Authors note:
Real quote from my younger sister: "I like it when you add personal stuff. You know, like boys trying to impress girls and the girls in pain. That sort of thing, and I won't like your story if you don't add in more." ... Welp, I guess I have to do what she says... XD
Anyway, this is the Kenji centered episode that I've wanted to write for a while. Merry Christmas Eve! Have a great day, enjoy the chapter, and tune in tomorrow for the Christmas chapter! :)
"We need to build a shelter," Darius says to his group. He doesn't even question the fact that they were all Minecraft blocks. "It's almost nighttime, and the dinosaurs will come out."
"Will there be zombies?" Sammy asks, backing into Kenji. "Or skeletons and spiders."
"Probably," Darius says.
"We need to watch out for the creepers and the endermen," Brooklynn says.
"We could use the wood from the Camp," Kenji says, pointing to the remains of the treehouse.
"Good idea," Darius says. "Let's start building."
The group begins to pick up wooden blocks and build a shelter out of the scraps. Yasmina and Kenji stood guard. "Agh! A spider!" Kenji shouts.
"Kill it!" Darius shouts at him.
"I don't have a pick axe or a sword!" Kenji exclaims.
"Then kill it with your bare hands!" Yasmina shouts, hitting the spider. "Come help me, I'm losing lives!"
Yasmina and Kenji kill the spider as the others build up the shelter. Darius hears a loud, high-pitched pig squeal behind him and wakes with a start.
Darius sits up in bed and still hears the Minecraft pig. Someone falls off the bed, still squealing. The commotion startles everyone awake. "Kenji?" Ben asks, lifting his head.
Kenji rolls around on the floor, squealing in pain. "What's going on?" Sammy asks, lifting her head from under the covers.
Kenji stands up, grimaces, and frowns angrily. The alpha male grabs Sammy's feet and pulls her out from under the covers. "Hey!" Sammy protests.
"Get in bed the CORRECT WAY!" Kenji points to the bed angrily. "You kicked me in the balls!"
"I'm sorry," Sammy gives him a hug, trying not to laugh.
Kenji just shakes his head, still grimacing in pain. He doesn't hug her back. "Just get into bed, I'm tired."
"Sorry," Sammy winces, snuggling up next to Ben as Kenji gets in next to her. The group falls back asleep for the next few hours until daylight.
The next four days, the group hangs out in the park and Kenji's condos. Ben shows them the security room and Owen Grady's papers. Darius, of course, found them extremely interesting. Sammy finds a thick book on dinosaurs in the security room near the rack of Jurassic World employee hats.
"There's gotta be something useful in here," Brooklynn says.
Ben sputters. "Information on dinosaurs," he points to Darius and Sammy, "weapons," he points to the electric spear Kenji found, "medical supplies," he points to the section Yasmina was checking out.
"There's gotta be a phone or something here, right?" Darius asks as Brooklynn and Yasmina approach him.
"They have a special radio/walkie-talkie thingy that is used only for emergency help," Kenji says. "Emergency centers on the mainland are always tuned into it's radio wavelength in case the island needs help."
"Great!" Darius exclaims. "We find this thing, and we go home!"
To Brooklynn's delight—and Yasmina's horror—the pinkette finds a video camera. She gasps in delight and turns it on. "Our rescue will be a Brooklynn exclusive!" She poses with the peace sign, then turns the camera towards her friends. Yasmina groans in frustration.
As the days pass, change in the groups dynamics increases. While the only bickering that happens is between Yasmina, Brooklynn, and Kenji, there was still unease in the air.
Darius was stressed about it, wishing that there could be total peace between everyone. This time, though, he couldn't even put his finger on the problem. He was also trying not to have a breakdown every time he thought of his father. Brooklynn's hormonal, unpredictable behavior didn't help his stress, either. He loved her, but he felt like he was walking on eggshells around her. Kenji told him it was normal behavior for girls, though.
Sammy seemed completely oblivious to any unease, except for Yasmina's coldness towards her. The Texan carried on happily, laughing and joking with the others. It was her lightheartedness that actually relieved some of the tenseness.
Yasmina was certainly less irritable than before, proving Darius's theory that she was coping with grief correct. Her and Kenji were getting along a bit better, but she was still prone to snapping at the alpha male. Her new source of irritation was Brooklynn and her camera. Darius also heard the two bickering about weight and hunger, but he wasn't sure what that was about.
Brooklynn was very possessive over her new camera. Her and Yasmina constantly argued over the necessity of it. The one thing they could agree on, though, was the cleanliness of the lost-and-found clothes. Yasmina made a comment about what sort of parasites people could've carried. Brooklynn promptly changed into her old clothes and never tried anything else on.
Ben was just plain confused. He could tell the others were treating him differently—that was to be expected when you survived all on your own—but he couldn't decide if the change was good or bad. One example was when Bumpy got trapped on her back.
"Should we go and help her?" Sammy asks, compassionately.
"She's a dinosaur," Yasmina groans. "She can get up on her own."
Sammy looks at Ben. He winces internally. Memories of arguing with Yasmina over Bumpy pop up. "You were a wimp then. Would a tough guy act like that?" Ben asks himself. "You wanna be tough like Yaz and Kenji; would they care? Well, Yaz already doesn't."
He wrestles with his feelings. On one hand, he wanted to be tough. On the other, he really cared about Bumpy.
As Ben looks out the window, he doesn't see the expression change on Yasmina. "I mean, she is kind of our protector. If Ben thinks she needs help, I'll go down—"
"She doesn't need help," Ben shrugs. "She's an Ankylosaurus, if she can't do it herself, she wouldn't be able to survive. She'll figure it out."
The group stares at him in disbelief. "What? It's nature," Ben says. "Obviously if she can't get up in say, thirty minutes we would—see, there she goes." Bumpy flips herself over and shakes her head.
"You'd be okay with Bumpy being in trouble?" Darius asks.
"No, but it's life if she doesn't make it," Ben says. He squirms at his words, but keeps going. "It's nature. The strongest survive, and the weak are killed off. And I'll have to say goodbye to Bumpy sooner or later. It's not like I can just bring back a fully grown Ankylosaurus to Maryland."
"That's… very mature of you, Ben," Darius nods, frowning slightly. The whole group left it at that, feeling slightly uncomfortable with Ben's new changes. Before his fall, he had two defining features: his paranoia, and his compassion. It seemed as if surviving had taken both.
Kenji was completely lost. His huge list of crazy mood swings—from extremely irritable, to cocky arrogant, to crazy jokester—had decreased, leaving him with sulky teenager and extremely snappy. Ben's 360 had thrown him, and the alpha male didn't know what to do. Sammy kept trying to make jokes with him, but he never really engaged in a conversation. The most interested he had been in a conversation was the discussion of Brooklynn's real hair color.
"Dude, your roots," Kenji stares at her.
"What?" Brooklynn frowns.
"Your roots are brown," Kenji says in complete shock. "I thought you were a blonde!"
"Nope," Brooklynn giggles.
"I thought you had black hair," Sammy frowns in confusion.
"Wrong," Brooklynn laughs. "But that would mean you're almost a true Brooklander. I'm a brunette. My hair shade is slightly lighter than Yaz's."
"What made you dye your hair?" Darius asks.
"Well, I actually dyed my hair black to try out for a school play," Brooklynn explains. "That's when I started my Youtube channel and became popular. So most Brooklanders think I have black hair."
"Ooh, can I restore my reputation by explaining how your hair color works?" Sammy giggles, bouncing a little in her seat.
"Knock yourself out," Brooklynn laughs.
"So, each of her videos unboxes a certain subject," Sammy explains. "There are groups of videos that are all part of one big subject. Her first series of 'unboxing' was on pet rabbits; and that's how she got popular. Then she branched out into dogs and changed her hair color to a dark blonde. Everytime she started a new series, she changed her hair color. By the time she went through all the natural hair colors, it became a theme to change her hair color with the change of the theme."
"That's exactly what happened," Brooklynn smiles. "My uncle works with a lot of machines, and I decided to change my hair to match. So I became a platinum blonde. After that, I would send out a short video teasing the new series, and everyone would have to guess what color my hair was. I'd send out merch as a prize for those who actually guessed correctly."
"How does cotton candy pink go with Jurassic World?" Yasmina blinks in confusion.
"It doesn't," Brooklynn giggles. "Jurassic World was part of a bigger theme. Amusement and theme parks. I did cotton candy pink for cotton candy. I went to Disney World to unbox their theme park, and Disney World had a special sale because of it." Brooklynn snickers. "Me and Disney ended up making a profit off of that, so Jurassic World asked me to come to Camp Cretaceous in hopes that attendance would skyrocket."
The group laughs. "Some good that did," Sammy says, elbowing Kenji. "Right?"
"Yeah," Kenji chuckles lacklusterly.
The next day, Kenji is moping around his father's condos. Ben and Darius were geeking out over dinosaurs and Yasmina and Brooklynn were once again fighting. Unfortunately for the rest of them, Yasmina was on her time of the month along with Brooklynn, and no one wanted to get in between the two hissing girls.
Kenji hears grunting from the kitchen. Sammy was cooking dinner. The alpha male wonders if she was in trouble and speed walks into the kitchen. "Are you okay?" he asks.
The cowgirl blows a wisp of hair out of her face. "I hate 'em thick sweet potatoes. They're so hard to cut through."
"Need some help?" Kenji asks. Sammy gives him the knife and he puts his full weight into it, cutting the food she was having trouble with.
"Gracias, Superman," Sammy chuckles, getting back to cutting.
"It's nothing," Kenji shrugs, leaning against the counter. He immediately goes into bragging mode. "I work out. A lot. We have a gym in my mansion, so I have all the time in the world to work on these babies." He flexes his biceps.
"Naw, that can't just be from working out," Sammy sputters, poking his bicep. "You're Captain America, aren't ya?"
"Nope," Kenji says, smoothing back his hair. "This is all Kenji Kon. Completely natural. Nothing added. All genetics."
"You got nice genes then," Sammy giggles, getting back to cutting up sweet potatoes.
Kenji frowns. "Why… why aren't you annoyed with me?"
"Are you tryin' to be annoying?" Sammy asks.
"No, of course not," Kenji shakes his head. "Just… everyone else gets rubbed the wrong way when I say… d'anything. You know, roll their eyes, groan, make fun of me. You haven't done that. You just roll with my…"
"Cockiness? Arrogance? Bragging?" Sammy suggests.
"Yeah," Kenji says, rubbing the back of his neck. "Is it really annoying?"
"I don't find it annoying," Sammy shrugs. "I don't get annoyed easily. Plus, I know you're just looking for validation because you don't get it from your father."
Kenji chuckles nervously. "Heh, heh, way to call me out there."
"Well, it's true, right?" Sammy says, chopping up sweet potatoes casually. "Every time you get uncomfortable or reveal a sensitive part of your past, you start bragging about your mansion and deflecting attention to your awesomeness. Your wealthy boy ego is just a way to cover up your insecurities. Your father is very distant, and you probably don't have friends in school, so you try to fill that void with materials and money. You also use your money and materials to try to impress others and make them think you have it all together. You don't want others to see the real you because you're insecure about who you are."
"Okay… imagine that your knife is your words and the sweet potatoes are my ego," Kenji says. "And you just casually chopped it up to eat for dinner."
Sammy snorts. "Sorry, I know guys are sensitive to talking about their feelings and insecurities. Gotta work on my social skills." She smacks her forehead.
"I mean, if you could figure all that out from reading between the lines, you've got good social skills," Kenji says. His face heats up. "That is, if I actually had insecurities."
"Yep, sorry," Sammy waves her hand. "I shouldn't have wrongly accused you of being imperfect."
"Did you know we have a movie theater in here?" Kenji asks, trying to change the subject. Then he sighs, feeling awkward and uncomfortable. "Dang, you really nailed me there, Sammy."
Sammy giggles sympathetically.
"Do the others know?" Kenji asks, grimacing.
"Probably," Sammy shrugs. "You're pretty… loud about it, if you know what I mean?"
"So it's obvious to everyone that I'm a fake," Kenji sighs.
"It's obvious that you think you're a fake," Sammy corrects. "You tend to focus more on your flaws than your strengths, despite what the others think. You're not overexaggerating your strengths, it's just the way you say it that makes it sound like that."
"Huh?" Kenji quirks an eyebrow.
"You wanna be strong, right?" Sammy asks. Kenji nods. "You are," she shrugs. "You carried Yaz, you ran around for days on end. You and Yaz are the strongest members on the team. You're extremely brave; you distracted Sarah with your life. You're very smart; you know your way around the park. You're extremely funny. You've got lots of great qualities. Stop focusing on the negatives in you."
"Kinda hard when everyone else is annoyed with me," Kenji says softly, drumming his fingers on the countertop. He wasn't used to talking so openly about his feelings and insecurities. At least, not without judgement.
"You want me to talk to the girls?" Sammy asks. "Cause Darius and Ben aren't the ones with the problem. It's Brooklynn and Yaz who make you feel bad, right?"
"Don't talk to them, please," Kenji begs. "I don't…"
"Don't want them to know how much their words hurt you?" Sammy features soften.
The alpha male nods, crossing his arms vulnerably.
"Okay," Sammy says softly. "I won't talk to them. But something has to be done about it."
"I can take it," Kenji says. "I'll just ignore them. Toughen up, you know. Live up to what I brag about."
"Well, you don't have to live up to anything around me," Sammy says.
"Thank you," he says, blinking his eyes quickly. "It's nice to find someone who has compassion. I mean, Darius definitely isn't mean, and neither is Ben, but for some reason the girls can just be so annoyed with me. I know why, but…"
"Some people have a hard time feeling compassion towards others," Sammy says a bit bitterly. "Even if they know the reason for their actions."
"I wish the girls would stop holding that against you," Kenji says, quick to come to her defense after she was nice to him. "It wasn't right to steal or spy, but your family was kinda on the line. If the others wouldn't do what you did, well… that just shows you how much their family matters to them. If I was in your position, I don't know what I'd do… that's kinda sad. You were ready to get in huge trouble for your family. I'm hesitating. Your family is very lucky to have you, Sammy."
Sammy smiles sadly. "Brooklynn's forgiven me, but I'm not sure if Yaz ever will. She's really harboring a grudge against me. I guess she's not close enough to her family to understand."
"Maybe she puts honesty and honor above her family," he suggests.
"The girl who stays away from everyone else and never opens up?" she chuckles. "Naw."
"Maybe there's more on her side of the story that we don't know about," Kenji shrugs. "She doesn't trust me or Brooklynn either. Maybe we should show compassion to her even though we don't know the reasons for her actions."
"Are you using my own words against me?" Sammy plants a hand on her hip.
"Ohhh, I see," Kenji grins. "You don't wanna live out your own advice, ya hypocrite!"
"Get out of my kitchen!" Sammy laughs, bumping him with her hip.
Kenji leaves the kitchen snickering, feeling much better than he had before.
The next five days, Kenji struggles with what he had discussed with Sammy. Talking about his problem had definitely helped, and he was starting to pay attention to his actions a bit more. The alpha male began to understand why the others got so annoyed with him, and made a mental note to stop bragging so much. It's not like his wealth was useful in their situation.
The young man had never been open about what he felt. The last time he tried, it came out as anger and made the situation worse. Sharing his insecurities and feelings felt so wrong to him; it felt so weak! But being vulnerable around Sammy wasn't bad, and he certainly learned something about himself.
And despite what Yasmina thought, Kenji saw the Texas girl as pretty trustworthy. She hadn't told the girls anything about their conversation; something that surprised him. One thing that he observed about teenage girls was that they shared everything with their friends. All the latest gossip and hot tea that they heard. Sammy was extremely talkative and open about everything she felt. It shocked Kenji that Brooklynn and Yasmina didn't know his insecurities. If Sammy could keep his secrets between the two of them, maybe he was underestimating his female companions.
And so his dilemma occurred: should he open up and talk to Yasmina and Brooklynn about how he felt? He would never open up freely and talk about his fEeLiNgs; not to the boys, and certainly not to the girls. Kenji would never admit it, but girls freaked him out. He couldn't understand them for his life. But then again, Sammy wasn't so bad.
Christmas Eve morning—his seventeenth birthday—Kenji sits in the foyer, contemplating Christmas presents. The group had decided to give gifts of whatever they could find. Kenji had been hard pressed to come up with good ideas and not give random objects. But he decided that he would give them memories instead of objects. "I mean, I could just give them random objects," he thinks. "Would make for a funny gag gift. But I'm sure Darius and the others will come up with special, heartwarming gifts despite our situation. And I've already prepared their gifts. Is it enough, though?"
He sighs. "They're lucky to get anything in this situation. I hope Christmas isn't ruined completely. My birthday's already bad; no one remembered."
Brooklynn and Yasmina sit down in the foyer across from him, closer than they had been for the past week without spitting at each other. They were speaking in hushed whispers. Kenji finds his thoughts wandering back to his dilemma. "Should I just open up and tell them?" Kenji asks himself for the one hundredth time. "Yaz likes honesty, and the first words that come to mind for Brooklynn when she thinks about me is 'toxic masculinity.' Maybe they would appreciate me more if I was vulnerable. Works for Darius and Ben."
Kenji inhales deeply, preparing himself for a very uncomfortable conversation. Then he gets up and heads over to the girls. The two see him coming towards them and look at each other. "No, Carnotaurus can run up to 30 to 35 miles per hour," Brooklynn says.
"Nuh uh, Toro seemed way slower," Yasmina's eyes light up, then she crosses her arms defiantly.
"Well, when we ran from her, she was climbing up the stairs," Brooklynn says.
"Toro was a lot faster when she was chasing me and Darius," Kenji says, flopping down next to them.
"That was so stupid of you two," Yasmina shakes her head. "Traveling into Toro's enclosure."
Kenji bites back an excuse for his actions. "Yeah… it was stupid. I was just kinda… tryin' to make him think I was someone great."
The girls tilt their heads.
"It's funny that he ended up being the one to save us all and lead us through the danger," Kenji chuckles. "I'm notorious for making bad decisions, but… deferring to Darius was the best decision I've made. I had no idea what I was doing; I only acted like it. Darius did. I'm surprised anyone listened to me at all."
Brooklynn snorts. "We weren't listening to you, we were listening to Darius. We knew you didn't know anything. You weren't the leader, Darius was. You were only leadership material in your own mind."
"Since when do you admit to your mistakes?" Yasmina asks, quirking an eyebrow. "What's the change of pace? Decided you were sensitive?"
Kenji's resolve to be honest and open crumbles with every word they speak. This wasn't how things were supposed to go. They were supposed to be sensitive and realize that he was trying to be friends, not agree that he was a faker. "I decided I was going to be honest with you, since you like that sort of thing," he says, his cocky attitude reappearing.
Yasmina purses her lips. "Well… thank you for admitting that."
"I guess I'll go," Kenji says, trying to put a bit of a spring in his steps in spite of his hurt feelings. "Since I'm clearly not wanted here." He tries to say it in a goofy tone, to show them that he wasn't hurt, but his voice falters at the end.
"That…" Brooklynn starts to say, wincing. She stops talking, proving what Kenji said to be right.
Kenji leaves the condo and walks out onto the street. "What was I thinking? They don't want me as a friend or anything. I'm just the stupid boy they have to put up with until the get off the island. No, I'm the oppressor they have to defeat because I'm a guy and they're girls. Everything I do to them is oppression and I can't be nice to them without thinking they're weak. Want me to help you walk, Yaz? 'Oh no, I don't need a man for that.' Let me hold the door for you, Brooklynn. 'Ugh, toxic masculinity.' I can't do anything for them without being made fun of!"
Kenji almost walks into a building as he rants to himself. "But if I treat them like I would a guy, a.k.a. roughhouse with them and push them around, I'm being abusive. I can't win!" He sputters. "Girls are from a totally different planet, I swear. Brooklynn and Yaz? Pluto, cause that's the farthest and coldest planet of all. See, I'm not so stupid! I know about planets!"
Kenji kicks the building with his foot, then winces. He chuckles. "At least, they pay attention to me. I just wish they'd be nice, especially on my birthday. Of course, no one cares. They probably don't even believe that my birthday is on Christmas Eve."
Kenji is so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he is greatly startled by the soft growl behind him. He turns around to see a big, slim dinosaur coming around the corner of the building. The alpha male lets out a scream and starts running away. The dinosaur shrieks and chases after him.
"Higher, higher," Darius instructs.
"I don't think I can reach higher," Sammy grunts, standing on her tippy toes to reach the window frame. Her, Darius, and Ben hear a scream and the Texan looks out the window. "Kenji!" she shouts.
Kenji dodges the predator's bite to his head and hits a wooden table. He flips over it and rolls on the ground, groaning in pain. Then he scrambles back on his hands and feet, trying to escape the hungry jaws of the dino.
The dinosaur closes in, jaws open wide to grab its prey. When it's close enough for Kenji to smell it's wretched breath, the predator stops. Kenji opens his eyes, whimpering. The dinosaur pulls back, snout curling back. Kenji could swear that the dinosaur was disgusted with the meal it had found.
The predator backs away and runs off between the buildings, leaving Kenji shaky. He pants, and pulls his knees up to his chest. The alpha male curls up into a ball and starts to sniffle. The others run to him as quickly as they can. "Are you hurt?" Darius panics, gently grabbing the sides of Kenji's face to look at him. The older boy weakly pushes away his hands and hides his face in his arms.
"What was that?" Sammy asks, placing her hands on Kenji's back.
"A Utahraptor," Darius says.
"Thank God, Utah decided she didn't want Kenji and noped out of here," Brooklynn says, holding her heart.
That comment makes Kenji lose it. He starts sobbing, slowly rocking back and forth.
"It's okay, Kenji," Sammy says. "Utah won't come back for you. And Bumpy would defend you."
"You're safe now," Yasmina says.
"We're here," Ben adds.
"It…" Kenji chokes out. "It di-di-didn't want me a-a-as a s-s-snack!"
"What?" Darius frowns, confused.
"Kenji, that's a good thing," Brooklynn says.
Kenji goes on, voice trembling as he wails. "I-I-I th-th-thought I w-w-was a f-f-fine me-e-eal. B-b-b-b-but not-t-t e-e-even a dino-o-o-sa-a-ur wants-s-s t-t-to e-e-eat me-e-e."
The group is silent for a moment. Then Brooklynn starts laughing. "You're ups-set… that the… dino wouldn't… eat you?!" she wheezes. Sammy mouths the words: "stop" at her. "I'm s-sorry," Brooklynn squeaks, turning away to attempt to compose herself.
Yasmina starts guffawing. In her defense, she tried harder than Brooklynn to stop laughing. But the athlete's face turns bright red as she claps both hands over her mouth. Both girls fall on the ground at the same time, holding their sides as they attempt to stop for Kenji's sake.
Their laughter only makes Kenji cry harder. "Kenji, it-it's okay," Darius says, trying to sooth the older boy. It didn't help that he had a similar problem to the girls and was trying not to burst out in chortles.
"I-i-it di-didn't w-w-want me as a-a-a sn-sn-snack," is all Kenji can say. "Not even a dinosaur wants me! No one remembers me, no one cares about me, and even dinosaurs don't think I'd make a good meal!" he wails in his head.
"But that's a good thing," Ben says. He thinks for a moment. "You wouldn't want to go out like that, anyway, Kenji. If you're going to be eaten, why don't you go out with a bang? You know, heroically sacrificing yourself for the rest of us. Then you'd be a hero. You don't want your gravestone to say, 'Was walking around and got eaten by a dino,' right?"
Kenji only bawls harder. "I'm not a-a-a fine sn-sn-ack," he sobs.
"I think you're a great snack, Kenji," Sammy says, trying to comfort him. She rubs his back to try to distract him from Brooklynn and Yasmina's laughter—which was made worse by her comment. "No, not a snack! You're a fine, full, 7 course meal! With amazin' entrees of roast pork and mashed potatoes and yummy soups!"
Kenji looks up at her from his fetal position with starry eyes and a tear stained face. "R-roast p-p-pork?"
"Yeah!" Sammy exclaims. "And a lovely casserole that Grandmas would be jealous of!"
"Casserole?" Kenji sniffs.
"And wonderfully roasted shrimp because why not? Yer exotic!" Sammy winks at him.
"And deliciously creamy fudge?" Kenji blinks his eyes innocently at her.
"Of course," Ben nods.
"Whatever fudge you'd like," Darius smiles.
"Someday, some girl's gonna come along and be the lucky one," Sammy says, wrapping her arm around his shoulder and pointing in his face. "She'll order you, and appreciate you, and savor every bit of your full, 7 course meal."
"R-really? You r-r-really think so?" Kenji sniffles.
"Of course!" Sammy nods forcefully.
"Utah doesn't deserve you," Darius joins in.
"That dinosaur doesn't know what she's missing," Ben smirks.
"Guys, that dinosaur's dead," Yasmina shouts, having put distance between herself and the sobbing Kenji. She looks down the alleyway the Utahraptor headed. "Looks like she ingested some sort of poison. Foaming at the mouth and twitching sort of thing."
"See, it wasn't you," Sammy says.
"It was the dinosaur," Darius nods. "She wanted to eat you, but she felt sick to her stomach."
"The dino was the problem, not you," Ben smiles.
"Okay," Kenji nods, getting up and heading back into the condo. He was feeling better, but a bit embarrassed about his little sob session. He finds himself in the kitchen.
The door opens and the cowgirl walks in. "You feelin' betta?"
"Go away, Sammy," Kenji mumbles irritatedly.
"What's wrong?" she asks.
"I want to be alone," he grumbles.
"It's okay," Sammy says. "You don't have to be embarrassed. I don't judge you at all. It's okay to cry in a stressful situation."
"Know when to stop pushing, Sam," Kenji snaps. "That's how you messed up with Yaz."
Sammy's face falls. "I...I'm sorry."
She goes to leave. Kenji sighs. "No, don't go. I'm sorry. I just… yeah, I'm embarrassed."
"You want me to just sit with you?" Sammy asks, sitting down next to him on the floor.
"I wanna talk about it, but I don't wanna talk about it, ya know?" Kenji leans his head on the back of the stove.
"Well, I'm here anyway," Sammy says, getting up. "If you wanna talk, talk. I promise I'll listen, even if it seems like I'm preoccupied with dinner."
Kenji sticks out his tongue. "Bleh, talking about feelings is weird. It just feels so weak and wussy."
"I find that talking about feelings is helpful," Sammy says, turning on the oven. "Holding them in just makes things worse for me. But… as I've been learnin', not everyone feels the same way. So if you don't wanna talk, I won't pressure you to. Just know that I won't judge you for anything you say in here. Turns out I'm better at keeping secrets than I thought."
"Thank you for not telling the girls," Kenji says. "I thought you would."
"Why would I? You asked me not to," Sammy curls back her lips in disgust, offended that he thought she would break his trust.
"Cause girls tell their friends everything," Kenji chuckles. "You guys are like little gossip machines. From what I've experienced, if you tell one girl, by the end of the day, every girl knows what you said. Plus a little extra gossip added in for drama."
Sammy laughs. "Well, you're not wrong. That's how a lot of girls roll. But my Momma taught us from a young age that if someone trusts you with information—as long as it's harmless and not dangerous information—you keep it to yourself. Especially if it's sensitive and they became vulnerable to tell you about it. That person just trusted you with a piece of their heart; why would you wanna break it? Ya gotta be heartless to just go passing around a piece of someone's heart to anyone you see."
"That's a really good way to look at it," Kenji says. He finally gives up. "I just… you're right, it is really, really helpful to talk about how you feel, especially with someone who uplifts you and doesn't judge you. I've been afraid to talk about anything I feel because people judged me in the past. You were different. To be honest, I was kinda scared of talking to girls or being friends at all. At my schools, girls were not the nicest people. Gossiping behind each other's backs, ruining each other's reputation, and just being confusing to me in general. It's scary to see how you guys treat each other. But after I talked to you, I thought… I thought I was wrong about girls. And then I went to talk to Brooklynn and Yaz. And… maybe I was right about girls, and you're an angel in disguise."
"Don't let a few bad apples ruin your idea of the whole group," Sammy says, crouching down next to him. "Or a lot of bad apples. I agree with you that teen girls can be really nasty people. But there are so many nice girls out there." She gets back up to cook. "What happened to you with Brooklynn and Yaz?"
"Well, I never open up for…" Kenji bites his lip. "For fear that I'll be burned. I hate the idea of getting hurt emotionally. But I opened up to you, and everything was fine. And you open up to people all the time. You're so friendly and happy. I thought I'd try your approach. Maybe people would actually like me if I wasn't such a faker.
"So I told them that I didn't know what I was doing when the I-rex broke out," Kenji continues. "I admitted that I was making it up as I went and that Darius was the real leader. And they weren't nice. Brooklynn was all like, 'Oh, we knew you were an idiot all along, and you were never leadership material. Darius is the perfect leader, you just made it up that we followed you.' And Yaz was like, 'Oh, is the big tough guy opening up? What's wrong, feeling sensitive?' I just wanted to be friends with them, and they hurt me really bad. Why'd they do that? I thought opening up would help make friends, not get you burned."
Sammy chuckles bitterly. "You got the same results of opening up that I do. I read this in a book once. Imagine that you saw a stove for the first time. Three of the four circles were black, while the fourth one was red. You touch the black one and it's fine. You touch the red one and it burns. Later on, you find Teflon gloves that protect you from being burned. Some people are so scared of being burned, that they wear the Teflon gloves everywhere. They look tough on the outside, but on the inside, they're scared of being burned."
Kenji nods, following her.
"Opening up to people is like taking off the Teflon gloves," Sammy says. "You're taking a risk of getting burned. Some people—like you and Yaz—keep the gloves on all the time because you don't trust people with your heart. Others—like me—take off their gloves before they know they can trust people. I know that I can get burned if I open up to people. And to make friendships grow, you have to open up. My problem is that I don't know when I'm moving too fast. I've been burned so many times, Kenji."
Sammy sits down next to him. "My life may look like it's full of sunshine and rainbows, but you don't see everything about me. All my 'friends' at school? They know that they can open up to me about anything and I will be their friend. But are they my friend? More often than not, I can't actually trust them."
Kenji's eyebrows narrow in anger. "What do you mean you can't trust them? Personally, the more I know I can trust you, the more I want to return the favor."
"Not everyone thinks that way," Sammy says sadly. "Turns out being so open and happy makes people see me as an emotional pillow. As soon as I try to talk about deep problems I've got, they give me this look like I'm weird. I know a lot of people in my school are struggling, and I wanna be there for them. I hate the idea of being alone; it's my biggest fear. That's why I try so hard to be there for others. But I've gained the reputation of being the happy-go-lucky girl, and now people are off-put by me when I show anything but that. So I just internalize all my problems, and hope that one day I can find someone who will let me be real."
"You don't have to fake anything around me," Kenji says. "If I can be real with you, you can be real with me. I understand that feeling."
"Thank you, Kenji," Sammy says, holding back tears. "Yaz and I have more in common than you'd think. I thought she was super lonely and shy, and I felt bad for her. That's why I put a lot of energy into bringing her into the group. I didn't want her to be alone. I didn't realize you were struggling with loneliness until you mentioned it on the monorail. I'm sorry for not putting in as much effort as I should've."
"It's okay," Kenji says. "I wasn't super lonely. I was friends with Darius and Ben so… but I feel like there's some sort of divide between us. I guess I was the problem between me and Darius; I was making him stressed probably. With Ben, I don't know. He's changed so much; I don't recognize him."
"I thought Ben annoyed you," Sammy says, getting up to check on the food. "What made you like him so much?"
"Don't get me wrong, Ben annoyed the heck out of me in the beginning," Kenji laughs. "He was so wussy and so clingy. It was so annoying. But then… no one else seemed to care. No one else seemed to like me. And it was endearing that when he was afraid he came to me. It made me feel…"
"Wanted?" Sammy suggests. "Loved? Useful?"
"All of those," Kenji says. He looks up at her from his spot on the ground. "You promise not to judge me?"
"Always," Sammy says, tousling his hair.
Kenji chuckles. "I… I stuck with Ben because he made me feel useful. I want to be the protector, the defender, the hero. I want to be the big strong guy everyone comes to when they're in trouble. And I feel like I can't be that way. Culture says I'm the bad guy if I try to be the big strong guy. Culture says I'm oppressing girls if I want to save them. But I want to save everyone. And is there a problem with wanting to save a girl? It just feels natural to me. I wouldn't think Yaz was weak if she let me help her walk. I wouldn't think you were beneath me if I held the door open for you. I just want to be nice and helpful."
"I wouldn't judge you for that," Sammy says.
"Yaz and Brooklynn seem to think I'm the bad guy when I try to help them," Kenji goes on. "And Darius is the leader, so I can't protect him. Ben was really the only one who accepted my protection. It made me feel… like a man. And honestly, it helped me stay calm in the whole situation. When I'm running for my life, it's terrifying. But when I'm thinking about, 'Where's Ben? What can I do to keep him safe? How can I save Darius? Where is Yaz and is she in danger?' it was easier to stay calm. It just gave me something to focus on and do. It sort of gave me control over my situation. But now Ben doesn't want my protection, and Darius wants to be independent. And Yaz and Brooklynn don't need me…"
Sammy sits down next to him, leaning on the stove. "Honestly, it was probably a good thing that Yaz and I had that break. And it's probably a good thing that you and Ben's friendship was messed up."
Kenji slowly turns his head, staring at her in disbelief. "Well, our friendships with them were kinda toxic," she says. "I mean, I always thought that introverts were just shy and that you could train them out of it. I didn't want her to be lonely, so if we were to stay friends for a long time, it would probably be toxic. I'd most likely force her into social situations she wasn't comfortable with, and stress her out. I wouldn't give her any space under the guise of trying to help her become less shy. It just… it probably wouldn't have been healthy for two two of us."
"And she moved really quickly," he says. "She went from lone wolf one night to BFF's with you the next morning. It was super quick and really weird."
"Yeah, I don't know what was going through her mind," Sammy says. "She should've taken her time to get to know me. As for you and Ben, sounds to me like you guys could've become codependent. And that's not healthy. You guys only knew each other for a few days, and you're already hurt that he's not clinging to you. Imagine if you had more time to become closer. Seems to me like you guys wouldn't be able to live without each other. You would constantly look to him for validation, and he would look to you for protection. While that sounds good, you need to be able to live on your own without constantly having to look to someone else for something."
"You think I wouldn't be able to live without Ben?" Kenji asks. He thinks for a moment. "I guess it's not impossible… I see your point about codependency."
"There has to be a balance between being independent, and knowing when to ask for help," Sammy says. "You don't want to find yourself so attached to a friend that you can't live your life without them. What if something happens to them? Where would you be? At the same time, you don't want to be on the Yaz side of the spectrum and hurt yourself trying to be independent. There's nothing wrong with depending on a friend and relying on them in a tough situation, but you don't want to overdo it to the point where they're your whole life."
Kenji laughs. "It's a difficult walk to walk."
"Okay," Sammy says, poking Kenji's side. He gently smacks her hand away, trying to stop her from tickling. "You can protect me if it keeps you calm on this island. And you can come to me with anything. But don't become dependent on me. It sounds cute to say I can't live without you, but please don't feel that way about me. I don't want you to find yourself anxious without me there. Walk the line."
"Okay," Kenji says, standing up with her. "Thank you, Sammy. This has been a really great talk."
Sammy moves in close. Kenji automatically wraps his arms around her, thankful to have a friend he could trust with his heart. Sammy hugs him back and the two are silent for a moment. "We're kinda the unlikely friends," Kenji says, biting back tears of happiness. "I didn't… I didn't think I'd end up being close to you. Ya know?"
Sammy chuckles. "Yee, we didn't spend much time together before. But I'm glad I have your friendship."
The two stay hugging together for another moment. "Okay, as much as I love you, Kenji, I wasn't coming in for a hug. I was tryin' to get stuff outta the oven."
Kenji laughs. "Sorry," he says as he pulls back. "It's like Tony Stark and Peter Parker."
"I actually haven't seen that movie," Sammy says. "We don't watch a lot of movies."
"You haven't seen it?!" Kenji exclaims. "Bruh, how?!"
Kenji goes on a Marvel rant to Sammy. The Texan laughs. "Okay, okay, let's go."
"Go where?" Kenji asks.
"You'll see," Sammy snickers. She leads him into one of the condo's luxurious rooms. The room is dark until Sammy turns on the lights. "Surprise!" The other four pop out.
"Wha?!" Kenji looks around in surprise.
"Happy birthday!" Darius exclaims.
"Wait, you guys remembered?" Kenji asks, holding his head.
"Of course we did," Sammy says.
"Sorry if we were kinda rude earlier today," Brooklynn says. "We were trying to figure out what to give you and didn't want you to hear us."
"I'll just give you your birthday present now," Yasmina says, pulling out what she had behind her back. The athlete hands the alpha male a plunger. "I figured you would like it," she says, starting to rant when she was nervous. "I mean, it's not useful, but you like inside jokes and I thought about a plunger and—"
Kenji bursts into tears and hugs Yasmina in joy. The athlete stares at the others, concerned by his reaction. "Did you… really want a plunger?"
"I can't believe you guys remembered!" Kenji says, pulling back and wiping his eyes. "I thought you forgot about it."
"No," Darius shakes his head. "We just wanted to surprise you."
The group gives him the rest of his presents after dinner. Brooklynn gave him a bowling game, and let him win against her. Ben gave him a ride on Bumpy—through an obstacle course. The others didn't reprimand him when he hollered with joy. Darius gave him a wrestling match. Unlike Brooklynn, he gave it his all and tried to beat Kenji. The alpha male still won, though. What mattered the most was the memory of wrestling. Sammy gave Kenji a dance party. The group had decided to use one of the computers for music. They hadn't wanted to use technology—they wanted to preserve energy in case of an emergency—but Kenji's birthday was an exception. Each one was allowed one song—minus Kenji, who was allowed two—and all of them were Kenji's favorites. They danced to the Whip & Nae Nae, Cotton Eye Joe, Macarena, and the Cha Cha Slide. Sammy chose Gangnam Style, while Kenji chose Home;Run by Seventeen and the Kpop version of Chicken Noodle Soup. Yasmina held her tongue and didn't make fun of his choice of music, despite her teasing his enjoyment of Kpop before.
That night, the group hops into bed, accepting that there was only one sleeping room instead of two. "Thanks, guys," Kenji says, as they snuggle together. "This will sound sad, but this might just be the best birthday I've ever had."
"Happy birthday," Darius smiles.
"Merry Christmas," Yasmina mumbles. The rest murmurs the same thing, and they fall asleep.
In the back of a pizzeria in Liverpool, England, a certain brunette was wiping down the refrigerators. She hears the front door open, but doesn't bother to check it. The young woman doesn't pay attention to what the cashier was saying; she only focused on cleaning.
"You missed a spot," a familiar voice says.
Roxie turns around. Dave stood behind her. "Dave, what… what are you doing here?"
"I came to see you," he chuckles. "Took me a while, since you didn't give me your number."
Roxie chuckles. "So, you work at a pizza restaurant?" Dave asks.
"My parents own it," Roxie explains. "They took me back in after… after I couldn't find a job anywhere else."
"Nice," Dave says.
"Stop talking to your boyfriend and start cleaning," the young cashier shouts.
"Shut up, Luca!" Roxie shouts back.
"Is he?" Dave asks, pointing to the cashier.
"My brother?" Roxie finishes. "Unfortunately, yes. I'll tell you about my family later; we close in thirty minutes. Let me finish up and then we can take a walk."
"Sounds, good," Dave says. "Can I order a pizza?" Roxie plants her hands on her hips. "Kidding, kidding," Dave laughs. "Mostly."
After Roxie's family restaurant closes, her and Dave take a walk outside. It was snowing gently, and Roxie wraps her warm coat tightly around her. "My father's side came from Italy, while my mother is a pure born Brit with a prankster streak," Roxie says. "Which meant that after my parents came to an agreement to alternate between Italian and English names, all the English named kids had letters the Italian alphabet doesn't."
"Example?" Dave asks.
"The Italian alphabet is missing the letters J, K, W, X, and Y," Roxie explains. "My mother somehow picked names that hit all the letters and it would drive my Italian grandparents nuts."
Dave laughs. "How many siblings do you have? That brother, Luca, looked like he was nineteen."
"He is," Roxie nods. "I'm the second child of eight."
Dave whistles. "Wow. No wonder you're so bossy."
Roxie bumps him with her shoulder. "My older brother, Leo, is married with a two year old daughter. Then came me, Miss X. After me is my sister Fiora, who's married as well. Number four is Galway, he hits the W and Y. Then comes Luca, the nineteen year old brat. After him is Jacky, my sixteen year old sister. She's the J and Y. Then Nico, who's twelve, and Keaton, who's nine. Keaton hits the K."
"So you're youngest sibling is nine?" Dave asks. "Dang, how old are you?"
"Twenty-five," Roxie says, wrapping her scarf around her neck and putting her hands in her pockets. "What about you?"
"Twenty-six," Dave says, trying to create rings in the air with his breath. He shakes his head and gives up. "I have three older sisters: Alyssa, Macy, and Melanie. Macy has a daughter and Alyssa's got two sons. I'll never stop teasing her for her name choices."
"Hmm?" Roxie frowns.
"Alyssa and her husband named their first son Samuel," Dave explains with a mischievous smirk. "And something made them name their second son Jaxon. I won't let them forget that they made an accidental tribute to the actor."
Roxie mouths the two names to herself and laughs. "Oh, poor kids."
Dave laughs. "I love 'em. I'm the fun uncle Dave."
"My niece isn't old enough to know me," Roxie says. "So the only kids I've got are my two younger brothers."
Roxie's face saddens. "How are you coping with the incident?" Dave asks.
The brunette chuckles. "I've been better. I can't stop imagining what I could've done differently. They're the same ages as my siblings Nico and Jacky, Dave. I can't… I don't know how to live with their blood on my hands. I don't trust myself anymore."
Dave puts his arm around her shoulder. "It's hard to think about that. It's even harder to see their families faces."
"Do you visit them often?" Roxie asks.
"I live down the street from Brooklynn's grandparents," Dave says, chuckling bitterly. "That's been hard."
Roxie winces. "Oh, I'm glad I live in England, now."
"I try not to think about it," Dave says, his usually goofy face falling. "With everything that was going on on the island, they might still be on there even if we did make different choices. Who knows? Maybe we still would've been separated and we would get off and they wouldn't. It was chaotic, and we had no control over the situation. I feel terrible about leaving them, but there's nothing I can do now. I just try to remember the good times we had with them."
"That's painful, too," Roxie mumbles, looking at the ground.
Dave looks at his watch. "Alright, good talk. But I have to get back to the airport. I'm going to spend Christmas morning with my family."
"Christmas morning?" Roxie's eyebrows fly up. "It's Christmas Eve, David. You have a nine hour flight at best! You're cutting it really close."
"I wanted to see you before I left," Dave explains.
"Why did you decide Christmas Eve, then?" Roxie asks.
"I've been in Liverpool for a week looking for you!" Dave laughs. "I finally found you tonight. It's your fault you didn't give me your number."
Roxie laughs.
"Okay, here's my phone number and email," Dave says, handing her a piece of paper. "I will video call you Christmas night. You can't say no!"
Roxie laughs as Dave runs off, trying to make it to his flight. "All right, I'll answer tomorrow!"
"You better!" Dave shouts as he runs, almost slipping on the icy sidewalks.
Roxie chuckles to herself, holding the paper and her coat close to her heart. "Merry Christmas, Dave," she says softly.