It was a warm, sunny weekend in Royal Woods, with clear skies and warm temperatures having been predicted for the next week. Thankfully, with a sister as fashionably intelligent as Leni, Lincoln didn't have to worry about choosing clothes to combat the heat. Just the day before, she had returned from Reininger's with his current attire- a thin white t-shirt under an open orange short sleeve shirt, with his usual blue jeans and white sneakers. Looking at his reflection in the mirror, he had to admit that Leni had made a good choice. 'This actually looks quite good on me,' he thought. 'Breathes well, too. I should thank her for picking it out for me.'

He stepped out of his room and onto the landing, where he was surprised that he couldn't hear his sisters getting up to their usual chaos, but he simply shrugged it off as being the heat. He walked across to the far end, reaching his eldest sisters' bedroom and looking in, only to see that it was empty.

"They're outside."

Lincoln leapt up and screamed, turning around to see that Lucy was stood behind him, her typically stoic grin on her face as usual. "Geez, Lucy! It's already hot enough outside to make someone faint, I don't need you doing it as well!" He complained.

"Sigh. My bad."

He shook his head to calm himself down after the initial shock. "It's… fine. What did you mean by 'they're outside'?"

"All our sisters are outside. There's nothing on TV, and they don't have any plans."

"I see. Guess I'll go join them. You coming?"

"Sure."

They began to walk towards the stairs, until Lincoln put a hand on her shoulder. "No offence, but isn't your usual dress gonna be too… warm for this weather?"

She shrugged. "I prefer sticking to the shadows anyway."

He couldn't help but chuckle at her response, before ruffling her hair and saying, "never change, spooky." The two siblings then made their way downstairs, saying hello to their father as they passed him in the kitchen before heading out the back door and into the back yard, where the rest of their sisters were already hanging out- Luna was strumming on her guitar, Lynn was playing badminton with Lori, Lana and Lola were chasing each other, Luan was entertaining Lily with her jokes, and Leni was chatting with Lisa (though, it was more like the former was talking, and the latter was doing her best not to discourage her 'inane chattering'). As the last two Louds approached, Leni looked over and smiled.

"Hey, Linky!" She greeted, bounding over. "You're wearing the outfit I got you! It looks, like, totes great on you."

"Yeah, I have to agree, I like how it looks on me," he replied. "Thanks for getting these for me."

"No problem!"

"SCORE!" Lynn yelled, sending the shuttlecock over the net and down to the ground. "AND THAT'S GAME! LYNNER, LYNNER, CHICKEN DINNER!"

Lori merely sighed and rolled her eyes as her younger sister did her victory dance. "Way to be subtle about it," she muttered, putting the racket against her shoulder, before adopting a smile and walking over to her brother. "So, Lincoln. You got any plans for today?"

He shook his head. "Nope. Clyde and his dad's went to visit his grandma, Liam's helping his parents on the farm, Zach and his parents went on holiday, Stella's looking after her grandma, and Rusty… actually, I'm not sure I want to know what he's doing. Still, I've got nothing planned."

"Well, maybe it might be a good idea to make a plan with… someone else."

As he heard her say this, he realised that the rest of his sisters had stopped what they were doing and were now looking at him, which made him suspicious. "… okay, what's going on?"

"Nothing's going on, big brother!" Lana replied, though her grin made him think otherwise.

"Look, Lincoln," Lori spoke up, "just sit down with us a sec." Though cautious, he obliged, sitting down on the grass as his sisters formed a sort of circle. "We haven't done anything, though I'm sure you probably think that we have."

"Yeah, well, you act like you're up to something," he pointed out. "What's really going on? Who did you mean by 'someone else'?"

"Lincoln, you are of slightly above average intelligence," Lisa stated, adjusting her glasses. "Given the right amount of thought, I'm sure you could ascertain whom we are referring to."

Lincoln, though usually confused by his second youngest sister's words, found himself understanding what she said this time, so he began to think about who they could be referring to. He'd already told them that his usual friends were otherwise occupied, and his sisters were all there, so there was no doubt that they weren't talking about them. Going through the potential candidates in his mind, one person kept coming up, and it made his cheeks heat up. "You don't mean… Jordan… do you?" When they simply smiled excitedly at him, he frowned. "Girls, I've told you that we aren't together, right?"

"But you want to be, don't you?" Luan argued, no jokes made.

"It's no secret that you like her, Linky," Lola pointed out.

"Well… I-I mean…" His sisters just stared at him expectantly, which caused him to sigh. "There's no point me saying otherwise. Even if it weren't true, you'd say it was anyway."

A few of the girls laughed at the joke, before Luna decided to speak up. "Bro, it's not exactly surprising. Any time I saw you hanging around her or talking about her, you seemed… well, happier."

"We've all seen it, Stinkoln," Lynn added. "You're not exactly great at hiding it."

"Nevertheless," Lori spoke up before Lynn could say anything else, "we know how you feel about her, and…"

"We think you should go for it!" Leni blurted out, her grin stretching across her whole face. After a couple of seconds of silence, she and all the others looked at their brother and saw that, while he was smiling… it was sort of a sad smile, his eyes looking down at the grass by his feet. "Linky?"

"… I appreciate the thought, girls, but… I don't think I can do that," he replied, causing them to give small gasps.

"Why not?" Lucy asked. "Don't you want to?"

"It's not that, Lucy. I just… I don't think she sees me like that. If I were to go for it, go up to her and say, 'hey, Jordan? I like you. I really like you, and I was wondering if you'd like to maybe… be my girlfriend', or something like that… I don't want to even think about what would happen if she says she doesn't feel the same way." His breathing was growing a little shaky. "I like having her as a friend, and I don't want to ruin that all because I got my hopes up for nothing, you know?"

His sisters could tell that this was coming from his heart, and they were upset to hear him speak like this. Not wanting to hear him talk like this, Leni was the first to go over and hug him, followed by Lori and Luna, and then the rest just seemed to pile on afterwards. "Linky…"

"Oh, hi there!" They heard their father speak, his voice seemingly coming from the front door. "Are you looking for Lincoln? He's round the back with his sisters."

"Thank you," a familiar voice responded, making the girls let go of their brother and usher him to his feet. As the figure that the voice belonged to appeared, Lincoln's jaw dropped- the figure, none other than Girl Jordan, was walking towards them, wearing a yellow sundress with a blue flower pattern that reached down to her knees. As she walked up to the group, Lincoln felt the blood rush to his cheeks at the sight of her. "Hey, Lincoln," she greeted, then stopped. "Are you okay? You're… you've got tears in your eyes."

Snapping out of his stupor, Lincoln brought a finger to her eye, and realised there was in fact a tear there, so he used his fist to rub the tears away. "Oh, uh… the wind was… in my face," he lied, putting on a smile. "What brings you here?"

"Well, I… what I mean is I…" She could see that the girls behind the boy were giving each other knowing glances, which made her blush. "I, uh… was wondering if you… wanted to hang out with me today? I was thinking it might be a nice day to go to the zoo."

Behind the boy, Lana gasped, but Lola covered her mouth before she could say anything. "Don't."

While Lana pouted a little, she stayed quiet as Jordan spoke again. "So, Yeah. I thought it might be nice if… we went together. Would you like to?"

Lincoln found himself unable to speak for a few seconds, just looking at the girl he liked without any clue of how to answer her. Fortunately, Lori was there to give him the push he needed.

"What a coincidence!" She spoke up, catching her brother by surprise. "We were thinking of heading there ourselves!"

"We were?" Lincoln asked, turning his head and keeping his voice down so Jordan wouldn't here.

"Tell you what!" The eldest Loud sister declared, ignoring her brother's confusion. "We can go together, then you two can go around by yourselves and we can meet up later for lunch!"

Her sisters quickly caught on, and began to agree with the idea. "Oh! Sure, that sounds great!"

"Okay! We'll be back in two minutes top, we just need to grab some of our stuff," Lori explained. "Come on, you can wait inside." As she wrapped her arm around Lincoln's shoulder and led him towards the kitchen door, she whispered to him, "you sure she doesn't feel the same?"

Blushing, he whispered back, "Lori…"

"Trust me, Lincoln. It's better if you give it a go now than wait too long and miss your chance." Knowing there was no arguing with his sister, he simply followed along.

After the Louds had grabbed their wallets and bags, they piled into Vanzilla, with Lincoln ensuring that their guest got the 'sweet spot', and they took off in the direction of the Royal Woods Zoo. The sign above the ticket booths was dark green, with red lettering, and had a picture of a smiling monkey waving on the top. Fortunately, the queues were short, so after parking Vanzilla and getting a parking pass, they got straight in line and didn't wait around long before they reached the booth, where Lori paid for all twelve of them despite Jordan's protests. Making their way inside, they saw that there were a good few people walking around, ranging from couples to families, but it wasn't packed.

"Alright, you know the rules!" Lori said to her sisters. "I want you to behave yourselves, and if I hear of any of you causing trouble, then I will not hesitate in calling mom and dad. Are we clear?"

"Yes, Lori," they pretty much droned in response.

"Good. Anyone younger than Lincoln, make sure you have one of the older sisters with you at all times, and meet at the food court at half twelve." They nodded, before beginning to disperse, with Lisa and Lily sticking with Luan, Lola and Lana going with Leni and Lynn, and Lucy walking with Luna. While they began to go their own way, Lori turned to the two eleven year old kids. "You two have fun, okay?"

"Thanks, Lori," they both replied, before Lincoln felt Lori wrap her arms around him, her head next to his ear on the opposite side of the other girl.

"Good luck."

His cheeks heated up a little, but he smiled and said "thanks" back, before she let go and went to catch up with Leni and Lola, leaving the two of them alone. "So, uh… where do you want to go first?"

"Well, I saw a sign saying there's a penguin show in about ten minutes, so we could head there first."

"Okay. Why don't we find a map and see how to get there, and we can decide after the penguin show where to go next?"

"You really are the man with the plan, aren't you?" She giggled when his cheeks heated up and he gave a little goofy smile. "Come on. I think I see someone handing out maps." She took a hold of his hand, then blushed when she realised what she was doing and let go. "S-Sorry."

Though he too was blushing, he took her hand again and said, "don't worry about it." They then walked over to a blonde man in a green zookeeper uniform with a green cap on his head, who smiled as they approached. "Excuse me, sir. Could we get a map of the zoo, please?"

"Sure thing, kids!" He then took two maps from his stand and handed them to the kids. "Here you go. There's a couple of coupons that will give you discounts for some of the shops, shows and restaurants, and a list of all the show times today."

"Thank you so much!" Jordan told the man.

"My pleasure, kids! Have a good time today!"

"We will!" They told him as they walked away, waving to him as he waved back. They made their way towards the Penguin centre, a large building which kind of looked like a giant iceberg on the outside, and when they stepped inside, they noticed how the corridor they walked down led to a glass-windowed viewing area, which encased the penguin habitat, and on the far side was an open air viewing area, which they presumed was where they would watch the show from. After walking further down the corridor, they saw a woman in a black polo and shorts, plus black slip on shoes and a black cap that kind of looked like a penguin head.

"Hey, kiddos!" She greeted. "You here for the penguin show?"

"Yes, please," Jordan replied. "Are these coupons okay?"

She and Lincoln held out their maps to the employee, who checked the coupons before taking a marker pen to cross them out. "Okay, with those coupons, two kids tickets will cost you ten bucks." Lincoln pulled out his wallet and took a ten dollar bill from it, then handed it to the woman, who exchanged it for two tickets. "You're in luck! Since it's the first showing today, you got the last front row seats! We hope you enjoy!"

"Thank you!" They replied, then walked off in the direction of the seats.

"Lincoln, you know you didn't have to pay for me, right?" Jordan asked, to which he nodded.

"I know, but I wanted to," he replied, making her blush and smile. After about twenty seconds of walking, they reached the viewing area for the show, where a few families were already sat waiting. "Do you want the aisle seat?"

"Yes please." He moved around her to take the other seat, with her sitting down after, their knees brushing together causing them both to blush. "Sorry."

"It's okay. Um, Jordan?" She tilted her head out of curiosity. "I wanted to say this earlier, but it wasn't a great time, but…"

"… yes?"

"W-well, what I want to say is… y-you look really pretty in that sundress."

Her cheeks turned crimson, her heart a flutter at the compliment. "You… y-you think so?" He shyly nodded, making her smile even more. "Thank you, Lincoln. I… I think you look handsome in that outfit."

His cheeks were practically burning up, in spite of the cool air emanating from the penguin habitat. "Th-thanks."

Fortunately for the poor boy, at that moment, the woman who gave them the tickets could be heard speaking over a sound system. "Attention, everyone! The penguin show will begin in one minute! If you haven't already, please take your seat! During the show, please do not attempt to feed the penguins or leave your seat to join them."

"Who would try and join them?" Lincoln whispered to his friend. "That water would be freezing!"

She stifled a giggle. "I know what you mean, but I can kind of understand someone trying to pet one- penguins are so cute!"

He gave a chuckle in return, saying, "I guess you're right there."

When they looked back to the enclosure, they saw a man in the same uniform as the woman who gave them the tickets appear through a door, microphone in hand. "Hey, everyone!" He announced, getting the audience's attention. "Are you excited to see the penguins?"

"YEAH!"

The zoo worker gave a small chuckle. "Alright! Well, let me quickly introduce myself. I'm Jake, and I've been working her for about seven years now. I've gotten to hang out and look after the little guys, and let me tell you, they can be a handful, but with how cute they are, you'd have to be heartless to get mad at the little guys. We actually have four types of penguin here at the zoo, and we're gonna introduce them to you one by one. First up, I'm gonna introduce you guys to Peppy!" He turned to a door to his left, where he could see his female coworker come out, gently encouraging a small penguin with yellow feathery eyebrows, the crowd cooing at the sight. "Peppy here is a Rockhopper penguin, which is why he has yellow eyebrows. Say hi to Peppy, everyone!"

While he didn't, Lincoln turned and saw that Jordan joined the crowd in saying "hi" to Peppy, which only made him smile more.

"Rockhoppers in the wild are known for diving off of cliffs when they go fishing, and can jump extremely high. Observe." He took a fish out of a nearby bucket and walked over to Peppy and the coworker. He then held it at arm's length over the penguin, who looked up then jumped nearly five feet to grab it in its beak, making the crowd gasp in amazement and applaud. "That's pretty cool, right, guys?"

After the others all replied, his coworker spoke into her own microphone. "Of course, Peppy here isn't the only Rockhopper we have here! You guys want to meet some more?"

After the crowd said yes once again, the show continued for about twenty minutes in total. The two zoo workers introduced the audience to the rest of the Rockhoppers, who showed their diving abilities, as well as the Macaroni penguins, the King penguins, and the Gentoo penguins, who Jake explained were a threatened species, and that it was important to keep the species conserved. Throughout the show, the audience watched on as the penguins swam, leapt, waddled and were fed by the two workers, laughing any time they got splashed by the feathery friends and cheering at the tricks they were able to perform. While Lincoln was among the audience when they did this, and couldn't help but find the creatures adorable, he was more enamoured by how much Jordan was enjoying the showing, her face positively glowing with excitement. There would be the occasional moment when she would catch him, so he would quickly avert his gaze to the penguins, but his reddish cheeks gave him away instantly, making her giggle each time.

Eventually, though, the show had to end, and after the workers said goodbye, and the audience said goodbye to them and the penguins, Jordan and Lincoln joined the other spectators in making their way toward the exit, when Lincoln spotted a small stall next to a gift shop, which appeared to have a carnival game of sorts. "Hey, Jordan?" He asked, getting her attention. "You want to check that out?" Looking where he was looking, she nodded to him, and the two kids made their way over to the stall, where they saw a man standing in front of a simple stacked can game. "How much for a go, sir?"

"It's a buck for a throw, or two bucks for three," he explained to the kid, then placed three balls down on the table after Lincoln put two dollars down for him. "Best of luck, kid."

"Thank you." Lincoln took the first ball, and aimed his sights on the first of the three stacks. Reaching his arm back, he threw the ball and hit the base of the stack, causing all six cans to fall, which made him pump his fist. "Yes! That's one!" He took the second ball and threw it in the same manner at the stack of cans, receiving the same result as before. "Get in! Okay, one stack left."

Picking up the ball, he felt a bit cocky, juggling the ball in one hand for a moment, then throwing it again. This time, however, he hit the bottom right can, which only caused three cans to fall. "Unlucky on that last one, kid," the vendor told him. "Still, two stacks means you can grab something from the middle shelf."

"I thought so." Jordan looked at the boy, confused about why he sounded disappointed. "Sorry, Jordan. I was gonna try and win you that penguin from the top shelf."

She gasped, her hands cupping over her heart at his sentiment. "Oh, Lincoln. You didn't have to do that."

"I know, but… I wanted to. Still, I hope you aren't upset that I couldn't quite manage that for you."

She gave a small laugh and said, "Lincoln, you tried to win me something. That means more to me than you think."

"Really?" She nodded, which made him smile again. "Okay. Well, what would you like?"

"Hey, hang on there, kid!" The vendor interrupted, picking up a ball from the counter. "You still have one throw left!"

"I do? But, I thought-" Lincoln stopped when the vendor put the ball back down and gave him a wink, which allowed Lincoln to get the message. "Oh. Thank you, sir."

"Best of luck, kid."

Lincoln took the ball and looked at the cans the vendor had stacked back up, his heart racing slightly. 'Okay, Lincoln,' he told himself. 'This is it- no more second chances.'

"Lincoln," he heard Jordan say to him, catching his attention. "You can do this."

The confidence in her eyes and her voice instilled itself in him, making him feel prepared. He gave a nod, then returned his gaze to the stack of cans. With a deep breath, he took aim, reached his arm back, threw the ball…

And rejoiced as he saw the six cans go any which way as they fell to the ground. "I did it!" He cheered, making Jordan applaud him while the vendor simply chuckled.

"Nice going, kid," the vendor commended, before reaching up to the top shelf and pulling down a plushie of a penguin with a bow tie and a top hat. "I take it this is for the lucky lady?" Both kids blushed as Lincoln nodded in response, making the vendor chuckle more. "Here you go."

"Thank you," Jordan told him as she accepted the plushie, holding it in her hands before hugging it close to her chest. "It's so cute! Thank you, Lincoln."

"You're welcome, Jordan," he replied, ecstatic to see her happy. "So, shall we go check out some of the other habitats?" She nodded, then began to walk away from the stall and towards the exit, waving good bye to the vendor as they left.

After that, the two spent the next hour and a half walking around the zoo, checking out some of the other animals that were there. They first walked through a small forest like area where they crossed over a bridge that allowed them to see some beavers and otters swimming happily and running around, as well as see some birds they had never seen before flying around the trees over their heads. They then checked out the Asian animal area, where they were amazed at the sheer size of some of the tigers that were there, and when one of them roared at Jordan and startled her, she clung onto Lincoln, who almost instinctively took hold of her, which made both kids blush after they separated. Once she had recovered, they went to check out the red pandas, and when one of them saw Jordan, it gave her a little smile that made her completely gush over how cute it was. After this, they headed into the monkey centre, which had orangutans, chimpanzees, capuchins, gorillas and lemurs, the latter of which Jordan couldn't help but think had "really funny faces", which made both her and Lincoln share a laugh.

Once they got out of there, Lincoln received a text from Lori to meet them for lunch, so they quickly made their way over to the central food court, where Lincoln and Jordan decided to sit at a table with Luna, Lucy, Lana and Lynn, while Lincoln's other sisters sat at a nearby table. Once everyone was settled, Lori ordered two pepperoni pizzas to split between them, and once they arrived, they all shared a laugh at how the pizzas were shaped like monkey heads. Each pizza was cut into twelve slices, so everyone got two pieces each for them to start to eat while they talked, as well as a bottle of water each.

"Those frogs were so cool!" Lana told the others. "I'm gonna have to ask if I can bring Hops to play with them one day."

"That's nothing compared to the bats," Lucy replied, her voice as typically neutral as always. "They were wicked."

"Yeah, you really dug them bats," Luna remarked, ruffling the younger girl's hair much to her displeasure before turning her attention to Jordan and Lincoln. "I'm guessing that you two hit the penguin habitat. You got your own personal penguin too."

Jordan giggled, hugging the plushie with her arm. "Yeah," she replied. "We went to see the show, and afterwards, Lincoln won this for me at a game."

The girls all cooed at this, even the ones at the other table who had been listening in, making Lincoln smile shyly and blush. The only one who didn't was Lynn, who merely smirked and said, "looks like training with me finally paid off, huh, Link?"

He rolled his eyes at this. "I guess so." While he was going to say something else, he was interrupted by the sound of crying, and they all looked to see that it was none other than Lily who was bawling her eyes out. "What happened?"

"Our infant sororal relative has accidentally released her helium filled, latex sphere," Lisa stated, causing her siblings and her brother's friend to just blink out of confusion. With a sigh, she pinched her eyes shut and stressed, "she let go of her balloon."

They all looked up straight away and saw that there was indeed a red helium balloon floating upwards, and because their table was outside, the lack of roof meant it would likely continue with no signs of stopping. Looking back at the infant crying loudly, they gathered round the infant and tried to calm her down, saying things like "it's okay, Lily" and "don't cry", but it was to no avail. Although she didn't know her as well as her brother and wasn't related, Jordan still found it upsetting to see Lily cry like this, so she came up with an idea. She grabbed her plush penguin, moved so that she was kneeled down in front of Lily's stroller and said, "don't cry, Lily" in a silly voice, holding up the penguin for her to see. Although her nose was a bit runny and her eyes were still teary, Lily stopped crying long enough to look at the penguin. "I don't want to see you cry! It makes me sad!" Lily began to giggle at Jordan's attempt to cheer her up, which made her siblings smile. "Oh, dear. You've made a bit of a mess. We better clean you up!" Jordan then took a tissue from her table and used it to wipe up Lily's snot and tears, putting it on the empty pizza box before holding her penguin up again. "That's better! Now, no more tears, okay?"

Lily nodded, which made Jordan smile. Impressed Lori tapped her on the shoulder and asked, "how did you manage that? You got her to stop crying so easily! It usually takes us, like, literally ten minutes or more!"

A small blush hued her cheeks. "Honestly, I just… acted, I guess," was all she could say to answer her.

"Well, you're a dab hand at it!" Luan joked, following it up with a chuckle and a "get it?"

Her sisters and brother all groaned, while Jordan just rolled her eyes, before she faced the white haired boy. "Hey, Lincoln, could you hold this for me?" She asked, holding out her penguin. "I wanna go and get Lily a new balloon."

"You don't have to do that," Lori assured her, but Jordan shook her head.

"It's fine. Besides, it'll make her happy."

"Well… Alright. If you're sure you don't mind." After nodding back, Jordan handed the penguin to Lincoln, then took hold of Lily's stroller and began to walk away. Once shenwas out of earshot, Lori and her sisters all turned to Lincoln. "Lincoln, you've literally got to tell her how you feel!"

"She's so perfect for you!" Leni gushed, her hands cupped together against her cheek.

"I know," he replied, almost sighing, "but… I don't know if she feels the same way."

"Are you nuts?" Lynn refuted. "Stinkoln, she's putting up with us after she asked YOU to hang out with her. She's totally into you!"

"It's so obvious!" Lola stated in a matter-of-fact way. "The only one who can't tell is you, apparently."

"Well…" He rubbed the back of his neck, his head now exhibiting conflicting emotions. "I don't… I don't know, girls."

"Linc," Luna spoke, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You gotta stop thinking about it, and just listen to your heart."

"Trust us on this, Lincoln," Luan added. "All jokes aside, if it's what makes you happy, go for it."

He opened his mouth to speak, but seeing the soft smiles his sisters were giving him- even his typically stoic goth and PhD sisters- his heart seemed to be speaking louder to him now. "… I'll consider it, okay? Just…"

"Don't worry," Lori told her little brother. "It's all up to you, okay?"

He nodded. "Thanks, girls."

"Okay, we're back," they heard Jordan call, dispersing and turning to see her return with Lily, the infant now delicately pulling on a string tied to her stroller that was attached to a purple balloon. "There was a small queue, but we got there. I made sure to tie it to the stroller so it wouldn't float off this time."

"That's really sweet of you Jordan," the eldest Loud girl replied as she walked up, bending forward to look at her baby sister. "What do you say, Lily?"

"'Ank you, 'Orda!" Lily did her best to say, making the girl's heart swell.

"Aww… you're welcome, Lily."

While everyone smiled at how well Jordan got on with the baby, Lincoln looked at his friend and couldn't help but think, 'you are amazing, Jordan'.

After everyone finished their lunch, they continued on their separate ways around the zoo, with Lincoln and Jordan first heading to the American animal area. There were a bunch of cool animals to see there, but the ones that stuck out the most to them were the bisons, who were surprisingly gentle creatures who even allowed Jordan to pet their fluffy dark manes, and the grey wolf pack, who looked really majestic, and even when they play fought, Lincoln couldn't help but think they reminded him of his sisters and him. They then walked through the Arctic area, where Jordan couldn't resist comparing Lincoln's white hair to the snowy fur of the Arctic Fox and the polar bears, which had both kids laughing. From there, they went to the last area, which was where the African animals were- gazelles, zebras, flamingos, wildebeests, antelopes and all sorts of different animals, but none of them compared to the mighty lions, which looked as majestic as one could imagine.

Once they were done there, Lori texted them that it was time to go, so they got on the train that would take them around the zoo and back to the entrance. The two sat together and watched as the train took them past all the animals that they had seen, as well as a couple that they hadn't seen, and during the ride, both kids blushed when Jordan decided to snuggle up to the white haired boy, but neither minded, even when some of their sisters saw it as the train arrived near the zoo entrance and decided to take some pictures. After a quick trip to the gift shop, the Louds and Jordan clambered back into Vanzilla, with Lincoln again insisting that Jordan get the sweet spot, before leaving the zoo behind.

Eventually, the van pulled to a stop in the driveway of Jordan's house. "Well, this is me," she said. "Thank you for letting me come with you today, you guys. I had so much fun."

"We were happy to have you with us," Lori assured the girl. "And you're welcome to come round and hang out at our place if you feel like it."

"I'll keep that in mind." She then looked at Lincoln. "So… I'll, uh… see you later?"

"Uh… Yeah, sure," he replied, giving a small smile.

"Okay." She gave the boy a quick hug which he returned, before undoing her seatbelt and stepping out of the van, Lincoln watching as she walked towards her house.

"Sorry, bro," Lincoln heard Luna say from the seat behind him. "You'll get your chance."

"…" He heard Lori start to turn on the engine, and when she did, something just clicked in his mind. "Don't feel sorry for me yet." As quickly as the girls realised what he was doing, he undid his seatbelt and got out of the van, just as Jordan opened the front door. "Jordan!"

She heard him call out to her, and turned around to see him walk up to her. "Lincoln?" She asked. "What's up?"

"I… I have to tell you something! I wasn't sure if I should, but I know that if I don't, I'm going to regret it!"

She could tell that he was nervous, but when he said that, she felt as if time was starting to slow down. "Okay… What is it?"

"I… the truth is…" He clenched his first to ensure that he didn't back down. "I like you!" Her heart skipped a beat at this, her eyes widening in surprise. "I really like you, Jordan! Whenever I'm around you, I feel… so unbelievably happy, and… I was wondering if… if you would… if…"

Though she wanted so badly to hear what else he had to say, she could see that he was struggling, so she decided to help him out. "Lincoln?" She asked, getting his attention. "Can I say something?" Although his mind instantly began to fear the worst, he nodded, prompting her to step forward and take his hand in hers. "When I got to your house this morning, I was about to knock on the door when I heard you talking with your sisters, I… I heard what you said." Feeling even more fearful, he gulped, but still allowed the girl, who was now looking at her feet, to continue. "And, when I heard you say those words… a-about me… I have to be honest, Lincoln…" She looked up again, allowing him to see that her cheeks were red, her eyes were misty, and her lips were smiling. "I have never felt as happy as I did then."

And just like that, his fears and worries melted away. "You… you did?"

She nodded. "Lincoln… I like you too. For the longest time now, whenever I've been around you… I wanted to tell you how I felt, but I was scared of how you would react, and that you wouldn't feel the same way. You've always made me feel like I was pretty, even when I didn't think so myself."

Lincoln couldn't help but smile at that, his own eyes misting up. "Jordan… that's because you ARE pretty. I've always thought so. I just thought that you were way too good for someone like me."

She gave a giggle as her cheeks heated up even more from his compliment. "Lincoln, you're the greatest guy I know. You're kind, you're smart, you're cute."

"M-me? C-c-cute?"

She nodded, giggling even more at how much he was blushing. "Yeah. Especially with your white hair. It makes you look so unique."

"Really?"

"Totally. But, more than that, you're such a nice guy. I always thought that, a nice guy like you… you could ask any girl out, and they'd say yes. So, why me?"

"Because… you're the only girl I want to ask out. I guess what I'm saying is… Jordan… will you be my girlfriend?"

The tears started to pour out as she nodded. "Nothing would make me happier. In fact…"

She took hold of his other hand, and moved forward, pressing her lips against his. Lincoln was shocked at first, but melted into it and returned the kiss, making Jordan's leg lift up behind her. Neither acknowledged anything else- not the fact they were in the open, not the fact her family were inside and could see them, not the fact his sisters were squealing louder than they had ever squealed before. All that mattered was that in that moment, they were the happiest they had ever been in their entire lives. When they did eventually separate, they panted for breath, their gazes locked together and their smiles big.

"So…" Lincoln said first. "I, uh… I'm not sure what to say right now."

She laughed heartily at his statement, only making both kids smile more. "You're so cute, Lincoln," she replied, making his blush grow more than he could've feasibly imagined. "Well, I promised mom I'd help her with the garden once I got back, so I better go. How about we go on our first real date, say, Friday?"

"Sounds good. I'll give you a call once I've thought about what we can do, and when I can pick you up."

"I'll be waiting for it." She placed a kiss against his cheek, and he placed one on hers. "I'll see you later, Lincoln."

"You too, Jordan."

With that, he waved as she walked into her house, waiting for her to close the door before let out the biggest, happiest sigh he could. As he walked back to Vanzilla, he could hear his sisters cheering him and applauding him, and as he got in, they wasted no time in saying how proud they were of him, and what they think he should do for his first date with Jordan. Lincoln, on the other hand, just melted into his seat, the most goofy, lovesick smile on his face, and there was only one word that, if he could think, he could use to describe what he was feeling:

Ecstasy.

THE END