22. Ch 22- Back Home

After a fun night at the sleepover, Lincoln woke up the next morning in his sleeping bag, surrounded by his friends in theirs. Blinking the sleep away, he gave off a mild yawn and stretched his arms, then sat up. He saw that his friends were still asleep. 'I better take advantage of this,' he thought with a smirk. Unzipping his sleeping bag, he got out and stood up, then grabbed his wash bag and carefully manoeuvred around his friends towards the hallway. He could hear the McBride's talking in the kitchen, which meant that the bathroom was free, so he sauntered his way down the hallway and entered the bathroom. Once the door was shut and locked, he decided that he didn't need to use the toilet at that moment, so he simply brushed his teeth, his mind drifting back to the previous day's events. 'It was nice hanging out with the guys and Stella again, and I'm glad we managed to fix everything between us,' he thought.

Once he was finished brushing his teeth, he spat, rinsed his brush and washed his face, then put his brush and toothpaste back in his wash bag. As he gave his reflection in the mirror a once over, he flicked up his turkey tail and grinned. "Looking good," he said to himself, then went deadpan. "Man, if my sisters were here, they'd roast me for that."

As he left the bathroom, his mind went back to the ten Loud girls, and the truth he was hiding from them. 'How am I supposed to tell them?' He pondered. 'Do I just come out with it? Gather them for a sibling meeting? Prepare a presentation?' He shook his head at that last thought. 'No, they'd get bored and just demand I come out with it, and that would make me panic. Still, how am I supposed to do that?'

As he was walking, he didn't realise that there was someone else in the hallway, and accidentally bumped into them. After landing on his butt, he realised that he had knocked into someone, and saw that that someone was Clyde. "Sorry about that, Clyde," he apologised. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

"It's okay," he replied. "I'm not fully awake yet either." They both chuckled a bit. "So, I'm guessing something's on your mind, then."

"Yeah…"

"Is it about your sisters?" Lincoln nodded. "Don't worry, Lincoln. You'll figure it out."

"I hope so."

"KIDS! BREAKFAST WILL BE READY SOON!" They heard Harold call from the kitchen.

"Thanks, dad!" Clyde called back.

"I'll make sure the others are awake," Lincoln told his friend, before returning to the bedroom, where the others were groggily coming to their senses. After putting his wash bag back in his overnight bag and making sure everyone knew that breakfast was being prepared, the white haired boy walked out of the bedroom and towards the kitchen, where the McBrides were cooking away, with Howard frying bacon at one hob and Harold preparing omelettes at the other. Lincoln could also tell that there was some toast being prepared in the toaster. Upon entry, his presence was noticed by the latter of the McBrides, who gave him a welcoming smile.

"Good morning, Lincoln," he greeted.

"Morning, Mr McBride," he replied.

"How did you sleep?"

"Good, thanks. You?"

"Good as well, thank you."

"There's orange juice and milk in the fridge, if you want any," Howard told him. "Would you mind retrieving the butter while you're there, Lincoln?"

"Sure thing." Lincoln walked over to the fridge and got out the butter first, placing it on the counter beside him, then reached for the orange juice but stopped. 'I've only just brushed my teeth,' he remembered. 'I should probably just have water right now.' So, closing the fridge, he opened the cupboard above the counter and grabbed a glass from within, then walked over to the sink and filled it with water. He then grabbed the plate holding the butter, which Liam's father had brought the day before, and took it with his glass to the dining table, taking a seat. Taking a quick sip of water to cleanse his palate, Lincoln saw his friends beginning to appear, still wearing their nightwear just like he was wearing his as one by one, they went into the kitchen and then sat down at the dining table with their choice of drink in their hands. "So, what are you guys gonna be doing today?"

"I'm gonna be spending the day with my grandma," Stella answered first. "She just got back yesterday from visiting her friends in our old hometown."

"I'll probably be helping my pa on the farm," Liam spoke next.

"Me and Clyde are heading to a flea market later," Zach told the group. "Heard there's gonna be a clock specialist this time round."

"You guys are lucky," Rusty complained. "My dad's probably going to make me help him at his store again. I wouldn't mind as much, but it's the half term! Let me relax!"

The others simply rolled their eyes at his lazy attitude, before Stella

turned to Lincoln. "What about you?" She asked.

"Well, since they went to the mall last week, my sisters will probably either hang out with friends or stay at home, which means I can hopefully relax for the day, maybe play some video games or read some comics while I have the chance." He then gave a small smirk. "Of course, that's assuming my sisters don't drag me into their own activities."

"So, probably not then," Clyde joked, leading to chuckles emanating from his white haired friend.

"Yeah, I'm probably being too hopeful."

"Okay, kids!" They heard Howard declare as he and Harold came towards them with trays carrying plates of eggs, bacon and toast. "Breakfast is served!"

"Thanks, dads!" Clyde told them as they laid the breakfast on the table.

"Be sure to tell your father how thankful we are for the fresh ingredients," Harold reminded the farm boy.

"Will do, Mr McBride!" Liam replied, before the two adults left the kids to their morning meal, the scent of which was scintillating to their taste buds. "I told y'all, nothing beats food that's fresh from the farm."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Lincoln asked. "Let's eat!"

After a delicious breakfast, the six kids would get changed before going their separate ways for the day, with the white haired male walking under the clear skies and the shining sun. He had a smile on his face the whole way to his house. When he arrived, he was surprised that none of his sisters were in the yard. He had expected to see Lana playing in the garden with Charles or Lynn doing some exercise now that she was off her crutches, but simply shrugged it off as he approached the front door. Gripping its handle, he opened the door and stepped inside, where he saw his sisters sat on the couch. "Hey, guys, I'm-" his smile dropped when nine of them stood up and gazed at him with stern glares, except for the blissfully ignorant infant in Leni's arms. "Back?"

"About time you got back," Lola snapped at him, making him nervous.

"Is everything okay?"

"You tell us, twerp," Lori told him as she stepped forward. "Bobby was calling me yesterday, and he told me that Ronnie Anne was expecting you to call her, and you never did. Why didn't you tell her that you were going to a sleepover?"

This did little to clear up Lincoln's confusion. "But, I never said I was going to call her yesterday."

"Oh, really? Then, pray tell, why did she text me this?"

She held her phone up to him, allowing him to read the text. "Hey, babe. Remember the time we-"

"NOT THAT TEXT!" Lori frantically went through her phone to find the right text, fuming as her sisters laughed behind her and her brother shuddered in disgust before her. "This one."

He looked at the new text and saw that it was a picture of a calendar, with a red circle around the Friday that had just passed. "That can't be right, I'm sure we said it was tomorrow we were going to be calling each other."

"Are you calling her a liar?" Lori challenged with a raised voice.

"No, I just think there's a mistake. Hang on." He then made his way upstairs, his sisters following close behind as he entered his room. Once there, he pulled a calendar off the wall and looked it over. "See? Right here."

He held the calendar up to his sisters, and immediately, Lisa sighed. "Lincoln, that is September's page, not October's."

Flipping the calendar around, he looked it over once more and flicked the page, then groaned. "Great going, Stincoln!" Lynn chastised her sole male sibling.

"How did I not see that?" He sighed, sitting down in the chair by his desk. "I'm gonna call her, see if she's free to talk now." After a second, they hadn't moved, so he glared at them while they smirked back. "Do you mind?"

"Nope!" Lana replied.

With another sigh, Lincoln opened one of his desk drawers, and once his hand was on the object he desired, he turned around and blasted a foghorn in the girls' faces, forcing all but Luna to run off, the rocker simply sneering with crossed arms.

"It's gonna take more than a bit of noise to get rid of me bro," she taunted. Her cockiness, however, faded away when he held his phone up at her with a polka song ready to be played.

"Don't make me press that button, Luna," he warned her.

"You're evil, brah," she resigned, walking away. Now that his sisters were gone, Lincoln shut the door and opened up his laptop. Once he'd logged in and found the video messager, he clicked on the call button by Ronnie Anne's contacts and waited in agony for her to answer. He didn't know if she had made plans for that day, but he could only sit there and hope that she would answer.

'Please pick up,' he thought to himself. He was starting to think that she might have gone out, when the call was finally answered, and he could see the Hispanic girl sat in her bedroom, wearing her purple hoodie and the purple scrunching that kept her raven hair in a ponytail. "Hey, Ronnie Anne."

"Oh, hey, Lame-O," she replied, stonefaced.

"So, uh… sorry about last night. I, uh, kind of goofed a little. I thought I was going to be video chatting with you tomorrow, 'cause… well, I put it on the wrong date of my calendar."

An eyebrow was raised at the boy. "How do you even manage that?"

"Well, I got the right day…" His cheeks turned pink. "But the wrong month." It didn't take even a second for the girl to burst into laughter, gripping her ribs as she fell back onto her feet. The now heavily blushing boy looked away in embarrassment as her laughter was heard through the laptop. "You done yet?"

"Hold on, just a few-few more," she uttered between laughs, still holding her ribs as she sat up, revealing her tears eyes. Eventually, she began breathing deeply, trying to regain her composure as the tears were wiped away. "Thanks for that, Linc. I didn't know I needed that, but that's really got me in a good mood."

"You're welcome," he muttered, then gave a hopeful smile. "So, we're good?"

"Yeah, we're good."

He exhaled out of relief. "Thanks. So, are you free to talk now?"

"Yeah, I've got some time. I'm meeting up with my friends after lunch, but I've got nothing urgent right now. So, what's new with your crazy family?"

"Well, mostly the same. Luna's band are getting kind of popular, so that's good to hear, but nothing too notable. What about you?"

"Well, I'm still getting used to having to share everything. My uncle Carlos walked in on me using the bathroom because I forgot to lock it."

He smirked. "What, you didn't lock the door when you lived in Royal Woods?"

"Ah, shut up." The two both chuckled a bit. "So, Bobby told me that Lori said you've been hanging out with Girl Jordan? When did that happen?"

"Oh, geez. Let me guess, she told him that I'm dating her even though I'm not, right?"

"Yep. You still didn't answer my question, though. When did that happen? I don't remember you two being great friends before."

"No, no, you're right. We were friends before, and we still are, but we've only really hung out once or twice in the past couple of weeks. She got me into… dodgeball."

"Yeah, I think I heard Bobby mention that too. Walls are really thin here, but whatever. So, what made you want to try dodgeball?"

"I wouldn't exactly say I wanted to. Can't remember if I told you, but my parents made me take up football to get more active, but I really didn't want to, so I kept trading with Lynn. It worked until she got injured in the last game. I subbed in for the last play, but accidentally scored against our team. They were… angry, to say the least, so let's just say I got hurt for it."

"I can imagine," she said with a wince. "So, I'm guessing there's more to this?"

With a nod, he continued his story. "After that, I was grounded for a week, which ended three weeks ago. They still wanted me to be more active, so they got me to try different sports- track, soccer, basketball, racquetball- but they all ended badly. So, one day, I bumped into Girl Jordan, and she recommended I try it out, and that was the one that stuck, I guess."

"Seriously, though. Dodgeball?"

"Yep! What, you don't believe me?"

"Honestly? Not really." Lincoln rolled his eyes. "But, hey. Sounds like you're enjoying yourself."

"Yeah, it's pretty cool, actually. Didn't expect to take to it that much, but I'm actually having a lot of fun with it."

"Well, good for you. Now you can do something other than play video games and read comic books all the time."

"Ha! That's rich, given you play video games too, and you would always challenge me to a go on dance battle!"

"Yeah, because I'd always beat you! Besides, I skateboard."

"You did not beat me!"

"I so did!"

As the two continued their conversation, they remained unaware of the few sisters- surprisingly, not all of them for once- listening in outside his bedroom.

"So, like, wait a minute," Leni whispered to Lori. "If Linky is dating Ronnie Anne, why did we all think he was dating Jordan?"

Lori opened her mouth to speak, but found herself asking herself that same question. 'Is he dating her?' She pondered. 'I used to think he was dating Ronnie Anne, but I was so quick to think the same of Jordan…'

"Um… I don't know, Leni," she replied. "Listen, I'm gonna go talk to Bobby for a bit. Don't let Lincoln catch you."

"Okay!"

So, while her roommate returned to eavesdropping, Lori returned to their room as the question the ditzy blonde had asked weighed on her mind.