𝚁𝙸𝚂𝙺 | ᴊᴀᴠɪ ʀɪᴠᴇʀᴀ

prelude

may, 2019.

i was almost giddy as i woke up that morning. i was running around in the tall grass, my camera in my hand. one of my closest friends, kate, was giggling as she held my other hand. we were trying to confirm the storm was actually coming. i mean, the sky and everything looked the same as it did when a tornado was gonna come.

or maybe i'm just a lousy ass meteorologist. i don't know, but i was half-excited, half ready to piss my pants in anxiety. we hadn't tried this yet. we had always been that group of college kids who had a hopeless dream that we could make a tornado dissipate.

well, today, we were gonna prove them wrong. we were gonna prove them all wrong.

as i held the camera up to my eyes, i smiled as the (at least) two feet tall blades of grass tickled my legs. nature was perhaps the most comforting thing in my life.

i clicked the camera. smiling, kate shared a look with me. then we turned around and ran back to our little group of cars laying around in the field. it probably looked dumb. but, hey, what can a bunch of mentally insane college students do?

kate climbed into the trailer and hovered over her boyfriend, jeb. "got to get up," she whispered.

"i'm working on it," he replied, his eyes still shut.

"okay, dude, seriously, it's time to go," i grinned as i leaned on the open door of the car.

i think that woke him up.

jeb's eyes practically shot open. "you two found one for us?"

kate nodded and pressed a kiss to jeb's lips. normally, i'd find that gross. but i guess they get a pass.

kate then got out of the car, and grabbed my arm. "woah!" i yelped. when we reached the van, i stretched my arm inside and slammed my hand on the horn.

praveen and addy woke up at that. addy was fumbling to put on her glasses.

"what the hell?" praveen mumbled, half-asleep.

"storm's here, guys!" i called.

"let's go!"

"chop chop, you losers!" i yelled.

"nah. nah, it can't be." javi sat up, the blanket still over him. "god, i went way too hard last night."

"javi, get up! come on!" i ran over, yanking the blanket off of him. there was a whole ass food group around him. flamin' hot limón cheetos, an orange peel, a half eaten... donut? or is that a croissant? and a freaking fork on a plastic cup top? jesus, talk about littering without littering.

"oh!" he exclaimed as i pulled the blanket over his head. "come on, ada!"

a few minutes later, we were all somewhat awake. i had downed my last coffee thermos, and i was fully awake by now. javi was sitting on a chair, fiddling with whatever drones or data collectors he put in his dorothy v barrel.

"where are trash bags?" addy called. "oh. found 'em."

i snickered. "nice job, addy."

addy grinned, holding them up for me, squinting.

kate was standing in front of jeb, who held a camera. "jeb, are you sure you're recording?"

"i don't think he knows how a camera works," i sighed. "there isn't a red light."

"oh." he turned it around. "yeah. recording."

"okay." kate jumped happily, waving me over. "blah."