Author's Note: Almost two months ago, I talked about writing this on Tumblr, but obviously it hasn't been posted until now. I haven't been able to write a lot lately as I've been busy with some other things and on top of that there's been a whole lot of writer's block. There are a few other personal reasons why I haven't been writing anyways, but here it is. It's a bit silly, yes, but I hope it's fun for you guys too. If you want me to continue, let me know!
*Also, sorry for any grammatical errors (let me know about that too), but this was late enough and I just wanted to get it out*
"Are you two excited?" Lena asked as Jude and Mariana came down the stairs, both with bags tucked under their arms. Anchor Beach's eighth grade science classes as well as the students in the STEM program, had scheduled a week long visit to Jurassic World over spring break. Lena was one of the staff chaperoning and they were leaving today, early, so they could catch their flight.
"Yeah, I guess," said Mariana, too distracted by her cell phone to look up.
"You guess?" Lena echoed in disbelief. "This is exciting." Jude grinned in amusement when his sister didn't respond.
"Mariana?" said Lena. When she still didn't answer, Lena sighed heavily and took a step forward, reaching her hand out to yank the cell phone out of Mariana's hand, waving away her daughter's protest. "Come on, these bags aren't going to move themselves to the car."
"Fine," Mariana sighed heavily, proceeding to the door. She paused, hand on the doorknob. "But I get the passenger seat," she declared. Jude began to follow her out, when Lena stopped him. "Hey, Adam called this morning. Something came up, he asked me if we'd pick Connor up."
"Okay," Jude said, smiling crookedly.
"And you know, he's going to be sharing a hotel room with you and a few other students," Lena explained. "I just wanted to make sure you, uh, understood the rules." For a moment, Jude went quiet. Thinking, then when he realized what she meant, he gaped at Lena. "What?" Lena said, "it can't be like on the seventh grade camping trip, Adam has...improved, if you will, but I'm sorry, bud, I agree with him on this."
A pause, then, "Mom," Jude whispered furiously, glancing around in embarrassment as if somehow one of his siblings over heard.
"The rules would've been the same if Mat was on the trip."
"I know."
"Alright." Lena said, "just making sure."
Jude leaned over the railing of the ship that would carry them to the island. He watched the ocean waves beat back and forth.
"Hey, Jude," Connor Stevens exclaimed as he joined his boyfriend.
Jude glanced at him. "Hey."
"This is so cool," Connor stated, moving next to Jude, close enough for their shoulders to brush.
"Yeah," Jude agreed. He and Connor seemed to be two of the only people really excited for this. All the others went into this with a sense of a one shouldered shrug, 'I'll go on this trip, I guess' vibe. In one foster home, Jude and Callie stayed with a family who made daily visits to the theme park. They, naturally, didn't invite Jude and his sister on the trip. Callie hadn't cared much; Jude had tried to act like he didn't either, but he'd been disappointed. Now he would finally have the opportunity to see the acclaimed Jurassic World. Connor was excited because the last time he went was when his parents were still together. They weren't fighting per-say, but Connor picked up on the tension between them the entire vacation. It had lessened his overall enjoyment and he was keen to replace those uncomfortable memories with better ones.
"Do you think they're gonna let us see the spinosaurous show?" Connor pondered.
"They'll let us see it, but you kids, I don't know," Emma teased as she and Mariana walked up to them from behind. "Too intense for you guys."
Before Jude and Connor could defend themselves, Mariana said, "we're almost there, get ready to go."
Jude leaned further over the railing, Connor doing the same, and they both exchanged a wide eyed look because off in the distance was the island, Isla Sorna. When the ship docked, the Anchor Beach groups were greeted by a tall woman dressed entirely in white, her ginger hair catching in the sunlight, sharply cut and her green eyes bright with a natural confidence. She was standing next to a slightly younger woman with dark hair and a eternally annoyed look on her face.
"You must be Lena Adams," the first woman greeted.
Lena nodded. "Yes. And, you-"
"Claire Dearing," she introduced herself. "Welcome to Jurassic World." Claire turned towards her companion. "This is my assistant, Zara Young."
Zara said in a resigned sort of way, "Hello, m'am," - holding out her hand for Lena to shake.
"Zara will be showing you all to your rooms and making sure you understand the schedule," Claire explained. "I wish I could help more, but something came up this morning that I have to take care of." With that, she departed into the crowd, hand moving to her bluetooth, before Lena or Zara for that matter, even had a say.
"Alright," Zara sighed, in a way that was used to having her bosses' obligations pushed onto her. "Follow me. Try not to get lost, we don't have time to look for forty of you," she added, addressing the students.
Lena glanced over her shoulder and called to Timothy, "make sure they've all got their room arrangements?" Timothy nodded in response and gave her a thumbs up. "Thank you." Lena turned back around, pausing, momentarily panicked when she realized Zara had already begun walking, but quickly found her way and was motioning for the rest of the massive group to follow her.
Jude and Connor ended up rooming with Blake (Jude loved his mom, but wondered if she remembered his early days at Anchor Beach at all) and the boy who had approached them at the beach party, Cade. As Jude, Connor, and Cade unpacked their bags, they'd overheard Blake complaining to Timothy out in the hallway about how he couldn't be forced to share a room with two gays. Jude and Connor were trying not be bothered by the negativity and Cade remained vaguely uninterested, or at least, he seemed that way, remaining quiet as if he were nervous to say anything as he didn't want Connor snapping again. The three continued settling in for several more minutes when they all jumped at the sound of the door slamming closed.
Blake stormed over to his bag with the fury of a toddler who'd just been told he couldn't have a second chocolate chip cookie, not once looking at his other roommates. "I'm not sharing a bed with one of you princesses," he snapped, not turning around.
Jude and Connor exchanged a glance, but it was Cade who said, casually, "they're bringing in two cots anyway. We're all gonna rotate."
Blake responded with a dismissive huff, "and what you aren't bothered by being forced to share a room with them."
Connor looked about ready to tackle Blake to the ground, consequences be damned, and if looks could kill, Jude would have been thrown in prison my now for first degree murder. "If it bothers you so much, how about you just go sleep on the balcony," Connor suggested flatly, he was beginning to stand up.
"Connor," Jude began.
"No," he countered, "no, if you're not going to stand up for us, I am."
Jude scowled at the implication, but didn't say anything further. "Oh, well would you look at that," Blake said in a mock, cutesy tone, "I guess I can tell everyone now I know who the girl is in this relationship."
Connor was suddenly two steps away from reaching Blake, fist raised and ready to slam into the side of his face, when Cade and Jude both took an arm and pulled him backwards, a feat the two could just barely accomplish.
"Hey, maybe you can lay off a little," Cade said.
"I don't get how you're cool with this," Blake murmured, unsettled - Connor noticed proudly- by the attempted defense.
Cade shook his head. "Whatever, man."
Blake looked as if he wanted to make another snide comment, but didn't get the chance when one of their classmates poked his head into the room. "Timothy wants us all downstairs in a few minutes. He says that Ms. Young will leave without you if you're late."
"Come on," Jude said, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. He walked out the door without looking back or waiting to see if Connor followed, which he did, but not before glared once more at Jeremy in warning.
"We can ask Timothy to switch out," Connor suggested, as he tried to keep up with Jude's pace. "Or Lena- we could tell her we want to move-"
"We're not going to let Blake scare us away," Jude cut in. "If we leave...then it's like he won and that's not going to help us." Connor felt the ghost of a smile; in awe of how wise his boyfriend could be regardless of his age. Jude, however, was not smiling. "You reacting like that isn't helping."
"I know," Connor said. "I just-"
"You could've gotten all four of us sent back to Anchor Beach."
"I know, but someone has to stand up to idiots like him."
Jude said nothing. He nodded once, before continuing to the elevator. They stood in silence as the elevator descended, only when they emerged in the lobby did Connor speak up again, saying in an attempt to lighten the mood between them,
"Hey, you know I bet Blake is going to freak out when he sees all the dinosaurs. Like...he'll probably play it off like it's nothing, then BAM he's going to run away screaming." All the while as Connor was describing this prediction, he was making absurd gestures with his hands, similar to the way he almost took of his fellow classmates heads trying to demonstrate the awesomeness of the zombie mode on his shooter game. Jude was not amused then, he wasn't amused now. Connor was joyfully oblivious.
The first place on the tour list was the museum. On display were skeletons of the dinosaurs and informational pedestals. In the center of the first floor was a holographic image displaying a group of raptors. Zara informed the group that they would have an hour to look around before moving on the next stop. After giving her instructions, Zara had vanished somewhere to occupy herself with her phone; she couldn't look less interested.
"Okay, I want everyone to pair up or find a group," Lena instructed. "And please keep your cell phones on at all times. We don't want anyone getting lost."
Connor wandered up to the hologram display. He moved his hand over the keypad. The image changed to a triceratops. He grinned at the blue tinted display, remembering when they were just working a prototype of the holograms when he first came here with his parents.
"Nice," Jude commented, joining Connor. He reached for the control pad himself, browsing through the images until they were both bored of it and wandered off to find something else to do. They were walking close, close enough for their hands to brush occasionally. Each time they did Connor would smirk, Jude would catch him smirking, and then he would shake his head, pretending (and failing) to be unimpressed.
"I heard they've been working on something new," Mariana was saying to Emma as Jude and Connor walked past them. Connor slowed and eventually stopped. Something new?
"What like a mutation?" Emma mused.
"Yeah," Mariana said.
"How did you even hear about that?"
"I have my ways."
Jude, who hadn't noticed Connor stop, had continued to walk. Connor noticed this quickly and bound forward, grabbing Jude's arm and tugging him backwards. At this action, Jude stumbled slightly. He glared at Connor, beginning to complain, but Connor shook his head and made a shushing motion with his finger; nodding towards Mariana and Emma.
Emma crossed her arms over her chest, amusement flickering in her eyes. "Are these ways legal?"
Mariana batted her eyelashes. "Of course they are." She glanced around before leaning closer to Emma and speaking quietly enough that the people around her would hear, but loudly enough so that Connor could pick up on her words. "I found some hidden files about this place" - Mariana sighed dramatically to herself - "pays to be a genius. But anyways, I found hidden files on this place and apparently the founder wants 'something new' and you know that has to mean some serious Godzilla work in those labs."
Emma nodded slowly as if pondering the concept. Then - "I don't think that's how a Godzilla reference works."
Mariana rolled her eyes. "Come on," she said. "Let's see if we can sneak inside. This'll be perfect for our research project."
The STEM program were given an assignment with their 'vacation'. Find a subject - one of the dinosaurs or any other aspects of the park - and write an essay about it. When the teacher had announced this, of course there had been a chorus of groans and 'can't we just have one day?'s to which the teacher told them he didn't know what they expected. As Mariana and Emma vanished back into the crowd, Connor turned to Jude.
"We should follow them," he said.
"Why?"
"Uh, because I want to see this thing too."
Jude shook his head. "I don't think they" - he motioned around him, indicating the workers, "want us to 'see this thing'."
Connor quirked his head to the side. "Jude, come on." He didn't wait for Jude to answer and grabbed his boyfriend's hand, tugging eagerly at it and pulling Jude along behind him as he tried to follow Mariana and Emma.
"Connor, this is a bad idea," Jude said, shaking his head; but still, he followed along.
"Not if we don't get caught."
"I'm pretty sure it'll still be a bad idea."
Connor shrugged. "You don't have to come with me," he pointed out, releasing Jude's hand. Connor turned around and began walking away.
Jude waited only a few seconds before he rejoined Connor, knowing it would be better to follow his boyfriend and make sure he didn't get into any trouble, then to stand by and let him be caught and kicked out. Upon seeing Jude again, Connor smirked triumphantly. "Just making sure you don't get shot in the foot again or something," Jude murmured.
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
