53. Ch 53- Operation: Cool By The Pool

"Lincoln, are you sure this won't go like last time?"

"Clyde, I'm certain," Lincoln replied through the walkie talkie, dressed in a white t-shirt with the Ace Savvy logo, and orange swim shorts with a white stripe down either side. "Last time, we went unprepared in a last minute decision. Besides, it's a smaller thing this time- no tattoo station, no make your own sub station, just a small party."

"I dunno…"

"Come on, Clyde, trust me on this. Do you have everything you'll need?"

"Yeah, I think so. Swimwear, towel, sunscreen, life ring, guide to CPR-"

"You really think you'll need that?"

"Doesn't hurt to have it."

Lincoln chuckled slightly, giving a soft shake of his head. "Well, sounds like you've got everything, and I know I do too. I'll see you there."

After Clyde replied in kind, Lincoln turned off the walkie talkie and put it away. He then looked out the window at the front garden, seeing that there was no one in sight. He then walked over to his door and peered out, seeing that it was also empty before closing the door. A quick step onto his desk chair and peer into the vents saw that they were just as empty, which was less surprising given how many of the Louds ever went in them. Hopping down from his chair, he turned to the viewer.

"Hey, there," he said in a somewhat hushed tone. "Been a while, huh? So, as you may know, Jordan invited me, the guys and Stella to a pool party at her house, and while some of us were… reasonably uncertain," a blush spread across his face as the memories resurfaced, "we decided it would be better to go and risk something embarrassing happening than put up with this heatwave, which has reportedly hit record highs for the state. Now, I don't think what happened last time will happen again, given that we're actually planning on going to this one, but there is one issue that lies in my way: getting past my sisters. If they find out I'm going to a pool party, they're going to try and come along too, and if I said yes, Jordan would see what happens when they go to pools, and I'll get banned from there as well! It's bad enough with public pools, but a friend's pool? Not taking that risk. Fortunately, I have a plan."

He stepped out onto the landing, gently closing the door behind him and making sure the two nearest bedrooms to his were empty before continuing to talk. "Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan and Lisa are all busy, and Lily won't be a problem. That just leaves Lynn, Lucy and the twins, but that doesn't make it any easier- Lucy could be absolutely anywhere, Lynn will catch me instantly if she sees me, and if Lola and Lana are working on Lola's princess car, I'm in trouble. Basically, I have to be stealthy if I want to go to the-" He paused to do a quick double check, before whispering to the viewer, "pool party."

So, Lincoln slowly descended the staircase, stopping about a quarter of the way down to look into the living room. While his baby sister was currently sat with her mother watching cartoons- though, it was more that the former was watching while the other seemed to be in a heatwave-induced nap, with a handheld fan whirring away in her hand- the room was otherwise empty, so he slowly made his way downstairs, only for him to step on a squeaky toy at the last second, making him panic. He calmed down when he realised that only Lily had heard it, so he made a "shush" gesture to her, placing his finger against his lips, and Lily copied the gesture back, making him smile and give a slight chuckle.

He walked towards the front door, but before he could get there, he saw Lynn skate by the front window, making him dart into the kitchen and lean next to the refrigerator. He waited a moment, making sure Lynn wasn't coming in through the front door, before exhaling. "Too close…" He then decided to peer out the back door window, and while he didn't see Lucy, he did see the twins- Lola was sat in a sun bed under a beach umbrella, wearing her usual pink dress- how she could stand it was beyond the boy- as well as a sun hat and sunglasses, a glass of lemonade resting on a little plastic table while she fanned herself with a hand fan. Lana, who was wearing denim shorts instead of her usual dungarees, along with her usual green shirt- was running around with Charles. "Okay, the twins are out back, and Lynn's out front. I can get past Lynn if I time it right, but I'll have to go around the house, which means getting past the twins first. Hmm…" As he thought, he looked down slightly and noticed a tennis ball, making him grin. "Bingo."

Deciding it was now or never, he opened the door as quietly as possible, making sure he hadn't alerted the twins before making a blitz play- he grabbed the ball and through it past Lana and Charles, making sure it caught their attention. When they saw it, they stopped for a second before running after it, heading right past Lola and knocking her lemonade off the table and onto the pageant princess, making her give a shrill squeal.

"Lana!" She yelled, standing up from her sun bed and running after the tomboy and the dog. "You're gonna get it now!"

Lincoln saw the two argue and later engage in a fight cloud, and while he was feeling slightly guilty for causing it, he knew it was a desperation move, so he put it out of mind. He used the chaos as opportunity to head through the backyard and head towards the sidewalk, but before he got there, he saw Lynn skate past again, so he leapt into the nearby bush to avoid detection. Fortunately for him, she hadn't seen him.

"Okay, I think I lost her."

"Great. Let's go."

"Yeah, let's- Wait a minute." Looking to his left, he saw that Leni was also in the bush he was in, wearing a plain white t-shirt over her two piece seafoam green swimsuit with white details, plus a seafoam swim cap with a white bow. "Leni! What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm just waiting for Lynn to leave."

"Why?"

"Because I'm heading to a pool party at Jen's place." It took a moment before realisation set in and her wide smile fell. "Dang it."

Lincoln raised an eyebrow to his sister. "Wait a minute, you're heading to a pool party at Jen's place?"

"Yeah, Jordan's throwing one and she needed Jen to watch over her because her parents had work things, so Jen invited me." She cupped her hands and gave him puppy dog eyes. "Please don't tell the others, Linky! I don't want to get banned from Jen's pool!"

He gave a soft chuckle as he lowered her hands with his own. "Leni, Jordan invited me to the pool party. Why do you think I'm hiding here?"

And just like that, the smile returned to Leni's face. "Oh, well, why didn't you say so?"

He rolled his eyes. "Never mind. Now, how do we get past Lynn?" At that moment, he saw the tennis ball he had thrown before to distract the twins bounce through the bush and into his hands, making him grin. "Scratch that. I think I have an idea."

At the Rosato household, Jen was heading out of her room, wearing a red and white striped two piece swimsuit, a white summer skirt over the bottom piece, white flip flops and red framed shades. As she headed down the landing, she heard something coming from the room on her left which belonged to her younger sister. Curious, she poked her head in and saw Jordan searching through her drawers, still in her regular clothes and muttering to herself. "Hey, sis?" Jen spoke up. "Your friends are gonna be here soon, shouldn't you be in your pool gear?"

"I can't find it," Jordan replied, poking her head up. "You haven't taken it, have you?"

"Nope. Haven't seen it either, sorry." The younger girl gave an irritated groan. "Y'know, I might have something you could wear instead." The younger Rosato raised an eyebrow in confusion, but before she could ask, the older girl told her, "hang on," before walking away. Jordan wondered what it was that Jen had, but when she saw Jen return and lay out the swimsuit on her bed, she blushed.

"I-I dunno, sis."

"What are you talking about? You'll look great in it!" She could see Jordan was about to retort some more, but the sudden sound of the doorbell ringing made her go pale instead. "Guess that's your friends. I'll go answer the door, and you can either continue looking for your regular swimsuit, or get changed in this. Your choice."

"Well… thanks, I guess."

"No problem, sis." Jen heard her sister muttering something as she left the room, but didn't pay it any attention as she headed downstairs. Once she got to the front door, she opened it and saw that it was Mollie, Kat, Joy and Sadie, all wearing their usual swimsuits and carrying their bags on their backs. "Hey, girls. Jordan's just getting ready, so head on round back."

"Thanks, Jen," Mollie replied, before she and the others headed toward the gate on the side of the house. As Jen was about to close the door, she saw Lincoln and Leni heading down the sidewalk, along with Clyde, Liam, Zach, Rusty and Stella. The four boys were dressed like Lincoln was, albeit with plain shirts and with different coloured swim shorts- red for Zach, blue for Clyde, green for Rusty and brown for Liam- while Stella was wearing a red one piece swimsuit with a white floral pattern. "I didn't know you guys were invited too."

"Yeah, Jordan invited us after gym class yesterday," Lincoln explained.

"Well, I'm guessing she let mom and dad know yesterday, so the more, the merrier, I guess. Head round back, the others just got here. Jordan will be down in a minute, and I'm just gonna go get my speakers."

"I'll help you with that," Leni offered, before turning to her brother. "I'll see you in a bit, Linky."

"Sure thing, Leni."

So, while the two high schoolers went into the house, the elementary schoolers went around the side of the house and through the open gate to the backyard, where they saw the pool and smiled, glad to know they would be able to cool off. "When you guys first said Jordan had a pool, I wasn't expecting this!" Stella marvelled.

"Yeah, it's pretty sweet," Rusty agreed.

"Hey, Loud!" They heard Mollie call, waving them over. Doing just that, the boys and Stella approached the girls, seeing the smirk on the brunette's face. "Glad you showed up! Ready to get beaten again, undies?"

The boys save for Liam all blushed, while Stella gave a giggle, having heard the day before about why the boys were hesitant about the pool party. "First of all," Lincoln bashfully pointed out, "I'd really rather forget about what happened last time."

"Never gonna happen!" Joy butted in, getting her friends to giggle while Lincoln rolled his eyes.

"Thanks, Joy." He then turned his attention back to Mollie and smirked. "More importantly, you can't beat me again if you've never beaten me."

"What are you talking about? I beat you at Jordan's first pool party."

"Not really. Can't beat someone if the competition never begins."

"He's got you there, Mollie," they heard a familiar voice call, turning to see Artie approach, wearing a grey tank top with his red swim shorts with white stripes down the sides. "So, how come you guys aren't already in the pool?"

"We're waiting for Jordan," Kat explained.

"Oh, okay."

"Jordan, come on, you're being silly!" They could hear Jen say from inside the house. "You'll be fine."

"Yeah, you look totes great!" Leni could also be heard saying.

"Well… if you're sure." While Lincoln and the others were wondering what they had been talking about, the Loud boy quickly got his answer, and for a moment, time seemed to slow down. He watched as the youngest Rosato exited the patio doors, and was surprised to see that she was wearing a yellow two piece swimsuit- the top piece was a sport top, while the bottom piece was a skirted bottom. Instead of her usual braided ponytail, she had her hair down, hanging just past her shoulders and framing her face, which bore a nervous expression. Jordan didn't seem to notice the boy's gaze at first, instead turning to her bestie. "Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."

"Nah, we got here about a minute ago, so it's cool," Mollie assured her.

"Is that a new swimsuit?" Sadie asked, making her friend bashfully rub the back of her arm.

"Uh… sorta."

"It looks great!" Stella complimented, which got the other girls complimenting her as well.

"R-really? You don't think it looks… I dunno, silly?"

"Girl, you look great," Joy insisted.

"Yeah, you've already got Lincoln going gaga over you," Mollie added, making Lincoln snap out of his gaze and turn bright red. When Jordan turned around and saw his bashful face, she couldn't help but blush as well. "See what I mean?"

Ignoring some of the giggles coming from the other girls, Jordan cleared her throat. "Well, uh, this heatwave isn't gonna go away just yet, so what are we waiting for? Let's get this pool party started!"

"Last one in's a pile of manure!" Liam called out, leading the charge towards the pool as the kids tossed their bags aside, the boys putting their tops with them. They all ran up to the pool's edge and leapt in, each making their own big splash as they entered the water before resurfacing a moment later. "My, that's refreshing!"

"It sure is!" Kat agreed, looking over to the hostess. "Thanks for inviting us, Jordan!"

"No problem," she replied. "Now, come on, let's have some fun!"

"Hey, don't forget about us!" They heard Jen speak as she and Leni emerged from the house, the former carrying a speaker and her phone over to the bench table. Placing the speaker on top of the table, she searched through her phone before finding the right playlist and pressing play, making a pop song echo from the speaker. "There we go, now we've got a party! Party on, guys!"

So, for the next hour and a bit, the kids enjoyed the pool party, thankful to be able to keep cool during the heatwave. They spent the time chilling in the pool, swimming around, engaging in splash fights and mini races, and at one point, Jen brought out a net so they could play some volleyball in the pool, with Jordan and Lincoln's team winning two games and Mollie and Artie's team winning one. Eventually, Mollie got out of the pool and turned to the others. "Alright, Loud!" She called out with a smirk, getting everyone's attention. "Let's settle this once and for all! You and me, cannonball contest!"

Lincoln returned the smirk. "You're on, Mollie!" He shot back.

"Oh, boy! Everyone out of the pool!" Clyde yelled out, a warning that everyone took seriously. It only took a few seconds for everyone to get out of the water and stand by one of the fences. "So, how are you going to decide?"

"We're gonna do one jump each," Mollie explained, staring down her opponent. "No more than four bounces on the diving board. Best cannonball wins."

"Sounds good to me," Lincoln replied, not missing a beat.

"But, how are you going to decide whose is best?" Sadie asked.

"Why don't some of us judge them?" Stella suggested, and while some of the other girls were shaking their heads, Mollie quickly jumped at it.

"Great idea, Stella! You want to be one of the judges?" The Filipino girl gave a small shrug then nodded. "Cool. I'll let you pick the other two, Loud."

Though Lincoln rolled his eyes at this, he looked back to the others and thought for a second. "Let's see… Artie, you okay with judging?"

"Sure, no problem," the boy replied, walking over to where Stella was now stood, separate from the others.

"Thanks. For the other judge…" He was considering one of the other guys, but he then decided on someone else. "Since you're the host, Jordan, would you like to judge?"

Though Jordan was initially hoping not to get brought into this, she found the way that Lincoln asked to be quite polite. "Well… I guess that's fair, sure."

"Interesting choices," Mollie mused, a bit of mischief in her eyes. "No matter. Now, you have no excuses if I beat you."

"And you have no excuses when I beat you." There was a bit of murmuring in response to Lincoln's comeback, but he paid it no mind. "Ladies first."

Mollie scoffed. "Sure. You know what they say, 'lead by example'." Mollie walked around the side of the pool towards the diving board. As everyone watched on, Mollie stepped onto the base of the board and shot a confident look Lincoln's way. "Watch and learn, Loud!"

She slowly made her way along the diving board, before eventually jumping onto the end of it. She made one bounce, two bounces, three bounces, and on the fourth bounce, she jumped up and forward, tucking her legs into her chest and wrapping her arms around her knees, rising in the air and then falling down into the pool below, creating a large splash as she broke through the surface. Everyone watching on gave applause, albeit with Lincoln's being a slow clap, as Mollie eventually resurfaced with a gasp. She turned to Lincoln in the water and yelled, "beat that!"

"Not bad," he told her, "but I can beat that."

"Ha! We'll see!"

They both turned their attention to the judges, who were discussing with each other before Jordan eventually stepped forward. "With scores of nine from Stella, ten from Artie, and nine from myself, Mollie has set the bar at twenty eight!" She declared. "Lincoln, it's your turn. You need twenty nine to win, twenty eight to tie."

Lincoln didn't say anything to this, just nodding to the 'head judge' before making his way around the pool whilst Mollie vacated the water. Once she was clear, Lincoln stepped onto the board, took a deep breath and let it go before making his way down the board. Once at the end, he did the same as what Mollie did- first one bounce, then two, then three- except before he made the fourth bounce, he bent one leg and lifted it up, meaning the fourth bounce was on one foot, and after he did, everyone was surprised at the height that Lincoln had achieved, as well as the perfect three sixty degree rotation as he tucked his legs in, before eventually meeting the water and creating a mighty splash, one that got the crowd clapping and cheering, and made Mollie widen her eyes and drop her jaw. It took a couple of seconds, but Lincoln eventually resurfaced with a gasp and turned his attention to the judges, who made a quick decision.

"The judges give Lincoln scores of ten, ten and ten!" Jordan announced with a smile. "Therefore, with a score of thirty, Lincoln is the winner, and the official cannonball champion!"

The crowd cheered once more, with Lincoln pumping his fist in the air. He took one look at Mollie and saw that she was still in shock, so he decided to swim over and climb out of the pool, then walk over to her. Extending his hand, he looked her in the eye and said, "good game, Mollie."

She eventually snapped out of her confused state and smirked at him. "You too, Loud," she replied, shaking his hand. "Gotta admit, you got some moves. But I'll still beat you next time."

"Not on my watch."

They both laughed a little, not noticing that Jen was coming out of the house, some food in her hands. "Hey, guys!" She called out. "I'm gonna start the barbecue!"

"FOOD!"

The blunt exclamation of Rusty got everyone heading over towards the bench, each lining up by the barbecue as the high schooler cooked some burgers on it, while Leni laid out some food to go with the burgers- cheese, lettuce, onions, ketchup and clearly labelled hot sauce- on a table, and pulled out a cooler from under it which contained sodas. As the line for the food got shorter, Lincoln looked behind him and saw that Jordan was at the back, so he decided to let some of the others cut behind him and join her.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Doesn't seem fair that the host should be last to get their food," he answered. "Figured I'd let you get yours first."

She smirked, raised an eyebrow and placed her hand on her hip. "Who knew you were such a gentleman?"

He chuckled softly. "Well, living with ten sisters, including one who acts like an actual princess, it kind of comes with the territory." She giggled, which made him chuckle some more before the queue moved forward some more. "So, the pool party's going pretty well. Thanks for letting us join it."

"No problem! Glad you're all enjoying yourselves!" Her smile then dropped slightly. "I'll be honest, I was slightly nervous earlier."

Lincoln lost his smile, instead looking confused. "Why were you nervous?"

"Well…" She hesitated for a few seconds before shaking her head. "Never mind. It doesn't matter."

He sensed that her tone had lowered a bit, concerning him that he had something wrong. "Hey, it's okay. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but if you want to, I'm right here."

She looked back at him and saw the gentle smile he gave her, and though part of her mind was telling her not to, but something about the boy made her feel like he could be honest with her. "Well… do you think I look… okay like this?"

"… what do you mean?"

She suddenly felt her cheeks heating up a bit. "Well… I wasn't planning on wearing… well, this. I couldn't find my regular swimsuit, and Jen said she had this, but… honestly, I don't think I look good in this."

Though he was doing his best not to turn red from blushing, he was more surprised at what she was saying, particularly what she was saying about herself. Not wanting to let her say anymore, he placed a hand on her shoulder, getting her to meet his gaze. "Jordan… I hope you don't mind me saying this, but… you would look good no matter what you wear. Personally, I think you look… v-very pretty like this."

Though her cheeks were turning very red, she couldn't help but smile. "R-really?"

"Y-yeah. Yellow is… d-definitely y-your colour."

She couldn't help but giggle, finding his comment cute, and this was only heightened by how his blush grew. "You're sweet, Lincoln. Thank you."

"No problem."

The sound of a throat clearing behind them alerted them to the fact that the line had been shortened to just the two of them, with Jen waiting with a smirk on her face, two paper plates with burgers on buns in her hands. "You two can keep talking to each other, or you can get your burgers before they go cold," she told them, making them blush even more. As they took the burgers and thanked her, Jen watched them walk away, and as they began to add to their meal, she couldn't help but think, 'those two are so cute together, and they don't even realise it.' She shook her head, before beginning to cook some burgers for her and Leni. 'Give it time. They'll figure it out.'