Travis' POV

My night hadn't started off too enjoyably. Firstly, I had missed out on pulling off a really great prank that Connor and I were planning. Secondly, I was kneeling down, in the dark, before sunrise, in the company of someone who hated my guts, gardening.

Yes, Travis Stoll gardening. 'What has the world come to?' you shout. But I'll let you know that I hadn't gone insane, though some would argue. No- I'd come up with the perfect plan to (finally) make Katie Gardner like me. If there was one thing she admired more than anything else, it was the ability to plant something and keep it alive.

So, my ingenious plan consisted of staying up all night planting flowers in the shape of a love heart with a caduceus going through it. Those snakes were a bitch to plant. And to top it all off, I placed Kit-Kats in the shape of her name on her freshly mown lawn.

Of course, I couldn't have done it alone. Miranda Gardner, Katie's little sister, was helping me grow it all, because as surprising as it may seem to you, I wasn't all that great at gardening.

When we'd finished, Miranda stood up and wiped her hands on her pants. "Right, we're done here. Now go back to your cabin and get some sleep." She spoke with the exact same stern tone that Katie did. Unfortunately for Miranda, it only worked on me when Katie did that.

"You're younger than me. Why should I listen to you?"

"Because I just helped you win the heart of the love of your life. You couldn't have done it without me."

"Why did you help me?" I asked, ignoring the 'love of your life' comment.

Miranda giggled. "I've wanted Katie to get a boyfriend for ages! It's so fun teasing her. I almost understand why you do it all the time." Her face turned serious. "And while you weren't my first choice, you're basically the only guy who's liked Katie that she's liked back." She waved goodbye and headed inside her cabin, leaving me to contemplate her words.

I went back to my cabin to get some sleep, seeing as I didn't get a wink of it the previous night. Unfortunately, after sneaking inside and managing to have ten minutes of peace and quiet in my nice warm bed, Connor decided it would be funny to pour freezing water all over me. What a lovely, caring brother he is.

Soon we were all up and ready to go off to breakfast. Luckily no one noticed that I had been missing the night before.

Connor walked up next to me and raised an eyebrow. "So… where'd you disappear to last night?"

Damn. There went going unnoticed.

"Umm… well…" I scratched the back of my head and tried to come up with a way to tell him while avoiding ultimate embarrassment.

Trust my demigod luck that we walked past the Demeter cabin at that exact moment. Connor looked at the garden and then back at me in alarm. "Did you…?"

I nodded sheepishly. "Yeah…"

His surprise melted into a devious smile. "I'd love to see Katie's face when she sees this." His face turned a bit more sympathetic. "But don't worry. We of the Hermes cabin may be crafty and dishonest, but we can keep your secret." Then his sympathetic face was gone. "That is, while it lasts." He dodged the punch I threw at him and ran off laughing.

I managed to get my cabin to settle down and we made it to the mess hall without too much fuss. After a while I saw Katie sitting at her table with a crowd of Aphrodite and Demeter girls. This was strange, seeing as none of those girls ever agreed on anything. There was only one thing they could be talking about. Obviously they were questioning her about her love life, which was non-existent. But of course, that would soon change.

Katie caught my glance and her eyes were pleading for me to save her. I chuckled, and then walked over. I parted the sea of romance-crazed girls and grabbed Katie's arm.

"Sorry for the inconvenience, but the sooner you let her go the sooner she can tell you all about her amazing afternoon." I smiled, winking at Miranda. They all took one look at me, shared a knowing glance between themselves and dispersed before my eyes.

Katie looked surprised. "Thanks for that. Your powers of persuasion are even better than I thought." She looked at me suspiciously. "But what do you mean 'my amazing afternoon'? Why would they be interested about that?" I whisked Katie away before she could ask any more unnecessary questions. I led her to my cabin and shut the door. A bit obvious, I know. But Katie's the most clueless person you could ever meet. She hadn't even managed to figure out the very obvious clue I had left her in her front garden.

I was going to wait until tonight to kiss her, but I felt like I really needed to do it now before I imploded. I'd been bottling up my emotions for her for years, the only way I could show it was by pranking her, but I just couldn't fight it anymore. I took a deep breath, calming my nerves.

"Travis, what are you doing? We're not supposed to be in a cabin alone!" I watched her as she babbled on about rules and responsibilities and other boring stuff like that. Gods, she was gorgeous. "I need to talk to Chiron. He wanted to–" I completely cut her off. With a kiss, that is. I'm not stupid enough to interrupt her with words. She'd kill me, and she is extremely strong (not that I'd ever say that out loud. She would just prove her point by making a few more large purple bruises appear on my arm).

I gave her a single soft kiss. As cheesy as it sounds, I literally saw fireworks. There's just no other way to describe it, but if I tried it would feel as good as accomplishing the greatest prank OF ALL TIME. I sighed deeply. "Gods, Katie. You have no idea how long I've been waiting to do that," I said. She stared at me for a bit and I braced myself for a very hard slap. Then she giggled. Yes, Katie Gardner, well-mannered, strict, Miss Responsibility, giggled. And then she pulled me even closer.

"Same here, Travis. You Stoll my heart ages ago," she murmured. I had no time to snort at the very bad pun before she kissed me again.

I smiled at her words. She was becoming so cheesy. It was such a relief to have finally kissed my Kit-Kat. I pushed her up against the wall, but not in a rough, groping way. I just wasn't sure how long I could stay standing without support, as my brain felt like it was melting. You are kissing Katie! My mind screamed. She put her arms around my neck.

She was twisting her hands in my hair, and it was driving me crazy. I don't even think she noticed what she was doing. I seriously needed to breathe, but I dare you to break away from the only girl you've ever wanted to kiss. I knew we were breaking rules as right now, but I couldn't care less. Rules were made to be broken. Why else would we have them? They were just little barriers keeping me from Katie.

I honestly don't know how long we kissed for, thanks to my ADHD, nor do I really care. Katie Gardner was mine. And she liked me. I smiled again. Her hand had moved so that it was resting on my chest, drawing intricate patterns. She stopped and rested her hand over my heart, feeling how it was beating a million miles an hour. I knew for a fact that hers was beating in time and at the same rate as mine.

At that precise moment, we heard the conch horn. I pulled back, but her arms stayed around my neck, and my hands rested at her waist tucked under her shirt. She sighed. "Damn," we said at the same time.

I laughed and then pulled her into my arms. As I hugged her, I trailed my hand up and down her spine under her shirt, causing her to shiver. She gave a shaky laugh and then she put her head in the crook of my neck. Her breath on me caused me to shiver as well, so she laughed again, still red faced and breathing hard from our kisses. Suddenly, she disentangled herself from me. "Travis, you are going to make the both of us late! Now stop that!" she said.

"Stop what?" I asked with half a smile on my face. I leaned down and kissed her one last time on the lips.

"Driving me crazy..." she whispered and pulled on my hand. I almost didn't hear it.

Almost.