Chapter Three
[Y/N POV]
Ben retches into the ocean, and I rub his back soothingly.
"Hey, hey. It's fine, Ben." I say soothingly, patting and rubbing his back for comfort.
He nods weakly, his head lifting up a bit, but then it immediately ducks down again, spewing vomit into the water.
And... now I feel like puking myself. At least I don't have emetophobia. That would've made it much worse. Instead, I pinch my nose and look away.
"Welcome to Isla Nublar, campers." The male councillor with a bright red shirt and yellow bandanna says, bouncing on the tips of his toes. "You are the chosen few, the first kids in the entire world to ever experience the awesomeness that is Camp Cretaceous"
He stands up straight, lays his hands behind his back formally and starts to pace, as I gently drag Ben with me back to the other teens, who are also standing on the deck, listening attentively to the man.
"I know the trip from the mainland was rough on some. Hello, Ben." He says, smiling. Ben smiles back weakly, and retches again. I just give the man a thumbs up.
"But you made it!" he exclaims. "I'm Dave, head counselor." Dave proudly tosses his head. "You heard that correctly—— head honcho, big shot."
Tires screech as a large truck skids on its wheels and stops in front of us.
A woman in an identical shirt with Dave steps out, the wind ruffling her pony-tailed hair.
"Ah. So sorry I'm late." she says in a thick accent. "Welcome campers! I'm Roxie, head counselor of Camp Cretaceous."
Our eyes flit to Dave.
He chuckles awkwardly. "Well, it's sort of a co-head counselor sort of thing."
"Is it?" Roxie raises an eyebrow at him, and he clears his throat loudly.
"Anyway, some of you won contests to be here, some of you had VIP invites, but for the next two weeks, all of you will be getting the five-star treatment!"
One of the girls, the one with the pink hair, turns her phone towards us. The dark-skinned boy waves cheerily at the camera, and I do the same. Ben smiles unsurely at it. The girl with the high ponytail hides her face, and the Texan girl beams brightly.
These people seem nice. Maybe I could fit in, for once.
"As our first campers, you all will get to experience exclusive behind-the-scenes tours of Jurassic World."
Ben gulps loudly, wincing.
"As well as kayaking, rock climbing, obstacle courses, and of course..."
"Dinosaurs?!" me and the dark-skinned boy excitedly finish.
We both look at each other in surprise, and laugh a little.
Finally.Someone who understands my love for dinosaurs!
"Yes, Darius and Y/N. Plenty of dinosaurs."
"So you're Darius? Nice to meet you." I shake his hand enthusiastically.
He smiles back. "It's nice to meet you too, Y/N."
"So, ready for an adventure?" Roxie and Dave excitedly ask.
"Absolutely!" The pink-haired girl says. "But I'm gonna need that speech a little shorter, and try to lean into the majesty of this place."
We all pause, giving her strange looks.
Dave chuckles, breaking the silence. "Okay, we're going now. Let's get the seven of you to camp!"
I notice that Ben is chewing his lip, which means that he wants to say something but is too shy, so I raise his hand, and he looks at me in surprise.
"Go on. Say it." I quietly urge.
"There are, um, there are only six of us." he stammers, his cheeks red, for some reason.
His eyes flit to my hand, and I smile happily at him, before setting his hand down and letting go of it.
"Wait." Dave pauses, pointing at all of us and giving us nicknames. "Dino-boy, Dino-girl, Track-Star, Internet-Girl, Barfy, Texas. He's right. Where's Seven?"
Roxie scoffs as she glances at the clipboard in her hands
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The helicopter blades whir loudly as it lands on the helipad. The side-door opens and a tall, teenage boy steps out with sunglasses and a smug expression, as if he knows that he's better than us.
"Greetings my dudes. Kenji is here, so let's get this party going!" he makes us finger guns, clicking his tongue.
My face twists into a weirded-out face. He's so... confident.
He thrusts his duffel bag to Roxie, ordering, "Put this in my room."
Kenji lifts down his sunglasses at me. "So what's your deal?"
I edge away from him uncomfortably, my thoughts jumping to conclusions, and I feel a hand wrap around mine. When I look to the side, Ben is frowning at Kenji, and I nudge him gratefully.
Roxie also notices my discomfort, and knocks Kenji over with the bag. He lands face first on the ground, making me crack a smile.
The female counselor dusts her hands. "Okay. Let's go to camp now."
We follow her to the car. Yasmina throws herself onto it in a high jump. Sammy beams brightly at all of us. Brooklyn takes a picture of herself, sitting down. Darius grins cheerfully. Kenji adjusts his shades even more, until it's almost above his eyes, which is a pretty funny sight, if you ask me.
Dave excitedly taps on the truck before climbing into the driver's seat where Roxie is waiting for him.
I struggle to put on my seatbelt, but then Ben leans over and helps me click it on.
"Thanks Ben." I sigh, and he gives me a small smile.
"I hope you got my mom's note. I don't do well on windy roads." he gulps.
"What's good, Brooklanders?!" The pink girl brightly says to her camera. "It's your girl, Brooklyn coming at you from the best place ever. Like and subscribe to join me as I unbox Jurassic World!"
Ah. So she must be some kind of YouTuber. That's... interesting. I've never been in a video before. I wonder if I could be in one know.
She turns to us. "Okay. I need you all to say who you are and a little bit about yourselves. And, action." The camera rotates to Darius.
"Oh! Um... I beat this awesome VR dinosaur game to get here. I'm Darius by the--"
"I'm sorry!" The Texan girl cuts in. "I just can't believe, you're Brooklyn! I'm Sammy Gutierrez, total Brooklander!" She happily shakes Brooklyn's hand.
"Oh, also, my family supplies all the beef for the park, and that's how I got here."
Woah. That's... a lot of beef.
"Great to meet you, Sammy!" Brooklyn says.
"Um... What's a Brooklander?" Darius asks meekly
"Oh, that's just what my followers call themselves."
"Uh, all 27 million of us!" Sammy says
Kenji's jaw drops, and he looks at Brooklyn with an impressed glint in his eyes. If I were Brooklyn, I would be really uncomfortable, because my thoughts can go really dirty for even just a small, insignificant reason.
"Yep. That's why she's the only one who gets to keep her cell phone." The girl with the high ponytail, (who's name is I don't know yet) says bitterly.
"Hold on!" Kenji yelps, ang I startle at his loud tone. "Rich and famous? Oh meant to be."
He rudely grabs Brooklyn's phone and snaps a picture of him and her. The girl frowns at Kenji before snatching her phone back and wiping it on her jacket in mild disgust. I don't know yet, exactly, but I think she deleted the photo. Good choice.
Ben vomits out of the truck even more, and I sigh.
"Sorry." I mumble to the others as they stare at us. "Ben... has car sickness."
Ben lifts his head and his finger, and says "As well as sea sickness!" before continuing barfing.
"Yup, that too." I smile awkwardly.
They shrug and look away.
Suddenly, the tires screech, and the car fishtails and halts. With wide eyes, Ben clutches my arm, and I pat his back.
"Um, Dave? What's going on?" I ask, worried for Ben.
"Nothing you need to worry about!" He cheerfully says. "But, I advise you all to stay in your seats, just in case."
"Oh, gosh." I hear Ben moan, his nausea coming back full speed. He turns back, not wanting to see the sight, but the rest of us lean forwards in anticipation.
Then out of nowhere, a small reptile standing on two legs pops out and leaps onto me.
Ben jumps out of the vehicle, Brooklyn, Sammy, and Yaz press their backs against the truck's sides, and Kenji screeches like a banshee, which is a sound I don't want to hear ever again.
Darius and I yelp in fright, but then smile once we realize that it's just a...
"A real life Composognathus!" both of us exclaim excitedly.
The Compy tries to jump out of the truck, but then Roxie catches it with a cat carrier and a towel.
"Crisis averted." she grins. "Oh, these things are always getting out of their enclosure."
Darius starts fangirling [haha], and I match his enthusiasm.
"Oh, please." Kenji scoffs, as I pull Ben into the truck to sit beside me again. "It took a blanket and a pet house to catch it. Boring."
Darius smirks. "Scared you pretty good."
Sammy and the girl in a ponytail laugh while Brooklyn quickly snaps a shot of his stunned face.
He glares at us.
Ben, thinking that Kenji's glaring at him, sticks closer to me, and I chuckle while ruffling his hair. "Oh, Ben. He's not mad at you."
Ben sighs in relief.
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There we go! The first official chapter. I hope it was nice.
-Spikey