User blog:Heronimbus/On the Run: A Loud House Story - Chapter 2

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Chandler & Cristina's House, 7:30 PM

"Lincoln! Clyde! You made it!" Cristina cheered as the two boys stepped through the front door. The house was jam-packed with visitors of all different ethnicities dancing, hanging out, and munching on whatever sort of snacks they had at the party. Lincoln could see all the fun the guests were having in the huge living room -- it was all lit up with the disco ball twirling on the ceiling. All the vibrant colors made Lincoln feel a little dizzy, but it was a party.

Chandler wasn't so happy to see the two boys, unlike his sister. "Did you HAVE to invite these freaks, Tina?"

"They're my friends! They're nice!"

"I'm tellin' ya, Jack Frost here is trying to sabotage my reputation!"

"Hey Chandler..." Cristina saw two girls chatting with each other in the kitchen. "Those are some REALLY cute chicks over there... you don't want them to get away, do you?"

Chandler sighed and walked away to talk to the girls, leaving Lincoln and Clyde safe from his frustration for now.

The boys got some snacks and met up with Cristina. They wanted to sit down on the couch, but they noticed a few other kids horseplaying and decided not to get in their way.

"So, uh..." Lincoln began as he dipped a tortilla chip in his guacamole. "Happy birthday!"

"Thanks, Linc!" Cristina replied with a cheerful smile. "But... try not to get so tense around Chandler. He has... issues."

Lincoln thought about this for a moment, and let out a deep breath. "I'll try to act more mature around him, but that's it."

"Just... try to get to know him better."

"Sure. It might take a while, though." Lincoln gave Clyde the rest of his chips so he could finish his nacho cheese, and got up to find Chandler. But he stopped in his tracks in the middle of the room.

"Gee... if only Ronnie Anne was here..." he said out loud, but not too loud. Then, the music seemed to overshadow his thoughts as he went into a sort of daydream state.

"Take it in ya heart now, lover..."

''Lincoln looked around. The room was glowing with a soft purple light. He couldn't hear what anyone else was saying or doing. Is this what happened in a daydream?''

''Someone came up from behind him. "Hey, lame-o."''

Lincoln turned around and saw her.

Ronnie Anne Santiago.

''Her usual ponytail was absent. In its place was a river of long, wavy hair. Her eyes seemed to sparkle in the midst of the soft purple glow that spread throughout the room.''

''"H-hey, Ronnie!" said Lincoln. His heart was racing just from the sight of her. "...you look great tonight."''

''"Thanks... same goes for you." Ronnie Anne smiled. She was almost blushing at this moment.''

''"So... what brings you here?" Lincoln asked her.''

"I don't remember... but since you're here, I guess I'll stay."

''The music got louder. It seemed to block out all other noise except the couple's voices. In fact, they even sounded slightly louder than the music itself.''

''Lincoln finally got the guts to ask Ronnie Anne. "...wanna dance?"''

''Ronnie Anne grabbed his hand and pulled him closer to her. "Why dance when we can JAM?"''

''They both laughed and started "jamming" with each other. Their moves seemed to pull the crowd's attention to them, and they cheered them on until Lincoln finally dropped Ronnie Anne into his arms. He could almost smell the raspberry perfume in her hair.''

"Well... so much for not being too mushy."

''"I'll get over it," Ronnie Anne flirted. "I could do this all night."''

''Lincoln pulled her towards him gently for a kiss. He ran his fingers through her hair and held onto her waist, then slowly closed his eyes--''

"Loud? LOUD?"

Chandler was snapping his fingers in front of Lincoln's face, and it was back to reality for him.

"Are you... out of your mind or somethin'?"

"Uh, no." Lincoln lied to try and escape from whatever Chandler was going to do. Everyone else was doing their own thing -- the same old dancing, chatting, and munching from earlier.

Chandler gave him a mocking look. "You were dreaming about your little girlfriend, weren't you?"

"No! Shut up!"

"Face it, Snow White. Your bold princess is never coming back!" Chandler tried to rub it in, and his friends snickered at the joke he came up with.

"...that joke was half-reared and you know it." Lincoln stayed as calm as he could... at least until he heard the next rumor.

"I heard somethin' about the Louds," one of Chandler's friends started to say. "I think they have a missing brother."

Lincoln looked red with anger and white with shock at the same time. Pink? Who knew?

He kept himself together and said, "If I had a brother, I would have known about it."

"Are you sure?" Chandler asked. "Then how come your oldest sister always looks down on you? Don't you think she had a better brother once?"

"Why are you saying this?"

"Because you don't mean a thing to her. You should know that by now with all the bad things you've done... including the thing you did today."

Cristina was watching the confrontation from a distance, but now she was coming closer. "What do you mean, 'all the bad things you've done'?"

Chandler smirked. "Why, Snow White here broke a trophy! I've heard some nasty things about him too!"

"What? How do you know that?" Lincoln yelled.

"Listen, dude... gossip spreads real fast around here. You can't get away with this stuff forever. The cool kids always find out. And your sister Leni is quite the talker, if you ask me."

Lincoln gasped at the sound of the sentence; he was nervous about what he would say.

And sure enough, Chandler spilled the beans.

"You embarrassed your sisters on the internet; caused bad luck for Lynn and her football team; tried to convince them to go green, then started playing video games behind their backs; and so much more!"

Lincoln stared at Chandler with shock and a little bit of fear. He looked around at the partygoers, who were all mocking him as the flashbacks flooded into his mind. He thought he could see his sisters laughing from every direction, and he was getting the sense of being terrorized.

Eventually, there was only one thing he could do.

He punched Chandler right in the eye.

Furious, Chandler grabbed Lincoln and pummeled him all over the place before throwing him down to the ground. "You... this is exactly what I'm talking about, Loud! You think you're so cool? You're NOTHING!! So why don't you just crawl back into the little hole you came from and die?!"

Lincoln gave Chandler the dirtiest look he could possibly come up with and started running home.

"Lincoln, wait!" Cristina cried out. But he was already out of her sight.

Lincoln opened the front door to his house and walked in. Luna noticed all the bruises that were covering his skin. "Whoa dude, what happened to you?"

"I... I tripped and fell."

"You don't get that many bruises from tripping," Lucy said matter-of-factly as she walked by. "Trust me, I would know."

All of the other sisters were staring at Lincoln and his bruises, wondering what could have possibly happened.

"Well anyway... pizza's here." Lori came in with five boxes of pizza. The kids grabbed their plates and gathered as many slices as they could, and Lincoln decided now was the time to ask the question he'd been wanting to ask when he came home from the party.

"So guys... do you think we might have a lost brother?"

"...what?" Leni was confused, this time for a good reason.

Luna didn't seem any less baffled. "Yeah bro, what are you even talking about?"

"At that party, I heard a rumor. Chandler told me about a possible missing brother."

Lisa tried to reason with him. "Lincoln, there is a 17% chance of this 'missing brother' being real. So I wouldn't get my hopes up."

Lincoln only grew more determined to find the truth. "If we don't have a brother... then who was that boy in Lori's picture?"

This was when Lori started to lash out a bit. "That picture is none of your business, twerp! He was a friend of mine, and that's final!"

"Then why are you so defensive about it?"

"Because I'm the oldest."

"...what does that have to do with anything?"

"Listen up, Lincoln, and listen well. We don't have a missing brother. And if we did, you'd be useless compared to him."

The other sisters gasped at Lori's harsh statement.

At this rate, Lincoln had had enough. "I'm sick and tired of you always looking down on me, Lori! You think I'm some sort of troll or something? Because I'm not!"

"How could there possibly be a missing brother that I don't even know about? And why would you care? You spend all your time reading comic books in your underwear!"

"Not like you don't talk to Bobby 24/7! Plus, if we don't have another brother, then why are you comparing me to him?"

"Because he would actually mind his own business. Remember that time you recorded videos of us in embarrassing situations and posted them online? That's a good example right there!"

"Lori, I didn't mean to--"

"Oh! And what about that other time, when you hurt Ronnie Anne's feelings and almost ruined my relationship with Bobby?"

"Lori... please..."

"But breaking Lynn's trophy on your first day of middle school? That's probably the dumbest thing you've ever done! I'm sure our so-called "lost brother" wouldn't have done anything that stupid."

"Shut up, Lori!"

That was the final straw for her. "You're getting this garbage from that stupid comic, aren't you?" She stomped upstairs with Lincoln and the other sisters in tow, and pushed all of his things around in his room.

Luna was determined to stop her. "Don't you do it!" But Lori pushed her away and said, "I'm in charge. I make the rules around here." She finally found Lincoln's most valuable comic -- Ace Savvy number 200, worth $300 as of this day -- and held it in the air to prevent the others from snatching it away.

"Say goodbye to your pathetic comic, twerp."

And she ripped it in half.

Suddenly, all the tension that had been building up in Lincoln's mind -- from Ronnie Anne's departure, from Chandler's bullying, and from Lori's pure anger -- simply snapped like a rubber band.

"...I'm gonna find him," he started to yell. "Oh, I am gonna find my brother! And when I do, I'll spend the rest of my childhood with him and away from YOU!" He scowled at Lori, who looked down at the ripped comic and let the pages fall out of her hands.

Lincoln grabbed all of his belongings and swiftly dashed out the front door. His sisters tried to stop him, but he pushed them out of the way and ran as far away as he could from the Loud house.

Lori looked on, and her once furious expression morphed into one of shame and self-doubt.

"Eldest sister," Lisa scolded. "Is it safe to say that you... screwed up?"