章節 55: 55. Ch 55- Mapped Together
"Aww!" Lincoln gave a small blush at the cooing that Jordan made, having just heard from the Loud boy about how the latest of his sisters was let in on his secret. "That sounds really sweet!"
"Well, it's not often that Lucy opens up like that with any of us, so I appreciate her doing that," he told her, taking the last bite from his muffin. "I wasn't sure when or how I'd be able to talk to her about this stuff."
"Well, now you don't have to," Artie pointed out. "So, that's… what, your third sister?"
Lincoln nodded, to which Mollie joked, "three down and seven to go. You might get done by New Year's if you're lucky."
Lincoln rolled his eyes. "First of all, Lily's not even two, so even if I told her, she wouldn't understand it."
"Still, you've told one sister a week," Joy argued. "If you keep going at that pace, it's gonna take you six weeks before the rest of your sisters know, and that'll be next year. Do you really want to take that long to have to tell them?"
"Well, no, I…" He struggled for a second to find the words, the others at the table looking at him expectantly, before he gave a small sigh. "I don't want to take that long, but I don't want to rush it either, because that'll be how I mess it up." While this confused some of the people sat at the table, they were more confused by the dry laugh he gave shortly after. "It's funny. Despite all the jokes you guys and everyone else have made, and how stupid it was, there's one thing that the girl guru incident reminded me of. Something that, had I realised before that, would have meant I avoided the whole thing, and I wouldn't have salt and vinegar pies thrown at me."
Though there were a couple of chuckles from his friends at that last part, only Jordan said anything. "What's that?"
He turned to her, and she noticed the sad smile he had. "Every girl is different, and knowing what makes them different? That's how you figure out how to approach them, or what to say to them. That's why I think I'm taking my time telling my sisters. I can't just say the same thing to each of them, because they're not the same person. That's why I feel like I have to plan things out with them." He then looked down at the table in front of him, trying to hide the saddening look in his eyes. "It's why I've taken so long, and… why I'm still worried about how they'll react."
Jordan couldn't help but give a sad smile similar to his own, hearing the way he truly felt about this. Even the others felt a little bad about how they had teased Lincoln now, but were also thankful he had learnt from the experience. While no one said anything at first, Jordan was the first to break the silence again, getting Lincoln's attention as she put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up too much over this," she reminded him. "You've figured things out so far, and I know you'll figure out how to tell the others."
He instantly turned his sad smile into a happy one at hearing this, patting her hand with his. "Thanks, Jordan."
"I mean it. Plus, you said so yourself. You felt better about all this after you and Lucy spoke."
"True, though I think that part of that is because she's the first of my younger sisters to know."
"It makes sense," Kat spoke up with a nod. "Little kids might be less understanding when it comes to stuff like that." Once she said this, however, she noticed that Lincoln's smile dropped a bit, making her regret. "Oops… sorry."
He shook his head softly, picking his smile back up. "Don't be, you're right. That's something I need to consider as well."
"Well, it's like Jordan said," Sadie offered. "Don't think too hard about it, you'll figure it out."
"Thanks, guys." At that moment, they heard the bell ringing. "Well, guess it's time to head back to class."
"It's my turn to handle trays, so you can pass them to me," Artie pointed out.
With no one arguing, they handed their trays with everything on them to Artie, those who still has juice in their juice boxes taking them with them. Lincoln walked alongside Jordan, still talking about gymnastics stuff, when he felt someone barge into his shoulder, and he regretted turning his head when he saw that it was Markus. "Really?"
"Hey, you're the one blocking my way!" the dark haired boy taunted. "I see your shiner's gone, by the way. Want me to give you a new one?"
"Get lost, Markus," Jordan interrupted. "I thought you were supposed to be getting a three day suspension?"
"My mom gave a call to Huggins, and he changed it to just Friday."
"Seriously?!"
"Let it go, Jordan," Lincoln interrupted. "Let's just ignore him and head to class."
"Aww, listen to him! Sounds like loser doesn't want to see his girlfriend get hurt!"
Though there were some titters from people nearby that heard, Jordan and Lincoln both rolled their eyes, the former turning to her friend and saying, "you're right. Let's go."
So, they walked away, ignoring the extra taunts Markus yelled their way. "Sorry about that."
Jordan looked at Lincoln, her eyebrow raised in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Well, he wouldn't be treating you like that if he didn't have a problem with me."
"Lincoln, you're being silly. Don't apologise for him being a jerk, that's just the way he is. Can't change that." She perked her smile up a bit as she added, "besides, it's gonna take more than someone like Markus to stop me from hanging out with my friend, you know?"
Immediately, Lincoln's smile matched hers. "Thanks, Jordan."
"No problem, Lincoln."
"Okay, class!" Mrs Johnson announced once everyone in her class was in their seats, bringing their conversations swiftly to an end. "I hope you've all had a good lunchtime, but it's time for geography. We'll be resuming our regular lesson on Wednesday, but today we'll be doing something different. I was going to start this particular lesson last week, but the heatwave made me reschedule that, and now that it's over, it's time for us to begin this semester's project." She heard a few groans from the class, but she simply gave a soft chuckle. "Don't worry, this one is a rather fun one, if I do say so myself, and it is a pairs project." She saw more than a few of her students looking across the classroom, looking for their friend to see if they would work together. "For this assignment, you will work with a partner of my choosing." Once again, this was met with groans, but she paid it no mind. "And you will be working together to create a ten minute travel presentation, based on a country in Europe. You will pick your country by choosing from here," she held up a bowl filled with paper balls, "and you will work together to create the presentation. It's up to you how you style your presentation, what areas you cover and who looks into what, but I am expecting equal cooperation from both you and your partner. The assignment will be worth fifteen percent of your grade for this class, and will be presented in two weeks."
"Fifteen percent?" Rusty muttered to Zach. "That's not good."
"Nope," Zach muttered back.
"So, now that you know the task and what's at stake, let's find out who you'll be working with." She put her hand into a different bowl filled with paper balls, pulling out two that she opened up. "Clyde and Chloe."
Whilst the teacher continued pulling names out of the bowl, Lincoln saw as Clyde turned around and gave a wave and a smile to the girl in the pink beret at the back of the class, the girl giggling as she waved back. "You two have definitely been getting along well," he acknowledged.
Clyde gave a quiet but happy sigh. "Yeah," he told the white haired boy. "I feel like we're really getting to know each other better, and…"
Lincoln didn't need his friend to finish that sentence. "I know, buddy. I'm happy for you."
The boys were taken out of their conversation when they next heard Mrs Johnson say, "Lincoln and Girl Jordan."
Though Lincoln was surprised by this, when he looked over at Jordan, the two smiled at each other, something the bespectacled boy took notice of as well. "Are you sure there's nothing going on between you two?"
With a roll of his eyes, Lincoln assured him, "we're just friends, that's all."
"I dunno. You two have seemed a lot closer recently."
"Trust me, Clyde. If we went from being just friends to something else, I'd let you know."
While the boys were having this conversation, Jordan felt a tap on her shoulder and saw that it was Mollie getting her attention. "So, you and Lincoln, huh?" she said with a grin, making the ponytailed girl roll her eyes.
"Not this again, Mollie," Jordan groaned, her palm meeting her face. "I told you, we're just friends."
"I'm just saying, you two have grown closer." Her grin then dropped into a scowl. "Besides, I'd take Lincoln for this project over Flat Tire."
The Rosato girl winced, knowing that her friend still wasn't on good terms with the boy that tried to ask her out that one time. "Yeah, all I can say is, good luck with that."
After reading out the final pair of names, Mrs Johnson clapped her hands together. "Alright! Now that you're all paired up, please move around so that you're sat next to your partner, and I'll bring around the bowl so you can pick your countries."
The students all did as they had been told, getting up and moving over to sit next to their allocated project partner. After a quick talk with Clyde, Lincoln walked over to where Jordan and Mollie were sat. "Is it cool if I sit here?"
"Sure," Mollie bluntly replied, getting up and walking away, leaving Lincoln confused as he sat down.
"What was-"
"She got paired with Flat Tire," Jordan answered, knowing fully well what he was going to ask, and the wince he gave at this mirrored how she had reacted. "Yeah, I thought the same thing."
"I'm not sure if I feel more bad for Mollie or Flat Tire, given that he's probably going to say something stupid and get a slap because of it."
"Most likely." The two shared a quick chuckle at this. "So, what country do you hope we get?"
"I don't particularly mind, as long as we don't get England. My sister Luna and my dad are obsessed with anything British, particularly the English side of things, so they probably won't let me get a moment's peace."
"Isn't that normally how things are at your house?"
He couldn't help but give a more hearty laugh at that. "Touché. What about you?"
"Well, I don't have any particular preference, but there's a lot of beautiful countries in Europe, with a lot of history and culture, so I think any would be cool to work on."
Lincoln nodded, but before he could respond, their teacher approached them with the bowl. "Who's going to be picking for you two, then?"
Lincoln turned to Jordan, who turned to him at the same time, and told her, "be my guest."
"Thanks." She reached her hand into the bowl, fishing through the remaining pieces of paper, and pulled one out, opening it up. "Okay, we have… Italy!"
"Ooh, Italy! Magnifica!" the redhead commented, either not noticing or flat out ignoring the slight cringes the two kids. "Well, you have until the end of this class to begin your planning."
Giving her a nod, they waited for the teacher to walk out of earshot before turning to each other. "That was weird, right?" they both said at the same time, neither realising the other was going to do so until they did, and they couldn't help but chuckle as they realised what had happened. "So," Lincoln spoke after this, "Italy, huh? I'll be honest, other than Rome and gladiators, my knowledge on this country is… well, that's about it."
"Yeah, I know a little about Italy, like the gondoliers in Venice and the Tower of Pisa, but I don't know that much more than you," Jordan confessed. "I imagine we can find a few things in our textbooks, but I'm not sure how much."
"Well, if we figure out how we're going to present, then maybe we can figure out what to talk about. That way, we have the template, so to speak."
"That 'Man with the Plan' thinking, huh?" He gave a small chuckle, which made her give a small chuckle. "Yeah, that sounds good. Now, this sounds more like your domain, so I'm guessing that you have a few ideas already."
"Well… maybe one or two." Hearing his faux modesty and slightly smug grin that he gave at saying this, Jordan couldn't hold back the snort of a laugh, her hands cupping over her mouth as a blush came to her cheeks. "You okay there?"
She nodded, lowering her hands after she had stopped laughing. "Yeah, I'm fine. Well, don't just keep them to yourself, Mister 'Man with the Plan'. Let's hear what you've got!"
So, for the beginning of that class, Lincoln and Jordan began planning out how they would go about doing their presentation. While Lincoln didn't hold back in laying out some of his ideas, he didn't want Jordan to feel left out, so he asked her what she was thinking throughout and if there were any ideas she had, so that it would be something they both worked on. They were able to get the base idea for the presentation down pretty quickly, settling for a simple powerpoint presentation with the Italian flag being the background, but they weren't blind to the fact that they needed information to make the presentation actually have something for them to talk about.
Fortunately for them, about fifteen minutes into the class, Mrs Johnson escorted them all to the library, where they would be able to use the computers to start their research. As they sat at neighbouring computers, they decided to split their research, occasionally turning to the other when they found something interesting. While Jordan looked into the landscapes, architecture and artistic side of Italy, Lincoln looked into some of the history, food and entertainment that the country was responsible for. As time went on, they noted down more and more areas which they could talk about, and when there was five minutes before the end of class, they took their time to put everything together.
"So, we've got a lot we could talk about," Lincoln stated, looking at some of the things Jordan had written down while she looked at his findings.
"Yeah, we sure do," she agreed. "Way more than we can cover in ten minutes."
"How do we narrow that down?"
Jordan thought for a few seconds, tapping her chin until an idea came to mind. "Well, we've got two weeks to work on this. If we can figure out what to talk about in the first week, then we can use the second week to figure out what we'll actually say."
Lincoln smirked. "Smart thinking. Should we divide this up, cover more ground by ourselves?"
"Actually, I was thinking it would work better if we met outside of school. Like, two times a week, and then we could figure out if we need to do extra by ourselves. Since we'll be looking at this again on Monday, and we have practice on Tuesday and Thursday, maybe it would be best…"
"If we met on Wednesday and Friday," Lincoln finished with her, their smiles growing a little at knowing they were on the same wavelength. "Sounds like I'm not the only one who can come up with a plan."
"Yeah. I just don't brag about it." Though he gave a fake offended gasp, the two shared a laugh about it. "But, yeah. Given how big this project is, we need to figure it out properly, rather than just wing it."
"You're right, you're right. So, we have the what, the when and the… who, I guess." She raised an eyebrow at that last one, but didn't question it after he gave a shake of his head. "All that's left is where."
"Well, I know my mom wouldn't mind us working at my house on Friday's, but Wednesday is when Jen usually has some of her friends round, and they tend to get in the way when I'm trying to study. Think we can work at your house then?"
"Well-"
Before the Loud boy could say more, another voice from nearby spoke up. "Don't do it!" Rusty hissed from behind his computer. "Lincoln's sisters made it impossible for us to do a project at his house last year."
"I think he has a point," they then heard Artie say from the other side of Lincoln. "No offence, but last time I was at his house…" He gave a shudder as the memory resurfaced in his mind. "Yeah, I'd rather not go through that again."
"Really? I kind of think you're overreacting, right, Lincoln?"
When she looked to the boy, though, she saw him give her a 'so-so' shake of his hand. "I mean, they're not that bad, but things at my house can get… chaotic. Though, if we're just making a presentation rather than a model, I don't think we'd go through what happened with me and Rusty. Just… don't be surprised if my sisters try and spy on us."
"That's… encouraging."
This made the Loud boy feel slightly guilty, the frown on his face thick with it. "Sorry. I'm not trying to scare you, honestly. I just don't want you to go unprepared."
She gave him a comforting smile, helping to deter his fears that he had given her the wrong message. "Don't worry, I get it. Besides, I think I'm willing to take that risk."
Lincoln threw his hands up, conceding to her. "Alright. We can do that, sure."
"Sounds great."
They then heard the bell ring, signalling the end of class. "Alright, everyone!" Mrs Johnson spoke up. "Geography is over for the day, so let's all head back to the classroom for science."
As everyone gathered their things and began to leave the library, Lincoln felt Rusty pull him back slightly by his shoulder. "How is it you're always the one able to get girls to go to your place?"
Ignoring the slight blush developing on his face, Lincoln rolled his eyes. "It's not like that, but if you want to ever get a girl to like you, maybe try not saying stuff like that."
He walked forward, paying no notice to the stunned expression on his friend's face as Jordan looked over her shoulder at him. "What was that about?"
"Just Rusty being Rusty."
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