When Ariel woke up, the first thing she did was take care of her personal hygiene and then she got dressed. She did not unpack the night before so she did not worry about what undergarments she pulled out. She pulled out a bikini to wear without a care in the world. Then she slipped on a purple plaid tanktop, black shorts, purple flip-flops, and had her black bikini string sticking out. She then put her hair in a side braid and tied the end of it with a black flower hair-tie She smiled at her appearance before she walked into the kitchen.

"Hey, kiddo." Lonnie greeted her. "You still mad?"

Ariel shot him a look before she chugged a few gulps of that disgusting smoothie that all newcomers had to endure during their first few days at Terra Nova.

"Come on, Ariel." he said. "You and Josh have been friends for years. I just didn't want you to throw that away."

"I'll forgive him when I'm ready." she stated bitterly before walking out of the door.

As she walked, she noticed Josh, Maddy, Zoey, and Mr. and Mrs. Shannon. She was not ready to face Josh so she scowled at him from afar then walked in the opposite direction in which they were going. She realized she was in the same place she met Max at the day before and there he was.

"Hey." he said. "This isn't the same time as yesterday, so you're a little over a day early."

"Yeah." she said. "I'm not going to orientation."

"Why not?"

"No reason."

"Well okay, I guess you're hanging out with me." he smiled as he offered her his arm to link.

She barely knew him but she really liked his smile.

"I guess I am." she said as she linked arms with him and walked in the direction that he had in mind.

Jim and Lonnie both had agricultural duty so they received directions from their supervisor.

"Let's keep it simple." he said. "How about you guys give us a hand with some weeding?"

"Weeding?" Jim repeated. "Yeah, I think we can handle that."

"Good." he smiled. "Yeah, this place needs a whole lot of upkeep."

"You're kidding." Lonnie said as he eyed how huge the weeds truly were. They were nothing like he and Jim had in mind.

"I'll leave you guys to it." the supervisor said as he walked away.

"Okay." Jim whispered mainly to himself in an attempt of self-motivation.

"Don't worry, Mr. Shannon!" Lonnie said. "We've got this!"

They were both given blades to chop them as they climbed the fence.

"Hey Lonnie, can you come up here to help me with this big one?" Jim asked.

"Coming right up!" he said as he climbed up there in a jiffy.

After they got rid of the collosal weed that Jim was referring to, they marveled at the amount of work they got done until they felt crawling on their hands. They looked and noticed it was a huge prehistoric bug. They both got startled and then fell off of the fence yelling and landed on their backs. They looked at each other to confirm they both saw the same thing.

After a little bit of walking, Ariel and Lonnie both arrived at the house Max told her about.

"Guys, this lovely lady here is Ariel." Max told his roommates. "She may be a fresh but let's make her feel welcome anyway."

"I'm Hunter." a boy with a peculiar face introduced himself.

"And I'm Tasha." a light-skinned girl said.

"I'm Ariel." Ariel introduced herself.

"Awe, that's a pretty name!" Tasha said.

"Thank you." she smiled.

"Uh-huh, you're welcome!"

"Well hey, I need to head to the office real quick." Max told Ariel. "Wanna come?"

"Um, sure." she said.

"We'll be right back." Max told everyone as he walked away with Ariel.

"It was nice meeting you!" Tasha shouted after Ariel.

"You too!" Ariel responded.

A few minutes later they arrived and Mark Reynolds was there. He helped out at the office as his duty on certain days.

"Hey Max, what's up?" Mark said.

"Not much." Max told him. "We're just about finished with one of the turbines for the boat we've been working on. It will literally only take a few more minutes. I just got the rest of the supplies!"

"Awesome!" Mark said. "Hey, you're the new girl from yesterday. I showed you to your house."

Shit, Ariel thought.

"Max, you do know she's supposed to be at orientation right?" Mark pointed out. "Can I trust you to make sure she gets there after you do what you need to do here?"

"Yes, of course." Max said as he started to put everything together.

Ariel's face fell in disappointment as Max made the job look incredibly easy.

"Ariel, would you like the honor of applying the last piece?" Max asked.

"Of course!" Ariel's face immediately beamed up.

Max handed her the piece and she added it to the turbine. Then he flicked a switch and it turned on and worked the way it was intended.

"You did it!" Max shouted at the same time as Ariel yelped proudly. He picked her up in a tight embrace and spun her around one time. Ariel was not planning on admitting she enjoyed that anytime soon.

"Wow, that was so cool!" Ariel exclaimed.

Ariel and Max just finished up a turbine made of skeuomorph resources.

"Great job!" Mark complimented. "But it's time for you to head to orientation. Don't let this knucklehead get you in trouble."

"Oh, shut up!" Max said jokingly. "She'll be there."

Then they walked out of the room together.

"I hope you know I'm not really going to orientation." Ariel said as she walked with Max.

"I know." Max smiled. "You're hanging out with me, remember?"

"But you just told him-"

"I know, I know." Max said. "I just said that to keep him happy. Reynolds is a cool dude, but as a soldier it is his duty to help make sure everything runs right in Terra Nova."

"Good point." Ariel said.

"So why didn't you wanna go to orientation anyway?" Max asked as they arrived at his place again. Ariel immediately saw their fourth roommate and to her dismay, Josh.

"Great." she said. "You're here."

"You two know each other?" Tasha asked.

"Nope!" Ariel said. "I don't know him anymore!"

"Ariel come on." Josh started.

Ariel made "la da da da da!" sounds to interupt him.

Josh just fumed and gave up.

"So, how was your day at the office, sweetheart?" Hunter asked Max playfully to lighten the mood.

"Not bad." Max said. "We finished another hydroturbine today and Ariel helped at the last part."

"Well good job." Hunter smiled at Ariel.

"Thank you." she smiled back.

"So who's this fresh?" Max asked referring to Josh.

"My name is Josh." he said.

"Max." Max said. "Glad to meet you. So uh, who's up for a little OTG?"

"Yes!" Skye said excitedly.

"On foot?" Tasha asked. "No way."

Hunter pointed out to Tasha that they were able to get a rover.

"Okay, well we'll meet you guys at the usual spot in 20?" Skye asked.

"Yeah." Tasha said as she turned to both Ariel and Josh. "OTG on your first days? That's gotta be a record."

Then the group separated. Tasha went with Hunter, Skye went with Josh, which Ariel thanked God for, and Ariel went with Max. A few minutes later, Ariel and Max arrived at the gate.

"So, what now?" Ariel asked.

Max grinned at her as he slipped through.

"You're kidding!" Ariel said shocked. "Get back in here!"

"I said we were going OTG." Max said from the other side.

"OTG? What-"

"Outside the gates."

"I don't know." Ariel said.

"Don't worry." Max told her. "I'll protect you."

Ariel smiled then decided to slip through the fence. Then she ran with Max into the jungle and met up with Tasha and Hunter who were on a rover.

"Took you guys long enough." Hunter said.

"Well, I had to reassure this little lady here that there is nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, Max is always protecting me!" Hunter said in a mock princecss voice before returning to his normal tone. "He'll protect you."

Tasha laughed at Hunter. She always thought he was funny.

A few moments later, Josh and Skye arrived which caused Ariel to break eye contact.

"Finally!" Hunter said. "We were about to leave without you!"

I wish we did,

"Get ready to go OTG, freshes." Hunter said as Max and Ariel climbed into the rover with him and Tasha.

Everyone realized somebody had to sit on somebody's lap to make room in that little vehicle, so Ariel sat in Max's lap while Tasha and Hunter were in the front. Josh looked disapprovingly at Ariel before he and Skye climbed in. They arrived at a beautiful waterfall and Ariel was amazed.

"So you guys wanna take the shortcut?" Skye suggested.

"No way!" Tasha said. "We'll meet you there."

"Do you wanna take the shortcut?" Max asked Ariel.

"What is the shortcut?"

"Swimming!" he smiled.

"I am so glad I decided to wear my swimsuit underneath my clothes today!" Ariel exclaimed.

Josh, Skye, and Max stared at her.

"I mean, yeah!" Ariel said. "Let's take the shortcut!"

Ariel and Skye proceeded to strip off their clothes to reveal their bikinis.

"I like your bathing suit!" Skye said to Ariel.

"Thank you." Ariel smiled at her. "I like yours too!"

She could not be mad at Skye for bringing Josh around because it was not her fault she was mad at Josh.

"Thanks!" Skye said. She was wearing a blue sky-print bikini while Ariel was wearing a black bikini which consisted of crochet bottoms and a black flower on the top.

Just then they heard a roar in the distance.

"It's just a howler." Skye said. "They sound worse than they really are."

Then she jumped in the water. Ariel got excited then jumped in after her. Then the boys came after them.

"Hey, you guys wanna see something cool?" Skye asked.

"Sure!" Josh said following her.

"I'll stay back and enjoy the water!" Ariel said. "I just wanna enjoy my swim."

"Alright, suit yourself!" Skye said.

Ariel knew she was only doing that to avoid Josh. She was honestly pissed that Josh tagged along on this little adventure. She skipped orientation to get away from Josh, but he just seemed to follow her. Before she knew it, Ariel suddenly felt something underneath her. She was startled but then screamed when she rose up from the water. Then she realized she was just on Max's shoulders and there was not anything trying to eat her.

"Max, you scared me!" she said.

"Sorry!" Max laughed.

"I thought you were a fricken dinosaur!" she said.

"Oh, thanks, Ariel. That really hurt my feelings." Max said jokingly.

"You know what I mean!" she laughed.

Then, Max threw her back so that she was underwater again and she rose to the surface.

"Jerk." she joked.

Max grinned at her.

"Come on, guys!" Skye called after them. "We're about to leave you!"

"We're coming!" Max shouted.

Max and Ariel stepped out of the water then caught up with Skye and Josh as they left the waterfall.

Well, another chapter has been written! Thank you guys so much for the reviews! They really make me smile! :D

Also, in case you didn't get the chapter 1 update, if you're having trouble imagining what my OC characters look like, there's a reference to the character's on my profile page! Check it out! :)