"A woman either hates or loves; she knows no medium" ~Dame Edith Evans
Katie was furious. It was 7 AM on Easter Day. 7AM! And they were already up to their tricks.
Ugh, the Stoll brothers. Just the thought of them sparks anger deep inside of her. They had been coming to camp year-round together since Travis and Katie were 8, Connor 7. She was 17 now and not one day of those 9 years had Travis Stoll forgotten to torture good old Katie Gardner.
Sure in the past they had done little annoying things to get under the skin of the Demeter cabin. She could put up with blue hair dye in the shampoo or whip cream in their pillows (well at least she reacted to these like any normal human would, by yelling her head off at the Stoll brothers), but chocolate bunnies on the roof? Not only did the chocolate melt into the grass roof ruining hours of hard work but this was also a direct insult to Demeter. That was not cool.
Katie woke, with a start, with her little half-sister tugging on her comforter. She groaned and opened her eyes, "What is it Mary?"
Mary was a small child of 5 years with big bright green eyes. Eyes that were opened so wide right now that Katie thought they would pop out. Crap, she thought, what'd they do this time?
Katie jumped out of bed and quickly put on an old pair of converse. She marched outside, not caring that she was only wearing a tank top with very short pajama shorts or that her hair was in a messy bun, to discover half the camp chuckling and staring in disbelief at the roof of the cabin.
Dread washed over Katie. Most of the Hermes pranks occurred so often that they didn't cause a fuss anymore, so half the camp watching and waiting for her reaction was not a good sign. She turned slowly on her heels and her jaw dropped in awe. The usually lush green grass that served as a roof for the Demeter cabin was covered with hundreds of melting chocolate bunnies.
The awe, caused by the ADHD side of Katie's brain wondering how they managed to get so many chocolate bunnies on the roof, was almost instantly replaced by raw and genuine anger.
Anger and hate flashed in her eyes as she whirled around to face the hysterically laughing Stoll brothers in the middle of the crowd. Everyone took the hint and "inconspicuously" turned to start walking slowly in another direction, only to stop 30 feet away at the edge of the commons area in order to eaves drop on the pending drama filled conversation.
Connor and Travis ceased laughing when they realized they had been abandoned. Katie started walked toward them slowly with a menacing look on her face. Travis, being the leader of the duo, evenly met her gaze. Connor took this as his cue and slowly backed away saying something along the lines of, "Yeah, um… I'll be right over here if you need me. Have a nice chat!"
Katie stopped a few feet from Travis and stood patiently waiting for his lousy excuse for an explanation. He sauntered up to her with a cocky smirk on his face that made Katie's heart speed up. When he stopped he was standing right over her, putting Katie at an automatic disadvantage. Travis was 6'4" and had broad shoulders while Katie was only 5'5" with a petite frame, allowing Travis to tower over her.
"Hi there Katie-Kat, is there anything I can do for you?"
Katie tried to conceal a blush at the nickname he had taken to calling her. She took a deep breath and said through clenched teeth, "Why, in the name of
Hades, did you put chocolate bunnies on my cabin's roof?"
He smirked at her, "Well it is Easter, thought I'd help you get into the spirit."
Te anger welled up inside of her, who did he think he was?"Get into the spirit? Gods dang it Travis don't you get it?-"
He snorted, "Why no Katie-Kat, please do explain!" She gritted her teeth at his interruption.
"This isn't funny anymore! Do you seriously think you can get away with offending a Goddess?"
"Offending a Goddess? I think that's a bit rash-"
"Rash? You don't think vandalizing plants belonging to the Goddess the Harvest would offend her at all?"
"Oh please vandalizing? It was a joke!"
"Joke!" Katie cried, "We Demeter kids poor our hearts, souls, and hard work into every plant that we care for! So I'm sorry if I'm mad that you just threw away so much of our time because of one 'joke'."
"I forgive you." Travis stated seriously.
She stared at him like he was an alien who had just fallen from the sky. "What?"
"Well you said sorry for overreacting so I forgave you."
Katie stomped her foot in frustration, "Oh my gods, Stoll you know what I mean!"
Travis stepped closer and said evenly, "Do I, Gardner, do I really know what you mean?"
"Travis, will you stop messing around? This is a matter of the pride of my cabin and the reputation of my mother. I will not just stand around and do nothing while you embarrass us! For nine years I have put up with this, but this was the last straw!" During this whole speech Travis had a small grin growing on his face and a mischievous glint in his eyes. Katie became even angrier because her speech didn't have the affect she wanted.
"I will not put up with you and your devil spawn brother anymore!" Travis took a step forward challenging Katie. An uneasy look passed over Katie's face. Travis was close. Extremely close.
She could see every detail of his shocking blue eyes, she could see the peice of curly brown hair that layed on his forehead refusing to stay with the rest of his locks, and she could see every freckle that splayed across his straight nose and cheeks.
Her eyes dropped to his lips. They looked so soft and pink- No. I will not let him win. She forced her eyes to look up to his only to find that he was staring at her lips too.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again she raised her hand and poked Travis' chest with each adjective. "You are the most annoying, maddening, irritating, frustrating, infuriating, nauseating, repulsive-"
Her list was cut short because, lighting fast, Travis swung an arm around her waist and crushed her to his body, and kissed her with all he had.
Katie's eyes widened and she realized that almost by impulse, she had responded to Travis' kiss. He tasted like a mixture of candy and coke. At this moment, she really liked candy and coke. Quickly she found herself. She placed her hands on Travis' fit chest and pushed hard.
Unfortunately this didn't have the affect she wanted. It only caused him to take a step backwards. "What in the name of-" But he didn't wait for her to finish. Again.
He pulled her toward him, arching her back, and kissed her again. This time more urgently. His free hand reached up and tangled its fingers into Katie's hair giving a slight tug. This action caused a small gasp to escape her mouth and her knees to go weak. The firmness of his lips against hers had her tingling all the way from her lips down to her toes. Katie sighed, realizing that he was much stronger than her, and gave into the kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him impossibly closer and continued to enjoy the feeling his soft lips moving around hers.
They stayed like that for a minute more until Travis reluctantly pulled away. Katie's mind was clouded and she could barely form a coherent thought as she stared into the emotional blue orbs if the man before her. As her heavy breathing slowed and her senses cleared she became aware of the stares from the people around her. She glanced around at the gaping crowd. No one said a word; they just stared with open mouths.
She returned her disbelieving stare to Travis. He was grinning wildly like a kid on Christmas. He shot her a quick wink and said, "Later, Gardner." And just like that he turned and sauntered back to the Hermes cabin.
As he was walking back, Connor seemed to recollect himself and started clapping slowly and loudly into the long silence that inhabited itself into the commons area. Slowly all the guys started to join in, nodding approvingly at Travis' choice in handling this situation. Then the Aphrodite cabin joined in, squealing in delight as they started to talk excitedly amongst themselves. Soon everyone was clapping, whooping, and wolf whistling as Travis walked onto the porch. When he got to the door he turned, bowed to the crowd, sent one last wink at Katie, and disappeared from sight.
Katie watched this whole spectacle with her mouth agape and her face slowly getting redder and redder.
When Travis disappeared she turned quickly on her heel and sped walked back to the Demeter cabin.
The campers slowly dispersed realizing there entertainment for the morning was over.
If they had walked into the Hermes cabin, they would have seen a 17 year old boy jumping on his bed and dancing around the cabin, unable to keep his enthusiasm contained inside his body. That is until one minute later when he would stop, out of breath, and spread out on the wood floor. He would let out a very loud shout of glee and think to himself, I think I'm in love with Katie Gardner.
If they walked into the Demeter cabin they would have seen a 17 year old girl sitting on her bed thinking about a certain boy's soft lips; the fact that where you find hate, love isn't too far off; and smiling like a maniac. That is until one minute later when she would realize that there was still melted chocolate on the roof. She would groan dropping her head into her hands and think, Oh. Crap. Here comes the hate again.
Hi guys! Thank you so much for reading my story! Make sure to stay tuned for chapter 2 :) I would really appreciate it if you left a review with any suggestions or advice! Every review makes my day so much better :D