"Cause if you're ever gonna find a four leaf clover
You're gonna have to get a little dirt on your hands…"
It was one of those days at camp where the heat was particularly unbearable with heavy, sweltering air that cloaked all of the demi-gods in a lazy haze. Most of the campers were participating in languid activities, exerting an absolute minimum amount of energy. The Apollo campers were found nowhere near the scorching blacktops on basketball courts, and the Hephaestus kids absent from the stifling heat in the forges. The Aphrodite campers could barely muster the energy to lift a mirror to examine their reflection, and those that managed lost all hope for the day after seeing their frizzy locks and melting foundation. The Athena campers found little relief from the heat in their books, Ares children found little comfort in the thought of beating up a demigod who crossed their path, and the Hermes' cabins couldn't even be tempted to use a whoopee cushion on unsuspecting campers.
That is everyone except for Travis Stoll.
Travis was wandering leisurely around the camp grounds whilst guzzling down a refreshing coca cola. That was one benefit of the heat—plenty of thirsty campers vying for refreshments caused the Stoll's black market to flourish on days like today. It also made wonderful opportunities to prank unsuspecting campers, and Travis found his number one target sitting amongst the strawberry bushes just across the pavilion.
In the midst of the buzzing mosquitoes and muggy air, Katie Gardner sat in the strawberry fields furiously uprooting weeds and casting them aside in a bucket. She had been at the tedious job nearly all morning in solitude—no camper in their right mind approached an angry child of Demeter in the middle of a garden.
That is everyone except for Travis Stoll.
Katie failed to notice the twin approaching her from behind, so deep in angry thought she was. I mean, who cared about stupid sons of Apollo and their obvious preference for blonde bimbos from the Aphrodite cabin? Certainly not Katie. Who cared about said blonde bimbos and their perfectly golden curls instead of limp, dull and muddy brown locks? Definitely not Katie. Who cared about their flawless, sun-kissed skin and dainty manicured hands? Absolutely not Katie.
Pulling her muddy hands from the soil, Katie allowed a few tears to leak from her eyes as she tried to scrape the dirt from beneath her fingernails. However it was pointless, the mud was always caked beneath them, and always would be. Besides, she thought wiping tears from her dirt-stained cheeks, who cares about the rumors spread in the bath house that morning; about how totally romantic it was that Will Solace and some blonde bimbo snuck away from the fireworks to hide behind the stables and—and—
Maybe Katie cared.
The weeds began flying out of the ground more rapidly now and, Gods, how could she be so naïve? So mislead? So desperate? Maybe she should just stick to plants—they were so much easier to understand than people. Plants could always tell you what they needed if you just looked hard enough. If they were dry and brown, they were thirsty. If they were pale they needed some sunlight, and if they were happy they always brightened your day. Plants never sent mixed signals; they were always straightforward. So if plants could talk, they would never sit with you in the garden all day, and teach you how to play the guitar, or walk you to dinner and send you special smiles across the pavilion if they were just going to sneak off and suck some blonde bimbo's face off instead and—
Who was she kidding? She made it all up, the smiles and the gestures. Nothing was special, because nobody really liked Katie except for the plants. She was quiet, didn't really know how to keep a conversation going, and didn't have any fun. Not to mention she had dirty fingernails. No one wanted to hold hands under the fireworks with those grimy palms.
Sitting amongst her flower beds, Katie Gardner stopped lying to herself just for once, and felt sorry for herself just for once. She let silent, pitiful tears track down her face, and this was the state in which Travis Stoll found her on such a miserable August afternoon.
"Katie Gardner, just the gal I was looking for! You look like you've been slaving away out here for hours, perhaps I can interest you in a cold beverage…?"
Unfortunately, Katie didn't even raise her eyes to see the charming, devilish grin he gave her, or else she would have grabbed for the cola in utter gratitude and with womanly swooning (or most likely an exasperated glare of her own, but a guy can dream, right?) Instead, Katie continued to stare at the mess in front of her without really seeing it, telling Travis to shove off because couldn't he see she was busy? And it was just too damn hot for his antics today? And she really just wanted some peace and quiet? Unsurprisingly, Travis ignored the obvious threat and after taking a large swig of his cola, plopped down in the dirt next to her. Refusing to give up on getting something out of the daughter of Demeter, Travis continued,
"You know Katie, plants typically don't grow too well when they're being ripped out of the ground. I mean, you must be a pretty dumb child of Demeter if even I—"
He broke off, finally realizing that there was something horribly wrong. I mean, he'd caused Katie Gardner to scream at him a lot in the past, as well as storm off, and throw tantrums and fits over chocolate bunnies and other various pranks. He'd even warranted a few (or maybe a lot of) well-placed kicks, punches and headlocks. Yet in all his years of jokes, teasing, pranks and name-calling Travis Stoll had never made Katie cry. Heck, he didn't think he'd ever seen this girl cry.
And yet here she was, hands folded in her lap, perfectly silent, with watery eyes and blotchy cheeks and—
Something hit Travis hard, and he didn't think he had ever felt so miserable in his life. He felt like he had kicked a dog or something, and all of sudden, he felt the need to make it better, to comfort her, to apologize. The thought seemed unimaginable, and yet Travis still found himself reaching a hand across the small space between them that suddenly felt like miles. Before he could capture her hand in his own however, Katie recoiled in, shock? Anger? Disgust? He didn't know, but she didn't hold his gaze for long and went back to staring at her hands, diligently cleaning underneath her fingernails.
"Katie I—I didn't mean—I mean honestly it's not—I just—what I'm trying to say is…
I'm sorry…I guess"
Katie finally looked up from her task shocked to see a Travis looking at her with genuine remorse, and flattered as she was she couldn't let him take all the credit.
"It's not you Travis, don't worry about it. You can't help anyway," said Katie, adding to herself "And neither will wallowing in the garden, so pull yourself together girl." Wiping the backs of her palms against her cheeks, she rose from the weeds and brushed the dirt off from her shorts. She decided she wouldn't get any more reasonable work done in this heat, especially if a Stoll was keeping her company. So after bidding Travis a hasty goodbye, she turned on her heel and made her way back towards Cabin Four.
For perhaps the hundredth time that day, Katie Gardner stumped Travis into silence, choosing to leave him without one bruise or welt as evidence that they even crossed paths that day. To some campers it would have been a blessing, to escape unscathed from poison ivy or a heavy dose of "eau de skunk cabbage" after encountering an upset child of Demeter. In fact, one might think that everyone would.
That is, once again, everyone except Travis Stoll.
Maybe it was the heat driving him a little crazier than usual. Maybe it was because Connor was (miraculously) not around to pound some sense into him. Most likely, however, it's because Travis realized that he didn't want days where Katie Gardner was walking away from him, rather than running towards him (even if it meant being pummeled in the process). Regardless, Travis Stoll decided to defy all common sense and chase after her, reaching out for her hand once again.
And once again, Katie retracted her hand before Travis's fingertips were able to graze her own. However rather than walk away indifferently, she simply tucked her hands behind her back, and mumbled something under her breath.
"A little louder there mumbles, I can't hear you if you keep talking into your shirt and—"
"Why do you keep doing that?" Katie's eyes finally rose to meet his own, for the first time since he saw her sprawled in the strawberry fields. Her gaze, now inquisitive rather than irritated, held firm and only the slight quiver at the end of her question revealed just how difficult it may have been to ask such a seemingly simple question.
"What, making fun of you? It's what I always do, I didn't think you—"
"No grabbing my hand." Her stare remained resolute, but if Travis really squinted he saw a softness in her eyes he'd never seen before. So normally Travis would have replied with some snide comment that would normally leave Katie storming off in irritation, or retaliating in aggravation. However, this vulnerability caused Travis to hesitate for a moment, choosing instead to tell her:
"Because you looked like you needed someone Katie, and if you haven't noticed yet I'm…your someone." The end of this statement came out bashfully, as Travis meekly reached for her hand again, and awkwardly scratched the back of his head, looking anywhere but her face. If he had bothered though, he may have noticed the small smile gracing Katie's lips, and the light flush in her cheeks as she came to the realization that her hand looked pretty nice in his—dirty fingernails and all.
During this exchange, however, both Travis and Katie failed to see the dark clouds rolling in only to be thoroughly surprised at a loud crack of thunder followed by fat, splattering rain-drops. Seeking cover from the storm, both campers raced towards the nearest source of cover, which coincidently, happened to be Cabin Four's front porch. It was only when Katie went to turn the handle on the door, that she realized her hand was still tucked in Travis', the dirt from her fingers now turned to mud and staining both their hands equally. She chanced a glance up from their entwined palms to his freckled face, which was now vigorously shaking soaked hair out of his eyes. Not knowing what came over her, Katie closed the distance in one fell swoop, and chastely kissed one of those gods-forsaken freckles before he had even finished shaking himself dry. She had then breezed back into the cabin with a hurried thank you, leaving Travis dumb-struck yet again.
Minutes, or maybe even hours later, that's how Connor found his brother: Frozen in place, staring blankly at a door handle, with a hand absently brushing a dirt stain on his cheek that vaguely looked like a pair of lips.
"…And if you wanna catch a bottle of lightning,
You're gonna have to stand in the rain"