" Alright, this prank is fool proof."

"You came up with it so that can't possibly be true," Katie muttered from Connor's bunk.

I sighed in annoyance," Does your girlfriend have to be here? And if she does, can she keep her snippy comments to herself?"

"We're leaving soon, calm down," Connor said ignoring both of my questions.

"Anyway, Andrew again you're in charge of the hose. Daniel, you're gonna open the front door. Becca, you're gonna pull it through. Everyone else you're on balloon duty."

"These balloons are full of water this time, right? Not gonna kill anyone today?" Katie laughed at me.

"Hey! It was an accident! I would never hurt her on purpose..."

"Awww," Connor snickered.

"Shut up!"

I was really starting to become sick of him and everyone else trying to tell me that I liked Alyssa. How were they gonna tell me how I felt?

"So we do this an hour after lunch?" Candace asked

"Right, now everyone come prepared. This one's gonna be great."

"Alright, everyone in position?"

I got the thumbs up signal from everyone and smiled," Alright, let's do this."

The windows were always the easiest way to prank the Apollo kids, they never closed them. But the back window was a prime spot, you could see everything.

I set up the mat on the window sill and pushed it so it would begin to unroll. I started hearing the concerns of the confused Apollo kids.

"A big blue mat? I thought Travis was better than that..."

I heard a gasp and then,"Guys! Get into a swimsuit!"

"What why?"

I didn't bother listening to the rest, they had figured it out. Before their conversation continued, Daniel pulled open their front door and pulled the rest of the mat through just in time for Andrew to turn on the water.

"It's a Slip & Slide!"

I ran to the front of the cabin to see Apollo kids barreling out of their cabin, dripping wet and laughing. Right away, my siblings threw water balloons at everyone as they slid down. Even Will seemed to be having fun.

I heard Alyssa shout from inside,"My turn!" She slid down and shrieked in I think excitement as she got pelted with water balloons. As she was getting up, I couldn't help but stare for a little bit.

I had never really looked at Alyssa in the way my siblings assumed I had been. Now that she was wearing a bikini, it was kind of hard not to. Her dark skin seemed to shine in the sun and had what I considered a nice body. I guess things like that we're a bit harder to notice when everyone's always wearing the same orange t-shirt.

"Travis!" Her voice broke my train of thought," You all look ready to use it, so are you guys gonna join us or not?"

My siblings and I all ran into the Apollo cabin, taking turns sliding down. At some point, we all stopped sliding and just started throwing the water balloons at each other.

Within an hour all the balloons had been exploded and we were all exhausted and just laying in the wet grass.

"Your best one yet if I say so myself,"Alyssa laughed.

"Well, it's really my only successful one in this prank war so far..."

"Don't worry you'll have another chance. I got a big one planned for the next one."

I started to wonder if this was what all my friendships were going to be like. Yeah, I'm friends with Percy and a few others but we're not like close or anything. Are all of my "close" friendships gonna be a back and forth of just pranks and trying to one-up each other? I really don't want that to be it...

"Hey Alyssa?"

"Yeah Travis?"

"Do you know how to play Poker?"

"Hmm, yes I do. And if you're asking if I wanna play with you, I'm gonna have to pass."

My heart sunk a bit.

"Nothing against you but I wouldn't want you or any of your siblings to lose any money to me,"She snickered.

"Oh! So you're saying you could beat me, me of all people AND other kids of the god of the thieves in poker? Is that a challenge?"

She rolled over and started standing up,"Depends, are you accepting a challenge?"

I immediately jumped up,"You're on!" I spit into my hand and held it out for her.

"Umm.." She stared at it for awhile before sighing, spitting into hers and shaking my hand.

"Gross Alyssa! Don't touch anything in the cabin for at least a week!"

She rolled her eyes,"Tomorrow afternoon sound good?"

Without thinking, the words,"It's a date." came out of my mouth.

She nodded,"A date. Now are you gonna help clean up the slip and slide or is my cabin getting stuck with the clean up this time?"

"My cabin is still 40% ball pit."

"Right, gotcha. Apollo cabin! We're on clean up this time. Let's go!"

"Hermes kids round up! See ya later, Alyssa."

"See ya at dinner, Travis."

I started heading to the cabin when I heard Will calling me.

"Travis!"

I tried to think back to the last few days to see if I had done anything that would make him want to kill me. For a kid the same size as me, Will was really starting to scare me. Coming up with nothing, I turned around to see him walking towards me.

"Hey there, Will. What's up?"

"What is with your new obsession with my sister?"

I started at him confused,"I'm not obsessed with your sister. We're friends...I think?"

"Alright but a slip and slide in our cabin, inviting her to poker? What game are you playing, Stoll?"

"I'm not playing any games. I'm just being friendly, Will. You should try it some time."

"Whatever Travis, just stay away from her. Whatever it is you're doing, cut it out."

I sighed. Will was starting to piss me off." And if I don't stop hanging out with your sister, what are you gonna do? Have your boyfriend summon the dead to fight me? Hm? Give me a break, Will."

He began to blush,"Leave him out of this! And leave my sister alone. Alright?"

I gave him a sarcastic thumbs up and turned back towards my cabin.

"Leave my sister alone, blah blah,"I mocked him walking into the cabin.

Connor was sitting on my bed, smirking.

"Dude you're covered in wet grass and dirt, the least you could do is sit on your own bed."

"So you've got a date?"

I rolled my eyes,"She's just coming here to play poker against us and probably Candace and Aidan in poker. It's not an actual date."

"Then why'd you say it's a date."

"I don't know, it's a thing people say."

"Mhm, or maybe you want it to be a date."

"Here we go again. One-I don't like her that way! Two- even if I did, Will told me to stay away from her."

"And you're actually gonna listen to Will Solace?"

"Of course not! But that's not the point."

"And well, if you don't like her in that way, what do you like about her?"

"She's nice, she's good at pranking. I dunno if you saw it but anytime she got hit with a balloon, her face scrunched up and it was kinda cu-" I cut myself off.

"Oh, what was that last part?" He started laughing.

"It's kinda cu...be. Yeah it's cube."

"That doesn't make any sense, Travis."

"You think I don't know that!"

"Just admit it, Travis, you have a crush on her."

"Fuck off, Connor."

"Lying to yourself is bad you know."

"Get off my bed I'm going to sleep."

"You like her."

"No, I don't! I DON'T LIKE ALYSSA NOW LEAVE ME ALONE!"

It had been awhile since I had actually yelled at my brother. It was usually for his own safety but now I was just mad at him. Which was different from our current situation. Lately, it was really just him yelling at me.

"Fine, I'm going to see Katie. Maybe you should get your panties out of the tight ass twist they're in and calm down." He got up and walked out of the cabin.

I laid in my bed and closed my eyes. I started thinking about if I really did like Alyssa. Her bright smile, cute laugh, her dark hair, and the sun image shaved into the side. Then I started thinking about what it'd be like to have my arms around her right now. I covered my face with my hands and screamed, "You have got to be kidding me!"

"Told you!" Connor yelled from outside the door.