It took a few days but eventually the Demeter Cabin was cleaned up and back to normal. The bickering between Katie and Travis had become normal too. After that first prank, Travis stopped following Katie around. He said he finally had gotten even and no longer had to bug her. To those who heard the story believed he was just scared of her punch. Travis was stuck with a lovely purple and blue bruise around his left eye. Now, Travis only irritated her in passing. Their conversations mostly consisted of a greeting from Travis, a witty response from Katie, some not-so-nice name calling and someone stepping in to break up the couple. It took a few weeks but eventually another prank came. Then another. Throughout that whole summer there were plenty of pranks to drive Katie crazy.

First, there was when Travis and Connor stole all Katie's things from her cabin. Slowly she started to lose her stuff. The fact that she did not have much with her at camp helped her notice when something was gone. Three other Demeter children had just come back to camp around the same time so at first Katie had assumed that some of her personal items had gotten moved when helping the others unpack. Then one day she came back before dinner and found her pillow missing. She had a good feeling of who had taken it but she would have to get creative to retrieve it. That night at dinner she found Travis Stoll sitting on it. She walked over to the Hermes table and yanked it out from under him, successfully causing him to fall off the bench. As he lay on the ground defenseless, Katie beat him with the pillow.

Then, there was the countless number of water filled buckets dumped on her head. At least three times she had found dirt covering her bed when she was about to pass out from drowsiness. Six times she was missing her gardening tools. Another occasion, the Stoll's had somehow managed to kidnap Katie during her free time before dinner and drag her out to the woods and leave her stranded there until Will and Kayla(another one of Katie's friends from the Apollo cabin) had come looking for her. She was found tied to a tree with rope and gagged. She was too drained from a day of work and had no energy (which probably made her easy to kidnap) to move the plants to her. At least she could say, her summer was never boring.

The absolute worst fight between them happened on the 4th of July.

The Fourth is one of the most exciting times around camp (the most exciting being the end of the summer party). Sword fighting, wrestling, foot races and water balloon tournaments happen throughout the day. And it all leads up to the main event at dusk. The fireworks. It's a famous couples date night. People get dressed up for a picnic on the beach. And then fireworks light up the sky. These are not just your regular fireworks, no. Not with Cabin Nine, Hephaestus' children running the show. Army size missiles float on barges in the water. The first launch startles the crowd but then everyone becomes silent as they watch the show. The lights draw spectacular images of famous demigods throughout time. Pictures of Hercules, Jason even Amelia Earhart all pictured up in the night shy.

What happened between Katie and Travis, you ask?

Katie had gone to the party with Will, Kayla Soare, and Jake Mason. The four of them had gotten closer over the past few weeks. Katie had met Kayla through Will, who was her brother. Kayla was an extremely competitive girl with the golden hair to match her siblings. She had just reached camp a few weeks earlier and still did not know many others. Like her sibling she was extremely musically talented. Somehow she could instantly give out advice. It seemed like a gift but Katie guessed it was just song lyrics that she was speaking as her own advice. Jake Mason, son of Hephaestus, was a muscular and intimidating looking guy. He had dark brown hair and was usually covered in some sort of sludge. He was scary looking to those who did not know him. Really he is a quiet, lovable and sweet teddy bear. Katie found him to be extremely loyal when it came to his friends and family. More than once Jake offered to beat up the Stoll brothers for the suffering they put Katie through.

"I think," Will told Katie one day as he walked her to the Strawberry Fields one day, "that Jake may have a little crush on you."

"You think?" Katie pondered the thought but came up empty-handed.

"Yeah I do. He gets so protective over you when you talk about what those Stoll boys did."

"He is just a good friend," Katie told him. "Are you not worried about me?"

"No, not really," he stated matter-of-factly. "Not when it comes to Travis Stoll. I know you can handle yourself. I mean, think of how many times he has done something that did not end with you either punching him or threatening to kill him or screaming harsh punishments." The pair laughed.

After that day, Will and Katie often shared an awkward glance when Jake asked about the pranks.

On the Fourth of July, the group sat on their quilt in the sand, joking around. Then they came. Travis and Connor jumped out from behind a bush. The startled group jumped and reached for their weapons. Seeing as they were at a party none of them thought to bring them.

"Well, well, well," Connor said. "What do we have here?"

"Get out of here, Stoll." Katie told them. The boys did exactly the opposite they sat down on the blanket. Connor sat on the left side of Katie, between her and Kayla. Travis plopped down on Katie's right, pushing Will, who was originally there, into the sand.

"No, no," said Travis. He put his arm around Katie's shoulders. "I think we will stay for a while. The show is about to start."

Katie face filled with disgust. She shrugged off his arm.

"The only show you're going to get-"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The fireworks had begun. The sound caused Katie to jump.

"Shh…" Travis put one finger to her lips. "I will protect you."

He put his arm around her again. This time he held a firm grip on her arm. She stared at him in fury.

"Just watch the sky, and wait for the big finale," he told her.

Katie looked to her friends for help. Will sat in the sand, stone faced. Kayla scooted closer to Jake. Kayla looked like she might crack up laughing while Jake sat there obviously uncomfortable with the scene.

Then It came. The big finale Travis had talked about happened. Lit up in the sky in giant red letters the words:

KG LOVES TS 3

Laughter filled the air. Everyone on the beach turned to stare at them. The Aphrodite cabin "awed". To make matters worse, Travis still had his arm around her.

"So Katie," Travis purred, "how does it feel having that secret off your chest?"

"I am going to kill you." She shrugged his arm off.

"No, you won't."

"Yes, I will. I will kill you and then personally go to the Underworld, bargain with Hades, bring you back here, and kill you again."

Travis took the cue and ran. It was a long night. Let's just say more people watched Katie beat Travis up in the water than the rest of the fireworks.

The two had become increasingly competitive with each other. All of the times she had trained and about to complete the task only to have him swoop in and either beat Katie or cause her to start over. They would fight to be the better than the other. It brought out the great warriors in them almost as quickly as it brought out their angry sides. Capture the Flag Fridays were the worst. Somehow wherever they went they ran into each other. Some said the Fates were having fun toying with the pair. Others called it rotten luck. Whatever it was, nothing good ever came from those two being together.

"What up, Kates?"

That name took Katie out of focus. It was the name only her father called her. She was working in the Strawberry field all morning. It was nearing the end of the summer. This was going to be one of the last days to grow the strawberries for the year.

"You okay there, Gardner?" asked Travis. He bent down next to her. "You aren't yelling."

Katie came back to herself.

''What are you doing here!?" she snapped.

"Son of the God of Messengers," he pointed to himself. "Deliverer of your mail." He handed over a letter.

Katie looked it over. It was addressed to her under the name of "Kates". She set it to the side and returned to her work.

"You're not going to read it?"

"Why are you still here?"

"Making sure my client is satisfied with the delivery. Now, why won't you open it?"

"Because," an exasperated Katie through some of the dirt she was moving at the ground, "I already know what it says. He wants me to come home for the rest of the year. But I can't! How can I go home to a family that I have lived with my entire life, who also lied to me. They dropped me off in the middle of nowhere, didn't tell me anything. They just left! You wanna know why? They were scared. My powers had come through and they were worried about a reputation. Who does that to their child? They-"

"Breathe Katie," Travis cut her off in the middle of her monologue.

"I can't go back, not after what I learned here."

"Look they didn't make the best decisions."

"Do not try to change my mind. I am not going back."

"I am not saying you have to. But they are your family. Don't they deserve a response?" he picked up the letter and placed it into her hands.

Katie looked up into the mischievous blue eyes of her enemy.

"Who are you, and what have you done with Travis Stoll?" They laughed. "Seriously, why are you being so nice to me?"

"You are not the only one with family problems."

There was a comfortable silence between the two. Then Travis stood up abruptly.

"I better finish delivering the mail. I will be back later to pick up your response letter. By the way, it's great to know you're going to be here all year. You and I can have all sorts of fun." He walked before Katie could start yelling.

This is going to be a long year, Katie thought. She stared after his retreating figure wondering how in the world someone who was such a pain could be so sweet in moments like this. She was going to need to a make many offerings to the gods to get through another year.

Katie hurriedly, finished working in the Fields. She ran back to her cabin and pulled out the letter that was stuffed in her pocket and wrote back.

Not my best work, I'll admit.

Tell me what you think.

Inspiration: Marchin On - OneRepublic

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