Stomach
Katie sat down at the Demeter table, exhausted. Training today had been super hard. Chiron was away for a conference with the Party Ponies so Mr. D took it in his own hands to toughen up 'you puny, scrawny brats'. He made all of the campers, even the young ones, run around the entire camp five times. It may not seem like much, but Camp Half Blood is huge. When Mr. D says the entire camp, he also means all of the forests too. And if that wasn't enough, he sat in a lawn chair, on the Big House porch, drinking a cold glass of Diet Coke. It was torture. After all of the other campers sat down at their tables, Mr. D got up to say a few words.
"Yes, I know you brats are tired and hungry but I just want to say that you all need to toughen up and GET USED TO IT! Tomorrow we are doing to exact-"he stopped to take a loud, long sip of his Diet Coke making some of the kids from Apollo whimper and Katie heard a camper from Aphrodite sob, "-ly the same thing tomorrow. But right now, I suppose you kids can have your dinner." He waved his hand and everyone cheered. As a nymph brought over a platter of turkey, Katie and her sibling lunged for it, making the nymph drop the turkey on the table and run away in fear. Through all of the chaos, Katie managed to get a leg from the turkey. She was starving; she even started drooling a bit. When she took the first bite of the leg, she couldn't stop herself, she practically swallowed the entire leg down.
"Hungry, are we?" She heard a teasing voice behind her say. She wiped her mouth with her hand and turned to face her boyfriend.
"Whatever. Don't tell me you're not hungry," she said. He fiddled with the grapes on his plate.
"I'm not," he said nonchalantly.
"Really?" she asked doubtfully. She grabbed a grape from a nearby nymph and popped it in her mouth.
"Yup," he said popping the 'p'. A second later, he stomach let out the biggest groan Katie had ever heard. She busted out in hysterics and Travis turned beet red.
"Well, I-I might be a bit hungry," he said. She kept on laughing at him. "And stop laughing at me!" He pinched her shoulder playfully and she wacked his arm away.
"Fine ok, I'll top," she said smothering the last of her giggles and grabbed a buttery biscuit off of his plate and scarfed it down.
"Hey!" Travis complained.
"Sorry," Katie said in between bites, "I'm so hungry, I could eat a Pegasus."
"Well I'm so hungry, I could eat two Pegasus!" he said challenging her.
"Really Travis?" she asked, "Fine, I could eat a Cyclopes!" Katie said topping him.
"I'm sure," Travis said.
"I can!" Katie protested.
"Fine," Travis said, "Tomorrow, we have an eating contest. The Hermes table will be full of food and we're going to be the only ones eating it. Then we'll see who can eat the most."
"You're on," Katie said standing up to be at eyelevel with him.
"Great, see you tomorrow at the Hermes table," he said.
"See you," Katie said tauntingly. Travis winked at her and walked away. Katie settled back down on her seat and grabbed another piece of the turkey.
"I thought Katie and Travis were dating," Katie's new sister, Rena, whispered, "How come they argue so much?"
"Oh that's just how they communicate," Miranda whispered back.
Training was just like what Mr. D promised, exactly the same as the day before. In fact, everyone seemed even more tired today because they were all still sore from yesterday's workout. By the time dinner rolled around, Katie wasn't sure if she was strong enough to even walk to the Hermes table. When she finally shlumped her way there, Travis was the only one sitting at the Hermes table, waiting for her, and the entire table was filled with food, just like he said there would be. There was the same amount of food on both sides of the table, one side for Travis, one side for Katie.
"For a second I thought you weren't going to show," Travis said pleasantly. Katie rolled her eyes and took the seat opposite of Travis.
"How did you manage this?" she asked. Travis shrugged.
"I'm the co-counselor for the Hermes cabin, I have my connections," he said. He then got up and leaned across the table.
"They're all at the cabin right now watching and scary movie and eating junk food," he whispered in her ear. Katie laughed.
"So do you want to start this thing?" she asked.
"Sure. Uh, on your mark, get set… go!" he said. He and Katie lunged for the food. They ate it like Garfield would after just getting out of a diet. They ate mashed potatoes, brisket, grapes, apples, bread, biscuit, corn, carrots, and turkey… lots and lots of turkey. Neither Katie nor Travis cared if they had turkey grease on their face… or corn kernels in their hair… or half of a carrot down their shirt.
After two turkeys, five bowels of mashed potatoes, and a hundred biscuits later, Katie and Travis started to slow down.
"Getting full yet?" Travis asked her.
"Nope," she replied with her mouth full of fish fillet, "You?"
"No," he said reaching for another carrot.
Two hours later, they both were visibly full but neither one of them wanted to admit it to the other. Everyone except for those two had gone to the campfire for the sing-a-long.
"Hey, I can hear them singing Satyr (the Camp Half Blood version of Bingo)," Katie said groggily nodding along to the music.
"Huh? Oh me too!" Travis said starting to sing along, "There once was a goat-man and satyr was his name-o-"
"S-A-T-Y-R, S-A-T-Y-R, S-A-T-Y-R, and satyr was his name-o!" Katie finished. Travis chuckled after they finished the song and Katie burst into a giggling fit. They both were tired and a bit loopy.
"Hey Travis," Katie said, her words slurring together, "Are you tired or is it just me?"
"Must be just you," Travis said groggily, "I'm as chirpy as a bluebird!" Katie snorted.
"If you're as chirpy as a bluebird then I'm-"Then she passed out. Travis poked her head with a turkey leg.
"Katie?" No response.
"Katie?" Nothing.
"Katie!" Travis yelled, starting to get worried. He jumped up to get help, but almost fell over so he held the edge of the table for support.
Annabeth happened to be leaving the kitchen after Kitchen Duty so Travis made his way over to her as fast as he could manage.
"Woah! Travis, you're covered in turkey grease," she said moving away from him.
"Something is wrong with Katie," Travis said, "We were just eating and then she passed out!" He waved his arms in the air for emphasis.
"Where is she?" Annabeth asked. Travis pointed to the Hermes table and led Annabeth over to her. Annabeth then prodded Katie with a carrot she found lying around. Katie just lay there with her head on the table. Annabeth surveyed the area around them. When she found the four turkeys, which were now just bone, she sniffed.
"Tryptophan," she said simply.
"Huh?" Travis asked, "Katie has a disease? Are we going to become one of those tragic love stories where Katie dies and I end up living life never forgetting her?" he gripped Annabeth shoulders and started shaking her, "I don't want my life to become a cheesy romance movie!" Annabeth wiggled away from his grip.
"Travis, chill. Tryptophan is an amino acid that occurs in turkey-"
"Simpler form, please," Travis said. Annabeth rolled her eyes.
"You guys ate turkey so now you're sleepy. Katie isn't dead. She's just really, really sleepy," Annabeth explained.
"Oh," Travis said, "That's better… I guess." Annabeth nodded.
"See you around, Travis," Annabeth said. Travis waved goodbye to her and Annabeth left to go to the campfire.
Travis took a seat beside Katie and brushed aside some of the hair that was covering her face. He watched Katie as she snored with her head on the table. He noticed the way she breathed in and out, the small smile on her lips, and the cute dimple she got on her right cheek as she inhaled. He realized then and there… he was in love with her. Travis had always heard that when people realize they're in love, it feels like a ton of bricks. This felt a thousand times worse. It was like the sky had fallen on him. It wasn't her snoring, or her ability to eat her weight in turkey that made him realize that he loved her, it was that she was willing to oppose him and not hold anything back. He liked that about her. Travis smirked as she hiccupped in between her snores. Boy did he love her.
WHOOHOO! I'M BACK BABY! Did'ya miss me? More importantly, did you miss this story? I promise I will be updating more. Remember to REVIEW! Love ya'll! Kisses
~ xhiddendreamx