-CC Day Twenty-Two-

The warmth of the fire's glow on her face did little to assure Sammy that she was safe as the girl was acutely aware of how open and exposed her back was to the dark of the night that surrounded her. Heart rate steadily picking up speed as she sat listening with awe, the Texan couldn't remember being so frightened by a campfire story since her uncle told her and the boys about the Ozark Howler when they were kids. Pulling her knees to her chest, overwhelmed by the unnerving sensation that something might reach out and seize her from under the bench at any moment the girl glaced about to reassure herself that she wasn't alone, and to see if Darius' story was having a similar affect on the others.

Cute, she thought when she noticed an eager faced Kenji, grudgingly and stealthily offer his hand to a trembling Ben. The other boy who didn't break eye contact with the story teller hastily latched onto his arm at the invitation. Brooklynn on the other hand didn't seem quite as invested, but really that was her loss, Sammy observed, because Darius was one hell of an orator. Turning back to the boy in the hood as he leaned forward, grim faced and sinister in the firelight, his tone drew Sammy in, tense and on the very edge of her seat.

"We thought it'd be fun. We thought we'd be safe, but we didn't realize the horror that was waiting for us on the island, claws, teeth, screaming... so much screaming." Darius said lowly.

"How much screaming?" Ben asked with trepidation.

"Shh he's getting to the good part!" Kenji snapped.

"The T-Rex stalked closer, her jaws open wide-" Darius said, arms opened for affect, his shadow casting an ominous presence on the wall behind him as the fire crackled viciously. Oh God, Sammy thought, curling tighter in on herself, this was it!

A sudden flash in the night seared Sammy's eyes as she and the other campers blinked back the unexpected glare. Ripped from the tale terror and dispair they all turned to look at Brooklynn. The pink haired girl sat one leg folded beneath the other her undivided attention on her phone screen. "For the blog," she explained, before waving the boy in yellow to continue. "Keep telling your little story."

Rekindling the mood Darius drew up the hood of his jacket and leaned forward. "Dang out of space! Wait, I'm sorry." the influencer said earning a groan from Kenji. "I just don't want to delete my selfie on Everest you know?" she asked turning the phone towards Sammy.

"Oooo!" she smiled. Sammy had already seen it before, it was a good picture, and had been an exciting expedition to follow along with, but tonight the cowgirl gushed out of sheer politeness because while she was deeply invested in the story and couldn't wait to hear what happened next, Sammy felt obligated to peruse the gallery Brooklynn was now scrolling through. Not wanting to be rude either of her friends the girl found herself caught between a Rex and cyber place.

"Maybe I should just start over." Darius mumbled, clearly let down.

"No! In fact we should just stop!" Ben argued clinging to Kenji like a baby possum.

"Dude chill he's not even telling the story, and how is your grip this strong?" the older boy asked trying and failing to pull himself free.

"So the T-Rex stalked clo-" Darius began again, when a thought occured to Sammy so strongly that she couldn't keep from blurting it out.

"Shouldn't we invite Yasmina over?" she asked turning to look at the lone wolf of the Camp Cretaceous pack. The girl in question stood against the railing, staring out across the nocturnal landscape. "I'm sure she'd love this story, you really are a great story teller by the way. Oh, maybe you should go into writing or something!"

Flopping back onto the bench Darius didn't seem to want to hear her input on the matter, annoyed that everyone kept stealing his thunder, and now the cowgirl was left feeling bad for hurting his feels. "Sorry." she added though it did little good.

"Maybe she just wants to be by herself." Brooklynn said apathetically as she uploaded a photo she had forgotten about to the cloud.

"Yeah, you know how sometimes people just wanna be left alone." Kenji intoned irritably, clearly regretting his momentary act of compassion, as Sammy noticed he often did, the weirdo.

"Besides she doesn't seem like a real people person, you know?" Brooklynn mused.

"I think she's just shy and doesn't know how to make camp friends." Sammy countered.

Brooklynn laughed. "Yasmina making any kind of friend camp or otherwise would definitely be a sign of the end times. And there is nothing shy about that girl or have you all forgotten what a major B she is?" she went on, keen to insure that Canyon Convivial would be forever remembered in infamy.

Sammy was getting ready to come to the runner's defense and remind Brooklynn that she wasn't exactly innocent in the whole situation either, when Ben beat her to it. "I don't know," he said thoughtfully. "She's always been pretty nice to me, a little rude sometimes sure, but overall, I think she's a nice person. I like her." Brooklynn cast a glare at the boy who withered in his seat beneath her gaze. "Sorry..." he muttered.

Without warning lightning split the sky, rolling thunder following immediately afterwards. Heart hammering for reals this time Sammy got up racing after the others as a deluge opened up over their heads. Shaking the water from hands before sweeping back her wet, clinging hair the girl smiled as she watched her friends filing in, the same expression of equal parts dismay and excitement on almost everyone's face. Then she noticed Yasmina, trying to use her sleeve to dry the cover of her book. It seemed like a futile, but desperate move to Sammy seeing as Yaz was just as soaked as the rest of them.

Grabbing a random throw blanket from a nearby chair Sammy sat down next to the athlete, holding it out towards her. "Here." she smiled.

Yasmina looked at the offered cloth for a minute before taking it. "Thanks." she muttered utilizing it right away.

"No problem." Sammy beamed inspecting the blank cover with interest. "Is that a scrapbook?" she asked. "I love scrapbooking! Oh, maybe we can make one together?" she asked nudging Yaz enthusiastically.

"Um, how about no?" Yasmina grumbled, sliding across the cushions, and putting a physical distance between them. "You tried this whole song and dance routine before, remember?"

"Yeah," Sammy smiled. "But I was such a ding-dong, and I ruined things. I mean, come on Yasmina it's been three weeks and I feel like we met only yesterday!" she exclaimed. "I know literally next to nothing about you girl! Well, you know, except that you're a crazy successful olympian hopeful, you've got a killer eye for cosmetics, I mean dang! Let's see, you've got a temper, like baby animals even though you won't admit it, and aren't afraid of a fight that's for sure! But that's it, that's all I really know about you!" she went on listing all of the qualities she'd seen and admired from a distance.

"Yeah, ever stop to think that, that's intentional." Yasmina turned on her, brown eyes narrowed angrily.

"Come on!" Sammy laughed falling backwards onto the sofa with exasperation. "Come out of your shell!"

"Look, I'm not here to make friends airhead, I'm here for the sponsorship." Yaz snapped. "This whole stupid summer camp thing is just the spring board that will launch the rest of my career as an athlete. Nothing more. So leave me alone."

Feeling rejected, a hollow place opening up in her chest as she watched Yasmina stalk angrily down the hallway Sammy couldn't help but wonder what she had done wrong. Sitting by herself she stewed for a while, replaying every conversation or interaction the two of them had shared in her head, trying to weed out her mistakes. She really was an airhead, she thought sadly, recalling each and every time she had tried to get closer to Yaz, only to inevitability push her further away.

Angry for getting all misty eyed at the thought, she had to remind herself that she wasn't here to make friends either. She was here to save the ranch, and her family. She wiped her eyes fiercely until the pent tears of all the built up pressure, anxiety, and overwhelming dread that mingled with her Yasmina failures stopped. Crying was for in the shower, she told herself bitterly, always had been.

The sound of Darius, who was mostly recovered from his slight, calling her name from the kitchen followed by the oh so magic words "banana split," broke Sammy out of her funk however. Laughing she hurried to join the others as they destroyed the freshly cleaned countertops and table with ice cream and condiments, before the rowdy group was chased out, Roxie hot on their tails when she saw the mess they had made. Well, maybe there was time for friendship and saving the ranch, she reasoned.

The following morning breakfast went on as it's usual chaotic self with Kenji inventing the pancake breakfast burrito, and trying to muscle everyone else into trying a bite of the eggy, syrupy, bacon laden trainwreck. Though, through all of the hilarity and commotion Sammy noticed that Brooklynn wasn't eating this morning. It worried her, big-sister instincts tingling like crazy. The girl hardly ever ate much of anything, Sammy had made note of, but lately all she did was read over her comment sections with chagrin sipping black coffee and brooding.

Being an avid Brooklander herself Sammy was well aware that not everything was exactly kosher in the world of the internets. Trolls were out in force lately, and everyone was a critic constantly tearing Brooklynn down, ripping apart her videos, and leading the way in a negative trend against her. Brooklynn had gone viral again, but not in the good way as people crawled out of the woodwork to denounce her as a fraud and a liar.

"Y'all are just jealous." Sammy had tried to argue in one post, taking the flame war by storm, but she had been outnumbered, and outmatched. Breaking someone with words was always much easier to do than to build them back up again.

"Hey," Sammy smiled following Brooklynn out of the dining room. "Kenji ruin pancakes for you too?"

"Yeah, something like that." Brooklynn murmured walking slowly, eyes fixated on her cell.

"I can whip you up something else, I'm sure Roxie won't mind." Sammy offered. "Omelette?"

"No."

"French toast?"

"No."

"Regular toast- oh no wait! Buttered toast with hot coco!" Sammy closed her eyes and clutched her hands over her heart as she fondly remembered the way her mother would dote on her when she was little. "My mama always made me and my sissies hot coco and toast when we were sad or not feeling our best. Well, except for Ana but that's because whatever milk does to her stomach, it is not natural let me tell you!"

"No! I don't want anything!" Brooklynn shouted with irritation. "God, can't you just leave me alone?"

"I'm sorry," Sammy muttered, batting a thousand today. "I was just trying to help."

Not long after breakfast Dave and Roxie loaded everyone up and drove them to a large field where a ginormous herd of different kinds of dinosaurs were lumbering around aimlessly. After watching from a distance for a minute or two Sammy could pick out the folks riding around on ATVs along side coasting the animals as they went. The cowgirl recognized immediately what they were doing, a broad smile coming to her face, it was a cattle drive!

"We get to drive gyrospheres?" Darius asked his face plastered against the glass of the nearest one as he peered inside.

"Saddle up dudes and dudettes, because we're going on a cattle drive, only with dinosaurs, it's a dino drive!" Dave called loudly, confirming the girl's suspicions.

"And just to be clear all of these dinosaurs are herbavores, right?" Ben asked, adjusting his fanny pack with unease.

"Well," Roxie chimed in after exchanging a playful look with the other counselor. "They only chewed on the last kids a little, so we're like ninety-nine percent sure they're cool." Ben cringed away nervously, while the woman went on to explain where the animals were being moved to, and why. Though just by looking at the ground and lack of new growth it was fairly easy to see that they had to give the area time to reseed.

"Are you kidding me?" Darius shouted with excitement. "Dinosaur migration patterns are my jam!"

Sammy couldn't help but snicker when Kenji put a hand on his shoulder and said, "You may want to consider a new jam bro." Before asking about rain. Ignoring his bravado Sammy was already trying to come up with a plan to ride with Yasmina, certain that the runner would be more inclined to open up one on one.

"You're riding with Ben as a passenger." Roxie announced to Kenji who wasn't taking the news well, or quietly for that matter either.

"Think of him as your designated driver." Dave added with a smirk.

"Live it up, tough guy." Roxie smiled.

Poor Ben, Sammy thought, being used as someone else's punishment must not feel very nice, she thought giving him an apologetic smile. Then, waving to Brooklynn who sat in a sphere already Sammy was wondering how she was going to make up for this morning but the other girl was already too distracted by tech to acknowledge her efforts. Oh well, at least everything was working out so far, she thought hurrying to catch the open seat in Yaz's gyrosphere.

"This is going to be so sick." Yasmina said to herself.

"Right?" Sammy asked climbing in beside her. "Now we're in a shell together, a shell for two!"

Once things got rolling Sammy found herself gazing up in awe and wonder at the massive animals try trailed behind. "Whoa, would you look at that one!" she laughed pointing across the console to a little critter that had some serious pep in its step. Darius probably knew the names of each and every one of them, but all the cowgirl knew off the top of her head was the stegosaurus. "Darius said that kinda long neck is an apatosaurus right?" she asked, though her question would remain unanswered.

"So, what's your favorite color?" Sammy asked after a while, trying to break the ice. "Favorite food? Oh favorite color of food?"

"Orange, orange, and orange." Yasmina replied monotonously.

"You're funny." Sammy giggled looking at the girl from the corner of her eye. "What do you and your friends do for fun back home?"

Yasmina sighed, but seemed to realize there was no getting away this time. "I train, alone, quietly."

"Seriously? That's real sad." Sammy observed, before breaking into the usual small talk pets, siblings, movies, and hobbies, the Texan doing almost all of the talking while the other girl quietly and irritably focused on driving. "You're like one of those mystery noir women from one of those old black and white detective movies, so mysterious, so aloof!" Sammy said after a bit. "Cool as a cucumber, and cute to boot!" she cringed at her own choice of words, heart fluttering when Yasmina looked at her.

"If you knew the real me you wouldn't be trying so hard to be friends." Yaz muttered.

"That's exactly why I'm trying so hard, because I don't know the real you!" Sammy practically shouted, throwing her head back. "Come on, we made such a great team at the pool the other day! Kicking ass, taking names! Why won't you just talk to me? Or, it doesn't even have to be me, why not make friends with someone, anyone? You and Kenji seem like you have a lot in common." Yasmina scoffed with offense. "Or you and Ben, you're both the quiet type. Come on, what's holding you back? Why are you so afraid to make friends?" Sammy pushed and prodded, her own annoyance at the situation getting the better of her until Yasmina finally snapped.

"Because I'm Muslim! Yeah that's right you better be careful, I might just turn this sphere around and drive us straight into a building! Ka-boom! Take us out in a blaze of righteous glory!" she screamed tears coming to her eyes. "Because that's what we do, because that's who we are, and that's why everybody, and I mean everybody hates us!"

Tension filled silence flooded the large glass ball as the girls stared out at the rolling field of grass and the large majestic animals Sammy now wished she'd been paying more attention to, rather than rubbing up against Yasmina's nerves like sandpaper, or a cheese grater... or a jackhammer...

The soft sound of Yaz trying to defiantly sniff back tears ate at the ranch hand. She had to make this right somehow, she thought, to let Yasmina know that she didn't judge a book by its cover and that she understood better than most that media portrayal could be damaging and hurt innocent people all the time.

Nervously Sammy felt like she knew what she had to do. Oh God, this never got any easier or less scary did it? She wondered eyes squeezed shut. The sound of blood rushing through her ears, and heart palpitating painfully in her chest she clenched her fists. Biting the inside of her cheek until she tasted blood she knew it was now or never, take the risk, or let things stand the way they were between them: broken beyond repair.

"I'm trans." she blurted out, suddenly feeling like she was going to vomit. The other girl remained quiet, and opening her eyes cautiously Sammy turned to see Yasmina staring at her in stunned shock. Jerking to the side as they hastily dodged a swinging tail Sammy decided to continue pushing forward.

"You've known me for a while now, and we're not exactly friends, I mean, I'd like to be, and that's what I'm trying to do, but- ugh!" Sammy groaned, tearing up herself as she smacked her forehead in frustration. Her voice always got so wobbly when she got upset, and she couldn't keep her thoughts straight or mouth from running. What was wrong with her?

"That's besides the point." she said trying very hard to remember how to breathe. "Anyway, you know me, you don't believe all the terrible things the media tells you about trans people right? You don't think I'm just some creepy perverted man who just dresses like a girl just to get into the women's bathroom do you?"

"No." Yasmina shouted defensively. "And that's not fair to assume of me either! So you really do think I'm just a bitch, don't you?"

"I didn't say that." Sammy said tone even. "My point was why is it fair for you to think that I would think all of that other stuff about you without even giving me a chance?"

Another lull fell over the orb. Sammy started getting nervous because Yasmina was so dang quiet. Oh God, she fretted, she had just ruined everything. Yasmina hated her now, she was going to tell everyone, and they were all going to hate her! She gulped for air with desperation, fighting the growing panic that welled up inside.

"It's uh, it's why I wasn't exactly the life of the party at the pool." she heard herself saying, unable to keep her nervous rambling under control. "Why I just hung around in the shallow end. There are a few things I worried would make it very obvious that I'm not exactly like other girls."

"That's because you're better than other girls." Yasmina declared cutting through the noisy clatter going on in Sammy's head. The cowgirl wiped the tears from her cheek as she turned to look with cautious appraisal at her driver. "Well, all I meant was the way you stood up for that kid was badass. There were dozens of other people standing around, men, women, grown ass adults, and no one did anything to help. Not one person, except you."

"And you." Sammy added. Brief eye contact made, they both turned away shyly.

"Thanks for I don't know, trusting me or whatever." Yasmina muttered after a while.

Sammy shrugged, "You're a tough nut to crack." she motioned like she was holding a nutcracker. "So I thought maybe if I let myself be a little more vulnerable with you maybe you could let your shields down with me, even a just little?"

"We'll see."

"Thanks for, well, not exactly trusting me, but taking a chance by telling me about your faith... I don't actually know is a whole lot about Islam, but we got our little shell here, and if you don't really feel like sharing much about yourself maybe you can teach me even just a little bit about your religion?" Sammy asked, trying to lean forward and gage the other girls receptiveness.

"Why?" Yasmina asked getting a little defensive again.

"I think it's good to learn about other cultures and faiths and stuff. It helps you understand the people better and make less hasty judgments." Sammy explained, staring up at the belly of an apatosaurus as it stepped over them, vaguely wondering how much weight the sphere could handle.

"Maybe later k?"

"I'm here anytime shell mate!" Sammy grinned, her anxiety ebbing away as she elbowed Yaz. "Get it?"

"I got it." Yasmina nodded with a half smile, a win in the cowgirl's book.

An unexpected clap of thunder sounded overhead, and before they knew it Roxie had positioned the Jeep between the campers and the herd as Dave stepped out to address the kids. "Hey gang, new plan, storms getting worse so we're going to head back to camp! Fun, am I right?" Dave asked with a smile always the hype man. Everyone began to protest vehemently, this was the most fun planned outing they'd had in a while. "Don't blame me, blame the storm." Dave frowned.

"I'd blame them both." a chipper Roxie smiled sarcastically behind him, before trying to radio ahead to the keepers on the quads. Darius quickly went from arguing to sweet talking as he felt the opportunity of a lifetime slipping between his fingers. When all Roxie got over the air was static in return the campers were ordered back into their spheres and instructed to follow the herd at a reasonable distance.

"Well this is a bummer!" Sammy complained climbing back into the passenger's seat.

"Tell me about it." Yasmina muttered.

They rode along quietly for a while until Yaz spoke up, "If I tell you something, it's not gonna leave this stupid hamster ball is it?"

"Course not." Sammy smiled turning towards her with interest, exchanging secrets was a step in the right direction towards friendship.

"Do you swear?"

"I swear, cross my heart!" Sammy promised, marking an X over her chest, right hand raised to God. She could tell that Yasmina was getting herself really worked up, as she blinking back tears. Reaching over Sammy put her hand on top of Yaz's while she drove. She could feel the other girl trembling. "I promise." she vowed, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

"I'm ga-" Darius and Brooklynn veered in front of them without warning. Cut off Yasmina coasting them towards the right to avoid a head-on collision. "What the hell?" she shouted, then she saw it, one of the big topsids breaking away from the others.

"Wait are you guys going after her?" Sammy asked the other teens, a hand pressed against her ear piece. "I've seen cattle spook before I really don't think that's a-"

"Scary-cat." Yasmina remarked, turning the control stick to the left, making a hard turn after the others.

"Yasmina please, someone could get hurt!" Sammy argued, but something had changed, the other girl had brought her shields back online after one botched attempt at opening up. "Let's just everybody settle down a bit we don't want to-" her words were cut short as they turned in a jarring evasive maneuver.

"Watch it Ben you almost hit us!" Yasmina yelled.

"It wasn't me!" the boy shrilled over the comms looking back at them. "You're going to get us both killed!"

"With you driving we'll die of-" Kenji's voice came on for a moment before cutting out again. The girls watched as their orb swerved, zigzagging across the grass at the boys fought for control of the vehicle.

"Somebody flank her on the other side and we'll get her back to the herd!" Darius called to everyone with excitement.

"Wait you'll scare her-"

"Let the big dogs handle this cowgirl, sino-sandwich baby!" Kenji called loudly as they boxed the poor animal in.

This was going to go bad, real bad, Sammy could feel it in the pit of her stomach but it felt like no matter what she said no one wanted to listen to her. Everyone was too thrilled by the chase and enamored with the thought of being heroes to heed the only one among them who actually knew how to handle this kind of situation.

"I'll cut her off. Everything will be fine Sammy!" Darius called to her.

"No this isn't the way to do this, you're going to make her bolt! We've got to calm her down!" Sammy argued, as the sinoceratops did exactly what she said it would. "We've got to stop her before she goes and spooks the rest of the herd, stay on the outside-"

"We got this!" Kenji said speeding past them.

"Relax, Darius knows dinosaurs." Yasmina added joining the persuit.

Just then the animal rammed Darius and Brooklynn's sphere, knocking them into the herd, frightening the other animals and sending them into a panic fueled frenzy. The six campers dodged and weaved their way through the fleeing animals, harried by sharp horns and swinging tails as they did. Spurred on by the stampede behind them the campers sought refuge in a thick standing of trees.

"Low branch coming right at us!" Sammy warned.

"I see it let me concentrate!" Yaz said just before driving them into a log. Trying to back up Yasmina then struck a downed tree before stopping.

"Are we alive?" Sammy asked, dizzy with all the motion and adrenaline. Looking around it became quickly apparent that they were trapped.

Getting out the two of them began clearing away branches and debris. Pushing all of her upset at not having been heard aside Sammy looked back over her shoulder. "Good news," she smiled. "This gives us a lot more time to get to know each other."

"Let's do that," Yasmina agreed sarcastically. "Later, much, much later."

"Help can anyone hear us?" Brooklynn radioed over the comms desperation clear in her voice. Sammy and Yaz rushed to their ear pieces. "We're stuck in a mud hole and we're sinking fast! Help!"

"Brooklynn, can you hear me, where are you?" Sammy asked, static filled the line. Panicked she and Yasmina began calling for the friends through the jungle, nothing. "Keep clearing away the- No! Pile it up just keep piling it up!" Yasmina ordered as a thought occured to her. Working together the two of them built a makeshift ramp that finally allowed them to escape.

They were frantically searching for the dire pair when Ben and Kenji crossed their path unexpectedly. Leaping onto the smaller boy Kenji knocked him out of the way, avoiding what would have been a very serious, if not fatal crash. He tried to appear suave and cool when he got back up, but Ben clung to him like a drowning man to a life preserver.

"Get in!" Sammy demanded opening the hatch doors.

Crammed like sardines in the rapidly shrinking space that was the girls' gyrosphere the quartet searched frantically for their friends. When eventually they found them Sammy's heart dropped. Without hesitation both Yasmina and Kenji bolted the instant their doors had opened and began pushing and heaving against the side of the sinking vehicle, their hands quickly becoming slick and caked in mud. Listening to Ben frightfully trying to reach the adults for help, his voice high and pinched Sammy took stock of their plight, circumstances dire.

That was when Sammy spotted her, the sinoceratops, and an idea, a crazy, wonderful, diabolical idea came to her. If man power wouldn't work, maybe dino power would? Approaching the animal with caution, as Kenji and Yasmina scrambled away from the quickly sinking craft she picked up a tree branch from the ground. She was scared, body wracked with a tremor, tears in her eyes, as the beast let out a bellow that shook her to the core.

Please don't charge, please don't charge, she repeated uneasily in her head. Her eyes locked on the single large horn at the end of the animal's nose, she dreadfully recalled the summer when one of their hired hands was badly gorred by a bull, flipping end over end like a ragdoll through the air. She didn't even want to think of the damage that very large, very sharp horn could do.

"I know," she whispered to the topsid free hand held out so it could scent her. "It's hard to trust strangers, it's a scary world out there, but I'll trust you, if you trust me... I'm not going to hurt you."

Her fingers brushed warm scaly skin, trailing down a long sharp beak. Letting out a sigh of relief as the animal began to eat the cowgirl knew that there was no time to waste and set to work hastily lashing vines together to make a sturdy lifeline.

"Hurry Sammy!" Ben shrieked as Darius and Brooklynn sank deeper and deeper into the bog.

Handing the vines to Yasmina who rushed past the panicked boy and tossed the rope up to Kenji before grabbing her long stick had getting into position. Kenji, who like Ben was having difficulty reigning in his emotions at this literal life or death situation wiped his tear streaked face with his sleeve, before throwing with good aim the makeshift rope down to the trapped campers who signaled that they were securely tired down with a thumbs up.

Luring the sino towards her with the promise of food Sammy smiled as her plan worked and the animal did all the heavy lifting for them, like it was nothing. Yaz jammed her stick into the side of the door and leveraged it open, revealing their two very dirty, but very relieved friends. Yasmina let out a wooping call before falling back into the ground. Soon they were all hugging, and celebrating jumping up and down their hearts filled to the brim and ready to explode with a death defying energy that was one part gratitude, one part seer exuberance, and one heaping dose of denial as to how serious everything had actually been, reality overshadowed by their victory.

"Cowgirl for the win!" Kenji shouted hugging the girl when she came over to join the others. It was then that Dave and Roxie found them sitting stunned in the truck, trying to piece together what had just occurred.

Watching from the background as everyone did a quick recap for Brooklynn's channel Sammy was just glad that everybody was alright, and thought briefly about joining in. Then, she remembered. Glancing about suspiciously she retrieved a small sample bottle from her back pocket and collected a swab from the inside of the animal's cheek. Between this, the dimorphodon blood, and all the other stuff she'd gathered for Manta Corp she prayed it was enough to save her family.

Banished to their rooms the second they got back to camp Sammy lay there, staring up at the mattress above her, trying to collect her thoughts. Today had been, today had been something else. Catching sight of Yasmina sitting on her bunk quietly with her book, Sammy remembered that she had been in the middle of a confession of some sort when all hell broke loose. Watching her for moment, she couldn't help but wonder what that was. She felt like she knew the answer, familiar with a coming out when she saw one but couldn't be sure, and didn't feel right assuming.

After dinner the teens were allowed to wander the treehouse unencumbered and still mulling over the day's events Sammy found herself standing on the balcony alone, watching as the rain that had been so fierce and wild while they were confined to bed now drizzled lazily over the jungle. She turned when her shellmate appeared at her side, with a nervous smile.

"I..." she began, only to stop and bite her lip. "If everyone had listened to you, if I had listened to you we wouldn't have had any problems... I'm not so great at trusting... People..." she admitted cringing at herself, and tapping her book against her forehead. "So my favorite color is black, my favorite food is pizza, and this is what I was doing before."

Sammy felt honored as Yasmina opened the book and handed it to her to look at. The pages contained several sketches of dinosaurs, including a man eating Rex bearing yesterday's date that earned a warm smile from Sammy, she had been listening to Darius' story after all.

"I started drawing to kill time during track meets, I'm not very good so you probably won't even like them." Yaz muttered.

"I don't like them, I love them!" Sammy beamed flipping through the pages, seeing still lifes of various objects, a building or two, a drawing of Yasmina's family. So she does have siblings, Sammy thought to herself before turning the page again, and stopping, eyes wide, heart fluttering like mad.

"Wait no, don't, some of those are private!" Yasmina shouted reaching to take the book away.

Sammy stepped back out of the other girl's reach. There on the paper was a rendition of her interaction with the sinoceratops. It wasn't finish, the animal itself drawn well but appearing rather crude when compared to the amount of care and detail had been put into Sammy herself.

"Is, is this how you see me?" Sammy asked swallowing past a lump in her throat, as she traced the danty looking lines of her fingers reaching for the sino. They don't look like man hands, she thought comparing the real thing to the drawing, and finding that maybe they weren't so bad in real life either, she just couldn't see it until someone showed it to her. "I'm so... beautiful!" Sammy gushed.

Unable to contain herself, stomach full of butterflies before she even knew what she was doing Sammy threw her arms around Yasmina and pulled her into her kiss.

"What are you doing?" Yaz gasped, eyes wide as she took a quick step back and pushed Sammy away.

Shame and regret flooded through the Texan who hurried to apologise, but found her breath stolen away when a formerly retreating Yasmina rushed back to her, warm glossed lips pressed against Sammy's. Everything felt right in that moment as they embraced, until Yasmina moved away again.

"I can't do this," Yaz muttered tearily, fingertips tracing her lips. "I've gotta go I- I can't do this!"

"What about curfew?" Sammy called after her as the athlete took off running.

"If they can catch me, they can hold me to it." Yasmina called back over her shoulder.

Torn apart by a raging torrent conflicting emotions Sammy clutched the sketchbook to her heart as she watched the other girl disappear into the dark. Tearily she made her way to the girls' room where she froze in the doorway as she saw Brooklynn reviewing her vid, she'd caught Sammy's espionage on camera. Backwash of anxiety, and a reappearance of dinner constricted Sammy's throat, it was all over now, she thought.

Trying to play it cool however, she marched straight in, tossed Yasmina's book onto her bed and flopped down on her adjacent bunk throwing the blankets over herself as she did.

"You alright?" Brooklynn asked coyly, swiveling in her seat towards her.

"Yeah, just got a little too wet and cold is all." Sammy lied before testing the waters. "You good?"

"Oh, I'm great!" Brooklynn larked, before getting up and leaving.

What felt like hours later, laying in darkness and solitude, ensnared by her preturbing thoughts Sammy was teetering dangerously on the edge of a blade. On one side was the immense pressure and realization that she had just failed her family, on the other brooding ruminations of how she'd just fucked things up between her and one of the, strongest, smartest, prettiest girls she'd ever met, both sides condemning her wholely. She startled, though tried to maintain her guise of sleeping when the door burst open.

"You're lucky I haven't told Roxie about this, yet, or you'd be out of here first thing tomorrow!" Dave was yelling at someone under his breath. "I can't believe you Yasmina! I had to drive around for almost an hour looking for you! Do you know how scared I was? What were you thinking? You know what," he interrupted himself. "I don't care. Just go to bed!"

He shut the door roughly as he stormed out, Sammy trying to calm herself after hearing the altercation, new upset mixing with the turbulent storm within. She heard Yasmina walk up to the ladder at the end of her bed before hesitating. "Hey," she called appearing at Sammy's side. "I know you're not sleeping, you snore like a bear."

Turning over Sammy looked up at Yaz, misty eyed. "Hey."

Before she knew it Yasmina was crawling into bed with her, wrapping the blankets around herself greedily. That was when Sammy noticed how the other girls teeth were chattering. "Is this ok?" she asked as she shivered, soaked to the bone from her time in the light rain. "I just want to talk."

"Yeah," Sammy nodded, tucking her arm under her head. "It's fine."

"I'm sorry about earlier," Yasmina began. "I-" she paused eyes squeezed shut as she battled against her tears. Sammy gave her what time she needed. "I like you." she confessed, making Sammy smile uncontrollably, it took everything within her not to interrupt and proclaim her own feelings as Yasmina continued. "But in Islam..." her breath hitched. "If my parents... If my parents knew I was with another girl? It's so hard trying to live up to what everyone else wants and needs from me when I just want to be happy... I mean, I know who I am, and I'm proud of being myself, but I'm just not ready to lose them yet, because I will lose them Sammy and I'm so scared of losing my family! I just-"

"I understand exactly how you feel." Sammy said as a few tears escaped.

Yasmina looked confused for a minute before she burst out laughing. "Oh my God, I already forgot!"

The two laughed for a minute before Sammy in a state of euphoria said, "That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me!" there was a pause.

"I just don't want to lose them, you know?"

"Yeah, I know." Sammy nodded. "But, take it from me, being true to yourself is worth so much more than all the heartache the world can throw at you, and trust me, that bitch has one hell of a throwing arm, but being happy, being yourself for the sake of no one else but yourself is worth it."

They lay there at ease for several minutes picking out each other's facial features in the dark, gladdened by their nearness to one another before Yasmina broke the spell. "I can, go back to my own bed now."

Settling in and tugging the comforter over her shoulder Sammy shook her head. "Nah, this is cozy, besides I never really got to have an actual slumber party when I was little."

"Just don't expect me to talk about boys." Yasmina laughed kicking off a fit of giggles.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Sammy added.

The two talked about a whole lot of nothing for a long while, until Sammy felt Yaz dozing off beside her. Suddenly she regretted the decision, the urgent realization that this just made getting Brooklynn's phone away from her that much harder striking Sammy full in the chest.

"Oh no..." she whispered.