Lincoln had driven back to the apartment he and Clyde shared in order to cool off, before he could even hop out his car he noticed the college group chat suddenly becoming active again, when Lincoln checked the messages his jaw dropped. Lincoln officially didn't understand what was happening anymore, what he was looking at was impossible. In the group chat a picture of him and Stella kissing in what looked like his apartment, was circulating.
Lincoln almost couldn't breathe, he was confused due to the fact that him and Stella have never once kissed, but yet here it was in 4k. Lincoln started questioning himself, but no, if he had kissed Stella he'd definitely remember, and why would there be a picture? Who would have took the picture? So many questions ran through Lincoln's mind, but what he couldn't deny was that whoever faked this did an amazing job, and that this was a bad look for him.
'Wait, is this why she unblocked me?, thoughts quickly ran through Lincoln's mind, had Ronnie Anne already caught notice of this. Before he could think further, his phone started blowing up. Messages from his Lori, his other sisters, Sid, Ronnie Anne's cousins, and his mom suggesting that they talk.
'No! This can't be happening!" Lincoln was in disbelief. Lincoln put his keys back in the ignition and prepared to drive back to his mother's house, he was going to clear this up, he didn't know how, but he was!
Lincoln made his way back inside the Loud House opening the door slowly, as he walked he saw the disappointed glares of his younger sisters, an increasingly different vibe from moments ago when they were so happy to see him, it broke his heart, but unfortunately that wasn't the worst of it.
To his amazement he also saw Ronnie Anne on a video chat with Bobby and Lori with tears in her eyes. Lincoln's heart sank, he hadn't seen her in months and his reintroduction to her is this sobbing mess of a woman? Part of Lincoln suspected Ronnie Anne of setting him up, but one look at her disproved those thoughts, she was genuinely hurt and caught off guard there was no faking that. But then who? Who would go this far to frame him? Chandler maybe? Lincoln shook his head, he was getting too far ahead of himself, for now he needed to convince his family and extended family of his innocence.
"Lincoln." Rita said sternly with a hint of disappointment. "Is this why you left in a hurry?" Rita threw a phone with the fake picture of him and Stella kissing. "Lincoln dear, I thought i raised you better than this." Rita stated as the disappointment in her voice increased. The sisters present used this as a sign to also chime in, many lamenting on how they'd never expect their brother to do something like this. Lincoln didn't feel like having to talk over his sisters so he just addressed his mother.
"Mom that picture isn't real! I swear! And I didn't leave because of-"
"A-are you serious?" Ronnie interrupted Lincoln as she held back her tears which were replaced with anger. "Are you seriously telling us the photos are AI!? REALLY!" Ronnie Anne's anger increased as she continued. "Not only are you unloyal, YOU'RE A LIAR, LINCOLN! LOUD!" Ronnie yelled trying to get closer to him but being held back by Lincoln's younger sisters.
Lincoln was dumbfounded, he knew the photo wasn't real and he didn't want to argue as if it was, but he was running out of options.
"Why do you even care, Ronnie!? You dumped me 3 months ago, blocked me on everything, and were even hanging out with Chandler of all people during that time!" Lincoln threw his phone down with a photo of Ronnie Anne with Chandler and their friends. This raised suspicion amongst the younger sisters, they knew how much Chandler bullied their brother, and so did Ronnie Anne. "If you really want to know what I saw when I ran out of here earlier, there it is!" Lincoln said, slightly agitated.
"Look here lameo! I just went out for drinks with Syd and Christina in order to deal with-" Ronnie Anne was gonna say in order to deal with their fight, but on second thought kept that to herself. "I just needed a night out, and I didn't know Chandler was going to be there!" Ronnie Anne's eyes began to water "but you, you lied to me! I knew something wasn't right, but you gaslit me into believing there was nothing between you two." Ronnie Anne began fully crying, not even bothering to attack Lincoln anymore, she was simply crying.
"That's not true!" Lincoln looked around the room. "You have to believe me!" Lincoln studied the faces of his mother and sisters, all he could see was disapproving looks, Ronnie Anne had won the room. Lincoln looked towards his youngest sister Lily who was looking at the ground, almost looking too ashamed to look at her brother. Lily had looked up to Lincoln and had always taken Lincoln's side, this was not a good sign Lincoln. If even Lily was not believing him then all was lost, it was this moment Lincoln lost complete hope.
"Guys, I need to speak to Lincoln privately." Lori said in a serious tone. Lola grabbed Ronnie Anne's phone and begrudgingly handed it to Lincoln with a bit of attitude as everyone exited the room.
"Linc, I don't think I need to explain how disappointed I am in you?" Lori stated, before Lincoln can even speak she continued talking. "Look…" Lori took a deep breath, while she was greatly disappointed in her brother and now saw him in a new light, what she was about to tell him brought her no joy. "You know my son's birthday is coming up right? Well, I can't have this drama on his first birthday." Lori explained.
"What are you saying?" Lincoln said as his voice almost cracked like a teen going through puberty. He couldn't believe this, was he really not going to be able to attend his first nephew's first birthday?
"Babe, maybe we can work something out? There has to be a better way." Bobby whispered. He was disappointed in Lincoln from a brotherly standpoint, but also pissed as Ronnie Anne's brother, but regardless Lincoln was their child's uncle. "I mean they're both adults, regardless of all this I'm sure they can act civilly for their nephew?"
"Boo boo bear the vibe will be all off, and we don't have time to figure all this out." Lori whispered back then turned her attention back to Lincoln. "Linc I'm sorry, I really mean that, but you put yourself in this situation. I know as the uncle you want to be there, but as his mother I HAVE to make sure his first birthday doesn't go wrong."
Lincoln growled with anger and hung up the call and stomped out the house. There was no point in trying to convince his family if even Lily won't listen to him. He hopped in his car preparing to leave, he put the keys in the ignition while grabbing his phone. Lincoln saw a crazy amount of new messages from within the last 2 hours, he sighed as he knew exactly what this was about, and he was right. Lincoln read through most of his messages from classmates, acquaintances, and even friends pretty much calling him a scumbag. His eyes nearly popped out his head when he saw Christina was trying to send him a message on Instagram. He didn't accept the request but read the message.
"I always knew you were a little creep weirdo but now the world knows you're a cheater! I hope you get what you deserve but until then don't worry about Ronnie. We'll make sure to take great care of her 'smiley emoji' we've already got some hot dates lined up for her with men 1000x better than you 'kissy emoji' enjoy your karma"
Just reading that infuriated Lincoln, who did she think she was? Lincoln makes his way back to his shared apartment with Clyde. Walking into his apartment still furious.
"CLYDE!" Lincoln yelled then turned to slam his keys onto a table. "You won't believe the bullshit going on right now
Lincoln was about to scream Clyde's name again but then he heard some faint crying.
"Oh you wanna bet?" Clyde said sarcastically.
"Clyde?" Lincoln said weirdly confused as he walked into Clyde's room and saw his friend group of Liam, Rusty, Zach, & Clyde comforting a crying Stella. Lincoln was about to ask what was going on but then his brain started to function again, and he put two and two together. Stella must also be feeling the effects of that picture, this irritated Lincoln even more.
After Stella calmed down slightly more she explained to Lincoln what she had already explained to Clyde, Liam, and the rest. How all her girlfriends except for Girl Jordan and a girl named Louis sent her mean messages berating her for kissing Lincoln. A boy Stella had just started dating and was getting to know hadn't officially dumped her, but he wasn't speaking to her, and all his friends sent her messages calling her a whore.
"This is bullshit!" Lincoln said, agitated.
"Come on Linc, I know this sucks but Ronnie Anne left you 3 months ago it's not like you're losing much here." Zach spoke.
"Not losing much!?" Lincoln shouted. "I've been thoroughly embarrassed today and I'm almost certain my family hates me now!" Lincoln vented his emotions.
"Just calm down buddy." Clyde tried to reassure his friend. "There's no way your family would ever hate you, even for this." Clyde explained making Lincoln sigh.
"Yeah I guess, but man you should've seen their faces, the way they looked at me, I've never seen my mom or sisters look at me in such a way. It was almost as if…." Lincoln shook his head, he couldn't bring himself to dwell any longer on this painful memory. "But that's not even the worst of it." Lincoln told his friends.
"It gets worse!?" Rusty couldn't help but comment, earning stares from everyone else.
"Yeah…" Lincoln said as he sat on the bottom half of Clyde's bed in order to reveal the worst part of his day. "My sister told me I couldn't even come to my own nephew's first birthday." Lincoln revealed.
"No Way!" Rusty yelled out.
For the first time Stella had looked up towards Lincoln. She thought she had it the worst in this situation, but she couldn't imagine getting uninvited from such an important family moment. One thing the Louds were about is family, hell there's a reason why there's 11 of them. The first birthday of the first born child of the Loud kids? That was a huge deal, and to get barred from such an event was an even bigger deal. This was more than a simply birthday party for a one year old, it was the celebration of a milestone, one Lincoln was being excluded from. Looking in her friend's eye, the boy now turned young man she had grown to love as an actual brother, she could see the pain in his eyes.
"Linc, I'm so sorry." Stella told Lincoln.
"How can they even do this?" Clyde wondered.
"They didn't want this drama between me and Ronnie Anne to ruin there kids first birthday, they want everything to be perfect." Lincoln explained.
"Can it really be perfect without ya?" Liam asked.
"He's right, they shouldn't let this get in the way of that." Rusty agreed with Liam.
"You know this picture is actually giving me a bit of nostalgia." Zach said looking at the picture of Lincoln and Stella kissing, causing Liam to also look at the picture Zach was displaying.
"I reckon that's from one of those nights we went to that one bar right thur by that shopping outlet and what not." Liam guessed, causing everyone else to also come and take a look to verify.
"THAT IS THAT BAR!" Rusty confirmed in shock.
"Which night was this?" Clyde asked.
"Based on Stella's outfit this was definitely on Zach's 21st birthday?" Rusty answered.
"Based on Stella's outfit?" Lincoln said as he and everyone stared at rusty suspiciously, as if he was a creep.
"I have a good memory, so sue me!" Rusty defended himself.
"Why don't you remember the night based on what Linc wore then?" Zach smugly answered.
"Cause Lincoln only ever wears orange! Look, can we focus on the matter at hand?" Rusty said in a defensively annoyed tone, causing everyone including Lincoln and Stella to chuckle if even for just a few seconds.
"Okay okay." Clyde regained his composure. "He's right though, it would also explain why Zach felt nostalgia from that picture." Clyde explained. "But where are we? I mean we were all together that whole night like always." Clyde wondered.
"Edited out I supposed, man whoever photoshopped this should pursue a career in editing." Rusty praised the photo.
"No kidding! Almost had me convinced for a minute." Zach agreed with Rusty.
"Guys!" Lincoln yelled confused.
"No offense meant there Linc, we're just acknowledging how real like this here photo is." Liam explained.
"Yes guys, keep praising the psychopath who is trying to ruin me and Stella's life." Lincoln chastised.
"Who'd go through this much work to ruin your reputation?" Clyde wondered.
"What? Guys, it's obvious as day who did this." Rusty told the group.
"It is?" Zach and Liam spoke at the same time, making Rusty facepalm.
"Dudes! Clearly Ronnie Anne did this!" Rusty revealed. "Is it a coincidence that Ronnie Anne dumped Lincoln 3 months ago over him not cutting off Stella now this happens? Once a bully, always a bully." Rusty proclaimed. "And also these pics leak on the same day as those pictures with Ronnie with Chandler's gang? C'mon!"
"Wait, she did what!?" Stella asked, this being her first time hearing this, causing Rusty to cover his mouth feeling like he might have said too much. All Lincoln could do was sigh, no point in even keeping that a secret anymore, it was the least of his worries.
"Nice going Rust." Zach said sarcastically.
"Is this why you guys were acting so weird when I wanted to tell Lincoln when we saw Richie kissing Ronnie!?" Stella asked, making Zach slap his forehead in defeat knowing this was going to be bad.
"WHAT!?" Lincoln jumped up in surprise.
"It was a cheek kiss!" Rusty defended.
"And we were all super drunk!" Zach added.
"We just wanted more information to see how everything played out before running our mouths buddy." Clyde said in a more calmed down reasonable tone, but it was too late. Lincoln was furious, not at his friends, but Ronnie Anne, he was even more furious that he couldn't even tell Ronnie Anne off because he'd look like a hypocrite. Lincoln stood there clenching his fist hard as he grit his teeth, but then it all started to add up to him. Chandler was the one who leaked that photo to humiliate Lincoln, then the fake photo of him and Stella leaked afterwards! They had to be connected, Chandler probably wanted Lincoln to go off on Ronnie Anne just so he could look like a hypocrite 2 hours later when they dropped the fake picture of him kissing Stella. 'It all made sense!' Lincoln thought he originally thought Ronnie Anne was the culprit, but Chandler just made more sense.
"Sorry Link, I knew I should've told you as soon as I saw it." Stella apologized, now feeling she's been a burden to Lincoln, causing this whole situation by simply wanting to be his friend.
"Yeah man, we just really didn't want to hurt you." Rusty added gently.
"We already knew you were going through a lot buddy." Clyde also chimed in.
"It's okay." Lincoln took a deep breath to calm himself. "None of this is your fault guys, and I can't afford to be mad at you even if I wanted to." Lincoln chuckled to spite himself. "Heck, as of right now you guys are the only support I have right now." Lincoln kept chuckling but could feel his eyes watering as Stella pulled him into a sideways hug as a few tears fell from her eyes as well.
"We have no intention of letting you guys deal with this alone! Matter of fact, we're going to help you find the culprit!" Zach declared confidently. "I'm not exactly sure how though." Zach muttered with less confidence.
"Well Rusty did make a darn lot of sense though if I do say so myself, it all just adds up." Liam agreed with what Rusty said. Lincoln sighed once more again, what Rusty said did make a lot of sense, it was how Lincoln felt initially, but now he just couldn't help but feel that was wrong. Lincoln finished putting his thoughts in order to properly speak.
"Look guys, I'd be lying if I said I didn't think the same thing," Lincoln paused to sigh. "But I don't think Ronnie Anne is the one who's doing this." Lincoln told his friends.
"Why rule Ronnie Anne out?" Clyde asked Lincoln to a cheer of "yeahs" from everyone else (sans Stella) who were curious.
"As much as I can't stand Ronnie Anne, I can't deny that after all these years I know her very well. Ronnie Anne is a horrible actor, she couldn't hold her true feelings in to save her life." Lincoln explained, grabbing all his friends' attention. "When she and my family ambushed me I could tell she was sincerely hurt. She looked genuinely caught off guard, there was even a shred of guilt in her eyes when I confronted her on hanging with Chandler's gang." Lincoln grabbed his forehead, emotionally drained. "I think it's much more likely Chandler is behind this." Lincoln calmly revealed.
"Seriously?" Rusty said thinking about the possibility.
"Chandler.." Stella said with venom in her voice. Stella never liked Chandler. There was a time in middle school when Chandler would invite Stella to parties and to hang out with him and his "popular" friends, but Stella would decline. She was not a fan of the way he would pick on Lincoln, so it was a hard pass for her. It was at this point Chandler would go into a diatribe about how lame her friend group was. "You seriously can't tell me you'd rather hang out with those losers!" Chandler said agitated as he pointed to Rusty and Zach in a heated argument over anime. "That's exactly what I'm telling you, I'd never want to hang out with someone who picks on my friend." Stella told Chandler matter of factly as she left. The fact she had bruised Chandler's over inflated ego brought Stella great pleasure. Who was he to call her friends losers? And even if they were, who cared? They were still humans with feelings, and she had fun whenever they were around, they actually appreciated her. All someone like Chandler could appreciate about her was her looks and popularity amongst the boys of their school. Stella had hoped this would send a message to Chandler and he'd leave Lincoln alone, but all it did was make Chandler bully him even more.
By the time they all reached high school, the beef between Chandler and Lincoln had hit its boiling point. Stella was cool with this girl named Marie who shared the same Biology class with her and Lincoln. She was a pretty, and as far as Stella could tell, nice young woman. She seemed to have taken a liking to Lincoln, from trying to always partner with him (even though he usually always partners with Stella.), and continuously talking to him. One day Lincoln calm to class with a different outfit than what he's used to wearing, Marie noticed and decided to compliment him, saying looked "cute" today. This seemed to trigger Chandler and influence later actions. Lincoln couldn't help but be flustered by Marie's comments, it wasn't everyday a girl he wasn't related to complimented him. Stella would have given Lincoln more compliments to make him feel better but she didn't want them to be taken in the wrong way, so she was glad another girl was complimenting him. From Stella's perspective Lincoln and Marie were having a blast talking and laughing together, Stella even let them be partners today while she found someone else. It was all shaping up to be a great day for Lincoln, unfortunately the class had to eventually come to an end. When the bell rang Lincoln grabbed his bag, waving goodbye to Marie. Stella soon caught up to him,
"What's with that smile?" Stella said to Lincoln, teasing him. Lincoln's smile soon turn to red blush, before Lincoln could respond all he could hear was "Nice fit, Loud!" as someone pulled his pants down. "Next time don't forget the belt though, loser!" Lincoln turned around to see a laughing Chandler mocking him, not only that but a group of kids who were walking behind him were laughing too! He could even see Marie trying her best to hide her face as she chuckled. Lincoln's face went from blush red to angry red, before Stella could tell everyone laughing to shut up Lincoln was on the floor letting Chandler have it. The crowd's laughter soon turned into cheers of "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!". Stella didn't even bother trying to stop Lincoln, honestly she had to fight the urge to not join in or stomp on Chandler's head, but the fight was very one sided on Lincoln's part, so there was no need. Stella was rather surprised that Lincoln was actually working for Chandler. While both were pretty tall for freshmen, Lincoln being 5 '9, and Chandler being 5' 11, Chandler was definitely the more athletic of the two, currently being a member of the football team, but he was still somehow losing, maybe years of playing basketball and play fighting with Lynn actually paid off, Stella thought. Stella turned to look at Marie who now wore a look of concern or worry, this made Stella sigh. It was all going so well for Lincoln, but of course Chandler wasn't going for that. A pit of anger rose within Stella, all Stella could hear next was a teacher screaming at Lincoln and Chandler to break it up as all the kids tried to put their phones away as fast as they could.
The teacher pulled Lincoln off of Chandler, Chandler had clearly taken more damage. A broken nose, and what looked like would develop into a black eye, this didn't look good Lincoln. The teacher dragged both to the principal's office, and Stella followed behind as a witness, afraid that her friend might get in some serious trouble. Stella and a few students who actually saw the whole, including MArie, explained what happened. Stella went out of her way to explain how Chandler would always bully Lincoln, how Lincoln was a good kid, but kids can only deal with so much. Stella really did a great job as Lincoln's defense attorney, but the best she could do was keep him from not being expelled, something Chandler's parents were fighting for. Since Lincoln had never caused trouble before, and the school was able to corroborate Chandler's history of bullying Lincoln, he was let off with a three week suspension, while Chandler only had a 3 day suspension. It was unfair in Stella's opinion, but she was just glad her friend wasn't expelled. Also Chandler embarrassed Lincoln by panting him, it was overshadowed when the video of Lincoln whooping Chandler's ass hit the internet. Everyone on his team would make fun of him, wondering how Chandler could lose to a scrawny snow haired freak. Chandler never dared to insult Lincoln to his face again, or prank him, but it was very clear Chandler still harbored feelings of jealousy towards, and after being embarrassed so widely, there was now hate added there.
Stella gritted her teeth remembering all of that and thinking he could be the one behind all of this. It wouldn't even surprise Stella. He held a grudge against Lincoln, and resentment towards her for calling him on his shallow nature. Chandler was a popular figure, he had multiple girls interested in him, and a different girl around his arm every year, not to mention he started dating Christina during their last year of middle school. In reality he had nothing to be jealous of Lincoln about, it really couldn't have killed him to let Lincoln enjoy the company of a cute girl or once? He just couldn't let Lincoln get ONE win! Stella seethed the more she thought about it.
"It probably was that asshole! Huh!?" Stella's tears of sorrow turned into tears of anger.
"Well I reckon we pay him a little visit." Liam suggested.
"Huh!?" Rusty started to sweat.
"Shoot, count me in!" Zach said ready for action.
"Wait, guys! You can't be serious. Clyde talk some sense into them. Violence is never the answer right?" Rusty said sheepishly.
"Well I guess every now and again it is." Clyde muttered shocking everyone.
"I didn't expect that." Zach muttered to Liam as he nodded in agreement.
"Clyde! You're a pacifist! What are you even saying!? Your parents would have a panic attack if they heard you talking like this! You've never gotten into a fight your whole life!" Rusty shouted at Clyde more so out of confusion than angered.
"Well I'm not just gonna sit her and watch one of my best friends cry her heart out and be called a whore!" Clyde raised his voice. "And excuse my language but I'm DAMN sure not going to watch as my brother gets BANNED from such and important moment of his and his family's life!" Clyde began to take a deep breath as Stella and Lincoln looked at him wide eyed. "Look, I don't know what we're going to do, but we're going to do something!"
"I second that!" Liam agreed with Clyde.
"And I third it!" Zach also cheered.
Rusty sighed, he never wanted to get into a fight, but he also couldn't just let this happen to the only group a people who were nice enough to befriend him.
"I guess I'm in this with you guys too." Rusty said with a smile.
"When I first moved here…" tears began dropping from Stella's eyes. "I felt so lonely, I'm just…" Stella looked up with tears completely running down her face. "I'm just so glad I chose you guys as friends!" When Stella finished, as the boys surrounded Stella for a group hug.
"Geez." Lincoln said, chuckling, grateful to have such amazing friends. "Okay guys, but if we're going to do this let's figure out a plan or something, I'd rather save fighting as a last resort." Lincoln said much to Rusty's relief. "I'd really hate if anything were to happen to you guys." Lincoln said, flashing a huge smile at his 5 friends.
A/N: Okay this chapter took forever because school, work, blah blah, but really because I wrote a whole other chapter and it was super boring to read and write, so I decided to rewrite it how I kind of intended to begin with. Anyways the next chapter will eventually drop when I have all the pieces together.