Chapter Text
☼☼☼
Darius’ shoulders feel heavy as he carries his duffle bag up the dirt path that leads to the camp. His brother had dropped him off where the asphalt ended and had smirked at him sarcastically.
“Still don’t get why you wanted me to drop you off instead of driving here yourself.”
“Because, Brand,” he had said his name like it was an accusation, “then the car would be stuck here all summer! Without you!”
Brandon, in his late twenties by now, had playfully rolled his eyes and ruffled Darius’ hair. “I can't believe you still want to go to this nerdy camp so bad. It seems like yesterday that you were nine, fidgeting all the same.”
Darius swatted his brother’s hand away from his locs. “It’s a dinosaur themed camp, Brand, that’s a thousand times cooler!” He huffed “And I’m going to be a counselor now, so it’s totally different!”
And it is going to be totally different.
He’s older now, more mature, but still passionate about dinosaurs. The difference is that now he’s going to be in charge, and he’ll make the Camp Cretaceous experience as great as he can for kids that are like he was as a camper. He remembers very fondly the times he spent at the camp, and really, he’s been waiting to turn eighteen since he was twelve just so he could apply to be a counselor, after he had phased out of the age to be a camper.
Now he’s finally there. He says bye to Brand and passes the only two other cars in the parking lot- a metallic blue convertible and a red old beat up van. He already has an inkling as to who the owner of the blue BMW might be, as the plate on the front boldly reads “K3NK0N”, in between two little star symbols. Darius shivers.
He braces forward nonetheless, and once he’s hasted up the hill that separates the dusty parking lot from the main camp area, he smiles heartily at the place- it’s just how he remembered it. A tall pole shines in the sun in the middle of a large clearing, a dark green flag sits dully at the top, no gusts of wind in sight. Six colorful cabins surround the clearing, along with a bigger, wood colored one that divides the other cabins in two groups of three. A couple of dirt paths lead into the forest, and Darius can already imagine himself running up and down them in the evening breeze, helping kids get to the lake, roasting marshmallows by the fire-
His musings are stopped abruptly by the sound of two people bickering. They’re standing not too far from him, and from what it seems, the guy is getting a stern talking to.
“You sent him to get ‘emergency toilet paper’ the day before the campers arrive?! ”
“Uhm, duh?! What would we do if we ran out of toilet paper?”
“We have toilet paper, Kenji, it’s in the fucking storage closet!” The girl with the dark hair waves her arms in the general direction of the big brown cabin.
“I know that, Yaz, but that’s not emergency toilet paper, is it?!”
Darius is so enthralled in their bizarre conversation that he doesn’t notice someone coming up behind him, and gets startled when he feels a hand on his shoulder.
“Woah, stranger, didn’t mean to scare you there!” It’s a girl with green eyes and purple hair, which fades to aqua blue on one side. She smiles, and her neck crinkles at the side of her choker. “You must be the new counselor, right?”
He sighs and turns to face her, holding out a hand for her to shake. “I’m Darius. And you totally didn’t scare me just now.”
She smiles heartily and shakes his hand. “I'm Brooklynn. Nice to meet you.”
The dark haired boy and girl suddenly notice the other two, and he jogs his way over to them, her following suit. Now Darius sees he’s holding a clipboard. He’s also definitely sure he knows who the tacky car in the parking lot belongs to.
“Holy shit! Darius Bowman, is that you?!” He shouts as he’s coming over, and pulls him into a quick hug when he arrives. “I knew the name on the application form looked familiar!”
“Does that mean you pick out applications based on if the names ‘sound familiar’?” The dark haired girl crosses her arms. She’s wearing a fitted lycra t-shirt and gym shorts.
“Will you get off my back?! The guy’s alright, ok?! We used to be co-campers.” He smirks. “I remember when you were this tall,” he raises his hand up to the middle of his chest, “now look at you!” he spreads his arms out and almost hits the girl in the shorts in the face.
Darius notices that he’s grown to be about an inch taller than Kenji- and in his head he calls it a personal win.
The girl with the dark hair groans- they’re wrapped in a long ponytail, and her bangs are slightly sticking to her forehead because of the hot weather. She pushes Kenji’s arm away. “My name is Yasmina, by the way.” She shakes his hand as well and smiles subtly. She seems like a cool enough person when Kenji isn’t driving her insane. Darius can relate.
“Darius.” He smiles back genuinely. “It’s good to be back here.”
Suddenly, for the third time in ten minutes, someone else joins the conversation, startling Darius. “Ain’t y’all so cute, bein’ nice to each other for once!”
A third girl joins the group, walking up with her hands on her hips. She’s got shoulder length black hair, and the tips are dyed fuchsia. She’s wearing a patterned blue jacket, far too heavy for the summer weather, and her cowboy boots are already dirty with the dust from the campground.
“Sammy!” Yasmina whips her head towards her, and the other girl embraces in a tight hug.
“And who’s this handsome guy?” she turns to him.
Darius responds by blushing and smiling awkwardly at her.
“He’s this year’s fresh meat!” Kenji cheerfully quips. “Right, Darius?”
Darius wishes he could kick him. “...Yup! Nice to meet you,...”
“Sammy.” she tilts her head slightly and smiles. “Can’t wait to become your bestest friend!” She winks, and somehow he doesn’t find it cheesy.
“Well,” Kenji looks down at his clipboard. “How about I show you to your cabin, Darius? Don’t want ya’ to strain your back standing around with that big old bag!” Without waiting for a response, he turns around and starts walking to the cabins.
Darius curls an eyebrow questionably at Brooklynn, who shrugs and turns to follow the other two girls who have already started walking the opposite direction, towards the path that leads to the lake. He sighs and catches up to Kenji and his stupid clipboard.
The shorter guy finally stops in front of a bright yellow cabin, right between the big cabin and a smaller blue one.
“Really?” Darius groans. “The Pteranodon cabin?! Do you know that they’re-”
“Not even actually dinosaurs?” a voice quips from behind them. “That’s what I told him, too.”
Darius, startled one too many times, whips around and meets eyes with a tall guy holding about three packs of toilet paper under his arm. He has grayish-blue eyes, and his brunette hair is long enough that it peeks out from behind his ears. He is so tall.
“Ben, finally! I was starting to worry, you know?” Kenji laughs and takes one of the packs off him- which doesn’t really seem to help him in any way.
“ Oh, wouldn’t want to worry Captain Kenji for the life of me!” He throws the other two packs at him and hits him right in the face both times.
“ Ouch ! You’re disrespecting-”
“Wait… Ben? As in… Ben Pincus?!” Darius doesn’t believe it.
Ben smiles awkwardly, showing the small gap between his front teeth. No, it’s definitely him. “Didn’t recognize me, uh? Don’t worry, it happens a lot.” He brushes the back of his neck and then holds his hand out for Darius to shake it.
Instead, Darius pulls him into a hug. “It’s great to see you man!” He pulls back and holds the side of his biceps- he’s too tall to comfortably lay his hands on his shoulders- “I would’ve eaten more carob if I knew it had this effect on people!”
Ben blushes slightly, then turns to Kenji. “Why didn’t you tell me Darius was going to be the newbie?!” Ben’s use of the word makes Darius hold in a chuckle.
Kenji shrugs. “Didn’t think you’d care.”
“ Are you kidding?!” Ben moves his own hands to Darius’ shoulders and shakes him lightly. “ Darius Bowman is here! The one and only Dino Nerd!”
Darius blushes in embarrassment. “Don’t tell me you still remember that stupid nickname!”
Kenji snickers. “Not one of my most creative, but it still holds up.” He walks to the two and holds them in a side-hug. “This summer’s gonna be the one, uh?”
☘✧⚡︎
Kenji spends the next ten minutes explaining the basics to Darius while Ben leans against the Pteranodon cabin’s porch. Once Kenji hollers off, struggling to hold the toilet paper he has made Ben get, the other two are left alone.
Darius sits on the porch stairs and brings his knees to his chest. “So, tomorrow’s the big day…”
“Don’t be nervous, buddy. I know you’re going to do great.”
☼☼☼
Darius wakes up to the sound of his alarm- the Jurassic Park soundtrack. It’s six a.m., but it couldn’t be early enough to start off this first day. He quickly puts on the uniform Kenji handed him yesterday: a simple yellow t-shirt with the camp’s logo printed on the heart. He pairs it with a pair of black basketball shorts and his usual brown high top converse. He practically flies to the bathroom to brush his teeth and grows increasingly more nervous every time the toothbrush strokes his teeth, and when he finally spits in the sink, the white foam is stained red.
When he arrives at the big brown cabin, he realizes he’s the first there. The morning is still breezy, and the sun’s not yet up in the sky, and Yasmina approaches the cabin a fair five minutes after him, wearing a sweater with ‘ UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS ’ printed in bold letters on the chest.
She yawns, then steps past him and up to the door. “Morning.”