Chapter 9: 9. Ch 9- It's A New Day, Yes It Is
The sun rose again the next morning, light finding its way through the window and falling on the face of the white-haired boy, waking him from his slumber. While most mornings, this would be met with him turning over and attempting to get a few more minutes of shuteye, Lincoln instead smiled and sat up. His eyes weakly opened and he stretched his arms out wide as a loud yawn escaped his lips. He looked over at his clock and saw that he had almost ten minutes before his alarm was set to go off, so he decided to use the bathroom now while his sisters were still asleep. He grabbed a towel and opened the door, and his eyes quickly saw the door right of his open, the six-year-old pageant queen walking out. When she saw Lincoln, her eyes narrowed.
'It's gonna be like that, is it?' He thought, their eyes narrowing at each other. 'Alright, Lola. Let's do this.'
They stared each other off for a few moments, before Lola tried to dash for the bathroom. Lincoln immediately took off as well, using his longer legs to leap over the self-professed princess, who gasped as she watched him get ahead of her, and try as she might, she couldn't stop him from reaching the bathroom first, sending a cheeky grin her way before he shut the door and locked it. After the initial shock, she got angry and started banging on the door. "LINCOLN! GET OUT HERE, NOOOOOW!"
He merely began whistling to himself, zoning out her yells and the complaints of any sister who was woken up by her tirade as he got unchanged and used the shower. As he began to wash himself in preparation of the day ahead, he couldn't help but smile as he thought back to the day before, and everything that transpired. 'I never would have expected to enjoy that, but I did,' he thought to himself. 'I know my family won't be happy if they find out I lied about what I was doing, but I kind of want to see where this goes before that happens.' His smile faltered. 'I don't even know how they'll react… they might laugh…' He shook his head, shaking the water from his hair around a bit, and perked his smile up. 'Nope. I'm not gonna let those thoughts get to me. I'm going to enjoy this.'
After a few minutes, having finished in the shower, he turned off the water and wrapped a towel around his waist. He left the bathroom, walking past Lola, whose angry mutters caused him to chuckle, and the quickly growing line of his sisters as he made is way to his room. He dried himself off, placed the towel in the hamper, got changed, and made his way downstairs. He walked into the kitchen, where he saw his father preparing breakfast. "Morning, dad!"
"Hey, champ!" He greeted back, frying some bacon in a pan. "Breakfast will be done in about five minutes."
"Do you want some help?"
"Sure, go ahead! I could use a hand monitoring the eggs!"
"Sure thing, dad."
"Thanks, kiddo!" Lincoln stood next to his father and began to watch the eggs. "Heaven knows how your sisters react if I get their egg wrong- I mean, it wouldn't be so hard, but how do ten girls like their eggs nine different ways?!"
Lincoln chuckled, stirring some scrambled eggs. "In this family, it seems about right."
Lynn chuckled back. "I guess. So, champ, you're in high spirits this morning."
"Yeah, I guess I am. I dunno, I just slept really well after yesterday."
Lynn's smile grew at his son's words. "Wow, sounds like that dodgeball practice really left an impact on you!" He then smirked and nudged him with his elbow. "Hopefully not the ball, though, huh, son?"
Lincoln nervously chuckled. "Yeah… good one, dad."
"Well, I'm glad to see you're taking to it. I know your mother and I might have pushed you to try and find something, and I know you weren't initially up for it, but it sounds like this could be good for you, especially if it's something you find out that you love." He looked around suspiciously, as if checking that no one was close by, before whispering to his son, "don't tell your mother I told you this or she'll kill me, but it was mostly her idea." This caused Lincoln to laugh heartily, bringing an even bigger smile to the Loud patriarch's face. "Either way, son, I'm proud of you for giving something new a try. Same goes for all the other sports- even if it turns out that they weren't for you, you still gave them a try, and that's probably one of the keys to life. If you don't try things, then you never find out if you'll enjoy them or not."
"I guess." He took the pan off the heat once the eggs were done. "Think these are all good here."
Lynn looked at the pan and nodded. "Yep. Give me a second while I plate this up."
As he did so, Lincoln decided to ask, "dad? My… dodgeball… do you think it's too expensive?"
Lynn paused for a moment, before looking over his shoulder. "Well… I'll be honest, I was uncertain when I first saw the figure, though after checking our budget plan, it seems I might have been a bit hasty. One reason we originally wanted you to try one of the school sports practices was because they were free, so it wouldn't have even been a question. Plus, now that I have my own restaurant, things are starting to get easier but not by much."
Lincoln looked down at his feet. "I see…"
The father of eleven frowned at this, setting the pans back down so he could put a hand on the white-haired child's shoulder. "Hey, Lincoln, look at me." Once his son obliged, he continued. "If this is something that makes you happy, and you want to at least try it out, then that's our top priority. You don't need to worry about the price of it. We can make it work."
"Are you sure?" His father nodded, eliciting a smile from the boy. "Okay. Thanks, dad."
For the rest of the morning, Lincoln's energy remained high. He had a smile on his face that stuck with him, even during his least favourite lessons, and he was able to keep focused in class. Mrs Johnson has noticed this, but didn't say anything, simply thinking he was having a good day. "And so, in 1732, Georgia became the final colony of the original thirteen states, which we would now call New England," she spoke to the class, her head lifting up when they all heard the bell ring. "Alright, that's lunchtime! We'll pick up on this in tomorrow's lesson, so be sure to read the next few pages in your textbooks in preparation."
Everyone quickly noted that so they could head off for lunch. As he walked out and approached his locker, the white-haired boy was stopped by his best friend. "Hey, Clyde," he greeted, "what's up?"
"I was wondering why you had such a big grin on your face today," he replied. "You're not normally this happy unless it's new comic book day."
"Well, I happened to have a really good weekend."
Clyde raised an eyebrow. "Really? Because, if I remember correctly, you and your sisters went to the mall again on Saturday, and you were doing another sport thing on Sunday."
Lincoln remembered, having cancelled heading to Clyde's house to play video games so he could try gymnastics, and hadn't since told him what he ended up doing. "Yeah, the mall was about as fun as usual. Though, I actually had a great time yesterday. I think I've found a sport I actually enjoy."
"What is it?"
"Oh, it's, uh, dodgeball."
This raised Clyde's suspicions a bit. "The school does dodgeball practice?"
"No, it doesn't. There's a place in town that does it instead."
"Huh. Well, I bet your parents are happy about it."
"Yeah. It took a bit of convincing, since it isn't at school, but they were willing to let me do it."
"But, weren't they-"
"Hey, Lincoln," they heard a voice greet, and turned around to see Girl Jordan approach. "The others get school meals, so I'm gonna go grab us a table. You ready?"
"Sure. I'll catch up in a second." She nodded and walked away, leaving Lincoln to turn to a somewhat stunned Clyde. "Yeah, I forgot to mention. Girl Jordan asked me to sit with her at lunch. Hope that's okay."
"Yeah… that's- that's fine…" His gritted teeth and forced smile suggested otherwise, which Lincoln easily saw, causing him to sigh.
"Clyde, I thought Dr Lopez talked to you about this. You know we can't always do things the exact same way, right?"
"Yeah…" He took a moment to breathe before he replied. "You're right, you're right."
Lincoln smiled. "Cheers, buddy." So, Lincoln walked off in the direction of the canteen, which was bustling with students, all happy to relax after their morning of lessons and eat some food. Whether or not said food was good depended on what they ate, but not a single person touched the fish tacos. 'How are they still allowed to serve those? Do they WANT us to have food poisoning?' He pondered, before shaking his head. In his good mood, he prepared his own food that day, so he didn't need to get in line. Looking around, he saw Girl Jordan sat at a table, a brown paper bag in front of her, so he walked over. "Hey."
She smiled as he sat down opposite her. "Thought for a second you wouldn't join us."
"Nah, I just forgot to tell Clyde before then."
"That's fair." She turned her head to the side and saw the rest of her friends walking towards them. "Over here."
Mollie, who was at the front of the group, saw Lincoln and smirked. "What's up, Lincoln?" She greeted, sitting next to Jordan. "Didn't expect you to be joining us today."
"I invited him," Jordan explained. "Hope that's okay."
"Sure, the more, the merrier," Artie said, sitting on Lincoln's left, while the others sat in some of the other seats. "So, what did you think of gymnastics, then?"
"I actually really enjoyed it!" He admitted. "I wasn't expecting to, but it was a lot of fun."
"That's the spirit! I know it's not the most popular sport for guys, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable."
"So, what did your parents think when you told them?" Mollie asked.
"They seemed alright with it…" He nervously scratched his cheek with his index finger. "Though I might have added one teeny, tiny white lie…"
Joy gave him an unamused expression. "You told them it was something else instead of gymnastics, didn't you?" When he nodded, a few of the girls huffed. "So what did you tell them it was?"
"I figured they'd believe it was dodgeball, since it was Girl Jordan who suggested I try it, and she's obscenely good at dodgeball!"
Jordan couldn't help but give a small laugh at that, but returned to a neutral expression. "Why didn't you want to tell them it was gymnastics?"
"Well… I was… worried how they would react."
Jordan opened her mouth to reply, but Artie spoke first. "I get it. I didn't tell my dad what it was right away either, claimed it was basketball. He found out a month or so later, and he wasn't exactly thrilled about it, though he came around after he saw how much I enjoyed it."
"Thanks. Though, to be honest, it's not as much my parents I'm worried about. It's my sisters."
"But, don't you think they'd be happy you found something you like?" Sadie asked.
"Wouldn't be the first time they laughed at something I like," he muttered, gaining confused expressions from the others. "Either way, I think I'd rather see how things go before I tell them the truth."
"I guess, though I can't imagine what it's like keeping a secret from ten sisters."
"Believe me, it's hard. There was one time where-" Before he could continue, he felt something hit him in the back of the head. It hurt a little, but not too much. Rubbing the spot where it hit him, he turned around and saw none other than Markus grinning at him, football under his arm. "What's the deal?!"
"Just figured I'd see if you're still as bad as football as last time," He snidely commented. "Looks like I was right."
Lincoln sighed. "Whatever."
He turned to return to eating, but Markus grabbed his shoulder. "I heard from the boys that you've given up on track. Funny, given how fast you ran from that football field before we beat the snot of you."
He let out a cocky chuckle, causing Lincoln's eyebrow to twitch. "Why don't you go back to your boys and tell them that I don't care what they have to say?!"
This only caused Markus' laughs to be more boisterous, attracting the attention of nearby tables. "You're funny, Loud! Though, I think I liked it better when you were a battered mess thanks to us."
"Leave him alone, you jerk!" Jordan burst out, glaring at the boy.
Markus was stunned for half a second, before returning to grinning. "You need her to protect you, Loud?! Ha!"
"You heard what she said," Artie challenged. "Just leave us alone." Though Markus continued to laugh, he walked away, leaving them be. "You alright, Lincoln?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
Seeing that his face suggested otherwise, Jordan gave him a soft smile. "Don't listen to him," she insisted. "He's just a jerk."
He smiled at her assurance. "Thanks, Jordan. And thanks for standing up for me."
She practically beamed at him. "No problem. Now, come on. Let's eat before everything goes cold." Everyone seemed to nod at this. As Lincoln pulled his own brown paper bag out of his backpack, Jordan watched with interest as he pulled out a sandwich. "What've you got?"
"My personal favourite- PB and J with sauerkraut." The others all looked shocked or disgusted at his, causing him to roll his eyes. "Don't knock it till you try it."
"Yeah, I'll pass," Kat replied. "I mean, it just sounds like you're ruining a classic."
The others all voiced their opinion, apart from Jordan. "Can I try it?" She asked, getting an even more shocked response from the others, while Lincoln simply smiled.
"Sure." He handed her one of the two triangular sandwiches to her. She broke off a piece of it and gave it a try, and after a few seconds of chewing it, she gulped it down with an unhappy face, handing the rest back to him. "Yeah, I guess it is an acquired taste."
"Yeah, I think I'll stick to my own sandwich- you know, real food." While Lincoln tried to look annoyed as everyone shared a laugh, he couldn't help but join in as well. A couple of tables over, Lola, Lana, Lisa and Lucy- having noticed the confrontation with Markus before- couldn't help but share the same grin that they always did (though, in Lucy's case, that was barely even a smile) when they saw Lincoln with a girl.
"How much do you think he likes her?" Lola asked her sisters.
"It's so obvious!" Lana responded. "He might as well be carrying a sign that says so!"
"I disagree," Lucy argued. "I get the feeling that his feelings for her is new." Her smile grew, just a little bit. "Though, knowing Lincoln, it'll become more obvious soon."
"Regardless," Lisa interjected, "our sole male sibling has developed feelings towards his classmate. I find it unlikely that he'll divulge that information to her, given his likely lack of understanding of them," her grin grew, "but that's why he has us."
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
-- Power
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