99. Ch 99- Flyering Around

The weekend was upon the citizens of Royal a woods once again, providing a chance for many to unwind and relax after the working week. Whether that be relaxing after work or school, most were fortunate enough to be able to stay at home or go out and do whatever they wanted to do. For Lincoln, he was not one of those people, but he didn't mind. He had known he would be doing this for almost a week now, and he was prepared to do it, as it was something that would help him down the line. He stood in his room in front of his desk, placing a thick pile of papers into his backpack. When he eventually filled the bag, he realised that he still had about a third of his original pile left to put in.

'Maybe I printed too many,' he realised, before giving a shrug. 'Well, at least we won't be likely to run out.' Zipping his backpack up, he slung it onto his back and picked up the remaining papers, then left his bedroom. As soon as he did, he had to make sure he didn't drop them when he saw Lola come out, being chased by some of Lana's pets.

"Lana! Get them off me!" the pageant princess screamed, getting the animal lover to come up from downstairs.

"Hey, what's up with you guys?" she asked her pets as she scooped them up into her arms. "What's gotten into you?"

"I've told you before, keep your pets away from me!"

"Hey, they were fine earlier! Seriously, I don't know why they—"

She stopped talking when an unfamiliar scent hit her nose. It wasn't an unpleasant one to her, but one she couldn't quite place either. Following the scent, she walked over to Lola and sniffed at her hair, making her twin uncomfortable. "Lana, quit it!"

The tomboy obliged a second later. "They must have smelled whatever's in your hairspray, because that smells tasty! What is that, maple?"

"Ugh, that's not the point, Lana!"

"Okay, okay, calm down," Lincoln cut in, going down to one knee to look them in the eyes. "Lola, you know that Lana didn't mean for her animals to go after you. She wasn't even up here when it happened." He then turned to the other twin. "That said, Lana, you know that you should keep your pets in their containers when you're not with them. You know Lola doesn't like them creeping up on her."

The twins both knew that their brother was right, their heads dipping as a bit of guilt filled their minds. "Sorry," they said to each other, then looking to their brother. "Sorry if we disturbed you."

He gave a warm smile and used his free arm to pull them into a hug. "Girls, you didn't disturb me. I'm just glad you're not fighting. You need to try to get along, okay?"

"Okay!"

Happy that the situation had been resolved, Lincoln let go of the twins and got to his feet. "Hey, Lincoln, what you got there?" Lana asked, pointing to the papers in his hands.

"Well, me and the others from gymnastics are going to be putting up flyers around town for the showcase," he explained, to which Lola raised an eyebrow.

"That doesn't look like a lot of flyers."

The boy chuckled. "I've got about twice as many in bag, and Joy's bringing some that she made." He then heard a knocking at the front door. "That'll be Jordan. I'd better go." Walking past his sisters, he made his way downstairs and approached the front door. However, the moment he opened it, he felt a small yet powerful force take him off his feet and send him to the floor, the flyers in his hands going flying. The impact hadn't hurt him, though he did feel the wind taken out of him as a familiar set of paws landed on his chest, before the licking tongue that accompanied them brushed against his face, making him burst into a laughing fit. "Qu-Quit it! Yo-You got me, alright?"

"Ajax! Ajax, heel! Now!" Jordan commanded, pulling back on the leash attached to her dog's bandana. The Australian Shepherd reluctantly complied, bowing his head at the disapproving glare his owner gave her. "Bad Ajax."

"Don't be too hard on him, Jordan," Lincoln insisted, sitting up again. "He didn't mean any harm by it, he was probably just happy to see me." He then scratched the white dog behind his ear, making him pant happily. "Isn't that right, buddy?"

Jordan couldn't help but chuckle as her pet barked in confirmation. "I guess. Still, he didn't have to knock you over like that, and now your flyers have gone… oh."

Wondering what the "oh" was about, he looked behind him and saw that the twins had picked up each and every one of the flyers for him. "Oh! Thanks, you two."

"You're welcome!" Lola replied, allowing the boy to get up before handing the flyers to him. He then took the flyers that Lana had collected, before the pigtailed girl walked over to Ajax.

"Who's this little guy?" Lana asked the girl stood behind the dog.

"That's Ajax," Jordan told the younger girl. "You can pet him if you like."

"Thanks!" Lana reached out, allowing Ajax to get her scent before she began scratching behind his ears and petting his fur. "Who's a good boy, Ajax? Huh?" The Australian Shepherd barked happily, wagging his tail and soaking in the attention he was getting. As she pet his fur, she caught sight of her own dog coming in from the dining room, the little pitbull terrier tilting his head curiously at the sight of the unfamiliar canine. "Charles! Come say hi!" Following his master's command, Charles walked over to the group. "Ajax, this is my dog, Charles. Wanna say hi?" The two dogs stared at each other, then startef walking around in a circle as they gained each other's scent, before smiling and barking at each other, as if making conversation. "Looks like you've made a new friend, Charles!"

Jordan lifted a hand to hide her giggles at the cute moment between the two canines and the first grader, then turned to her friend. "Hope you don't mind me bringing Ajax with us. Mom needed someone to walk him, and I figured we'd be walking around anyway."

"That's fine with me," he replied. "I might as well take Charles for a walk, too."

Having overheard the conversation between the two sixth graders, Lana went over to Lola and whispered something to her, making the other blonde smile. "Hey, Lincoln?" she asked. "Can we help?"

He turned to his younger sisters, surprised by the offer. "Really?"

"Yeah, we can watch the dogs if you go in anywhere to put up flyers," Lana explained, whilst Lola nodded.

"Plus, we've done this kind of thing before with the Bluebell Scouts. We know all the best places to put them, and which stores absolutely won't let you."

"Well, we could probably use the help." Lincoln turned to Jordan and asked, "what do you think?"

"Sure, why not?" She then turned to the twins and told them, "thanks, you two."

"No problem!" Lana replied. "I'll go and grab Charles' leash."

Whilst Lana walked away to do just that, Jordan looked at the pile of flyers in her friend's hands. "Is that all you made?"

"No, these were the ones I couldn't fit in my bag."

"Ah, in that case, I'll put those in my bag."

"Thanks." He handed the flyers to Jordan, and while she put them away in her bag, he turned to Lola. "How come you and Lana wanted to help us?"

"No reason."

The lack of explanation in her answer, plus the smile she gave him, made him dubious, but he didn't press it more than that. Lana returned a moment later with the leash, which she quickly attached to Charles' collar. "Well, if you two are ready, then let's go."

The four kids immediately left the house, with Lincoln giving his dad a text as they went on their way. For the majority of the walk to the park, Lincoln didn't talk as much, given that his sisters were too busy talking with Jordan. He didn't mind too much, as it allowed him to put one of his earphones in and listen to some music, though still keeping aware of his company and his surroundings. Ajax and Charles didn't prove to be a bother either, being well behaved and getting along amicably as they walked around town. It wasn't too long before they reached the park, where they saw Sadie, Joy, Kat and Artie, along with a few of the younger girls from gymnastics— one blonde, two brunettes with different hair lengths, and one redhead. The second those girls saw the two dogs approach, they immediately kneeled down so they could pet them, much to the two canines' delight.

"They sure do love the attention, don't they?" Jordan said to Lincoln.

"They really do," he replied, before turning to the others. "So, is this it?"

"Jessica's not feeling well," Natalie, the blonde, told the older kids, the short haired brunette next to her nodding.

"What about Mollie?"

"She's visiting her granny," Joy explained.

"Okay. So, do you have the flyers?"

"Right here." She took her bag off her back and reached inside, pulling one out and showing it to the boy. It had a picture of the gymnasium from the sports centre, along with all the information about the showcase listed beneath. "Pretty good, huh?"

"It's pretty good. Mine's better, though." Mimicking her actions, he presented one of his posters, which contrasted hers greatly. Rather than a photo, his had a graphic novel style image of a gymnast in the different phases of a handspring vault, with the showcase information spread around. "What do you think?"

"Eh, it's alright."

Jordan rolled her eyes at the competitiveness the two displayed, but rather than discourage it, an idea came to her mind. "Well, since we need to split up to post up the flyers, how about this? Each group takes a pile of each type of flyer, and whichever pile runs out quickest or runs out the most is the better one."

Lincoln looked to Jordan, then back to Joy. "I'm up for that."

"Same here." The dark haired girl then looked back to Jordan and asked, "who's going with who? I'm guessing you'll be going with Lincoln and his sisters."

"Well, Ajax seems to be getting on with Charles, so I don't see why not." She then looked to Natalie and the short haired brunette. "Natalie, Connie, you two go with Joy and Kat." Both girls nodded, so Jordan looked to the other two girls, the redhead and the long haired brunette. "Lyra, Lizzie, you two go with Artie and Sadie. Listen to them, okay?"

"Okay!" the redhead, Lyra, answered, while Lizzie nodded.

"Hey, Lincoln, I'll hold the flyers for us," Artie told the white haired boy.

"You sure?" Lincoln questioned. "I mean, I'm surprised you're doing this at all, considering… well, you know."

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I'd rather be walking around with you guys than doing my English report. Plus, it's only paper, it's not going to throw me off balance."

Not wanting to argue, Lincoln pulled the rest of his flyers out of his bag, splitting them between Kat and Artie, whilst Joy gave an equal amount of her flyers to Jordan and Sadie each, meaning each of the three groups had an equal amount of both flyers. "So, does everyone have something to put them up with?" Jordan asked, to which Kat and Sadie both nodded. "In that case, let's split up and get to work. We'll meet back here in a couple of hours. Got it?"

"Right!"

So, the three groups all began to head in different directions— Joy's group began heading towards the North entrance of the park, in the direction of the sports centre; Artie and his group began heading East towards the elementary school; and Lincoln's group began heading West, which was back the way they came. "So, where should we head first?" Lincoln asked.

"We should keep going down this street," Lana instructed. "There's a lot of telephone poles that you can put flyers on."

"Lana, that's illegal," Jordan chastised. "You can't just put posters up anywhere."

"You can't?" Seeing the older girl shake her head, she felt dumbfounded. "Huh. We were allowed to do that in the bluebell scouts."

"Your scoutmaster probably got council permission, but we never had the chance to do that. We don't want to get in trouble, right?" Hearing a murmured yet affirmative response, Jordan looked and saw Lana's head hanging slightly lower, making her feel slightly guilty. "Hey, don't be upset. You can still help us with this. You said you know which shopkeepers won't let us, didn't you?"

"I did," Lola clarified. "This street isn't too bad, though. Just avoid the antiques shop, they won't even listen to you unless you're trying to buy something."

"Noted." Lincoln then looked forward and saw that they were headed towards Gus' Games and Grub. "I know that Gus' usually lets people put flyers up. Should we try there first?"

"That sounds like a good idea," Jordan agreed. The kids continued down the sidewalk until they reached the arcade, stopping just next to the door, where the older kids turned to the two twins. "Will you two be okay watching Ajax? He can be quite excitable."

"Don't worry, I've got this!" Lana confidently assured her, accepting the leash from the older girl. "I've handled alligators five times his size, I can handle him."

"Wait, you've handled alligators?! And your parents are okay with that."

Lana nodded, so Jordan turned to Lincoln, expecting him to tell her it was a joke. To her surprise, he simply smiled and told her, "all I can say is, she's a pro." Allowing Jordan a moment to process this, Lincoln handed Charles' leash to Lola. "We shouldn't be too long, so just hang tight and we'll come out if anything happens."

"No problem, Linky," she told her brother. "Just don't you two start playing games, or we'll have to drag you out of there."

He chuckled at the joke. "Sure thing, Lola." He then gestured for Jordan to follow her, and they headed into the arcade. Seeing a black haired guy in his late teens behind the counter, wearing the arcade uniform, they approached him. "Hey, could we possibly put a flyer up in the window?"

"Sure, I think that would be okay," the teen told them. "What's it for?"

"Our gymnastics practice is holding a showcase," Jordan informed, taking a flyer from her bag and putting it on the counter. "It's to raise money for the sports centre."

The teen took the poster and looked at it. "Wow, this looks pretty good! Did one of you make this?" Lowering the poster, he saw Jordan point her thumb towards Lincoln. "It's pretty cool, dude. Sure, you can put this in the window. Do you need tape?"

"No need, I have some."

"Alright. Use the window on the left of the door."

"Thank you."

The two kids walked over to said window and got to work. Lincoln held the poster flat against the window, whilst Jordan taped the four corners to the glass. Once they were done, they waved goodbye to the arcade worker and left the arcade, rejoining the twins.

"And that's one point to Lincoln, zero points to Joy," Lincoln boasted, making Jordan roll her eyes.

"Try and remember why we're doing this," she cautioned, to which he rose an eyebrow. "We're doing this to get people's attention for the showcase."

"Hey, you suggested the competition."

Having been caught out, she couldn't help but giggle. "Come on, let's keep going."

"Lead the way."

They continued going around town, putting up flyers in any stores or buildings that would allow them to. At one point, they passed the town hall, where they bumped into Mayor Davis. She saw the flyers in the girl's hands, and after hearing a their explanation, she gave them permission to put two of them in the public noticeboard. Over about an hour, they had managed to get through half of Lincoln's flyers and roughly a third of Joy's, before Lana spoke up.

"Hey, can we get something to eat?" she asked. "I'm getting hungry."

"Me too," Lola then told her brother.

"Well, it is getting to be lunchtime," Lincoln realised, checking his phone to confirm it. "I think there's a café up ahead. How does that sound?" The twins both nodded to him, so he turned to Jordan. "You okay with this?"

"Sure," she answered. "I'm getting kinda hungry, too." No further discussion needed, they walked down the sidewalk towards the café, a blue building with a large car park and an orange, square sign above the door that read The Burnt Bean. As they neared it, though, Jordan realised something. "Wait, what about the dogs? I don't see anywhere to tie their leashes."

"Oh, right… wait here, I'll check inside." Lincoln entered the building, leaving the three girls to wait outside for him. He was in the café for maybe thirty seconds before he returned. "Okay, we're in luck. They allow pets in on Saturdays, so we can take them in, as long as they behave."

"Really? That's odd, but I won't turn it down. Come on, Ajax."

Giving a small bark, Ajax followed his owner and she and the others entered The Burnt Bean. Once inside, they saw that it was relatively quiet inside, only a handful of customers sat at some of the orange chairs around the covered tables. From the entrance, Lincoln spotted a table near the far window. "Hey, why don't you girls go grab that table?" he told his sisters. "I'll get you something to eat."

"I want a burger!" Lana replied first.

"Just a salad for me," Lola then told her brother, who nodded.

"Okay. What about you, Jordan?"

"I was going to come with you to the counter," she said, surprised at his offer to get her food for her. "That way, we could split the cost."

"You don't need to do that. I've got enough to cover us all."

"Nuh uh, no chance, Lincoln. We are splitting the cost, I insist."

Knowing he couldn't argue, he chuckled. "If you say so."

He then handed Charles' leash to Lola, whilst Jordan gave Ajax's to Lana. They watched the twins walk away before entering the queue. As they waited for the young couple in front of them to finish ordering, Jordan looked ahead at the cashier.

"Hey, Lincoln? Is it just me, or does she look a bit like Sam?"

Intrigued, he did his best not to look like he was staring as he glanced past the customers in front of him at the woman behind the counter. She looked like she might be around his mother's age, and was wearing a lavender t-shirt, blue jeans, purple jeans, and blue circular earrings. However, the thing that stood out to him was her blonde hair, which was held back in a messy ponytail and had a blue streak that stretched down the centre of her hair, splitting two ways in her ponytail.

He looked to Jordan again and answered, "she does a bit, yeah. I'd say it's probably a coincidence, though."

"You're probably right. Still, you never know. Royal Woods isn't that big."

Lincoln chuckled again. "If I remember, I'll ask Sam the next time I see her."

They then noticed that the couple in front of them had walked away, so they approached the counter. "Hey, welcome to the Burnt Bean," the blonde woman greeted. "What can I get you?"

"Could we get one turkey burger, one house salad, one hamburger, and…"

He looked to Jordan, who was browsing the menu. "I'll have a hamburger, too."

"Okay. You kids want any drinks with that?"

"Soda?" Lincoln asked, more to Jordan than the cashier, which got his friend to nod, so he looked to the woman once more. "Four sodas."

She finished writing down their order. "Okay, that's two hamburgers, one turkey burger, one house salad and four sodas. That'll come to twenty five even." She watched as they both placed a ten dollar bill on the counter, and whilst Jordan was searching for spare change in her purse, Lincoln put a five dollar bill on top of his tenner. Though Jordan was surprised, she didn't question it as the woman collected the notes. "Okay, we'll bring that out to you when it's ready."

"Thank you," both kids told her as they walked away.

"You didn't have to do that," Jordan remarked.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Lincoln feigned, which got her to giggle a little and roll her eyes. "I'm gonna go clean up real quick. Will you be okay alone with the twins?"

"Lincoln, they'll be fine."

"It's not them I'm worried about." She laughed more heartily this time, lightly slapping his shoulder. "I'll just be a moment."

"Okay." So, whilst Lincoln went off in one direction, Jordan went over to the table where the twins were sat, their eyes landing on her as she joined them. "Lincoln said he's just cleaning up."

"Seems kind of unnecessary," Lana responded, making her twin shake her head.

"You would say that," she countered, before turning to Jordan with a big grin. "So, Jordan, sweetie, let me ask you something."

"If it's anything along the lines of 'do I like your brother', then let's not bother."

"That's not what I was going to ask, actually. It does have to do with him, but it's not that, specifically."

"Oh, yeah?" Seeing the pageant princess nod, she gave a small sigh. "Go on, then."

"What is one of your favourite things about our Linky?" Jordan's eyes widened, not having expected that question. "Surely, given the amount of time you've spent together, there must be something you can think of. Trust me, I won't tell."

"That might not be a good—" Lana's mutter was cut off by a sharp elbow from her twin, who maintained her grin. "But, yeah, there's gotta be something."

"I don't think your brother would like us talking about him behind his back," Jordan reasoned, but she could tell from their insistent looks that she had no choice. "Well, if you promise not to tell him, then… alright, fine. If I had to pick one thing, then I'd say… I like the fact that, no matter what is thrown at him, he's willing to adapt to it. He's always willing to help if you need it, even if you don't actually ask him to, because you never seem to have to with him."

"Yeah, that's Lincoln alright," Lola agreed, both her and Lana smiling a similar smile to Jordan. "He's always been there for us, no matter what."

"If he's even half as great of a brother as he is a friend, then you're pretty lucky to have him as a brother. I know I'm lucky to have him as a friend." She noticed how their smiles lifted at hearing her say that, so her smile turned into a smirk. "That's all I'm saying, okay? We don't want him to hear this."

"Hearing what?" they heard Lincoln say, now that the boy had returned.

"Oh, we were just talking about where we should go after this," Lana quickly answered, the other two girls nodding just as quickly. Though the boy was slightly doubtful, he didn't get the chance to question it. "Ooh! Food's here!"

Like she had said, the woman from the counter brought over their food, setting it in front of them before leaving them to their meal. With how peaceful it was, Jordan didn't have to say much, and would occasionally look over at Lincoln. Whenever she did, she couldn't help but think about what she had said to the twins, and although she knew what they had likely interpreted it as, she couldn't deny it: she really was lucky to have him in her life.