Jump | Zach Mitchell

sixteen

"ZACH'S a jerk."

"Yeah, he is."

We stand in line at the Gyrosphere station, watching as he hits on the two girls in front of us. When they board the ride, he moves on to flirtatiously looking at a few girls in the line across from ours.

I cross my arms over my chest and examine the nearby tree-line, trying to focus on anything but what's going on right in front of me.

Gray sees this and frowns. "Why don't you just tell him already?" He whispers.

"Isn't it obvious?" I mutter. "He'd much rather have one of them." I motion towards Zach, who is completely oblivious to us.

Gray clenches his jaw and turns to his older brother. "What do you think's going to happen from you just staring at them?"

My jaw drops open; I have to turn away and cover my mouth to try to hide my laugh.

I've never heard Gray speak with so much hostility before. Oddly enough, he sounds a lot like Zach.

Immediately, Zach's cheeks go rosy. He ducks his head as the girls, giggling, board the ride and send him waves as they go past.

"Thanks, man," he says sarcastically.

Gray rolls his eyes. "You're definitely not welcome."

"What's your problem?" Zach snaps. "You were all weepy on the train and then you were perfectly fine five seconds ago-"

"Annoying, isn't it?" I ask in a monotone voice.

Zach gives me a strange look. "What are you talking about?"

Gray speaks up. "You're not being nice."

This, of course, invokes an incredulous response. "I'm not being nice?" Zach exclaims. "Gray, you just embarrassed me in front of those girls-"

"Good!" He snaps. "You deserved it. You're not being nice to Jon-"

An empty Gyrosphere squeaks to a stop. The orange gate creaks open. The manager of the ride waves us ahead. "Enjoy the ride," he drones.

Zach was pretty accurate with his description of the ride earlier: it looks exactly like a giant hamster ball. Inside are three plush seats packed tight together. Gray goes in first, I take the middle, and Zach boards last. The controllers are between my legs, along with a small screen.

The door swivels shut, securing us inside the clear sphere. I try not to think about how bad I must smell due to walking around in the sun all day and then being doused in dinosaur water. There's a slight humming noise, and then we're rolling off the track and onto open grass.

It's quiet inside the Gyrosphere. Zach stares in one direction, Gray in the other. I can feel the tension resonating in my chest with every easy rotation the dino-ball takes.

"Hey there! I'm Jimmy Fallon-"

The sudden greeting causes me to scream, jumping and kicking out. My foot squeaks across the durable sides of our vehicle.

"Jesus Christ, Jonelle, chill the fuck out!" Zach pants; I obviously startled him.

"Sorry," I apologize as Jimmy Fallon rants about some invisible barrier system. "I didn't know that it was going to play."

"The screen is right there," Zach argues. "What did you think it was for?"

Gray sighs. "Just stop fighting."

Zach begins to protest. "We're not even-"

"Oh, save it, Mitchell." I lean down, tucking my hair behind my ear. "How the hell do I steer this thing?" I settle my hand on the control stick and shove it forward.

"Whoa!" Gray is plastered back against his seat as we rocket forward.

"Slow down, slow down, slow down!" Zach shouts, hands blindly groping the sides of the smooth ball for something to hold onto.

"Sorry!" I shove the stick backwards, sending us shooting the way we came.

Zach slaps my hand away. "Stop! Just stop touching it!" The ball rolls to a stop.

I huff and cross my arms. "Someone has to drive this thing, Zach."

"Then let me." His arm rests on my thigh as he places his hand on the controls. "I actually passed driver's ed."

I scoff. "Liar. You failed."

"Only one part. You failed all of it."

Before I can come up with a clever retort to crush all his dreams and make him cry, Zach's dignity is saved by his little brother. "Where are the dinosaurs?" He turns to me with inquisitive eyes.

"Good question." I turn to Zach expectantly. "Do you know where the dinosaurs are?"

"I'm trying to-"

"-because you obviously must have some idea since you took over the controls."

"You were going backwards, Jonelle!"

"And you're driving Miss Daisy!"

Gray frowns. "Who is Daisy?"

Zach and I exchange a look and sigh. "No one, Gray." Zach presses a little harder on the controls. "I guess I'll go faster."

We roam open fields for some time, not speaking to one another. For the first time on this vacation, I take the time to look at the sky. I've grown used to the grey wintry clouds back home. Here, on the tropical island of Isla Nublar, there is brilliant blue for as far as the eye can see.

"It's so beautiful," I whisper. My head is back against the seat as I gaze straight up through the clear ceiling of our Gyrosphere.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Zach turn towards me. More than likely to make some stupid, smart-ass comment.

Instead, he smiles.

The action takes me by surprise for a few reasons, the main one being that I was under the impression that we were in the middle of a fight. Usually, when you're mad at someone, you're not supposed to look at them in that way.

There's something about how his eyes shine in this moment that makes me want to shiver and laugh at the same time.

Zach has never looked at me that way before. I'm sure of it. I'd remember if he had.

I feel a blush creeping onto my cheeks. I play it off by leaning over the controls. "Does this thing have air conditioning?"

I know, I'm smooth.

"Who cares?" Gray groans. "When are we going to get to see-"

Zach's smile vanishes. "Stop whining."

"But where are they?"

A loud noise echoes across the valley, so deep that I feel the rumble in my chest.