Authors Notes:

N/A

Disclaimer:

I do not own "The Loud House" (No shit u don't). It belongs to Nickelodeon, and Chris Savino.

ACT II

RUMINATION

PAST

— - —

Excerpt from the Diary of Lucy Loud

Entry 1#

Pop-pop was buried at the Royal Woods Cemetery, where I used to meet with the Morticians Club. It was where we would partake in meetings outside of our school and share our poems together. I remember when I showed it to Pop-pop during his visits. Now, my own blood, the life born before me was gone.

It wasn't entirely gloomy, though. Luna and her band played with music appropriate for the funeral. Scoots attended, and so did Aunt Ruth, which made Seymour more comfortable. Myrtle was there and several people from Sunset Canyons arrived. Most of my older sisters did, too. The fact these people came showed how much they valued our grandfather and how much he'll be missed. Lori, however, could not attend as she was busy with a court case and sent us her deepest apologies. I joined with those who dug through the soil and buried my grandfather beneath the earth.

Our mother stood beside a portrait of him, her face thinly veiled and a black robe when down to her legs. She provided a tribute to Pop-pop, retelling the memorable times she had with him- the time he taught her how to fly a plane, the day he attended her wedding, and how happy he was with the fruits the family tree had grown. The rest shared their own eulogies and before it ended, Lisa used her connections to set off fireworks in the night sky, which created his face and the words beside it that read, "POP-POP".

The ride home was near silent. I sat on my chair, rethinking my ideologies. What kind of monster am I? To love death, something that brings hurt and misery to people? I only did it to make myself more comfortable with that concept and for others. It's why I made those funerals and told people their loved ones are now in peace within worlds beyond our touch. People who thought I was a "weirdo" for that never understood why I made those decisions.

I imagined those people with two-faced pity, looking at me with proudness in their eyes. To criticize me for how I handled Pop-pop's death differently from others, as if the expiration of his life was nothing more than an opportunity to show my hypocrisy and test my values for other people's lives vs his own.

Am I truly a hypocrite to feel heart-broken by my grandfather's death and not others? Is my sorrow not worth validating? I do not know nor do I believe the timing is appropriate to share those thoughts.

We went home and several of Pop's-pop's friends and family came by to pity our loss. Our parents shared their conversations while the rest laid in their bedrooms. We later ate, bathed, and slept in silence. The Loud House was not the same as it was before.

Pop-pop, if you're reading this, where are you? How do you feel now that you have left earth? Can you descend from the heavens and comfort our wounded hearts?

Please, tell me something. Anything. I miss you, Pop-pop.

Entry 2#

It wasn't long before Pop-pop's absence. I remember going to Sunset Canyon when I was 14-years-old. It was just Lincoln, me, the twins, Lisa, and Lily. Everyone else moved out to college or have jobs. Lincoln was playing shuffleboard with him and Lily. Lola had to clean up a mess from the pudding machine again while Lisa repaired it. I took a swim in the pool while Lana went out to get some ice-cream.

The rest of the day went smoothly. We sat down in the dining room, enjoying our meal and shared each other stories of our lives. Pop-pop went to his room to relax while the rest continued playing. I approached his bedroom and announced my arrival. He welcomed me in and I booted up my phone, presenting him examples to showcase my fascination of the possibilities in what happens after death.

The Garden of Eden.

The Underworld.

Reincarnation.

The Spirit World and many more. He did not seem interested in what I had to say, though, but Pop-pop told me he was proud of my interests. Before we went home, I told him I wanted to present it because we both were aware of the ghosts within Loch Loud, so it was possible that once his life passes, he could spend more time with us as a ghost.

Pop-pop said while he wishes that would happen too, sometimes things are gone for good. Looking at things now, I have moments where I believe he was right. If he did turn into a ghost, wouldn't he have appeared by now? What's stopping him? I don't know and I'm not even sure if he's a ghost at all. I tried to call upon the spirits and was met with nothing. I tried to call upon our ancestors and received no answer.

I'm getting frustrated. I have all these questions with nothing to satisfy my curiosity. Part of me wants to give up and move on with life. It's what Pop-pop wanted anyway, but I DON'T want that; I want to see him again, I just don't know how. If I'm never going to talk or see him again, the least I could have been knowing he's living peacefully in the afterlife.

And if I can't see him in the form of a ghost, what if I can bring him back from the dead? Maybe that would work. Unfortunately, nothing in my spell book teaches me that, nor does anything in the internet that works.

But maybe someone who I know can help me with that.

ELSEWHERE

— - —

In a room surrounded by machinery, a young girl stood in-front of a table laid with various tools and technology. Previously, it was used to help further her progress in science- but now, it was there to distract her from the past.

She soldered the components onto the motherboard. Every success gave the genius a moment of accomplishment, until-

"Lisa."

"Gah!" She yelled as she fell down before she relaxed and turned to the source of the voice, "How, how did you get into my bunker?"

"You still haven't changed your password."

Lisa was dumbfounded, "Correct. Anyway, what kind of assistance you require?"

"It's about Pop-"

"Please do not finish that sentence." Her voice was stern- an invisible boundary between the two was broken, "I've made it clear I do not wish to participate in another topic about him."

Lucy tilted her head down in shame. She was beginning to regret her decision, but she came here and wasn't going to give up. She sucked it up and went on, "I apologize for causing trouble, but I am only here because I have a problem that involves our deceased grandfather."

She leaned forward, "Please? I wouldn't be bringing this is up unless it's important and you're the only one I know who could help me- at least, I think you can help me."

Lisa sighed in frustration and tried to be patient.

"Just tell me what it is."

"No, I cannot bring our grandfather back to life."

Lucy was confused, "Why is that?"

Lisa breathed in to calm herself down.

"Because I tried and it failed."

Hearing those words made Lucy wonder if she pushing her too far. It was bad enough she disrespected her sister's boundaries, was she going to enable a conversation that may remind Lisa of her failure, especially a very personal one?

The black-haired girl eyed her younger sibling in ignominy, "I- I apologize, Lisa. I should go now-"

"Wait a minute," the genius was stunned, "You do not wish to hear it?"

"Well," Lucy shrugged her head in confusion, "I thought it might upset you more."

"Actually," Lisa said as she sat her chair, "Now that we are discussing it, I feel like it's opportunity to express my thoughts on said matter instead of talking to myself about it. So, - "Lucy sat on a chair in-front of Lisa, "-I've tried three different methods. The first method was to try and re-engineer the suit that extends his life span. It did not work as I failed to reprogram it, and the suit was made with the original intention of extending life-span, not resurrecting one. I then tried to bring back the deceased in a 'frakenstein' style, using high voltage of electricity and experimented on one of my deceased rodents. It came back as a living corpse and was terminated shortly after."

Lucy shouldn't be surprised given what Lisa is capable of, but to hear Lisa bring back a zombie was a first.

The girl continued, "Then, I took even drastic approach. The plan was to use my mind-swapping machine to take the human consciousness of her grandfather and implant said consciousness into a host, like one of my test dummies for testing, but to get to the theorized location of our grandfather's consciousness, I made Todd-" she gulped, "-remove his corpse from the graveyard and brought him to my bunker at midnight."

Lucy gasped, "Lisa!"

She looked back with disgust, "Sister unit, I understand your emotional distress and I apologize for disrespecting our grandfather unit's corpse, but how else could I perform my experiments without his physique? Our human minds are trapped within our biological structure until cessation of cell life for reasons we do not yet understand, so bringing him hear was my best option. Please understand that."

The goth tilted her head down and her right finger tips pressed against her temple, "At least tell me you buried him after you were finished."

The scientist's face became relaxed, "I did."

For a moment, she smiled, "I'm grateful of that."

"You are welcome. Now," The brown-haired girl continued, "I placed him into a machine. My first step was to check if the human consciousness still remained within him and I was met invalid host errors, meaning his human consciousness was no longer present."

"How come?"

Lisa's chin touched with her right palm, "I believe once his biological cells ceased functions, his consciousness left the moment his anatomy failed to meet sustainable levels. Wherever his consciousness went is an anomaly to me as I do not have the technology to locate it. I may have been able to invent a time machine, but there are fields even I fail to understand, sister unit."

Lucy's face was skeptical, "Are you sure there are no other ways to bring him back?"

"Positive. I've already checked and I will do it again to present it to you." She hopped-off her chair and looked at a wall, "What do you think, Mimir?" To Lucy, it appeared as if Lisa was talking to herself again- soon, a large Tv display lowered itself from the ceiling before it stopped and turned on to a blue blank filter, "Is there any information to resuscitate the deceased?"

I have searched every possible location and atom within our solar system, the display read, The answer is still no. There is currently no existing technology or anomalous phenomenon to achieve that.

"Mimir?" Lucy asked with curiosity.

Lisa turned around and looked at her big sister, "When I was two-years-old, one of my many ideologies were to create a method. A method of obtaining information on a universal scale and the level of information that can be obtained up to the highest achievable amount a homo sapien can comprehend in our current generation- this includes information never discovered throughout human history or can no longer be recalled by natural means."

The girl resumed, "I've decided to construct a machine with that mindset. I spent years of trial and error in perfecting this method. This machine must feasibly obtain information on a universal scale, whilst under complete safety and veiled from rival parties. I eventually realized what I needed to create was not just a machine, but also one that can concentrate and obtain data without common human errors such as fatigue, distractions, and send that data into a machine to be stored- an AI system. Using my knowledge, and records of previously made Artificial Intelligence, I went to work."

"More than half a decade later, Mimir was made. It has no functional personality system installed, as I saw no reason to implement such a system. Since its creation, it has benefited not just myself, but also in the works of NATO and United States Military- I have sent military commanders' information of an attack before the attack goes into effect. I've supplemented world leaders and politicians of disastrous scandals and scenarios that they otherwise would've failed to predict." Lisa sat back on her chair with her legs crossed together, her hands sat above her thighs, "In casual terms, my device has helped myself and others be one step against everyone."

Lucy's right hand raised and touched her chin, her head tilted slightly to the right, "Do they know about Mimir?"

Lisa shook her head, "No, they do not. Should that ignorance become compromised, they may potentially relocate my machine to an alternative location for them to utilize it more and make me provide data regarding Helios. I do not wish to create widespread usage of this machine, nor do I intend to put up years of hiatus on my personal ideologies just to create another." Lisa placed her right hand behind her head, "I also forgot to mention all of the information I shared to commanders' and such were done anonymously to avoid questioning."

"So, you have a problem in telling them, yet you're alright in talking to me about this?"

"Precisely." Lisa answered, before thinking to herself, 'I'll just erase your memory specifically about Mimir, anyway.'

Lisa stood-up, adjusting her sleeves, "Well, I believe that concludes our discussion." Her hand faced to two doors behind Lucy, "Please enter the elevator, push B2, and you will-"

"Hang on," A gloomy, deadpan voice cut-off the scientist's vocals, "There's one more thing I want to talk to you about."

Lucy was met by an amused Lisa, her eyes forming impatience, "What is it?!"

"I will tell you, but first, you have to keep it a secret. Okay?"

Lisa crossed her arms and considered the goth's words, "As long as nothing of what was said here exits this bunker, I will cooperate."

"Okay, here it is…"

"So, let me summarize this," Lisa stated, "You feel like a hypocrite for feeling bad about our grandfather's death, yet not others, especially when you embraced and romanticized death to feel more comfortable around it?"

Lucy nodded. Lisa looked down, unsure of how to answer. 'I am unable to provide a useful response', was what Lisa wanted to say. She held back, knowing the dissatisfaction it may birth to- instead, she tried something else.

Lisa looked up, "Lucy, I too tend to feel like a hypocrite around that field sometimes. Whenever I experimented with a rat, I used to feel empathetic towards their neutralization of my projects, even when I knew the outcome of them. It was why I tried to not formulate an emotional attachment towards these specimens, and overtime, the concept of empathy lessened towards them. I too wondered if I was a hypocrite for that."

Lisa defensively crossed her arms, "Perhaps we are hypocrites, perhaps we are not. Whether we accept that or not is up to us, but it does not mean how we think and feel towards the death of Pop-pop is any less valid all because we did not feel the same way towards a separate human being that expired, so please, do not think how you felt of his death should not be accepted because that is simply not true. He was, and still is, our family member whom we love. We have every right on how we should feel about one of them passes." For a moment, she looked around the room, "I even bet he is here right now."

"What do think he would say to us right now?"

For a moment, Lisa paused. Her hands clamped together, and her fingers met. Moments later, she answered, "To tell us not to worry. To keep him in our hearts and not forget him so his memories and name will live on. To comfort and tell us things will be okay, even if it does not seem like it would. He would say he wants us to have a happy life, he just can no longer be in it- but no matter what happens to us or the challenges we'll face, he'll always be by our side."

She hoped off her chair and placed her hand onto Lucy's shoulder. For a moment, Lisa heard a sniff, "Because our grandfather loves us, Lucy. He loves us so much that he would do anything to make sure what happened to him did not bring us down."

Lucy sniffed again and wiped her eyes, a tear slowly streamed down her face, "I know, I know. I'm sorry for this, I just…" She sniffed again, "I just miss him so much, and I want to see him again."

Lisa considered her words, "I know you do and one day, sister unit, you will see him again. But for now, let's try and make a happy life, okay? We are still young; we still have so many opportunities to find and encounter."

"I will." Lucy stood up, "You have my thanks for talking to me about this, Lisa. I needed this."

"You're welcome," Lisa responded before thinking to herself, 'As long as she keeps the existence of Helios hidden, no further action will be necessary.'

"Okay, I'll leave now." Lucy said before she turned around and made her way to the elevator doors. Just as she pressed the button and the doors open, she looked behind, "Do you think Pop-pop's in heaven? Right now?"

"I'm afraid I have no answers to those questions," The genius responded in disappointment, "However, I do know he is out there. Somewhere, and we know him well enough to where he wants us to move on and continue living our lives with content. Hopefully our trip in the coming weeks may assist us with that. So, try not to become overly attached to this, okay? We cannot let what happened disrupt us."

The doors open and Lucy stepped in.

"Sure, I will." She lied, before the doors closed in front of them.

PRESENT

— - —

The sounds of typing bounced between the naked walls of a girl's bedroom. Lucy sat in-front of a table with her laptop, watching a funny clip shared by one of her older sisters.

"Hello, I am Katherine Mulligan, reporting to you from the Ascension Champions Tournament 2023. I am here with nEts, the head coach of the Ohio Vipers."

The footage beside Mulligan depicted white man wearing a blue T-shirt and grey khaki. His hands were in his pants and he failed to look towards the camera. His frown hinted something was wrong.

Mulligan turned to him, "So, nEts, last round the Michigan Forces beat your team in 13-9. Now, despite the lost, we know they have a lot of potential in winning this based on their skill and game sense, so how do you plan on helping your team and winning your next round?"

nEts looked up, defeated, "My plan, uh? Well, uh, we lost our game earlier, and uh, the map, I mean- it was our best map, but we still lost, so, uh, I don't know."

The video paused as Lucy took the time to internalize what was said before laughing. She received a notification from her laptop, which read-

Lynn Jr: Did you watch that, Luce? We beat them so hard that he gave up! No wonder we won 13-0 the next round.

Lucy: I did

Lynn Jr: I was like, "Wait, what the hell? He gave up? Guys, this man fucking gave up! My God, where's a therapist?"

Lucy: Hahaha

Lynn Jr: Anyway, I gotta go now. Need to practice for tomorrow's game. Wish me luck, Luce.

Lucy: I will. Good luck, Lynn.

-before she closed her chat log and turned around towards the room in-front of her.

To her right was her bed with beige bedsheets and a grey blanket. To her right were her drawers, trophy stack, bathroom door, and in the front were her wardrobe and coat hanger. There wasn't a lot of space, but it was doable for her. It was a pain in the ass for her to setup her bedroom all by herself, though.

She wished Luan was there to help.

*DOOR OPENS*

"Hey, Luce!" Luan greeted, "Just got back from work and-" she scanned the area, "-I like what you've done to your room!"

"Thank you for the compliment."

The comedian smiled, "Say, how was college?"

"Boring. All we did was give introductions and talk about what we're going to learn. Learning doesn't start until next week."

Luan then placed her handbag near Lucy's bed and sat beside her, "Same. We've got some people, but haven't agreed yet on whether they could join or not."

"So, that makes two of us." Her elbows reached onto her desk, "I'm not surprised."

"You made some friends there?"

"Yep, they like hanging out with me. We sat down at lunch, eating rice and getting to know each other. Cleo helps her mother out at a restaurant after she finishes her college lessons, while Darius makes some income from marketing stuff on TikTok."

"Well, it's nice to know them." She leaned back slightly with her arms to support her, "What about the mortician's club?"

"I-" Lucy stammered, "-well, Haiku's learning management. The others, I don't know. We just stopped talking to each other after finishing high school and moved on."

Luan became a little concerned, "You don't even try to keep in contact with them?"

Lucy turned her head slightly to the right in shame, "No."

Luan looked down with a tad of disappointment, "Well, alright then." She turned her body towards the door frame behind her, and looked back at Lucy, "You wanna help me make dinner?"

"I will." Luan exited the bedroom after Lucy answered.

The moment Lucy stood up, her laptop pings to a message. She turned around to inspect it.

Discord Private Chat Log ID – 24783901

Members:

- UrielisBack

- OneWeirdWeeb

Urielisback: hey, Lucy! it's me, haiku!

OneWeirdWeeb: Haiku? Why aren't you on your other account?

UrielisBack: oh, this is another account i made to use for more personal stuff. speaking of which, i need something from you. you know that book you have called the door to a thousand worlds, right? do you still have it?

OneWeirdWeeb: Yes, why?

UrielisBack: well, see, can i borrow it? i need it for something

OneWeirdWeeb: Why would you need that book in the first place? You know what it is/contains.

UrielisBack: i just want to read some stuff in it, that's all

OneWeebWeird: Specifically, that book I have? You made a brand-new account out of nowhere and the next thing you tell me after that is to try and borrow something that you already know by memory?

UrielisBack: yes. you know how much i love thinking about different worlds, after all.

OneWeirdWeeb: No, I don't. That's new to me. You're not Haiku, are you? Get lost, creep.

[UrielisBack has been blocked]

Lucy stood there, wondering who that person was. She wasn't sure what else could happen a part from this or if she should feel worried about it.

'Maybe not,' Lucy thought to herself, 'I'm sure blocking whoever that was should be enough.' Before the teenager left her room and made her way to the kitchen.

Hopefully her thought was right.

ELSEWHERE

— - —

Life is like a lottery.

That's how it works.

You were either born in a poor developing country or a world ruled by money. The path you take to begin your life is beyond your control, and is one of the many reasons why it's unfair; but what you can control are the decisions, and actions you make throughout. Whatever fortune or ruin you make in life is up to you. Sometimes, however, people do things that completely burns bridges with the ones you care for.

And sometimes, you don't get forgiveness.

One of those people was a blonde-haired girl who lived in Michigan. This young diva possessed a history of starting drama with her family, whether it was a disagreement or failing to respond rationally. Despite that, they never loved her any less and were more than willing to provide support should she need it.

The most common was her pageant career- her family would cheer for her success, and Lincoln made sure she was ready for her pageants. Lola didn't just see Lincoln as her brother, she saw him as a teacher, her mentor, and the one who would guide Lola to victory; which is why whenever she won a contest, she would run up to him, saying, "I did it, Linky! I did it! Thank you so much for helping me!"

Now, those times were gone- he left The Loud Family's home to pursue his own career, while the young princess continued her path on her own. It wasn't like she needed his help anymore, thanks to her self-sabotage.

And then, there was Winston.

Winston Theodore Kronnecker was viewed as the "rich kid" by the students of Royal Woods Elementary School, thanks to his choice of clothing, his family, and the fact he would be driven to school by a limousine. Winston wouldn't rub his family's wealth onto his classmates, or would bring it up just to rub his ego as he saw no reason to make an enemy with the pupils he studied with. Classmates or envied adored him for his privilege in being born into his family.

Some associated with Winston primarily to leech off his wealth, before realizing he barely had any money on his own; his parents very rarely shared Winston their money to make sure he didn't end up spoiled. This includes abstaining from buying anything expensive for him unless it was a special occasion, like his birthday.

Over time, this service of his began transforming into something more personal, as his precision and accuracy for taking good photographs rewarded him with the satisfaction of glancing every once in a while at her immortalized smile caught through the lens of the camera, soon after, he realized that there was something else that he was finding entrancing about doing this.

He just loved her smile.

Her beautiful blonde her.

Her wonderful face, and the sparkling dress that veiled her body.

He loved how she looked, and despite knowing her poor behavior, he thought he could do more for

her.

Oh, also for the description of Winston's feelings, fix "Her beautiful blonde here", with "Her beautiful blonde hair

During a school holiday, Winston invited Lola to his mansion for a sleepover, which she accepted. Her time there involved having a tea party in his family's garden, swimming in a luxurious outdoor pool, and having an expensive dinner. All to experience for one day.

When it was night time, Lola decided to stay up late with Winston, watching various animated movies with him and shared each other's interest, both displaying interest in the eyes of beauty, and how they wish to push the limits of it.

Before they went to bed, Winston gave Lola a life changing opportunity.

"You want me to go to CALIFORNIA?!" Lola yelled in shook.

Winston winced her response, "Yes?"

"So that's why you invited me here!"

Winston looked at her in worry. Knowing her, and lack of improvement, she might hurt him if he. He had to be careful in his wording.

"Well, okay, yeah, you got me. I just wanted you be in a good mood before I did this."

Lola took a deep breath, and tried to calm herself down.

"Okay, Winston, listen. Acting is something I can do, but why do it there? One of my parents' going to have to follow me there, which can absolutely affect the rest of them. I don't think one mom or dad could handle 10 kids. Where would I stay, and would it even be comfortable?"

Winston had to stop and think about which questions he should answer first.

"Uh, of course it would! You'd stay in a luxurious hotel, free of charge, and one of our maids will be sent to help out your family! So, uh…"

He paused at the face of an unsatisfied Lola.

"Yeah?"

"Why did you offer me this, anyway, especially when you know I live far away from California? Are you trying to bribe me into accepting this movie? Was that why you offered me all this fancy, shmancy, stuff?"

Winston took a deep breath before letting it out. As hypocritical of her to call out on that, he had to tell her the truth.

"No, Lola, because I was told to," He admitted, "Mom's the CEO of Lights, Camera, Paradise, and she handpicked you because of how successful you are in pageants and acting. She saw how you looked, and said you were the perfect character choice for Ela. I had no say it. She knows I know you, which is why she wanted me to give you the offer."

He continued, "Plus, I'm not using my family's wealth to try and spend time with you because I know that's not going to work. Me telling you about the offer is on mom, but everything else, like the sleepover, and tea party, that's all on me. I see how you spend so much time with your friends, and Lincoln. I see your smiles, how much you guys enjoying being together, and I just-" he immediately looked down in shame, "-wanted to be a part of it."

Lola folded her arms and considered his words.

"I see." She said with her hand beneath her chin, "You know, Winston, I appreciate the fancy stuff, but you could've just talked to me, and it would've been fine."

"I know, I just, thought I could do more for you than that."

He then felt a hand being placed on his shoulder. He looked behind to see a smiling Lola.

"You didn't have to. Talking to someone is more than enough."

He returned the smile, "Friends then?"

She hugged him.

"Friends then."

The night after that, Lola had her breakfast and went home. She told her family about her time in Winston's mansion before being told to shut up out of envy, and her siblings tried to become friends with Winston so that they could have a sleepover in his mansion; none were successful.

What Lola was successful in, however, was convincing her parents to allowing to go California, mostly because the flight, food, and hotel will all be paid by Winston's family. Her sisters, and Lincoln all said they were going to miss, but she assured she'll be back in less than a year as the role she took wasn't going to last that long. They all wished her a happy, safe, trip to California and hoped things went well there.

They couldn't have been more wrong.

Lola often argued with the directors and producers at film's studio, whether it'd be an instruction she failed to understand or failing to accept criticism. She never liked a critic, except when it came to Lincoln. She would surrender her defensive shields and heed his words as she believed he knew what he was talking about and took her best interests in mind.

So, you can imagine how the bratty blonde behaved all because her Linky wasn't there. Even if he was, so what? He had no say or control in the matter.

The people there did not appreciate Lola's behavior there. Rita felt utterly embarrassed and wished Lola had improved her attitude. All the lessons she learned from her selfishness and drama were taken for granted. Lola finally got it after the studio threatened to fire her; that, and Winston tried to defend Lola by saying she's still young, has a lot of potential, and needs guidance how to behave. The the rest of the production went smoothly until her role concluded, with her set teacher, mother, and disciplinary team trying to follow along what Winston advised.

Despite her record, Lola was offered on another movie project by the same company at the age of nine, which she accepted. Unfortunately, production and acting had a similar narrative as last time, with an infamous case being where Lola got into a fight another child actor due to a heated argument about how she behaved. Following this and the conclusion of her role, Lola received news she was blacklisted from performing future acting there.

This event made Lola more resentful and emotionally needy rather than striving to improve because she failed to internalize why it happened; at 10, she was kicked out of her pageantry for bad behavior and at 14, her talent agency said they wanted nothing anything to do with her. At 16, a similar result happened.

Somewhere between these time periods, she wanted to continue being trained by Lincoln and he tried- but, as he got older, things became busier at high school, which resulted in him spending less time with Lola than he used to. His support completely ceased when he entered college, a scenario that while Lola appreciated, was something she felt upset by. She was upset at him for not helping her at times when she needed it, whether it was pageantry or an issue she could not answer on her own.

What's worse was she was lacking a trainer and made her feel like nobody could help her until Winston offered after a series of interviews. His time with her, observing other trainers, and being self-taught enabled him the knowledge to prepare Lola for her pageants. This invaluable support is what led her to winning a few pageant contests, only to sabotage her own roles later on. Winston tried many times to get Lola to understand that she can't keep acting like that forever, whether it was teaching her potential consequences and how it would affect others; all of which ended in deaf ears.

And despite how often she took that advice for granted, she appreciated being with him. She loved how he satisfied her emotional attachment with his attention and support. One time, Lola was planned to be kicked out of pageantry at 12 until Winston bribed the workers with money, he "borrowed" from his family's vault. As selfish as it was, it enabled her to continue her dream until 14. Winston's efforts were in vain when they no longer cared about the currency.

Or the time when she decided to spend the afternoon playing video games and eating food with him at Gus, Games, and Grub as a way to celebrate after she won a contest with him where the duo had to dress up in fashion depending on the requested style, like formal, vintage, sophisticated, and so on. She was happy that they shared ideas of what specific clothing to wear, where, and when to get them. With Winston's connections, they were able to find fashion advisers who assisted them in their journey. Lola had always appreciated his company

She loved how handsome he was.

She loved his loyalty and how he always held her hand whenever she needed it.

She loved how despite her issues, he still wanted to spend time with her.

Which is why on her 16th birthday, the two were out somewhere in the woods of Royal Woods. A questionable place to be, but what place with better privacy would be for Lola to ask Winston if he would be his girlfriend?

And he accepted, with the two becoming in-separatable later on. Lola had always loved his company and the times he defended her from trouble or go as far as excusing her actions. Whenever he had a plan for something, like a play or an after-school activity, he would offer the idea to Lola if he believed she would be interested in it and when it came to Lola proposing an idea, he would make sure to keep her best interests in mind. Things were going well…

Until…

She ruined it.

The bratty bitch ruined it.

She begged him for forgiveness, but he did not accept her words. The one who gave her happiness, the one who continued to support her whereas her brother could not was gone, further enforced by her social media blocked by him.

And as the petite girl laid down on her bed crying, a wooden door opened in-front of her.

"Lola?" Lana asked, running up to her, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Lola answered, lifting herself up and smiled pathetically, "I'm alright. Just another trauma moment, that's all."

Lana took tissue from her pocket and gave it to the princess, "Seriously, you have to let go of him. You can't keep letting Winston fly around in your head. It's been months since then, none of what happened matters anymore."

"How can I?" Lola sniffed, wiping her tear-stained cheeks, "You know how much he means to me. You know how much I think about and miss him."

Lola wasn't aware that Lana looked down annoyed when she heard that.

The princess, "I just, want to hear from him, yanno? To hear him say hello. To hear him complement me and ask me what I think about him. We weren't even there for each other's birthdays." More tears streamed down her face as Lola tried to regain control of herself, "I missed out on so many fun times we could've had together and I hate that a lot."

Lana wrapped her arms around her twin and placed her head on her shoulder, "Lola, I have people who won't talk to me as well." She lifted her head, and turned it to Lola's face, "You remember our 7th birthday?"

Lola sniffed, "Yeah, I do. What about it?"

"Well, after that, I've had some friends at school who didn't want to talk to me anymore, and-" She folded her arms, and looked away in embarrassment, "-I can't blame them, I mean-" Both her arms went into a V-shape, "-I still don't get why I wanted my birthday to be like that or have a shit and mud cake. It's been years and I still don't get what mental disease I had to want that or why our parents allowed it in the first place."

Lana continued, with sadness in her face, and her arms descended, "Even now I'm older and not into getting muddy as I used to, their still not interested in being my friend anymore. I remember being moppy about all day about it. I tried apologizing, but I learned that sometimes, not even a simple 'Sorry' can fix things. So-" She looked back to her sister, as her embarrassment vanished and her arms went down, "-I accepted it was a lost cause, and tried to forget about it, yanno? Like playing video games with Lincoln, my pets, hanging out with you, and my friends."

Her face brightened, "Speaking of my friends, it's what helped me the most in coping what happened. Spending time with Kayla, Kristen, and Ashley were what helped me the most in forgetting what happened, and I can't thank them enough for it."

"Do they know about your problem?"

Lana shook her head, "Nope, I never told em. They knew about my shitty birthday, and while they didn't like it either, they were still willing to talk to me. So-" She then placed her hand on Lola's shoulder, "-try focusing more on the people who are willing to talk to you and not the wrong crowd, okay? I tried that, and it got me nowhere,"

Lola looked down with a frown, "I don't know, are you sure it can work?"

Lana stood up with her arms spread and smiled, "Of course it would! I mean, you've got friends like Meli and Roxxane, right?"

'Meli isn't my friend,' Thought Lola, before she spoke, "Yeah, so?"

Lana continued, "They were there for you when you did well in your exams! Was Winston there to say, 'That's great, Lola'?"

Lola looked down and considered.

"No."

"What about the time when we went to the beach during our weekend? Was Winston there to spend time with you?"

"No."

"And when we tried to comfort you about what happened, was Winston there?"

Lola shook, "No, and I'm glad he doesn't know how upset and depressed I am right now, cuz, what would I even say? 'Hey Winston, I'm very upset because I realized we're never gonna be friends anymore for what I did'? He'll only get upset at me for guilting him, anyway."

"Exactly, you've got better friends who've done a greater job in caring and supporting you than Winston's ever done in months!" Lana sat back down, "I know I'm making it seem like Winston's a bad guy for dumping you, and that doesn't matter much to me. It's not like he's gonna hear this, anyway." She looked into her sister's eyes, "What matters to me most right now is making sure my heartbroken sis feels better because I want you to be happy. Got it? Please, sis. You still have people who want to hang out with you, so don't forget about them."

Lola sniffed, "I won't." She then hugged her twin, "Thanks for helping me, Lan's."

Lana returned the hug with a smile, "No problem, Lol's." Before she frowned and her voice became stern, "And seriously, you need to stop being so obsessed with him."

Lola let go and looked down in shame, "Fine."