𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐏 𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐒 - camp cretaceous

09| The Rich and The Hunted-By-Dinos

"I can't believe you have one of these. I didn't even know they were released yet!"

Darius was ecstatic as he tapped furiously on the console Kenji brought him. Ever the lovable nerd, he was very quickly gaining points. He was getting worryingly close to Kenji's high score, but I didn't care as much about that; I was too proud of how well Darius was doing!

"Dad worked with the company once. How are you so good at this!? It's so hard to get a good score!" I said.

I leaned with my arms on the white and gold chair Darius was comfortably sitting on. Since I had nothing to do but watch Darius, I played with his dark hair. It's been a while since we were first abandoned, and everyone's hair started showing that. I mean, Kenji had even started growing facial hair! And yet, Darius' hair had somehow grown softer by the day instead of as damaged as mine and Brooklynn's.

Kenji raised his eyebrow smugly at me. "Correction: It's so hard for YOU to get a good score," he boasted, "I, on the other hand, got the highest score ever! It took me all last summer, but it was worth it!—"

"—YES! HIGH SCORE!"

Kenji's smug smirk vanished. He stared silently at Darius; his jaw dropped, frozen in shock. Darius hesitantly glanced at Kenji, his face drowning in instant regret. I awkwardly stared at the two of them while they silently looked at each other.

"Sorry," Darius murmured. He scratched the back of his neck and smiled sheepishly at my brother.

"Whatever. It's a kiddie game—no biggie!" Kenji said, returning the nervous smile. He hurried away from me and Darius, all the way to Dad's desk. Kenji kept glancing between the desk, me, Darius, and the other campers. It was weird.

"Is he mad at me?" Darius asked worriedly, "I can just lose the high score! Well, I don't know if that's even possible in this game. I might need to restart the entire thing, but then I might lose all his saved logs, and—Sorry, I'm rambling."

I moved around to the front of the chair and hugged Darius tightly. "You're good, don't worry," I said softly. "It's not you, it's just...well, it's not you! Hey, can you beat the boss in the final?"

"Can I? Haha, just watch!" Darius exclaimed, breaking into a grin. Thankfully, my changing the subject worked! I didn't want him feeling bad for something that wasn't entirely his fault.

"AWW!" Sammy's bubbly voice floated past, and I turned to find her showing Yasmina a photo album. Her dark brown eyes softened as she stared at whatever covered the sheet of paper in her hand.

"Aww," Yaz chuckled with a sweet smile you don't often find her sporting.

It then came to my attention that Kenji had transformed into a magnet specifically attracted to 'oohs,' 'ahs,' and 'awws.' He walked over to them with intrigue painted over his face.

"What awesomeness are you two looking at?" Kenji asked.

"This adorable drawing you made of your adorable family," Sammy said.

"Is that mermaid meant to be Kiara, or?" Yaz quipped.

What had left Kenji so strangely out of it worsened as he glared at Sammy and Yasmina. I chose that moment to walk over, worried about my ticking time bomb of a brother. Kenji snatched the drawing out of Sammy's hand, and she gasped.

"I've got all this baller stuff, yet you zone in on some stupid thing I drew when I was five?" Kenji said, his tone a lot harsher than any of us expected.

Yasmina opened her mouth to make a snappy remark, but I violently shook my head and mouthed at her to drop it. I was getting more worried by the minute, and if she said anything, who knows how annoyed Kenji would get.