Stay home, stay safe.
Darius sat on the wood bench outside with the other campers. Well, everyone but Yazmina, who was drawing in her notebook. He's trying to keep his cool around Brooklynn, but it's kind of hard to be calm when a girl who is not your sister sees you shirtless. "Alright, well, what was the plan? Where we gonna do something, or just sit in a circle?" Darius says to break the tension.
"Oh!" Sammy exclaims. "Why don't we tell some scary camp stories?"
Everyone starts to nod and murmur in agreement. "Alright. Does anyone know any good stories?" Kenij asks.
After a moment, Darius just decides to roll with it. He puts on the hood of his grey jacket. "This one has been told by everyone." At this, everyone shuts up and pays attention to Darius. "The person I heard this from actually set the record straight. In his own words, he described what had happened on the island when the first park ." Darius takes a small pause for dramatic effect. " 'We thought it would be fun. We thought we would be safe. But we didn't realize the horror that was waiting for us on the island. Claws... Teeth... Screaming... So much screaming.' " Darius pauses again for effect. He resumes, gesturing with his arms to help with the visuals. The T. Rex stalked closer. Her jaws opened wide.' " Click!
Everyone stops and turns to see that Brooklynn had her phone out and was recording. "For the vlog." She defends herself. "Keep telling the story."
Darius puts back on his hood. "The T. Rex stalk-"
"Oh, dang. Out of space." Everyone sighs again. "Sorry, hold on. I just don't wanna delete my selfie on Everest."
Darius sighs. "Maybe I should start over."
Ben moves closer to Kenji and screams, "No! In fact, you can just stop!"
Kenji rolls his eyes. "Dude, chill, he's not even telling the story. And HOW is your grip this strong?" Kenji was about to lose his arm if Ben held on any tighter.
Darius opens his mouth to continue the story when, "I'm sorry." Sammy interrupts. Darius lays down on the bench. "Shouldn't we call Yazmina over?"
Brooklynn states, "I think she just wants some time to herself."
Sammy just looks at the others with a confused look. "I don't understand."
Kenji, who was getting upset that Ben was close to him, says, "You know how sometimes, people just want to be... Left alone?" The rich teen turns his head towards Ben when saying the last part.
Sammy breaks out into laughter. "Kenji, that's hilarious." Looking back at Yaz, she continues. "I think she's just shy and doesn't know how to make camp friends." Thunder and lightning flash and it starts to rain. "We should go inside!" Sammy states.
Ben, who started going as fast as Roadrunner, yells, "Way ahead of you."
As everyone else follows Ben, Darius hears Brooklynn say, "Well, THAT was a waste of time."
Darius didn't get up to follow the others immediately, but as he gets up, he mutters to himself, "Thanks Brooklynn."
When he gets inside, he sees Yaz and Sammy talking. Poor Yaz. Sammy isn't that bad, she just gives off a vibe of always needing people around her. Darius walks by Brooklynn, Kenji and Ben. He was gonna go to his bunk and lay there for a while, but Brooklynn says, "Hey, Darius. Wanna play a round of Monopoly?"
"Sure." He moves to sit, but the only other spot was next to Brooklynn. He decides to just breath and not freak out after earlier. "Have we rolled to see who goes first?"
By the end of the round, Kenji was mad that he ended up going bankrupt, Ben was happy because it was HIS property that caused him to lose all his money, and Brooklynn and Darius were acting like normal Monopoly players.
"That was TOO cheating!"
"It's not MY fault I got the Parking Space money."
"I want a reroll. No WAY you got Boardwalk!"
"It's not MY fault that you're not making any money!"
"I HATE YOU!" they yell at each other after the round is over.
Kenji and Ben look at them, Kenji amused, Ben looking like he on the verge of pissing himself.
Darius and Brooklynn sigh. "Sorry for yelling." he says.
"Sorry for getting mad at you for MY financial problems." Brooklynn says.
After a few minutes of still being mad, Kenji asks, "Wanna play again?"
"NO!" Everyone yells, even Ben. Before they had a chance to play another game, the camp councilors come in. "Alright guys, time for bed."
Everyone makes their way to the bunk room. The next morning, the campers wake up as Dave gives the wake up call. "Alright everyone, get dressed." They do, and afterwards, they get into the jeep. Darius was happy that he didn't have to miss out on another camp activity. After a little bit of a drive, they finally come into a clearing with a herd and 3 gyrospheres. After the jeep stops, all the kids clear out. Everyone is very excited at what the councilors may have planned.
"Saddle up dudes and dudettes!" Dave says, getting everyone's attention. "We are going on a cattle drive, but with Dinosaurs! It's a Dino drive!"
Ben weakly asks, "Just to be clear, all these Dinosaurs are herbivories right?"
Roxie teases, "Well, they only chewed up the LAST kid only a little. So we are 99% sure they're cool."
"That's so cold." Darius says with a smile.
"Park personnel are moving a group of dinosaurs to fresh grazing lands across the Island, and WE get to ride along with the herd!" Roxie elaborates.
Everyone starts to exclaim in excitment. Everyone except Brooklynn and Kenji. Brooklynn was busy looking at something on her phone, and Kenji ruins the mood. Putting himself next to Roxie, he says, "So, are you sure these things are waterproof? It's looking pretty grim out here, and hair THIS awesome doesn't come easy."
Dave reassures him, "Your hair is gonna be fine Kenji. Storm has already moved up the coast away from us."
Satisfied with that answer, Kenji says, "Cool! Time to show these fools what a gyrosphere MASTER can do!"
Roxie stops him in his tracks. "Hold up. YOU are riding with BEN. As a PASSENGER."
Kenji's mouth drops. "Really? Are you kidding? But he's so uh..."
The 2 people turn their heads to Ben's direction. He was already in the gyro, and he didn't realize that they had seatbelts for a reason. When he tests the gyro control, he goes FLYING forward, faceplanting into the glass.
Kenji looks in her direction with his face pleading to not put him with Ben. "Live it up tough guy." Roxie says with a smirk. Kenji groans as he heads over to bed.
"Everyone, remember. Seatbelts must be worn at all times." Dave sees Darius hasn't gotten into a gyro. "Well, what you waiting for bud?"
"Yeah." Darius says, "Is there maybe a gyro that I can ride solo?"
Dave looks at him and tries to encourage him. "Darius, you NEED to ride with your fellow campers. Bond, share your story man."
"Yeah. I'm not big on telling my story. The one I tried telling last night ended in a puddle of rain."
Dave tries again. "You can't give up man. Just go out there and show them what you got."
"Just be yourself Darius." Roxie says, joining in. "Teenagers can be VERY accepting if you just give them half a chance."
Darius looks her dead in the eyes. "Do you NOT have teenagers in England?" Not having the energy to argue further, the teen walks to the only gyro left. Brooklynn. It HAD to be Brooklynn. He silently hoped it wouldn't be awkward. As he enters, he sees she looks kind of bummed out, so he says, "Hey Brooklynn." Brooklynn gives him a glance, and looks back at her phone. "You doing good?"
"Sure. Whateves." She simply says. He didn't know that she was screaming internally. WHAT THE HELL?! ARE DAVE AND ROXIE INSANE?! Okay, maybe what happened last night won't even be an issue. Besides, it's not like I MEANT to see him shirtless.
Darius sighs and thinks to himself, Alright. So far so good. Maybe it won't even be an issue. Besides, it's not like I MEANT to run into her shirtless.
After everyone puts on their headsets, Roxie voice comes into their ears. "The headsets are for emergencies. You can always reach us on channel six."
Dave sends them off. "Let the herding begin!"
The kids and the gyros race off. Ben was having some trouble but after a few minutes, he finally found what worked for him. Everyone was so excited to be seeing Dinos! The comms were filled with a bunch of excited chatter from the kids. Well, except Ben and Kenji for some reason. "How awesome is this? Brooklynn, you seeing this?" When she doesn't answer, he looks over to the pink dressed girl. He didn't realize that she was muttering to herself.
"'Lame... Lame... You made Jurassic World boring?... No one likes you anymore?'" Brooklynn didn't realize that Darius could hear her.
Darius tries to distract her. "Hey, can you believe that we are so close to these guys?"
"Can you believe I don't care?!" Brooklynn snaps. After they share a short eye lock, they look away. Brooklynn quickly realizes she's in the wrong. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm just having one of those days." Darius waits for to elaborate. "There's a lot of pressure when your whole life is about being popular and I'm not like you. I can't just tell a lame story and move on."
Darius says, "It wasn't THAT lame." feeling a little offended.
Brooklynn shakes her head. "It was. It TOTALLY was, but you're not even fazed. I just... Need people to like m-" Darius looks at her, thinking maybe she will say it. Instead, she just sighs. "You wouldn't understand."
In actuality, he perfectly understands pressure. But since he doesn't like talking about his past, he leaves it be for now. He starts to notice that the sky was getting darker. After a couple more minutes, the councilor jeep pulls up in front of the gyros. They all get out of their vehicles. Dave says, "Alright gang. New plan! Storm is getting worse, so we are gonna head back to camp." Everyone groans. Dave tries to defend himself. "Hey, don't blame me, blame the storm."
"I blame them both." Roxie says. "I just need to radio ahead and let them know that we are heading back." After the radio doesn't work, Dave tells them, "Okay, new, new plan. The storm is interfering with the radio, so we're gonna go ahead and tell them in person." When Darius tries to convince them to allow them to continue, they shut him down. Dave says, "Stay put, and stay behind the herd." With that, the adults drive ahead. Since it was starting to rain a little bit, the kids get back into the gyros.
The lightning flashes, and Darius sees a dino heading away from the herd. "We've got a stray." He says to Brooklynn. "We should go after her and get her back to the herd."
Brooklynn just states, "You heard Dave. Let's just stay put."
"Come on. I play football for my high school. I know how to do things like this." When she doesn't go on board, he says, "Plus, your followers might love a dino chase." He can tell she is thinking about it. When she looks at him with a smile, Darius drives the gyro to chase after the dino.
Sammy voices her concern over the radio. "Wait, are you guys going after her? I really don't think that's a good idea. I've seen cattle spook before and-"
Yaz cuts her off by driving with them. As they follow Darius and Brooklynn, Yaz has to dodge Ben's gyro. "Watch it Ben! You almost hit us!"
"It wasn't ME! I'm not driving anymore!" The 4 campers hear Kenji and Ben arguing.
Darius and Brooklynn are getting closer to the Sino. "Almost got her." Suddenly, she makes a sharp turn, and they bump into a rock, throwing them off balance. Darius regains control as Brooklynn fumbles with her phone. "Sorry. Sorry." He sees her take her gum and stick it to her phone. She then presses the phone onto the little screen that showed them a Jimmy Fallon tutorial.
"Viola. Instant phone mount." Brooklynn states proudly.
Darius responds, "That is both disgusting and awesome."
Brooklynn just shakes her head. "Just keep driving dino-jock."
Darius smiles at the nickname. "Sure thing superstar."
Sammy tries to tell them why they shouldn't do it the way they are trying to. Kenji interrupts her objections. "Let the big dogs handle this cowgirl!"
"Kenji, flank her on the left, I'll cut her on the right." Darius says. "It'll be fine Sammy."
"No. You're gonna make her bolt! This isn't the way to do this!" Sammy tries again. "We need to calm her down!"
Darius and Brooklyn get in front of the Sino. But that doesn't stop the Sino. She starts to head back to the herd like they planned, but she's gonna scare them if they don't get to her in time. "Listen up y'all. We gotta get her before she spooks the herd. Stay to the outside-"
"We've got this." Kenji says as they race to stop her.
Darius and Brooklynn again get in front of the animal. But instead of calming her down, she rams her head into the gyro, causing Darius and Brooklynn to become pin balls in the herd. That's when chaos ensues. The herd panics, and everyone gets caught up in the herd. Sammy, Yaz, Kenji, and Ben all drove into the herd as the panic was beginning. Darius and Brooklynn were still playing Pin Ball Dino edition, with Brooklynn screaming her head off. Darius kept trying to keep her calm. "Keep it together!"
Finally, the spinning stopped. The two teens were about to get out, when they see the herd coming right for them! "Go go go go go!" Brooklynn tells him.
Darius races into the forest, the herd right behind him. He was slowly starting to get distance between them. Even though they are in a sphere ball, Darius is actually a pretty good driver. Brooklynn figured he knew how to drive with how old he was, but this took it to NASCAR level. He kept seeing the objects before she got a chance to warn him about them, and the control he had was incredible.
Finally, after a few minutes, Darius brings the gyro to a halt. "Whew. I think we lost them."
"I think we lost EVERYONE." Brooklynn puts her knees up to her chest. Darius sees this, and thinks of a way how to get out of the jungle.
Or, he was, until he saw the stray Sino. "Brooklynn, check it out." He turns the gyro to face the animal. "Alright, she seems to have calmed down. Now, all we've got to do is get her to follow us back to the herd."
Brooklynn perks up instantly. "Great." The phone miraculously stayed attached the entire game of Dino Soccer, so Brooklynn says, "Get ready Brooklanders! Cause it's about to get real!" She starts to run towards the Sino while Darius protests and runs after her. The Sino gives out a roar to them, and the teens run BACK to the gyro. "Too real! TOO REAL!"
Darius got in and was putting on the buckle as fast as he could. He saw the Sino charging towards them, and finally got his buckle on, but it was too late. The animal rammed her horn into the gyro, and actually PENETRATES the glass! The teens start screaming in fear as the Sino flings them off her horn and sends them spinning again. They finally stop and they take a second to catch their breath. But after a few minutes, they start laughing with each other. They have to be the luckiest kids in the world to be able to walk away from THAT!
But they quickly stop laughing as they feel the gyro start to sink. "What the hell?" Darius sees that they are in a MUDHOLE! Darius tries to drive out of the hole, but that only seems to sink them DEEPER!
"Try calling for help!" Darius instructs as he tries to push open the doors.
"Help! We're caught in a mudhole and we are sinking! Is anyone out there?!" Brooklynn tries a few more times, then decides she should try to open the gyro doors as well.
After a few minutes of not budging, Darius sighs in frustration. "The mud is too thick. It's jamming the doors!"
"Try driving out again!" Brooklynn suggests.
"We'll only sink DEEPER!"
Brooklynn groans. "Then YOU think of something, Mr. Let's-go-corner-the-dinosaur!"
Darius shoots back, "YOU'RE the idiot! You LISTENED to me!" The movement of the 2 teens cause the gyro to tip over. They resort to making noise as much as possible! "Help! We're in a mudhole!" But they quickly give up. The mud has already covered half of the ball, and they were just sinking deeper. Darius sighs in defeat and looks at his companion. Trying to lighten the mood, he tells her, "This isn't the WORST way to go." Brooklynn just looks at him. "I mean, it's not IDEAL, but-"
"Darius? Brooklynn?" The teens hear a voice in their ear piece.
"Sammy?!" Darius started to get hope again.
"Do you guys read me? We're coming to help!" Sammy's voice says again.
The stuck teens see a gyro coming towards them. THAT get's them banging on the glass again! Kenji and Yaz run towards them, and try to push it out. But it's too heavy. "Get back you guys! It'll pull you under!" Darius tells them, noticing that they were starting to sink with them! As they back up away from the gyro, Ben alerts them of the Sino coming in view.
As the Sino roars at them, looking ready to charge again, Sammy suddenly gets an idea. Sammy starts walking towards the Sino with a branch full of leaves. Yaz and Sammy try to stop her, but quickly stop as the Sino keeps being aggressive.
"Hey." Sammy says calmly. Everyone else just does their best to be as quiet as possible. "It's hard to trust strangers. I get it. The world's a scary place. But, I'll trust you if you trust me." Yaz watches this in awe. "I'm not gonna hurt you." Finally, the Sino takes a bite of the branch Sammy has, showing her trust of the human. It was pretty cool, except-
"Uh, guys?!" Darius gets their attention.
"Real touching and all, but we are STILL gonna die!" Brooklynn reminds them. The mud was already covering almost all of they gyro, showing just how deep they were.
The 4 teens above the mud quickly take some of the vines they could see, and make some rope out of it. Kenji climbs up to the tree as they decide to use the Sino to pull out the gyro. In the nick of time, Darius and Brooklynn tie the rope secure on the seats. Darius gives them a thumbs up, telling them to pull them up.
But the mud covers the gyro, and starts to fill up fast! Brooklynn just looks at Darius, and decides Oh, screw it! Darius is shocked and taken back when Brooklynn plants her lips on his, especially since the chances of dying was still high. But, he doesn't do anything. The teens don't realize that they were out of the mud until Yaz opens the door. Brooklynn and Darius just look at her, as they both realize they weren't dead. "Oh... Hey..." Darius says.
Yaz just laughs at the sight, and everyone else laughs as they help the teens out of the gyro. Yaz was the only one who saw them kissing, so everyone else was laughing because they helped cheat death. "Cowgirl for the win!" Kenji says.
The 6 teens hear a vehicle approach. When the passenger gets out, Sammy says, "Look! It's Dave and Roxie!"
Everyone waves at the two councilors. Dave gets back into the jeep, and everyone just waits for what comes next.
When they all get back to camp, it was dark, but not yet time for bed. "What were you all thinking?" Roxie asks.
"That we found a lost dinosaur!" Sammy states simply. "And Darius and Brooklynn."
Kenji tries to elevate himself. "Don't ask me how I did, but I did it." The other teens just laugh at him.
"That's the funniest thing I've heard all day." Brooklynn says.
Roxie doesn't share their amusement. "Stay in your bunks. You are not to leave, you got it?"
As the teens go up the elevator, the bickering resumes. Sammy jabs at Kenji, "Weren't you crying at one point?"
"Hey, I helped!" Kenji defends himself.
"Oh my gosh, you guys, he's serious!" Brooklynn says.
Because of all the mud, they all shower and one by one make their way to the main room. Darius was the first to be out in the main room. He slumps himself onto the couch, and just listens to everyone else slowly getting out. "I managed to get all the mud off." Darius hears Brooklynn's voice, and sees she is talking about her phone. "Which is more than I can say about these nails." Darius smiles a little. "Hey, you okay?" Brooklynn sits down next him, hoping he's not bothered by what happened.
"You had said that I don't understand the pressure of being popular." Darius starts. "And, you're right. I don't. Even though I play football for my school, God, I do NOT want to hear myself say that again, I still wasn't that popular. I had other things going on that got in the way. Believe me when I say I understand pressure though. I screwed up, and I should have listened to Sammy. I guess I was thinking that since no one else knew me, it was an opportunity to..."
"Get people to like you?" Brooklynn finishes.
Darius smiles at her again. "Yeah. I guess we have that in common." They both sit in silence for a second. "So, are we gonna talk about it?"
Brooklynn's eyes widen as she realize what he was talking about. "Oh! That was... Kind of an in the moment thing... I was panicking that we would die, and I figured if I could cross one thing of the bucket list..."
Darius nods his head. "So, naturally..."
"Yeah." Brooklynn says. Feeling her face turn red, she tells him, "Alright, well, I'm gonna go edit and post. Later dino-jock."
Darius smiles. He decides that he was gonna head to bed. He gets to his bed, and tries to sleep, but ends up lying awake for a while. Brooklynn was on his mind. Finally, he ended asleep.
Here we go. Hope you guys have a good day. Stay home, stay safe.
