At Gus's games and grub Clyde, Rusty, Liam and Zack were sitting at a booth talking.
"I can't believe Lincoln got a hickey from an older woman." Rusty said in amazement and slight jealousy.
"What I can't believe that Stella rated him out." Liam said.
"You know even before Lincoln started to change Stella seemed to be against Maggie." Clyde said.
"Do you think they might have a history or something?" Zach asked.
"Not likely Stella hasn't lived in royal woods long enough for anything like that." Clyde said.
"Yeah but I can't help but feel it's something personal." Zach said.
"What's something personal?" Stella asked as she walked up and sat at their table.
"Uh nothing, just something that happened earlier." Zach said.
"What happened earlier?" Stella asked.
"Oh uh, just something that happened between some people we know, you've never met them." Rusty said.
"It's me and Lincoln isn't it?" Stella asked.
"OKAY YES FINE IT'S YOU AND LINCOLN WE WERE TALKING WHAT HAPPENED OVER THE WEEKEND." Clyde shouted in a guilt ridden panic.
"Okay you got us, now let's cut to chase Stella, Why'd you rat out Lincoln the other night?" Zach asked.
"Seriously I am the only one here who sees the dark path that girl is leading Lincoln down. I told his sister about the concert because I thought his family would talk some sense into him." Stella explained. "Like they might talk him out of hanging out with Maggie."
"Hmmm you seem strangely worried about Maggie." Zach said.
"What no I'm not. I just think she's the worst person in the universe." Stella said with gritted teeth. "I mean don't you think that since he's been spending so much time with her it takes away from his time with us?" she asked.
"Not really." Zach said.
"You seem to have the biggest problem with Lincoln's new lifestyle out of all of us." Liam said.
"And you seem the most upset whenever Lincoln spends time with Maggie." Rusty added.
"It's almost started to look like your… well jealous." Clyde said.
"What no, I'm not jealous." Stella said, starting to blush. "It's just common sense, I mean if Lincoln wanted a girl to spend time with why look for some emo when you've already got a girl in your social group, I mean one girl you're not related to in your life is more than enough right." Stella said.
"Wow Stella if I didn't better I'd say you have a crush on…. Wait a minute." Clyde said.
"GAASP." The group of boys all shared a collective gasp at their shared realization.
"Oh my gosh you have a crush on Lincoln." Clyde said in amazement.
"WHAT." Stella said in shock turning her whole face red.
"Oh it all makes sense now." Zach said. "Why you've been so resentful of Maggie even before Lincoln started changing."
"And why you ratted him out to his sister." Liam added.
"Yeah you didn't tattle just because you thought Maggie was a bad influence, you're just jealous." Rusty said.
Stella's face turned red as a tomato and her pupils dilated in fear as they fully realized her secret. "Okay yes I do like Lincoln." Stella finally admitted "maybe even possible the other L word."
The boys all shared a collective gasp at Stella's confession.
"How did this happen?" Zach asked.
"Yeah you said you didn't wanna date any of us." Zach said.
"No, I said I wasn't looking for a boyfriend, and that was true at first." Stella said. "I didn't wanna a boyfriend because I had just moved to Royal Woods, but as we became friends and got closer I started to notice a few things about Lincoln."
"Really like what?" Rusty asked.
"Well I noticed how kind and helpful he is when I lost my music box he jumped at the chance to help me, even though we thought we were gonna face a giant mutant rat, and he is so funny, when he started mixing things up showing to school everyday with something different each time. And I remember when we went on the 5th grape field trip, I know he cancelled our planned activities and got us lost but I thought it was sweet how he wanted to preserve our friendship. And I was really moved when he asked us to help his little sister win a race so she could meet her idol."
"Yeah, he's a good man that Lincoln." Clyde said.
"And there were also times when I noticed how cute he was, like when he wears his suit when we do our news stories, when he wore the combat outfit we made for him in the glee club or his magic suit he wore in the talent show." Stella explained.
"You actually liked that outfit?" Liam asked.
"Admittedly I was skeptical of the fedora at first but once he put it together with the rest of the outfits my heart skipped a beat." Stella responded. "I'm even a little attracted to the emo outfits Maggie gave him."
"I take it you never told him any of this." Zach.
"I was nervous, I was afraid he wouldn't wanna go out with me after I turned him, I mean you guys down." Stella said.
"Well I know Lincolns not that petty." Clyde said. "And we've all gotten over that and moved on."
"Yeah I eventually realized that but just when I started to work up the nerve and was about to ask him out he started hanging out with Maggie." Stella said angrily saying Maggie's name through gritted teeth.
"So you did snitch on him out of jealousy." Rusty said.
"It wasn't just that I really am concerned for him, jealous or not Maggie's no good for him she's the reason he's been acting so differently, she's been filling his head with poisonous thoughts taking back to his parents, fighting with his sisters and even sneaking out to concert riots. Don't you guys miss the old Lincoln." Stella asked.
"Yeah I gotta admit I do." Liam.
"Yeah he's wearing leather, cool hair and dating a girl two years older than him, I'm supposed to be the cool one in the group." Rusty said.
"Yeah he's the one who keeps our group stable." Zach.
"I miss him too but the only one who doesn't miss the old Lincoln is Lincoln." Clyde said.
"Then we need to find a way to convince him we like the old Lincoln Better." Stella said.