Seeing Katie

Chapter 1:

Things he never noticed

Nico couldn't remember very clearly the exact details of what had happened that afternoon. It seemed so distant. Really, it had only happened a few days ago: when he first noticed Katie Gardner.

It had been very sudden, almost unexpectable. It had been around noon, Nico was just walking around camp. He was glad that they had finally finished the Hades cabin, so he decided to take a break and just walk around at a relaxed pace.

So he set off, walking around, enjoying the peace and quiet around him. He wasn't in a hurry. He was just admiring the scenery that surrounded him.

He was walking down the strawberry fields, when suddenly, he noticed he wasn't alone.

There was someone by the strawberries, pulling the weeds out of the ground by were they grew.

It was a girl. She was crouched down, collecting the weeds in one hand and pulling them out with the other. When the weeds became stubborn, she merely muttered something under her breath and they came right out.

Nico became quiet, trying to see who the girl was. She had brown hair that trailed down her back.

As he was sneaking up on the girl, he clumsily stepped on a twig.

She whipped around, surprised, and saw Nico.

"Oh," she said, "it's just you."

The funny thing was, Nico recognized the girl. It was Katie Gardner, daughter of Demeter. But, there was something, well, different about her. It was as if Nico was looking at her in a new light. He suddenly felt very nervous.

"Uh, what are you doing?" He silently cursed himself for not having something else to say.

Katie smiled. "I'm baking a cake," she said, sarcastically.

Nico grinned. "With weeds?"

She laughed, which made him feel a lot surer of himself. "Yeah, it's supposed to be good for colon health."

He laughed too, and looked at her in the eyes. They were brown like the soil of a good harvest.

Nico felt his face turn red. Why did he have to pick now to go red? He didn't even understand why he was going red. He had never acted this way in front of a girl: feeling nervous, blushing, stumbling over his words.

She tried to get up from the ground, but she didn't seem to able to.

Katie sighed. "I've been crouched down here so long; I don't even know what time it is." She looked up at Nico. "Will you help me up?"

He grabbed her hands, trying not to blush as he felt this little spark fly when he took hold of them. He helped her get to her feet.

When she finally stood up, she let go of his hand and brushed the dirt off of them on her shorts. Nico rubbed his sweaty palms together, trying to think of something to say. "So, what have you been doing this summer?"

She shrugged. "Nothing much. After the war, things got pretty quiet. Just been yelling at Travis and Connor, mostly."

Nico smiled, knowing how much the Stoll twins got on Katie's nerves.

"What have you been doing?" she asked him.

He wasn't expecting a question to be shot at him for quite some time. And when he pictured this moment, when she asked him a question, he'd be ready. But, sadly, he wasn't.

"Uh, I—I've been, you know, just… finishing the cabin and… and stuff."

He was sure she'd laugh at him and make him feel like throwing up, but she just smiled and said, "Oh, that's cool."

Nico beamed inside. "T-Thanks." Did he just stutter? He gave himself a mental slap. How, how did he let himself get so clumsy!? They were just talking for crying out loud!

"How'd the cabin turn out?" she asked him.

Nico rubbed the back of his neck, trying to rid himself of his redness. "Oh, it's pretty awesome. Though, I wish I had someone to share it with. For now it's just me."

Katie looked down at the ground and smiled. "You're lucky, in a way. I mean, I love my brothers and sisters, but, it'd be nice to have my own cabin."

He sighed and said, "Believe me; you don't want your own cabin. Sure, it sounds great, but it's always so quiet in there. And with that cabin all to yourself, you also get to eat by yourself. You do everything by yourself. It's not fun, just ask Percy."

"No," Katie said, looking at him and smiling, "I don't need to ask Percy. I believe you."

Nico looked down, thinking that would stop his cheeks and neck form turning red: not looking into her fierce brown eyes. Well, that theory died real quickly, because he could still feel his face heating up. "Oh, um… ok."

Katie looked around, turned to Nico and asked, "Do you know what time it is?"

"Oh, uh," he looked down at his watch. "1:15."

"Oh, shoot," she said. "Sorry, Nico, but I have to go. My cabin's going to practice some swordplay."

Nico looked down, disappointed. "Oh, alright. Well, bye."

Katie gave him a look that said she really was sorry. "I'm really sorry Nico. Maybe we can talk again sometime soon. See you."

She waved goodbye at him and ran down toward the cabins. Nico watched her until she was out of sight.

After she was out of sight, he looked down and sighed. There was so much he had never noticed about Katie Gardner before.

The way her hair swung from side to side when she ran. The way her eyes lit up when she laughed. The way she tenderly planted flowers in the Demeter cabin's window boxes. The way she held her rake when she worked in the camp's garden.

Nico was suddenly jealous of that rake. She held it so tenderly, it made him wish that was him.

So he continued his walk, thinking about all the things Katie did that he had once seemed too busy to notice.

Author's Note: Well, that's it for now. More is coming, really soon and I promise I won't disappoint! Hope you liked it! Please review!