First of all, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to all the people who signed the online petition to stop SOPA who include:

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Now, I know I didn't get 15 reviews, but Zeus's toga, I don't care! My dear reader, chintz has also gotten their friends to do it, as I know other people have done. So as a reward to all you awesome people out there, I give you, the next chapter.

Katie:

As we step in to the elevator, my heart seems to beat out of my chest.

Sure I've ridden winged horses, battled a bunch of monstrous nasties, and fought in a war, but high school parties? Forget it. I was about as clueless as a naiad out of water.

As we near the top, I grab Travis's hand. He squeezes it in a reassuring "I know" way, but out of the corner of my eye, I see him smirk.

As the elevator dings and the doors start to open, I brace my self for the worst: people swinging around on chandeliers, loose zoo animals running amok, or drunk teens playing with guns, but what I find isn't that at all.

Semi-loud music plays through the room, the popular "oh, I love this song!" music, not obnoxious punk rock music that my friend Thalia seems to love. There's a table lined with yummy party foods, as well as a table for drinks, a large temporary dance floor, a lounge, and DJ table, where a cool-looking mid-thirties guy stands, pumping the beats- or whatever mortals call it now. There is a chandelier, but to my relief, nobody is playing a Tarzan and swinging from it.

A guy with sandy blond hair and brown eyes walks up and puts his arm around Travis.

"Hey, Travis!" he says, "Is this the lovely Katie, Connor told me about?"

"Yup!" replies Travis enthusiastically, "Katie, this is Jake."

Jake looks me up and down as if examining a bug pinned to a board. "Not bad, Stoll, not bad at all. Welcome, Kallie."

His eyes drop to a section of me that did not make me feel comfortable.

"Hey!" I snap my fingers in his face. "My face is up here. And my name is Katie!"

"Yeah, yeah," he mutters, "Sorry, Kelli."

I give him my glare and his cocky attitude may as well just fly out the window and into the traffic of New York City.

"Ah, well, make yourself at home… Katie," he says carefully picking his words. Then he strides off to check out some other girl.

"Um, sorry about that," Travis mutters, "Jake's a nice guy most of the time, but he's definitely more of Connor's friend than mine."

"It's fine," I reply through gritted teeth. "Let's go do something."

We walk over and get some nibble food, as my little sister Rose always calls it. Gods, I miss her.

People offer us beer and other alcoholic drinks, but I refuse. First of all, I'm very anti-drug and anti-alcohol, and second of all, I've seen what caffeine does to demigods and I don't want to find out what alcohol does.

We walk around and mingle. Travis introduces me to all his mortal friends and a little pang of jealousy hits me. How much time does he spend with them and not our camp friends? Then I rub it off. He's allowed to have other friends.

It turns out that most of his friends are a lot nicer than Jake and a lot more respectful, too. I meet Jaden, a blue-eyed beauty, who's a songwriter with a dream of becoming a professional musician. If I didn't know better, I'd say she's a daughter of Apollo.

I also meet Tanner, who's just about the only level-headed football player I know of.

Lastly, I meet Lauren who's basically a shy mouse with a big brain. She's one of those, read it- think it-say it-just about any thing type of girls. In other words, she's smart. And pretty, too. She has sleek brown hair, with piercing gray eyes.

I think about Travis's friend group: a musician, a jock, a brainiac, and lastly, a kleptomaniac… my kleptomaniac.

I wonder what I would be considered if I joined. A plantaholic? A gardener girl? That's how I was always labeled at camp.

We talk for a while and get to know each other. Tanner's dad is a retired NFL player and Tanner can't seem to get over how embarrassing it is to him.

"Better NFL player than master gardener," I laugh.

"Seriously?" he asks.

"Yup. My papa bird's the winner of the, oh- so- anticipated- by- about- two- dozen- people NGC."

He looks at me blankly.

"It's the National Gardening Competition. Don't worry, it's totally lame. You're not missing out on anything."

"I thought you loved gardening," Travis asks me, a look of bewilderment spread across his face.

"Yeah, but not gardening on TV!" I exclaim. "You never get the full picture, or smell the tomatoes, or have itchy hands from picking okra, or-"

"Die of boredom," Travis yawns. "Yeah. Come on. Let's dance before I fall asleep."

I roll my eyes. "No."

"Come on, Kates! I want to dance!"

"I can't!" I protest.

"Oh, yes you can!" he scoffs. "Come on!"

Against my will, I am pulled onto the dance floor.

"Travis-" I start.

"Come on!" he presses. "You can do it."

I pull away, shaking my head. "No, I can't."

Then a slow song starts to play and couples pair up for the dance. He grabs my hand and won't let go this time. He drags me close to him and looks me straight in the eyes.

"Yes, you can."

"Okay," I give in. I know it's worth it when a grin spreads across his face. I smile a little back and his smile gets even bigger.

I wrap my arms around his neck and tell him, "Just one dance."

He makes a pouty face, but doesn't protest.

He snakes his arms around my waist and I rest my head on his shoulder as we sway back and forth.

"Katie," Travis says after a while.

"Yeah?" I mumble.

"Did I ever tell you how beautiful you are?"

"Not that I recall."

"Well… you are the most beautiful girl in the world."

"Hmm. Are you saving that for the future anniversaries you'll miss?"

"I'd say it every day if I had to."

This makes me feel so happy and giddy that I just can't help but kiss him. As my lips almost contact his, I feel a hard impact and Travis and I go sprawling.

I just have time to whip up my head before I see Travis's hit the floor with a sickening thump.

Travis:

When I wake up, I'm lying in a clean white bed with clean white sheets and a clean white pillow. My first coherent thought: this is not my bed.

Then I notice Katie hovering over me and her smile seems to be even brighter than the bed.

"Travis!" she cries as she hugs me.

"Ow," I moan. "My head."

"Sorry!" she squeaks, quickly releasing me.

I realize that the top part of my head is bandages in white gauze that matches the bed. That's when I realize I'm in a hospital room.

"What happened?" I groan.

Her face darkens.

"Ryan," is all she says.

"Ryan?" I ask, "As in Ryan Player?"

She frowns.

"It's Plaughter, actually."

"Oh, yeah. Same person."

"You call him- oh. I see."

"Yeah. That's pretty self-explanatory," I mutter, thinking about the long trail of broken hearts he left behind him. "How do you know him?"

"He keeps pestering Nikki and me at Starbucks. Hitting on us. He actually asked me to the party last night. Idiot."

A wave of panic hits me.

"Wait! He's the cute guy at Starbucks?" I exclaim.

"If you take out cute and put in irritating, then yes," she mutters, unhappily.

I can't help but smirk at this comment. Katie notices. She rolls her eyes, but gives a little smile.

"Anyway," I continue, still smug. "What happened with him?"

"When we were dancing, he tackled us. He was pretty drunk."

"That little b-"

"Travis!" she exclaims

"Okay, okay. I'm just want to beat the crap out of him!"

"Done," Katie said nonchalantly. "He's in floor below you."

I couldn't tell if she was kidding or not so I just nodded.

"Are you okay, Katie?"

She sighs.

"Yeah. I'm just tired. I was really worried last night. I saw the blood… and-and you were unconscious and-" she trails off, dropping head to hide her tears.

I grab her hand.

"Hey," I say. "It's okay. I'm fine and you're fine and everyone's fine except Ryan if you beat him up. Then he'd be in pain, so that's fine, too."

She snorts. "Take pleasure in other's pain much?"

I nod, and say, "But not yours."

She smiles.

"You should get some rest," I say as she yawns. She's too tired to argue.

"Okay," she yawns, "As long as you do too."

"Okay," I murmur.

She pulls up a chair next to my bed, still holding my hand, and sits down next to me, closing her eyes with a sigh.

I watch her sleep for a while, before I fall asleep as well.

When I wake up, it's Mom that's in Katie's spot.

"Hey," I say. She turns to me and smiles.

"Hi, honey," she says.

I notice that my head bandage is off and the sharp pain in my head has turned to a very dull throb.

"Where's Katie?" I ask.

"At her friend Nikki's apartment. She needed some sleep."

"Oh, okay."

"Don't worry, sweetie, you'll see her later today. Katie slipped some nectar into your IV, so you've made a 'miraculous' recovery, according to the doctors," she assures.

I snort. "Are we going to camp today?"

"Yeah. I already packed all of your things, including your very important weapons and pranking supplies."

"Thanks, Mom. You're the best."

She ruffles my hair like she used to when I was little.

"I know. I'm sad you have to go but I'll see you in a few months. I had so much fun with you guys this week."

"So did I," I say.

"Thanks, honey. Try to get some more rest. You don't want to fall asleep as you cross the border."

I laugh.

"Will you take us to meet Argus?"

"Yeah. Don't worry about anything. Just go to sleep."

Then she leaves the room, silently shutting the door behind her.

It's not long before I nod off again.

When I wake up for the third time, it's nobody that occupies my room with me. My IV has been taken out and my head feels completely normal.

It's early afternoon, probably, because bright light streams through my west window.

Then my door opens and my mother walks in with Connor and Katie.

"Hey, man," says Connor. "How're you doing?"

"Fine, thanks to some extra help," I reply, raising my eyebrows at Katie, who smiles so mischievously, she could be my sister… which would suck.

Connor grins too. "Hey," he said. "It was a group effort."

I get out of bed, brushing aside Katie's offer of help.

"Let's go check out," I say. "I can't wait to get out of here."

As we walk down the cold hallways Katie shivers and I put my arm around her. She smiles up at me.

"I like it when you're conscious. Try to stay that way?" she asks.

"You bet," I reply.

At Check-Out, one of the nurses asks if I would like a few pills for headaches that might come. I decline, thinking about all the ambrosia that I could steal to take its place.

Katie sees this.

"We'll take the pills," she says.

When we get out of the hospital I don't take my arm away from Katie. She doesn't seem to mind and I certainly don't.

When we get into the car, though, we resort to holding hands, to prevent Connor from being too uncomfortable and my mom from going over the edge with her girl-go-crazy-watching-romance self.

It seems like a short time before we get to where we meet Argus in the outskirts of New York, even though the trip is an hour.

I hug Mom and she ruffles Connor and my hair a little as she holds back tears. She even gives Katie a hug and thanks her for helping her to cook, which I had suspected all along.

"Do you have protection?" she asks for the millionth time?

"Yes," we reply.

"And ambrosia and nectar?"

"Yes."

"And drachmas?"

"Yes, Mom!" Connor exclaims. "Can we go now?"

She gives us all another hug and shouts at us to Iris Message her as soon as we get to camp as we get into the van.

When we shut the doors, Argus gives us a smile and raises his eyebrows at the hand-holding. I smile back.

It's another short ride and I can see Peleus's smoke before we even stop the van. As we run to Thalia's Pine, I peer over the edge of Half-Blood Hill and see the camp laid out in the valley.

I look to Katie who has tears of joy and relief in her eyes and still holding hands, we race down the hills, towards home.

Eeep! Oh how fangirly I get when I write this story!

Okay, let's start with reviews. 151! I love you guys! Seriously. I never thought that this story would go that far. It's my first triple-digit story! So thanks for those. I shall be eternally grateful.

Trivia Time!

The answer to last chapter's trivia was:

Youth. Hebe is the goddess of youth.

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AWESOMENESS

This chapter's trivia question is:

What did Polyphemus promise to grill Grover and Annabeth with? Here's a clue it's a fruit. Just the name of the fruit will do, but the full thing would be awesome.

Until next time,

27lablover