Echoes of the Past

Chapter 2: Hey, Loser!

His older sister Lori accompanied him to school when he entered it for the first time ever, a tradition that had begun partly because parents had little time to take their children to school themselves, partly because Lori had asked her parents to do it herself, which they had willingly agreed to whenever the new Loud was old enough for school.

Taking «little Linky» to the elementary school she herself had graduated from only the year before that, Lori gave him some advice on how to behave.

— First of all, — she said, — don't trust anyone! Did you understand? It's every man for himself here.

«Linky» nodded his head with a serious face, and Lori, kissing him on the forehead, said:

— I'll come and take you from school tonight, okay? Bye, Linky!

She left Lincoln head-to-head with the school as huge and vast as it seemed to him at the time. From now on, it was up to him to explore the place on his own, to find friends and enemies, perhaps even to fall in love.

As he crossed the threshold of his new school for the next three years, Lincoln never forgot Lori's words even for a single moment. He was alarmed at the sight of all the kids he would meet along the way. They played with each other and laughed and raced each other until an adult walking by would stop them, because running around the school was forbidden.

As luck would have it, his friend Clyde, whom he had first met two years earlier, was out sick that day, his first day of school, and Lincoln, who knew no one else in the school but Clyde, was finding it even harder to fit in, and he tensed even more when he thought about what Lori and the other sisters had told him about the school.

When one of the boys wanted to make friends with him, he ran away from him down the hallway and around the corner, as if terrified. It was a habit he had picked up even after he had outgrown his fear of the school and its inhabitants, and it often manifested itself when an awkward situation arose.

Lincoln took a breath and stepped out from around the corner. None of the children were visible in the corridor: by now the bell had rung and they had gone to their classes. Lincoln tried to find his classroom. He didn't know where to go and panic gripped him. What if one of the teachers found him, or perhaps the evil janitor that Lynn had told him so many scary stories about? No way!

The reason Lincoln was so prejudiced against the school was simple. It was that already at home his sisters had been preparing him for this moment, telling both each other and Lincoln their school stories and thus scaring their only little brother.

Of course, all of this had taken its toll on him, which was why he was now finding it especially difficult to fit in.

None of the sisters, unfortunately, would be able to help Lincoln find a class, as they had all either moved on to older grades or were too young to move up to the first one like him.

Finally, after about five minutes of wandering around the school, he was found by Mrs. Agnes Johnson, who took him to his classroom. Once there, she seated him at a desk next to a strange-looking boy with glasses about his age. He looked at Lincoln with interest and then asked:

— Hi. What's your name?

Lincoln felt a little uncomfortable after this question, but answered nonetheless:

— Lincoln, — he replied.

— Great! I'm Zachary, or just Zack! Are you into aliens?

— I read comic books about them.

— That's great. I'm...

The teacher overheard their conversation and asked them not to talk during class. However, right after the class was over, Lincoln and Zack, like the other kids, began getting to know each other better, sharing their interests, but especially discussing comic books about aliens. By the end of the day, Lincoln had also gotten to know the other two kids, Liam and Rusty, and all his fear left him completely.

Years later, Lincoln realized that the advice of Lori and his other sisters was probably only good for them (or maybe they were just trying to scare Lincoln for fun, as it was usually the case). Nevertheless, in every school there are two types of kids: those who cannot be trusted and those who can be relied upon at any time. It all depends on individual perception, on what you notice first and who you look for.

The flow of his thoughts was interrupted by the driver's voice, who informed him that the bus had reached the final stop. Finally, he thought. Lincoln got off the bus and slowly walked towards his house.

Suddenly, someone called out to him from behind:

— Hey, loser!