Chapter Text
Between her alarm clock's loud beeps and her mother's cheerful singing from the kitchen, it was a surprise to the newly 14-year-old Louise that she could manage to doze off a bit more with her pillow covering her entire head.
At least for a couple of minutes before her mom bursts into her room. Previously Tina's, since now she's too busy travelling the world as a journalist to be a normal Belcher. Traitor.
"Louissseeee, baby! Time for school!" Linda belt out in a singsong voice. She makes her way to Louise's bedside table, turning the awful sound of the alarm off. "Your first day of high school. Oh my god, I'm so excited for you!"
"That makes one of us," Louise mumbles into the pillow. However, Linda didn't hear her daughter's dismay over her enthusiasm, telling the young girl to come to have her super special breakfast for this 'special' day. Linda leaves her bedroom as hectic as she came without closing the door.
Louise removes the smothering pillow and stares blankly at the ceiling of her room. She's been dreading this all summer. High school. Smelly, gloomy, drab, depressing high school. Especially now that she can't hide from any of the boys, she shudders at the thought. For the last 60 or so days, she kept getting harassed by boys from her school for some ungodly reason.
"Girl, puberty gifted you mom's melons," Gene said with a slight tinge of jealousy during one afternoon of hiding. This week's hiding place was behind the old aquarium.
She zipped up her hoodie fully despite it being a hot summer day, red-faced. "Yeah, puberty cursed you with dad's body hair," she spat back, just to twist the knife in a little further.
It's gross what puberty does to them all.
She hops out of the comforting warmth of her bed before her mom could come back for a second round of singing. Shutting the door, she begins to get dressed in a pair of ripped jeans, a green hoodie and a cheap pair of knockoff Converse. Unfortunately, her pink bunny hat was forced into early retirement. Long story short: do NOT sneak into Mr. Fischoeder's mansion by the back. It's full of thorny rose bushes and killer geese. That might not have been her best idea yet. So she just wears her hair in two braids sans hat nowadays, and her faithful bunny ears lay in the comfort of her bedside table's drawer.
Leaving her bedroom, once she finished getting ready, she made her way to her usual seat at the kitchen's dining table. Her dad was already done with breakfast and now sipping his cup of coffee while watching the small TV's morning weather.
She looks down at the plate in front of her and snorts. "Dad, really? Kuchi Kopi shaped pancakes?" He even dyed the batter bright green. She purses her lips, failing to hide her smile while busying herself with bathing the pancakes in maple syrup.
Before the teenage girl could start eating, her mom comes back from waking Gene for the fifth time. Linda's face lights up, eyes beginning to water when she spots Louise in the room. She approaches her daughter with arms spread out for a hug.
"Oh my baby!" she sobs, grabbing Louise's head and smashing it against her boobs, wailing about how fast they're growing up.
"Lin, stop," Bob says unhelpfully, still distracted by the weather channel as Louise tries to detach herself from her mom's chest.
"Ugh, mom, please." Louise groans. Linda gives her a big wet kiss on her forehead, finally leaving her alone to sit on her own chair, her eyes still glistening.
"I don't know why you're so excited. It's just high school. I'd rather be homeschool by you guys at this point." She adds, stabbing her fork with force into kuchi's head to take a bite.
"Awww, why?" her mom asks, pouting at her daughter's lack of enthusiasm.
At that moment, Gene pops into the kitchen, yawning loudly. "That's because Darryl, Peter Pescadero, Andy or Ollie, can't remember which and almost half the boys on the football team have been losing it for Louise all summer," he declares as he sits down, grabbing a forkful of eggs and bacon. "They are Louise crazy!"
Her mom gasps dramatically, hands covering her mouth in surprise; it even gets her dad's attention and placing the newspaper he was reading folded on the table.
"Gene!" Louise hiss, kicking his shin hard under the table, her face flushed with embarrassment. Her brother yelps, the food on his fork went flying to the floor.
"Already popular! And haven't even started your first day! I knew my babies were beautiful," her mom yells. Louise cringes at another round of her squealing. Linda was about to leap out of her chair till Louise frantically waves her arms.
"Please, no, I don't want to talk about it," she begs.
Bob gives his wife a pointed look, and she settles back down. Louise knew that she'd respect her request. For now.
"Wait, one of the Pesto twins has a crush on you?" Bob quip.
A loud thunk of Louise's forehead hitting the table and narrowly missing the plate of pancakes was her answer.
After that debacle, Louise tried to quickly leave the apartment, dragging Gene out before he could spill more information. She was almost glad for school when she escaped her mother's clutches for the third time after breakfast.
Almost.
As soon as they turn the corner from their street, she hears someone call out to her. She twists around to see one of the jocks, John or Mike or whatever, waving as he tries to cross the street toward the Belcher teens from across the block. She quickens her pace and curses under her breath.
"Man, those football guys do not give up. You'd think he got the hint when you poured mustard down his back at the Wonder Wharf last week," Gene says between pants, struggling to keep up with his little sister.
"I know!" She yells, pulling her braids in frustration. "Stall him. I'm gonna go see-"
"Your actual boyfriend, I know-- ow!" Gene cries, clutching his stomach after Louise poked it hard.
"Shut your mouth!" She yells, breaking out in a full sprint.
She manages to lose the idiot fairly quickly. No thanks to Gene, who started trying to convince the guy that he was Louise and not the girl who's running away from them. She reaches Rudy's condo complex a couple of blocks later. In front of the main door, she obnoxiously rings his apartment's buzzer multiple times till it suddenly stops.
"Louise, Rudy is coming." Mr. Stieblizt's exasperated voice says fuzzily through the intercom. A few minutes later, Rudy exits the building with an oversized and overstuffed backpack. She is assuming it's full of medicine and his cymbals.
"Hi, Louise!" Rudy beams brightly at her.
"Hey, Rudster. Are you ready for our new personal nightmare?" She asks.
"I'm ready," he says too seriously, chest puffed up.
Louise rolls her eyes, punching him lightly on his shoulder. This is the first time she has seen him since the start of summer vacation. Both of Rudy's parents have a weird competition of outdoing the other, which meant that Rudy was out of town for the entire time. Three months have changed him, she notes. He got a growth spurt during the time. He's gained more than two inches on Louise. He also let his usual buzzcut grow out, the slight shag hinting that his red hair has waves. She wonders if it's as soft as it looks.
She waves away the thought and the itch to ruffle his hair. They start to walk away from Rudy's apartment building. "How was summer?" She asks after a beat of silence. She almost regrets mentioning it immediately as Rudy's usual cheerful grin fell a bit.
The boy shrugs. "Boring and slightly embarrassing," he remarks, focusing forward. She waits for him to elaborate, but he stays silent. A part of her wonders if she should push him but ultimately decided against it. She'll get it out of him sooner or later. "What about you? How was yours?" Rudy eventually asks.
She didn't want to mention anything about those puberty-ridden boys to anyone, especially to Rudy. She mimics his shrug. "Boring and slightly embarrassing," she echos back, shooting him a knowing smirk.
It earns the Belcher girl back his smile, which definitely didn't give her a weirdly empty twist in her gut.
Not too long after, they arrive at the school's main entrance. Most students are still outside, soaking up the last warmth of the lingering summer heat before a day full of repetitive introduction to their classes.
As they enter the school grounds threshold, Louise glances around to search for her brother, Gene but instead makes eye contact with one of the boys in the group of jocks that have been bugging her this summer. Louise whips her head quickly away, almost giving herself whiplash.
Through her flurry, she hadn't paid attention to her surroundings, causing her to trip on the steps on the school's front doors. Instinctively, she grabs hold of Rudy's arm to keep herself from falling flat on her face.
"Uh, Louise, you okay?" He asks, his eyebrows shot up in bewilderment. She doesn't answer; instead, she braces herself, clutching the red-haired boy's arm tightly and waits for the flock of 'admirers'. But no one came around. When she looked up to see them, they were still standing around, staring at her but not moving. She frowns a little, confused however relieved once she realizes that they weren't coming over.
"Louise?" Rudy repeats, his cheeks rosy as he leers at her arms wrapped around his bicep.
She quickly lets go of him. "Oh, uh, sorry," she mumbles out, deliberately watching her feet climb up the steps below them.
From the corner of her eyes, she sees Rudy watching at her oddly, with a mixture of concern and confusion and something else she couldn't place. He opens his mouth to ask once more, but the first warning bell rings. Louise let out a small sigh of relief. Literally saved by the bell.
The sea of students begins trickling into the school and sweeps Rudy and Louise along up. Loud chatter from the other kids prevents them from talking as they follow the herd down the main hallway. They reach a row of double doors, entering what seems to be the school's auditorium.
"Wow, this school is humungous," Rudy whispers when entering the room. Louise agrees silently. The auditorium has a second floor consisting of a large balcony seating area and a stage more professional than the community's theatre. It was starting to dawn on her that high school makes her old middle school look like a daycare.
"Do you see anywhere we can sit?" Rudy asks. They start scanning the large room till Louise spots two empty seats in the front row. She could make out a figure sitting by them, absorbed with something. As they near them, Louise quickly recognizes the figure. It was Jessica, by herself and reading something on her cellphone.
"Jess, long time, no see," Louise says as they approach closer. She has must've last seen her in detention on the last day of school at Wagstaff.
Jessica looks up from her cell as the duo settles on the empty seats, Louise sitting beside her. "Oh hey, Louise," she says, then leaning over to eye Rudy judgingly. "Hey."
"Hello, Jessica!" He greets back with enthusiasm, oblivious to the girl's scrutiny.
Jess nods briefly, turning her focus back to Louise. "So, how was your summer?" she asks with a suspicious intent in her tone.
"Uneventful," Louise says curtly, trying to end the topic as quickly as possible. She stares fixedly at the empty stage.
The other teen girl snorts loudly. "That's not what Gene told me," Jessica says matter-of-factly.
Louise ignores the questioning gaze that Rudy was shooting at her. Panicking, she starts to form a good enough lie. "Ugh, yeah, you know Gene and his stories. We've been so bored this summer," she says with a sharp and high-pitched laugh and an eye roll. She feels like an ass for throwing her brother under the bus. She makes a mental note to buy him lunch. Or a lot of oysters.
Jessica sees right through her deception. She returns a look to Louise that reads, 'This is not over.' The ginger girl scoffs. "Yeah, that's true," she says before looking back at her phone.
'Why does everyone so freaking interested in this topic,' she thinks bitterly, crossing her arms tightly together.
Once the rest of the students fill the auditorium, the doors close, and chatter slowly dies down. A man walks into the stage from the left side. He's a short, burly man with a round body and face that vaguely resembles a wild boar. He steps up to the mic in the center, adjusting the stand to his height. He clears his throat and stares out at the audience. The stern look in his pinched face manages to silence the remaining kids who were still chatting.
The entire room was practically silent. All but two students by the far right side of the theatre, cackling and laughing. The man on stage calmly removes the microphone from its stand. He leaves the stage to walk towards the laughing students who are not laughing anymore.
Although he's shorter than most of the students, it doesn't change that he can stand like he's looking down at them. Even the teachers who were sitting by the entrances are squirming uncomfortably. He looms over the boys, now cowering and avoiding the older man's cold gaze.
"Good morning, students of Seymour's Bay High School, new and returning to the start of a new year. For our new students, I am Principal Hamish Crowley." He turns to address the audience. "You will all find out whether you will make it here very soon." He smiles at the kids standing in front of him menacingly. "Make my job hard, lower our beautiful school's score or make me look bad in any way; you'll find it extremely difficult to leave this place."
Before she could even think, Louise snorts a bit too loudly for the quiet room. Crowley whips his head in her exact direction like he was the Terminator himself. She slouches lower into her seat, hoping he wasn't staring right at her.
Thankful, he turns away to gesture to one of the teachers—a skinny man looking just as terrified as the students.
Louise could hear principal Crowley despite the mic hanging by his hips. "Your students' id numbers," she hears the man asking. The boys who caused the 'scene' mutters their numbers. Crowley shifts his attention to the teacher. "See that they're dealt with in the usual manner."
The principal brings back the mic in front of his mouth. "Now, the rest of you, let this be a warning. Go find your homerooms posted by the administrative offices." As soon as he dismisses the students, he leaves the auditorium with the 'disruptive' sophomores and the wimpy teacher.
"Woah," Rudy wheezes out, taking out his inhaler from his pockets for a puff.
"Jeez, what a piece of work," Louise says as the trio leaves the theatre, continuing to follow their fellow freshmen.
"Heard from some of the older kids that he makes it his goal to have each freshman cry before the school year is over," Jessica mentions, earning another large toke of the inhaler for Rudy.
"Well, I'm staying far away from that freak," the other teen girl mumbles.
"Yeah, right."
"Sure thing, Louise."
Both Rudy and Jessica say without hesitation. Louise flips them off in response.
They reach a large bulletin board where all the new students' homeroom class lists are posted. Jessica leaves their little pack and manages to push her way through the mob surrounding the board.
She pops back out a few moments later and makes her way back to Louise and Rudy. "See you at lunch, Louise," she pointedly says to the other girl before heading in the direction of her homeroom. Louise holds back a shudder. Jessica was too smart for her own good and could read her like a damn book.
The rest of the kids begin to thin out around the board, letting Louise check the lists posted till she sees her name typed in classroom 106. Her eyes continue to scan down her classmates' names till she found the one she was looking for. Rudolph Stieblitz.
"Hey! We're in the same class!" Rudy states, beaming.
She smiles back, swinging her arm around his shoulder. "Let's go see the sad sap who got stuck with us," she says as she guides them in the direction of their classroom.
The boy laughs. "Louise, homeroom is that way," he points in the opposite direction.
"Oh. Right."
The sad sap turns out to be the same teacher the principal called for, who seems to be the principal's main lackey. He introduces himself as Stewart Dale, their history teacher for the year. Louise notes that, up close, he looks as cowardly as he walks. Blond hair slick back with hair gel. At least Louise hopes it is. Everything about him is the opposite of the principal, slim and long limbs, with a long face and nose with boxy, black glasses on top.
"I'm going to do attendance. Okay, Kaylee Anderson?" He starts calling out names. Till he reaches her name, he pauses.
"Louise…" the teacher squints at the name. "Bleacher?"
"It's Belcher," she says aloud, ting of rose on her cheeks when the class snickers.
The period went by quickly; the teacher passes around their schedules and locker numbers, and other papers while he drones on about the term. When the bell rings, Louise's the first to leave but waits outside the room for Rudy while he hurriedly scribbles down whatever the teacher wrote on the board.
Louise grabs his pile of papers out of his hands when he eventually comes out, flipping through them in search of his schedule and locker information. "Okay, Rudes, we should find your locker first since you have trouble opening it without my help. And then we-"
"Louise, wait," he cuts her, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "I have to sign up for band. I promised my mom."
"Oh," is all she utters, shoving his stuff back into his arms a tad more harshly than she meant to do. She tries to push away a twist of disappointment in her chest.
Rudy gives her an apologetic smile. "See you at lunch?" he asks, his eyes hopeful. As if she would say no.
"Yeah, sure. See you," the Belcher teen says flippantly. She watches him till he turns the corner and disappears from her sight.
"You're pouting," Her large brother says, suddenly appearing beside her.
"I am not," she argues back, pouting.
Gene doesn't look convinced.
"Ugh, whatever," she grumbles, looking down at her paper. "Wanna help me find my locker?"
The Belcher siblings soon started their journey of finding Louise's new locker. Louise leads them around a couple of corners before finally stopping at a long row of lockers lined up against the wall, facing large floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the school's back courtyard.
"Hey, why didn't you guys ever mentioned the psycho principal? A little warning would've been nice," she says, her eyes stay fixated on the lockers.
"Tina… Didn't really notice. She was one of the 'good' ones," Gene says. "And I, on the other hand, thought it would be more dramatic! 14-year-old Louise, freshman, navigating her way through her high school. Boy problems, drama! Perhaps love?" Louise grimaces. "And a crazy principal to boot!" he adds, flopping his body weight over Louise.
She shoves him away from her personal space. "You are such a freaking theatre kid," she groans loudly. They reach the numbered locker that is now hers. She fiddles with the lock, often checking the paper with the combination.
"So uh, where was Rudy heading to?" Gene asks, looking past Louise's head.
She lowers her head closer to the tiny numbers of the lock. "Oh, he went to sign up for the band. I hope he does well. Poor guy hates the spotlight. I have no idea why his mom has a mile-long stick up her ass. He doesn't even like playing the cymbals anymore!" she rambles, only noticing that Gene wasn't paying attention when she glances up towards him. Straightening, she turns to follow his gaze right above her, but nothing interesting—just a few kids at the end of the hall.
"Hello? You there?" Louise asks, waving a hand in his face.
"Hm, huh, yeah. Actually, I gotta run. Courtney is probably looking for me," Gene says quickly, booking it before his sister could put one word out.
"Jeez, okay!" She shouts at his retreating form. "I'll just look for my next class. By myself," she mutters.
She got lost and was 15 minutes late for her class. Luckily, she wasn't the only tardy student, and the teacher let them in. The period went slower without Rudy to keep her entertained with the facial expressions when he focused too much on the lectures. Or when she tries to make him snort during the lesson. Once the class was dismissed for the lunch break, Louise shot up from her desk, the screech of her chair dragging along the floor startling some students around. She was unaware of her brashness as she ran out of the classroom.
She practically jogs her way to the cafeteria, and this time, she knows where she's going. Soon after, she nears the double doors to the lunchroom, watching kids overflowing the entrances. She catches Gene waving her down by the doors with Jessica by his side.
"You told them I lied!" Gene cries as soon as she reaches them.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll buy you some dollar oysters after school," she says.
"It's actually dollar spicy Thai peanut noodles week!" His eyes lit up with the promise of delicious after-school snacks. The betrayal's easily forgotten.
"Anyway, cut to the chase, Louise," Jess says while they line up for lunch. "Did I really miss that much while I was at my grandma's? What happened?" However, her questioning falls on deaf ears. Louise's attention was on the large eating area, scanning for that familiar round ginger head in the sea of kids.
Gene rolls his eyes, gesturing at Louise in an 'i-told-you-so' way to Jess. The ginger girl sighs, snapping her fingers in front of Louise's face.
"Huh, what?" Louise replies, blinking dumbly. The line moves forward enough for them to grab trays.
"Quit trying to avoid the topic!"
"Which is?"
"Summer. Yours specifically. What Gene told me…." Jessica trails off, waiting for Louise to elaborate.
Louise reddens. "There's nothing to talk about. You heard pretty much everything from this gossip," she glares at the guilty party, Gene, who's ignoring her for the lunch lady.
"Yeah," Jess agrees. "But I'm still curious about something," she adds.
Louise hums noncommittal, grabbing a plate from the lunch lady.
"About your friend, Rudy. Does he know-"
"No, I don't want him to know," the youngest Belcher interrupts. Avoiding her friend's gaze, she turns her back to Jess. "I'm way too embarrassed by… all of this." She gestures wildly at the air.
"And why do you care about being embarrassed in front of Rudy," Jessica says, demanding rather than a question. She moves in front of Louise, raising an eyebrow at Louise.
"Yeah, this is Rudy we're talking about," Gene chimes.
Louise dubiously eyes her. "I don't know," she replies, moving to pay for her food at the till. And it's true. She couldn't give Jessica a straight answer. Why even care if Rudy knows this embarrassing thing? He's the same kid who dressed up as Paul Rudd from I Love You Man for Halloween all those years ago.
Gene and Jessica share a look between each other, going unnoticed by Louise. After they all pay for their food and leave the line, Louise cranes her neck, searching for Rudy again.
"Well, that's my cue to leave," Jessica says to the siblings, holding a raisin bran muffin, the only thing she bought. The Belchers say their goodbye; Jessica nudges Gene with her elbow while she passes him by as she walks away.
"So, Louise," Gene begins." Jessica and I were talking, and we think-"
"Yeah, I actually wanna know why you're talking to my friend," she says in a low warning tone, eyeing her brother suspiciously before going back to her search for her boy. Her eyes fall onto her target, who's just entered the cafeteria. "Rudy!" She yells over the crowded room, waving her arms. Rudy manages to hear her calling, throwing them finger guns as he approaches the siblings.
"Those guys think that Rudy's your boyfriend!" Gene exclaims, the last words loud enough for a few students to glance at them curiously.
She shushes him, checking up on Rudy, who's still too far to hear them. "Jeez, quit that crap," she whispers through her teeth.
"Gene! How are you, buddy?" The ginger teen says once he's within earshot of the Belcher teens.
"Yeah, yeah, Gene's fine," Louise answers for him. "Show me your schedule. See if we have any more classes together." He barely has time to give her his paper when she snatches it from his hands within seconds. Reading through them, they do indeed have more classes with each other. They even share study hall together, much to Louise's relief.
The three teens headed towards unoccupied seats and sat at a table by the room's far corner. Settling down, Rudy swings his oversized backpack to his side.
Once satisfied with their contents, she almost fails to notice his lack of lunch tray and food, handing back his papers. "Hey, where's your lunch?" she asks.
"I brought some from home," he answers, then laughing at Louise's disgusted face. "Don't worry. I made my own lunch." He rummages through his pack, burying his entire head in it.
"Not your boyfriend, huh?" Gene says under his breath. She pinches him in retaliation.
Rudy pops back deep from within his backpack with a little 'aha!' and pulls out a Tupperware of hummus and sliced veggies, a litre of sugary pop and a large bag of chips.
"Nutritious," Louise judges; however, she makes her way to steal a chip and some hummus. The two younger teens start talking excitedly about the latest episode of Burobo. They hardly pay attention to their surroundings till Darryl calls out to Louise for the fourth time.
Louise glares up at the kid. "Scram," both she and Rudy say in unison before focusing on Rudy's hummus and story again. Gene, who watched the entire thing go down, doesn't know whether he should continue texting live updates to Tina or just scream. Probably the latter.