章 17: 17. Ch 17- Mother Knows Best
"Alright, everyone! Good work today!" Chris announced as he finished the stretches he led the group through. "Go get changed, and I'll see you all on Thursday."
All of the kids got up after this, making their way towards the changing rooms. "Do you know what time your mom will get here?" Jordan asked the white-haired boy.
"I don't think she'll be late," he replied. "I'll check my phone once I'm changed and see if she's arrived."
"Okay. See you in a few minutes, then."
As the two of them, and everyone else, went to get changed, Chris smiled after another successful session. He turned to head towards his own bag so he could grab a drink of water, when he noticed the adults that were waiting for their children- particularly, one he hadn't seen before. With a jogging pace, he headed towards the woman, who noticed his approach. "Excuse me," he greeted the blonde. "I don't think I've seen you here before. Can I help you?"
"Oh, I'm just here to collect my son," she replied.
It didn't take long for him to realise who she meant. "Are you Lincoln's mother?"
She nodded. "That's me. Rita Loud."
He extended a hand, which she grabbed and shook. "Chris. I'm the instructor here. So, I'll admit I'm surprised that this is the first time we've met. Lincoln's been coming here for nearly two weeks now."
"Well, Mrs Rosato was kind enough to drop him off for me previously, but apparently she's had car troubles, so I've decided to return the favour. Though, I'll be honest with you, Chris, I wasn't really expecting… this."
He merely chuckled upon hearing these words. "Let me guess, Lincoln said it was something else?"
She blinked. "That's… exactly right! How did you know?"
"A lot of guys I know who did gymnastics when I started were the same. Toxic masculinity, mostly- dad's who want their sons to be more masculine, though it was more common when I was that age. I was fortunate that my mom was a gymnast, so my parents were accepting of it." He crossed his arms. "So, what did he say it was? Football, basketball, boxing?"
"Actually, Lincoln told me it was dodgeball."
Chris laughed again. "I'll give it to Lincoln, he's imaginative. Never heard that one before. But, look, don't take it personally. I'm sure Lincoln didn't mean any harm by it. He's probably just nervous about how you and your family would respond. Does he have any siblings?"
"Ten sisters." She smirked when he did a serious double take at that, his eyes wide in shock. "I get that a lot."
"Are they older or younger?"
"Five of each."
"I see. Well, again, I can understand why he'd say he was doing something different, but definitely have a talk with him. If he sees you're okay with him doing all of this, then it'll help him with telling the rest of your family, especially his older sisters."
She nodded. "Thank you. So, if you don't mind me asking, was it you who wrote this note?"
She pulled it out of her pocket and handed it to Chris, who read it before handing back. "That's not actually my handwriting, so I'm guessing Lincoln wrote this. However, I did write a note, and this matches what I wrote. Prices are the same, and those are my contact details, so apart from it being dodgeball, he told you the truth."
"I see." She put the note back in her pocket, though not without making a mental note to talk to Lincoln about it later. "So, what sort of things has Lincoln been doing here?"
While Chris talked to Rita more about the training sessions and how Lincoln had been doing, the boy in question had finished getting changed and emerged from the changing room. Seeing that Girl Jordan wasn't around, he decided to head towards the parking lot, but stopped when he saw his mother talking with Chris, most likely about him. He felt a small shiver down his spine as his nerves began to emerge. 'Looks like I'm going to have to talk to her after all,' he admitted to himself. 'I just hope she isn't too mad about me lying to her.'
While these thoughts began to trouble his mind, he was unaware to the girl approaching from behind. "Ready to go?" Jordan asked him, though when he didn't respond and she saw his face, she grew concerned. Waving a hand in front of his face brought him out of his thoughts, alerting him to her presence. "You okay?"
"Y-Yeah, it's just…" He looked back over at his mother. "My mom's here."
"Oh?" Looking where he was looking, she realised what he really meant. "Oh."
He sighed. "I'm not looking forward to this conversation."
Sensing that he needed reassurance, she gave him a soft smile and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You'll be okay, Lincoln. Just be honest with her, and she'll understand."
He smiled, before giving her a nod. "Thanks, Jordan."
So, the two walked towards the Loud matriarch just as Chris was heading off towards reception. Rita, seeing the two sixth-graders approaching, smiled. "Hey, sweetie," she greeted her son. "You have fun today?"
"Yeah," he replied. "This is Jordan, by the way."
"Nice to meet you, Mrs Loud," Jordan greeted with a wave.
"Call me Rita, dear. So, if you kids are ready, then we'll head off." They nodded, before following the mother Loud out of the sports centre and towards Vanzilla. After both kids got in, with Lincoln graciously allowing Jordan to have The Sweet Spot, Rita got in the driver's seat and prepared to drive off. "It was 72 Marshall Drive, right?"
"That's right," Jordan replied.
"Alright then, kids, here we go."
About twenty minutes later, the van pulled up into the driveway of the destination. The drive there was pleasant enough, with Rita asking questions about how Jordan and Lincoln knew each other and their gymnastics, and Lincoln and Jordan occasionally talking about their plans for the half term break. As Vanzilla slowed to a halt and she turned the engine off, Rita saw Mrs Rosato come out of the front door. "I'm gonna go say hi to Mrs Rosato for a second, Lincoln."
"Okay, mom," he replied, before his mother got out. He then turned to Jordan. "So, uh… guess I'll see you tomorrow?"
She gave him a sympathetic look. "You're really nervous about what your mom is going to say, aren't you?" With a sigh, he ducked his head and nodded. "I thought you weren't as worried about your parents' reaction?"
"I'm not, but… that doesn't mean I'm not nervous, you know? She's my mom. I don't want her to be disappointed in me for doing this."
"She won't." Placing both hands on his shoulders, she got him to look at her. "It's like I said before- just be honest with her. What's the worst that could happen?"
"You had to say that, didn't you?" When she giggled in response, he finally cracked a smile. "Thanks, Jordan."
"Aw, come here." Before Lincoln even realised, she had given the boy a hug, and while he was surprised by the gesture, he returned it for a brief second before they both let go. "Let me know how it goes, okay?"
"I will."
"I'll see you tomorrow."
He watched as she got out of the van and returned the wave she gave him as she walked towards the house. It wasn't much longer before Rita finished speaking with Mrs Rosato and returned to the van, shutting the door and buckling up before turning to look at Lincoln. "You okay back there, Lincoln?"
"Y-Yeah, mom."
She nodded to him, then turned to face the front again and turned on the engine. The van rolled out of the driveway and began making it's way towards home. "So, Lincoln." He could tell right away from her voice what was coming next. "When were you planning on telling us that, instead of doing dodgeball, you were actually doing gymnastics?"
Gulping, he pulled on his collar. "Well… I-I'm not sure."
"I see."
He couldn't tell from her tone whether she was angry or disappointed or not- all he could tell was she was serious. "Mom… I'm sorry I lied. I know I shouldn't have… but…"
"But what?"
He looked down, almost in shame. "I wasn't sure how any of you would take it. I mean, it's not exactly a very masculine sport, and-"
"Lincoln." He looked up and into the driver's mirror to get an idea of her expression, though he could only see that she had kept it relatively neutral. "Be honest with me- are you worried the girls are going to tease you for it?" Hesitantly, he nodded, and she did the same. "I thought that might be it."
"I was going to tell you at first, I promise. But, when I got back after my first session, I started thinking about how they would react, and how you and dad would react, and… it scared me." This honestly caught her off guard- not enough to affect her driving, but enough to make her focus on what he said next at the same time. "I feel like the girls don't get my hobbies as it is, and they've laughed at me for a couple of them, so I'm scared this will be the same when I tell them. If it wasn't for that, I may have told you and dad and the girls straight away. Though, at the same time, I may still have been too nervous."
"Well then, why didn't you just pull me and your father to one side and tell us? We would have understood."
"Because I wouldn't want one of the girls to overhear, which is pretty easy to do in our house. I haven't even told Clyde or my their friends at school in case one of my sisters overhear me telling them. The only people that know are Jordan and her friends who also do gymnastics."
"And do they know that we think it's dodgeball?"
He nodded. "The girls don't get it as much but they understand, and Artie told me he did the same when he started."
"I see."
After that, a few seconds of silence filled the air, worrying Lincoln more. As Rita pulled up at a red light, Lincoln broke the silence. "Mom… are you going to make me stop?"
She turned her head in curiosity, seeing her son with his head down and twiddling his thumbs. "What do you mean?"
"Gymnastics. Are you going to make me stop doing gymnastics?"
The mother frowned. "No, Lincoln, of course not. Why would you think that?"
"I just… I-I mean…"
A horn from behind the van indicated to Rita that the light had changed, so she turned around and resumed driving. "Lincoln, I will say this. I'm disappointed that you lied about what you were actually doing, and I know that you rewrote the note Chris had given you." Lincoln's head fell down even lower. "However," the boy's head instantly perked back up, "I'm not going to punish you for either of those, because you didn't do that to disobey us, and instead it was because you were scared of what we would think. I am also not going to stop you from doing gymnastics, because you sought it out yourself," a smile came to her face, "and from what I saw at your practice earlier, you really enjoy doing it. I would only stop you doing it if you weren't really enjoying it, or you were letting it affect your studies, so as long as you don't let that happen, I see no reason why you shouldn't be allowed to."
For the first time since they dropped Jordan off, Lincoln smiled. "Really?" She nodded, which made Lincoln let out the breath he didn't even know he was holding. "Thank you."
"Of course." It was about half a minute later that they returned home, with Vanzilla pulling up in front of the open garage. Turning off the engine, Rita turned to look at her son again. "So, Lincoln, now that you've told me, I need to know something."
"You mean when I'm going to tell the others, don't you?" He asked.
"Exactly."
Uncertain, he began rubbing the back of his arm. "I don't know. I'm not as worried with dad, especially now that I've talked with you, but…"
She felt sorry for her son, seeing him feel this way. "Lincoln, I know you're concerned with how your sisters will react, so I'm not going to make you tell them now, or tell you when you need to tell them, but please don't leave it too late. That will only make it harder to deal with. At the same time, when you do decide to tell them, if they laugh at you or anything like that, tell me. I will not have your sisters ruin this for you."
"Okay. What about dad?"
"Well, that's up to you. Do you want to tell him now, or would you rather wait?"
He thought for a second, before replying, "would you be able to tell him?"
She gave a soft laugh, before shaking her head. "I'll make sure the girls aren't listening, but I think you should be the one to tell him."
"Worth a shot," he muttered, but still smiled. "Okay. I'll do it after dinner."
"Good boy. Now, come on, dinner's soon, so if you want a shower, you'll have to go now."
He nodded and got of the car, shutting the door behind him. He walked up to the front door, but stopped before he could open it, then turned back around, and as his mother locked the van door, he gave her a hug which made her give a warm laugh. "What's this for?"
"For understanding," he replied, which was reason enough for her to return the hug to her son.
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