(A/N: the following was requested by BlueprintMan.)

It was another typical day at Royal Woods Elementary School. The sun was bright in the sky, taunting the students that had to sit through their lessons, especially with another period still to go. In one of the classrooms, Lincoln and the rest of his fifth grade class were currently enduring Mrs Johnson's lesson on American history. "And so, from that day, the Louisiana territory was a part of the United States of America," the brunette teacher concluded. "Of course, some of that territory is now part of Canada, but most of it makes up at least part of many of the central states, including all of Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma." The bell then rang, signalling the end of the period. "Okay, that's all for history. Make sure to complete those questions on page 125 for Friday."

The class packed up their things and made their way to the final lesson of the day. "Whose idea was it to put gym at the end of the day?" Zach complained, as he, Lincoln, Clyde, Rusty, Liam and Stella approached their lockers.

"It's just evil," Rusty added, opening his locker, as did the others. They grabbed their gym bags and placed their book bags in instead. "It's like, 'hey, kids! Looking forward to having fun? Not if you're too tired to do so!'"

"No, you're just not that athletic, Rusty!" They heard someone quip, turning around to see Girl Jordan approaching them. "You don't exactly have a six pack."

Rusty smirked. "Oh, yeah?"

He breathed in, showing off his skinny physique, causing everyone to chuckle or smirk. "Yeah, she's right, Rusty!" Liam told the taller boy. "You ain't no athlete!"

The taller boy exhaled disappointedly, slouching his shoulders and pouting. "Whatever."

Jordan rolled her eyes as she opened her locker. "So, you guys think Coach Pacowski'll go easy on us today?"

Clyde looked blankly at her. "You do remember who Coach Pacowski is, don't you?" He responded.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Still, at least we won't be doing the obstacle course again." She shuddered. "I still can't believe he added barbed wire."

Stella blinked, confused and slightly fearful. "What kind of obstacle course was this?" She asked.

"The Coach Pacowski kind," Lincoln explained.

Although this didn't really explain it to her, she shrugged it off. "Well, I guess we'd better go before we're late and he makes us do press ups."

This got them all moving, walking with urgency to the sports hall, where the girls split off from the boys, heading to their respective changing rooms. Lincoln put his gym bag down on the bench underneath one of the hooks and opened it, pulling out his red gym shirt. Before he could take his orange polo off, he felt someone bump into him. "Hey, watch it!" Turning around, he groaned as he saw a short, fat ginger boy with a monobrow, wearing a green and light green striped t-shirt, blue jeans, black sneakers with white tips, and a grey hat. "Hey, Drew."

"Shut up, Loud!" He yelled. "And watch where you're going!"

"You bumped into me! I was stood still!"

"Whatever! Just stay out of my way!"

Lincoln just rolled his eyes as the fat boy passed by, deliberately barging into him again. His friends watched on, not wanting to get on Drew's bad side. "Remind me," Zach asked, "why does Drew have it out for you so much?"

"Remember when my sisters found out Ronnie Anne was picking on me?" They nodded. "Well, they initially thought it was a boy, so Lynn ran outside and grabbed the first boy she could find, and that just so happened to be Drew."

"SHE BEAT ME UP AND KICKED ME IN THE DICK!" They heard Drew yell, causing all the other boys except for Lincoln and Clyde to laugh.

"How's that my fault?" Lincoln yelled back.

"BECAUSE SHE'S YOUR SISTER!"

"That doesn't make sense, and it was years ago!"

"Lincoln, just ignore him," Clyde advised. "We need to get changed before we're late."

Though frustrated, he knew he was right, so he sighed. "Yeah, you're right."

Putting Drew's aggravations to one side, Lincoln quickly got changed, leaving his clothes on the bench, and followed his friends out to the sports hall. He fortunately made it just before Coach Pacowski came out of his office, holding a red clipboard in one hand.

"Alright, enough standing around!" He called out. "Today, we have to- Artie, you're late!" He grabbed a dodgeball and pelted it at the straggling red-haired boy, hitting him square in the chest and knocking him to the ground. "Get up and give me twenty press-ups!" Artie groaned as he slowly obliged, getting onto his hands and feet and beginning to do the required exercises. "As I was saying, today, we will be doing the circuit." Everyone immediately began complaining at this, prompting the coach to roll his eyes. He grabbed whistle around his neck and blew into it, silencing them instantly. "Quit complaining, I've told you that it was a requirement as per the school board, so shut up, get in pairs and go to one of the mats."

Everyone dispersed in twos, with Lincoln pairing up with Clyde. They walked to the mat in the far corner of the sports hall, which had two sheets- one that had an exercise listed, and one that they would fill in- and a pen. Lincoln picked up the first sheet and read it out.

"Guess we're doing sit-ups first," he said, almost sighing to the bespectacled boy. "Want me to go first?"

"Yes, please."

"Alright, get in position!" Pacowski called out. "When I blow my whistle, you have one minute! Three… two… one…"

With that, he blew his whistle, setting everyone off on their respective exercises. What followed this was about forty minutes of brutal (at least, to some) exercise as everyone took it in turns to do what was on their sheet while recording what their partner was able to do, then move on to the next mat. They did sit ups, push ups, crunches, star jumps, burpees, mountain climbs, toe taps, as well as another eight, and by the end of it, many were either bending over or on the floor trying to recover.

"Okay, we're done with this," Pacowski called out. "Hand in your sheets and get some water, then we'll have a game of dodgeball to finish off."

As everyone either stopped moving to try and catch their breath or walked off to grab a drink of water, Lincoln looked down at Clyde, who has close to hyperventilating on the ground, and held out a hand. "It'd probably help if you use your inhaler," he suggested.

"Thanks, Lincoln," he replied, accepting the hand and using it to get to his feet. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his inhaler, taking a deep breath from it. "Ooh, I needed that."

"Yeah, that was rough," Liam said as he and Rusty walked over to them. "Coach does realise we're only in the fifth grade, right?"

"I never want to do that again," Rusty complained, then glanced over at Stella and Jordan who were both stood straight, drinking water. "How are you two not tired?!"

Girl Jordan rolled her eyes. "I AM tired," she clarified, "you're just not athletic!"

Once again, the taller redhead's friends all laughed, much to his embarrassment. He tried to play it off by collecting their sheets and walking away to give them to the coach, but his face still turned red. It didn't take long for all of the sheets to be handed in and for Pacowski to get bored of waiting.

"Alright, time's up, go line up on the halfway line!" He ordered. The thirty or so fifth graders did as he wished, making no arguments or complaints to avoid getting a worse punishment. "Okay, if I say A, go to the far left wall, if I say B, go to the far right!" He walked down the line of students, telling them either A or B. As was often the case, Lincoln was on the same side as Clyde, Liam, Zach, Rusty and Stella, while Girl Jordan was in the opposing team. Once the kids were all divided into two teams, he began laying dodgeballs across the middle line of the hall, then stepped out of the court. "Okay, on my go…"

He blew his whistle, and the kids all ran towards the centre in an attempt to grab one of the balls, before heading back to their start line. "Scorpion formation, go!" Lincoln shouted as he and his friends got into position, with five of them stood one in front of the other, while Zach was a little further behind and to the side. Once Coach blew his whistle again, they began moving side to side in sync with each other to avoid being hit. Zach's duty was to catch any stray balls that bounced towards him and pass them towards the front, since Rusty had the best throw out of them. Of course, their formation had yet to prove successful, and they all knew the reason why.

"Oof!" Rusty groaned as a ball hit him on the head, knocking him to one side as he was eliminated. Lincoln saw Girl Jordan, smiling triumphantly at her accomplishment. She quickly grabbed another ball and used it to catch Zach on his head, eliminating him as well and rendering the formation useless. "Guys, disperse!"

Lincoln, Clyde, Liam and Stella all nodded, breaking out of formation and spreading out. They all knew that Jordan was the best dodgeball player in their grade, with an arm like a cannon and seemingly endless dodging ability, to the point where she hadn't been on a losing team for a game since the beginning of the third grade. She quickly proved this by getting two more eliminations including Stella. This didn't mean all of her team was as good, as it quickly became a three-on-two situation, with Jordan and two random boys staring off against Lincoln and Liam.

"What do we do now?!" Liam asked the white-haired boy, ducking another projectile.

"Just throw and pray, Liam! Throw and pray!" Though Lincoln's advice seemed to be devoid of hope, it actually paid out, with Liam getting rid of one boy and Lincoln getting rid of the other. Jordan, however, was quick to remedy this by hitting Liam square in the chest, with the farm boy fumbling and failing to catch it. 'Dang it,' Lincoln thought as his friend walked off the court. 'It's all down to me.'

His eyes glanced across the court, seeing one ball further right of him, but then spotted Jordan with a ball in one hand and a smirk on her face. They stared each other down, both waiting for the other to make a move as everyone else watched on. Knowing it was now or never, he made a dash for the ball. He saw the red orb coming his way, so he slid on his knees, feeling the wind from the lobbed object whizz past his turkey tail. He grabbed the loose ball and got to his ball, turning and arching his arm back, ready to throw it…

Only to feel another ball collide with his stomach, before bouncing to the ground. Pacowski blew his whistle, signalling the end of the match. Lincoln looked stunned at the girl with the braided hair, who simply smirked and shrugged as her team congratulated her. He smirked back after a while, before walking back to Clyde and the others.

"Never mind, buddy," he consoled, "you'll get her next time."

"Where did she even get that second ball from?" Lincoln asked.

"She had it behind her back," Stella explained, prompting Lincoln to groan. "Still, you got her on her own- that's better than usual!"

"Yeah, I guess."

Coach Pacowski blew on his whistle again, silencing the celebrations. "Alright, everyone head to the changing rooms and get changed," he ordered. "Loud, Rosato- it's your turn to clear up the equipment, so get to it!"

Lincoln rolled his eyes, then turned to his friends. "I'll see you guys later then."

They all returned the gesture before heading towards the changing rooms. As the rest of the students did the same, Lincoln made his way towards Jordan. "You know I'm going to beat you at some point, right?" He told her with a cocky grin.

She scoffed at him. "Dream on, Loud!" She retorted. "You can't have your sister switch for you like you did at football!"

He groaned, throwing his head back. "Why do people keep bringing it up?"

"Because it's funny to see you squirm when I do." He rolled his eyes at her before she gave him a gentle punch on the shoulder. "Come on, let's get all of this cleared up so we can get changed and head home."

"Sure." While Lincoln walked over to the ball rack, Jordan ran over to each of the balls, picking them up and throwing them so the white-haired boy could catch them and put them away. Once they were all on, Lincoln pushed the rack into the storage closet, then walked over to help Jordan push the mat cart away as well, due to the excessive weight. Once it was in the storage, they both let go, Lincoln panting a little. "We should really get Coach's pay for doing that."

Jordan giggled. "Yeah, well, that's Coach." She turned to the Loud boy. "Hey, Lincoln, are you free this Saturday?"

"I think so. Why?"

"Well, I'm having another pool party, and I was wondering if you wanted to come."

"Really? Even after… Well, the last one?"

Jordan shook her head lightly, remembering the events. "I'll admit, it was pretty embarrassing for you guys," her words made his cheeks heat up, "but that's history. You guys are pretty cool. Also, Mollie's been pretty much asking for you to take her cannonball title from her."

They both shared a good laugh. "Yeah, that sounds awesome."

"Great! It's at my place at seven, and the rest of the guys can come too."

"I'll let them know."

"See you tomorrow, Lincoln!"

"See ya!"

They went towards their respective changing rooms, walking past their classmates who were already dressed and ready to head home. Upon entering the boys' changing room, Lincoln saw that his friends were already dressed. "Hey, guys," he greeted. "Jordan wanted me to ask you if you wanted to go to her pool party on Saturday."

"Hot dang, that sounds great! Count me in!" Liam replied. The farm boy was confused, however, when Clyde, Zach and Rusty all made uncertain "eh" noises. "What's with you fellers? Don't you fancy going?"

"If it's about what happened last time, she said it doesn't matter," Lincoln insisted. "She told me it's 'history', so don't worry."

The three of them looked at each other, then smiled at Lincoln. "Sure! We're in!" Clyde answered, with the other two nodding.

"Awesome! She said it's at seven o'clock."

"Alright. I'd better get going so my dads don't wonder where I am."

"Yeah, and I need to go check on the chickens," Liam added. "We think Betty might've caught something."

"I'm heading to the park to hang with Papa Wheelie and Flat Tire," Rusty explained.

"My parents need me to get back and do my homework," Zach spoke next. "They aren't too happy with my grades right now."

"No worries, guys," Lincoln replied. "I'll see you tomorrow." His friends all said goodbye, before going on their way. Lincoln took off his shirt and placed it on the bench, then removed his shoes and his shorts, leaving him in his underwear and socks. As he reached for his regular shirt, however, he was surprised that it wasn't there, and neither were his pants. "What the? Where are they?" He looked around, not seeing them on the benches or under them. "Maybe they're in the lost and found." He walked over to the far corner, where there was a container full of different articles of clothing that has been abandoned over the years. As he started to search through, with no sign of the orange polo, he heard the door shut. Turning around, he didn't see who had come and gone, but his eyes widened at what he did notice- his gym clothes had been taken! "No!"

He ran over to the door, but stopped in front of it when he heard people talking on the other side. He didn't want to risk being seen in his underwear, so with a defeated sigh, he sat down on the bench. Looking at where his clothes were, he was intrigued when he saw a note. Picking it up, it read:

You want your clothes?

Come out and get them, loser!

Lincoln growled, crumpling the note in his hand. "Dang it, Drew! What is your problem?!" Throwing the paper to one side, he stood up and walked over to the door again. He stuck his ear against it and waited until he couldn't hear anyone on the other side, then cautiously opened it a crack. Peeking through, there was no one in sight, so he cautiously opened it more and stepped out. "Alright, Lincoln. Just be quick and stealthy, and you'll be fine."

He held a hand over his eyes as he scanned the sports hall, looking for any sign of his clothes, before he saw a small amount of orange. Squinting his eyes, he saw that his t-shirt, along with his pants and his gym clothes were left in the bleachers on the far side of the gym. He groaned at the inconvenience, but didn't stick around. Secretly praying that the coach wouldn't return and that there was no practice on that day after school, he made a beeline for the bleachers. Clambering up the seats, he finally reached his clothes, and began to head back. He got down from the bleachers, clothes in hand, and ran across the hall, reaching the changing room door.

"EEP!" He heard someone yelp, causing him to freeze. Slowly turning around, he saw Girl Jordan, staring at him. His face paled, neither of them able to move or talk as their brains tried to comprehend what was happening. Lincoln opened his mouth, trying to think of something to say… before he rushed through the changing room door and shut it. He slid down the door with his back against it.

"Why did it have to be her…"

The next two days were uncomfortable yet quick for Lincoln. Every time he saw Girl Jordan, he would either look the other way, or walk away if it was between classes or lunch. Drew didn't make things any easier, constantly teasing or barging into the Loud boy. Thankfully, today was Saturday, which meant that Lincoln didn't have to deal with either of them and was thankful for once that his sisters were being their chaotic selves, as it distracted him from those thoughts.

As he sat on his bed, playing on his handheld console, he heard his walkie talkie go off. "Nosebleeder to icecap, over!" He heard Clyde call.

Lincoln picked up the walkie, putting the handheld on his desk. "Nosebleeder, this is icecap, over!" He called back.

"Hey, Lincoln! Just wanted to check if you're still going to Girl Jordan's pool party tonight."

Lincoln gulped, having all but forgotten about that. "Oh, right… uh, I'm not sure, buddy. I'm not… feeling that great."

"Really?"

"Uh, yeah, I… think I might've got something from one of my sisters."

"Weird. Your sisters seemed fine when we were working on that project yesterday."

'Dang it! I forgot Clyde came over,' he mentally scolded. "Right, yeah. Well, sometimes, you just don't know, do you? I mean, it could just be-" He stopped when he saw his sisters force his door open, all with eerie grins on their faces. "I'll call you back, Clyde." Before Clyde could respond, Lincoln closed the connection and put the walkie on his desk, then turned to his sisters. "Okay, something's happened, and whatever it is, I didn't do it."

"It's nothing like that, Linky," Lori said, her voice oddly chirpy, which made him more uncomfortable.

"Okaaaay? If I haven't done something, then why are you here? Is there a sibling meeting?"

"Nope," Lynn replied, her voice a similar teasingly happy tone to Lori's.

"Then what's going on?"

"You've got a visitor, bro," Luna practically sang.

"A GIRL visitor!" Lola stressed, prompting her and her sisters to pull their arms out from behind their backs, showing the miscellaneous hair brushes, aftershave bottles, makeup products and clothing items in their hands.

Lincoln groaned. "Why is it every time that a girl even wants to speak with me, you-"

A beat later, he looked up at his sisters. "Wait. Who answered the door?" Lucy held her hand up. "What did she look like?"

"She had braided hair with a blue bow," the goth explained, and instantly noticed her brother go pale and wide-eyed. "What?"

"Oh no… no, no, no, no, no…"

His sisters watched in confusion as he began muttering to himself, sitting back down on the bed. "Given the situation he has been presented with, this reaction is abnormal," Lisa mused.

The other sisters all looked at the four-year-old. "Meaning?" Lana asked.

"There is information we do not have access to, but Lincoln does, and the girl that appeared at our doorstep must also be aware of this."

"Hmm… that would explain why she looked a bit shy and uncertain," Lucy added.

Lori turned back to her brother, who was deep in thought, and put a hand to her hip. "Okay, Lincoln, what's going on? Why do you not want to see this girl?"

"I… can't say," he responded, biting on his knuckle.

Lori narrowed her eyes at him. "You can't say? Lincoln, what did you do?"

"I… can't say."

The rest of his sisters joined the eldest in glaring at the boy. "Lincoln!"

He cowered away from them, diverting his eyes to his window. "Well… there's this guy at school who has a problem with me."

"And you didn't tell us?!" Lynn yelled. "Why not?!"

"Well, because it's… kind of your fault." He knew this would make Lynn more mad, so he quickly followed it up with, "hewastheguyyouthoughtwasbullyingmewhenIfirsttoldyouaboutRonnieAnne!"

Lynn blinked for a moment as her mind processed what he had said, but when she thought back to the event in question, a shameful frown came to her face. "Oh, right… honestly, I forgot about him."

"Anyway, he's had a problem with me ever since, and on Wednesday… he took my clothes while I was getting changed and… made me leave the changing room to get them."

"I don't like where this is going," Luan admitted, an uneasy look on her face. "He didn't record you, did he?"

"No, but… she may have… seen me without them."

"Ooh," his sisters all groaned, wincing. Lincoln, however, just winced more.

"That's not the worst part."

"It's not?" Leni asked, to which Lincoln shook his head. "Then, like, what is?"

Lincoln's cheeks began heating up. "… that wasn't… the first time she'd seen me… like that."

Lori sighed, putting a hand to her head. "I literally don't want to know how that happened." Looking at how sad her brother looked, she sat down next to him. "Lincoln, you can't stay here while she's downstairs," she told him, her voice now showing more sympathy. "She clearly wants to see you and talk about something. Don't you think you should at least hear her out?"

"But…"

"Just because it was embarrassing, doesn't mean you should shut her out. At least hear her out, okay?"

Lincoln took a moment to think about it, before he gave a resigned sigh. "Fine, I'll hear her out."

Lori smiled at her brother. "Good boy, Lincoln."

So, after being told that Jordan was waiting on the couch, Lincoln got up and made his way downstairs, his sisters allowing him to pass under Lori's order. While they watched him go down the staircase, Lola turned to Lori and asked, "we're going to spy on them, right?"

"Definitely."

Unknowing of this, Lincoln got to the bottom of the stairs and turned, seeing the brunette on the couch. She looked up and shyly smiled at him. "Hey, Lincoln," she greeted with a small wave.

"Hey," he replied. "You, uh, mind if I sit down?" She shook her head, shuffling along so he could sit down next to her. "So, uh… what brings you here?" 'Seriously? That's what you have to say to her?' His mind scolded.

"Well… I haven't spoken to you in a couple days. Not since… well, you know."

He scratched the back of his head. "Yeah… that was… well, not good, you know?"

"I know. I was hoping I could speak to you over the past couple of days, but… it always seemed like you didn't want to talk to me."

They both frowned. "Yeah… I just… kind of felt awkward after what happened."

She sadly nodded. "Sorry."

Lincoln blinked, then turned to look at her. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I never meant to make you uncomfortable. I know that what happened was sudden and unexpected, but I never expected that I'd make you feel awkward around me."

Lincoln was silent, momentarily stunned and surprised. "… I thought you would have been uncomfortable around me!"

She looked at him, her head slightly tilted. "You… what?"

"I thought you wouldn't want to talk to me after you saw me like that… well, again, at least. I figured if I tried to talk to you, that you'd walk away, you know?"

"Really?" He nodded, and she didn't say anything for a moment, before giving a light laugh. "I can't believe it. All this time, I thought it was because you didn't want to see me, and yet you thought it was me who didn't want to see you."

"Yeah…" He gave a small laugh himself. "Kind of seems pointless now, doesn't it?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Is that a smile I see?"

His lips were starting to curve upwards, so when she said this, he immediately tried to stop. "N-no…"

She smirked. "Yeah, it is! You're smiling, aren't you?"

"I- I don't know what you're talking about!" He knew a smile was trying to come through, and that his cheeks were heating up, but he refused to admit it.

"Yes you do! You're smiling!" He tried fighting it, but eventually it broke through. "Ha! I knew it!"

She began laughing happily, while he crossed his arms. "Yeah, yeah…" he told her, though he couldn't help but a laugh a bit himself.

After the laughter died down, she put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry I caught you by surprise before."

"Hey, if anyone should be sorry, it should be me for… Well, being in nothing but my underwear."

"Yeah," she put her hands on her hips and squinted her eyes at him, "why WERE you in your undies, anyway?"

"Let's just say Drew has issues with me."

"Ah. Well, don't worry about it. Let's just put it behind us."

"I'd like that."

"Great!" She gave him a quick hug, which he was surprised by but happy to reciprocate, before letting go and getting up. "So, are you still coming to my party later?"

He smiled. "You bet."

"Great!" She cleared her throat. "I mean, yeah, great. It'll be good to have you there, if nothing else than to see you wipe that grin off Mollie's face."

He smirked. "If she thinks she's keeping MY cannonball record, she's got another thing coming!" They shared a laugh again, before he escorted her to the door. "So, I'll see you tonight?"

"See you tonight!"

She walked out of the house and towards the pavement, giving a wave as she turned to walk home. Lincoln waved back, then shut the door and shut his eyes to let out a content sigh. Turning around, however, he opened his eyes to see all of his sisters on the staircase with the same eerily eager grins as before.

"So, now that that's dealt with," Lori spoke first, "how do you plan to tell her you like her?"

"What?! I don't LIKE Jordan, she's just a friend!"

"Sure she is, bro," Lynn said, not even pretending to believe him. "So, you gonna show off with your sweet cannonball moves?"

"Why would I-"

"Please," Lola cut in, "if anything, he's going to hold a towel out for her and profess his feelings like a gentleman!"

"Girls, I-" His voice went unheard as they began arguing over each other about how Lincoln should tell Jordan he likes her, not even considering how Lincoln felt, so he turned to the viewer with an unamused look on his face. "See, this is why things don't tend to go smoothly in my life."

THE END