章 64: 64. Ch 64- Mixed Feelings
Lunchtime rolled around at Royal Woods High School, and the teenagers were all eager for the respite that it brought after a long morning of lessons. The cafeteria quickly filled with students from each grade, many queuing up to get their hands on whatever the school was serving that seemed most edible, while others made their way straight to grab some seats and sit down with their packed lunches. The sounds of eating and chatter quickly filled the room as everyone sat down and relaxed. At one table, Leni was sat with her friends, listening to her friends talk about what they had been up to over the weekend while she quietly ate.
Eventually, one of them- a brunette with a light blue turtleneck, a green skirt with white polka dots and a green belt, and pearl earrings- looked to the Loud girl and noticed that there was no smile on her face. "Leni?" she asked, drawing all eyes to the blonde. "You okay?"
"Yeah, you haven't said a word," Jackie agreed. "What's up?"
Leni gave a small smile, appreciating her friends looking out for her. "I'm fine, girls, don't worry about me."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. Just thinking about something."
Jen noticed the sad look in her friend's eyes, and frowned. "Does this have anything to do with Lincoln?"
Leni's eyes shot open wide in shock. "How did you guess?!"
"I saw him walking past my house this morning. He looked like he was thinking about something, and I know you two are close, so I thought it might be something to do with that."
"Is he okay?" Jessie asked. "I only met him at the fashion show, but he seemed like a sweet kid."
"Wasn't he the one who saved your sister, Jen? When she tripped on the catwalk?"
"Yeah, that was him, Mandee," Jen confirmed.
"Those two looked so cute together!"
Some of the girls giggled in agreement, with Jen also giving a chuckle. "You're not wrong." She returned her attention to the blonde. "Anyway, we're getting off topic. What's up with Lincoln?"
"I… I don't know if I should say."
"Oh, come on, you can tell us! I swear, we won't tell anyone else about it. Right, girls?"
Leni would have argued, but hearing the positive response from her friends, she relented. "Well… okay. You know how Linky started doing gymnastics?"
"Doesn't Jordan also do gymnastics, Jen?" Jessie's question was met with stern glares, causing her to blush a little as she shrunk in her seat, laughing sheepishly. "Sorry…"
Jen rolled her eyes, ignoring the question and looking back to the Loud girl. "Yeah, I know about that. He's been doing it for a couple of months now, right?"
"Right. Well, yesterday, he told the others about it."
"Why didn't he tell them when he first started?" Jackie asked, looking slightly confused.
"He was worried about how they were going to react."
"But, surely they would support him, right?" Mandee then asked.
"Well, yeah… at least, I thought they would."
Jen picked up on how her voice trailed off. "What did they do?"
Leni looked slightly worried, but she knew that her friends would be able to tell if she was lying. "Well… at first, they kind of… laughed."
"WHAT?!" Her friends all gasped, equally shocked and appalled by this news.
"Why would they laugh at him?!"
Leni flinched slightly from how Jessie raised her voice, looking around to see if the students sat at the nearby tables were now listening in or not, relieved to know it was the latter. "Well, they weren't doing it to be mean, I don't think. Luan started laughing first, but she said she thought he was telling a joke."
Jackie scoffed. "I wouldn't be surprised if she was doing that to get the others to laugh too. We all know what she can be like on April Fools Day."
The others all shuddered and nodded, seeing flashbacks in their mind of previous pranks from the comedienne. Even Leni frowned more at the thought. "She doesn't prank like this, though. She uses props and thingies, not feelings."
"So, what happened after they laughed?" Jen asked. "Something tells me there's more to it than that."
Leni nodded. "Linky kind of got mad at first, but then Lori asked him why he'd kept it secret, and he told her about how he was worried about their reactions, before he left the meeting."
"Wow… poor kid," one of the other girls sighed, to which the other girls nodded or said "yeah".
"Have your sisters tried to make up with him?" Mandee asked.
"No," Leni answered. "Lynn and Lucy already knew, so I think they've spoken to him, but Lori told the others to give him time to cool off. I think that might have been the right choice, because some of them seemed a little uncertain."
"Shame your older sister doesn't feel the same," the other raven haired girl argued, staring at a table further away from them. Following her gaze, the other girls saw that the table she was looking at was occupied by none other than Lori Loud and her other friends, the high school seniors all smiling, chatting and laughing. "It looks like your brother is the last thing on her mind."
"Maybe," the blonde muttered, not wanting to believe that her sister was as ignorant as her friend was suggesting. "Still, I know that she cares for Linky. She probably just doesn't think it's the right time to think about it."
"I'd like to see what she thinks," Jen growled, getting to her feet. She stepped around the table, but before she could advance to give Lori a piece of her mind, Leni had gotten up and stepped in front of her friend, lifting her hands to hold her back. "Leni, what are you doing?"
"Please don't yell at her!" she pleaded. "I don't want to make things worse."
"Leni, if your brother is as upset as you said he was, and she's acting like nothing's wrong, then someone needs to go and talk some sense to her!"
"I hear you, but I don't want to make things more uncomfortable! I'll try and talk to Lori at home, but please don't make a scene. Not now, not here. Please."
Jen wanted to argue further, astounded by how Leni was almost defending her sister, but one look at the begging face of her best friend reminded her who she was talking to. Leni hated conflict, and tried to avoid it where possible, and she always had a way of seeing the good in people in spite of any drama or actions they may have been involved in. Seeing Leni's side of things, she sighed. "Alright. This is a family matter, so I won't interfere. Just promise me you'll talk to her when you can."
Leni smiled again, pulling Jen into a hug. "I promise."
Jen slowly returned the hug, smiling at her friend before sending a harsh glare to Lori, who caught sight of it and returned a confused expression. "What's her problem?" She said to herself, though Whitney heard it and looked over at the high school juniors.
"Looks like Leni's friend isn't too happy with you, Lori," she pointed out.
"Yeah," Dana added, "I saw another of them staring at us, but I just thought they were looking at someone else."
"Why would her friends be mad at you, though?" Carol asked. "Did something happen between you and Leni?"
"Nope. It's probably nothing, so just ignore them." While her friends were content to do so, Lori couldn't help but quickly think, 'I may have to talk to Leni later. See what she's been saying.'
Not all of the students were in the cafeteria at that time. Elsewhere in the school, Luna was standing in the band room with her friends, currently practicing some songs they were fond of. A girl was beating away at the drums, a boy was jamming on the keyboard, Sam was playing her guitar while singing, and Luna was playing her guitar as well. She had sung the first song, but didn't have the same energy in her voice, so she suggested that Sam should take over on the mic. Her girlfriend was worried about her, but after Luna told her that she was okay, she willingly took over on vocals.
After about twenty minutes of practicing, they finished another song, though Sam could still hear music playing. One look over her shoulder allowed her to see Luna looking down at her guitar, her fingers still strumming away. "Luna! The song's over!" she called to the brunette, though it went unheard by the Loud girl. "LUNA!"
This time, the yell got her attention, a doe eyed look on her face as she stopped playing and looked up at the blonde. "What happened?" she asked, slightly bewildered.
"The song's done, Luna," the boy, Sully, let her know.
"You okay, Lunes?" Sam asked, her earlier concern. "You spaced out there."
"Oh, totally. Guess I got carried away with the tunes."
"I dunno, dude," the other girl, Mazzy argued. "You've been acting kinda funky all day."
"Yeah, like in Mrs F's math class," Sully pointed out. "You were actually doing the work for once."
The boy chuckled at his joke, to which Sam shot him a stink eyed glare. "Sully, shut up." She looked back at Luna, a softness in her eyes. "Luna. You know you can talk to me if something's up. I know you know that, so please. What's wrong?"
Luna gave a small smile back. "Dude, I'm fine, really. I've just got some stuff on my mind at the moment. It's nothing serious, really, just some stupid stuff at home." She saw that Sam still wasn't fully convinced, so she picked up her smile a bit. "I appreciate you looking out for me, Babe, but I'm really okay. I'm gonna go use the bathroom real quick, and when I get back, we'll keep on jamming. K?"
Sam finally gave a bit of a smile as the pixie haired girl pulled her into a hug. "Okay, Babe."
"Be right back." Luna let go of Sam and left the band room, her smile disappearing as she walked through the hallways towards the bathroom. When she eventually got there, she checked if it was empty before staring at the mirror, a heavy sigh escaping her lips. "Well, aren't you a jerk?"
She hung her head, shaking it slightly. She felt horrible for lying to Sam, the one person she knew that the Loud would say might know her better than her own family, but she didn't want to bother her with this issue, and even less did she want to find out how she would react. 'After school, maybe I can figure this out. I just need to think about what I'm gonna say.'
As she thought alone, she heard the door open and saw her roommate enter, the freshman having a similar frown on her face as she did. "Oh. Hey, Luna."
"Hey, Luan," she greeted back as her sister walked over. "You okay, bruh?"
"N-no… not really."
"Still thinking about yesterday?" Not able to find any other words for it, the younger girl gave a nod, which the older girl returned in kind. "Me too."
"I was gonna try and talk to Lincoln before school, but… well, you saw how that worked out."
Luna sighed, nodding again. "I get it, dudette. I wanna make up, but I don't wanna do it the wrong way. I feel guilty enough that it happened in the first place, I don't want to make things worse for little bro."
Luan looked down at her hands, her thumbs twiddling together. "Have you… told anyone about what happened?"
This caused the rocker to put a hand on the back of her neck, her frown deepening. "Honestly… I'm worried about what they'll say if I do. I haven't even told Sam, and I hate that I'm hiding it from her. She can tell something's up, and she's been so sweet with checking if I'm alright… I don't want to lose her, and I'm scared that she'll hate me for this. I'm already mad at myself, I couldn't take it if she was too."
"I get it. I haven't told Benny either. He could tell I was upset in drama class, and he wanted me to talk about what was up, but I just told him I was fine, and that I was method acting. I feel horrible for lying to him." She moved her hand to rub the back of her other arm. "Still, I can't even bear to think what he'll say if I do tell him."
"I feel you…" She sighed heavily, shaking her head. "Some sisters we turned out to be."
Luan sniffled. "Uh huh…"
Hearing her sister sound like she was going to start crying, she wrapped her arm around her, inviting her to embrace her. "Come on, sis. We'll figure this out."
Luan nodded, holding the hug for a few seconds before they heard the bathroom door open. They instantly let go and turned to see that it was Sam who had entered. "Oh, uh, sorry," the blonde teen apologised. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
"Nah, we were just hugging it out," Luna quickly answered. "We're cool."
"Yeah," Luan added, "we're fine. She was just talking with me about something, but we're all good now." She turned to Luna. "I better go before Benny wonders where I am. I'll see you after school."
"Sure thing, sis." After Luan made her way past Sam and left the bathroom, Luna turned to her girlfriend. "Was I taking too long? I was just heading back when Luan came, and we were—"
She was cut off when the blonde girl embraced her, pressing their cheeks together gently. "It's okay, I get it."
"You… you do?"
"Of course! Now I know why you've been so quiet all day. You've been worried about your sister."
"Uh… something like that."
Sam pulled out of the hug slightly, keeping her hands on the brunette's shoulders. "Luna, relax. I get why you didn't tell me, I'm not mad. Honestly, it's adorable how worked up you've gotten with this." She saw the way her freckled cheeks lit up a bit at being called adorable, which made Sam giggle. "Seriously, though. If it was about your sister, all you had to do was tell me, and I would have understood."
Luna nodded, feeling a pit form in her stomach. "Sorry, dude."
"Don't be sorry. Come here." She pulled her towards her, wrapping her arms around her again. "You're a really good sister, Luna."
That pit in her stomach grew larger as she reluctantly returned the affection. "Th-thanks, Sam."
A few hours had passed, and in the elementary school, the school bell was ringing signalling the end of the day. Lucy looked up from her book at her teacher, a woman in her early thirties with short black hair and glasses, wearing a white button shirt and red cardigan, grey trousers and black shoes with grey socks. "Alright, class," the teacher declared. "That's it for today. Have a good day, and I will see you all tomorrow."
Most of the third graders eagerly packed up their things and made their way into the quickly filling hallway. Lucy, while not acting particularly quickly, joined her classmates in leaving the room, packing her books and pencils away in her bag before going to her locker. As she pulled some of her belongings out of her locker, she sensed a presence behind her. "Hello, Haiku," she greeted, turning to see her friend stood behind her.
"Hello, Lucy," the older goth greeted in kind. "How has your day been?"
"Same as usual. What about you?"
"Just dark enough to keep me interested." Lucy nodded, understanding perfectly what she meant. "I was wondering if you would be interested in joining me for a brief journey to the cemetery? I heard a rumour that some of the spirits were planning a gathering this afternoon, I thought I would try and communicate with them."
"Weren't you kicked out of the cemetery last time you tried that?"
"No, I was instructed to leave due to the filming of a music video there." She shook her head, a look of disgust on her face. "It wasn't even a death metal song."
"Ah, of course. As tempting as that sounds, I must decline. I promised Fangs I would make him a necklace when I got home. I think he might have an admirer."
"How innocent. Well, I'll let you know if I manage to make contact. Enjoy your activities."
"You too." Haiku walked away, fading seamlessly into the crowd of students eager to go home. Lucy closed her locker and began to make her way towards the exit, when she caught sight of her brother talking with Jordan and her friends, so she made her way towards him. "Hey, Lincoln."
He jumped slightly, though not as much as the girls all did. He gave Lucy a small frown. "Lucy, did you have to do that?"
"Sigh. It's not my fault I don't get noticed." She then turned to the girls and told them, "sorry."
"It's… it's fine, Lucy," Jordan replied, her and the girls giving her a small smile.
"Hey," Lincoln then said to the girls, "I'll catch up with you in a moment. Okay?" Jordan nodded, looking at her friends and signalling for them to leave. Once they had walked away a little bit, Lincoln bent down to his sister's height. "Listen, I'm gonna be a little late getting home today. Jordan and the others asked me to walk with them, so I'll probably be back by about four. Can you tell Lori I'm walking home, and ask Lynn if she can get our workout ready for when I get back?"
"Uh… sure? Do you want me to mention-"
Lincoln instinctively shook his head. "No. I know what they'll be like if you do, and they don't really need to know."
Lucy nodded. "Okay."
"Thanks, Lucy." He smiled and gave her a quick hug before letting go. "I'll see you at home."
"Okay." So, whilst Lincoln followed after his friends, Lucy left the school, stopping near the front steps. She didn't have to wait too long before she saw the twins exit the front doors of the school. Both looked as they usually did at the end of a school day— relieved that school was over and that they could go home— though Lana looked a little less so than Lola. Shortly after them, Lisa came out with her typically stoic expression. "How was your day?"
"The usual," Lola answered, while Lana gave a small nod, which Lucy took note of.
'She's preoccupied with something,' she quickly thought. 'I think I know what, though I doubt she wants to talk to me about it.'
She looked down the road and saw Vanzilla pulling up their way, the five older sisters all inside. "Alright, get in," Lori quickly told them as the van stopped. "Where's Lincoln?"
"He said he was going to walk home," Lucy quickly answered, which she saw made Luna disappointed.
"Oh, really?" the rocker asked. "I was hoping to talk with him before we got home."
"He said he would be back by about four."
"Guess I can try and talk to him then."
"Okay, so the twerp's walking, fine!" Lori cut in. "Unless you four are walking too, get in!"
The elementary schoolers rolled their eyes as they entered the van, not wanting to make Lori more mad than she already was. As Lucy buckled herself in next to Lynn, the jock turned and asked, "so, how come Lincoln's walking?"
"He didn't say. He just asked me to tell you to set up for your workout when he gets back."
"Really? Huh. Yeah, I can do that." Once she felt the van begin to drive away, she started staring out of the window, not really interested in the chatter from the other girls. At one point, she caught sight of her brother walking along the sidewalk with his friends, but she chose not to say anything, the others either not noticing or not saying anything. 'See you at home, bro.'
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