Chapter 17:

*LUNA'S POV:

A beam of water shooting at my forehead woke me suddenly. I peeked up from my pillow, wiping the liquid dripping down my face. With no memory of even falling asleep last night, waking up to your best friend spraying you with your dog's obedience bottle leaves room for confusion. What, I groaned, pulling the covers up as a shied. 

"Wakey wakey! It's late, get your ass up."Zoie said, playing with the handle.

"Why? I'm tired, Zoie. And why do you have Apollo's spray bottle?"

"It was on the counter and I saw opportunity." she shrugged, "C'mon, Audy, I wanna go to the zoo today."

"The what?" I asked groggily, rubbing my eyes.

"The zoo, can't you hear?"

"Can you give me a goddamn second to wake up?" I laughed, "I was up late last night."

She asked, "Doing what?"

"Not being able to fall asleep." I mumbled, sitting up. "Isn't it a little too late now to go to the zoo?"

"Nope, not this one. This one is open until 1am! It's probably an hour from here. There's glow in the dark paint on the paths and even on some of the exhibits. There won't be a lot of kids there either. Hell, a lot of people won't be there, so we'll basically have a zoo to ourselves." she rejoiced.

"I'm going to ask-"

"Your mom? Already did and she's fine with it. She loves me."

"Wow, my next question was if she even knew you were here. You do like to make shocking entrances, like through my window at two in the morning!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands in the air and laughing at the memory. 

"Hey, I was bored, alright?" she laughed, "Now get dressed."

"At least I took a shower last night." I said, raiding through my closet.

"Did that shower happen to be with Eddie when he came over?" she asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Nope," I simply said, throwing my chosen outfit at her.

"You don't take advantage of good opportunities."

"Taking a shower with Eddie wasn't exactly high up on my list of priorities last night." I sighed, trying to find my hairbrush.

"And what could possibly be above taking a steamy shower with your insanely hot boyfriend?"

"A lot, Zoie. I'm really freaking out about this."

"He's still acting weird?"

"Yes! It's like he's gradually worsening!"

"Do you want to talk about it? I don't know how to help with something like this but I can try."

"No, no it's okay," I shook my head.

"Are you sure? I don't want to make you do anything you don't want to do."

"Thank you, but it's okay, really." I answered, "I don't want to worry about all that stuff today. We're gonna have a carefree time at the zoo today and that's all that matters."

"Okay, as long as you're good. Now get ready while I'm downstairs eating your food."

***

"We are not spending our entire time at the zoo looking at elephants."

"I know."

"Or manatees,"

"I kn-"

"Or hippos."

"Well then what else are we supposed to do?"

"I'm not sure, maybe. . .look at all the animals!"

"Those are boring." Zoie whined.

"And a big floating mattress that eats lettuce isn't?"

"Manatees are not boring."

"Neither are the rest of the animals. C'mon, the aviary is over here." I said, grabbing her hand.

"What the hell is an aviary?"

"It's a bird exhibit." I answered.

"I don't want to look at birds! Birds are pathetic!"

"Birds are not stupid! I love birds."

"You love every animal on this fucking planet. This is why you never bring an animal lover to a zoo."

"I paid for your gas. Now either you go into the aviary now or go into the reptile house at night." I threatened.

"What a lovely aviary that is. Shall we continue inside?" she asked, completely changing her attitude. Before we walked in, my phone buzzed from my pocket. I saw that it was from Eddie, but before I could read what it said, Zoie grabbed it from me and put it in her bag. "Ah, ah, ah-" 

"Zoie, please,"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot." she apologized, handing me the phone back. It was just Eddie thanking me for yesterday.

"Everything okay?"

I answered, "Yes."

"Good. Let's go watch some stupid birds before I highly regret my decision."

After we came out from the aviary, we walked around most of the zoo. We saved some of the exhibits for tonight since they would usually light up or something of that sort, but other than that we saw most of the animals. The pictures we got were pretty slick. We got a lot together and a good amount of candids.

When we went to see the giraffes, there was a balcony that you could go on to be face-to-face with the long necked animal. Giraffes are one of my favorites, so I took so many pictures and even got a tongue-to-cheek experience.

Zoie got to see the hippos just before the exhibit was closed for the night. She kept opening her mouth and mocking the loud and obnoxious noises the hippos would make. She even got some children to do it, so it was funny to see a seventeen year-old girl making hippo impressions with a bunch of six year-olds.

After that, the sun began to set, which meant the fun was about to begin. Most of the public visitors were leaving. A few groups stayed, like the good amount of annoying fourteen year-old wannabe hipsters that should probably be in bed. Luna and I agreed to stay clear of those nuisances.

"Now what?" she asked, admiring as the numerous strings of lights began sparkling.

"Want to hit the aquarium? I heard the tanks are turning different colors." I suggested.

"Oh yeah. There's a black light room with the little neon fish."

"Sounds great," I smiled, looking for the right direction. "It's this way." The both of us were already shaking with excitement as we walked through the hallway entrance. We saw no one in sight, which meant we could be as embarrassing as we wanted to be. Trust me, it's not exactly a pretty sight. "This is so pretty." I gasped, admiring the large aquarium.

"I know, come on, let's go see the sharks." she said, grabbing my hand.

Like most aquariums, the sharks were in a large glass tank that made the shape of a tube for admirers to walk through.  The sharks didn't glow or anything, but there were lights scattered around to give it a cool effect. We didn't stay there long because we wanted to look at the other fish. Well, I did. Zoie was impatiently waiting because she knew the manatees were a short walk away.

"Alright, I'm done. Go ahead." I said, giving the anxious teenager permission to go to the next exhibit.

"Finally!" she screamed, literally zooming out of the aquarium. I ran after her to make sure she wouldn't do anything stupid. I laughed when I walked into the exhibit, seeing her face pressed against the thick glass barrier. "Look how fat they are." she gazed. I laughed even harder when one of the many manatees came and pressed its face against the glass as well. She was overjoyed and all I could do was snap a picture with my camera. It swam away and she started squealing. "We bonded. We definitely just bonded. I am one of them now." she said, running to the overhead balcony.

"Zoie, wait, oh my god." I said, running after her. I was out of breath when I reached the top. Thankfully she was only leaning over the railing trying to pet the large creatures.

"I have an idea." she said, making me facepalm.

"Zoie, don't-"

"I'll be fine." she said, climbing over the railing and carefully stepping on the decorative rocks.

"Zoie Ramyra Winston! Get back here!" I exclaimed.

"No one's even here, calm down."

"There are cameras, dumbass!" I whisper-screamed.

"I'll be just a second." she said, climbing farther into the exhibit. She crouched down when one of the manatees surfaced. She reached out her hand but still couldn't reach it. She extended her arm out more, making her lose her balance.

"ZOIE!" I screamed, thinking she was going to fall in. Thankfully, she stuck her leg out quick enough to stop herself from falling in, but that leg slipped and slid into the water, soaking her entire left leg. "Get up here, now." I demanded, which earned a laugh from her.

"That was so worth it." she laughed, hopping back over the railing.

"Do you realize how much trouble we could get in?" I asked, freaking out.

"Audy, relax. No one got hurt. No one was around. Take a risk once in a while, jeez." Zoie said, punching my arm. "Where to next?"

"I want to see the wolves." I answered, walking in that direction.

"Alright, miss werewolf freak." she mocked, which made me push her.

"Shut up," I laughed, turning to face the wolf habitat. Lights shined on the leaves of the trees and the large rock that was the center piece of the exhibit. I didn't see any wolves until a gorgeous gray and white one began walking to the center of the rock. In a matter of seconds, the wolf took a deep breath and let out a long and sharp howl. I've always loved wolves, and not just because of the teenage betrayal of werewolves. They've always been so fascinating to me. I noticed that the wolf was actually howling in the direction of the full moon. I smiled to myself, imagining as if the wolf was actually a werewolf.

"Are you done fantasizing about having a werewolf for a boyfriend, or?" Zoie snickered, ruining my peaceful moment. "Because I see elephants with flashlights and I need to go see them."

"My god, Zoe, not everything is about elephants and manatees." I said, rolling my eyes.

"That's what you think," she said, running off.

Turns out the elephants were in fact holding flashlights with their trunks and creating their own light show. They seemed to be enjoying it, so that made me, and especially Zoie, happy.

"This is so cute." I smiled. "They look like they're actually─son of a bitch, Zoie!" I said, seeing her halfway up the barrier that surrounded the enormous area.

"What?" she asked.

"You cannot go in with the elephants. There are workers down there."

"They're boys our age, and pretty hot I must say. I'm sure they won't mind helping me out."

"I'm being serious."

"So am I." she giggled, continuing to climb.

"Nice try, miss," one of the workers shouted, "but it ain't happening."

"Aw, c'mon! Not even a second?"

"Nope, too dangerous. We already gave you a break at the manatee exhibit." the other jokingly yelled.

"Oh, you saw that?"

"Yeah, we did. I bet ten bucks that you'd fall in."

"Really now?" she scoffed, "I'm insulted."

"I only got five because only your leg went in."

"It was worth it. Is anyone else even here? Like at the zoo? We're curious." she asked, jumping down.

"It was just you guys and some stupid fourteen year olds." the first one yelled.

"Did they go home?" I asked.

"We kicked them out," he laughed, "all they were doing was standing around with their little vape pens. So we told them vapes weren't allowed."

"Oh my god, that's great." I laughed.

"When are you guys leaving?" the other asked.

"I'm ready to go, you?" Zoie asked me.

"Yeah, I'm tired anyway." I yawned. "Bye, guys. Have fun."

"Bye!"

We finally reached her car in the parking lot after about ten minutes of walking. When the both of us finally sat down, we groaned at how much our feet hurt. Zoie began driving as I dug through my bag to find my phone. I wasn't getting any notifications all day, so everything must be well. After a few seconds, I saw a few texts from Eddie and my mom, but nothing serious. That had to be a good sign...................................................A/N: Surprise Update!!! UwU 

I had fun writing this chapter. This was something that I feel my best friend and I would do, aha. I made this zoo up, just like I do with everything else in this story. It makes it more fun and peppy I think.

This chapter came along quick and since the next chapter will be an easy-ish one to write, that one should come quick, too!

Thank you to everyone who is reading!

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xoxo