章 54: 54. Ch 54- Breaking The Silence
(A/N: quick thing I want to point out- just like fashion, I know nothing about roller derby, so this is all based on what I've found online. If it's wrong, do let me know.
Thank you all for reading, and enjoy!)
It was Sunday in Royal Woods, and for one Lynn Loud Jr, she was making the most of it. "Oh, yeah! This is more like it!" she cheered as she skated around the derby rink, moving left and right as she did so in order to avoid bumping into her teammates. It was the first practice session she had been able to attend since her leg injury, the one from the week before having been cancelled due to the coach being ill after a bad meal. While Lynn had been irritated by this, she shrugged it off and continued to train by herself. She had already been able to return to basketball and softball practice, and now that she was finally able to do roller derby again, her solo training had paid off. She hadn't missed a step, and the feeling of skating round that rink felt better than ever. She skated further ahead, so that she was now alongside her bestie. "Gotta tell ya, Margo… I've missed this."
"Well, it's good to have you back, Lynn," she replied to her friend. "Now, come on. Our jammer's under pressure." Looking ahead, Lynn saw that one of their teammates, who had stars on their helmet whereas theirs were plain, was being charged upon by two members of the team. "What's the tactic?"
"Same as usual, Margo: 'the close in'. You go left, I go right, we block them into each other."
"Got it!"
So, the two of them skated ahead, passing through the crowd of other blockers. They took to the different sides of the play zone: Margo skating near the cones on the inside, and Lynn skating alongside the barricade on the outside. As they skated further ahead, they neared the two blockers closing in on the jammer, who was nearing the furthest forward blocker, hoping to get a grand slam. Lynn closed in on her blocker, leaning in and saying, "on your right!" The blocker tried to barge into her, only for Lynn to dodge it and then appear on her left. "On your left!"
She tried to block her again, only for Lynn to dodge, sending her into the other blocker. Margo used the opportunity to barge into them, causing her to fall to her knees and fall further behind the pack, leaving the other blocker between Margo and Lynn. She looked back and forth between the two and smirked, first faking a block to Margo before hitting a rough shoulder barge to Lynn, causing her to spin and fall back slightly, allowing the blocker to get further ahead. Lynn quickly recovered, and as she picked up her speed once again she looked to her friend. "Margo! Slingshot!"
"You got it!"
So, Lynn skated toward her friend, who held a hand out behind her. Once Lynn grabbed hold of the outstretched hand, Margo pulled her forward, transferring her momentum to her teammate. The extra speed allowed Lynn to quickly close the gap between her and the blocker, and with a quick sideward tackle, she took her down. Looking ahead, she saw her teammate dodge the other blocker before surpassing her, leading to the ref blowing the whistle. "Grand slam!" they declared, leading to Lynn and her teammates cheering.
"Oh, yeah!" As she celebrated, Lynn turned to the blocker she had knocked down and extended a hand to her. "Nice to see you aren't taking it easy on me."
The blocker smirked, getting up with Lynn's help. "Nice to see you haven't been taking it easy on yourself!"
"What, you think I'm gonna just sit around for weeks? I'd go out of my mind!"
"Yeah, that sounds like Lynnsanity."
The Loud girl smirked back at her. "You better believe it."
"Ah, it feels good to skate again," Lynn told her friend as they skated down the sidewalk. Practice was over, and they were skating towards her house, the rest of their stuff in the bags on their backs. "Knowing that you guys were practicing without me made all that waiting around suck hard, you know?"
Margo chuckled, her friend not surprising her in the slightest. "Yeah, I can imagine. Still, we couldn't just not practice, could we?"
Lynn chuckled back. "Nah, you're right. Gotta get those wins, and you don't get them just sitting around." She saw her house appearing at the end of the street. "So, you heading back to your place now, or you wanna hang out for a bit?"
"Can't. I've got a chemistry assignment due tomorrow, and my mom's saying I can't go to basketball practice if my grades drop lower."
"Yeah, I still need to get my English assignment done. I'd lend you Lisa, but she'd probably want something in return, and I don't even want to think about that would be." Both girls shuddered at the thought. "Guess I'll catch you at school, then."
"You too, Lynn."
The two shared a fist bump before Margo skated away, leaving Lynn to head towards her house. She skated up to the front steps and sat down at them, taking her skates off and trading them for her regular sneakers before taking a content sigh. 'Finally getting back into the groove of things,' she thought to herself, before getting up and heading inside. After shutting the door behind her and seeing that the twins were using the TV, she knew that she wasn't going to be likely to convince them to let her use it for a bit, so she headed upstairs into her bedroom. She saw her English book lying open on her desk and sighed. "Well, no point in waiting, I guess. It's not gonna do itself… unfortunately."
She took her seat at the chair against the desk and picked up her pen, preparing to begin the assignment… only for her to stop the second the pen met the paper. It was no secret that Lynn was… well, not the most academically inclined, particularly when it came to English. She wasn't failing in any of her subjects, though a lot of that was in part due to Lisa's aid with revision. English, however, was a subject that the toddler PhD wasn't particularly helpful with. While her grammar was impeccable and she had no issues with teaching that, literature was less her forte, and Lynn's assignment was to write a short piece in first person. She might have been fine if she got to choose what she wrote about, but the prompt they were given kind of limited her.
"Why did it have to be 'theatre'?" She groaned, planting her head on the desk after a solid minute of achieving nothing.
"Lynn?"
The jock screamed, unintentionally throwing herself backward and falling off her chair and on the back. After the initial impact caused her to wince and rub the back of her head in pain, she groggily looked up and saw her little sister/roommate stood above her, looking down. "Seriously, Luce? I just recovered from a leg injury, I don't need a concussion too."
"Sigh… sorry."
"Nah, it's cool, just try not to jump on me when I'm… well, trying to get my English work done." She sat up before getting to her feet, dusting herself off. "Trying be the right word for it."
"Do you want some help?"
"Really? That would actually help me a-" Though Lynn initially smiled at the offer, she then gave her goth sister a weary look. "Wait a minute… you never offer to help me with my English work. Why now?"
"Can't I help you just for helping you?" The five second long, silent stare that Lynn gave her was response enough to tell her that she didn't believe it, so the third grader sighed. "Actually, I need your help with something."
"Thought so. What is it, another bully? Someone disturb your favourite gravestone? Who've I gotta beat up?"
"It's nothing like that. Besides, if someone disturbed one of the gravestones, I'd try and place a curse on them."
The brunette rolled her eyes. "Of course. So, what is it then?"
"Well…" She began rubbing the back of her arm, something Lynn rarely saw her do but knew to be a telltale sign that she was nervous about what she was going to say. "You remember last week, when you kicked me out of our room?"
"Kicked you o- ohh…"
The prior Sunday, Lucy was sat in her coffin, reading poetry to her bust of Edwin. "And solemnly I sleep tonight, in hope of reaching a new day's light," she concluded as she lowered the paper in her hands, trading it for the bust. "How was that, Edwin? Too somber, or just somber enough?" The bust, for obvious reasons, didn't talk back, but Lucy could imagine what he would say, and it brought a small smile to her face. "Oh, Edwin. I long for the day that I can meet someone like you. Someone who understands me, who I can relate my poetry to, who I can hold close and-" Her talk was interrupted by the door bursting open, making her sigh. "Not get interrupted." She looked towards the now open doorway and saw Lynn pushing in… a whiteboard? "Lynn? What are you doing?"
"Hey, Luce," the jock replied as she pushed the whiteboard towards her desk. "Can't talk, private stuff. Actually, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave."
"Why?"
"Because me and Leni have to have a private conversation, and I doubt Lori's gonna let us kick her out of her room. Besides, I already told her to meet me here. Come on, do me a solid, will ya? It'll be, like, five to ten minutes, and then you can come around and talk to your vampire head."
"It's not-" She silently seethed for a few seconds, before letting out another sigh. "Fine."
"Cheers, Luce."
The goth didn't offer her a response, simply getting out of the coffin, placing Edwin's bust back on its shelf and leaving the room. Since she knew the downstairs TV was already in use, she decided to go into the vents and do some poetry. She kept a spare book and pencil up there in case she didn't have access to her regular poetry journal, so all she had to do was get into the vents. Heading into the bathroom, she climbed onto the toilet tank, lifted up the vent cover and clambered into the ventilation system, silently crawling along until she found the book and pencil lay in right next to the vent cover by her room.
'There we go,' she thought to herself, not wanting Lynn to hear her and kick her out, since this was the best place for her to think. As she began to write her poetry, she didn't really pay attention to what Lynn was doing, only faintly acknowledging the closing of the door to her room. However, she didn't get too far into her latest poetic creation before something caught her attention.
"Okay, let me put it a bit more clearly," she heard Lynn saying below. "Lincoln needs to figure out which of our sisters to tell next, so we're going to help him figure that by weighing out their pros and cons."
'What?' Lucy didn't hear what Leni said in response, due to being caught off guard by this. 'What would Lincoln have trouble telling us? And what does Lynn mean by pros and cons?' Her attention now drawn away from her poetry, she silently slid along the vent so she could peer into her room and see what the jock and fashionista were doing. What she saw was a picture of her second youngest on the whiteboard Lynn had brought in, and as the two older girls spoke, Lynn would occasionally write something on the board, either under pros or cons. 'They're… figuring out who can keep a secret? But, what kind of secret would Lincoln go to this length to keep?'
"Alright, next we've got Lola," Lynn spoke once again, having reset the board and putting another photo on it. "What do we got for her?"
"Well… he's her pageant coach," Leni responded. "Maybe him doing gymnastics can help her with that?"
'Gymnastics?' It took her a second before she realised what they were talking about. 'Gasp!'
"So… you heard what we were talking about," Lynn spoke, not giving away how she was feeling about this revelation that her younger sister had dropped on her.
Lucy, feeling nervous about this, gave a small nod. "I hadn't meant to, but… I did." Lynn gave a nod of her own, not saying anything for a good few seconds. "You're… mad at me, aren't you?"
The brunette looked down, giving a heavy sigh before finally frowning. "Well, I'm not happy, that's for sure. If that had been about something else, I'd probably be making you sleep somewhere else tonight." She looked up at her sister, and though she couldn't see the goth's eyes through her hair, she could tell she had her attention. "But… there's three questions I've got to ask you. First of all, and I need you to be completely honest with me here, Luce- have you told anyone?"
"Not a soul. I haven't even consulted the spirits over this."
Lynn stared at her for a second, then nodded, satisfied that her answer was honest. "Alright, question two. Why have you waited this long to tell me about this?"
"Because…" She looked down slightly, rubbing the back of her arm. "Because I've been trying to think about how to tell Lincoln. Tell him that… that I don't think less of him for it, and that he doesn't have to keep it secret from me or the others. I don't want him to feel like he has to hide this from me." She sighed after a few seconds of silence, and when she looked up, she was surprised to see Lynn smiling at her. "What?"
"You've just answered my third question, and it was the right answer." Lucy didn't respond, not knowing how to while Lynn placed a hand on her shoulder. "Lucy, I appreciate you keeping this to yourself, and I know Lincoln will when you tell him."
"But… I don't know what to tell him."
The jock's chuckle told her that she thought otherwise. "Lucy, you've just said what you need to tell him right now. When he gets back, if you tell him that, not only will he not be mad at you, but he'll be grateful to know that that's how you feel."
"You think so?" When her roommate nodded, she gave a sliver of a smile as she wrapped her arms around her waist. "Thanks, Lynn."
"Ah, come here, Spooky."
She returned the hug for a few seconds, enjoying the rare moment of affection from the young goth before she let go. "So, what do you need help with?"
"Oh, right. You know what, Luce? I'll have a go by myself for a bit, and come back to you if I need to. You just chill until Linc gets back, 'kay?" Though she was surprised, Lucy didn't pass up on it, returning to her bed and picking up her latest Vampires of Melancholia book, leaving Lynn to return to her desk with a smile on her face. 'I'll probably regret not letting her help,' she thought as she grabbed her pen again, 'but she deserves to relax. She needs to tell him, and it's probably been weighing on her a lot.'
It wasn't much later when Lincoln appeared through the front door to the house, having returned from another fun practice session. His sisters sat on the couch saw the smile on his face. "Have fun at dodgeball, bro?" Luna asked.
"Yeah, it was a good session," he replied. "I'll join you guys for Dream Boat soon. If I'm late, you can start without me."
While the rest of the girls all agreed as he made his way upstairs, Lucy turned to Lynn, who gave her a confident smile. "You've got this," she mouthed.
With a nod, Lucy wordlessly got up and headed upstairs, walking up to her brother's bedroom and knocking on the open door, getting the boy's attention. "Lucy?" He asked. "What's up?"
"I… wanted to talk to you about something," she told her brother. "Something I couldn't talk about in front of the others."
"Oh… uh, yeah, sure. Come on in." Once the girl was stood against the bed, he closed the door and turned to face her again. "So, what's up?"
"Well…" She took a deep breath and let it out, before finally telling him. "I know that you don't really do dodgeball."
Lincoln blinked, caught off guard by the sudden admittance. "Y-you know?"
Lucy nodded. "Last Sunday, I accidentally overheard Lynn talking with Leni about it, and that you actually do gymnastics." She saw the boy open his mouth, so she quickly added, "I haven't told anyone. I promise."
He shook his head lightly. "That wasn't what I was going to say. If you found out last weekend… why didn't you tell me?"
She looked down slightly, worried that Lincoln was in fact mad with her. "I… I didn't know… what to say to you. I was going to try to tell you yesterday, but… well, you went out. I tried writing a poem to tell you, but I just couldn't find the words, because I didn't-"
She stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw Lincoln knelt down in front of her, looking her in the eyes as best he could through her bangs. "Lucy. It's okay. It's just you and me, so… you can tell me."
After hearing this, she felt the words start to form in her head, and with them came fresh tears. "I'm sorry, Lincoln. I'm sorry that I made you think you couldn't tell me, and… I want you to know that I don't mind. If you enjoy doing gymnastics, then I'm happy for you. I would never think less of you because of it, and I know it's hard for you to tell the others, but I'll always support you."
Hearing these emotional words come from the younger girl made his lips curl upwards into a smile. "You mean that?" She nodded, causing a couple of tears to drop down, so he wiped them away with his thumbs. "Lucy… thank you. I've been worried about what you and the others would think, which is why that I haven't told you all by now. I know it probably sounds silly."
"Not at all. After all, you're the only person I've told about… well, you know."
He nodded, knowing exactly what she meant- it was what he originally thought she wanted to talk about- before pulling her into a hug that she returned in kind. "But, knowing that you feel that way… well, it really helps, you know? I really appreciate it."
"You're welcome, Lincoln. I promise, I won't tell anyone, either."
"Thanks."
"But, can you do something for me?"
Though he released the hug, he kept his hands on her shoulders. "Sure, Lucy. What is it?"
"Go take a shower. You need one."
Though he was momentarily stunned, the two of them shared a laugh at her joke. "Yeah, you're right. Go on, Spooky. I'll join you girls downstairs when I'm done." As she nodded and headed out of the bedroom, the smile on his face spoke volumes of the weight that had been lifted from his shoulders. 'I've still got a way to go, but… I think things might turn out okay.'
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