CHAPTER THREE: Rico’s in love

***
“Morris!” cried King Julien, when penetrating the zoo through his brand new binoculars. “I’ve spotted an alien пингвин bustling around on the pavement!”
Morris goggled his eyes out at his King and climbed up the Стена to check up.
“Yupeee, we’ve got a guest!” applauded Mort, clapping his hands with joy.
“It’s a lady penguin, Your Majesty!” reported Morris, while watching Terry. Right now she was striking up an acquaintance with Marlene the Otter.
“Just where do Ты think she comes from?”
“I bet she lives in another zoo, Your Majesty” replied Morris. “I’ve heard nothing about a new lady пингвин being transferred to our zoo. Seems like she’s here only temporarily”.
“Even if so, I would like to take a closer look at her” stated King Julien, putting his binoculars aside.
“Actually I live across the sidewalk from the penguins” continued Marlene the Otter, pointing at her habitat. “Whenever I want to pay them a visit I usually go through one of our secret, underground passages, just for safety.”
“You’ve got secret underground passages? Cool!” gasped Terry, evidently excited.
“Skipper has built about 14 passages by far” сказал(-а) Marlene. “He is already thinking about building up the 15th one”.
“Dear me, my brother is indeed a crazy guy” laughed Terry. “But I still Любовь him, no matter what”.
“Hey there, pretty lady penguin!” cried King Julien, leaning across the brick wall. “What brings Ты here?”
“Oh, hi King Julien!” cried Terry and waved his flipper.
“You... Ты know my name?”
“Sure! Marlene the выдра, оттер has already told me everything about you, guys!” сказал(-а) Terry and waddled up to the Стена to take a better look at her new interlocutor.
“Wanna try my Bouncy Bounce Yard?” asked King Julien, waving with his tail seductively. “It’s been freshly renovated.”
“You’ve got a Bouncy Bounce!” gasped Terry, clasping her flippers together. “Can I go and try?” she asked, turning to Marlene.
“Sure!” laughed Marlene. “I’ll stay here and watch!”


***
Skipper jumped down on the ground and was just
about to make his way towards the таблица when he suddenly stopped short, goggling his eyes in shock at what he had just seen. The rest of the penguins knocked against each other behind his back, confused.
"Guys, please, everywhere but here!" he moaned, deep, red blush leaking on his face. Kowalski immediately hid his face behind his notepad, pretending to scribble something down, while Rico automatically shielded Private's eyes with his flipper. On hearing their son's voice, Auriga and George pulled apart from each other's embrace and smiled at him uneasily.
"Forgive me, honey" сказал(-а) Aurora pleadingly. "We were just recollecting our honeymoon journey to Antarctica.."
"And Ты spaced out!" finished Skipper, anger written all over his face.
"Erm... guys? What's going on?" asked Private, evidently puzzled, with Rico's flipper still resting on his face.
"Freezing cold air, tasty fishes, изумруд blue sky.. and the most beautiful lady пингвин I've ever met" сказал(-а) George, stroking Auriga's chin tenderly. He then moved his beak closer towards his wife ones.
"Will Ты just snap out of it, guys, we've got a minor here!!!" cried Skipper, pointing at Private, anger and despair overtaking his whole body. " Just what do Ты think the parks are for???"
Why the hell did they have to Космос out in front of the team???
"Erm.. I guess you're right, son" muttered George, slightly embarrassed.
"Surely, you've got a really nice park over here" admitted Skipper's Mom. "How about a little stroll, honey sugar?" she said, looking at her husband adoringly.
"With great pleasure, sugar pie" chuckled George, taking his wife by flipper.
"Bleaaah" groaned Skipper, making a mouthful "I'm going to throw up in a minute" grimace on his face.
"See Ты soon, honey. We're off for a stroll!" announced Auriga.
George patted his son on the head and climbed up the ladder right after his wife. As soon as they left the HQ, Skipper let out a deep sigh and pressed his head against the cold wall, trying to calm down his nerves. The other penguins looked at each other. Finally Kowalski decided to break the silence.
"Erm.. Skipper? Is anything wrong? Ты seem to be quite unnerved.."
"Listen, Kowalski, I don't have anything against the fact that they Любовь each other but sometimes it's just... ah! I don't know!.." another deep sigh. "By the way, where's Terry?" he asked all of a sudden, pulling his head away from the wall.
"As far as I know, she is supposed to be joining King Julien's party right now" reported Kowalski, fidgeting nervously with his pencil.
"Well I hope she doesn't get back too late" mumbled Skipper, crossing his flippers over his chest. He waddled up towards the table, seated himself on the chair and took a long sip of catfish coffee. Rico cocooned himself in the corner with a gameboy, meanwhile Kowalski was desperately trying to get rid of Private, who kept stalking him:
“Now come ooon, tell me what did I miss!”
“I’ll tell Ты in two weeks, Private.”
“Why in two weeks?”
“It’s your birthday then, isn’t it? 5th of July, you’re turning eighteen” mumbled Kowalski and locked himself up in the lab, before Private had a chance to respond.

***
"Woooooooo! That’s what I call real fun!" cried Terry, jumping with King Julien on the Bouncy Bounce.
"Haaaahahaa! Yeees!" chirped King Julien.
"You know what... King Julien... I just wanna tell you... Ты ROCK!" confessed Terry between the jumps.
"Have Ты heard that, Maurice?" cried King Julien down to his лемур servant. "She сказал(-а) I rock! Which is true! I always rock! I am a rock!"
Terry made an impressive triple salto in the air. Mort, Maurice and the other animals, who gathered in lemur’s habitat, gazed at her and exchanged looks.
"Wow, Terry Penguin! Where did Ты learn to do such things like that?" gasped King Julien.
"Oh.. my brother used to practice a lot of these when he was in the army" replied Terry. " It looked really cool.. So I asked him... to teach me some tricks..."

Rico was observing Terry and King Julien for quite a long time. He couldn't Переместить his eyes away from Skipper's sister. She was so beautiful, cherry, optimistic, and full of joy.. it hurt. It really hurt. Rico knew there was very little chance for him to get any closer to the girl. Besides, he was quite afraid of his leader’s reaction. He was making the most of himself not to reveal his true feelings towards Terry. But damn, it was so tough!
“Let’s make a party, everyone!” cried King Julien, waving his tail like a crazy. “Maurice! Go to the magazine and bring some drinks! Mort! Bring me the radio!”
Rico heard Skipper’s voice calling on him. He let out a painful sigh and waddled away.

****
It was about half past midnight, when Terry sneaked into his brothers HQ. She was trying to make as less noise as possible when climbing down the ladder. She was just about to jump down, when she heard someone's voice:
"Partying till late in the night, aren't we?"
She let out a short scream and landed on the floor in a crumpled heap. Skipper was standing right beside her, his strong flippers crossed over his chest, his face angered and concerned at the same time.
"Skipper, must Ты really give me a start like that?" snapped Terry. "Why aren't Ты in постель, кровати anyway?"
"How could I fell asleep in peace when knowing about my sister messing around the zoo with some crazy lemur?"
"King Julien is not crazy, he is cool" answered Terry. "Besides, I'm not a baby anymore, Skipper. I can take care of myself!" she got on her feet and made an attempt to Переместить on but she staggered.
Skipper immediately grabbed her by arms and pulled her close to him.
"Terry, what the heck is wrong with you?"
"I'm fine, Skippa" mumbled Terry, her eyelids falling down uncontrollably. Dark circles marked her eyes.
"You haven't been drinking anything at King Julian’s habitat, have you?"
"Only two cups of виноград juice" mumbled Terry, rubbing her eye dreamily. "And some of those банан candies. But I'm fine... I really am. No need to worry, bro. I Любовь you! Good night!" she patted Skipper on the head and kissed him gently on the beak and started to make her way towards her sleeping bag, wallowing in the corner.
She stopped short, glanced back behind herself, made sure that Skipper wasn’t watching and send an invisible Kiss towards Rico’s bunk before making herself comfortable in the bag.