Day 2: Bob Bobberson, Special Christmas Edition Hermes Multivitamins, the color pink, and an angry Annabeth

-Katie POV-

On the second day, I woke up with a massive headache.

All last night I'd been tossing and turning, trying to get some sleep. One question kept popping up in my mind; what am I going to do about the dance coming up on Friday? I didn't want to go by myself and look like a loser, but on the other hand, it didn't look like anyone was going to ask me to it. Isabel had been loudly bragging about her date to anyone that would listen. Even Tessie, that girl in Hephaestus who doesn't talk to anyone, has a date. And guess who?! ANDY! While I'm relieved that at least he's out of my hair, I must say, he moves from girls pretty quickly.

So, anyway, I'm running up to the big house at 6:00 in the morning, and rubbing my cold arms. When I finally got to Chiron's office, I saw that Travis was already there. Wow. Beaten by the slacker. As I ran in panting and out of breath, he gave me a questioning look, like Why are you standing there in the doorway panting like a dog? I turned to Chiron and announced unnecessarily, "I'm here!"

Chiron nodded. "Good. I must say, I'm surprised that you two finished the cabins so quickly yesterday. Keeping that in mind, I'm shaving a day off your punishment. Instead of working Monday through Friday, you now must only work until Thursday."

I exchanged excited looks with Travis. One day off our punishment? That was better than I could have ever hoped for!

Chiron produced a blank scroll and handed it to Travis and I. "Your task is to take inventory of all the items in the attic and write them down on this piece of parchment. When you are done, come and give it to me."

I bit back a scream and closed my eyes. The attic?! That was one of the creepiest places in all of Camp Half-Blood!

I trudged out of the room with Travis. When we were out of earshot of Chiron, I turned to him. "This is the worst EVER!"

Travis nodded. "Talk about it. Chiron's really got it in for us."

I shrugged. "Well, at least look on the bright side! We get a day off from the punishment!"

Travis gave me a strange look. "How could you be happy at a time like this?"

I rolled my eyes. "Never mind. Let's just get this over with."

We carefully crept up the stairs and opened the screeching door. The mummy was standing there, looking dead as…..well, a mummy. Travis and I hurried over to the Demigod Souvenirs table. When I saw how much stuff was piled up there, I almost fainted. There were piles and piles of junk spilling out all over the table.

"Wouldn't it just be easier to throw it all away?" Travis muttered. I sighed, and we started going through the piles. "Pearl Comb found by Delilah Dringel, 1885," I read out loud from a tag. I wrote it down and tossed it into the pile of already documented things.

"Bottle of Hermes multi-vitamins, Special Christmas Edition, found by Lester Dowley, 1999," Travis called out. "Gods, how ridiculous can this stuff get?"

"Representation of Medusa on a cracker, sent from Ares, found by Larissa Sheehann, 1934," I called out, grinning at Travis.

"Valentine's Day card from Hermes to Camp Half-Blood, found by—wait a second, this is Chiron's handwriting!"

I giggled. "OK, how about this one: Post-it note from Olympus, found by Bob Bobberson!"

Travis narrowed his eyes. "That is so not his name. You're making that up!"

"No, no, it says it right here!" I shoved the label in his face. "Look! Not lying!"

Travis face-palmed. "What kind of a horrible name is Bob Bobberson?!"

I shrugged. "Wow, a brick from the Parthenon in Greece!"

Travis grabbed it from me. "Lemme see that!" He inspected it for a moment. "Yup, just what I thought. It's been super-glued."

I groaned. "I wonder if any of these are actually real!"

Then, I spotted something at the very bottom. I pulled it out. It was a shiny dragon's claw, huge and frightening. Travis's eyes got big. "Whoa- is that really….?"

We both knew what the label would say, but I read it loud anyway. "Palos's claw, found on Mount Atlas by …. Luke Castellan."

It was silent in the attic. I knew that Travis, like me, was thinking about the demigod who turned traitor for Kronos, and sacrificed himself to save all of us.

Travis cleared his throat and picked up another relic. "Hey, check out this: Bottle of water from the river Lethe! Who collected this? Oh, Carolina George. I wonder what would have happened if she fell in while getting this!"

I looked at the label. "Well, she's dead anyway, so no biggie."

We both laughed, and suddenly, Travis Stoll didn't seem so mean. I mean, he was still just as immature, but it wasn't so bad, really, hanging out with him. Weird. I shook myself out of my thought just in time to see Travis picking up a bright pink war helmet and stuffing it on his head. "Sweet!" he yelled. "My war-helmet-maker made it my favorite color!"

I scrunched up my nose. "Somehow, I don't see you as a pink person. Sorry, it's just not your color."

Travis gave a mock sob. "What?! But I love the color pink! It's my life!"

I snickered. Yep, just as immature as always.

When we were done taking inventory of all the items, we headed back downstairs. As we were passing a dolor on the second level, we heard a female giggle coming from a classroom to the left. Travis was about to ask me who the heck it was when I clamped my hand over his mouth. I swore that I knew that giggle. And that person only giggled around another person. And it those two people were in a classroom together… I sensed a golden opportunity.

I pulled out my phone and clicked on the camera app. Technically, you aren't supposed to have phones at Camp, but whatever. Who cares? It's not like we're gonna get a monster attack or anything, Thalia's Tree makes sure of that.

Anyway, I poised my finger over the "Take Picture" button, and tensed. A second later I kicked the door open and started blindly taking rapid-fire shots. I heard a squeal and I turned around and yelled, "Run!" to Travis. We bolted for the stairs with a very angry Annabeth and a very out-of-shape Percy huffing behind us. Annabeth was about to grab me and start beating the pulp out of me when we got to Chiron's room. Travis and I ran in, but closed the door quickly. A moment later, we heard the sound of two bodies hitting the solid wood. Travis quickly locked the door, and we stood to face Chiron, who was glancing at us suspiciously.

I handed him the scroll, and Chiron checked it over. "This seems to be in good shape. You two are free to go now."

"Um, do you have a back entrance?" asked Travis.

Chiron raised an eyebrow, but led us to a door on the other side of the office that led into the Strawberry fields. We hurried out, laughing at the pictures that I had caught on my phone. The first one was blurry, but the second on was just perfect; Annabeth and Percy were mid-kiss, Annabeth with a dreamy look on her face and Percy with a goofy smile. Then the next one showed Annabeth looking at them with a look of pure rage, and then Percy with his mouth half open and a stupid look on his face. Travis and I were just about dying of laughter.

"Oh—my—god!" I gasped. "These are freakin' awesome!"

Travis nodded. "We should show them to everyone at dinner!"

I nodded. "Good idea. I'll use the printer in the Athena cabin. I'd better urry, though before Annabeth gets back. Boy, was she a fast runner."

Travis gave me a lopsided grin. "Am I the only one detecting a pattern in this? Who'll be chasing us next, the Aphrodite Cabin?"

I shuddered. "Gods, I really hope not. Well, see you tonight at dinner!"

He waved. "See ya!"

It felt really weird saying that to Travis Stoll, who I previously hated. Ha. Funny how some things turn out.

That night at dinner….

"Here you go!" I said, passing out pictures to everyone at the Apollo table. "Everybody, take one!"

When the kids saw the pictures, they burst out laughing. One guy asked for a sharpie and he started drawing mustaches on the couple. I moved on the Ares table. "Free photos of Annabeth and Percy mid-kiss!" Everyone at the Ares table immediately grabbed a picture. I could see Travis and Connor Stoll passing out the picture to the Hephaestus Table. "Katie took them!" Travis commented proudly. I felt a flutter of excitement. People knew that I took them! This was awesome!

Right up until I turned around to find Annabeth's face about inches from mine. Uh oh.

I ran as fast as I could, throwing pictures at people as I went past their tables.

I was pleased to hear people chanting, "KATIE! KATIE! KATIE!"

Ah, a great end to another day of punishment.

Although, hanging out with Travis isn't as much of a punishment as I had anticipated.

Hmmmm….