Travis held the hand of a girl around his age.
"I can't believe I'm doing this," she muttered, glancing at their locked hands in disgust.
Travis laughed. "I told you Katie," he said. "If you lost the bet, you would have to hold my hand on the way to dinner."
Katie Gardiner scowled and stuck out her tongue at him.
Travis tried to ignore the butterflies in his stomach. It happened every time he was with her. It annoyed him.
He led the way towards the dining pavilion. The sun was starting to set, and the night chill was starting to settle. It made Katie's dark hair look red.
"You know," he said. "I bet that you would've held my hand, eventually, without a bet."
Katie made a face. "Eww. As if."
Travis laughed. They reached the pavilion. "Campers can't sit with other cabins," Katie pointed out.
"I know that," Travis said. He held her hand and pressed a kiss on it. "My lady, our time was much too short."
Katie blushed but played along. "Goodbye young sir," she said shyly. She curtsied quickly and scurried away towards the Demeter table.
Travis sat down next to his twin at the Hermes table.
"Ooh," Connor Stoll said, looking at the expression on Travis's face. "Someone's in love."
Travis rolled his eyes, but didn't deny it.
Katie ignored the stares from her siblings. Her face was probably a deep red. She hated it whenever she blushed, and sadly, it happened a lot.
"What's going on over here?" Miranda Gardiner asked Katie.
Katie refused to look at her sister. "Nothing," she mumbled, waiting for dinner to be served.
Out of the corner of her eye, Katie saw Miranda raise her eyebrows. "Mmm hmm," she said. "You like him, don't you?"
Katie looked up at this. "What?" she said, trying to keep her voice even. "As if. Remember when he decorated the cabin roof with chocolate bunnies on Easter? Well, for your information, melted chocolate is hard to get off of plants, thank you very much. And also, do you remember the time during the Titan War, when Travis punched me in the stomach?"
Miranda laughed. "He said it was an accident."
Katie knew it was, but she would never admit it.
"I do not like him," she said firmly. "We're not even friends. With all those bets…" she trailed off, not mentioning that Travis always won.
Then again, seeing Travis always made Katie's heart beat faster than normal. With his mop of curly brown hair that fell over his blue eyes, he was, well, ok-ish looking. Not that he was handsome, of course not.
Miranda smirked. "Of course you don't like him."
Being sisters, Miranda was always the cautious one. She stayed year-long in camp, while Katie went home to live as much as a normal life as she could. Miranda was head counselor whenever Katie was gone, but now, it was winter break and Katie was visiting. Miranda was younger, and always could read the expressions on Katie's face, which was very annoying.
"Miranda," Katie said sternly. "Stop it."
Miranda laughed. "No way. I will never stop."
Connor looked at Travis. He was staring off into the distance. A.k.a, the Demeter table. Connor had always envied Travis. He was so easy and normal around girls, while the only way Connor could talk to girls was by playing pranks on them, and sadly, the conversation was pretty much just them yelling at him.
"Bro," Connor said, nudging Travis in the arm. "How do you do that?"
Travis looked up. "What?"
"Talk to girls so easily."
Travis laughed. "Oh, I was born with the talent," he said, waggling his eyebrows.
Connor smirked. "The only time I talk to girls, is when I prank them," he complained. "Or insult them."
Travis snorted. "Do you remember the time when you pranked the Ares girl and-"
"The past is in the past," Connor quickly interrupted, not wanting to hear that story.
Travis said nothing, but a faint smile played on his lips.
The food arrived, and they were too busy to talk. After Chiron said his announcements (one directed to them about how you should never try to hotwire the camp's SUV), the campers got up and walked towards the fire.
When it was Connor's turn, he dropped in a ripe strawberry, murmuring, "Hermes," under his breath.
As Connor walked away, he heard a faint rustling sound and felt a warm gust of wind. Connor looked around, curious, but didn't find the source of it.
Connor shrugged and sat down at his table. Picking up his fork, Connor was ready to dig into his plate of glorious food. But when he glanced down, he was shocked to see what was on his plate.
A napkin sat there, creased, used, and covered with dust. That wasn't what surprised him though. It was what was on it. On it was some writing, the ink glowing bronze. Connor picked it up and read it.
Connor,
Give this to Rachel. Not a prank. Don't be a moron.
Love,
Annabeth
Connor almost fell off his seat with shock. Wasn't Annabeth supposed to be on the quest with the other six of the chosen half-bloods? Why would she write to him? Or more specifically, Rachel? Eager to find out what she wrote about, Connor unfolded the napkin. After reading two lines, his eyes widened, and he raced off to find Rachel.
Travis sat on the beach after dinner. He dug his hands into the sand and let his feet touch the water. He heard someone sit next to him, and was surprised to see that it was Katie.
"Hey," she asked softly. "You okay?"
Travis nodded, looking up at her. Her dark hair was braided down her back and her brown eyes looked golden. She was beautiful.
Katie noticed him staring, and glanced down, her face red.
"You know," Travis said. "What would make me feel better?"
"What?" She still wouldn't look at him.
"If you held my hand."
Katie laughed. She took his hand into hers and leaned back on her elbows.
"You ask for the strangest things…" she muttered.
Travis looked at her, delight in his eyes. Her hand warm in his.
"I win."
"What?"
Travis smiled. "The bet. The one which I said that you would eventually hold my hand, without a bet making you do it."
Katie's mouth dropped open. "What?" she stammered. "But, but I was prompted to!"
Travis looked out at the water, a superior look on his face. "I didn't say how you were supposed to do it."
Katie rolled her eyes. "Well, I consider that cheating."
They sat there in the sand for a while.
"You know," Travis said, breaking the silence. "I get a prize for winning."
"Oh yeah? What do you want?"
Travis knew what he really wanted immediately. "A kiss."
Katie looked up. Her gaze softened when it met his. "Fine," she said. She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his cheek. After, she stood up and started walking back towards her cabin.
"What?" Travis complained, though he was so happy he was on a verge on doing a backflip. "That's it? The cheek?"
Katie stopped in her tracks. She seemed to be pondering what to do. Then, she made up her mind. She turned and ran back towards Travis. Travis thought she was going to punch him, but Katie did the unexpected. She got down on her knees and placed her hand behind his neck. Then she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his.
Travis almost fell over. Then he steadied himself and let his eyes fall shut, savoring the short moment of sweetness.
Katie broke away. "There," she said. "Happy?"
Then she got up and walked away.
Travis was happy. Really happy, but instead he shouted, "I always knew you liked me."
Katie turned around to look at him, laughing. "Goodnight Travis," she said. Then she turned and ran back to her cabin.
Travis's cheek tingled, where the kiss was. He lay in the sand, staring at the stars, thinking that he was probably the luckiest guy, ever.
Rachel sat in her "Cabin". She didn't bother to go to dinner. She was too nervous to. Ever since the seven left, Rachel had been having nightmares, and glimpses of the future. What she saw was never good. She saw dying friends, the world in chaos, and the worst of the all, a woman made out of earth opening her eyes, waking up from a long, long rest.
This scared Rachel, and she stayed in her cabin, pondering over what might happen to her and the hapless campers.
Her mind instantly flashed to the younger kids, all crying for help. Reaching with their little hands that were covered in blood for help they couldn't find. The image was so horrible, that Rachel fell down on her knees, burying her face in her hands. Her moment was disturbed by pounding feet.
The purple curtain was yanked aside as Connor Stoll rushed inside. He stopped when he noticed Rachel on her knees.
"Erm," he said, shuffling his feet. "Is this a bad time?"
Rachel stood up immediately and shook her hair out of her eyes. "Not at all Connor. What's wrong?"
Connor stuck out his hand. He was holding a napkin.
"What's this?" Rachel asked, taking it.
Connor shook his head, his eyes wild. "Just read it."
Rachel rolled her eyes and unfolded the napkin. She started reading.
Connor stood next to her, awkwardly. In the back of his mind, he was thinking, Of course, I'm talking to this girl, only because I'm sending her a message for another girl, who is only using him to get contact with Rachel. Rachel didn't even seem to notice Connor was standing there after she read the first few lines. The more she read, the more she frowned. At the end, Rachel was biting her lip, twisting a strand of hair, frowning, and tapping her foot on the ground. She stood up immediately after.
"Connor," she said. "Go get Grover, right away. We have to get to Camp Jupiter."
THE END