Chapter Text
Who knew that fresh air could feel so stuffy? Not you, that’s for sure. You aren’t exactly someone who leaves the house every day–generally not enjoying the outdoors–so you can’t really judge how fresh the air is. However, this sea air just seems too fresh. On the other hand, if it’s too fresh, isn’t it impossible for it to be stuffy? It’s rather paradoxical, but it can be more of a mental thing. Like a representation of how uncomfortable you currently feel, perhaps? But there are certainly better ways to allude to your discomfort. For example, pointing out the vast openness of the ocean. You feel oh so tiny in the middle of the big, blue ocean. Yeah, something like that. Definitely needs some work, but perhaps it could be used in a future–
Suddenly, a 'thunk!' interrupts your never-ending thoughts, and then a hand shoos you off the boat until your feet meet the gray concrete docks. Looking around, you survey the faces of five other people, all varying greatly in appearance. The most notable one is the guy standing to your left. He wears a bright green jacket, with a face that currently resembles a similar color. You feel bad for him; but you refuse to mix the smell of puke with your own beautifully non-pukey fragrance, so you'll keep your distance for now.
You shimmy a little to the right, almost bumping shoulders with one of the other teens. Luckily, you manage to avoid doing so using a special little skill called spatial awareness. You soon pull your attention away from the teen you had almost bumped into and instead put it on this lean girl with a rather long, black ponytail. She seems too busy inspecting her surroundings to notice a pink-haired girl sneaking up on her with a phone in hand.
Your eyes widen upon realizing who exactly this pink haired girl is: which is the famous Brooklynn, of course. Master of unboxing… well, practically everything. You aren’t really a fan. Her videos aren’t your thing, but it’s hard not to know her considering her high social status. You only tear your eyes off the two girls once the taller one forcefully pushes Brooklynn’s camera out of her face.
Now you drag your gaze onto the dark-skinned boy in front of you. He’s wearing a yellow jacket with black stripes running down the sleeves. He looks around excitedly, practically bouncing on his feet–no, scratch that, he actually is. You hold back a chuckle, not wanting to seem like a creep, and jump when someone elbows you gently.
“So… Jurassic World, huh?”
The southern accent draws your attention more than the touch does. And, when your head spins to look behind you, you find that the culprit is a girl with short, black hair. She wears a pink headband and a black leather jacket. You’d analyse her appearance longer, but given that the words were directed towards you, it’d be weird to just stare at her.
“Uh, yeah.” You fumble in your brain for more than just a simple agreement, but come up blank. I mean, what are you even supposed to say in response to that? Yeah, it’s Jurassic World… duh? You grimace despite yourself.
However, the cowgirl doesn’t seem to mind your lack of words. In fact, she seems rather happy that you responded at all. But before she can speak again, the man who had just been humming a generic pop song and staring at a clipboard this whole time finally speaks up; prompting everyone to form a group in front of him.
"Welcome to Isla Nublar, campers!" The man has fair skin and a yellow bandana that pushes his hair upwards in a way that defies gravity. He carries a carefree smile and continues talking as he paces back and forth in front of your group.
"You are the chosen few, the first kids in the entire world to ever experience the awesomeness…" He pauses, and everyone—despite not knowing one another—looks at each other in excitement.
"... that is Camp Cretaceous." He folds his hands behind his back and walks to the left. "I know—the trip from the mainland was rough on some." He nods his head towards the green jacket teen. "Hello, Ben."
Said boy turns towards the man to give him a thumbs up, right before spinning back around to barf over the edge of the dock again. You raise a brow at his distance. When did he leave the group?
The older man shouts, "But you made it! I'm Dave, head counselor. You heard that correctly—head honcho, big shot–"
The sound of screeching tires intercepts Dave’s speech. A vehicle flies into view, sending a dust cloud your guys’ way. Everyone watches in stunned silence as the driver seat door opens to reveal a brown-haired woman with sun-kissed skin. She steps out of the vehicle, whipping her hair out of her face (despite the fact that most of it’s tied into a ponytail) like she just came out of an action movie.
"Ah, so sorry I'm late!" She shouts over the commotion she herself had created. She then begins her own introduction as she makes her way towards your group. "Welcome, campers! I'm Roxie, head counselor of Camp Cretaceous."
Her words cause a silence to overcome everyone. You, along with the other teens, stare down Dave with judging eyes.
He fumbles with his words, chuckling with embarrassment. "Haha–well, it's sort of a co-head… counselor sort of situation." His hands point at the air, as if trying to summon something to back him up.
"Is it?" Roxie snickers.
Dave clears his throat, desperate to steer the conversation away from his failed attempt at a leadership role. "Anyway, some of you won contests to be here. Some of you had VIP invites,"
During Dave's speech, Brooklynn spins her phone around, recording the area; including the lean, ponytail girl. The black-haired girl in question blocks the camera's view of her face before walking away completely. Rejected but still determined, Brooklynn instead turns her phone towards the rest of the group, which includes you. The boy in the yellow jacket gives a double thumbs up at the camera, in addition to a bright smile. The cowgirl then notices the camera and leans over the dark-skinned boy to throw up a peace sign. Even Ben gives a small smile at the camera in spite of his previous sea-sickness. You glance at her phone, eyes widening before turning your face away from the camera's view. The action causes Brooklynn to raise a brow, but she doesn't investigate further. Rather, she swivels her phone to face Roxie and Dave as they continue their speech, which you now realize you hadn't been listening to.
You manage to pick up on Roxie's last words, "As our first campers, we've lined up exclusive behind-the-scenes tours of Jurassic World."
There are various shouts of eagerness, along with Ben’s whines of fear. Roxie then goes on to list the various activities you’d all be partaking in before the dark-skinned boy to your right cuts in to shout:
“Dinosaurs!?” His hands are suspended in front of him, balled into fists that shake with fervor.
After a long, embarrassing beat of silence, the boy shoves his hands into his pockets and stares down at his shoes. You reluctantly offer him a pat on the shoulder, giving him a small, empathetic smile when he turns towards you in confusion. Lucky for you, he smiles back because that would’ve been really embarrassing if he got creeped out by your actions. You let out a tiny, relieved breath from the positive interaction.
Roxie soon picks up from where she was interrupted. “Yes…” She spares a brief glance at the clipboard in her hands before continuing. “... Darius, plenty of dinosaurs.” Then, Roxie moves her hands to her hips, directing a smug smile towards you all as she says, “So, ready for an adventure?”
Brooklyn doesn’t miss a beat, immediately responding with, “Absolutely!” She looks back at her phone and appears a bit dissatisfied with something before turning her eyes back towards the two adults. “But I’m gonna need that speech a little shorter and really try to lean into the majesty of this place.”
The adult duo silently stares at the girl with furrowed brows before Dave chuckles and claps his hands together. “Okay, we’re going now. Let’s get the seven of you to camp!”
Ben slowly raises a hand in an almost robotic motion. “Uh, there are six of us?” He looks over the group once more to make sure he isn’t wrong before turning to look at the red shirt wearing adults.
“Wait.” Dave pauses to count heads, verbally announcing names to check off a figurative list. “Dino-kid, Track-star, Internet Girl, Wordsmith, Barfy, Texas.”
Everyone has differing reactions to the nicknames given to them. Luckily for you, yours is positive.
“He’s right. Where’s seven?” Dave glances around as if the seventh teen would suddenly appear out of thin air.
Roxie quickly checks the clipboard, most likely for a name, and then scoffs at what she finds. Soon after, the sound of a helicopter’s whirring rotor blades enters your ears. Number seven really did appear out of thin air, huh? Your group shields their eyes as dust flies once more due to the unconventional vehicle’s arrival. You really hope this doesn’t become a regular occurrence; your glasses can’t keep getting dirty because of peoples’ dramatic entrances.
The dust settles a bit as the helicopter lands. And, once it does, a man quickly walks over to open the door for the new arrival as if they’re royalty. The display results in Roxie throwing her hand out and gesturing towards the aircraft with a well-deserved snarl.
With the door now open for him, a confident-looking teen steps out. He wears a bright pink polo shirt with the collar flipped up (a fashion choice you find utterly ridiculous) and carries a large, cyan duffle bag. He’s also sporting some black sunglasses. His whole look screams ‘hey, look at me, I’m rich!’, and you already find yourself annoyed by this guy.
"Greetings, my dudes. Kenji is here, so let the party commence!" He walks towards you all, confidence radiating off of him like a bad smell.
Roxie sputters at the dust remnants, and it doesn’t help that this Kenji-guy throws his luggage at her with the order of putting it in his room.
“So, what’s your deal?” He asks Darius after pulling his sunglasses down in an exaggerated manner.
He's then promptly shoved to the ground by his own luggage, which was thrown at him by none other than Roxie.
"Okay, let's go!" She announces, after dusting her hands off.
Everyone immediately heads towards the car that Roxie had shown up in. Texas climbs into the trunk like a normal person, while Track-star skillfully jumps over the short hood of said trunk and plops down next to the girl. Ben unwillingly sits near the edge by Cowgirl. However, you usher him away from it because you refuse to sit next to Kenji or Brooklynn. And you’re glad you did because Brooklynn sits across from you right after.
"Thanks." Ben mutters, and you nod despite your help being unintentional.
Brooklynn poses and snaps a photo with her phone, and Dave pats your side of the truck to an unknown rhythm until he reaches the car door. Darius sits down facing Brooklynn, likely planning to start a conversation before Kenji intrudes by sitting in between the two. He even goes as far as wrapping an arm around Darius’s shoulders, completely ignoring the irritated face the poor boy is making. The engine starts, and everyone screams as Roxie speeds off. Darius quickly buckles his seat belt, causing a chain reaction of seat-buckling.
"I hope you got my mom's note. I don't do well on windy roads." Ben nearly shouts, twisting his body so that he could face the road that the car's driving on.
Your face twists with a grimace as he gags. "Really?" You ask, almost out of annoyance, but you can't really blame him for having such a weak stomach.
Ben spares you a fleeting look of guilt before hurling, and you grip the back of his jacket because you're not just going to let him fly out of this speeding car.
"What's good, Brooklanders?" Brooklynn sings, starting a video as she points her phone to the road and then her own face.
"It's your girl Brooklynn coming at you from the best place ever: Camp Cretaceous!" She throws an arm out, gesturing towards the passing trees.
"Like and subscribe to join me as I unlock: Jurassic World!" She then stops and looks at everyone in the trunk. “Okay, I need you all to say who you are and a little about yourself.”
A mixture of annoyance and dread curls in your stomach at the thought of being in one of her videos. Who was she to tell you guys what to do? And, also, you really just didn’t want your face on the internet. Especially since there's a possibility that your parents might see it.
"And action!" She points her phone at Darius first.
He sputters at the sudden spotlight, "Oh! Um…" He thinks for a moment before continuing. "I beat this awesome VR dinosaur game. I'm Darius by the–"
"I'm sorry," the cowgirl interrupts. "I just can't believe… you're Brooklynn!" The pink-haired girl smiles at the attention.
"I'm Sammy Gutierrez, total Brooklander!" Sammy grabs ahold of Brooklynn's hand and shakes it with all her might.
After letting go of Brooklynn’s hand, Sammy shoots some finger guns with the imitation of gunfire. Then, she seems to realize that she didn’t fully introduce herself, and she abruptly stops. “Oh, also, my family supplies all the beef for the parks, and that’s how I got here.”
"Great to meet you, Sammy." Brooklynn grins.
Darius looks around, trying to spot confusion on anyone else's face before asking the question himself, "Um… What's a Brooklander?"
"Oh, that's just what my online followers call themselves." Brooklyn explains.
"Uh, all 27 million of us." Sammy imitates gunfire again.
Kenji's eyes widen in interest at her words.
"27 million? Last time I checked, it was 29 million." You say unintentionally.
Kenji’s already widening eyes almost bulge out of his head due to your contribution, and he excitedly shakes Darius. Brooklynn, on the contrary, furrows her brows at you. She opens her mouth, maybe to question who you are or how you know her follower count, but she’s promptly cut off by Track-star, who you should really learn the name of.
"Yep, that's why she's the only one who gets to keep her cell phone. She's famous."
Kenji butts in, "Hold on. Rich…" He points to himself, "... and famous?" He turns his hand to Brooklynn. "Oh, meant to be." He swipes the phone out of her hands before leaning against her and taking a picture of the two of them.
In the middle of all this, the sound of Ben puking randomly rises in volume, thoroughly grossing everyone out and taking the attention away from the internet star. Brooklynn takes this opportunity to snatch her phone back from Kenji.
Suddenly, the car comes to an unexpected stop, nearly causing Ben to slip straight out of his seatbelt if it weren’t for your solid hold on him. You both grimace at the near casualty, and he slithers back into his seat while you finally release your grip on his jacket.
"Urgh, thanks… again," He pauses, staring at you as he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.
It takes you a few seconds to realize that he’s waiting for you to give him your name. “Oh! Uh, no problem.” You say your name, offering a hand to shake before taking it back once you remember how he had wiped his mouth.
In spite of your slight disgust, he nods, smiling as happily as one can when they have bile coating the insides of their mouth. He then turns to ask Dave why they stopped, holding his stomach while doing so. Hopefully, they have some Tums or something at the actual camp, his stomach must be torn up from vomiting all day.
"Nothing you need to worry about." Dave assures the boy, though it's not very helpful with the following sentence: "But you should all definitely stay in your seats."
Ben whimpers at his words, and of course, as soon as they're said, everyone gets up and crowds your side of the trunk to try and see what's happening. Admittedly, curious yourself, you unbuckle and observe the adults, watching as they wave around electrified sticks with caution. Ben continues his whimpering. Whether it's out of fear, stomach pain, or a horrible mixture of both, you're not sure. However, you don't take your eyes off the only adults in the area until Darius hesitantly whispers something you can't quite decipher.
You twist your body to look at him, and then in the direction he's staring, only to see some bushes rustling ominously. Slowly, you grab hold of the trunk wall in preparation to jump out if needed. The rustling picks up its pace, becoming more violent, and Darius fails to gain anyone's attention aside from you. It's only when something finally jumps out, and Darius shrieks that you leap out of the car trunk and watch as everyone else tumbles out (or attempts to).
However, when the screams of terror stop and you realize the culprit of it all is just a little Compy, you sigh in agitation. Then, you turn your head and watch as Ben slips in the damp dirt while trying to get back onto his feet. This goes on for about ten more seconds before it's awkward on both ends, and you decide to grab him by the hand and forcefully pull him up.
Ben sputters at the unexpected help. “Uh- Oh, tha–”
You quickly interrupt him. “Third time. You can't thank me anymore, it's bad luck.”
The boy squints his eyes at you out of befuddlement, then squeals when Roxie pounces on the Compy that had jumped onto Darius. She aptly wraps the small dinosaur in a blanket, patting it lightly before placing it in a cat carrier. You snort a bit at the silliness of it all.
"Crisis averted." Roxie says smoothly. She then places the carrier in the car's backseat. "These things are always getting out of their enclosure."
Darius climbs over the head of the trunk and gasps, "A real live Compsognathus!"
Kenji scoots back into his seat, huffing at Darius's enchantment. "Oh, please. It took a blanket and a cat carrier to catch it. Boring!”
Darius gives him a deserving side eye, "Scared you pretty good."
The rest of the group giggles at the Dino-boy's counter, including yourself. Brooklynn quickly takes a picture of Kenji's expression of surprise, most likely planning to upload it to her blog. In return, Kenji furrows his brows at Darius.
After that whole fiasco, the ride kept on with peace. At least until you all finally arrived at the Camp Cretaceous gate and everyone began praising the design with sounds of amazement. Although it was impressive, and this has been fun, they couldn't seem to keep their dinosaurs in check. And that worries you. What if something bigger got out? What could two adults with electrified sticks do to protect seven teenagers from something like the T-Rex?
Your thoughts are brought to an abrupt stop when you notice everyone hopping out of the car. Seeing as you've obviously reached your destination, you follow their lead. And when you glance up, a gasp falls from your lips at the sight of a humongous tree house that looked as if it were around 50 feet in the air.
“Seems safe from dinosaurs, at least.”
Turning to your left and spotting Ben still in the trunk, you huff. He's curled up like the tree's going to bend down and bite him.
“Yeah.” And that conversation is officially over.
Brooklynn's loud voice then draws your attention. "Hey, Brooklanders, check this place out! Is this not the most amazing place you have ever seen!?"
Already recording another video for her channel, it appears. Kenji intrudes as he walks into the video frame. “If you think this is cool, you should see my dad's penthouse in the main park."
His intrusion results in Brooklynn deadpanning before lighting up once she sees the girl she had gotten nothing out of yet.
“Yasmina!”
Oh, so that's her name? Good to know.
You watch as they interact for a bit before walking off to explore your new living space. Having said that, there's really not much to do here, so you just nudge a circle made of short, wooden trunks with your shoe; looking up when you feel a tap on your shoulder.
“Hey,” oh, it's Dino-boy. “Um, not really anything important, but I wanted to say thanks. For… uh, patting me, y'know? Um, woah– sorry, that sounds super weird, actually.”
You stare at him in silence for a few seconds before realizing he expects you to respond to whatever that was. “Oh, it's fine. Like you said, it's not anything important. I just kind of felt bad for you.”
He makes a face. Oh, that might've come out wrong. You better fix this. “I mean, it's reasonable to get excited by dinosaurs. They're cool, right?” At your added words, he smiles brightly.
“Yes! Finally, someone gets it! Dinosaurs are so awesome! I have so many books about them, figures, movies!” His volume rises, almost as if he forgot he had these things before apologizing. “Uh, sorry. I just really like dinosaurs, if you couldn't tell.” He rubs his neck sheepishly.
You kick at the wooden stubs again. “You don't have to apologize. I don't mind you going off about them. I have a bunch of books on them, too.”
He raises a brow in surprise. “Really? What kind?”
You look off to the side as you think. “Um, just encyclopedias, some stories, the usual.” Despite brushing it off, Darius still gets excited.
“That's cool! Maybe we could swap books sometime. I mean, if we're even on the same continent, haha!”
You snicker, thinking about being dinosaur pen pals with some random teenager you just met. “Sure.”
“Listen up!” You jump at Dave's sudden shout.
Looking his way, you notice the unorganized pile of luggage. Did he seriously just toss them on the ground? You frown at his careless treatment of your belongings.
“Announcement time from your co-head counselors.” Dave continues.
“Psst, still not a thing.” Roxie quietly adds before resuming the announcement on her own seeing as Dave refused to act serious. "Okay, everyone, there are some ground rules to cover. First off, curfew at 8:00P.M., and lights out at 9:00P.M. sharp."
"What?"
"Lame."
"Fine."
In contrast to the rest of the groups’ complaints, Ben does this stupid-looking fist pump thing that makes you chuckle.
"This is for your safety," Roxie assures. "We are in a dinosaur-filled jungle."
You can understand that regardless of her Australian accent. Wait, was it Australian, though? You can never really tell.
Roxie expands on her explanation. "You must always keep your distance, or you could be seriously hurt, if not worse."
"Define worse." Ben says in exasperation.
He's promptly ignored in favor of Dave pointing upwards, stating the obvious. "Cabins are up that-a-way."
Yasmina then shouts, "First one there gets top bunk!" She pushes right past Kenji, as if he wasn't even there.
Soon after, everyone else races past, though despite this, you keep your speed at a minimum since you can't be bothered. There isn't that big of a difference between top and bottom bunk. You'll probably fall right off the top bunk, anyway.
You briefly look back, watching as Darius runs up to the car Dave and Roxie are boarding. You wonder if you should follow him, but ultimately decide that it'd be weird to do that. Instead, you decide to just find a bunk for yourself, whether it's bottom or top.
You pause once more when you feel the ground rumble beneath your feet, and then hurry to meet with everyone else.