51. Ch 51- Back At It Again

(A/N: hey, everyone! I know I've been doing a lot of these author notes at the start of chapters, so I hope it's not getting annoying, but there are a couple of things I have to say. First of all, I want to give a shout out to RawToonage Press. Not only are they a great writer, but they're also a great artist, and they've been doing some cover art for some of my stories, which I could not be happier about! I love what he has come up with so far, and am honoured that he has done this. If you haven't read my other works, then feel free to check them out, and if you already have, please check it out on his DeviantArt page, RawToonage.

Also, and I never thought I'd say this about one of my stories, but… you guys helped it reach an astonishing milestone. In fifty chapters, this story has hit… ONE. HUNDRED. THOUSAND. VIEWS! It doesn't feel like that long ago, I was celebrating 50K, but this is a whole new level! I am absolutely ecstatic with this, and cannot thank you enough for this. It's your response that keeps me going as a writer, so I hope I can continue to match up to that support.

Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, and enjoy!)

At the sports centre, all the kids that were waiting for gymnastics practice to begin were either sat or stood around the practice area, talking to each other or- in the case of some of the younger gymnasts- playing around, doing handstands and cartwheels and similar things. As Joy, Sadie, Kat and Artie talked with each other, they saw Chris coming over to them.

"Hey, you guys," he greeted.

"Hey, Chris," they all responded.

"Where are Mollie and Jordan at today? Or do they have other commitments?"

"Mollie told us she was going to wait for Jordan and Lincoln," Kat explained to the coach. "She got a text from Jordan saying they had to stay behind for a bit."

"Do any of you know what for?" They all either shook their heads or gave him a shrug. "I see. Well, we need to get started, so once they get here, they can just catch up." The kids nodded and made their way towards the floor, while Chris turned towards it and clapped his hands together. "Okay, kids. I know it's pretty hot outside, but the AC means it's nice and cool in here, so let's get started. We're going to be doing more work on vaulting and the bars, this week looking at the parallel bars. We'll start with the vault, but first we need to warm up. Make sure you have space between yourself and everyone else." The kids all gathered on the floor, standing dispersed around it. "Okay. Same as always, we start at the feet. They take the brunt of the impact from any landing, so it's important to make sure that we stretch the muscles there to avoid injury. Let's start by going up into our toes." They followed his instruction, and moved onto their toes. "Now, roll back onto your heels, then roll forward to your toes again."

They repeated this for a good few seconds, before going on to stretch the rest of their bodies too- ankle rolls, calf stretches, lunges, gate stretches, waist twists, toe touches, wrist rolls, lateral reaches, arm circles and neck rolls. No part of the body was left out, to ensure that the risk of injury would be as minimised as possible. After a few minutes of stretches, followed by some warm up exercises like star jumps, squats and running on the spot, Chris saw Lincoln, Jordan and Mollie enter, so he clapped his hands together once again. "Alright, good work, everyone. We're gonna start with the vault, so head on over there, and I'll catch you in a second." As the kids made their way over to the vaulting lane, Chris walked up to the late arrivals, noticing the black eye that had started to form on Lincoln's face. "Finally made it, I see?"

Jordan rolled her eyes at Chris' slightly teasing tone. "Sorry we're late, we had to take care of something at school," she explained.

"I can take a guess why." He turned to the sole boy of the trio. "You girls go and get changed, I'm gonna talk with Lincoln for a second." Both Mollie and Jordan nodded, leaving the boy and the man to themselves as they went to the changing room. "How did you get that shiner?"

"A jerk in my school punched me," Lincoln told him.

"Did you hit him back?" The white-haired boy shook his head. "That's good. Does it hurt?"

"It's not too bad. It hurt at first, but the ice pack I was given helped. Well, before it melted, at least."

A chuckle came from the gymnastics coach. "Yeah, I can't imagine it would have lasted that long in this heat. So, how are you feeling? Your mom called me on Tuesday to say you had food poisoning."

"Yeah, that sucked, but I'm alright now, so I think it's passed."

"Alright, I trust you. If you feel off, either let me know, step to one side or head to the changing room. First time back at practice after illness can be tough, so know your limits, alright?" When the boy nodded, Chris smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Alright, now go get changed."

"Yes, sir."

Once again, Chris gave a chuckle. "What is this, army camp? Just call me Chris, man."

"Oh. Sure thing, Chris."

With that, Lincoln headed into the changing room with his bags and got changed as quickly as he could, rejoining the others by the vaulting track. He had just missed the first demonstration, so Chris gave a run of his own, showing what he wanted them to do- he ran down the track, jumped off the vault, sprang off the table with his hands at a right angle, and landed facing the way he had come from, before jogging back to the kids. "Okay, let's see what you guys can do. Since three of you were late, you guys should stretch a bit before you have your go. Jessica, you want to go first?"

As one of the younger girls nodded and got in position at the start of the track, Lincoln joined Jordan and Mollie in doing some stretches, starting with wrist rolls. "So, is there some kind of trick to this vault?" He asked. "Or is it just a case of turning in the air?"

"Pretty much," Jordan replied, whilst stretching her triceps. "It's kind of like you're cartwheeling off of the table, but you push away."

"Okay. Sounds simple enough, I guess, though it's never exactly simple in gymnastics, I guess."

"Now, you're getting it," Mollie joked whilst rolling her ankle. "Also, don't put one foot further forward than the other on the vault. Just because you're trying to turn sideways doesn't mean you put one foot further forward than the other. I learned that the hard way."

"Yeah, she ended up not getting enough height from it and ultimately just crashed into the table," Jordan added with a smirk at her bestie. "Took the wind right out of her."

"Hey, I still remember you making mistakes when we were first starting. Remember the first time you tried the uneven bars, and your hands were so sweaty that you just went flying off?"

Jordan winced a little at the memory. "Don't remind me. Chris has to catch me, and I felt mortified."

"To be fair," Lincoln spoke, "it doesn't sound as bad as what happened last week, when I was trying the rings and I got caught in a spin."

"Yeah. That was pretty funny." While the two girls shared a laugh at it, Lincoln gave a "har, har" in the way that showed he wasn't annoyed by their response. "Still, that's what happens. You make mistakes and you learn. No biggie."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

After a couple of minutes of stretching, he heard Chris call to them. "You three ready to join us?" They all nodded to him, walking over to the others once again. "Alright, which one of you wants to go first?"

"Sure, I'll do it," Mollie spoke up.

"Alright, then, step forward." As Mollie took her position, he watched as the other kid who had just gone returned to the group. "Go!" Mollie took off down the track, making the trip to the vault in just a few seconds before jumping off of it, hitting the handspring off the table and landing facing everyone. "Nice work, Mollie!" As the brunette cleared the landing mat, Chris turned to Jordan. "Jordan, you're next." The ponytailed girl nodded, and the process repeated itself- once Mollie returned to the group, he signalled for Jordan to go, and she took off down the track, hitting the vault before using her hands to push off of the table and landing cleanly on the mat, facing everyone else. "Very good, Jordan! Come on back." He then turned to Lincoln and told him, "alright, Lincoln, you're up."

The Loud boy stepped up to the start of the track. As Jordan made her way back, she mouthed "you've got this" to the boy, who smiled and nodded. When Chris gave the go, he took a quick, deep breath, before making his way down the track. He kept his speed up all the way to the vault, then jumped off of it, hit the handspring off the table at the right angle, and twisted in midair before landing on his feet. Though he felt a slight wobble in his landing, he held his position, and one look up told him that he was facing the others, some of whom were applauding him.

"Alright, good work, Lincoln!" He heard Chris commend him. "Come on back."

With a smile on his face, Lincoln jogged back over, where Jordan was quick to tell him, "good job."

"Thanks. You too."

For the remainder of the training session, Lincoln found himself doing surprisingly well, more so than he remembered doing before. For the first half, they continued to work on the vault, with Chris teaching them how to do a variety of different vaults, and each time that Lincoln gave one a go, he felt himself getting that bit more confident. He wasn't yet perfect at it, but he had shown significant improvement. This only continued after this, as once everyone had taken a break, Chris taught them some techniques for parallel bars, such as the back uprise and the forward roll, and though Lincoln wasn't as confident with this apparatus as the vault, he found that he was doing okay, managing to follow Chris' instructions and adapt from any advice he was given, but for the most part he didn't need advice. Eventually, though, it was time once again for the session to end, with everyone stretching once more.

"And, that should do it," Chris spoke up, shaking his arms to keep them loose. "Great work today, everyone! Enjoy the rest of the day, and I'll see you all on Sunday."

As the kids got up and headed to get changed or talk with their parents, Lincoln walked over to Jordan. "So, is it your mom picking us up this time?"

Jordan nodded. "Yeah, and I think your mom is doing it this weekend. My mom has a work thing or something going on."

"Okay. I'll check she knows when I get back. Meet you outside in a few minutes?"

"You sure you wanna stand out there in this heat?"

He blinked for a second, before replying, "okay, yeah, I forgot about that." She gave a giggle at his slip up, to which he rolled his eyes. "So, guess I'll meet you back here then."

She nodded, and they headed to their respective changing rooms. As Lincoln approached his bag and began to put his shoes back on, he saw Artie come in. "How is it so hot, even with the AC on?"

Lincoln gave a chuckle. "Yeah, and they're saying it's going to be worse this weekend," the Loud boy replied.

"How are you not more tired? I mean, when I was at your stage, I was pretty much wiped after practice, and there was never a heatwave like this to deal with."

"Really?" When Artie nodded, Lincoln gave a small shrug. "To be honest, I'm a little surprised I'm not feeling tired myself. Maybe my sister training me is finally paying off."

"Either that, or you'll really feel it in the morning."

The two boys laughed, before a Lincoln finished getting his shoes on. Gathering his bags and saying goodbye to Artie, he left the changing room, and though he didn't see Jordan yet- which he hadn't really expected to straight away- he did see Chris lock eyes with him.

"Hey, Lincoln!" He called to the boy, waving him over. "Can we talk for a second?"

Not wanting to argue, Lincoln approached the coach. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. I just wanted to tell you that, you've done really well today."

Lincoln blinked, surprised to hear this from his coach. "I have?"

"Yeah, you have! Even though you missed the last session because you were sick, and after… well, what that jerk at your school did to you earlier, I was expecting you to need to take your time to get back in the groove of things, but you got straight into it. You impressed me today."

Lincoln could hardly believe he was hearing this, a timid smile appearing on his face while his hand reached to rub the back of his other arm. "Thanks."

"Forget about it. Keep this up next time, okay?"

Lincoln nodded, and Chris nodded back before walking away. Lincoln simply stood there for a few seconds, the smile not leaving his face, before he felt a hand on his shoulder, which a quick turn of his head told him belonged to Jordan. "You ready?"

"Yeah, let's go."

The two of them headed out of the sports centre and into the parking lot, where Mrs Rosato was waiting by her car. As she saw the kids approach, she smiled. "There you are," she said with a relieved sigh. "Your principal told me what happened, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, mom," Jordan told her, while Lincoln gave a nod, making the adult sigh once again.

"That's good to hear, though that black eye doesn't look too good, Lincoln. Do you want me to pick up an ice pack on the way to your house?"

"That's alright," Lincoln assured her. "It doesn't hurt anymore, and I'm sure we have some ice at home. I can imagine my sisters are already making one big enough to sink the Titanic."

Sarah gave a chuckle at the joke before telling him, "well, if you're sure. Principal Huggins told me you stood up for Jordan. Is that true?" When he nodded, she smiled at him. "Thank you for that, young man. I appreciate you looking out for my little girl."

"Mom!"

She ignored her daughter's blushing and reaction, while Lincoln didn't really notice. "That's okay," he assured the mother of one. "She stood up for me too, probably even more so after Markus punched me." He turned to the girl in question and said, "I owe you one for that."

"Come on, Lincoln, you don't owe me anything."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. You would have done the same for me."

"Well, kids," Sarah spoke up, "we better get going before traffic picks up. Hop in, and let's go."

So, after a twenty minute or so drive, they reached Franklin Avenue, and as the car pulled up outside the Loud household, Lincoln looked out of the window and saw the front door opening, with Rita and Lynn Jr making their way out. As Mrs Rosato fully parked the car, she saw the Loud matriarch approaching, so she poked her head out of the open window. "Hi there, Rita," she greeted.

"Hi, Sarah," Rita greeted back.

"Sorry if we were late getting back."

"No, not at all, you're right on time." She looked to the two kids in the back of the car. "How was practice, kids?"

"It was good, Mrs Loud," Jordan answered, while Lincoln gave a nod.

"Glad to hear it. Lincoln, you can head on inside, I just need to talk with Mrs Rosato for a second, okay?"

"Okay," he responded, before turning to his friend. "Guess I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Sure. Besides, I need to get vengeance for you beating me at dodgeball."

He gave a small chuckle. "We'll see about that." She joined him in his chuckle, before they gave each other a small wave as he stepped out of the car, coming face to face with his next oldest sister. "Hey, Lynn."

"Hey, bro," she greeted back. "Nice shiner."

"Thanks. I just wanted to try something different, you know?"

Lynn couldn't resist a laugh at her brother's joke. "Ha, nice one."

"So, I'm guessing the others already heard from mom what happened?"

"Nah, there was a video of what happened that got spread around, Lori found it and showed us before we even got home."

"Oh, boy. Guess I'm dealing with Sisternado again."

"Yeah, you are. Pretty sure I saw Leni chiselling some ice for an ice pack… though, I think she was treating it like an ice sculpture, but I can never tell with her."

"I get what you mean. Let me guess, you're gonna be teaching me some self defence stuff later."

"Hey, it's there if you want it."

He gave a chuckle before assuring her, "thanks, but I'm good. Even if it would probably help me with dealing with the others."

While Lynn laughed once more, Lincoln turned to his friend who was holding back her laughter. "I'll see you later."

"See you, Lincoln," she replied as he walked away, before turning to the other ponytailed girl. "Are the rest of your sisters really like that?"

"What can I say, he's our only bro. We don't want to see him get hurt."

"Yeah, I guess that's fair."

Lynn nodded, before deciding to say something else. "So, anyway, when we saw the video, we heard what you said and everything. Basically, what I'm trying to say is, thanks for sticking up for him."

Jordan waved it off, replying by saying, "he would have done the same for me, and he stuck up for me first."

"Yeah, I know. Still, I can see why he likes hanging out with you. You're pretty cool."

Jordan's smile grew. "You too."

"Well, it was nice seeing you, Rita," they overheard Jordan's mom say, signalling that their conversation was over.

"You too, Sarah," Rita replied, before turning to the two girls. "Let's go, Lynn. I'll see you on Sunday after practice, then, Jordan."

"Okay, Mrs Loud." So, as the Loud mother and daughter began to head back towards their house, Mrs Rosato began to drive away, giving a smirk that Jordan could see in the inside mirror. "What?"

"You know, that boy seems like a keeper. You might want to think about snatching him up before someone else does."

This caused the young girl's cheeks to start heating up. "Mom! He's just a friend, that's all!"

"I know, dear, I'm just joking." This only got the girl to pout, which in turn made her mother chuckle as she continued the drive home.