her sisters' behavior, Lynn doubted they'd be willing to let her work for any, let alone loan any. Mom and Dad were out of the question; they'd probably ground her for going out at all, let alone spending all her savings on "some silly stuffed animal." Ugh, the words made her skin crawl.
Lori had been right; adults didn't understand her passion. Leave it to the people who DID to be the ones actively trying to stop her though!
"Pffff. Law of averages," Lynn muttered. She didn't see anything average about this scenario. She was broke, outnumbered 10-to-1, and at the moment, had no backup plan. The only thing she had over her siblings was that they (hopefully) didn't know she knew about their plan.
Lynn stopped for a moment to rest and her eyes looked around for some distraction. She'd stopped near the local ballpark, where, in the distance, a group of kids were playing baseball.
Ah, baseball, one of Lynn's favorites. She got off her bike, walked over to a tree, and leaned against it to watch, memories of past ball games seeping through the cracks in her depression and giving her brain some sense of nostalgic happiness to think about. She smiled as she watched one of the batters, a young boy around Lucy's age with curly red hair, hit a foul ball, which soared aimlessly through the air before dropping and plunking the ground right next to the pitcher plate, causing the player to jump in surprise.
' Heh, amateurs,' Lynn thought to herself, ' Sorry kid, but you're no Great Bambino .' She watched him make another miss, spinning on place as the ball sped past. ' Do kids these days even know him? Maybe I should go over there and give them a little history lesson (and practice by the looks of it)? Heh, he'd probably blow their minds. They can only wish to be even a fraction as good as him.' The redhead missed a third ball, striking out. Frustrated, he threw his bat to the ground. ' Pheh, these guys aren't even worthy of touching his bat. Lucky for them I don't own it. I'd make them pay a fortune just to… '
And then… Lynn got an idea.
An awful idea.
Lynn Loud got a wonderful, AWFUL idea!
Sprinting back to her bike, Lynn jumped on and sped off. Her plan for more crash was already etched into her brain. She could already see the cash flowing in, the cash that would give her once again give her a chance to claim her beloved Jumbo and
WAIT! Lynn skitted to a halt as something else hit her.
Her sisters. They'd already been a hassle to get past this morning and there was no telling what they had in store for her now. Heck, they were probably planning on locking her up in her room or chaining her down in the basement the moment she walked in the door. She'd only just gotten away today, after all.
Lynn thought as she started up again. She was the strongest and fittest of them all, but 10-on-1 was still hardly a fair fight. Not to mention, despite everything they'd already done, they were still her family and Lynn didn't think she could bring herself to hurt them, Jumbo or no Jumbo.
No, she'd have to outsmart them in order to succeed. Considering that half of them were older than her (let alone that the second to youngest was a certificed genius), Lynn wasn't counting on it being easy, much less finding another window due to Leni's simplicity. No, they'd be extremely hard to fool. It would certainly be a challenge.
Thankfully, Lynn Loud Jr loved challenges.