Author's Notes: Fun fact: I planned to release this on Valentine's Day. Needless to say that didn't work out. In any case, here's the chapter.

Anyway, we've moved away from Lynn's Bad Day, so expect a few more time skips here and there, which will be quite a shift from the previous day-long arc.

Also, new cover art! I've wanted to trade up for a while, and The Fresh Kinght gave me permission to use Lincoln Cheers Up Lynn, so I decided to trade it out. I like it.

But enough chatter, it's time to go to school!

Part Two: Winter

When I take my head off the desk, I see that nobody else is around at all. The entire classroom is empty, and lit by this dull gray light that almost makes it look all black and white. The shadows that the desks and the chairs cast are so much sharper than they should be. It's creepy. I walk to the hall and look either way, but there's still no-one there. But I can almost hear them. It's like they're whispering, just outta sight, around a corner. I wanna find them, so I tuck my hands into the pockets of my hoodie and follow the voices. The entire hallway is barren and empty, and again, it looks somehow colorless and gray. But I turn the corner and nobody's there, but the voices get clearer and clearer. And I hear my name. They're the voices of all my classmates, and they're laughing. Everyone in the school is mocking me, just out of sight. I tell them to stop, but they all just start laughing. Louder and louder it gets, until I realize where it's coming from. They're right behind me. I take off, running as fast as I can as the laughing still gets louder. I trip, and fall face first into a puddle, but I scramble up through the pitch-black trees. I'm plowing through the dense underbrush as I hear them. They're hunting me. I can't let them get me! I run down into a river, and I just hope it'll mask my trail, but out of the corner of my eyes I can see fire and I can hear voices, all still howling with laughter. I start running again, until I see a log lying on the forest floor. I get on my hands and knees and practically throw myself into it. I don't know if they can see me, but I don't have a better choice. I just close my eyes and start praying. I wish Lincoln was here. Please. But nothing happens, and they get steadily closer.

When Lynn opened her eyes, she came face to face with something dark. She sat up quickly only to see that she had been looking at the sleeve of her hoodie. 'What the fuck?' She bolted up and looked around to get her bearings. She was sitting at the back of the classroom, next to a poster of the periodic table. 'I… fell asleep in History, didn't I?' She was sitting just in front of the cabinets that lined the back wall and just next to the window. At the other end of the classroom the teacher was playing a video about the environment while he busied himself with something on his computer, not bothering to pay attention to anything else. Fittingly, most of the students in the classroom were doing the exact same thing with their cellphones.

Lynn sat back. 'How did I even get here? I can't have zoned out that hard. This is getting weird.' She shifted in her seat to get more comfortable, but it wasn't easy, considering her new, stiff, tight jeans. 'What even happened after… After that night?' She tugged at the waistline as she tried to remember. 'I think I went to bed but… That was Friday, wasn't it? Or Saturday morning or something? Maybe I slept all day but…' As the video droned on she tried to remember anything she could from the lost weekend. 'I think… Mom took me to school, yeah. She went to go talk to the principal about something. But what was it?' She shook her head as she pulled her sleeve up. 'What time is it, anyway?' She looked back at the clock; it was almost lunch. 'So, I guess... It's gonna be a normal day.' She snorted and reached over to her book bag just as her stomach growled. 'I'm hungry. gonna eat, and then I…' But she stopped. 'My gym is gone. Mom got rid of it earlier. So that means… I'm gonna have to find something else to do, I guess. But what?'

The bell rang, but she was too caught up in thoughts to be the first out the door, so she waited until everyone else left. Once she was in the hallway, she took off in the direction of her locker, which wasn't that far away. She kept her head down as she went and ignored the annoying buzzing chatter and she reached her locker. 'That dent wasn't there this morning.' She unlocked it and dropped her backpack in there, but just as she was about to close her locker, she looked down at her old friend that she was wearing, 'It's too hot for this… yeah.' So, she quickly pulled the hoodie off, revealing the boring white T-Shirt underneath, stuffing it into her locker and closing it. But just as she turned to walk to the lunchroom, she spotted someone smoothly walking though the halls. She recognized curly black hair, olive skin, and the shirt of someone on the Blues, one of the school's two softball teams.

'Fran…' She thought as Francisco walked down towards the lunchroom, shooting a buck-toothed grin at a friend who passed by before giving him a high-five. She took a step as she thought, 'I… He's so… Cute.' She shook her head. 'Forget it. You tried that, remember? And that's not even counting...' And with a dejected look she turned back around, only to come face to face with at last a dozen pairs of eyes looking at her from around the hallway. 'Who… What did I do?' She looked from left to right, until she realized, 'They know, don't they? Yeah. Should've seen that coming, I guess. School rumor mill stops for nobody. 'Specially if it's got all weekend.' She did her best to ignore them as she walked down the hall towards the stairs. And it didn't escape her notice that the people that saw her as she walked gave her a wide berth. 'Well, can't say you didn't earn that.' She thought as she ducked her head low to avoid looking at them. 'Just remember what Lincoln said, they don't matter. They don't mean nothing to me, or something.'

She reached the first floor and passed students who were chatting away on their phones or nose deep in books, as well as the ones that were obviously wary of her as everyone made the exodus to the cafeteria. She tried to ignore them, instead focusing on the smell of cheap pizza and other undefined foods that reached her nose. She entered the cafeteria, which was already half-full. Dull brown tile floors, exposed masonry, and a lunch line to the left that was already out the door. 'Still the same.' She thought as she got on line. 'I think it's spaghetti today. Well, something that's almost spaghetti.' She thought with a barely-there smile. 'I think I've got enough to get an extra milk too. I haven't had strawberry in a while.' It took over five minutes for her to get to pay for her food, giving her money to the disgruntled workers who made sure to count every last cent of change.

As she carried her mashed potatoes, chicken nuggets, and chocolate pudding on her tray, she decided against the spaghetti, she spotted a table in the far corner by the window that was usually empty. She sighed and walked towards it, past the nerds and the emo kids, who were giving her dirty looks. As she walked, she passed her usual spot on the table near the front-and-center of the room where all the sports kids sat. She spotted orange hair, and she zoomed in on Henry, who was sitting across from Josie and Bella, with the rest of her softball team sitting not too far away, all chatting with the other jocks, some she recognized from her various teams, and sitting down towards the end, she saw Francisco again.

She blushed slightly as she watched him. He was quietly eating while watching the Franco siblings perform their usual lunchtime comedy act. She smiled, and she got so lost for a second that she failed to notice that Bella was staring at her, followed by Josie. She only noticed once the spikey-haired girl next to him poked Francisco and pointed at her. She snapped out of it and looked around to see most of her former teammates staring at her, although a few were actively averting her gaze, trying to pretend she didn't exist.

Lynn gripped her tray tighter, and she took a deep breath. "Guys…" But at that one word, more than half of them turned to ignore her. "I… I know what this all…"

But one of them stood up; It was Margo. "Go away."

She looked at Margo, and said, "I'm sorry…"

"I'm not." Margo retorted.

Lynn looked down at her crummy cafeteria food. "I wanna make this up to…"

"Maybe you didn't get the message!" One of her football teammates said loudly enough to draw the attention of quite a few other tables. "You're done! Now get lost!"

"Can we work this..."

"Lynn," Margo said, causing Lynn to stare at her ex-best friend, afraid of the words that were about to come. "I'm going to say this once, so you'll understand: We don't want anything to do with you."

Lynn looked over at Francisco, who was giving her a rather blank look, and he just shrugged. She slowly, subtly nodded. "Okay." She said as she turned around.

'I guess I deserve that too. I'd better get used to…' But her train of thought was interrupted when she felt something hit her on the back of the head. She stumbled, dropping her tray from the impact, before she spun around to face the tables full of sporty teens, most of whom were looking at her. 'What the…' She felt the back of her head and pulled back something red on her fingertips. Tomato sauce. She looked down to see a paper plate lying at her feet, along with a half-serving of spaghetti, the rest of which she could feel stuck to the back of her hair.

"Wha… Why?" She said as she looked back up at the faces of her teammates, who were almost all silent, looking at her the same way they would a train crash. "Who did that?" She asked loudly.

"Hey! What's up?" One of the lunch-ladies, who cleaning up a nearby table, asked.

She turned to the lunch-lady. "Somebody just threw something at me."

The lunch-lady looked out at the dead silent cafeteria. "Who did that?" Still no answer. The room was silent as she looked from group to group. The lunch-lady stood to her full, and considerable height. "You. All of you are making my life harder. Now stop that." She pointed at Lynn, "Whatever she's done, this isn't help-"

But the lunch-lady stopped when another one hit Lynn in the shoulder with a loud splat, blasting cheap Bolognese across her white shirt. She spun around to face the popular crowd, where the second one had come from. "Who did that?" She yelled, trying to sound aggressive under her obvious humiliation. "C'mon! Huh?"

She walked between the aisles, between the nerds and their books, to the popular crowd front and center, to the emo kids and the sea of sports clothes and letterman jackets that had once been her place to eat. "Who did that?" She repeated as she wiped spaghetti from her shirt, spattering it onto the floor. She turned to the table full of wannabe vampires. "Did you…"

And then another plate hit her on the back, this one was colder. She turned to see a chocolate pudding colored plate lying on the ground. She felt her face flush as she heard someone snicker. 'But… brown. Brown like shit? They think…' She looked back. "Stop!" She yelled as she felt her eyes get teary. "J-Just Stop! Quit it!" Nobody reacted, and nobody moved, even the lunch-lady was unsure of what to do. "Plea-" Only to get cut off when yet another plateful if spaghetti blasted her right on the side of the head, and that was enough to break her. She felt something coming on, so she quickly ran towards the door, covering her red face as she did. Even though she was trying to cover them, everyone in there could hear her cries as she ran out. After a moment's silence, everyone started with their routine again, as if it never happened. But as the lunch-ladies got busy cleaning up the mess, a girl at the Emo table was busy thinking.

"Hey, Mags." Said a girl with dyed purple hair and fake vampire teeth. "We sure showed her didn't we?" The entire table besides Maggie and the blonde girl to her left chuckled. The Toothy Girl looked at the boy next to her with overgrown bangs and a pierced lip. "Man, you got a good arm."

"Practice makes perfect." He said, before limply miming Lynn getting hit in the back. "Curveball!" He whined faux-enthusiastically.

But as the rest of the table laughed again, Maggie was still deep in thought. It was only when she felt a poke on her shoulder, and she looked into the worried eyes of a blonde girl in similar makeup who was sitting next to her.

"Em, I'm fine." She said.

"Hey Mags," Said the boy. "Got any ideas for what we can do next?"

Maggie just scowled and glared at them. "What?" The Toothy Girl asked. 'Why you givin' me the stink-face?"

The other girl rolled her eyes as the boy laughed again. "Really, Mags? Really? You gonna stick up for cunt-rag? She knocked you down yesterday, and now…"

Maggie answered by standing up, her eyes locked onto the sports table, where a curly-haired boy in blue stood up and moved to the door. She knew, somehow, he was following her. Maggie didn't hesitate follow him.

"Hey? What I do?" Toothy Girl asked.

Maggie looked at her over her shoulder. "Figure it out."

The Toothy Girl looked at the blonde girl who had been sitting next to Maggie. "What?"

Maggie walked past the spot where most of the thrown food had fallen and walked determinedly towards the doors to the cafeteria, trailing behind the curly-haired Spanish boy. He looked around for a second, and made his way towards the door at the end of the hall that lead outside, pushing it open without breaking stride.

Maggie advance cautiously, getting right up next to the door, and peeking through, only to see nobody there. So, she opened the door as quietly as she could and stepped out, and the sound of something almost like crying met her ears.

"…to tell you nobody at our table did that."

"B-But…" She heard Lynn huff. "W-who did?"

"I dunno." He replied. "But…" There was a long pause before he said, "They asked me to tell you not to talk to us again."

"I… I-I just wanna say sorry…"

"I know." He said softly, "But they're not gonna listen."

"Why?" She whispered.

"Just… Too much bad blood." Neither spoke for a second before he continued, "Lynn, I know you're sorry, but… It's just not the right time."

"When?"

"I dunno."

She sniffled again. "It's never gonna happen."

"Don't say that. Just give it time."

She didn't answer for a second before saying, "H-hold me…"

"I can't. If Clara comes out and sees…"

"Forget her."

"I can't. I know how you feel but…"

"Just… Just go."

"Lynn, from me to you, I hope you can get your stuff together. I'm not sure if I can help, but maybe here and there I can ut in a good word for you, is that alright?" There was a long pause, long enough that Maggie was tempted to walk around the corner to see what was going on, until she heard the door open. She spun around to see her blonde friend walking towards her with a curious expression. Maggie turned back to hear him say "I'm gonna go. Later." But she didn't respond. Maggie quickly switched her position make it look like she'd just walked out the door with her friend, which seemed good enough to fool Francisco as he passed, walking back into the school. Once he left Maggie turned the corner to see Lynn sitting against the wall, obviously a step away from crying into her knees, still splattered with the slowly-drying remains of the food that'd hit her.

Maggie just looked at her for a second, until the lost-in-thought Lynn noticed her, and quickly got up to get back inside, away from her unwanted audience. She swiftly made her way past the restrooms that were across from the cafeteria; they were always too crowded, and past the uncomfortable students who watched her leave. She walked further and further from the bustle until she reached the girls' restroom in the main hall, wrenching the door open unnecessarily hard before walking inside. That alone was enough to cause the lone girl who was washing her hands to quickly speed up and beat feet out of there as Lynn made her way to a stall to get some toilet paper to rub off the food.

'I think I got some in my fucking ear.' She thought as she did her best to wipe away the food. 'Yuck.' She threw the brown-and-red paper into the toilet before making her way to the sinks. She flicked the tap on and started rubbing water through her loose hair, picking up small bits she'd missed as she went. 'Who was it? Does it even matter?'

Lynn sniffled as she ran water over her scalp again, trying to get the last bits of spaghetti and pudding out of her hair and face. 'Nobody fucking cares. Even him. He's just being nice to you before he's gotta get back to that cunt of a girlfriend of his.' She thought as she reached for a paper towel. As she dried herself, she stared at her red-eyed face in the mirror, her eyes still wet. She took a deep breath and tried to withhold her tears, instead blowing her nose into the paper towel. A she did she gave herself a quick look in the mirror. 'They ruined my shirt.' Indeed, the new shirt was thoroughly stained by cheap tomato sauce and pudding. 'No point. I gotta go get my... That. The hoodie.' She thought as she walked to the door, pulled it open, and walked back into the hall, only to again come face to face with Maggie.

Lynn flinched back and quickly looked over the emo girl who stood well over her, her face expressionless, but with a barely-noticeable look of curiosity in her eyes as she scanned Lynn's ruined shirt, covered in dry food. Lynn felt angry just at her style, so she bit back any angry remarks and simply asked, "Why are you following me?"

The girl looked her over once more before saying, "Friday…" And with that one-word Lynn tensed. "You sent your sister to the hospital."

'Oh fuck.' Lynn felt her stomach drop. 'What does she want? Why's she talking to me? Where… Are we alone?' Lynn quickly glanced around, only to see that they were alone in the hall besides for a blonde emo girl who was leaning up against a wall, arms crossed and eyes on them. Lynn opened her mouth, but it still took her a few seconds to say anything, and when she did all she was able to come up with was, "Y-Yeah?"

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why did you do that?" Maggie asked, expressionless.

"Why do you care?" She asked as she turned to walk down the hall to her locker. 'Please. Please don't follow me.'

"'Because," Lynn swore in her head as Maggie said, "I wanna know."

"I don't like being followed." She said over her shoulder. "And eavesdropping."

"I'm not surprised. Neither would I."

"Then why you asking?"

"Because I'm curious." Maggie repeated. "Want me to throw food instead?"

"I did it because she pissed me off." And after a second, she looked back at Maggie, who was still following. "Now go."

"Why?"

"In case I get mad again." Lynn said darkly as she pulled up to her locker.

"So…" Maggie said as she moved to stand just in Lynn's peripheral vision, "That means you have no self control?"

"Wha-no." Lynn defended.

"It sounds like you're scared of losing control again." Maggie stated.

"What the hell are you on about?" Lynn asked as she started dialing her combination.

"You think you're gonna, like, hurt me if you get mad?"

"What?" Lynn blurted out as she looked back at Maggie, who was still giving her that curious look. "No, I mean that…" Lynn shook her head. "Just fuck off. Leave me alone." She said as she went back to her combination.

Maggie again felt someone touch her from behind, and again she turned to see the blonde girl standing there, who gestured her head to leave. "No, Em, you can go. I want to…" She looked back at Lynn, who'd finally opened her locker. "I intend on figuring something out."

Lynn snorted as she grabbed her least-favorite hoodie. "What's there to figure out?"

"Why I can't hate you like I want to." Maggie said as Lynn, uncaring of her or her friend's presence, proceeded to pull off her ruined shirt in the hallway. Maggie flushed and quickly turned around to again face Emily, who kept her eyes on Maggie as the now shirtless Lynn pulled the sleeves out and pulled the hoodie on, zipping it up over her bare chest.

Lynn shot her another suspicious glance, and said, "You know what I did, right?"

"Who doesn't?" Maggie asked as Emily signaled to her that Lynn had finished.

"So why are you still here?" Lynn asked.

Maggie shook her head. "I don't really know. But it feels like…" Lynn looked back at her as Maggie hesitantly said, "I tried very hard to hate you when I saw you in there, because of Friday. You knocked me down."

"Did I?"

"And you hurt Lu… your sister. But, like…" Lynn moved to speak but Maggie quickly finished, "But after what just happened in there, what I heard you two talk about, and when I saw you sitting there, I got this feeling."

"Yeah?"

"Like you lost control somehow. Like you're scared someone's gonna make you lose it again. You don't seem to want to be like that though, because you seem like you would take it back if you could."

'This is seriously freaking me out.' Lynn just stood there silent until Maggie continued.

'And I was gonna, like, just forget about it until my friends…" She shook her head. "I'm really sorry. That was really not cool."

"Yeah." Lynn said, distantly. "But… Why are you not on their side? You got every right to be."

Maggie shrugged. "I can't explain it, but it feels like… I dunno, after all this, you're more… There's more going on with you than everyone else thinks. I'm curious."

'So I'm a fucking lab rat, is that it?' Lynn opened her mouth to say that, but she stopped as Maggie continued.

"I wanted you to be, like, a monster or something but… I don't see that."

"Well then what do you see, your holiness?" Lynn snarked.

"You're scared." Maggie said simply. "Every time I see you I can just feel it." She cocked her head to the side as Lynn just stood there, dumbfounded. "Maybe… I feel like you're more scared of yourself than everyone else is, or maybe you're just as scared of everyone else as they are of you."

Lynn was flummoxed. 'She's gotta be doing this for a reason, right?' She looked back into Maggie's big brown eyes, as deeply as she could as if that'd show her the truth. "Why are you doing this?"

"You look like you could use some help." Maggie said. "You know?"

"No." Lynn replied softly. "No I don't."

Maggie shrugged. "Not used to it?"

Lynn shook her head.

"Figures." She said with a smirk. "People are so hard to like, you know? I mean, in psychology there's a whole debate over how good or bad people are."

Lynn slowly nodded. "You think everyone's gonna be an asshole."

"Yeah." Maggie replied. "Like, when did being nice become such a big deal?"

Lynn's mind was racing. 'She… She doesn't look like she wants to hurt me at all. It's the only thing that makes sense but… I don't feel it.' She didn't even know what to say, so she settled on, "Your friends are assholes."

"Yeah." She looked back at the blonde girl. "Except you." The blonde girl nodded lightly in return.

"Why do you even hang with them?" Lynn asked.

"I gotta hang with somebody." Maggie answered. "My mom was worried about me being alone all the time."

Lynn snorted. "Couldn't have picked a better bunch of weirdos?"

"Guess Em and I do need to trade up a bit. Oh yeah, this is Emily." Maggie said as she pointed to the blonde girl.

"And you are?" Lynn asked.

"Maggie."

Lynn nodded. "Lynn. But I guess you knew that."

Maggie nodded in return. "Wanna talk sometime? I know a few good spots."

"I got things to do." Lynn replied. "And I… I just want some time alone for a while."

"I get that." Maggie said. "It's another thing about those guys that annoy me; they never shut up."

Lynn smiled for the first time in days. "Posers?"

"Totally."

Lynn looked down the hall. "I'm just gonna… I'll do without lunch."

Maggie nodded, "I gotta go."

"Kay." Lynn stuttered before shouldering her bag. "Bye, I guess."

"Goodbye, Lynn." Maggie said, before turning to walk away, Emily casting her an uncertain glance before following.

"And… Thank you!" She said after her, to which Maggie gave her a small wave in return before leaving Lynn alone.

Lynn was unsure what to do, or where to go, so she just turned to get her bag from her locker. 'So… Her and Fran are with me, kinda?' As she grabbed her bag, she looked down into the back-right corner of her locker, where she'd shoved that old love letter she'd written to Francisco. It'd been sitting there for three weeks, and she'd constantly debated with throwing it out. She just shook her head and shut her locker. 'What did I do to deserve that? Why's she being kind to me? I mean, I know Fran, we've been friends for a while. But her… Is she just gonna fuck me over? She's trying to play with me, to make me into her friend so she can get back at me.' She shook her head and turned to go the opposite direction from Maggie and let her feet carry her as she thought. 'Maybe, but how? Would she really think I'm dumb enough to fall for that?'

She passed by the vending machines that were by the gym. 'Maybe… Maybe I will for now. I'm hungry.' She got some of her spare coins from her pocket and got herself a granola bar, which she munched on as she looked through the door into the gym. The bleachers were out and a few of the more introverted kids we hanging out, eating their lunch quietly. 'Oh yeah, they got that pep rally for later. I think… It's gonna be the first time I'm not in the sports parade. Yeah, I'm skipping it, I told mom I would earlier.' She looked down the hall. 'Maybe… The field should be open. I could go out and enjoy the fresh for a little bit. Yeah…' She thought as she finished the granola bar. 'Gimme a chance to relax for a bit.' She binned the wrapper, hitched up her bag, and walked down the hall towards the sports fields.

As she walked her mind drifted back to Maggie. 'Was that… Was she genuine? I guess she'd have to be. I mean… It'd only make sense for her to just be fucking with me, but…' She turned right, going down the hall that led to the exit to the sports fields, around the other side of the gym. 'It doesn't feel like it. Why not?' She asked herself as she passed a group of cheerleaders, who all gave her a suspicious glance. She ducked her head and passed them without a word. 'Why'd she even waste her time, unless she, like, wanted to get revenge for Luan or something. But I wouldn't trust her anyways so…' She stopped in the middle of the hall. 'It's… It's real. She's really being nice to me. She… she wants to help me. Doesn't she? I mean… I've got nothing she'd want, so she just… She wants to talk to me just cuz?' Lynn smiled again. 'Maybe… Could we be friends? I don't wanna be alone, and it'd be nice to have someone to talk to.' She resumed walking. 'Maybe today won't be so bad. I mean, lunch stunk but… I can salvage this, right?'

She reached the door and pushed it open, suddenly feeling the cool autumn air hit her, almost refreshing her as she walked out into the gray early-afternoon. As she did, she was quickly reminded that she was not, in fact, wearing anything under her sweater. She shivered as she felt her skim pimple and her nipples harden but she kept on walking past the tennis courts towards the still-slightly damp football field. 'No. I can deal with that. It's not that bad.' She gave a confident smirk and looked up to the sky as she passed through the open gate. 'You're not gonna ruin my day that easily.'

And then she felt a raindrop hit her nose, followed by a low roll of thunder in the distance.

"Son of a bitch!"

Five minutes later…

Lynn walked through the doors to the library. It was a wide, warehouse-like room that was lit by the same aggressively bright fluorescents as the rest of the school. The room, past the entrance desk, was stuffed with aging wooden bookshelves, most of the ones on the far walls reaching far above Lynn, but there were quite a few that were not full sized, mostly towards the center of the room, and these were used to display various objects like globes, currently popular books, a few fake plants and several artistic creations that some students had created.

In the center of the room were matching tables and chairs with crusty red upholstery on them. There were other kids in there, mostly working on homework, or quietly working on the computers at the far side of the room. As she walked in she saw and empty corner with three faded blue couches all arranged around a table piled high with magazines. She made a beeline there and dropped her bag onto one, effectively claiming it as hers for the time being.

'Well, now what?' She looked around and walked to the stacks. Her eyes raked absentmindedly over many a volume on various things that had no interest to her, all while her mind slowly ground into gear again. 'Where do I go from here?' She reached out and brushed the plastic-covered spines with her fingertips. 'I guess I should've thought a bit more about this earlier. Oh well.' She turned a corner and looked up at the top of the shelves, seeing row after row of trophies seated proudly atop the shelves. 'I mean, I was gonna be a champ, and now… Now I guess that's all gone. I should find something else to do, I guess, but what?' She glanced at some of the books on the shelves. 'No. No. Nada.' She shook her head and turned to the slightly smaller shelves towards the center of the room, atop which were projects from a contest from the Arts Department.

Atop the shelves were the ten best entries in a contest to design spaceships with scraps from the art classes. Lynn smiled faintly. 'Maybe these'll be up when Lincoln comes around. He'll love them.' She noticed a poster off behind one ship that had Christmas lights for engines that had five or six different kinds of balls on it that had the title SPORTS FICTION mounted proudly in the center of it. Lynn immediately started walking towards it, only to stop. 'I need to get away from that. That's what mom and dad said.' She turned around and walked back to her backpack. 'It's what Lincoln wants too, I guess. Besides, homework.'

She opened her pack and pulled out her math homework. 'Where do I go from here? First this, then that… Fuck, yeah, I still got those two essays and the rough draft to get done for Heller.' She pulled out a mechanical pencil and sat down. 'This should be quick anyway.' So she sat, pushed aside the magazines sprawled out on the table, and started working on her algebra. Indeed, it went briskly. Her work was disorganized, and she never bothered to check it, but she knew the process well enough that she could do it in her sleep, which explained why her thoughts were miles away as she worked. 'I gotta find a way to see Dr. Lopez too. I dunno if mom and dad will even let me yet. I'll just ask later.'

She looked at the next problem. 'T is three.' She thought, just writing down the answer before moving on. 'Heh, I guess I did win that math trophy once.' She chuckled as she kept on going, finally finishing up the next sixteen problems until the paper was done. Just as she leaned back to stretch. 'I should probably get to working on that essay.' So she pulled out a blank sheet of paper and picked up her pencil to start writing, but she came up blank.

She just sat there with her pencil over he paper again as she thought. 'So, something I worked hard to achieve and something that was really disappointing.' The answers to each of those prompts immediately came to mind. 'Should I even write about that? I dunno if I can get away with acting all proud of my sports anymore, and…' She dropped the pencil and rubbed her eyes. 'Can I even talk about sports at all? Let alone that game? I should ask mom, I guess.' She laid her hands on her desk and thought. 'It's not any mystery anyway, so I guess I could…" She smacked the table. 'Got it. Make the first one about me getting there, and the other one… Yeah, that'll work.' She wrote her name at the top of her paper. 'And I'll do the rough draft too.'

And with that she got to work on her rough draft, finishing it just as the bell rang, which caused the few students off at the other side of the room to get up for class. After that she started on her re-try of her first essay. She was already halfway before she remembered that she'd get a plus-five bonus for writing in cursive. 'Frick. Oh well, just do it on the next one.' And she kept going until she was almost finished. But just as she was about to put down her closing statement, she heard a voice from in front of her.

"Shouldn't you be in class?" She looked up to see Principal Nakamura standing over her, dressed in his fairly normal dress shirt and pants, minus the tie and jacket. He was a tall, well groomed Japanese man with slicked back hair and a face that looked at least a decade shy of his real age of fifty-five.

Lynn averted her eyes, as she had that morning when her mother had taken her in to discuss removing her PE. But try as she might, she couldn't remember the actual talk they had. "I don't have PE anymore." Was all she had to say.

"Well, we can't have you wandering around, can we?"

Lynn shrugged. "I wouldn't mind."

"I know." He said softly. "But there are rules we all have to follow. So if you come with me, I can introduce you to your new class, okay?"

Lynn, feeling in a very non-combative mood, nodded and put her things into her bag, zipped it and slung it over her shoulder, and walked out of the library with the man who towered over her. "What class?" She asked the floor.

"Instead of arranging your schedule differently, I found I could just swap out your PE for another elective."

"Which one?"

"Music." He said as they walked down the hall to an unfamiliar part of the school. "Mr. Pingrey's band class was open. You ever heard of him?"

Lynn shook her head as she shoved her hands into her pockets. "No."

Nakamura chuckled. "Well, be in for a ride. Some advice, don't lie to him or exaggerate any. He tends to dislike the highly egotistical. Just be up front and honest."

'Oh great.' She snorted. "Okay, I guess I'm gonna be a band geek."

He stopped walking, while she continued for a step before realizing he had stopped. "Speaking of, I'd like an honest answer from you on something."

Lynn looked away from his gaze. She already didn't like where this was going. "Lynn, please look at me." He said in that non-discomfortingly paternal way of his. "Did anything happen in the cafeteria earlier?"

She looked up at him, into those familiar big brown eyes of his. 'Maybe he could find them? No way. Just... Just forget it and move on. It's just another thing to get hung up on.' She took a deep breath and pulled her arms closer before saying, "Nothing."

"I've heard rumors, even from the other teachers. I know something happened, but my hands are tied unless you tell me about it."

"It's nothing." She repeated.

"There's no shame in admitting something happened. School regs state I just need you to tell me that you were bullied or harrassed. You can tell me, and then we can tell your parents."

"I told you, I'm fine."

He shook his head. "Lynn… Fine, I'll take your word this time, but if this happens again…"

"I'll tell you."

He looked at her for a second, before pointing at a set of double doors. "Class is in there. See you next time, Lynn."

"Thanks, bye." She said without a wave as she walked to the doors, where she could hear chatter inside. She looked back to see him standing there, watcher to make sure she actually went into class. 'Nosy pushover.' She thought as she pulled the door open and stepped inside. 'But I guess he means well. I dunno.'

The room was much like the library in size, but instead it was loaded with students with instruments, primarily brass, who were mostly sitting, chatting away in seats facing the front of the class. A few other students were sitting without instruments on chairs by the sides, some talking amongst each other as well but generally less animated than those in the center of the room. They all kept talking with each other until the door closed behind her. Much like before, she came face to face with a wall of eyes staring at her, half out of fear, half out of something that could almost be hate.

"Yes?" Asked an adult voice. She looked to see a man standing between a desk and a conductor's podium. He was reasonably tall, and his slightly tousled blonde hair and cold blue eyes gave him a look that Lynn, admittedly, could feel creeping down her spine. She wasn't exactly sure if he was trying to be was intimidating.

Lynn took a deep breath and said, "I… I'm new in here."

The man just raised his eyebrow and looked down at a paper on his desk. "Lynn Loud Jr.?"

She nodded.

"You're late. Take a seat." He said, pointing to a chair in the far left corner wall. "I have two questions for you before you join us."

She shuffled to her seat and shrugged off her bag as the rest of the room remained dead silent. Once she was seated, the man took stood up on his podium. "Good afternoon, I hope you all enjoyed your lunch." Lynn shivered as he continued. "As you can see, we have a new member." She looked up to see him looking right at her. "I assume you know who I am," Mr. Pingrey said, "so let's cut to the point. What instrument do you play?"

She blinked. "Uh… Nothing."

He raised his eyebrow. "Really?"

She shrugged. "I've played some drums and I used a tuba once."

"Can you read music?"

She shook her head.

"So," He began, "I feel safe in saying you have no real experience in music."

"Just what Luna has given me."

"Luna?"

"My sister."

He thought for a second. "Ah. Now I remember her."

"She taught me all I know about music."

"Which is next to nothing. Okay, good to know." He replied, looking at the rest of his class before going back to her. "With that in mind, why are you even here?"

'Remember, just tell it like it is. But what if he starts making fun of me? He could do that if I lie too.' She took a deep breath. "I got nothing better to do." He actually looked rather surprised at that, but Lynn continued, "I got dropped from PE so… Here I am."

He just stood there, examining her for a second, before asking, "So, you have no interest in music."

"Not really." She whispered.

"You have no known talent for it, and are just here to fill up roster space?"

"Yes."

"I see." He said before turning to his class, "That is the best answer anyone in this class has ever given me. Thank you." She blinked in surprise as he turned back to her. "With that in mind, however, if you're in my class, you're at least going to be assigned an instrument." She shivered again, which did not go unnoticed by him. "If you're in my class, you're going to be a backup player at the very least. So, today we'll spend a few minutes figuring out what to do with you, and after that you may just sit back and observe with the rest of today's secondary players, as long as you keep quiet."

She nodded.

He looked out to class. "Andresen, would you be so kind as to lend Ms. Loud your tuba for a few minutes? I have a feeling it won't be long."

"Can't. Don't want her on my mouthpiece."

"And I know you have a spare," He countered, "Which I'm sure you can simply dump into a hazardous waste container and disinfect with bleach once you get home if needed." Andresen slowly nodded and began replacing the mouthpiece as Pingrey pointed to Lynn. "Would you please take her seat?"

Lynn nodded and stood, nervously walking towards the group of people all staring at her, before having to inch her way between the thin aisles if people to get to the spot in the brass section, saying excuse me all the way there. After a minute she'd taken possession of the tuba from the disgruntled Andresen, and was still standing as she tried to adjust her grip on it.

"So, do you know any tunes?"

Lynn shook her head.

"Well then, play a few notes for me. Just off the top of your head."

Lynn closed her eyes, took a deep breath, opened her mouth, wrapped her lips around the mouthpiece, and simply blew as hard as she could, causing a low moaning noise that managed to somehow vibrate her to her core, whilst making the other students near her all cringe away before bursting into bouts of laughter that made Lynn flush as she kept blowing. After a few seconds, she stopped and took her mouth off to ask, "H-How was it?"

Pingrey just blinked as the sound of continued light snickering filled the room. "What do you think?" He asked.

"I think I'm gonna be drumming."

He nodded and used his fingers to order Andresen to take back the tuba. "For the record, that sounded not dissimilar to a walrus giving birth." He said to some renewed chuckles from the class, only for him to silence them with a look, as if daring them to laugh. "And while that might make for an interesting entry on an experimental band, I'm afraid we aren't quite that far along yet." He gestured to the drummer at the back right of the room. "Klein, if you would please."

Klein simply nodded and stood as Lynn walked over. Much to her surprise, Klein gave her a polite, if curt nod before handing her his sticks. Lynn sat on the stool, which was several inches too high for her, and looked to Pingrey for what to do next.

"I'm going to assume your knowledge is not quite at the level of foot-pedals yet, so we'll leave those be for the time being. Give me a beat."

"What kind?" But he didn't answer, he just looked at her expectantly, as did the rest of the class. Lynn could feel a sickening pressure build up in the back of her mind, one that she was all too familiar with. 'You're gonna blow it. You're gonna fuck this up and everyone's gonna laugh at you again. Why are you even gonna try? All you do is humiliate yourself.' She closed her eyes and started counting in her head, only for the thoughts to be overridden again and again. 'You're fucked. You're fucked. You're fucked so hard you can't even walk straight anymore.'

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, I can't." She slapped the sticks down onto the snare drum and got up, covering her face as she marched back to her seat, bracing for a barrage of scathing words from Pingrey. But they never came. All she got was a simple, "See me after class."

She nodded without looking up, and didn't see him give her an almost-undefinable look before turning back to class and started counted down to the band. 'Nice going, you blew it.' She scrunched her eyes closed. 'What the hell, Lynn? You went up there and humiliated yourself on tuba? What's wrong with giving them a drumming encore?' As the band launched into the first of what Lynn thought was a mediocre-sounding jazz number, she kept on thinking about things. 'I still gotta do those essays too. Maybe I can sit at the back of Mr. Parker's and finish up.' She thought as the band picked up, the brasses screaming. 'It's just algebra, so I can get that done quick enough. I can drop those off before the pep rally, then mom's gonna pick me up. Good. I don't think I can deal with those crowds, not right now.'

The band stopped. "McKesson." Mr. Pingrey said. "Did that sound right to you?"

"No, sir." Said a boy with a trumpet.

"Layton, you have any thoughts on it?"

"No, sir." Said a tall girl who was also wielding a trumpet.

"The correct answer was that one of you," He said, looking back at the band, "Was out of key. Who?" No answer. "Either you're too scared to admit it, or you don't know you were. I'm going to assume the former. But we'll try this once more, and if you're still out of key, then… Then I'm going to get angry."

Lynn just slouched back into her seat as the band played the same song once more, apparently to Mr. Pingrey's satisfaction. And that was how she spent the rest of class. When the bell rang, she picked up her bad and made a beeline for the door as everyone else packed up. That is until he heard someone clearing his throat behind her.

She turned around to see Mr. Pingrey standing there, and like that she remembered that he wanted to talk to her. So, she just stood off to the side and waited as the rest of the class filed out without delay or question. Once the room was empty beside for Lynn and her new teacher, she approached him.

"Yes?" She asked.

He gave her a cold look before pointing at the drums. "You still owe me a beat."

She looked from the drum kit, then back to him. "I'll be late if I…"

"I will write you a hall pass, this shouldn't take long in any case." He said, putting his arm down. "But you are starting to annoy me."

Lynn's fists clenched as he said that. 'You're not getting out of this.' She thought as she walked to the drum kit. 'At least there's no-one else around.' She sat at the kit and looked around for sticks, only to see him hand her a pair.

"Now, show me what you got." He told her.

She took the sticks, glanced back up at him as he stood over her, took a deep breath, and looked down at the snare drum in front of her. She tapped the snare once, then twice. She looked up at him expectantly, but he was looking down at her, his arms crossed. So she hit it again, and again, one hand after another in sequence.

His expression didn't change, but after a second he told her, "Add a tom." She was tempted to ask what that was, but she realized that would be a bad idea. So she simply looked to the drums to the right of the snare, and used her right stick to hit it, without breaking sequence. "Work it in." He told her.

And so she did, counting off the number of snare hits in her head, she made sure to add a tom hit at the end of every sequence and then repeating. "Cymbal." He told her. Without question, she added in a quick cymbal hit right after the tom, and repeating it over and over. It was neither fast nor particularly focused. She could feel how uneven the beat was at points, and it was driving her up the wall as she played. "Done." He said simply, which she was grateful for. She took the sticks and placed them down onto the snare, heaving a sigh of relief.

"How… How was I?"

He looked at her for a second, before saying, "I've seen worse." He turned to his desk, obviously to write out that hall pass.

"Like Luna?" She asked, which was enough to get him to glance back at her.

"I'm going to be blunt, because I have been lenient with you today." He said as he wrote, "This is something I expect you to get over."

Lynn nodded.

"I was surprised." He said as he ripped the pass off the notebook, "Since I had no expectations for you, that small bit you just did actually impressed me."

Lynn's eyes widened. "R-Really? Is it just cuz you didn't expect anything?"

"No. Like I said, I've seen worse. But those who were worse were trying harder than you were there." He stood, the hall pass in hand. "And that was not good. Not good enough for me, in any case. I recommend that you practice. For someone who's admitted having almost no experience, you handled yourself well. When alone, I mean."

She took the pass in hand. "Yeah, I know."

"My advice is that you learn to get over it as soon as possible."

"Easier said than done."

"Not if you mean what you say." He went back to his podium. "I see potential in you, same as your sister. Luna is not untalented, and I don't think you are, so I have no intention of letting that go to waste. Lord knows I've seen enough wasted talent in this class."

"You… They suck that much?"

He shook his head as he sorted some sheets of music. "No, they just need to be whipped into shape sometimes." He glanced up at her. "I knew that the moment I met them. Work under pressure is stressful, but working that way without the threat of consequences? Working for yourself, where only you responsible for your own success? That's where so many promising players fall apart."

Lynn slowly nodded. "You… You kinda remind me of my sister."

"Luna?"

"Lori."

"Never met her."

Lynn put her hands in her pockets. "You'd like her. Unlike… You and Luna."

He stared at her for a second, before saying, "She disappointed me. Very much so. That's all there is to it."

"She never mentioned you."

"I'm not surprised." He said. "But just know," He said. "I'm not going to be any softer on you than I am on them, stage fright or not. My main concern is getting this bunch ready for their big shows later in the year, and they need to sound good, first and foremost. This reflects on me in a way that tends to annoy me when this group is not up to scratch. As such, you're a part of this group, so when called upon to do your part, I expect you to, clear?"

"Clear." She answered. "I gotta get to class."

"Okay." He said as he stood, sticking a large, rough hand out to her. "Spend some time practicing. See you tomorrow."

She placed her hand in his. "I guess I'm officially a band geek." She said with a small, polite smile.

"Yes you are." He said, returning the smile.

She just gave him a quick shake before leaving, walking out into the hall. Trying her best to sneak through the crowd, making sure to avoid eye contact with all the students giving her wary looks.

Later…

Lynn walked into Mrs. Heller's classroom to come face-to-face with something that she'd come to be uncomfortably familiar with all afternoon, staring eyes. She did her best to ignore them as she slunk to the back corner, and got her papers out onto her desk. Once again, she'd forgotten to write in cursive on her homework, but she wasn't in a mood to revise it at all. She just looked up to see Mrs. Heller at the front of the mildly chatty class, looking at her coldly. 'Oh no…'

But Mrs. Heller just looked away and cleared her throat. "Now, because the school board seems to not care about your education as much as I do, I'm afraid we're going to be cutting our class somewhat short today."

Cue the cheers.

"Of course. So, as recompense, I'm expecting you to read The Tell-Tale Heart by Poe before class tomorrow, since it's going to be related to our topic this week. And I expect you to be able to give me a paper on a theme of the story by Wednesday at the latest."

Cue groans.

"Don't be so down, I considered giving you a-thousand word essay due by tomorrow, but I was feeling generous this morning." She looked at the clock. "I still have you for ten more minutes, so feel free to talk after you turn in your homework." Lynn pushed her papers together and took a deliberately long time to check them over. She checked to see if her name was on them, then checked the titles, and the dates, and then she checked them again. By the time she was done, the line to the turn-in tray was almost gone. She got up and walked over, and she saw Mrs. Heller's eyes follow her as she did. She shivered, because she couldn't tell what that look in her eyes was. So she turned in her paper and made to walk away, only for her to say, "Loud," She froze stiff, and she could tell that the entire class was staring at her. She turned to look Mrs. Heller in the eyes. "If you could please see me after dismissal."

Lynn unconsciously nodded and scooted off to her seat, trying to hide her panic mode as it kicked into full force. 'What is this about? She wasn't at the game, was she?' She closed her eyes and shook her head. 'Is she gonna kick me from class? That's gotta be it, but wouldn't they have just told me that earlier?' She just dropped her head into her elbows on the desk and looked up at the clock. 'Seven minutes. Why do I always end up staring at this thing in this class?'

Slowly the minutes ticked away, until the bell rang, jolting Lynn as everybody else stood. She made sure not too, since she had no plans in going to that pep rally anyway. She just clenched her fists tight and only got up once the last of the other students were on the line out the door. She put her hands into her hoodie pockets and approached Mrs. Heller, who had her papers on her desk in front of her. "Lynn," Mrs. Heller said, looking down at her papers. "I'd like to tell you something."

Lynn nodded.

"These." She said, holding up her papers. "Well done." She said, which almost made Lynn feel warm and fuzzy inside. "I can obviously tell how much these mean to you. And as such, since I'm a teacher at this school I'm obligated to ask you," She stood, "How accurate are these?"

"What?"

She looked down at the papers. "I'm wondering if there are any points in this that you may think are exaggerated in hindsight." She held the papers out to Lynn. "Please."

Lynn took the papers, looked them over, and held them out to Mrs. Heller. "Nah." Lynn said, shaking her head. "It's… It's all how I feel."

Mrs. Heller took the papers back with a small nod. "Thank you for trusting me with this. I'll be sure to keep these safe." She said. "I know you're not exactly in a pleasant place right now."

Lynn snorted. "Is that what adults call it?"

"I gave you the benefit of the doubt, and I presumed that there was more to this incident than what circulates through the local rumor mills."

'You have no idea.' Lynn said as she remembered Lincoln getting locked out. 'And you never will, if I can help it.' She shifted from one foot to the other and said, "Thanks. You're not… I mean, not everyone does."

"You'll find that the vast majority of people your age to be extremely immature on the topic of personal issues." Mrs. Heller said as she sat down. "Speaking of, the school is not looking into who was responsible for that incident in the cafeteria."

'Why not?"

"Officially, it's not considered a priority with them, and it'd take too much effort to achieve very little, especially considering there have been no student complaints. Which means that it's because of laziness." She scoffed. "As if bullying of that magnitude is something to be ignored."

"Thanks." Lynn said as she looked down at the floor. 'I guess it is bullying. From bully to bullied, what a story.'

"Sorry?"

"Thanks for, you know, not kicking me to the curb."

Mrs. Heller took her glasses off. "I misjudged you for a long time, Lynn. But I knew there had to be something more under the surface, which is why I gave you a second chance." She sat back and said, "And despite all of your personal issues, which I have frankly heard way too much of," Lynn chuckled at that, "You still managed to turn these in on time. Your issues are yours to sort out, so don't take this as an invitation to come talk to me about your feelings whenever you want."

"Busy?"

"And also it is between you and whoever else is involved. I am willing to keep this professional." She said as she reached for a marker. "But if on any of our future papers you feel like writing about yourself," She uncapped it and drew a circle on the first page, "you may feel free to write them here, as long as they are on topic and of quality." She wrote something on there before pushing it across the desk at Lynn. Lynn looked down to see a crisp red 93% staring back at her. "Your second essay is worth probably 88 in my books, with the rough draft of yours adding five points." She said. "Keep it up."

Lynn just looked at the floor. 'Ninety-three? After all that strain, I just get a ninety-three? Actually, no. Eighty-eight, with extra credit.' She took a deep breath. 'Well, I guess since I had to do it during my classes…' "Thank you." Lynn just said.

"You're welcome." Mrs. Heller said, returning to her grading. "You may leave."

Lynn left without another word, swinging by to pick up her bag before leaving. As she walked through the nearly empty halls, the sound of the pep rally in the distant gym, she was thinking. 'I guess it'd be too much for her to get involved anyway. I mean, I've got enough people breathing down my back about this as is.' But as she walked down the stairs, not bothering to drop her backpack off at her locker, she smiled. 'Just glad that whole paper thing worked out. She didn't even notice that I didn't write in cursive. Oh well.' She kept smiling until she reached the doors to the parking lot, at which point she started thinking ahead slightly. 'Maybe I'll take a nap or something until dinner. I feel kinda winded. Maybe I'll read that thing before I go to bed.'

She pushed the door open, and she didn't see Vanzilla anywhere near, just a few other students waiting for their own rides under a slate gray sky. The day was still promising to be a wet one, but the rains seemed to have let up a bit. 'What wonderful weather.' She thought as she walked to one of the benches nearby. 'This isn't depressing at all.' She swept the rain off the bench, dropped her bag by her side and sat down. 'And also, remember Dr. Lopez on Saturday. That's gonna be important.' She closed her eyes and nodded to herself. 'I should check the weather and see if it's gonna rain. Maybe I'll take my bike.' She thought as she saw Vanzilla turn into the parking lot. 'And I need to tell mom and dad.' She picked up her bag and walked to the curb. 'Hopefully they won't mind if I go alone.'

Lynn walked across the street as Vanzilla pulled up, as she gave a quick glance to see Rita in the driver's seat, giving her a blank look. Lynn just put her head down and walked around to the door right behind Rita, piling her bag in before climbing in. "Seat belt." Rita said in lieu of hello. Lynn just pulled the belt on with one hand as she closed the door. But Rita started driving before Lynn got buckled up. Lynn settled in as they drove around the border of the parking lot, and once she did she looked over at the rear-view mirror, where she could just see Rita's eyes as she pulled out up to the end of parking lot.

'How much has she even said to me?' Lynn thought out of nowhere. 'I'm... I don't think more than ten times.' She looked at the rear view mirror again, in which she saw Rita shooting her a glance before turning to drive north. 'If only I had something to say.' Lynn simply leaned against the door of the seat directly behind the driver's seat and looked out the window at the passing scene as Rita drove. Occasionally Rita shot her another glance in the rearview mirror, just to be safe, but it was clear that Lynn wasn't in any kind of mood to get flighty or aggressive. That meant that Rita had no idea what to say, since that gave her nothing to work with.

Lynn and her never really had been that close, and even if Rita liked sports, they were off limits anyway. A part of her almost wished that Lynn was arguing or complaining, because at least that would be something. Yet the silence was starting to bother her too, so Rita thought for a second before asking her, "How was your day?"

Lynn moaned something that sounded neutral.

"Yes?" Rita insisted, trying to hide the sudden flare of frustration she felt.

"It was fine." Lynn said without looking at her.

"Anything interesting happen?"

Lynn didn't answer, but for a second she thought she felt some tomato sauce on her face, which she instinctively reached up to rub with her sleeve.

"How was your new class?"

"Fine."

"Is that it?" Rita asked. "Just fine?"

Lynn looked over at the rearview mirror. "What do you want me to say?"

And then Rita didn't answer. So Lynn just looked back out the window, where houses and trees passed by under the heavy gray storm clouds to the west. As she drove on, she was reminded in a small way of her talk with Lincoln just before everything fell apart. And yet, despite that reminder, she didn't quite know why she was reminded of it. "Back then," Rita said, "when Lincoln found you," Lynn looked back at her, "What did you talk about?" Lynn didn't answer, "You can tell me."

"Why?"

"Because I'm your mother."

"And?"

Rita shot her a disbelieving look. "And? What's that supposed to mean? I'm supposed to know these things. It's my job to take care of you. My responsibility."

"Is that all?"

"What do you mean?" Lynn stared at her as Rita sorted through all the feelings in her head. "Why are you arguing with me?"

Lynn shook her head. "I dunno. I wish I did. It just..."

RIta looked away from the mirror. "I'm trying to fix things that have been wrong in this family for quite some time."

"It's between me and him."

"Are you ever going to tell me?" She asked as they pulled up to a light. She looked back at Lynn. "We can fix this if we're open about it."

"Maybe." Lynn said after another long pause. "But not today."

Rita shook her head and sighed. She'd been here before, and she didn't feel like having this conversation twice, so she didn't say another word on it, she just turned back around and kept on driving.

"I have to see Dr. Lopez Saturday afternoon." Lynn said.

"I'll come."

"She's expecting just me."

"Yeah, but…"

Lynn just blinked. "I'm not gonna run away again."

"I didn't say you would."

"Then I'll take my bike." Lynn said.

"I'll talk with your father about it." Said Rita. "I'll… We can figure this out if we try."

"If you say so." Lynn said as she looked out the window again.

Rita simply switched on the radio to try and drown out the strange, uncertain thoughts in her mind in a wave of early 2000s mainstream rock songs. And they just sat listening until they finally hit the usual traffic jam in front of the high school. Lynn closed her eyes and tried her best to block out the noise with Maroon 5, but no matter how hard she tried, the chatter just kept piercing her skull right up until the doors were flung open.

"I swear, it was literally raining cats and dogs earlier." Said Lori as she climbed in shotgun.

"I want a kitty!" Said Leni as she too got in, folowed by Luna.

"And here I was thinking you were a dog girl."Luna said with a smirk as she closed the door.

Leni laughed. "No, silly. I'm a human girl."

It took the three of them a second to notice Lynn, but Lori did once they were in the lane out of the parking lot. "What are you doing here?"

Lynn shrugged. "Out early."

Leni raised her eyebrows. "Really? Cuz of the rain?"

"Pep rally." Lynn answered.

"Oh yeah, those were fun." Said Luna.

"They were loud." Countered Lori.

"I thought we were Loud." said Leni.

"That too." Said Luna with a smile.

Lori shook her head. "Whatever. Anyway, what was I saying about Carol?"

"Seatbelts!" Rita said.

After they all belted up, Lori continued talking about whatever she wanted, Lynn just tuned out again until they were home. By the time they pulled into the driveway, the rain was just starting to come down again. And so they all got out, with Lynn taking up the rear with Leni as they all quickly entered the house to avoid getting an impromptu shower.

"Right, Lori, you're going to be in charge while I go get Lincoln and the others." Rita said as they all filed in.

"Got it." Lori said with a nod.

Rita nodded back at her. "I'm going to get my umbrella and anything the kids might need, then I'll get Lily from the McBride's." She said as she walked upstairs. "Junior, you're to listen to Lori until I get back."

Lynn didn't react.

Lori just rolled her eyes. "To your room, clear?" Lori asked. Lynn still didn't answer, she just followed her mother upstairs.

"Like, how long are you gonna be mad at her?" Leni asked Lori once Lynn was well out of earshot.

"As long as I feel." Lori said. "At least until my friends stop giving me strange looks because of it."

"Yeah." Luna said as she collapsed onto the couch, turning the TV on with the remote. "I was gettin' some weird questions about that."

Lori nodded. "And you got off light." She said as she sat down next to Luna. "I literally forgot how many people I needed to tell about this. For fuck's sake, I told the same exact thing to people…" She counted off on her fingers, "Seven times."

"About Lynn?" Leni asked as she scooted into the armchair.

"Couple of them knew about what happened, but still…" Lori reached for her phone. "One of them literally had a video of it."

"For real?"

Lori nodded. "His kid sister was there." She said as she pulled out her phone. "Then he starts lecturing me on what his sister says she was like."

"Dare I ask?" Luna asked.

Lori unlocked it and snorted. "Apparently she literally gets to the point that she's ginna beat people up until they go along with her."

Luna's eyes widened. "Whoa, dude."

Lori nodded. "Yeah, and there was that whole superstition nonsense." She shook her head. "I had no idea that stuff was that bad for them, I mean…" She threw her arms up. "It was like a rule of law for her when she ran things."

"Wait, like, what about the coach?" Leni asked.

Lori thought for a second. "Yeah, I asked about that before. I think he said the coach left the team for some reason and she took over the place."

"She drove the coach off?" Luna asked.

Lori shrugged. "I dunno."

"I kinda doubt it." Leni said.

Luna looked back at her, questioningly. "Dude, you've seen her when she gets mad, right?"

"Yeah…" Leni said, "But… I dunno, I just feel, like, an adult wouldn't really be scared of her, you know?" She shrugged. "I mean, I kinda am."

"Then why are you sleeping in the same room with her?" Luna asked.

"Cuz I love her too." Leni answered. "I mean, I'm kinda scared of you too, Lori."

Lori had a slightly-taken aback expression on her face, which she shook off before saying, "Got the video."

Leni just looked away as Lori pulled up the video. She instead watched the local weather channel, which had just put up the weekly forecast. "Huh." She thought out loud, "Rain's gonna clear up by Friday…"

"What?" Luna asked without looking up. Leni looked back to see the two of them seriously eyeing the screen of Lori's phone, and Leni could hear some faint shouting coming from Lori's speakers.

"Let me go!"

"Josie, just let her go."

"She has to answer for this."

"Come on Lynn, just stop."

"I need to get out of here!"

Leni stood up, walking around the couch so she could see the screen. And there was Lynn, struggling against her teammate's grip.

"Jeez." Said Luna, "She went and flipped?"

"Apparently." Said Lori, who closed the video.

"Does it go on any further?" Leni asked.

They both turned to look at her. "No. Why?"

"Just wondering." Said Leni. "It doesn't show when Lincoln came for her?"

Lori and Luna looked back at the phone as Leni just decided to go to her room. As she reached the second floor landing, she heard the sound of rain that was freely coming down onto the roof, and she looked to see Rita coming out of Lincoln's room with a mountain of raincoats in her grip.

"Please make sure everyone's happy while I'm out." Rita said as she walked to the stairs.

"Uh, about that…" Leni said, making Rita stop in her tracks. "I was watching the weather earlier."

"Yeah…" Rita said uncertainly.

"On the TV." Leni said, causing Rita to nod in clarification. "And it says the rain's gonna clear up in a few days."

"Hopefully." Said Rita, "They have been wrong before."

"But, if they aren't," Leni said as she shifted from foot to foot, "Maybe we could, like, take a ride somewhere? Take a day out?"

Rita thought for a second. "Lynn and I have off on Saturday, but we're going to see Luan."

Leni nodded. "Maybe we could do that too?"

Rita didn't say anything. "I'll think about it. I have things to do right now, and I've kept them waiting long enough as is. Goodbye."

"Bye, mom!" Leni said with a wave, before turning to go back to her room, before remembering that she was with Lynn.

She took on a second to put on a smile before walking into her and Lynn's room. She'd done a bit to decorate her side over the weekend, including moving her bed in, after a brief fracas with dismantling Lucy's four-poster. Lucy was still sleeping in Luan's bed for the time being. While her sewing machine sat in the corner with most of her other things, which were still in boxes, she'd done enough to make herself feel at home for what she realized was going to be a while. Including putting up her Christmas lights in case she ever felt scared of the dark for some reason. Lynn's side was still as empty as ever, besides her backpack and the small pile of laundry in the corner.

"It's so cozy in here." Leni said to Lynn, who was lying on her back, in just her underwear and socks, and staring at the ceiling.

"You mean small." Lynn said.

"I mean cozy." Leni said as she took her flip-flops off, then her sunglasses. "It's got the right size for that. Not too big, not too small, like, just right."

"So, small."

"Yeah, I guess. But is that, like, bad?"

"Dunno. You're the expert."

Leni giggled. "Well, in my totes expert opinion, if we could, like, get some nice oranges in here, and maybe some stuff to bring out the woodwork, this could be the coziest room ever." She said as she checked herself over in the mirror as the rain starteed coming down in steadily harder sheets. "See, listen to that." Said Leni, which made Lynn confused for a second until Leni said, "With that rain out there and us in here I just feel, like, totes cozy, you know?"

"You're the expert." Said Lynn.

Leni beamed. "Thank you." Lynn didn't say anything, so Leni continued. "I wanna relax for a bit. Like you, right?" Lynn still didn't say anything. "I wish we could have a fireplace, you know?" Leni said as she scooted into her bed. "We're gonna need to get out the quilts soon to, so that'll make it, like, super totes cozy!"

"If you say so." Said Lynn.

Leni's smile faded slightly, but she kept it up as she asked, "What's on your mind?"

Lynn looked over at her. "Leni, I don't wanna be rude, but I really do not want to talk right now."

"Lynn, it's okay." She said. "I just thought it might make you feel better."

"I don't… Thank you for trying." Lynn said, turning over to look at the wall. Leni smiled slightly, before sitting back up and leaning over to pull Lynn's blanket up over her, getting an appreciative moan from her. Leni just patted Lynn's head before going back to her bed and tucking herself in to relax, listening to the relaxing storm outside.

But as Leni pulled out her stack of fashion magazines from her nightstand, she heard Lynn say, "Mom's trying to keep me away from Lincoln."

"Why do you think so?" Leni asked as her smile went away.

"She could've picked him and the others up while we were out. But she didn't want me near him."

"Well, maybe not." Said Leni. "Maybe she just wanted to get you home cuz she's worried about you." Lynn didn't answer. "I worry about you."

Lynn sighed and looked back up at the ceiling. "Some jackasses threw food at me today."

Leni's eyes widened and she sat up. "Who?"

"Dunno. Couple people."

"Do you wanna tell mom?"

"She won't care."

"You really think so?" Leni asked again.

Lynn moaned yes.

"What if it happens again?"

"I'm just gonna stay outta the way."

"Okay…" Leni said, sitting back on her very poofed-up pillows. "What about, like, lunch and stuff?"

"I guess I'll just deal with it."

"I could make you something." Leni said. "Like, a sandwich."

"I'll just wait for dinner."

"You sure you don't want any help with the school stuff?"

"I just thought you should know."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Not now." Lynn said. "I just wanna rest before dinner."

"Wanna hug?" Leni asked, hopefully.

"Not right now." Lynn said, pulling herself closer. "Your hugs are amazing but… I dunno, I just wanna… I just wanna take a few minutes' silence, you know?"

Leni nodded. "Okay. We got some time before dinner. Maybe I could, like, use a nap too."

Lynn didn't answer again, so Leni just looked through her stack of magazines as quietly as she could. She settled on a particularly dense one that she'd found shoved behind Lucy's bed. As she perused, Leni spotted something on one page that caught her eye. It was a sweater, subtitled as the "Candy Stripe Sweater." It was red and white, with horizontal stripes, and Leni could almost feel how cozy it would be if the stitching was just perfect. But as she looked closer, her smile faded as she saw telltale hints of cheap stitching and poor fabrics. She made a small disappointed noise that made Lynn stir in bed.

Leni looked over to see her brunette little sister quietly dozing, but she could tell that Lynn was still scared. The smallest twitches she could catch an eye of gave her away. Leni looked over at her sewing kits, then back over at Lynn, and then she smiled. She knew what she was gonna do to cheer her up.

And with that, 100K words.

Maggie continues to be weird to write for, especially since I've decided to split her off a bit from her emo background, since I think it makes her more interesting, in a way.

Funny thing I just realized is that besides Margo and Francisco, the rest of Lynn's teammates are actually non-players in events as I have them set up. I'm not sure whether I should find a way to work them in or not, but I might if the opportunity presents itself.

Emily is meant to be the blonde goth that was seen at her party and in passing in other episodes, but I'll admit I have no clue if that character is a boy or a girl. And I tried looking it up. I chose girl, so I'll stick with that.

Which neatly brings me to my next point. I was able to effectively write Middle Men into the proceedings, but now that Stage Plight has come out (Which used the same Romeo & Juliet idea I did, go figure) I think I'll have to make an official comment that TLH Canon from this point on will rely on this story's event over anything the show puts on that contradicts it. I've been writing so far in a way that allows the show and the story to coexist rather peacefully, but now I think this entire story is officially an AU, which doesn't mean I'm just gonna break established canon, but that will mean I will ignore contradictions that arise due to it. Which is fine, I think.

Also, I have one or two little surprises in the works. That's all I'm saying on that.

Listening to: Makes Me Wonder by Maroon 5