Capítulo 78: 78. Ch 78- Bouncing Back
Sunday came, and Jordan was knelt down on the carpet in the living room of her house, petting Ajax as she waited for her friends to turn up so they could walk to gymnastics practice together. The Australian Shepherd had already been walked by Jen, but he was still very hyper, lifting his paws up onto her shoulders so he could lick her face. "Ajax, settle down!" she giggled, trying not to let the dog push her over. "You're gonna make me pee from laughing too hard!" Of course, being a dog, Ajax didn't understand what this meant, so he continued to lick her, and after one well timed jump, he succeeded in knocking her down onto her back. The soft carpet cushioned her landing, but she nearly had the breath taken from her when her pet climbed onto her to continue licking, her giggles turning into blown out hysterical laughter. "Okay! Okay! I- I surrender!"
Her saviour came in the form of Jen, who walked over and pulled the giddy canine off of the sixth grader. "Geez, did Mom put coffee in your water bowl this morning?" she joked, turning to her sister as she sat up again. "You might want to go tidy up before your friends get here."
"Yeah, you're- you're right," she breathlessly replied. "If they- if they arrive, just- tell them I'm- upstairs."
"You got it." So, the younger girl began to head upstairs, leaving her older sister to keep the dog in her arms as he tried to chase after her. "Seriously, what is up with you today?" Ajax barked in response, causing her to chuckle. "You're a goofy boy, aren't you?" She heard the doorbell ring, so she shouted "I'll get it" before heading to answer the door, being met with the sight of Lincoln. "Hey there, Linc- woah!"
Ajax, excited to see the boy, managed to wriggle out of Jen's arms and leap at the boy, who caught him and laughed as he was given the same treatment Jordan received. "Hey there, buddy!" he greeted. "You're happy to see me, aren't you?" He looked at Jen as best he could, the white wriggling ball of fluff blocking his vision. "Hey, Jen."
"Sorry about him. I don't know what's up with him today."
"Nah, he's fine. Kind of reminds me of my younger sisters whenever they get chocolate." Jen chuckled again, following Lincoln into the living room, where he set the dog back on the ground. "Kind of weird to think that this little guy once hated me."
"I find that hard to believe, he loves people. What, did he growl at you or something?"
"No, he… kind of tore up my clothing."
Jen stifled a laugh, covering her mouth as she saw him blush. "You're joking… well, as funny as that sounds, I don't think I'll ask how that happened."
"Thanks. So, uh, the others haven't already left, have they?"
"What, you think I'd let you into the house if they had?"
"I've been pranked worse in the past."
Jen shook her head, bemused. "No, they haven't left yet. I don't know where her friends are, but Jordan's just cleaning up. You aren't the only one this goofball's been affectionate to." He smirked at this, and before Jen could say something else, she saw her sister appear, her scarf and bow now straightened. "Speak of the devil."
"Hey, Lincoln," she said to her friend. "I see Ajax found you."
"Yeah, he found me. And licked me, a lot." The girl giggled, making his smile grow. "Still, he's fine. I get the same from my dog Charles sometimes, just never quite like this."
"I don't get why he's acting so weird today. He was fine before lunch."
"Maybe it was something he ate?"
"I'll go check," Jen decided, leaving the kids by themselves so she could follow the boy's suggestion.
"So," Jordan asked, "how was your trip to the city?"
"It was pretty good, actually. It was fun to see Ronnie Anne and her friends again, and we had a good time at the skate park." The girl raised an eyebrow at his answer. "What?"
"Nothing. I just never would have thought of you as a skater boy."
"I'm not that into skateboarding, but it's something Ronnie Anne kind of got me into, and a bunch of her friends are into it too. Just don't expect me to do any crazy tricks."
"I won't. Did anything else happen?"
"Actually, yeah. On the way back, me and Lori stopped at a diner, and… well, we finally made up for what happened a couple of weeks ago."
She gasped, giving a small clap in excitement. "For real? Lincoln, that's awesome!" She couldn't stop herself from giving the boy a hug, the Loud being caught off guard but returning it nonetheless. "I'm so happy for you!"
"Thanks."
She didn't hold the hug for too long, eventually letting go. "So, is that the last person you need to make up with?"
"Yep. That's everyone."
"I bet it feels good to know that."
"Yeah, you're right, and I know what you're going to say."
"Oh? What am I going to say?"
"That I should have told them from the beginning, and that they were always going to support me. You're right there, too."
She smiled at the fact he had learned his lesson, but shook her head. "I wasn't going to say any of that. I figured you already realised that."
"Oh. Well, then, what were you going to say?"
She rolled her eyes. "Well, maybe if you'd let me, I would tell you!" The boy gave a slight chuckle, holding his hands up in surrender. "Thank you. As I was going to say, I think that it's great that you and your sisters have made up, because I think you're a great guy, and I'm sure they see that. I think you just needed to see that they see it."
Lincoln didn't say anything for a couple of seconds, the words that she said ringing true in his mind, before he smiled with a small blush. "Wow… thank you, Jordan."
She gave a curious glance as she asked, "what do you mean?"
"Well, this past couple of months, you've done a lot for me. You introduced me to gymnastics, you kept this secret from your sister even though you didn't really understand why I made it one, you helped me with telling Leni and you helped me to put things into perspective after things kind of blew up. You've been a great friend, Jordan, and I wish I had seen that sooner. So, yeah. Thank you."
The boy's smile, combined with the sincerity in his words, made her heart melt. A gentle flush took over her cheeks and a coo escaped her lips as she put a hand to her chest. "Lincoln… that's so sweet of you to say! I think that you're overestimating me, though."
He shook his head with confidence. "Not at all. You are a great friend, and I think I'm lucky to have you as a friend."
She could feel her cheeks heating up, so she covered them with her hands. "Lincoln, you're too much!"
"Okay, I think I found the-" Jen paused, stopping just a couple of meters away from the two kids. She grinned when she saw the blushes on their faces. "What's going on in here, huh?"
Both kids blushed more, with Lincoln taking the initiative and clearing his throat. "We, uh, we were just talking."
Jordan nodded as she added, "so, uh, what did you find, sis?"
Though she wanted to question them more, Jen decided to spare them the embarrassment and answer her sister's question. "Well, I followed your suggestion, Lincoln, and I checked the kitchen to see if he had eaten anything he shouldn't have. Look what I found."
She held up a bag of dog treats, which was notable in that it was quite empty and had a hole in the side that looked like it had been chewed out. "How did he get into those?!"
"Got me, sis. Someone put it in the bottom cupboard by mistake, but I don't remember it being open. He must have learnt how to open it."
"Still, who put them in there? The last time I gave Ajax one of those was—" As realisation hit her, her blush grew even brighter and her smile turned sheepish. "Oops…"
Jen gave a sigh and a shake of her head. "No wonder he's so hyper today. You know what sugar does to him."
"Sorry." She felt a little nudge at her feet, which she turned to see came from Ajax prodding her with his nose. She gave a small smile and returned to petting the dog. "No more treats for you for a while, right, boy?"
The dog barked, causing the girl to giggle again. When they heard a knock at the door, however, Ajax leapt past her to see who it was. Jen rolled her eyes. "I better make sure he doesn't leap onto them too."
Jen walked away again, allowing the two kids to stand up. "Hey, do you have tissues anywhere?" Lincoln asked. "I think I should probably wipe Ajax's slobber off before we go."
"There's some in the kitchen," she explained. "Do you want me to get you some?"
"No, that's okay, I think I know where it is."
"Okay." So, he disappeared into the kitchen, just moments before Mollie, Kat and Sadie entered the living room. "Hey, girls. Where's Joy?"
"She said in the group chat that she's visiting her granny," Sadie explained. "Apparently, they were meant to go last week, but the car broke down or something."
"So, where's Lincoln at?" Kat asked. "Is he late for once? Because I need to get back at him for the teasing from last week."
"Kat, it was just a joke, let it go." The raven haired girl rolled her eyes, to Jordan's amusement. "Anyway, he's already here, he's just in the kitchen."
"Doing what?" Jordan was going to answer, but the second she saw the Rosato girl's blush, Mollie grinned. "Something happened here, didn't it?"
Jordan's cheeks grew more red as she shook her head. "It's not what you think, honest! It's to do with Ajax."
"Oh, really?" Her grin stayed strong when she saw Lincoln return, wiping his cheek with a tissue. "Sure seems like something happened here."
"Yeah, Ajax happened," Lincoln remarked, throwing the tissue into a trash can. "Never had so much slobber on me in my life!"
"He did seem pretty hyper," Kat agreed, with Sadie nodding as well. "Guess he just needs a walk?"
"No, he already had one," Jordan pointed out, only confusing her friends.
"Then, why was he so hyper?"
Jordan gave another sheepish chuckle. "It's a long story."
"Well, you better tell it while we walk," Mollie pointed out. "We don't want to be late for practice."
"Yeah, you're right. Let's go." She gripped the strap of her gymnastics bag and followed her friends towards the front door. As the others exited the house, she turned to her sister, who was attaching a leash and collar to Ajax. "We're heading out, sis."
"Okay. I'll let Mom know when she gets back," she replied, the younger girl nodding back before following her friends. Once the door was shut, she looked down to the dog. "Let's see if we can work that sugar off, huh, boy?" Ajax barked happily, jumping up to lick her again, making her sigh. "Yep. No more treats for a while."
So, the six kids made their way across town towards practice. After some initial laughter at Jordan's slip up with the dog treats, they talked about stuff such the girls' trip to the mall, Lincoln's trip to Great Lakes City, the upcoming winter holidays and school. The girls were quite relieved to hear Lincoln say that he had made up with his sister, having known from the boy just how much he was struggling with telling them before, and even if they disagreed with him keeping his hobby a secret from his family, they wouldn't ever want him to get hurt because of it. To them, it was as if Lincoln had become another member of their group, and they enjoyed having him around, though the fact that they knew how Jordan felt for the boy definitely helped with fitting the boy in their dynamic. Not that they'd ever tell him that, of course.
When they eventually arrived at the sports centre, they went to their respective changing rooms and got changed into their gymnastics clothes, before Chris eventually turned up and began the training session. They started with a regular warm up and series of stretches, before he took them to the tumble track. He began by teaching them how to do a basic Salto and whip back, using crash mats to teach them progressively and helping the kids as they worked wherever they needed it, then began to teach them to do different variations of the two moves and chain them together. As the hour ran out, he decided to have everyone try a run with a forward tuck salto, an aerial round off and a whip back.
"Okay, everyone! Let's try one more time, so keep it up!" he called out. "And, go!"
Lincoln watched as the other kids went one by one along the tumble track, doing their best to execute the routine. Since most of them were beginners, some would stumble through the moves, some would falter at the landing, and even the more experienced of them wobbled a little on the landing. As he saw Jessica— a younger girl with blonde hair in a white leotard, who was also new at the taster session— approach the track, he knew he was next, so he took a deep breath. 'Here we go. Third time's the charm.'
"Very good, Jessica!" he heard Chris commend, the girl managing to stay up by stepping back a couple of steps before walking off the track. "Lincoln! Go!" Lincoln nodded and took off down the track, building momentum before making the first move, tucking his knees into the Salto, then making the round off into the whip back. He bounced back off of the final manoeuvre, and though he had to wave his arms for stability, he was able to keep standing. This brought a smile to his lips, the boy making a small cheer and fist pump as he cleared the track. "Way to go, Lincoln!"
"Thanks," he told the instructor as he ran back to his friends. Jordan held up a hand, which he high fived without hesitation. "Glad I got it in the end."
"Hey, that's what practice is for," she reminded, to which he nodded.
"Sure is."
The final girl finished her run, with Chris commending her. "Okay, everyone! You've done great so far, so we'll take a five minute break before we move on to the trampette. Make sure to get something to drink, okay?"
No one argued against this, all splitting off to get their own drinks. Lincoln grabbed his bottle of water from a nearby bench and went into the corridor, where he saw Artie with his bottle at a water cooler. "Looks like you had the same idea as I did," he joked, catching the other boy's attention.
"I'm almost done here, so you can use it in a second."
"No hurry." As Artie filled his bottle with cold water, Lincoln finished the rest of his lukewarm water. By the time he was done, Artie was putting the lid back on his bottle, stepping aside to allow Lincoln to refill his. "Thanks." He stepped up to the cooler and began to use it, feeling the cold from the water through the plastic, when he thought of something. "Hey, can I ask you something?"
Artie, who had been drinking, gulped down the water before replying, "go for it."
"How come you don't walk here with me, Jordan and the others? You do whenever we leave school during the week."
"Well, I live on the other side of town from Jordan, and everyone else lives closer to her house than to the sports centre. That, and my mom drops me off so she can see her friends or something." Lincoln nodded in understanding. "Still, I'm just glad I'm able to come here, you know? Otherwise, I'd just be sat at home, watching TV all day."
"Gee, sounds like a nightmare. I couldn't imagine what that would be like."
Artie couldn't help but laugh at the sarcastic joke, before telling his friend, "I'll see you back in there."
Lincoln nodded as he walked away, looking to his bottle and turning off the cooler before his bottle got too full. Screwing the lid back on, he began to head back towards the gymnasium, just as Chris came out from it.
"Hey, Lincoln," he spoke. "Good work today."
"Thanks, Chris."
"So, I noticed that you had a better time concentrating today. I know it's not really my business, but I'm guessing that everything's okay at home now?"
Lincoln nodded. "Yeah, me and my sisters, we've all made up now. It's good to know that they're supporting me, and that they aren't mad at me about… well, you know."
"I get it, and I'm glad you don't have to worry about that anymore. You've just got to remember, Lincoln, that doing something you truly enjoy is something to be proud of. Right?" Lincoln nodded. "Good. Now, go on, I need to go handle something real quick, but we'll be resuming practice soon."
"Alright." So, Lincoln went back into the gymnasium. He was going to head over to Jordan and the others, but he stopped. Seeing the rest of the kids, both his friends and the younger girls, all talking and laughing with each other, he couldn't help but smile. In particular, his smile grew just that bit fonder when he saw Jordan talking with Mollie, as his memory from when he first tried gymnastics came back to him, and how she had supported him throughout his training. 'I really owe you one, Jordan.'
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