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Katie was crying.

Crying because of him.

His stupid pranks had gone too far. Never in all her years had she ever met someone as completely stupid and inconsiderate as Travis Stoll. Someone who'd purposely spray paint all her magnolia's brown so she'd walked outside that morning and thought her precious garden had died.

She'd nearly had a heart attack.

And he had laughed.

Even though the paint had washed off with the hose, she still felt the horror of seeing that she'd let all her wonderful plants die, even if it had been fake.

No one messed with her garden and still kept her as a friend.

So she sat on her bed, hugging her pillow and ignoring the comforting of her siblings because they didn't understand, no matter how much they wanted to help her. They weren't constantly tormented by the one person you both needed and hated at the same time, even if she didn't know why she needed him.

Besides, no matter what they said now, she still felt the tears falling down her face. She couldn't believe him. Even over her siblings, he knew her best. Knew how much her garden meant to her. How on earth could he have thought that would be funny?

"He's a loser, Katie," said one of her sisters. "Don't be bothered by him."

"We can always sic Clarisse on him later," suggested a brother.

"Ooh! Good idea!"

Katie just sniffled.

Gods, she hated Travis Stoll sometimes.

Someone knocked at the door. One of her sisters turned and shouted, "Go away! We don't want visitors right now!"

Another knock.

"Gods," the sister sighed. "Some demigods are so dumb." She stood up from Katie's bunk and walked over to the door. "Look," she snapped as she threw it open, "I said we don't want—" Her voice stopped abruptly.

And Katie just knew.

She looked up with blurry vision as her sister attempted to kick Travis and slam the door at the same time, but he dodged the blow and put his foot in the door with much more grace than her, a surprise since he was looking over her head and directly at Katie.

"Katie-Cat!" he called, his voice notably less cheerful than earlier. "Come on, give me a chance to make it up to you!"

"She doesn't want to talk to you," snarled one of her brothers.

"Go away!" shouted another.

Katie just stared, sniffling in an annoyingly pathetic way.

Travis's eyes were pleading with her just as much as his voice. "Come on, Kates!"

"Why should I?" she said softly, just loud enough for him to hear.

"'Cause I'm really sorry."

She stared at him a moment longer, ignoring one of her sisters as the little girl whispered, "Don't give in!"

Katie nodded finally. "Five minutes," she said, and the rest of the cabin groaned, but Travis smiled wide.

"Thanks," he said as she climbed to her feet, dropping her pillow back on her bed. He ignored her siblings' death glares as he led Katie out the door and behind the Demeter cabin, where it was more private.

"Five minutes," she reminded him, wiping at her still-damp eyes.

"That's all I need," he replied. Then he took a deep breath…and leaned towards her.

Katie knew her face instantly flushed bright red. "W-What are you doing?" she exclaimed as he came steadily closer.

He didn't answer. He held out his hand like he was going to caress her cheek, and Katie felt her eyes fluttering shut…and then he abruptly drew back. Her eyes snapped open and she realized he was holding out to her the most a flower that he had supposedly "pulled out of her ear". It was the most beautiful flower she had ever seen. It glittered as if made of jewels, flashing many different colors, some that she didn't even know.

Katie knew her face was still red, but her eyes were glued to the flower. "Oh my gods…its beautiful," she whispered, entranced by it.

"I…I had the Hecate cabin enchant one of the forest's wildflowers for you," Travis said, and she looked up to notice his face was a bit red, too. "I-I hope you like it. I'm really sorry about earlier…"

Katie felt the hate she had just had moments before just evaporate as a smile lit up her face. "Thank you, Travis," she said, meaning it, and carefully took the flower from his hand, not wanting to hurt the beauty.

He smiled, too, in what was obviously relief. "Good," he said, breathing out. "'Cause I hate it when you're mad at me."

Without another word, he turned and ran off.

Katie stared after him for a moment, her smile ever-widening as she watched him hurrying away. He had been so sincere, and so nervous…she realized she could never really hate Travis Stoll.

No one messed with her garden and could keep her as a friend...except for him.

The smile still there, she nearly skipped to her garden, eager to find a place in it for her new and favorite flower.