The Strawberries

Sometimes, it was just too difficult for Katie to stand. Travis and Connor would pull some prank and she'd usually scream at them, chase them, even tangle them up in some bush branches. But, sometimes, she would turn around, back into her cabin, and shower off whatever disgusting material that had ended up on her head. And, once in a while, she'd even cry as she did so.

All the girls at camp knew this would happen and most felt sorry for her. Travis and Connor were relentless. They pranked everyone, but it seemed that every other prank they pulled was on Katie.

It started on one of those days that Katie couldn't stand it. She stepped outside, ready to go to the strawberry fields, when a bucket of green goo tipped onto her head, covering her.

She heard Travis and Connor laughing, and took two steps towards them before they began running away. They thought they were leading her to the second phase of their prank, but Katie decided that she'd rather shower first, before she could find out what happened if the goo hardened.

"I don't think she's chasing us," Connor noticed first.

"Hey, you're right," Travis said. "Damn. I guess we should disassemble the trap before someone-" There was a loud scream just behind them. They turned to see a young Aphrodite camper hanging upside down from a tree branch, a rope around one ankle, trying desperately to hold her skirt down... or up... well to keep it from showing her panties.

"And it's been sprung," Connor said.

The brothers immediately went to help her down, but she was no fool. She knew it was their trap that she had stepped into.

"We're so sorry, Callie," Travis said, holding her while Connor sawed through the rope. "This wasn't meant for you, it was meant for Katie."

"Well, how did I end up in it then?" she yelled. The rope was cut through and Travis caught her, before setting her down.

"We thought that Katie would follow us and would set it off," Connor said. He jumped down and then helped get the rope off from around her foot.

"Well, maybe you shouldn't be such obnoxious pranksters," Callie said. She flipped her hair off her shoulders, and even though she was only twelve, both boys, aged sixteen and seventeen, smiled a bit. They blinked out of it rather quickly.

However, she wasn't finished. She was going to punish them, and with the help of a few siblings, she knew exactly how.

"You don't think this is a little harsh?" Jessica asked. Jessica was thirteen, but had never been a victim of a Stoll prank.

"This is perfect," Archie said. He had been a multiple prankee.

With two more sisters, they all held hands and burnt some oil in a small bowl. They all concentrated together and then burnt two pictures, one of the brothers, and one of an object they would both desire.

As Katie exited her cabin, she was careful. Two showers were enough for one day, though there had been times she had needed more. Five was her current record.

She froze, however, when she spotted Travis walking out of his cabin. When she had first arrived at camp, she had had a slight crush on him, until he began pranking her. He was still good-looking, though what used to be cute was now handsome. He was tall, and she personally liked the curly brown hair that others found messy. His smirk was evil, but when he genuinely smiled, it was always a little lopsided and it exposed a broken tooth that had never been fixed. She didn't know exactly what had happened, but she knew that before the Titan war it had been whole, and that she only noticed it was broken once they had returned to camp. He was lean with toned muscles and sun tanned skin. And beautiful blue eyes.

Apparently Katie was the only one that saw any difference between Connor and Travis other than Travis being two inches taller. Conner's face was a little more cut than Travis. When Connor smiled, the cliff in his chin stood out a little more, and his smile was straight. There were no broken teeth in Connor's mouth. He also had slightly bigger muscles, probably because Travis used a sword while Connor used a heavy axe. He was a little more typically handsome, in Katie's opinion. But, like Travis, he had the curly hair, beautiful blue eyes, just a shade lighter than his brother's, and the same color skin from the sun.

For obvious reasons, Katie never shared her thoughts on how they looked with anyone, not even her diary. Instead, she allowed them to build up all summer, and then would spend about an hour once she got home writing it all down, before burning them.

"Katie!" Travis said. She forced herself to move, very slowly, her eyes scanning everything in the surrounding area, attempting to spot Connor or anything that could be connected to a trap. However, she spotted nothing, and as Travis got closer, she realized that she could see his broken tooth... he was smiling, not smirking. Assuming she could still read him correctly, he was not pulling any kind of prank.

"Hello, Travis," she said slowly. She used to call him 'Stoll' but as she had also been calling Connor that, it had become too confusing stating who she meant every time and had taken to using their first names. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"No," Travis said. "Well, yes." He frowned a moment, and then bit his lip.

"Yes or no," Katie asked. "Which is it?"

"Yes," he finally decided. "I need some strawberries."

She gestured toward the fields. "Have your pick."

"I need to make sure that they're perfect ones," he said. "I was hoping that you could help me... pick some."

Katie sighed. "Fine," she said. "I was heading there anyway." She narrowed her eyes. "I had been heading there before I was covered in goo..."

"Oh, sorry about that," Travis said, and Katie was sure that his cheeks turned a little pink.

She took a deep breath and then continued towards the fields.

Everyone knew that Katie loved strawberries. A few of the newer campers still remembering names had taken to call her Strawberry because of her love for the fruit. But she was also a romantic, so when she asked Travis why he needed the strawberries and he said that it was for a girl (and promised that he wasn't going to use them in a prank) she actually helped him pick out two dozen perfect specimens. He thanked her and headed toward the camp again with them.

She hadn't picked more than four when she noticed Connor approaching.

"Oh, Katie, please, help me," Connor begged on his knees.

"Yes?" she asked.

"I need strawberries!"

She gestured around them. "I think you could find one or two."

"But I need perfect strawberries," he said.

She sighed. "What is up with you and your brother and strawberries today?"

His blue eyes widened. "He wanted strawberries too?"

"Why do you find that so surprising?" Katie asked. "You're practically his clone."

At that, Connor frowned. "You don't really see me that way, do you?"

"No, I guess not," Katie said.

Connor sighed, as if it were a huge relief. "So, about those strawberries."

It wasn't long before Connor too had a dozen perfect strawberries.

Hours later, Katie was settling down to dinner with her cabin and the rest of camp when there were yells outside. Before anyone could check to see what the matter was, the two Stolls burst into the dining pavilion, each with a plate in hand. They raced through the room until the both stood across the table from Katie. At the same time, they slammed down the plates. On the plate Travis had produced was a cake with whipped cream frosting and strawberries decorating it. A bit of juice made Katie think that there were strawberries between the two layers of cake.

The plate Connor had were the dozen perfect strawberries Katie had helped him pick, each dipped in a swirl of dark, milk, and white chocolate and topped with powdered sugar. Katie stared wide-eyed at the two dishes, each looking delicious. She was also very confused. And then, at the same time, they each announced, "Katie Gardner, I love you!"

So, this is something that I've been contemplating for a bit, and decided to try it out. So, there is no name (at least that I know of) for a Katie/Connor ship, so I'm between Katnor and Contie. Anyway, this will be both Tratie and Katnor/Contie... at least for now. When and if I finish it, she will eventually settle on one, but I really don't have much planned for now.