Hello and welcome back.

I'm sorry if it has been a while since I've updated this story. I got really depressed and took a leave of absence. I probably should have said something but didn't out of fear. Now that I collected myself again, I'm back to finish what I have started and more.

I want to thank everyone for your remote interest. While I can understand others that moved on from this potential story, but I am thankful to the ones that stayed. Please continue to support me as I try to get through this story in a timely fashion.

As we will dig into this chapter, Linka will try to be nosy and figure out Clyde's crush. Maybe she's doing it as a friend. Maybe there's something more to it. But, we shall see as we divide into these chapters. Let's keep it going. But, first some feedback.

Guest: I like that idea. I might try it out.

Guest: I am thankful you like it. I wish I was more productive but I am slowly trying to kick my butt into motion.

Guest: I am sorry if you don't like my story.

DopeHope: Thanks

Ko777: Thank you and I hope you continue to keep reading my story.

Sylveon18mega: I don't speak Spanish, but I am thankful that you like my story.

I am thankful to everyone that reads this story whether you are in the past and in the future. I am really grateful for your words. Now, let's go on with Chapter 2.

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to the Loud House. The rights to The Loud House are owned by Nickelodeon.

Chapter 2: Who is His Crush

Step by step, the two friends were taking. Linka and Clyde always took the same path home from school. There were times they got in trouble together, but the best friends always made sure they walked home in pairs.

As they kept to their path, Linka couldn't help but to look at her best friend. How simple he always dressed. How well that hairstyle was always kept to neatly perfection. A grin appeared across the face of her walking mate. This made Linka studied the face even more. The glasses in which a reflection of the young woman could be seen.

Thinking back to their currently conversation, Clyde always told her everything that bothered him. Even when her best friend talked about his crushes. Yes, there was a crush or two. Even when it came to Linka's sister, Lori, Clyde wouldn't shut up about her.

This was the crush that seemed to be different. Clyde made no reference to her. He didn't make any glances towards anyone that Linka knew. How could Clyde keep this from her?

"Something wrong, Linka?"

Suddenly, the spotlight was on her. She hadn't noticed that Clyde had attempted to talk to her. She had been too distracted by the facial details of her best friend to even notice that a one sided conversation was taking place, "Huh?"

"You've been staring at me for a while. Do I have that broccoli stuck in my teeth from lunch? I knew that lunch lady was boiling those greens for too long.

Linka giggled, "Your teeth are fine."

"Good," The reassurance of Clyde McBride was left stress free of the worries of food particles stuck in the mouth.

The shoes that belonged to the young woman stopped dead in it's tracks. Linka knew this was the fewest opportunities to ask Clyde about his crush. The school were having tests and Linka knew she wouldn't hear much from her best friend in that time span. The girl with white hair needed to ask her best friend about his crush, whomever she may be.

"Clyde, you know you can talk to me right? About anything?"

"Yeah I know,"

"Even if it's nothing major. You know you can come to me. As a girl and a friend."

Clyde knew where this was going. He gripped his bag.

"So you do have a crush?"

Clyde stopped for a moment. Sweat rushed down to him like a bucket of water being poured down his head, "A crush? Why would I have a crush?"

"Clyde," Linka walked to him. "We're best friends. I know when you have feelings for someone else?"

"Wait, you knew?"

"Of course I did. It was very oblivious that you're in love with someone special."

"Yeah."

"I just want to be supportive as my friend."

"I'd rather not talk about it."

Linka saw what he was doing. She saw Clyde's deflection tactics as clear as day. He was trying to avoid the subject. Linka couldn't let this conversation go away.

"Clyde, I support you as a best friend. You're an incredible guy with a lot to offer someone."

"I am?" he looks at her.

"Oh my poor friend of mine.," Linka put her hand on his shoulder, "Of course you are. I just hope that she sees you for the wonderful friend that you are to me."

Clyde smiled for a moment, "I'm not telling you her name."

"Why not? Aren't we good friends?"

"We are good friends. I just can't tell you about her yet. Can you respect that?"

Linka took in a deep breath before exhaling. The young woman looked into his eyes. "Fine, if you won't say her name. At least tell me something about her. Anything other than she's a girl with a breathing pulse."

Clyde gripped his backpack. He didn't want to make it oblivious, but he also knew he couldn't keep this from her for far too long.

"Well, she is in the same grade as we are. She has long hair. The prettiest of eyes…

As he described her, Linka couldn't help but to feel a sharp thorn in her heart. The way he was describing her felt like he had this crush longer than Lori. Her duo kept prattling on and on about his crush. He was really in love with this one and Linka didn't know who she is. The Loud girl realized Clyde hadn't shut up about his crush. She needed to focus. "…She is so lovely, I think I could get lost in her eyes,"

A cough coming from the woman was to pretend that she had been listening to the entire conversation, "That was very compelling."

"It was a lot to get off my chest."

"Well, I'll support you one hundred percent."

"Really?"

With a small cringe of a smile, Linka was ready to support her best friend. Despite the shaking thumb, the straight haired young lady wanted to give him all the support he needed.

"Oh thank you, Linka." He jumped into a hug.

"Y-Yeah," She hugged him back.

'Oh she is so lovely. She has the prettiest of eyes."

Linka slammed the door of her house. She was disgusted by all the mushy talk that Clyde was spewing.

Throwing herself on the couch, the white haired Loud family member started complaining into the couch cushion. Clyde was her best friend. Linka wanted to be supportive of her best friend. But, the starting point of being supportive was difficult.

Mostly, it was the mystery of Clyde's secret crush. Linka had no idea who she was. Was the crush a bad girl, a popular girl, a goth girl. Running upstairs to downstairs once more, the best friend to McBride gathered the school yearbook. While some of the names have either transferred, it was still 90% of the total girls at Royal Woods elementary.

Grabbing a red pen, Linka began checking off each and every name that were on that list.

Leni walked into the room to watch TV, but found her sister in her quest to discover Clyde's crush. The older sister could have walked away, but she was curious over Linka's quest to find answers.

"Everything okay, little sis?" Leni showing concern for her sister.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Linka lied.

"What are you doing?"

"Just trying to find who Clyde might have a crush on. You can have the TV. I'll be up in my room.

Leni felt guilty. She knew about the circumstances that plagued her younger sister's heart. She needed comfort and comfort was what Leni was all about.

"Here rest on the couch with me,"

"Leni, I'm not,"

"Linka. Couch now," Leni sounded like their mother. The white haired woman sat down along with her sister.

Like when they were younger, Leni scooped up Linka and rocked her along. Now that they were older, Linka felt the feeling was uncomfortable. However, the rocking was helping the mindset of the younger loud. No wonder Lily loved being cradled by Leni.

"I just don't understand. The way he was describing to her. Calling her precious, lovely and everything"

Leni wasn't sure what to say. She wanted to tell her younger sister of what she knew, but that would break the agreement she had with the rest of her siblings. She had to steer her away from the info she had, whenever she regained it of course.

"Well Linka, Clyde's your best friend and I am sure this girl isn't going to break your friendship with him."

"Leni, what if he does? What if he decides to say, 'Oh Linka, I'm getting married and move away? We were never friends at all?"

Leni put her hands on her shoulders, "You and Clyde have been the best of friends for a long time. It's going to take more than one girl to mess that up,"

"You maybe onto something."

"I am,"

"Yeah, I shouldn't let this one girl get to us."

"Maybe Clyde talks to guy friends. I mean, I know my friends and I talk about our crushes on boys. Maybe Clyde talks to another guy about his crush."

"Leni, you're a genius."

"I am?"

Linka sprang out of her position and grabbed the yearbook. Leni was just confused as to what just happened.

"Right, Shopping Center is on." Leni grabs the remote unaware of the idea she gave her younger sister.

The obsession of Clyde's crush was getting to Linka. She wasn't getting anywhere with Clyde. The orange blouse wearing young lady needed answers. Guys like talked to other guys about their crushes. Maybe Clyde and Ronald talk about his crushes. She grabbed the phone and dialed his number.

"Linka?"

"Hey Ronald, how's it going?"

"Everything is going great over there."

"Listen, I need to ask you a personal question. It's about Clyde."

Ronald knew not to jump to conclusions, yet he wasn't sure how much progress they were making. So, he decided to take small steps with it.

"Sure, what's up with Clyde."

"Do you know who Clyde is in love with?"

Guessing by her question, Linka and Clyde weren't as close as he thought they would be at this point.

"Why would he talk to me? Doesn't he have you for that?"

"I figured since you two were both guys that he would tell you about his crush."

"Linka, he hasn't said anything to me."

Ronald paced around his room. 'Geez Clyde how slow can you be?'

"I just want to know who she is? She could be some kind of monster or maybe someone out to get me through Clyde."

Ronald knew how much Linka always jumped to conclusions. It was like the Hoola Hoop incident, only he wasn't there with a toilet plunger.

"Why does it matter to you?"

"Ron, I think this woman might be out to get him. She is a nasty piece of work."

"Are you sure you're not jealous?"

The scoffing was strong with Linka in that moment. How could her guy friend suddenly jump to jealousy? She wasn't jealous of Clyde.

"Me? Me jealous?"

"Because it sounds like you are jealous that he has a girlfriend or at least a crush."

"I just want to know who she is."

"If you only knew…"

"What?"

"Nothing," Ron said, "Clyde is your best friend. Does it really matter what or who she is. You just need to be there for your best friend. Just don't burn any bridges while trying to find out who she is."

"I'm not going to burn any bridges. I'll find out who she is. Thanks for the talk, Ron"

Ron hung up the phone.

"Clueless as ever."

As Linka got off the phone, her brainy younger sister had been patiently waiting for an unknown period of time, "Linka."

"Lisa?"

"I require your brain patterns for my experiment."

"Experiment?" Linka didn't have time for this, "Linka I'm sort of busy…"

Without a warning, Lisa grabbed onto her older sibling, "Unfortunately, there is no time for delays.

Lisa had plugged a helmet connecting Linka's brain to a large computer with lights and switches. Linka felt incredibly nervous.

"Lisa, didn't mom and dad ban you from experimenting on us."

"I was only told of our parental units banning physical experimentation. They never said I could only look at brain patterns. Plus, your situation makes the perfect example for conflicted feelings.

"Conflicted? I am not conflicted."

"Yes, I believe the conflict exists between you, Clyde and his crush."

"I am not jealous."

Lisa wrote down in her clipboard, "Hmmm, I did not jump to jealousy."

"Well, I am not jealous."

Lisa turned the switch on and studied the brain pattern. She was glancing at the screen while Linka was in thought about her situation.

"How could Clyde not tell me about his crush? I'm his best friend. I should have been the first to know about his crush."

"Just because you two are best friends doesn't mean he needs to detail everything to you."

"When it comes to his crushes, yes."

"You claim to know his feelings better than he do?"

"Of course I don't. I don't want this girl to hurt my best friend."

"Is this need to protect him out of friendship or another reason?"

"Of course, it's because we're friends. I think nothing but the world of my best friend."

"What if someone else thought that way?"

"Huh?"

"What if someone else thinks of your friend more than you do?"

"Impossible. I am his best friend. I know him better than anyone else."

"Alright, I will be right back."

"Huh?"

"I need to get something."

"What for?"

"Another experiment has caught my eye."

Lisa came back with a lot of pictures. It was mostly of Linka and Clyde's female friends. Lisa had cobbled together pictures of Clyde with these women. They were digitally manipulated for the purposes of the experiment. Lisa and her sister Linka had been going through the pictures for hours.

"No,"

"Clyde and Giggles,"

"No,"

Lisa was running a test on the possible woman that Clyde could be paired up with. So far, Linka was saying no to every girl that came across the screen.

"Clyde and Christina"

"No," Linka started to get angry. She stood up almost ready to rip the helmet off, "Lisa why is this test important?"

"Because every woman in his grade rant and above aren't good enough? You keep rejecting them."

"Because they are not suitable for Clyde,"

"Based on what?"

"What?"

"Based on what data do you find them not suitable for Clyde. Why are you suddenly the judge of who Clyde should be with?"

"I'm his best friend. I know who's good enough for Clyde."

"So, you know his romantic interests more than he does?"

"Of course I do."

"Uh huh?"

"What are you writing down?"

"Just writing my conclusion to this experiment." Lisa was jotting down her notes.

"What conclusion are you drawing?"

"Linka, my dear sister."

Lisa cleaned her glasses, "Artists draw. I merely analyze the situation and make my conclusion clear."

"Well, spit it out." Linka grew with frustration.

"This isn't about Clyde,"

"Huh?"

"This is about your fear that he will find his crush more interesting than you. Your fear is becoming the third wheel. It is your fear of Clyde falling in love with someone you don't approve of."

"That is not true"

"Linka, you need to understand that Clyde is in love with her."

"Who is she? Can your data show me who he is in love with."

"I can't calculate that."

"UGH!"

"I'll show you one last picture before you can take off that helmet."

"Fine,"

Lisa showed one last picture to her older sister. Linka glanced at the picture before looking at Lisa. "Why did you do this one?"

"I want you to tell me how you feel about this picture?"

Linka held herself. While the picture felt like a lie, it could have been easily placed in the friendship book Linka had with all her pictures with her best friend.

"Just a picture of two friends being together. How one little crush isn't going to stand in the way of their friendship."

Linka removed her helmet, "I'm going off to sleep and talking to Clyde tomorrow."

As Linka Loud left the room, Linka shut down the picture program she installed in that computer.

She saw the denial that left Linka. Lisa was right about Linka not approving the other girls out of fear. Easily, Lisa could have analyzed who would be a perfect match for her sister's friend. Out of the agreement of the siblings, Lisa was not to divulge that information to the white haired sister.

Lisa decided to check the results of Linka's brain patterns. As the scientist predicted, Linka was in denial of Clyde's choices in women.

"Everything seems to be in order…"

Lisa knew a big blue spot in the circle of reds. The young Loud expanded the blue area among her red sources. The blue spot was the last scan made in Linka's mind.

She recognized these same brain patterns before. In experiment of mates, Lisa tested rats to find the one they were most in sync with.

"I guess it's more than fear that my sister unit is denying.

So, what do you think?

For me, it feels rushed. Does it feel rushed to anyone else? I don't want to rush into this story, but I don't want to slow it down either. But, I do hope you guys like this story.

Any questions, comments or concerns you guys want to ask me? Also, let me know what I should do to make this story a bit more interesting. Either way, I hope to hear from anyone that sees this story.

Next chapter, I think I should give more perspective on Clyde's feelings for Linka.

I'll see you guys Next Monday.

Until next time, see you later.