Jump | Zach Mitchell

thirteen

"ARE you sure that you're okay with this?"

It's an hour later and Zach is driving me nuts. He's been hovering ever since I nearly dropped the bombshell. When Gray said that he wanted to see the Mosasaurus show, it took a 15 minute argument to convince Zach that I was perfectly okay with sitting next to a body of water.

I roll my eyes. "Yes, Zach. I'm fine."

We're seated in a giant stadium surrounding a massive tank of water. The bleachers we're in have the words 'SPLASH ZONE!' painted across the backs.

Good-y. And I thought my hair was already bad due to the humidity. Let's throw some water on it for good measure.

"Whatever." He settles back against the rickety metal, eyes training on his phone.

I'm filled with the sudden urge to grab his phone and chuck it as hard as I can into the tank. I sit on my hands to make sure I don't do anything rash.

Gray is on the other side of me, eagerly bouncing up and down. "The Mosasaurus has eighty-eight teeth."

"Cool," I say dully. "Tell me more."

He opens his mouth, but then the announcer for the event steps onto a platform. "It's starting!" He yelps. "Zach! Mosasaurus!" He reaches across me to push his brother's arm. "Jonelle, make Zach look!"

I bump his elbow, causing him to nearly drop his phone. When he glares at me, I smile. "Hey, dickhead. Your brother wants you to pay attention. Try to think of someone else besides yourself for once."

I know what I said was rude. I'm just irritated by the situation. I know that's no excuse.

Zach's about to let me have it, but the announcer begins her presentation. "Welcome to the Mosasaurus Tank!" She holds her hands up in the air, accepting all the cheers and applause from the audience. "I hope you're enjoying your stay at Jurassic World.

"This is the largest enclosure in the park, housing our biggest attraction. She's forty-nine feet long and weighs about six tons."

The water on the sides of the tank sloshes. My stomach twists, imagining the tank spilling over and engulfing the entire arena.

A humongous dark shape slowly eases itself along in the glistening blue water. The crowd makes sounds of appreciation. Gray is standing on top of the bleachers, trying to get a better look.

Zach sends him an annoyed look. "Sit down." He reaches behind my head to yank on one of Gray's pant legs. Gray dances out of the way, straining on his tip toes.

"The Mosasaurus was thought to have hunted near the surface of the water where it could prey on anything it could sink its teeth into..."

I'm distracted from the rest of her statement. A crane holding a dead shark is edging its way out over the center of the pool.

Are they really going to...? No way. No way!

"Okay, folks. Let's see if she's still hungry after already eating today. She's a little shy, so be nice! Give her a hand when she comes out."

"Zach!" Gray screams, leaping off his perch to yank the phone out of his brother's hand.

Immediately, Zach starts reaching for his phone. "Hey!"

Gray refuses to give it back, tossing it to me. I quickly shove it down my shirt. Zach stops reaching for it and simply glares with enough burn to fry an egg. I know if we weren't in public, nothing would stop him from retrieving his phone. But we are in public. Haha. "Jonelle-"

He doesn't get a chance to finish whatever curse he was about to invent with my name. Gray shoves in between us, thin legs pressing tightly against ours, and points. "Look, look!"

Just then, a sound like a bomb being dropped fills the stadium.

All I can do is gape as the gigantic dinosaur thrusts itself out of the water and takes the dead shark into its jaws.

A collective gasp sweeps out of the lungs of the amazed audience. Then there's delighted screams as the Mosasaurus gracefully thunders back down, sending a colossal wave up and over.

We're drenched in less than two seconds.

"Holy shit!" Zach breathes, a laugh bubbling from his lips.

I spit salty water out of my mouth. Gross. Cool, but gross.

"Don't say shit!" Gray chides. He doesn't really mean it. His eyes are wide with mirth as he takes in the Mosasaurus in all its glory.

"That was awesome!" Zach nudges me while he claps.

As frustrated as I am right now, I can't bear to be upset when I see him smiling like that. I grin and clap too, nodding. "Yeah!"

The bleachers beneath us produce a grinding noise. We're suddenly being lowered into the ground.

The lady on the platform sinks along with us. "Hold on tight! We're going to give you an even closer look at our Mosasaurus."

The bleachers come to a squealing halt when we're level with the bottom of the tank. A slab of concrete protests as it slides over us, immersing us in darkness. The tank is bright from the sunlight up above, illuminating the Underwater Observatory in a blue glow.

The Mosasaurus swims around playfully. The audience goes wild as she swipes the last bit of the shark.

Zach is thrilled. He's more excited over this than I've ever seen him on this trip. I find myself admiring his giddy profile instead of the ultra-cool dinosaur swimming around less than 20 feet away.

"Look at how huge that thing is!" He remarks, turning to me with enthusiasm.

Just as he says this, one of the Mosasaurus's flippers smack against the glass, causing the entire tank to shudder.

Gray lets out a pleased shriek before clapping.

Meanwhile, I'm imagining the glass busting and our tight room filling with water...

___

"HOW the hell did they come up with the prices for this stuff?" Zach asks as he puts a necklace back on the rack.

After we saw the Mosasaurus show, Gray spotted a gift shop with Mosasaurus merchandise and sprinted inside before Zach and I could say anything.

"I guess they figure that if you'll pay out the butt to come to a dinosaur island, you won't mind paying fifty bucks for some plastic toys." I set the tube of dinosaur figures down. "Any luck finding something for the parents?"

"None." Zach sighs. "This is ridiculous."

Gray pokes his head from around a table. "How about these?" He holds out his hands.

I raise an eyebrow. "You want to give our Moms dinosaur friendship necklaces?"

He nods.

Zach frowns at the beer cozies in Gray's other palm. "Dad doesn't even drink, dude."

"My Dad does." I take the Jurassic World cup holder from him and stick it in the shopping bag. "How about you get your Dad that velociraptor eyeglass case?"

"That's lame," Zach groans. Still, he plucks it off the shelf and tosses it in the bag. "Are we sure on the necklaces?"

"Positive," Gray says as he adds them to our items.

"If they think they're dumb, I'm telling them that you picked them out," Zach warns.

Gray frowns.

I pat his shoulder. "They're not going to think the necklaces are dumb. Don't listen to Zach. He's the dumb one."

Zach frowns. "Hey!"

Gray smiles. "I never listen to him anyway."