5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5) The Beginning of Punishment Part 1

Lori stood quietly, her eyes locked onto her phone. She had just told Bobby about her earlier actions after he had been seen with Leni and Lori yelled at them. Everything from when she had locked herself in Lincoln's room right up until he had run, terrified, out the front door. And now she nervously awaited for him to react to what he had heard. For him to say something, even if she didn't like what he said. Anything would be better than more silence.

[Whoa,] the teenage boy finally said. [That's...that's a lot to take in. But Lincoln is okay, right? He's not going to need to go to the hospital or anything?]

"He'll be fine Bobby." Mrs. Loud answered. "It was just a bloody nose and his knuckles will be all healed up soon enough. But thank you for your concern."

[That's good to hear. And if it's alright, maybe I can stop by tomorrow and pick him up so we can hit the arcade for a little bit.]

"That sounds like a great idea, doesn't it Lincoln?" Rita said.

"Uh, yeah. I'd be up for that." Lincoln said, the corner of his mouth curving upwards a little.

[Sounds like a plan little man. I'll bring Ronnie-Anne along and Clydesdale too. We'll have some pizza, play games for a couple hours and then grab some ice cream. My treat.]

"Okay!" Lincoln replied, starting to feel his spirits lift up. "When will we be going?"

[How about tomorrow at one o'clock? I get out of work at noon, but I'll want to shower and change really quick. I'll go get Clyde and then come to get you.]

"Sure. Or I can call Clyde and he can come over so you don't have to make the extra stop."

[Yeah, that works too. I'll see you tomorrow bro. And Lori?]

"Yes Boo-Boo Bear?" the blonde asked, feeling nervous again.

[Please don't take this the wrong way, but I'm kinda glad that we won't be able to see each other for a while. I'm going to need time to think about...all of this. We can talk about it when we go back to school on Monday, okay?]

"Okay." Lori shakily agreed, her heart sinking. "I understand. I'll see you later."

[Yeah...later.]

Bobby hung up, the sudden sound of the call ending piercing Lori's heart. It had been a very long time since either of them had ended a call without saying 'I love you' to one another. She had been tempted to say so, but she was afraid of how he would respond. He hadn't sounded angry, but he was obviously not happy about what was going on either. And it was filling Lori with dread to think of how it would go the next time they saw each other. She felt bad enough as it was for getting so mad at him earlier, and for what turned out to be nothing at all too.

Lori tensed up, something clicking within the confines of her mind. Her eyes widened and she gasped silently as fresh tears began to stream from her eyes. She felt her knees go weak and she sank down into a kneeling position.

"Oh my gosh." She whimpered out. "Oh my gosh. I...I..."

"Lori! What's wrong?" Leni asked with concern.

"I just realized something. If I had just listened to you and Bobby earlier, then I wouldn't have gotten so angry. Then I wouldn't have gone and shut myself inside of Lincoln's bedroom. And if I hadn't done that, then...then I...I wouldn't have..."

"You wouldn't have gotten mad at him either." Rita continued. "Which means that you could have avoided hurting him, not to mention the damage to his room. And then we wouldn't be here right now."

Lori nodded pitifully, trying to choke back a sob. She failed and let loose a loud wail. Guilt crashed over her like violent waves produced by a fierce storm. Bile raised itself up in her throat, but she suppressed the urge to vomit. From that point forward she managed to calm herself down a little, but she couldn't get the tears to stop.

"Lincoln." the upset blonde gasped out after another sob. "I am so, so sorry!"

"Took her long enough." Lynn jr. muttered.

Lincoln got up and stepped closer to Lori. His sister looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to say something. He could see uncertainty in her eyes and could tell that she was scared. Just seeing that helped him set his own fears of his eldest sibling aside and allowed him to face her with more confidence.

"I can forgive you Lori."

"What?!" Luna exclaimed.

"What?!" Lynn jr. simultaneously agreed.

Luna and Lynn jr. leaped up onto their feet. The two brunette teens looked at their brother incredulously. They then stepped between him and Lori, completely cutting her off from his field of vision.

"Dude! How can you say that after what she did?"

"Luna's got a point Lincoln. She hurt you and you're lucky that it wasn't worse than it was!"

"Enough!" Lincoln said. "I appreciate your concern. But I know what I'm doing! And Mom and Dad made it pretty clear earlier that everyone else is supposed to stay out of this. Besides, I wasn't finished anyway. I can forgive Lori, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to forgive her right now."

"I understand." Lori said, her voice hardly above a whisper.

"Do you?" Lincoln asked, pushing past his other older sisters in order to stand in front of her again. "Do you really understand Lori?"

Lincoln's harsh tone would normally not have been permitted by the oldest Loud child. But considering how she felt that she deserved it, Lori didn't object to it. It was only fair that Lincoln got to tell her off after what she had put him through. And maybe once he got it off his chest, he would be more willing to accept her apology. Or at least she hoped that would be the case.

"I'll take that as a 'no'." Lincoln said in regard to his older sister's silence. "So let me ask you this now. Would you be sorry if you hadn't hurt me earlier? What about if Mom and Dad were, for whatever reason, not going to punish you? Would you still be sorry?"

"I would! I swear that I would be sorry for what I did!"

"But you probably wouldn't have been sorry so soon. Right?"

"I...I don't know." Lori admitted, feeling ashamed.

"Well, then I'm going to need time to think. So give me some space and I'll let you have yours too. Then when I'm ready to talk to you about this again, I'll let you know. Okay?"

Lori only nodded in response. Lincoln then asked to be excused. Rita and Lynn Sr. allowed it since they had covered what needed to be done. Lincoln then went down into the basement. He hoped to find some of his clothes down with the laundry. He believed that there had was bound to be something down there. It wouldn't hurt to look.

Once Lincoln had left, the other Loud children were dismissed as well. All except for Lori as well as both Luna and Lynn jr. Their father led them into the dining room and left Lori and Rita alone. The matriarch heard her husband begin to talk to the other two girls about the outburst they had made, as well as the attitude they had when they say Lori being scolded earlier.

"So, what now?" Lori asked her mother.

"Once your father is finished talking to your sisters, you can help him with the yard work that he still needs to finish. Then you can help him with dinner. You'll do the dishes after we've eaten and then you can do a few other chores before going to bed. But before any of that, you can go up to your brother's room and board up that hole in the wall and put all of his ruined things into trash bags. Understood?"

"Yes Ma'am."

Lori went into the kitchen and retrieved a few trash bags. She then went upstairs and began to clean up the mess caused by her heinous actions. With each handful that she stuffed into the trash bags, she began to feel an increasing amount of regret. If any of her siblings had done something like this in her room, she'd have been relentless in exacting revenge. But to see it as the result of her own actions was humbling. It was enough to make her wonder if she really knew herself.

However, before she could venture any further with her self-contemplation, she was interrupted by her father. He had brought up a hammer, nails and a few wooden boards for her to use to cover up the hole that she had made in the wall. Lori accepted them and set aside her current project momentarily. Aside of hitting her finger once with the hammer, Lori had little trouble patching up the hole and then finishing with the rest of the mess.

From there Lori went outside to assist her father with the yard work. The sun slowly drifted down as Lori trimmed the bushes, picked up all of the trimmings and then pulled all of the weeds growing up against the house and the garage. She could have used the weed-whacker, but her father said 'no' to that idea. She needed to learn a lesson after all, and making a chore slightly more difficult and/or tedious was a good way to accomplish that. Lori understood her father's reasoning. But even if she hadn't, she would've gotten the idea easily enough.

After what felt like hours later, Lori finally finished her task and reentered the house with sore and dirty hands. She wasn't granted even a moment to rest though as her father had her wash her hands so she could assist him with dinner next. Compared to the yard work, it was fairly simple. Lori only had to follow the instructions that her father gave to her. It was eating dinner that proved to be the problem. For Lori it was horribly awkward, as well as uncomfortable. If not for the fact that Luna would occasionally glare at her, none of her siblings bothered to look in her direction. Although in Lily's defense, she was far too preoccupied playing with her mashed potatoes.

Once dinner was over, Lori was left to clear the table and then wash the dishes. She set the plates, cups and silverware into the sink and then went to get the serving tray that was still sitting on the dining room table. As she went to retrieve it, she passed Luna who was on her way into the kitchen. The rocker gave her another cold glare, but other than that she only continued on her way towards the fridge. Lori thought she heard Luna mutter something, but chose not to bother asking. Considering how Luna had been acting, Lori didn't want to deal with her at the moment.

"Hey Lori." Came a sweet and chipper voice.

Leni however was a welcome ray of sunshine. She was the only one of her sisters who didn't seem interested in sending her on a guilt trip. At least not since they had cleared up the misunderstanding between them just a short while ago. She had even taken the seat next to Lori at the dinner table, although like the others she had paid little attention to the other blonde.

"Hi Leni." Lori said back, forcing a small smile.

"Do you, like, want some help cleaning up?"

Lori froze for a moment, a genuine smile coming to her face. Sometimes she just couldn't believe how kind and forgiving Leni could be. It was enough to make Lori worry about the girl. But for the moment she was just grateful that there was at least one person who wasn't avoiding her, or looking down at her, or who was disappointed in her. Or...who may not ever see her as his big sister again.

Lori quickly banished that thought from her mind. Even if Lincoln didn't see her as his big sister, it didn't mean that she couldn't fix things. And moping about it wouldn't accomplish anything useful. She was going to fix this and she'd start by following through with her punishment.

"Thanks, but I really should do this by myself. But if you want to do something for me, please give Lincoln a big hug, okay?"

A short yet sarcastic laugh sounded from behind Lori, startling her a little. She turned to see Luna, holding a can of root beer in one hand and wearing a cold scowl on her face. She stepped up to Lori and glared into the other girl's eyes.

"If you think that our bro wants anything to do with you anymore, then you're as stupid as you are heartless. So just stay away from him, got it?"

Luna then stepped past Lori, clipping her elbow against the blonde harshly. The motion occurred so suddenly that Lori stumbled over a step. Luna smirked, satisfied with what she had done. As she continued walking, she muttered again. Only this time Lori heard her clearly. It was just one word.

"Bitch."

Lori started to feel angry again. Luna was trying to get under her skin. And it was working too. She was so very tempted to tell the short haired girl off. To raise her voice to her and let her have it. But she contained her anger. She wasn't going to let Luna have her way, but that didn't mean that she had to lose her temper.

However, before Lori could do anything, Leni stepped over to their younger sister. She grabbed Luna's arm and stopped her from going another step. And when Luna turned to face her, Leni gave her younger sister a stern look that could easily rival her mother's.

"I heard that Luna! Apologize now!"

"Why should I?" Luna asked, pulling her arm free.

"Good question." Leni said. "Maybe we should ask Mom and Dad."

Luna's eyes narrowed at her sister. "Fine. I'm sorry, okay?"

"That's better. But don't do it again. Lori is being punished and we need to leave it to Mom and Dad. So if you do it again, I'm just gonna go straight to them. Got it?"

"Yeah, whatever dude."

Luna left the two blondes behind and went up to her room. Once she was out of sight, Leni turned around and approached Lori again. Lori smiled at her and returned to her earlier task of retrieving the serving tray from the table.

"Thanks Leni, you didn't have to do that. I could have handled it."

"Like, I know. But she was being mean to you and I didn't like it. You're already being punished, so what's the point?"

"She's mad at me. Not that I can blame her. But you're right. It won't fix what I did today."

"Well, duh. That's up to you now." Leni said, giving her big sister a hug. "And I know you can do it. I believe in you, Lori."

"Thanks. Again. You're the best Leni." Lori said, returning the hug with tears in her eyes. "Now I have to get back to my chores. But make sure to give Lincoln that hug, okay?"

Leni nodded and agreed to Lori's request. She left her sister to do her chore and went upstairs to her bedroom. Inside she found Lincoln, wearing a pair of his pajamas and neatly folding a small stack of other clothes that had been downstairs in the dryer. He looked up at her briefly, offering a quiet 'Hi Leni' in greeting. Then he returned to folding his clothes.

"Hey Lincoln." Leni said. "How are you doing? Feeling any better?"

"I guess." he sighed. "It's good to know that some of my stuff escaped Lori's wrath. Is there any place I should put these? Or is anywhere fine?"

"Yeah, like, anywhere is okay."

"Okay, thanks."

Lincoln set his clothes down on top of the desk where Leni kept her sewing machine. A knock sounded at the doorway, followed by the sound of someone clearing their throat. Leni and Lincoln turned to the source and found Lisa at the doorway, little Lily with her.

"Greetings elder brother, elder sister. I hope that you'll pardon the intrusion. If it isn't an inconvenience, I'd like to speak with you Lincoln."

"Oh, sure. What's up?"

"I notice that you still seem somewhat disheartened. Which is more than understandable considering the events that transpired today. So I've brought Lily over to assist with alleviating your despondent disposition. After all, the affection on an infant can be quite uplifting."

"Huh?" Lincoln stated, tilting his head slightly.

"I brought Lily over to give you a hug so you'll feel better." Lisa elaborated. "And...I would like to contribute as well."

Lisa approached Lincoln along with Lily and the two youngest siblings embraced their big brother. Lincoln returned the hug, beginning to feel a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Then a sudden new pair of arms embraced him from behind.

"Count me in." Came the monotone voice of Lucy.

"Us too!" Came a new pair of voices.

The twins rushed into the room and squeezed into the growing group hug. Leni almost joined in, but found the scene too cute and couldn't resist the urge to take a photo. She was just able to get a great shot before the hug ended. Next she posted it immediately before returning her attention to her younger siblings. She pulled Lincoln into a hug, squeezing him tight.

"And here's one from your big sister, who loves you lots!" She said, refraining from telling him that the hug was on Lori's behalf.

"Thanks. You guys are the best. Did you plan that out?"

"Actually, I was just as surprised as you when the others joined us." Lisa said.

"I was on my way over to check on you." Lucy said. "And I wanted to make you feel better too."

"Same here!" Lola chimed in.

"I was actually on my way to the bathroom. I have to drop a deuce." Lana said, earning and elbow in the ribs from Lola. "Uh...I mean, I was worried about you too big brother!"

Lincoln smiled at his sisters. "Thanks again. I'm feeling better now. A lot better."

"Well then, I say let's continue to improve your mood." Lisa said, pulling out a deck of cards. "Is anyone here interested in having their keisters handed to them?"

"We'll see about that!" Lincoln said with a confident smirk. "I'll shuffle."

Lincoln took the cards from Lisa, taking a seat on the floor. His sisters joined him, Lily settling down in his lap and sucking her thumb. He shuffled and dealt the cards, initiating their game. And as the time passed, Lincoln found himself having so much fun that his earlier sorrows seemed to vanish altogether. The joy it gave him was short lived, but it made falling asleep that night much less of a burden than it would have been otherwise.

End of Chapter 5.