Her hand slid up the stairs. With the ride being over, Luan could finally close her eyes for a minute without Lincoln and Lynn tussling every two seconds, and the twins behind her clashing like fire and ice.

That was my time; I'm Luan Loud—and the joke's over.

Closing the door behind her, Luan yanked her earmuffs off, strapped her backpack off, and dropped it on the bed along with Mr. Coconuts.

The work isn't, though.

She flopped down her bag, yelping it jutted onto her back. As if lying down on her responsibilities will push her into doing it.

Hey, if she didn't have it below her, she'd probably end up forgetting about doing them at all.

The room darkened with the beams of light dimming outside. She dropped her head on the pillow glancing at the clock on her nightstand. Almost four, but she couldn't care, at least not with a heavy head.

With a tired groan, she threw an arm over her eyes. Fatigue knocked her mind into fuzzy sop, and her eyelids drooped. School isn't like clowning around. You couldn't just juggle tests while balancing on a report you're leading and expecting things to go smoothly. Not when the road you're riding through is muddy, full of deadbeat fools doing nothing but riding at the back of your unicycle in a wagon labeled 'group mates.'

Dang, she snorted. Where do I get those analogies?

In her newfound sense of ethical morality, even indulging in a few hours of resting after school felt sinful. Anything that can be done right now, has to be done.

She jolted up as Luna barged into the room, muttering about how Leni and her ended up being last to get in the house.

"Talk about a slow entrance, geddit?" Luan laughed. She could almost hear Luna roll her eyes.

Pushing herself up on shaky arms, Luan yanked her bag from under her and felt for her phone out the pocket. Alright. She leaned her back up on the headboard. The music report. She opened Snaptalk. They knew she was preoccupied over yesterday's report. Someone should've taken the initiative by now.

Some of them were online… hm.

Nope. Nada. Not even a group chat was created yet.

Luan grumbled, opening the latest message received.

"Hey, Loud," It said. "What do we do for our report in Music?"

If her expectation was a hot air balloon in her chest, this text was a toothpick deflating it. Why even expect?

She had been too much of a try-hard in the first semester, studying and showing off every time to establish herself as intelligent, diligent. It worked too hard.

A part of her reconsidered; maybe waiting for someone else to do it would show them… nah. She made the group chat anyway, with half the resentment as she added everyone in. The sooner this got swept out of the way, the sooner she'd have time to spare for studying. A few clicks later, Group 1 (MUSIC) was created.

With a sigh, she began typing, about how it was announced last-minute that tomorrow was their report, and that as a result, she'd do the PowerPoint herself to keep them and herself from worrying.

Yes. Her team had an I in it. She'd always been a one-woman performer anyway, not counting Mr. C. Only this time, add leader into the title. As both, she knew her peers well. Knew all the things that made them tick, all the things that kept them engaged in reports, in performances. She knew that no, they can't reach my standards. And to those who come close, well... she studied them like Karl Marx theorizing key concepts on capitalism because if she was aiming for the top, she had to know who was reigning the throne, and how to overthrow them.

There wasn't much to go by, though. Out of five, only three students truly stood out of he batch. She could faintly recall one being an immigrant from Korea; a Math and Science whiz. He was bad at speaking English, so that's one thing he had to work on. Then there was the teacher's pet, Whitney. Everyone knew she was a pick-me girl. The guy who played DnD during free time, and a walking knowledge parasite. Only issue there being he didn't choose to excel.

But Luan, oh, she's the full package.

…Grouped with nobodies. Lowkey kids that would mirror Lynn or Luna's nonchalance. Try all she could by teaching them how to row, but they didn't wanna learn. If she wanted to make this work, and dominate the honor's list on her own—she was gonna drive in that direction herself. "I'm still plotting this out, so leave your chats on for updates."

She paused, staring blankly at the screen.

Then she continued:

"Study the material I gave out. Mr. Fernandez is gonna call out random members to report."

She dropped the phone on her lap. Trust? Relying on others? As if. Luan's life was all about comedy, but their works. Were a joke. Unlaughable jokes. Unsalvageable.

Then again, if she looked at herself a year from then, she probably wouldn't trust herself to do any part of a group work either.

But when she worked, it worked. Nothing is more exhilarating than to be put on a pedestal, to be glorified by her doings; to celebrate having her in the group because she's the most reliant person in the room. It was and still is.

Break time over. Irritation buzzed in as she felt the sound of her plastic-covered notebooks crackle under her elbow. The work resumes now.

"Yo, Lu, keep the room warm for me, will ya?" Luna slung her guitar bag over her body. "Got a gig at The Burnt Bean. Might not be home till seven."

"Don't come home acting like the burnt bean, alright?" Luan shot her a teasing grin. "Get it?"

"What can I say?" Luna snorted as she opened the door. For how she groaned over the puns, she secretly liked it too. Luan knew. "It's a bean-zy day, after all."

Luan grimaced. "Could use some work, sis." She chided. "Actually, make that lots."

They shared a laugh, before Luna shut the door.

Ding. She picked her phone up.

"Heyaaa, I read the chat. Mind if I give you a hand?"

She didn't even notice the goofy hearts-in-eyes smile she wore.

Benny had been in the hospital over his mom's ulcer all the time, barely given the chance to do school work when he had a parent to take care of as well.

It's so hard to be mad at him now with all that he's going through. Of course, he couldn't be burdened with more responsibility now. Not when it's tomorrow. He was still stressed out with family complications and missed time. Luan couldn't add up to it for a project she's monitoring just fine.

"It's all good, Benny. I got it under control. Just study the topic. You know what I mean. ;)"

Luan dropped the phone beside her, grin faltering. She could feel her nightstand clock barely glazing her, laughing; the joke's on you, it'd say. You're under my control.

Her heart jumped at the sound of a knock.

It creaked open, as a tuft of white hair creeped in. "Oh, hey Linc; Lily. What's up?"

"Hope I'm not disturbing you." Lincoln slid himself through the door, cradling Lily in his arms. "Is Luna around?"

"Nah. I was just about to study." Luan said. "She went off to another gig. "Borrowing her mixtapes again?"

Lincoln froze, his cheeks flushing. "I thought she kept that a secret!"

Luan giggled. It wasn't intentional. From outside the room she heard Luna singing: "My jams must be that rockin'; mixes got Link vibin'," and when the door opened a second later, Luna was over the moon flustered.

Luan crossed her arms and shrugged. "I got sharp ears."

"And a sharp mind too, I guess." Lincoln mumbled sheepishly. "Cuz that's exactly what I'm here for. You know where she keeps this stuff for storage?"

She gestured her head to their closet. "It's in a box; you'll know it when you see it."

Lincoln put Lily down and she babbled. He went to the closet, opened it, scanning inside without another word. "You uh," Lincoln shot a glance at her. "You still on hiatus? No gigs, or anything?"

If only. "Uh-huh. I haven't been in business since before school started. I can't just juggle them all at once." Luan smiled as Lily attempted climbing up her bed. She picked her up. "And no, if you're asking, I don't have any more chocolates in my stash from the last birthday party we went to."

"What? No, don't worry about that. I still got some in mine." He said, pulling out a box with Luna's name written in marker. "What about… pranks? You're not planning on an elaborate one right now, are you?"

Lily cooed at that.

Every time.

Lincoln caught a pattern that whenever she was gonna pull one out, she'd be just a tad bit quieter than normal, and called it the calm before the storm. What? Pranking is hard work; takes lots of brain and less talk.

"It's the unspoken rule, Lincoln: Pranksters never reveal when they strike." Luan said smugly. "But seriously, nope. Nothing's up. If anything, everything's going down. Get it?" Luan let out her trademark laugh. Even to herself, it sounded dry. "You guys better be thankful that school's holding me back. I would've pulled the bucket on you just for asking me that."

Lincoln glanced at her again, seeing her wave her phone. "Another group project, huh?"

She nodded, resting her gaze on the phone, checking for new texts. "Better write it down, Linc, this is gonna be you in five years."

"Me hogging all the work? Never. I'm too good at reading people." One plastic tape was slapped above the growing pile beside him. "In a family this big, I've learned a lot about leading a clan; one rule of thumb—" He stood up with a grunt, five mixtapes in hand, then approached her and tried to pick Lily up but she fussed around. "—Is that you just gotta utilize whatever they're good at into what you're making. Convenient, and cooperative. It's a win-win for everyone."

That was an idealistic idea. Luan found herself a little offended. That's how she saw it too, at first. What happens when they're good at nothing, though? "Time will be the judge of that." She said ominously, her expression darkening. Lily nestled herself in her arms, gurgling in agreement.

He rolled his eyes before going to the door. "Don't overwork yourself again." Lincoln turned to her one last time, holding the knob in hand. "I don't think Lucy's got a coffin that fits your size."

"Get outta here." Luan scoffed playfully, waving a dismissive hand. He walked out without closing the door.

And there the clouds cleared out as soon as he left. He was onto her. Lincoln was good at that. Reading them. Seeing through their facades and all. If she gave more of it away, all of the girls will be huddled up before her, threatening to know which teacher messed with her in no time.

A subtle chill traced her spine. The horror.

"Are you okway, big sis?" Lily turned up to her. She couldn't help but smile at the innocent gleam in her eyes.

At least babies couldn't tell. On others… if they could even tell. You know what I mean.

Forcing the voice out of her head, Luan turned to the toddler and bopped her nose, laughing at the way Lily's eyes followed the tip of her finger. "Of course, silly. Why wouldn't I be?"

She always considered Lily one of her closest sisters. She was more like Lincoln in this case though, since everyone loved her as their baby sis. How could they not? Life could hit the fan right now, but one little babble from her was all it took to forget things for a minute. It helped that only she and Leni could make out what Lily said, and only Lily truly appreciated her love for comedy.

"You look down," Lily frowned; melting her heart into mush. She didn't wanna make her favorite baby sister wallow in misery all because of the cry of teenage angst. She's too young to be feeling that way!

She shook her head and smiled. This time, without feeling the strain in her cheeks. "Wanna hear a joke, Lil'ster?"

"Pun! Pun!" Lily clapped. The melody of her laughter pushing out her thoughts away in a cloud of smoke.

"Okay, okay!" Luan giggled, sitting Lily on her lap and squishing her cheeks. She paused and scrambled into her mind to think of one. Think of one... come on! She couldn't just leave Lily hanging!

The toddler rocked her feet back and forth as she fiddled with Luan's squirting flower.

Screw it. It was lame, but it's not like it took a lot for babies to laugh. "I got one!" Luan ruffled her tuft of blonde hair. "What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire? Frostbite! Isn't that just the coolest pun ever? I'd say it's n-ice!"

As expected, Lily clapped, wanting more. And so, Luan joked the time away; letting Lily squirm in hysteric laughter. She thought more and more and progressively harder. It came normally to her. Almost like instinct. Lily kept wanting more, wringing the towel until its color drained out. Luan mentally prayed she'd cut it out. My brain hurts.

Thankfully, Lily did come winding down. Her eyelids fluttered and she let out a yawn. It took Luan a second to realize that her eyelids had dropped too.

No. I can't sleep yet. Too much homework. Yawning along, Luan cradled her baby sister just as her eyes dropped to a close.

Lucky Lily.

She stood up from the bed and walked over to her room, passing by an undisturbed Lisa fixating on mixing fruity chemicals. No matter how much she insisted on it being hazardous, at the end of the day. she was still a toddler looking like playing with paint. With a small peck to the forehead, she gingerly placed the already snoring Lily into her crib.

Just another job well done, Luan. She thought with a satisfied smile. It's the perk of being the funniest older sister in the face of the planet.

Fighting the urge to coo at her sleeping form, Luan returned to her room. Shutting the door and making sure the lock worked this time, she stacked all her notebooks together and sat on the bed.

"How long was I out?" She glanced at Mr. Coconuts, face down on her mattress. Luan picked him up and sat him by the wall.

"Go back to sleeping, Mr. C. Sorry for disturbing you."

She glanced at the nightstand clock, a gasp slipping through. It's been an hour already!?

Dang.

Luan crossed her legs on the bed, opened her bag and pulled a notebook up; the one that she had to make a Powerpoint of by tonight: Music.

Page one. Vocal Forms of African Music. I wasted time.

Page two. Types of Ethnic African Instruments. Come to think of it, when's the last time I had fun?

Page three: Music Genres and where they originated from. Doesn't matter.

Her jaw tightened. She failed once, and this report served as a challenge. A new task to conquer.

That is- Luan yawned again- if she wasn't so groggy… God, the caffeine rush must've worn out.

She blinked rapidly, trying to exercise the weight off her eyelids. Come on, wake up. Wake. Up. The sooner you get this done, the sooner you can rest.

But she still had twenty slides to make, all on her sluggish laptop. Luan scanned the scribbles on the notebook again. And then there was Home Economics, and—

"The basic form of African Vocal Music—" Eyebrows furrowed; jaw clenched; Luan read out loud. Like what dad always said. If you can't drown your thoughts out, let your voice out.

"—Is choral singing, also known as call and response where one singer (soloist) or small group of singers sings a line…"

I can hear it; it sounds like a chore-us. Her mind whispered. Can't we just call it a day?

Luan pulled the notebook down, rubbing her tired eyes. That was lame. Even for me.

"Just gotta make it 'til dinner." She set her eyes firmly on the messy notes. "I can do this."

Snap!

It wasn't even dinner time yet.

Luna snickered in amusement at her snoring sister, briefly swiping at her phone to the permanent image of Luan in that position. She's as dead as snapped strings.

As per usual during this time of the day.

Tiptoeing her way to the closet, she threw the tote sack, full of junk and root beers from earlier's gig in there and shut it.

Careful not to make a single step, she slipped out of her guitar case and leaned it on the drawer that stood beside their bed, hovering over to Luan. Her chest heaved steady through the blanket. Still clad in her outside outfit, Luna trailed her eyes down. Yep, even her socks were still on. Barely popped out the blanket. Dozed off without any intention, again. Like every other day.

A notebook was crushed under her weight, and her backpack still occupied half of the space beside her. With a snort, Luna gingerly lifted her bag out, and closed the notebook before leaving it at her nightstand. Better her own room than, I dunno the classroom… like some murmurs from a little bird she heard.

Tiny zits broke out on her once flawless skin. Her eyes were hollow and dark underneath, and something about her face looked older than a week before. Puberty couldn't be it though. She was turning into an academic zombie, that's what Linc would theorize.

Something about her features looked serene under the bright lights. And it's cool, because she's an incredibly light sleeper to begin with.

Pun intended.

Could have been her influence, but Luan liked throwing caution to the wind. Give her B's, that didn't stop her from "B-ing cool", and D's? "D-ere's always a next time!". Both of them were the wildest of the bunch. Being in a classroom expected to follow the same rules they could barely manage to stay in line with at home. Luan took that idea to heart more than she did; not even school rules stopped her from unleashing her feral urges. She's the same gal who dared to start food fights every now and then. The one who pranked the teachers without a second thought.

All she had ever done was cut a class or two— snuck out the room window with Sam, but that's as far as her bad record went. And people supposed she was the baddie of the Loud house. Never judge an axe by its casing, dudes.

Luna plopped herself down her bean bag chair, taking her cap off and unzipping her coat. Since school started, Luan's surely playing out a new persona. No news of her getting reported for her hijinks; no remorseful mom repeatedly apologizing on the telephone only to tell them it was Luan's teacher; no irritated dad grounding her from everything comedy–nothing.

Call her crazy, but even if Luan took all-nighters and afternoon naps; walked around with dark circles and cloudy eyes all the time, this was progress. She was finally growing up, and out of her questionable ways. Accepting that there were real consequences over starting food fights and slipping whoopee cushions underneath benches; that unlike in middle school, which was free real estate—around here, there was duty (something Luna hated just as much) and there was honor.

Yeah, looks like the process itself hurt. But that's how change goes sometimes. Talk about growing pains.

It didn't take long to change out her outfit, considering her casual one was right underneath. Luna peeled her lavender leggings off and hung it along her coat inside the closet. She stepped out of the room, shutting the lights off before slowly closing the door. Making sure that anyone who crossed their way to this door kept out.

Dinner was ready downstairs. She told the table that Luan fell asleep again, just another one out of too many times already. The 'rents shared the concern, but decided to go against acting upon it, deciding that they'd let this slide for a couple of days before deciding to do something about Luan's body clock.

The other siblings complained, going against it with Lynn going as far as attempting to wake Luan up, but Luna stopped her and all of them from protesting. "Give her a break; Luan hasn't been getting enough z's lately."

"Then why do all of us have to follow the bedtime schedule while she doesn't?" Lola protested.

Yeah, it is unfair, to the ones who haven't seen or went through what they've been through.

"Cause she's got work left and right. Can't do that under just one noon, brah." The subs stared at her skeptically. "You dudes will get it when you're our age."

Leni shuddered. "Sometimes I wish I could go back to kindergarten instead."

They stared at her blankly. "What? I haven't gotten nap time since 1st grade!"

"You had nap times in first grade!?" Lana asked incredulously.

Mom and dad vouched for them, much to the chagrin of Lincoln and the rest of the sisters. Like most nights, her dinner was kept in the fridge. All she had to do was microwave it when she woke up. And like every other evening, Luan stayed asleep until the Louds went to bed. Pajama clad, Luna came back into the room, one step away from hitting dreamland, only to find her still knocked out, almost hanging off the bed, snoring louder than before.

Deciding that her position looked ridiculous, Luna reached out to the drawer and grabbed her phone, snapping a shot to show her tomorrow. Perfect.

She turned the light off and climbed up her bed in the name of muscle memory. The moment she closed her eyes, everything went dark.