Connor

Being Travis' brother was a pain sometimes. I mean sure we loved to prank people and fool around and we looked almost exactly the same, but we were different in some ways. Travis was a ladies man. He made it easy to get a date. Travis just had this kind of gift to be able to talk to girls. But me? I always got tongue-tied when I was trying to invite my past crushes on dates. I would get nervous and just start rambling nonsense. That wasn't exactly hot. I stopped trying after making a fool of myself trying to ask Cathy, a daughter of Athena, to be my valentine. That was a complete disaster. I didn't see the sword just lying on the ground and I didn't mean to push Cathy into the puddle of mud. It wasn't my fault she was standing behind it. Travis, for his part made sure to take a lot of embarrassing pictures. That was last year and he still brings it up until this day when we run into Cathy at the pavilion.

I thought Travis had it easy until his ability to charm was challenged by none other than Katie Gardner. Since we arrived to camp at 12, he's wanted to date her. We're 16 now and he still hasn't found a way to make her fall for him, so he drags me into another prank especially reserved just for her. Worst news, I also have had a crush on her since I was twelve, but not like I'm going to tell Travis that. He'd kill me. The thing is that I'm not going to make a move on her and I'm stuck helping my brother win her over with pranks. A stupid idea if you asked me, but I can't exactly turn him down. Travis really wants Katie. I've never seen him be more serious in his entire life about a girl before, which makes me feel guilty that I also harbor the same feelings for the same girl.

That's why I help him. To make up for the attraction I feel for Katie. Besides, who would want to date me when they could have my easy-going brother. I think it's unfair that he got all the charm and I got the brains sometimes. It's funny that we are identical and he actually knows what he's doing. The only reason he needs my help is so that I can take most of the blame by saying it was my idea. That makes me mad sometimes, but I can tell in Katie's eyes that she knows it's Travis because I just prank random people from time to time, when I'm bored. Travis has bugged her ever since she got here. That makes me feel a bit better even though I get in trouble with Travis anyway.

Why do I even like her? Sure she's pretty and everything with her long brown hair that she always puts in a pony tail when she's working on the strawberry fields or any work that involves plants. When she yells at us, it's not really anger, just annoyance. And when she chases us, you can tell she's athletic, even if she's never done sports and I like sporty girls. They real question is, when will I get over her?

"Connor, let's go!" Travis yelled as I was slowly getting up from my bunk.

"Why do we have to get up early again?" I muttered. Travis ran up to me.

"You know Katie gets up early to go to the strawberry fields," He whispered at me, even though he had already woken up the entire cabin.

"Fine, I'm going..." I finally said and started getting dressed. I wished that Travis would leave me alone in the mornings. I don't wake up until eight, but you can't say no to Travis. Especially if it's got anything to do with a certain daughter of Demeter. As we were heading to the strawberry fields, we talked about the plan that Travis came up with.

"Okay, so I filled up these balloons with water. We hide behind the bush we always pass when Katie chases us. Then we throw them at her," Travis finished.

"And how is this going to get you a date with her?" I asked. Travis merely shrugged.

"I don't know, but it's bound to do something for me."

"Yeah, like getting us beat up again," I said.

"Hey! That was only once and how was I supposed to know that all of the Demeter cabin was inside when we threw the tar in their cabin?"

"Fine, but I think this is a stupid idea."

"You got anything better, genius?"

"Tell her," It seemed pretty obvious to me.

"What? Are you crazy? After all the pranking we've done to her? It's too late for that. We should just stick to the plan."

"Whatever," I said and we continued on our way. When we got to the fields, we didn't Katie picking strawberries as usual. We saw Malcolm talking and laughing along with her. I didn't know if he liked her or not, but I felt jealousy. I could tell that's what Travis was feeling by just looking at his angry face. He kept his eyes on them, but extended a hand at me.

"Give me a-" He didn't get to finish his sentence. I had already thrown the balloon at them. I didn't want to hit Katie, so I hit Malcolm.

"What the heck?" Malcolm said as he looked to see who did it. Travis looked at me questionably but I just gave him a look that meant to leave it to me. I got out of the bushes with Travis.

"Follow my lead," I whispered to Travis and turned to Katie and Malcolm again.

"What in Hades Malcolm? That wasn't for you!" I shouted angrily at him. Travis seemed to have gotten what I was trying to do.

"Yeah, that was for Katie," he added. Katie got up, her face red from anger.

"Stolls!" She said through gritted teeth.

"What?" I continued, "We thought you needed the plants watered."

"And, you looked kind of thirsty so since we're such gentlemen, we thought we should get you a drink." Travis gave her his pearly white smile that she was immune to and we made a run for it.

"COME BACK HERE!" She screamed behind us. I felt happy again, knowing that she was paying attention to me, even if I was sharing that attention with my brother.

We made it to our cabin and locked the door shut.

"I think we lost her," Travis said as I fell on my bed from exhaustion.

"Yeah. Man, what a workout," I commented.

"Dude, what happened back there?" He asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You shot Malcolm with a water balloon."

"So?"

"So, I was going to do that." We laughed together like always. Yeah, we had our differences but I never expected that we'd have the same crush. Worst yet, that I'd be helping him get her.

I just thought that it would be interesting to have that conflict between Travis, Connor and Katie. :)

~Melissa L.