Ned and his generation were now thirteen. Ned had gained more hair as he grew, and had gotten taller. His grandparents died of old age the previous year, which probably makes you wonder what happened to the animals. Well, most of them died of old age as well. Ned's parents took in the rest so that his dad could enjoy non-store-bought food a little while longer.
Doogle was still Ned's best human friend, Anklo was still Ned's other best human friend, and Rusty was still Ned's rival for Linda's affections. In fact Ned's relationship with Linda was the only thing that had changed.
Ned and Linda had gotten even closer over the years, but Ned didn't love Linda the way he did when he was a kid...he loved her more than that. Normally Ned would've considered that impossible, but he couldn't deny it. He had gotten over his stuttering around her but his heart wouldn't stop pounding every time when she was near. In fact it was now pounding harder and faster than it ever had before.
Newton had been getting concerned about that, but didn't express it until one weekend after Ned received another kiss from Linda due to a flower he gave her.
"You really should tell Linda your feelings." Newton said as a stethoscope, listening to Ned's heartbeats. "If your heart pounds any harder it might wear itself out. Not to mention make me deaf." He turned back into his anthro form, hands over where his ears would be if he had them.
"No one said you had to listen to my heartbeats in the first place." Ned pointed out.
"Hey I'm your pet, I'm supposed to be concerned about your welfare." Newton smiled.
"At least you're not over-worried, that would be worse." Ned sighed. "And I can't tell her Newton, if she rejects me it would break my heart. Maybe even literally."
Fortunately by this point Newton had learned all about expressions, so he knew what Ned meant.
"But I can tell that she loves you back, so you have nothing to worry about." Newton protested. "You two are like those true love couples!"
At that he turned into a Shakespearean guy.
"What light thru yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun." He said as Romeo.
He then turned into Juliet. A not very attractive Juliet since he still looked like himself.
"Oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? No seriously, where are you?" Newton-Juliet looked around.
"Wherefore means why in Shakespearean English Newton." Ned was not amused. "And don't you remember the end of that story? They both die."
"Oo," Newton turned back into himself awkwardly. "Right, sorry. Uh, lets see, what true love couple had a happy ending...well there are those fairytales."
"You mean with the witches, ogres, giants, and everything else that doesn't exist in real life?" Ned said hintingly.
"They also had talking animals." Newton shrugged.
Ned thought for a few seconds.
"Good point." He had to admit.
"Maybe I can pull another stunt that would lead you two into a kiss or something." Newton suggested.
"Nah, I don't want anything extravagant if I tell her my feelings. I don't want anything simple either, more like somewhere in the middle."
"Romantic dinner or night under the stars?" Newton guessed.
"Too cliché."
"Then I'm stumped." Newton turned into a tree stump.