WE DID IT EVERYONE! JOHNNY DEPP WON! Let June 1st be remembered as the day that Amber Turd ALMOST caught Captain Jack Sparrow! Alright I'm done. Hope you guys are having good days, stay home, stay safe.

Darius was never a nervous flier. Was it the BEST feeling in the world for him? No. But six months ago, it wasn't like he had a fear of flying. Why would he? He faced off dinosaurs, survived on an island for six months, survived killer robots. Hell, he and his merry band of teenagers had fought their way through a freaking storm! Granted, they ended up crashing into some rocks at the end, but big deal. They had gone through the closest thing to an actual Hell on Earth and back. So why was he so nervous about flying now?

He honestly couldn't say. Maybe he wasn't afraid of flying. Maybe he was worried about the others. Alright, maybe he was just worried about Brooklynn. God, I'm wrapped around her finger. Darius sighed, and tried to get a couple of minutes of sleep. They would be landing in like forty-five minutes. Darius felt someone nudge his shoulder. He looked at the person, and saw it was his brother. "What's up man?"

Brandon had a cheeky smile on his face. "Don't think I haven't seen you look nervous the entire flight." Darius rolled his eyes, thinking that he was going to tease him about being afraid of flying. "Brooklynn's going to be fine. More accidents happen in a car than they do on a plane."

Darius sighed. "Yeah, but the car's not what hit the World Trade Center, is it?"

Brandon laughed. "Man, when did YOU get so dark? That's a rhetorical question, but still. Damn." The brothers chuckled. "But in all seriousness, you know that she's gonna be fine?"

Darius nodded. "I know. It's just going to feel weird. Me and her, we literally saw each other every day. When we were searching for supplies, we would go in groups. Me and her always went together. There was NEVER a day that we DIDN'T see each other."

"You feel like you're gonna spiral out?" Brandon asked.

"I feel like it's going to be SUPER difficult to get used to not hearing her voice." Darius answered honestly.

Brandon's smile returned. "Man, you're crushing hard. You never crushed over Katie like this. Even AFTER the breakup." The two boys were silent for another minute. "You know that she's gonna try to take you back right?"

Darius nodded. "I know. What do I do?"

Brandon sighed. "You're gonna have to choose. Do you accept that for now, you can't be with Brooklynn and choose Katie? Or do you try to go for the long distance relationship?"

"Which do I pick?" Darius asked his brother.

The older brother gave a half-hearted laugh. "You're asking ME?"

Darius nodded. "Yeah. I see the irony."

Brandon assured his brother, "I'm sure that you're gonna make the right choice."

"Well, if I end up choosing wrong, I blame you." Darius promised.

Brandon nodded. "Fair enough."

The plane landed in Montana and Darius, Brandon, and Uncle Josh were picked up by their Aunt. After another round of tears of joy, Darius asked if he could drive. He was swiftly denied with a firm no. It actually made sense. He was going to essentially be starting on square one. After he got in the back with his brother, Darius asked for the second best thing. "The second thing I want is McDonalds. I'm so hungry."

Brandon looked at him. "Really. Drive thru? That's what you want?"

Darius defended himself. "Hey, I spent six months on a Killer Dino Island, where all we had to eat was fruit, canned fruit, and bugs. I think I deserve a large, fattening Big Mac meal."

Brandon shook his head with a laugh. Once they got McDonalds, it was time for them to go home. The adults wanted Darius to get settled back in. He had a busy summer ahead of him. Doing whatever it took to get back on track with graduation. The car pulled up to the driveway of their house. He missed the house. He had missed a lot of things. Darius noticed there were a couple of cars in the driveway. The teen got out of the house, and carried his backpack up to the house. Once Darius opened the door and set his stuff down, Brandon grabbed his arm. "Come on. I've gotta show you something."

Darius was lead to the back yard. When he got outside, a lot of people were waiting for him. "Welcome back!" The people said. It took Darius a minute to realize it was the ENTIRE football team. The team that had helped him through his mom's death, and the team that helped each other become the best football team in the district. They all looked at each other before the team rushed at him, and lifted him up, and started jumping around and yelling in joy.

After the jumping was over, the football players set the teen down. Then came the group hug and tears. "I guess now that you're back, I have to give up the starting position." Jack said. He was a year younger than Darius, and was the teen's backup. If Darius and Jack went to separate schools, Darius was SURE that he and Jack would have been rivals.

"Ahh, if you played for a different school, I'm sure we would have hated each other." Darius laughed.

After a bunch of more praises and hugs from every teammate, a couple of boys revealed that they had steaks to grill in honor of Darius returning from the grave. Darius almost feinted at the thought of having steak.

A couple of hours later, the party was still going. Darius had eaten three steaks, and devoured all sorts of soft drinks he could get his hands on. He missed carbonated soda. He was sitting in the living room, playing Mario Cart with his brother, Jack, and the team Safety. It was the last lap, and he was currently in the lead. But like everyone else, he wasn't celebrating just yet. The screen alerted him that his brother had thrown the BLUE shell at him. And the finish line was so close. If he could just cross...

He did! Everyone jumped up and down as the screen showed that he crossed the line just as Darius had gotten hit. Brandon protested saying that shouldn't have counted. Darius decided to let someone else have a turn. He got up, and went to get another steak and more mashed potatoes. As he went back to the group, he felt his butt vibrate. After pulling out his phone, he noticed it was Brooklynn calling on WhatsApp. Darius moved away from the others up to his room for some privacy.

Darius clicked to answer her video call. He noticed that it was dark. "Hey Brook. How was the flight?"

The girl's voice came in his ear. "It was exhausting. It's like midnight right now. My dads are already asleep."

"So, why aren't you?" Darius asked.

Brooklynn sighed. "It's too quiet. And my bed is like a marshmallow. The blankets are too hot. It's just... VERY different from when we were sleeping on flat mattresses with bugs and dinosaurs for company. It's crazy. We've talked about all the things we've missed, and now I finally have those things, and I feel like I'm going to lose my mind if I don't sleep on something hard. I'm thinking of moving to the floor."

Darius nodded. "Don't do that. Some things, we've left behind at the island, but no doubt, we have things to replace them. Don't move to the floor. Stay on the bed. I'll help you. Um, what are you planning on doing tomorrow?"

"I'm probably going to make a video saying that we're alive. Probably something I should have done with everyone." Brooklynn said.

"Ahh, don't worry about it." Darius said. "If everyone can do it, we should do something like Zoom or whatever. It's what me and Mom would do whenever she was going to be staying at a dig site for days at a time."

"I'll see if everyone is able to do it tomorrow." Brooklynn said. "What are you doing right now?"

Darius tilted his phone down so she could see. "Steak. Juicy steak."

"Hey! You finally got it." she laughed when she saw Darius's creepy smile enjoying the steak. "You having people over?"

Darius shook his head. "More like, they were there before I got home."

"So, why are you talking to me?" Brooklynn asked.

"Cause I wanted to talk to you." Darius answered. "I wouldn't have answered if I didn't."

Brooklynn smiled a little bit. "Well, thank you for picking up your phone. I will let you finish your steak. Hope you sleep well. Goodnight Darius."

Darius smiled back. "Goodnight Brooklynn." After hanging up his phone, Darius turned around and saw his brother and the entire football team behind him. "What?"

"SHIP! SHIP! SHIP! SHIP!" Brandon and the others started chanting. Darius realized that they heard enough to know that at the very least, he liked her. They kept chanting until Darius walked past them. Jack walked with him. "So, who's SHE?"

Darius shook his head. "She's just a friend. We were stuck on Nublar with each other for six months."

"How romantic." Jack said, putting his arm around Darius's shoulder.

The older teen shook his head. "She's just a friend."

Jack nodded again. "Uh-huh. Sure. So, what's her name?"

Darius smiled as he said her name. "Brooklynn."

Jack sighed. "Oh man. You crushing hard." Darius nodded. "Wait." the younger teen realized. "It wouldn't happen to be that internet chick? The vlogger my girl got into? What's that channel?"

Darius raised an eye. "Brooklynn Unboxes The World?"

Jack snapped his finger. "Yeah. Damn, you got her number in your back pocket? You really shoot for the moon, don't you?" Darius shook his head, a smile still on his face. "My man." Jack left him alone after that.

For the rest of the evening, the boys played football in the street. Darius was happy to see that he hasn't lost his touch. They were playing a friendly game against each other, but that didn't stop them from getting competitive.

Darius tossed and turned. The party had ended a little while ago. It was a challenge for Darius to get used to not seeing the moon at Six P.M. Now, he was struggling with sleeping in a bed. His room had pretty much stayed the same since the last time he was in it. But everything still felt different. All he kept thinking about was calling Brooklynn. He reached for his phone, and opened it. He was close to calling her, but he decided not to. He was the leader of the group. That meant he needed to get help from someone else. He decided to follow his own advice to Brooklynn. He put his phone back down after pulling up some jungle noises. He made sure the volume was quiet enough, and closed his eyes. Now, the jungle noises were not entirely accurate of what Nublar was, but it helped him get to sleep. Darius knew that he wasn't going to be able to rely on jungle noises forever, but for tonight, he figured it would be okay this one time.

As usual, Darius woke up at Six. But then again, that's always been a constant even before Nublar. He looked around his room, and sighed when he realized it wasn't a dream. They actually were on the island. The teen got up from his bed, and made his way down to the kitchen. There were a couple of steaks that needed to be eaten from last night. The guys really went all out, didn't they?

As he was heating up his food, he couldn't help but worry about Brooklynn. He knew that she was safe. But at the same time, she was always the first thing he saw when he got up. And she was ALWAYS around him. Now, everything just seemed too quiet. He took out his phone, and opened it to call her. He was about to, but then he figured that would just be stupid. She's probably spending the day with her dads. It makes sense. Don't want her that I need her ALL the time.

The teen sat down to the couch. He sighed as he sat down. Grabbing the remote, he clicked to a random channel. He must have spent ten minutes scrolling through different channels. He settled on SpongeBob. Hey, sometimes, you need some stupid funny to watch. He finished his steak, and checked the time. Only Seven? Damn. Darius turned off the T.V., and went down to the basement. It had been forever since he went down there. After getting down the stairs, he saw the workout equipment was still there. He looked at all the dumbbells and weights his mom bought him a while back. He had slowly increased everything over the years.

The teen sighed, and did his warmup, and then got to work with his workout. He was worried that he wouldn't be able to finish, but after six months running in the jungle, he actually felt like he needed to INCREASE the weight again. He smiled to himself. After putting on more weight, he finished his workout. It was around Nine when Darius heard his phone go off. He picked up the phone, and looked at who was calling him. A group call, with Brooklynn, Sammy, and everyone else. He swiped the call up to answer. Sammy said, "Great, everyone is here. Hey!" Everyone gave their own greetings. Darius just sighed. "So, how was everyone's first night back home?"

Ben spoke up, "I didn't realize how soft I was. Getting lost in the jungle for six weeks might have been the best thing that's ever happened to me."

Kenji shook his head. "Of course, YOU would think that. But he does have a point. It was very weird to go back to sleeping on a bed."

Everyone else must have been feeling the same way, because they all started to get quiet. Darius sighed. "Alright, well, if we're going to get quiet, I'm going back to my workout."

"No! Don't leave!" Sammy said.

"Workout?" Kenji asked.

Yaz gave him an eyebrow. "It's summer vacation. I don't usually start working out till noon. Isn't it like Nine in Montana?"

"You got up at Six as always, didn't you?" Brooklynn called him out. Darius smirked. Brooklynn shook his head. "Alright, well, what's everyone's plan for the day, or what have they done today?"

"I'm going on a run later." Yaz said.

Sammy said, "I'm grounded. No outside association except for you guys. I'll be workin' on the farm for the next few weeks."

"Dad is prepping me for a business trip." Kenji informed them. "He says that he has noticed a lot of change in me after being stuck on Nublar. He's finally showing me his company and what he does, aside from skyscrapers. Only down side, I won't be able to call you guys for two weeks when I leave."

"Oh no." Yaz said, sarcastically.

"It felt like we were really connecting." Darius said, matching her tone.

Kenji rolled his eyes as everyone else laughed. Ben told the group, "I've convinced my parents to let me take walks around the block alone. They're happy that I'm finally coming out of my 'shell' as Sammy calls it."

"Ben's making progress." Yaz teased. "What about you, Darius?"

"I'm gonna make a few phone calls after I shower." the teen explained. "I want to see what I have to do to make sure I graduate with my class. I'm thinking a lot of this summer is going to be hitting the books."

Everyone else groaned. They had the same realization. It was going to be brutal. "Well, I guess our weekly calls are going to be study groups." Brooklynn says optimistically. "Too soon?" she asks when everyone else gives her a deadpanned face, not sharing her optimism.

"Mmm, little bit, yeah." Darius said.

The girl scoffed. "Whatever. I'm not talking to you." Everyone laughed. "And put a shirt on, would you? Were you born in a barn?" Darius shook his head, and put on his shirt. After that, everyone talked about what they wanted to do over the summer, and if they were going to be able to do it. After another hour, Brooklynn said she had to get to dinner. Everyone else left soon after. Darius sighed, and figured the rest of his family was up. He walked back up the stairs, greeted his Uncle, brother, and Aunt who were eating steak, and went to take a shower. He had a busy day ahead of him.

So, this is a VERY short one, I know. But I need some time to write the next story arc here. And, I'm working on the other stories. Hopefully will be able to update. But I also had a BUSY few weeks with school, and will take the summer off for the most part. I'll see if I can't get one more chapter posted here, but I may just leave it like this for now. Alright, hope you guys have a good day, and stay home, stay safe.