11. Ch 11- Another Session Over

After almost an hour of vaulting practice, everyone was stretching once more. "And that should be enough," Chris said, coming out of his current stretch. "It's important to stretch before and after practice to keep from injuring yourself. So, good work today, everyone! See you on Thursday!"

With that, everyone began to walk towards the changing rooms. "So, Lincoln do you need to get a ride home again?" Jordan asked.

"I think so, yeah," he admitted. "Are you sure your mom won't mind?"

"I doubt it. She did say she wouldn't mind on Sunday."

"Well, thanks, I guess." He stopped when he heard her giggling, and rolled his eyes. "I really should stop doing that so much."

She placed a hand on her hip. "Hey, I never said I minded it." She slapped him lightly on the shoulder. "I'll see you in five minutes."

"Okay." So, while she went to the girls' changing room, Lincoln went into the boys. As he began to gather his stuff together, he saw Artie enter the room as well, holding a cup of water in his hand. "Hey, Artie."

"Hey Lincoln," the other boy greeted. "You know, you did good today."

Lincoln smiled. "You mean it?"

"Yeah. Sure, you weren't perfect, but you're just starting off. Don't worry, it'll come with time."

"Thanks." Artie nodded, before sitting down on a bench and taking a drink of water. "Hey, do you mind if I ask you something?"

"Sure, go for it."

"Why did you start doing gymnastics?"

Artie smiled. "Oh, wow! Wasn't expecting that!"

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want, I was just curious."

"No, it's cool, I don't mind. Just been a long time since I was asked that." He put the now empty cup down next to him, then looked back at the white-haired boy. "Well, I started about a year and a half ago. My older brother- he's in college now- he played basketball here during high school. I came to see one of his matches and support him, and during halftime, I went to go use the bathroom. On the way back, though, I heard music coming from one of the hallways. I decided to check it out, and when I saw what was going on, I got curious. The instructor, her name was Jane, she saw me watching, so she came over to speak to me. At first, I thought she was going to call me a peeping tom, so I started to apologise and tried to walk away, but she was actually really nice about it. She asked me if I was curious about gymnastics, and if I was interested in trying for myself. I told her I was, but I had to go back to my brother's basketball game, so she told me to attend a taster session the next week. I went, and found that I really liked it."

"That's cool. Did your brother ever find out?"

"Yeah, he actually helped me keep it a secret from my dad for the first month or so, since his practices were at the same time, and he could drive me to and from practice. My mom would from time to time, like if my brother was injured or he was ill, but a lot of the time, it was just me and him. You know what I mean?"

"Kinda, yeah. I mean, with all the stuff my sisters do, it's not often that I hang out with just one of them anymore, but when I do, I do tend to enjoy it."

"I can't imagine how you do it. I mean, I only met one of your sisters that time you invited me to hang out at your place, and I was out of there as fast as I could."

They both shared a laugh at that. "Yeah, though I think the problem was that you started with the wrong sister. Lucy's one of my sisters who is… well, let's say a bit strong when it comes to her passions. Though, apart from my youngest sister, I could probably say that about any of them."

"And you have ten of them? Geez, that must be-"

"Loud?" This time, they laughed even harder. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

"I bet. So, you coming on Thursday as well?"

"Sure will."

"Cool."

About twenty minutes later, Mrs Rosato's car pulled up outside of the Loud House again, stopping at the edge of the driveway. "There you go, Lincoln," she told the boy.

"Thanks, Mrs Rosato," he responded, then turned to Girl Jordan. "Guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Hang on, Lincoln," she told him. "Do you have your phone with you?"

"Uh, yeah, it's in my bag."

"Can I see it?"

"Sure."

He reached into his bag and pulled out his phone, Girl Jordan doing the same with hers. Once he turned it on, she took it from him and he watched curiously as she began tapping away at both phones. When she was done, she handed the boy his phone back. "There. I've added you to our group chat, so we can talk more outside of school and practice."

"Neat. Thanks." He looked at the name of the group, then raised an eyebrow at her. "'The gal pals'?"

She smirked. "We couldn't think of anything gymnastics-y, so we just went with that instead."

He smirked back. "I'm sure Artie loves that." She giggled at his joke, getting a chuckle from the boy as well. "Well, I guess I'd better go."

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow."

He nodded, then got out of the car and shut the door. After waving as the car drove away, he walked up to the front door and went inside, being met with the typical sounds of Loud House chaos. He chuckled, muttering "home, sweet, home," before shutting the door, which caught the attention of his eldest sister on the couch.

"There you are," she said. "About time. Dad literally said we can't have dinner until you got back."

"My bad. I'll let him know I'm here." She waved him off before returning to texting. He rolled his eyes as he made his way into the kitchen, where his father was making preparations by the stove whilst his next eldest sister was at the fridge. "I'm back, dad."

The chef smiled at his son. "Hey, champ!" He greeted the boy. "Great timing, dinner is ready to go in the oven, and will be cooked in about fifteen minutes."

"Okay. I'll go shower before dinner then."

"Hey, Linc, you want a soda?" Lynn Jr asked, lifting her head out of the fridge.

"Actually, is there a bottle of water in there instead?"

"One sec." She looked in the fridge once more, then grabbed what her brother requested and shut the door. "Here you go."

"Thanks," he said as she handed him the bottle, before opening the lid and greedily guzzling down the liquid. "Ah. That hit the spot."

"Easy, bro, don't go wetting yourself."

She chuckled, but he merely rolled his eyes. "Har, har."

He began to walk away to go have a shower, so Lynn chose to walk with him. "So, how was practice, bro?"

"It was really good! A lot of fun!"

"Sweet! So, you get anyone out?"

He took half a second to remember his dodgeball cover before replying. "Oh, uh, not really. We only played a couple of games, and I was against Girl Jordan both times."

"So?"

"So?! Lynn, she's undefeated at dodgeball! Hasn't been gotten out in a single game! She's like a dodgeball machine or something!"

"Pfffht! As if!"

"I'm serious! She'd probably beat you at it!"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh, please, now you're just talking crazy."

He smirked at his athletic sister. "I dunno, she's really good. You'd have a hard time beating her, that's for sure."

"Oh, yeah?! Well, maybe I'll head to your next practice, and we'll see for ourselves!"

Lincoln gulped. "Oh, uh, you can't!"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Why not?"

He began to grow nervous. "Uh, w-well…. i-it's because it's closed practice. And, uh… I-I-I mean…"

After a few more seconds of stuttering, Lynn burst out laughing, leaning forward on her crutches to keep from falling down. "R-relax, bro! I'm just messing with you!"

"O-Oh!" He gave a couple of nervous laughs himself, before wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Oh, I had you going there!" She gave him a hard pat on the shoulder. "Nah, this is your thing bro. I know you don't want your big sis coming there to cramp your style." She gave a huge grin. "Besides, it wouldn't be cool of me to show you up like that, cause let's face it, I would."

He gritted his teeth a little, but still smiled at her. "Thanks, Lynn."

"Especially with your girlfriend there."

"Seriously! Not my girlfriend! Why do you guys keep saying that?!"

"Alright, alright, I'll stop messing with you. Now, go hit the shower. Smells like you need it."

She walked away with her crutches, leaving Lincoln to stand there. After a second, he sniffed his armpit and winced. 'Might want to start using deodorant,' he mentally noted, before heading to go use the shower.

Come evening, the Loud House was as quiet as it could be given its inhabitants, the eleven siblings eventually settling down and heading to their rooms for the night. While the girls all spent some time talking with their respective roommates before calling it a night, Lincoln was originally planning to hit the hay straight away. He finished his homework after dinner and made sure it was packed in his bag, so he spent a couple of hours or so playing video games (in his room, of course- getting the TV would have been impossible, especially since he had prolonged dinner due to his practice), before getting ready to go to bed. His plans, however, changed when he noticed a text on his phone. Grabbing the device and sitting at his chair, he saw that it was from Girl Jordan, which caught him by surprise.

'When did I get her number?' He pondered, before reading the text.

Jordan: Hey, Lincoln, you still awake?

Seeing that it was only a few minutes since the text had been received, he replied.

Lincoln: Yeah, was just getting ready for bed. What's up?

He only had to wait about twenty seconds before he got a reply.

Jordan: I wanted to know if you wanted to talk for a bit.

Lincoln: sure, I can talk.

Jordan: Cool. So, you seem to be enjoying practice

Lincoln: Yeah, I really am! Didn't fully think I would at first, but I'm glad you introduced me to it

Jordan: hehe me too! It's fun having you there too

This made Lincoln smile. He was going to thank her for saying that, but she texted something else first.

Jordan: So, me and the girls were planning on heading to the mall on Saturday. We usually do it once every couple of weeks or so. You wanna come with?

Lincoln: Eh, I dunno. The mall isn't really my thing

Jordan: come on, it'll be fun! Besides, with you there, I might finally be able to get the girls to go with me to the comic book store

Lincoln: … well, I do like the comic book store… sure, why not?

Jordan: awesome! I'll let the girls know tomorrow that you'll be joining us.

Lincoln: Cool, but can you promise not to leave me with all the bags? I get that enough from my sisters

Jordan: haha, don't worry. I'll only ask you to carry two of my bags

Lincoln: har, har

Even though he was 'texting sarcastically', he couldn't help but let out a small chuckle.

Jordan: I'm gonna head to bed, so I'll see you at school

Lincoln: one last thing. When did we exchange numbers? I thought you only added me to your group chat

Lincoln waited for maybe another minute for her to respond, growing mildly confused when she didn't respond.

Lincoln: you there?

Jordan: … I may have added my number to your phone while I had the chance. *blushing face emoji* hope you're not mad

Lincoln: course I'm not mad, just surprised you didn't ask

Jordan: you sure? Honestly, I feel embarrassed about it now

Lincoln: don't be. Besides, now we have a way to talk about Mollie behind her back *winking emoji*

Had Lincoln been around her, he would have heard Girl Jordan burst out laughing.

Jordan: *crying laughing emoji*

He chuckled himself a bit, before texting her back.

Lincoln: Alright, I'll let you get some sleep

Jordan: Okay, and don't worry. I'll keep this between us

Lincoln: thanks, Jordan. Goodnight

Jordan: Goodnight

With that, Lincoln turned off his phone, put it down on his desk, climbed into bed, closed his eyes and began to drift to sleep.