52. Ch 52- Too Hot To Handle

(A/N: hey, everyone! My apologies for the late upload. As I mentioned in my other story, I had a huge presentation yesterday at Uni, so my focus was on that recently.

Also, I just wanted to let you all know that there are only another four or five chapters left for Journey For Unity, and once that story is done, I will be returning to only doing one multi-chapter story at any one time, which means that you should hopefully get a new chapter every three days instead of maybe one a week from then on.

That's all I have to say about that, so thank you for reading, and enjoy!)

"Okay, guys! Be in Vanzilla in five minutes!" Lori exclaimed, to which feet began to stomp around.

"Why do we have to go to school? It's too hot out!" Lola complained as she put her bag over her shoulders.

"Your sparkly towel is only gonna make it worse," Lana pointed out, to which Lola whipped a scowl in her direction.

"It is not a sparkly towel!"

The two began growling at each other, before Lincoln came over and put himself between them. "Girls, that's enough," he firmly told them. "It's too hot out as it is, so let's not make things worse by arguing, okay? Now, since I knew things were gonna be super hot today, I went and put some bottles of water in the freezer. You two head to the car, and I'll go get them, but no fighting, okay?"

This brought a smile to their faces. "Thanks, Lincoln!"

He gave a smile and a chuckle as the twins made their way toward the front door, before heading into the kitchen. As he opened the freezer and began to pull out the bottles of water, Luna peered in and raised an eyebrow upon seeing this. "Whatcha got there, bro?" She asked, walking over with a grin. "You didn't get gum in your hair again, did you?"

Lincoln rolled his eyes. "I suppose you don't want one of these, then."

When he held up one of the frozen bottles of water, her grin dropped as she gave a gasp. "Dude, are you for real right now? That's awesome, bro! The man with the plan comes through again!" She reached to grab the bottle, but he pulled it away, a smirk on his face as she pouted and gave a begging look. "Come on, bro, it's too hot for words out there. You're not gonna make me melt out there, are you?" He gave her a look that told her he was considering it, but when he held the water bottle for her to grab, she smiled and accepted it. "Cheers, bruh. You know I don't mean anything by that, right?"

"Yeah, I know, I was just messing with you. Would you mind helping me with these?"

"Sure thing, bro."

"Thanks."

So, he handed her five of the bottles and grabbed the remaining five before closing the freezer, then followed the rocker out to the van. As they approached the driver side window, Lori leaned out and told them, "any longer, and we would literally be late."

"Will this change your mind?"

He held up one of the bottles for her, and she gave a smile at him as she took it. "Thanks, Linc. Now, get in."

With a roll of his eyes, he obliged, getting in after Luna took the middle seat and sitting next to her. He closed the door, before he and Luna handed out the water bottles to the rest of the sisters, each of them thanking him. Once they all had received a bottle and had done up their seatbelts, Lori backed the van out of the drive, and began the school journey. Along the way, everyone was doing all they could to try and keep cool- they already had the windows down as far as they could (which, given the age of the van, came with varying results), the AC was on full, Lucy and Lola had old fashioned fans that they wafted themselves with, Lana was sticking her head out the window with her tongue out, Leni and Luan had little battery operated fans that they were aiming at themselves. As for Lincoln, he was sat back with his elbow resting on the open window, his bottle of water held against his cheek.

"How much hotter can it get?" Lincoln spoke to no one in particular, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"According to meteorological findings, this spell of excessively increased temperatures and high humidity should reach its peak within twenty-four hours, before returning to the status quo after another twenty-four hours."

"In English, Einstein!"

Lisa gave a small grumble, rolling her eyes at the jock's abrupt comment. "Ignoramus… the heatwave should reach its hottest tomorrow, but things should return to normal the day after."

"Aww, man! I was gonna go mud jumping with Skippy tomorrow!" Lana whined. "Now the mud's gonna be all dry!"

"Well, at least you won't be dragging mud into our room again," Lola pointed out, ignoring the low growl she got from the grease monkey. "Meanwhile, I have to go to a pageant rehearsal, and I'm going to be so sweaty!"

"So, no different than usual."

The pageant princess gave her twin a fiery glare. "What did you say?!"

"That's enough!" Lori yelled, cutting off any potential conflict. "There will literally be no fighting in the van, it's already bad enough we have to deal with this stupid heat wave, so settle down and-" As she said this, she saw steam beginning to rise from the hood of the van. "Uh oh."

"What's wrong, Lori?" Lincoln asked, looking slightly concerned.

"I think he engine's overheating. We need to pull over." The rest of the Loud's all groaned as Lori slowed down the car as she pulled up next to the sidewalk, eventually coming to a stop. "Alright, everyone out."

Grumbling as they did so, the Louds grabbed their things and exited the vehicle and stood on the sidewalk as Lori popped the hood, using a cloth to protect her fingers from being burned and leaning back to avoid the steam blasting in her face. Once it had cleared enough, she looked in. "Ugh… I can't tell what's wrong with it. Lana, do you have any of your tools with you?"

"Sorry, no. Just my wrench," Lana admitted. "There might be something in the trunk, though."

"Alright, let's take a look." They walked around to the back of the van, Lori opening the trunk before helping Lana up to take a look. "Anything?"

"'Fraid not. There's not even any coolant in here, so we can't cool down the engine. Basically, we're stuck here."

The remaining Louds all gave even louder groans, except for Leni. "Can't we use the ice water Linky gave us?"

"It's not even melted yet!" Lola pointed out, holding up her still frozen water.

"Not to mention, water boils faster than coolant," Lana added. "It wouldn't do any good."

"No, sir! And that really boils… erm…" Luan stomped angrily before exclaiming, "it's too hot for me to think of good puns."

"Wish we knew that sooner," Lynn muttered to Lucy, who gave a small chuckle.

Meanwhile, Leni frowned, looking down in disappointment, before feeling Lincoln pat her on the back. "It was still a good thought, Leni."

Thankful for the compliment, she gave her brother a smile. "Thanks, Linky."

The shutting of the hood caught everyone's attention, all turning to see Lori give a huff. "Well, looks like we have no choice- you guys better get walking, I'll call for a tow truck."

"I can give Chunk a ring, see if he'll drop us off, but he won't be able to fit us all," Luna suggested. "Probably four tops."

Lola let out a frustrated growl. "Great! Let me guess, you guys get a ride to high school, while the rest of us have to suffer!"

Lincoln gave a small shake of his head as he walked over to the self-proclaimed princess. "Come here," he told her, and before she could respond, he lifted her up and positioned her on his shoulders. "Is that better?"

Realising what her brother meant, Lola smiled. "Much. Thank you, Linky."

"Aww, man," Lana complained. "Why does she get to be carried?"

"Hey, why would you want him to carry you?" Lynn butted in, jabbing a thumb to her chest. "I can get you there way faster! Hop on!"

Lana's frown turned to a smile as Lynn allowed her to jump on her back for a piggyback, all the while Lisa rolled her eyes. "Thoughtful of them, I suppose."

Hearing the four-year-old's request, Lucy turned to her younger sister and asked, "would you like me to carry you?"

Lisa started at the goth, taking in her request, before looking down at her feet and saying in a low voice, "yes please."

Lucy nodded, giving a rare instance of a smile. "Hop on."

So, while the older siblings waited by the broken down van for Chunk to help move the van and get them to school, the younger six made their way toward the school, doing their best to keep their minds off of the heat by talking about other things. Lynn didn't seem to mind the heat as much as the others, but Lincoln could tell that it was getting to her- even as she piggybacked the older twin, he could see that the heat was making her feel tired, not that she would ever admit it. He'd have to lie through his back teeth to say he wasn't too. His forehead was dripping with sweat, and he had to slip his bottle of frozen water into his bag so he could carry Lola, but he knew that complaining wouldn't make things better.

It took them a while, but they eventually reached the Elementary School, stopping outside of the front steps so that Lynn, Lincoln and Lucy could put the younger three sisters down. "Alright, I better get moving," Lynn declared. "Catch you at home, guys."

"Thanks for the ride, Lynn!" Lana called, she and the others waving to the athletic Loud as she began to jog away, with the exception of Lisa.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news," she spoke up, the others turning to see her looking at her phone, "but we have all missed registration, and our respective first classes will be in session."

"Don't worry about it, Lisa," Lincoln replied. "You girls head to class, I'll go see Cheryl and explain what happened. Just make sure your teachers know too, okay?"

"Okay!" They all replied, before making their way inside. Lincoln shook his head softly, and was about to follow the girls, but a hand placed on his arm stopped him. He turned and saw that it was Lucy, who was looking down at her feet.

"Hey, Lincoln?"

"Yeah, Lucy?"

She opened her mouth to speak, choosing her words carefully, before shaking her head. "Never mind. I'll see you later."

As the goth made his way inside the school, Lincoln couldn't help but feel that there was something odd about that interaction, but he couldn't put his finger on it, so he brushed it off as the heat getting to him. Knowing that the longer he stood there, the later he would be to class, he entered the school building. A smile spread across his face as the AC hit him, making the heat somewhat less unbearable. He made his way towards his locker first, placing his gym bag in the locker and made sure he had the right books for class, before closing the locker.

After half a minute of traversing the school building, he eventually found the reception to Principal Huggins' office and entered, seeing a woman with a brown beehive hairstyle, wearing a yellow button shirt and a dark green skirt. She was leaning back in her chair and fanning her face with her hand while a desk fan blew cool air around the room. As he approached the desk, the receptionist looked at him and gave a small smile as she sat up straight. "Well, hello, Mr Loud."

"Hey, Cheryl," he greeted.

"I take it you're here to report your late arrival?"

He nodded. "I'm also doing the same for my sisters. I told them I'd handle it while they went to class."

"Well, isn't that sweet of you! No problem, just let me find the right books." She opened the drawer under her desk and looked through the books inside before pulling out four and placing them on the desk. It took a moment, but she eventually opened them all to the right pages before she could grab a pen. "So, it's you in the sixth grade class, Lucy in the third grade class, Lana and Lola in the first grade class, and Lisa in the K1 class, right?" He nodded, so she checked the time on her computer and began to write down the necessary information. "And what is the reason for your late arrival?"

"Our van's engine overheated, so we had to walk the rest of the way here."

"Ooh, that can't have been fun in this heat. Is there anyone I can call if Principal Huggins asks me to?"

"My oldest sister Lori was driving, so I'd ring her. I don't know if she's told mom or dad yet."

"Fair enough. Okay, and that… should…" After writing down the last bits of information, she put down her pen. "Do it! Alright, Lincoln, you and your sisters are officially excused."

"Thanks, Cheryl," he told her with a relieved smile. "Guess I better head to class, then."

"Alright, kid. Have a good day."

So, Lincoln left the receptionist to her work and joined the rest of Mrs Johnson's class, apologising for his late arrival before taking his seat next to Clyde, whom he was quick to explain his tardiness to. The first two classes of the day went by rather easily, in part due to Mrs Johnson also struggling with the heat- for geography, she simply resigned to sticking on a documentary about the founding of the New England states, which no one could really pay attention to, purely because of how tired they felt under the heatwave. English class faired little better, with Mrs Johnson taking ten minutes to try and teach them about certain parts of grammar, before letting the students work by themselves with worksheets, and anyone who finished early was allowed to just sit back and relax.

After a short recess, the fifth grade class headed to gym class, a class that most dreaded, and the heatwave only made it more unbearable, which some of the boys made vocal in the changing room. "Why can't we have a free hour or something?!" Rusty whined. "It's too hot for gym class."

"I know what you mean," Zach replied, wiping the sweat out of his goggles. "I'd take double math over this."

"I don't see what y'all are fretting about," Liam argued, to which his friends gave him blank stares.

"Liam, you help your family on their farm," Clyde pointed out in a dry tone. "You're used to this kind of heat."

"Naw, this is way hotter than that."

"My point still stands." He heard Lincoln chuckle, but when he saw his friend wince a little as he wiped his eye, he asked, "is your eye hurting?"

"No, but the sweat is irritating it a little," Lincoln explained. "I'll be fine."

"You sure? That punch you took was…"

Lincoln sighed, having heard from his friends at recess that a video of the incident with Markus had gone somewhat viral online, and that everyone at school had seen it. While some of the comments he had received were praising him for standing up for himself and Jordan, particularly from friends of his and Jordan's and his sisters, there were also a lot of comments that basically laughed at him for getting punched like that. "Yeah, I know, Clyde, but it was just one punch."

"I'm still surprised your sisters haven't gone on a witch hunt for Markus," Rusty pointed out.

"Oh, believe me, they were planning on it. I even saw Lisa reading a book on medieval torture devices when I got home. However, once mom and dad explained that Markus was getting a few days of suspension, and I insisted that I didn't want them to do that, they agreed to respect my wishes and leave it well enough alone." He gave a smile of pride at this, but when he saw his friends looking at him with their eyebrows raised expectantly, her dropped his smile and huffed. "Fine, they backed off when I promised them I'd make them eggs for breakfast for the next week. Happy?"

His friends all gave a chuckle, which eventually got Lincoln to do the same. After another minute or so of talking, they all went out of the locker room and into the gym hall, joining the rest of their classmates in waiting for the class to start so they could get it over with. It wasn't long before Coach Pacowski emerged from his office, panting and sweating heavily from the heat while using his clipboard to fan himself down.

"Alright," he spoke with little energy. "Apparently, it's… too hot for us to… have gym class outside. So… we're going to… play some dodgeball." He doubled over, muttering "damn, it's hot" to himself before standing back up. "Okay! Line up!"

A sharp blow on his whistle got the tired fifth graders to become alert, lining up in front of the bleachers. Once they had done that, Pacowski split them down the middle into their two teams, which mostly ended up being the same teams as usual. The kids went to their respective sides while the gym teacher laid out five dodgeballs along the middle line, then walked over to the wall. A blow of his whistle got the kids to run towards the middle, those that were quick enough grabbing one of the rubber projectiles before everyone returned to the back lines.

"So, what's the call, Lincoln?" Stella asked. "Scorpion formation, or do we disperse?"

"Spread out, throw and pray," he quickly replied, his eyes meeting with Jordan's as they both smirked. "Seems like Jordan wants a bit of vengeance for last time, so better if you guys don't get caught in the crossfire."

"GOT IT!"

Another whistle blow was heard, and the match was underway. Like Lincoln had predicted, Jordan's sights were set on him, so he did his best to move around and avoid her attacks, while also making sure not to bump into his teammates or get hit by any other dodgeballs being thrown. He quickly saw one coming at him from the side, so he caught it to eliminate them and used the ball to block the attack Jordan used, before sending his ball her way. She ducked her head to the side to dodge it, the smirk still on her face.

'Gonna take more than that, Lincoln,' she confidently thought, dodging out of the way of another ball from the opposing team. She quickly picked up another ball and tried to eliminate the white-haired child, only for him to duck and it to hit Rusty in the face instead. 'Show me what you've got.' The game continued over the next several minutes, with Lincoln and Jordan seeming to keep their focus entirely on each other. While Lincoln's friends had fallen early on, Lincoln persisted, getting another elimination after missing Jordan, but Jordan was just as persistent. She only ever threw to try and get rid of the Loud boy, but she couldn't land the hit, only getting more collateral eliminations. Eventually, after Stella tried to get rid of the Rosato girl, Jordan caught it and eliminated her, leaving just Jordan and Lincoln one on one. "You want to give up now?!" she challenged.

"Nope! You?!" he fired back, to which she shook her head. "Then give it all you've got!"

"Gladly."

She threw the ball in her hands at the boy, only for him to roll to one side. He then picked up a ball and threw it at her, but she simply stepped to one side. All anyone else could do was watch on as the two of them went at it, throwing balls back and forth and dodging as best they could, sometimes with ease and sometimes by the skin of their teeth, for well over a minute. After deciding that she had had enough, Jordan grabbed a pair of balls, throwing the one in her right hand first, and once Lincoln had dodged it, she threw the other ball, not knowing that at the same time, Lincoln had thrown one of his own, and by some matter of miracle, the two balls collided in midair with a resounding THWACK sound. As the two balls bounced on the ground, the two kids panted as Lincoln dropped to one knee and Jordan rested her hands on her knees, having put all their energy into the match.

Before anyone could do or say anything, the sound of a whistle being blown was heard. "Alright! That's time!" Coach Pacowski declared. "I, uh… I can't really think of any way to settle this, so let's call it a draw, and you all can do whatever you want until lunch. Class is over."

As the coach walked away, the rest of the kids shrugged at the sudden announcement before beginning to talk to each other. As Lincoln got to his feet, he saw Jordan walk over to him and extend a hand. "Good match, Lincoln," she told him, the boy smiling as he shook her hand.

"You too, Jordan."

"Guess your last win wasn't a fluke after all."

He chuckled as he told her, "guess not."

"That was intense, guys!" They heard Stella say as she and the others approached them. "I'm surprised it went on that long!"

"Yeah, I thought Lincoln would've gotten smoked!" Rusty blurted out, before Liam elbowed him in the stomach.

"Well, I wasn't gonna let him beat me after last time," Jordan reminded them, before smirking at Lincoln. "Should've known he wouldn't let me beat him either."

He smirked back and responded by saying, "well, we know now that you can be beaten, so I guess that adds a confidence boost."

She gave a small giggle. "I guess. So, what are you guys doing this weekend?"

"Probably trying not to melt from this stupid heatwave," Zach bluntly answered, though Jordan only smirked more.

"Well, maybe you don't have to. Anyone up for a pool party?"