It was another Monday in Royal Woods, and Lincoln was currently in art class, where his teacher, Mr Thompson- a tall, bearded man with brown hair and glasses, wearing a grey shirt, brown dress pants and black shoes- was currently handing out the grades from the recent project, which they had been working on for the past couple of months. "Rusty," he spoke, handing the ginger boy a sheet of paper, "you received a B. Pretty good, but still room for improvement. Liam, you got a C+. Not bad." He handed Liam a sheet, before handing another sheet to the boy in glasses. "And, Zach, you got a D, due to the fact you turned your work in late." Before the boy could argue with it, they heard the bell ring. "Alright, class! That's the bell for lunch!" He turned to look at the white-haired boy. "I need to speak to you before you go, Lincoln, but the rest of you are free to go!"

As the rest of his class eagerly left for lunch, talking about their grades amongst each other, Lincoln walked up to the teacher. "Now, Lincoln, I bet you're wondering why I've kept you behind."

Lincoln nodded worriedly. Mr Thompson hadn't given him his grade back, which made Lincoln worry that he had done badly. "I'm sorry if I didn't do that well. I know I can do better, and I promise to-" He cut himself off when he noticed his teacher softly chuckling. This confused Lincoln, reflected on his face as he raised his eyebrow. "Uh, Sir?"

"Lincoln, my boy, relax!" He patted him on the shoulder. "Please, take a seat." Lincoln grabbed a nearby stool and sat upon it, whilst the older man did the same. "I've not kept you here to tell you that you've done badly. No, no, no, it's quite the opposite! This is one of the best pieces I've ever seen by someone at your level! You're getting an A+!"

Lincoln blinked, his eyes widened out of shock. "Are… are you serious?!"

He nodded, amused by his student's surprised expression. "I am! I will admit, when I saw you starting your piece, I was uncertain about the style choice, but the finished product caused me to forget all of those doubts! You should be really proud of your work!"

Still surprised by the result he got, Lincoln smiled at the compliment he had received, especially given that Mr Thompson was known to be somewhat critical when it came to grading. "Thank you, sir."

"Don't mention it. However, there is something I would like to ask you." Curious, Lincoln nodded. "The school is holding an art gallery tomorrow, and I think that your piece would be a great addition. Not only will staff, students and family be able to see the work, but a local art curator will choose a piece to be shown in the Royal Woods National Gallery youth exhibit!" Lincoln just sat there, taken aback by the sudden and enthusiastic information he had received. "I know it's a lot to take in, but I am obliged to receive a verbal agreement from the artist to display their work. What I'm asking, Lincoln, is would you be willing for me to put your work in the gallery?"

"I… I mean…" It took Lincoln a couple of moments to process everything, but once he did, he smiled at his teacher, his eyes showing his excitement at the idea. "Yes, I would be honoured!"

Mr Thompson's smile widened as he shook Lincoln's hand. "Thank you, Lincoln! I look forward to seeing you tomorrow! Now, by all means, go and enjoy your lunch!"

"I will! Thank you, sir!"

From there, Lincoln spent the rest of his day with a big smile plastered on his face. As he walked home by himself, since Clyde was working on his science project, Lincoln looked up and saw how clear the sky was, with not a single cloud. The sky was a beautiful shade of blue, and the sun was beaming down brightly, yet the air was cool. It was if that day was the perfect day.

Lincoln looked at the viewer. "Well, today has been amazing!" He told them whilst walking down the path, not too far from his home. "Not only is it beautiful outside, but Mr Thompson has given me the highest grade I've ever received! I never really thought I was that good at art, but if Mr Thompson gave me an A+, then maybe it really does deserve to be going in the gallery! I'm kinda excited to see what everyone thinks." He returned his gaze towards the direction he was walking in, but after a few steps, he stopped in an instant, his eyes wide and his smile gone. "Wait a minute. If I go in there and tell them my work is in the gallery, my sisters are all going to want to see it. What if they don't like it?"

He could see it in his mind:

"Dude, this is a bust!" Luna laughed. "I'd rather go and look at one of Jared Beeker's album covers!"

Lisa stuck her nose up at it. "There is irrefutable scientific proof that this is one of the worst fifth grade artistic projects the nation has ever seen," she spoke in a matter-of-fact tone.

Luan was giggling. "What is the name of this? Artageddon?" She joked, before laughing even harder.

One by one, his sisters added their insults, before they crowded around him, laughing harder and harder, until he screamed "Noooooooooo!"

Lincoln shook his head, getting the nightmarish thought out of his head. "There is no way my sisters can go! But how do I hide it from them? I'll be expected to go to the gallery because it's my work, and my parents will probably want to go…" He pondered it for a few seconds. "Buuuuut, if I don't bring it up, then they won't know! All I have to do is keep it a secret from my sisters!" He looked back at the viewer. "Yeah, I know. In a house with ten sisters, that's not gonna be easy. As long as I act like everything's normal, they won't suspect a thing."

He walked down the path until he reached his house, walking up to the door and opening it to go inside. "I'm back!" He called up the stairs as he shut the door behind him. Looking to his left, he saw that Lori was on her phone, talking to Bobby again, which meant she didn't hear him. He then looked right and saw the kitchen was empty. Since his sisters never went in the dining room except to eat, that meant they were all upstairs, and as he approached the staircase, he could hear Luna's guitar playing, which meant no one upstairs was likely to have heard him. Lincoln shrugged. "Works for me."

He walked up the stairs, and could tell right away that his sisters were up to their usual antics, as the second he reached the landing, he heard Lynn shout at him, "Lincoln! Heads up!"

Looking in the direction she shouted from, his eyes widened as he dodged the sporty sister, who ran past him whilst dribbling a basketball. Once she reached the end of the hall, she threw the ball towards a net that she had hung from the bathroom door, hitting the backboard before it went in the net. "Oh, yeah!" She cheered, fist pumping. "Lynn scores again from in the paint!"

Hearing the word 'paint' set Lincoln on edge, but he smiled back at his sister. "Nice one, Lynn!" He called out, before turning around, oblivious to the odd look she had. As he continued to walk towards his room.

"Hey, Lincoln." He screamed at the sound of the voice, but calmed down when he turned around and saw it was only Lucy, the goth girl holding a piece of paper and a pen in her hands. "Oh, come on. I'm right by my door." He looked behind her, and saw she was indeed standing outside of her and Lynn's room. "I need a word that rhymes with heart."

Without even thinking, he replied, "art." As soon as he said it, he realised what he had said and tensed up. "I-I mean, you could use that, but maybe 'start' would work better." He chuckled nervously, before walking away.

"Hmm… that actually does work better," Lucy spoke to herself, before returning into her room.

Lincoln sighed heavily. 'I've gotta keep it cool.' As he walked towards his room, he halted when he saw an explosion come out of the doorway on the right. A few seconds later, the four-year-old of the family, Lisa, walked out of the room, covered in a yellow liquid. "What happened this time?" Lincoln asked.

"In my excitement to pursue a scientific breakthrough, I added the nitroglycerin to the beaker too brazenly, causing it to tip and fall to the floor at such a velocity that an explosive reaction occurred." Lincoln winced at how painful it sounded, but she held a hand up at her. "Fortunately, it fell into an open can of paint, and I avoided the debris from the explosion."

Much like with Lynn, hearing his sister mentioning painting set him on edge, but he simply smiled back at her. "Why did you have a paint can in your room?"

"I was conducting an experiment on the qualities of different paint consistencies against extreme weather conditions. I needed a break from my usual studies, and decided to do something easy to help my brain relax." She then noticed that he was acting differently. "You appear to be acting differently to your normal state."

He laughed nervously. "Who, me? That's ridiculous," he told her, before walking towards his door, ignoring her reaction. He placed his hand on the handle and was prepared to go in, but he felt someone tap on his shoulder. He mentally groaned, looking to just go into his room, but he turned around, just in time to be squirted in the face with something by his older sister, Luan.

"Gotcha, Lincoln!" She boasted, laughing triumphantly. "You look a bit red! Is it hot outside?"

She laughed again, causing him to groan. "Very funny, Luan," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. As he wiped it off his face, he noticed his hand was now red. Looking back at Luan, he saw the flower on her shirt, and looked at her, confused. "Isn't the flower supposed to squirt water?"

"Yeah, but I thought, if I added paint to it, I could call it 'watercolour'! Get it?" Yet again, he tensed up when she mentioned paint, which she noticed immediately. "You okay, Lincoln?"

"Me? Y-yeah, I'm fine! I'm just gonna go wash this off." With that, he made a beeline for the bathroom, dodging Lynn again as he headed to the far door. When he got there, he groaned even louder when the door wouldn't open. "Seriously?"

"What's wrong, dude?" He heard Luna ask him. When she saw his face as he turned to her, she smirked. "I take it Luan got you with her latest prank." Unamused, he slowly nodded. "Don't worry, you weren't the first. Sis got it over my amp while I was playing, sent it everywhere! Gotta admit, though, I kinda like how it looks in here now!"

Lincoln cracked a small smile at that. 'That sounds like Luna,' he thought to himself.

It was only a couple of seconds before the bathroom door opened, and Leni saw Lincoln standing their, paint all over his face. "Ooh, Linky! Is that a new fashion statement?" She asked, oblivious to what had actually happened.

Lincoln growled. "No, Leni, this is not a fashion statement!"

Without another word, he barged past her and entered the bathroom. As he slammed the door and locked it, this caught the attention of all his sisters, including Lori, who had just finished talking with Bobby. "What is going on up here?" She asked, as all of Lincoln's sisters- except for Lily- appeared from their rooms.

"It would appear that Lincoln has hidden himself away in the restroom," Lisa explained. "I would also point out that he is showing behavioural abnormalities."

"Meaning what, exactly?"

Lisa adjusted her glasses, before finally answering. "He's hiding something from us."