The Park is Open ; Jurassic World

o n e

Andy

"Hey Owen!" I called over to my big, muscly coworker who was controlling the gates at the moment. "Make sure the cages are locked. We don't need Echo to get out and come after me again." I hear Echo snarl quietly under the metal that clamped her jaws together. I glared at her. "Don't get sassy with me." She just blinked, but didn't make any sounds after that.

That's right. Keep quiet, stupid raptor.

She was actually my favorite Velociraptor out of the four. I was there when she was born, not too long ago. She was the first one out of the bunch to hatch. And damn, she was a beautiful one. That day may have been the best day of my life. Since then, she's been like a pet to me. . .well. . .we have a love-hate relationship. I still get pissed when tourists make fun of her. She's my raptor, dammnit. My raptor. Say one negative thing about and I'll slit your throat, and let her chow down the rest of you.

"They're locked, Andy. Don't worry." Owen yelled back, and I sighed in relief. Echo may have been the one I was closest to, but she was still vicious as hell.

I jump slightly at the sound of a phone ringing. Echo even shuffles a bit in her cage, obviously scared of the sudden noise, too. I send her a smirk, stroking the side of her face to try and relax her. "Calm down, girl. It's just my phone." I pull it out of the pocket of my jean shorts, and my eyes furrowed at the caller ID. It was my boss, Claire. What the hell does she want? She's almost too busy to function. I press the green button anyway.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Thank God! It's Andrea, right?" she asked, frantically. From the other side of the line, it seemed like she was crazily running around, trying to get things in order.

"It's Andy, actually." I correct her. My name actually was Andrea, I just preferred Andy more because it suits me better. "What's up?"

"It's probably not a good time, I know and I'm sorry. I've just been so busy lately-"

Jesus, this chick needs a chill pill.

"Claire, it's fine. I'm not all that busy down here anyways. What do you need?"

I hear her sigh in relief. "Okay, so my two nephews are on there way here.  And you're a teenager, right? I think the oldest is the same age as you, or around that. I don't know, it's been so long since I've seen them. But I'm too busy to give them a tour and show them around and the girl that was originally going to do it cancelled on me, so could you possibly do it?" She rambled.

I thought about it for a second. I wasn't very good at making friends. Honestly, my only friends at the moment were the raptors and some of my coworkers. I dropped out of high school last year to get this job. I spent countless nights and went through dozens of coffee cups just to research about the velociraptors, or any dinosaur for that matter. I left all of my friends and most of my family behind for this job. This job and these dinosaurs are all I know.

So yeah, I'm not much of a people person. But it could be a chance to make new friends, since I left all of mine. I guess I could do it.

"Uh, yeah, sure. I'm in." I told her and she practically shrieked. I jumped and pulled the phone away as the noise made my ears ring before placing it back against my ear when she was done.

"Great! They arrive in the shuttle train in about ten minutes. Their names are Zach and Gray. And if I were you, I'd make a sign with their names on it, because I'm pretty sure they won't know who you are." she said.

I craned my neck, searching for anything I can use as a sign that would be big enough. I saw a package of construction paper in one of the rangers, probably from making posters with velociraptor information on them for the tourists. I remember working on them yesterday. I give Echo a quick pat before walking toward it. "Okay, I'll be there soon."

"Okay, awesome! Thanks Andy!"

"Welcome," I muttered and hung up, slipping my phone back in my pocket. I took a piece of paper out of the package and grabbed a sharpie from the cup holder. I set the sheet on the leather seats and wrote: Zach & Gray. Aunts name: Claire. Well that should do it.

I grabbed the poster board and started for the front entrance, which was a good five minute walk from here, so I needed to get going. I sent a quick wave to Owen who was visiting Charlie at the moment before they got fed. He smirked at my wave and gave me a nod.

God, he was so cool.

- - -

After a short walk, and a couple awkward interferences with random people in the crowd, I make it to the entrance. And just in time, too. I hold my sign up as people pile out of the cars.

Some teenage girls give me weird looks, for what reason, I don't know. And me being me, gave them weird looks back, telling them to mind their damn business. They don't know me, so they don't need to judge me. Bitches.

"Hello!" a voice broke my thoughts and I focused back, seeing a boy standing in front of me, a big grin plastered on his face. Well that must be Gray. Or was it Zach?

I smiled down at him. He looked eleven, maybe even twelve, and he had possibly the most curliest hair I have ever seen. "Hey bud, are you Zach?"

Please be right, or I'm going to look so stupid.

He shook his head. "I'm Gray," he told me, pointing behind him. "That's Zach."

I glanced up at another boy approaching us. And I'm pretty sure my heart stopped for a second.

Claire was right, he did look my age, which was seventeen. His brown hair fell just above his sparkling brown eyes, and his outfit consisted of an unzipped sweatshirt which a t-shirt underneath, jeans, and sneakers. I was basically wearing the exact same outfit, just with jean shorts and a Jurassic World t-shirt under my sweatshirt.

God damn, he's so freakin' hot. He may even be hotter than Owen. . .just saying.

"H-Hi" I stammered and held my hand out for him to shake. He just stared down at my hand, then back up at me, obviously not really knowing what to do. I brought my hand back down, my cheeks warming up at my stupidness.

"Where's Aunt Claire?" Zach asked, finally speaking.

"Uh, working. So, she asked if I would be your tour guide. I'm Andy, by the way, Andy baker. I'm a junior trainer at the Velociraptor exhibit and the youngest staff member here at seventeen." I explained. He probably didn't even care, but I was so nervous right now, I could barely even function.

"That's so cool!" Gray exclaimed, jumping up and down, excitedly. "Maybe one day, I could work here too!"

I could already tell I was going to like this kid.

I quickly threw the sign away in a nearby trash can and motioned for them to follow me. "Well time to get started. Let's go to the Mosasaurs first since its the closest." I said as I lead the way, looking back to make sure they were following me.

"A Mosasaurs isn't actually a dinosaur." Gray started. "It's a-"

"Fifty foot long marine reptile." I finished for him. "Yup, I know, bud." I looked back at him once more to see him grinning widely up at me.

I glanced back at Zach for a split second, and he was staring right at me, eyes slightly widened. Probably because of my knowledge on dinosaurs. Well, when you stay up for hours at a time, just doing research on dinosaurs, you'll learn a lot.

I turn my attention back in front of me to try and avoid his intense stare. I could barely hear Zach as he mumbled something that sounded like 'damn, she's so hot.' My cheeks reddened once more as I continued walking.

He couldn't be talking about me, right?

- - -