Zephyr | Camp Cretaceous

Things Fall Apart: 1/2

[Camp Cretaceous]

That day was one she'd likely never forget. It had started off great—though she could have done without the prodding from the campers—and it went even better. The balls were fun; it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to herd a Sinoceratops, reckless as they were when doing so, and saving Brooklynn and Darius from drawing in a mud pit had been a rush she both wanted and never wanted to feel again. But Yasmina convincing herself to open up a bit more was probably the most significant thing.

As she stood in the doorway to the deck overlooking the forest, Yasmina hugged her sketchbook tightly as she looked at Sammy Gutierrez leaning against the rail and watching the rain. The girl had said a thing that reminded Yasmina of what Zephyr had said to her two years ago. "It's hard to trust strangers. It is a scary world out there. But... I'll trust you if you trust me." It was almost one-to-one, really. Yasmina was beginning to think that Sammy was somehow related to Zephyr—but that wasn't possible.

Steeling herself, Yasmina approached Sammy, forcing herself not to turn around and bolt back inside. As it happens, the black-haired girl was incredibly patient; she looked at Yasmina without annoyance as she got her thoughts in order, trying to find the courage to speak after stopping beside the Texan girl.

"I," she hesitated, the tip of her tongue shooting out to moisten her parched lips, "if everyone would have listened to you... If I had listened, we wouldn't have had any problems." When Sammy smiled softly, Yaz let everything fly, "I'm not so great at trusting new people. It took me four months to tell Zephyr my name." It was something the blond teased her mercilessly about. "So, my favourite colour is black, my favourite food is pizza, and..." She tapped her book against her head before giving it to Sammy. "This is what I was doing before."

Sammy's eyes sparkled as she took the book and flipped it open to the first page. "This is Zephyr?" Yaz felt her face reddening but nodded. "She's gorgeous." The girl grinned at her when Yasmina looked out over the forest before flipping through the drawings, each page detailing the days since arriving at camp.

"I started drawing to kill time during track meets," Yasmina explained, wringing her hands and chewing on the inside of her cheek. "I'm not very good, so you probably... probably won't even like them."

"I don't like them," Sammy admitted, and Yasmina hung her head, but before she could bolt, the Texan girl continued, "I love them! I knew we were gonna be friends!" Suddenly, Yaz was engulfed in a rib-cracking hug. She tried to relax her tense body, but it was hard, and she could only handle so much.

"Not really a hugger."

Sammy countered, "You are now!"

Seeing no way out of this, Yasmina slowly returned the hug, placing one hand on Sammy's back before she closed her eyes. It was actually pretty nice. The Texan girl squeezed her, and Yaz let a slight smile split over her face. Not long after that, she found herself lying in bed and staring at the ceiling fan after her call with a worried blond—though those who didn't know her would only hear the anger in the chiding—and let the exhaustion wash over her body. Sleep came to her almost instantly as she shut her eyes.

Yasmina's eyes fluttered open as the sun filtered through the curtains, shining directly onto her eyelids. An annoyed grumble escaped her, and she cursed the sun for waking her as she sat upright and stretched, her hair falling over her face as she did. Then it hit her; Zephyr was here.

Yasmina had never done her morning routine quite so quickly.

Dressed and positively vibrating, Yasmina sprinted across the bridge towards the living room and yanked the sliding door open so violently that the sound of it crashing might have woken half the park. It sure had Dave, who was in the process of sticking a note on the drive, screaming like a little girl. The counsellor held his hand over his heart and glared playfully at Yasmina but gained a sympathetic look when he glimpsed a super excited track star looking around the living room before suddenly locking eyes with him.