Even from her seat twelve rows from the front, Katie could still see Conner's knuckles turn white as he gripped the tissue in his hand as if it were his last strand of life. "He-he," Conner stuttered, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. Biting his lip, he closed his eyes in thought. He kept them shut tight, as if holding on to that one last image he had. He took a staggering breath before speaking once more into the microphone. "Travis . . . Travis was more than just my brother." Conner took another deep breath of air and turned his head away, trying to hide the tear that had fallen down his cheek, even though everyone had already seen it. "He was also my best friend."

Katie heard someone near the front row cry out in agony, followed by multiple sniffles from various campers. She had to bite her tongue to make sure she didn't do the same. She was Katie Gardner. She hated Travis Stoll. At least she was supposed to.


It was late at night. Everyone lay in deep slumbers inside their cozy cabins, covered in multi-colored blankets and snuggling all different kinds of stuffed animals. The harpies lazily patrolled the camp, looking for anything that looked good enough to eat.

Travis stood inside the bathroom alone. He really hated having to go pee in the middle of the night. Next to getting gum stuck to the bottom of your shoe and being dared to eat that gum on the bottom of your shoe, having to empty your bladder was definitely the worst.

After fixing his boxers back into place, Travis smelt his fingers and shrugged. They smelt fine so why waste perfectly good water on washing them? He flushed, grabbed his flashlight, and walked towards the door.

The handle was cold like the night as he turned it and opened the door out to camp. He wasn't expecting someone to be on the other side, though, so when he noticed a very familiar face standing there, he couldn't help but jump slightly.

"Katie," he said with some excitement, mixed in with a bit of confusion. "What're you-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence, however, as she crashed her lips frantically on to his. Travis stood stiff as a board as Katie's lips move along his. He had always imagined his and Katie's first kiss. Never, had it ever been initiated by her. Or in the boys' bathroom. Without even really thinking about it, he kissed her back just as fiercely. His hands slid into her hair as her teeth raked across his bottom lip. She gnawed on it slightly, bringing goose bumps to his arms and a moan out of his mouth. He could feel her lips pull up into a small smile.

Travis brought one hand around her waist, pulling her closer to him, as he walked backwards, bringing her into the bathroom and shutting the door behind them. As soon as the lock clicked, Katie's hands flew to the hem of his shirt, lifting it over his head quickly.

"Are you sure about this?" Travis asked her as she nibbled on his earlobe. It was hard not to moan out in pleasure once more at the tingling sensation her lips left.

In response to his question, Katie just kissed him yet again, curling a finger around the elastic of his boxers.


Katie wouldn't admit that she was sad about Travis's death, but everyone knew she was. Even if they all believed the two despised each other, you could always see the hint of mischief and playfulness in both their eyes. The campers always complained about their arguing as well, but without it, the camp just didn't seem the same.

As she watched Conner suffer up on the small podium, Katie couldn't help but frown. How come Conner got all the girls? Travis was just as good looking – better, even. He always had the cutest little smirk that Katie knew all too well. And his hair looked like it had never seen a comb before. His eyes were blue like sky when he was happy or just about to pull a prank on someone. Travis's ears were far too big, too. They always stuck out the sides of his hair, making Katie smile and call him Dumbo. She could almost imagine his laugh. He was always so sweet and kind, too, never wanting to hurt a soul.

She was so caught up in all the memories, Katie hardly noticed that she was smiling. Thinking about Travis could always make her smile. She was brought out of her own little world, though, as Conner began to speak once more. "I really couldn't have asked . . . for a better big brother. . . He shared his toys with me when we were little. We used to play Pokémon together. . . He had Pikachu and you don't even know how jealous I was of him." A few quiet laughs and silent smiles went out through the crowd. Looking up at him, Katie realized that Conner had a small grin, too. "I remember one day, I was just so mad about it that I 'accidentally' fed it to the dog." He let out a small chuckle under his breath. "Travis was so pissed. He didn't talk to me for, like, ten minutes. It was intense. Eventually, though, he forgave me. Of course, I had to be his personal slave for a week but it was worth it."

A few more laughs went throughout the gathered crowd of campers but Katie found herself frowning once more. Conner was so lucky. He had all these great memories of Travis. All she had to remember was them fighting nonstop. Well that and the night before the quest of course.


Travis stared down at Katie's swollen, red lips, the frenzied look in her eyes, and the up and down movement of her chest as she breath in and out heavily, and smiled inwardly to himself. He did that. He made her look like that.

Licking his lips, he positioned himself before kissing her sweetly on the lips. "Are you completely sure about this?" he asked nervously against her mouth.

Katie kissed him back and nodded her head, unable to talk.

"You're completely, one hundred percent-"

"Just do it," she interrupted quickly, her voice slightly shaky and breathless. "Please."

The pleading look in her eyes deepened and he kissed her one more time before making them both cry out, making the silent night, not so silent.


Katie's throat clenched tight at the memories. She swallowed but it didn't go away.

"And this one time . . ." Conner started before clearing his throat and trying again. "One time I had a fish. His name was Juan. One day, I forgot to feed Juan. Again. So obviously, the poor little guy died. I was devastated. Terribly, terribly devastated. And you know what Travis said to me?" He paused and looked around at the fellow campers. "He said 'Suck it up, Conner! It's a stupid fish!'" A few chuckles escaped the crowd and Katie couldn't help but smile slightly at it too.


They lay together on the floor of the bathroom, quickly dressed with hair a mess. But they didn't care. One of Katie's legs were draped across Travis's and an arm lay lazily on his chest. Her head rest in to the crook of his neck and she swirled random patterns, which vaguely felt like flowers, on his neck and cheek.

"What are you doing?" Travis asked, his eyes not leaving the ceiling.

"I'm doodling."

"On my neck? With your fingernail?" he questioned, looking down at her now with an eyebrow raised.

"Do you have a problem with that?" she challenged playfully.

Travis smiled. "Not at all."

The look he gave Katie then made her feel all sorts of things. She wanted to yell at him to stop but she also wanted him to never look at anything else like that again. It made her special yet self-conscious. Her hair probably looked terrible and her make-up was most likely smudged. She quickly looked away, a blush on her cheeks. Travis laughed.


"He told me that everything dies. Including me." Smiling he continued, "So I asked him if he would die too. I didn't want it to just be me and Juan up in heaven."


"What does this mean now?" he asked from his position on the ground, staring up at Katie as she fixed her hair in the mirror.

"What do you mean?" she questioned, not removing her glance from her reflection.

"Like us? Does this mean we're together or something?" Travis continued to watch her as she finished up her hair and stared down at him with a small smirk.


Conner's smile faded and he gazed out at the trees swaying in the wind. "He said, 'I'm me, you idiot. . . I'm not gonna die. . . I just can't.'"

The room fell absolutely silent.


His eyes never left her body as she walked up to him and kneeled down in front of where he lay. "You come back alive from this quest," she said seductively against his lips, "and then we'll see." Kissing him quickly, she stood back up and walked out the door but not without a small wink goodbye.


"No matter how much I hated Travis's cockiness . . . I sometimes wish it were true," Conner said sadly, staring down at his hands.

Katie tried to swallow the lump in her throat once more as she turned her head away. The small, lone tear on her cheek shone in the moonlight.


When you've been talking about a book for months and months, weeks and weeks, days and days, and then on the very first day it comes out you get a "Sorry sweetie but we just don't have that kind of money right now," you can't help but be pissed. And what better way to get out your frustration than writing some random, ridiculously bad fic!

This wasn't betad and I didn't even read it over once. I'm too lazy.

Oh and I know I haven't updated anything in forever so please don't remind me like five times to 'upDatE!1!28!9!' 8th grade is much harder and stressful than I expected. And Spanish? Oh my god, I hate it. I'll try and upDatE!1!28!9 soon, I promise. I've just been really busy and I've been working on a Tratie one-shot. I haven't even started another chapter of anything.

I don't own anything.

:( Jordan