Travis Stoll, You Are So Not Funny
a Percy Jackson and the Olympians story
By Emily Helene
Chapter One: Kindergarten
Katie had been looking forward to that Thursday afternoon for what seemed like a million years. Travis, however, had not.
"Okay, class." Mrs. Clarice clapped her hands together. Katie's thick blond braid swung as she turned her head to get a better view of the teacher. Mrs. Clarice was a thin middle aged woman with wavy salt and pepper hair. Usually, it was tied back in a pony tail, but not today. That day she wore a pair of blue gardening clogs on her feet that clashed with her pink t-shirt and khaki pencil leg pants. Eleanor, the only fashion obsessed five year old she knew had noticed big time and whispered it to her for a seventh time during circle.
"Mrs. C's blue shoes do not match that pink top. She should have worn that white shirt with the blue dragonfly instead." She whispered, eying their teacher with the intensity of a fashion designer critiquing a model from a rival design label. She suddenly turned towards Macy. Katie rolled her eyes and sighed. What did it matter what their teacher was wearing? They were going to be planting anyway.
"Can you make money for telling people what clothes to wear?" She asked, her voice squeaking at the end like most of the girls in the class. She turned to Macy, wondering what she thought. The other girl sighed, clearly bored. She always acted like she was repeating herself.
"Yes." She rolled her eyes. "It's called a fashion designer, I think."
"A fashion de-zin-er?" Eleanor repeated, sounding out each syllable. Macy nodded and Katie shushed them both.
"Be quiet or else Mrs. Clarice will see us talking and we won't get to plant." She said it a bit louder than necessary which wasn't really a bad thing. Maybe the other two girls would stop talking if the teacher told them to. The teacher looked over at her and shushed Macy and Eleanor before addressing the entire class.
"Class, Katie is more than correct." She picked up a Terracotta pot that had previously taken up residence on the chalk shelf. She patted the stray remnants of the chalky dust away from its bottom and set it in the palm of her hand, showing it off to the whole class. Katie's eyes gleamed.
She loved everything about the garden. It was rich in colour; the yellow of the tulip petals reminded her of the sun on a warm summer day. The plants were alive with textures and scents. It was breathtaking.
A murmur rose above the air, originating from the back of the group. No one had to ask who it was. They already knew. One of the Stoll brothers.
"Aw, Mrs. C." Travis complained, sounding like a spoiled child. "Do we have to?" The teacher nodded and Travis snickered.
"What's funny, doofus?" Macy asked.
"You are, smarty pants." With that he stuck out his tongue and made the ever-annoying playground call. "Nah, nah na nah naaahh!" He leapt up and raced around the room like the Red Baron, shooting his classmates with a false machine gun. Mrs. Clarice's forehead creased, closed her eyes and sighed. She looked like she wanted to swallow and entire container of Aspirin.
Katie rolled her eyes and fixed her attention on a piece of grass that had stuck to the bottom of her shoe, attempting to do that strange thing she had done on the weekend where she had breathed new life into a wilting plant. Just as it had before, the piece of grass turned from a dead-ish brown to a magnificent emerald green. She held it up to her eye; a perfect match.
She didn't even notice the Red Baron coming in for landing a few feet away. She was too busy admiring the pretty blade of grass on her sweaty palm to notice Travis gunning it full speed ahead with no intention of avoiding the little girl in his way.
She looked up just in time to be met with Travis' eyes glued to hers, the mischievous demeanor present and accounted for.
"Sorry." He whispered, tugging on her neatly braided hair, nearly knocking the blue plastic flower hair tie that secured her braid, out of place. She swatted his hand away and pushed him off of her.
"Get off, Travis!" She hollered, her face red with fury. To Travis, she looked downright terrifying. By far the scariest he'd ever seen a girl before. He recoiled slightly as she gave him a meaningful shove.
"Now, Katie." Mrs. Clarice smiled through clenched teeth, trying not to let her emotions override her before she dealt with the troublesome Travis Stoll. She took the hand of the younger girl and led her out into the hallway, motioning for Travis to follow behind.
Knowing he was most likely headed for the principal's office, he made a big show of making it to the door, emphasizing that he was going to the office that much more.
Katie, who was still unhappy about being led out of the room by her wrist stood by the teacher's side in the hallway, arms crossed indignantly. No way was she, Katie Gardner getting in trouble because of that stupid dummy, Travis Stoll.
When Travis finally joined them in the hall, Katie was staring bloody murder at him. He shrugged his shoulder like he was given death glares by his peers everyday. Truth be told, he was.
"Travis," the teacher sighed, tired of dealing with the extremely unruly child. "What you did was inexcusable. You are sent to Principal Burns' office. He will be waiting for you." Katie smirked before Mrs. C turned her way. "and Katie will walk you down." One smile vanished, a suspicious one forming on Travis' lips. This would be good.
"But first," she added. "Travis please apologize to Katie for jumping on her." Travis, who found the whole experience as the Red Baron somewhat thrilling and somewhat fun, erupted into a fit of hysterical laughter.
"I'm *giggle* really *giggle* sorry." Katie crossed her arms over her chest again, waiting for a real apology. But seeing as this was the best they were going to get, Mrs. Clarice sent them on their way.
"I am so funny." Travis smiled after the two were well out of an authority figure's earshot. Katie looked at him and smiled a bit, but it quickly faded like the sun in a rainstorm.
"No, you're not." She declared. "You're a dummy."
She smiled because she knew Travis would pay for making her miss bean planting. Oh boy, would he pay. Suddenly, the walk to the principal's office seemed incredibly short.
And that was just the way it was with them. Love and hate. But mostly hate. And things were just beginning to get interesting.
A/N: Emily, here! This is the very short first chapter of a new story I'm working on. It's centered around Katie and Travis (obviously) and I'm sorry that this first chapter is so short. I hope to post more soon but you know how it is with homework. Be sure to check back often because this story won't take me long to finish. Please R&R with any constructive crit and opinions about the story. I have never written a Katie/Travis story before so I want to know how I did! Thanks for your support!
I want to send a great big thanks out to storm-brain for being an awesome beta reader! Thanks so much, I really appreciate it!
Happy Writing,
xoxo Emily
