I thought about this when I was reading something. Inspiration time!

The Stages of Beauty

There are four stages of beauty, Tessa had told him. If you've gone through the stages of cute with a girl, you are crushin' hard! Have you ever gone through the stages of cute?

Travis sighed. Had he gone through the stages of cute? When Tessa asked, he replied "Let me think about it." And he thought... about one in particular.

What is the first stage? he had asked.

Cute.

Travis remembered her cute. He saw it the day he had saved her from that monster at thirteen.

She had come running as far as she could, zigzagging, as if it would help. Obviously, she had been fighting that monster for at least a mile. She had tripped and fallen right below the boundary line. She scrambled back hastily trying to get over when the dracanae closed in. She awaited the blow, but nothing came. A boy had come to her rescue. That boy was Travis.

He helped her up concerned.

"Are you okay?" he asked. The girl only nodded. Her caramel waves of hair bounced up and down; her green eyes filled with shock. "What's you name?"

The girl replied, "Katie. Thanks for saving me...?"

"Travis," he said holding out his hand. She shook it.

"Travis." She smiled. Travis liked her smile. He thought they way it made her face glow was... cute.

Stage One- Complete.

...

What's stage two?

Pretty.

She always had struck him as pretty. He realized it when he was fourteen.

He had just broken up with his girlfriend Jess and was walking towards his cabin. He was thinking about who he was going to prank next when someone called his name. It was Katie.

"Hey, I need to ask you something," she said. Strange, for he hadn't talked to her the beginning of camp.

"No, I didn't steal your iPod!" he said. Katie's eyes narrowed.

"That's not what I was going to ask."

"Oh?"

"I was going to ask if you'd seen Sophia..."

"Oh, sorry, no, but the Athena cabin's at the arena. You should check there."

"Oh, cool!" she piped and jogged off toward the arena when she stopped and turned around. "Thanks, Travis!"

He nodded his head and kept walking to his cabin. When he passed by their cabins, Jake and Will asked him if he could talk.

"So," Jake said.

"Yeah?" Travis asked a little bummed.

"Get over, Jess, Travis," Will said. "You guys weren't clicking before you went out."

Travis realized that was kind of true.

"So, anyways, we saw you talking to, Gardner," Jake continued.

"What did she want?" Will added.

"Why do you need to know?" Travis smirked.

"Because, we like to know what the pretty girls at camp are doing."

"Stalker much?" Travis laughed. Will gave him a piteous look.

"Travis, you can't seriously think that she's not at least pretty."

"I haven't noticed," he said slowly.

"Dude, how can you not notice? Look at her!"

Jake pointed across the commons area towards her. She was talking to Sophia. Her hair was shiny and her eyes were sparkling and for a teenager, she had no acne.

Jake and Will were right. She was pretty.

Stage Two- History

…

Stage three?

Attractive

Attractiveness was caught at age sixteen.

Katie was sitting down in the fire circle with one of her brother. It was either Jacob or John. Travis did not keep track of who was in that cabin.

Except for Katie.

Travis did not know what was wrong with him that day and from then on, but he just could not get her out her mind. He watched her whenever she walked past. He really liked the way her hair moved when she walked. He really wanted to touch her hair. And Travis wished he could touch her.

Dang! he thought. What am I thinking?

Travis sighed. He never wished these things before. To him, Katie had been just a strong, willing girl who never took no for an answer, especially from him. And now, she was still pretty, but now he had this longing to be with her and be near her presence. It began when Will Solace had won her over. Never has she been do attractive to him...

or untouchable.

Stage Three- Terminated

…

What's the last stage?

Beautiful, Travis. Beautiful...

Beautiful... age eighteen. August Twenty-Seventh, one week after the Titan War.

Travis had been relived over the success of the camp, and his life being spared. He blamed it on his dashing great looks.

"The monsters thought I was too handsome to mess with," he had said. "They were putty in my hands. Sometimes, I wish I had gotten better challenger- ones not so corrupted."

Of course, no one believed him, particularly Katie Gardner.

She would just roll her dazzling green eyes and say something back like "Yeah, right Stoll" or "That's not what I saw" and mostly "Shut your trap! You were looting Dylan's Candy Bar every second." Yep, she said all that and even more, but even that could not break the charm. Travis was in this "attractive" mess knee deep.

It was early in the morning when the buses were about to be called to bring people to La Guardia airport. Travis was on trunk duty, courtesy of Connor who signed him up, and was given the job of moving trunks of the leaving campers.

Gardner was one of them.

"You need help?" Travis asked staring at a beat-up forest green one.

"Sure, Travis," a voice replied. It was Katie. Travis's palms became sweaty. Just seeing her made his heart beat faster, and it was worse when she looked pretty.

A green blouse and floral tuck-in skirt covered her bodice and torso, and Greek sandals adorned her feet. All made her tan skin glow and her eyes glow. A small flower make her chestnut hair seem as soft as silk.

Shaking his head, Travis picked up her trunk and carried it to the bus. Katie accompanied him; probably to keep and eyes on her stuff.

"So," Travis said. "What time is your flight?"

"One o' clock," Katie replied not very excited. "Then its a thee hour flight to Oklahoma city where I have to take an hour drive to Durant. It's going to be very boring."

"Compared to what we've been doing this summer? Most definitely."

"Sometimes I've wonder what it's like to be a year-rounder. Stay in one place the whole year not sitting in a boring classroom learning about who knows what."

"Eh, it's alright. You still have to learn here though, but we do actual war reenactments. We all passed ancient history." Katie laughed.

Travis set her trunk down by the road. She sat down on it. Travis did the same. There was a moment of silent until Katie broke it.

"I want to thank you, Travis."

"For what?" he asked surprised.

"For saving me that day. I realize I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for you. And to that, I am extremely thankful."

True he had saved Katie, but he hadn't put much thought to it at the time. All he was trying to do was kill as many monsters as possible. True when he had seen the sword poised above her chest he did react more passionately.

"You're welcome."

She smiled feebly and wiped small tears as they caught in her hazel green eyes making them shine. The scene broke his heart. He took her hand and rubbed his thumb across her knuckle.

"I'm just scared that next time I won't have someone there like you intervening."

"I'd do it again."

She smiled and her whole face lit up. Travis wanted so badly to touch it, caress it, hold it and never look away, but he couldn't do that. It'd be wrong. But her face was so beautiful...

The engine on the bus startled them. Katie and Travis both stood up and piled the trunk into the back. Travis shut the door. He turned to Katie

"Well," he said. "I guess I'll- uh, I mean it was- what I wanted to say is-"

Katie rose onto her toes and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"Bye, Travis." And she climbed into the car leaving him without a response.

"Bye, Katie," he finally said after the bus was just a speck in the distance.

Travis pictured her face and her kind spirit as they talked and thought one thing.

Beautiful.

Stage Four- Finished

…

Travis walked out of his cabin only to be stopped by Tessa.

"So?" she prompted.

"I'm crushin' hard." he realized that the response was completely wrong. No.

I'm in love.

Aw! I love writing one-shots now! The Son of Neptune was amazing, but I really hate series endings. Funny, because I write them! Review!

Brooke